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@Lovetocruise2002 Thank you for sharing , as always it was fun to follow , really made me check again the next GC cruise dates to see if by any chance we can join one of them. Safe travel home.

Yes, tried cleaning my cache and incognito , it seem some other issue .After completing the check in in the old page I can see it was changed to update check in /set sail pass but still pressing the link do nothing. My only problem is that checking in the old system gave me the old set sail pass which is the single set sail pass for all the passengers.

Yesterday I thought it is a good time to do check in to my Greek Island cruise which is only around 40 days from now . Since Rhapsody OTS is not supported yet by the application I thought I will try via the site . So after login in I saw the cruise and pressed the check in online , well nothing happened , no check in screen , no error message just nothing . As I already know some of the site issue I tried to do the same from another browser , did not work, tried from my IPAD , same same I called Royal , got some representative who asked me to restart my computer , I was shocked to discover it did not worked, his next idea was to wait 24 hours and try again which if I need to translate it from CSR language its something "I do not really know what to do with you but I really wish you will hung up so you will become another CSR problem". Well I did not argue and waited to try again (who know maybe they have some upgrade/update done) , by the way my other near by cruises I could do the check in. Tried again today , still did not work so I called again hoping to get a representative that will not ask me to try and shutdown my router/the power in all the apartment or to stand on my had try to check in upside down. Lucky for me I got someone that already encounter this issue, here are the steps if you ever have this issue : Change your location to Australia Go to the already booked page press cruise planner press already booked again and choose check in IT will take you to the old check in page. You can also try to go directly to the page : http://www.royalcaribbean.com.au/beforeyouboard/home.do Not sure why it happens , maybe the Rhapsody is not supporting the new system yet or just a random RC IT issue. Anyway, I am checked in now.

You mean the quest right ? ?

If you take refundable fare you can always change it (before final payment) if you find better deal.

Its a shame , as it was the first year I got a free cruise and I really wanted to upgrade but the price was ridiculous high. I guess someone was calculating that no matter if the gambler will be in inside or or in a really nice suite they will spent the same time/amount in the casino ... I guess we need to prove them differently. Interesting question , when you travel in SC are you spending the same amount of time playing in the Casino , less ? more ?

There are three places to buy such product on board , the first is the general store on the ship , you will get there small samples of cosmetics in a very high price. The second place will be the duty free , there you can find limited number of products from the usual suspects , price can be not too bad (for example the liquor prices are quite good) Third place will be the SPA , were they will try to sell you product from Elimis , some of the products are quite good per my spouse .

It would be very interesting to compare the prices before the unofficial announcement and after ?

Very tragic , I hope the family will be able to recover and continue with their lives, I understand why they are trying to shift the blame to the cruise line. Based on the current information its hard for me to understand how someone will mistake an open window to be a glass wall. If today we will blame the cruise ship for heaving open windows maybe tomorrow someone will blame them for getting diabetes due to all the food which is served in the buffet ?

Officially 22 days + 1 personal day + 9 public holiday (+/-) but I can not remember the last vacation I did not went with my laptop and worked part of the time . As both my Spouse and me working in the same company we get the same exact vacations.

Three weeks ago I Took the train from Rome to the port. The train is quite reliable , mind the 7 Euro one is the slow train that stops in many stations , you want to take the fast train which is 45 minutes . Once you get into the Train station you will need to take your suitcase up the stress (not sure I saw elevator but I might missed it). From there you can or walk 15 minutes to the port or to take a 2 Euro bus from the train station to the port gate, From the port gate you will take the internal free bus to the port. I would take the early train so if any issues you can take the later train or even in the worse case scenario a taxi. so the total cost for you will be a taxi to the train station around 20 E depends were your hotel is located , around 24 for two people for the train tickets and extra 4 more E for the bus.

Yes its must be a bottle , they do not know when you are going to get to your room so they can not just leave it in glasses and hope you will drink it before it will become flat.

I guess the best improvement will be not to need any waiting area ...

Yes , Once the ship is docked it will take most of the times 30 minutes more to clear then you can disembark with your suitcase. Travel from the port to the airport will take 1 to 1.30 minutes pending traffic

Happy 4th of July

Hi , 1.5 years ago I was in a cruise from Singapore to HKG. The main language was English , many people from Australia and other countries , food was more and less the same beside some extra exotic fruits and some Chines food. Routes that goes from HKG to Singapore are not the same as one that start in China which you will have 95% of local people. At October I will be on Spectrum of the Seas going out and back from China will be able to share some more information on such cruise. I also read some bad reviews but they came mainly from people that expected the cruise to be 100% similar to what they are used to. This is not the case , there some culture differences but if you come with an open mind I do not see any reason not to enjoy such cruise. Yes I guess there few things to take into consideration like maybe not to go early to the WJ and the MDR as its going to be crowded (but after a while it will be very comm) , take sure excursions on the first port if it require Visa , that way you will be one of the first out of the ship and avoid the long lines and other small things that can be done.

Good question , you should get a Pizza in a place that has open oven . Better Rome than Florence (as its more in the south although I got also good Pizza in Milan ). just make sure they are doing Pizza on the spot and not some slices which they prepared before. In Florence you get also get good Pizza at the place I have sent you few month ago , just not sure you want just to try Pizza while you are in Italy. in Florence you can also eat the Florence stake "bistecca alla Fiorenina" (tell your daughter to look on the other way ? ). Do not forget the ice cream , pistachio is a must to test , just make sure it is pale green and with real pistachio inside , bright green can indicate its has color added and you want to avoid it. here is an address for a good ice cream place in Florence Marco ottaviano , via matteo palmieri , 34 r but there many other over there so if it is not near your route just find something else.

Ok , as long as you will be able to explain us baseballs rules in 5 minutes and how its a very interesting game ? (yes yes , I know I am starting a war now)

You will be asked to leave your room no later than 8:30 and leave the ship no later than 9-10 am (most of the time 9 , 9:30) its depends on the ship and the port. In Europe you will see offer to stay a while program which will allow you to stay until 2 or 3 PM (outside of the room that you will need to leave at 8:30 am) . Taxi is quite easy to get , but again depends which port.

hangover happens because three main things : 1. Dehydrated - prevent it by drinking water between each alcohol drink you take and drinking at least one bottle of water before going to sleep. 2. Alcohol poisoning - prevent it by know your limit , not mixing drinks , better consume clear alcohol without added artificial colors. 3. Missing electrolyte - eat between the drinks , drink some juice .

Correct , in Venice they are not allow open flame ovens just electric one , they want to avoid any fire risk inside the city. But outside the the city its allow so you can get a Pizza in Venice Mistre.

I guess I was lucky ? , I had my major point and live time status at SPG , first they asked me to merge the accounts so I did and got new number which I used now , the only issue I have is when my TA booking the hotels using the old number (although I have updated it few times) so I need to change it manually by calling them

First thing you need to know about Barcelona is that its has a good public transit system so if you have a metro station near by your hotel you will be OK, Many people will look for hotels near the Ramblas but I do think it worth the money due to the public transportation. until know I used the Hilton hotel (near the Camp Nou) which was very good, four points in area 22 which was good and near lots of restaurants/malls and Holiday inn express 22 , it was fine no more than that. going on Sunday from the hotel to the cruise port will take around 15 minutes and cost around 20 Euros , no Uber in Barcelona but you can use a taxi app call My Taxi which works very well. Do not go to restaurants with big pictures of the food and English menus outside . I am using an app call the Fork to find restaurants in Europe so far it was quite good.

MYSQL ?Hbase (although its new and the Hadoop distribution is not free)? Anyway I can understand the nightmare if they do not have enough budget to do it right...

Yes , all true , but I Think the way RCL did the Business and system migration and the Business continuity plan is very wrong . Although I involved in many big transformation projects I will give a an example for how such things should be done from the same industry you talked about - hotels. Two years ago SPG (Sheraton) and Marriott announced on a merge , each one of the the chain has at least 10 type of hotels , different loyalty program and different system . They decided to continue to work with the two systems and programs until they are ready. As I was member in the two programs I was waiting to see how they are going to do it . a year ago I got email to combined the two numbers I had and get a new number , it took me 1 minute to do so. after a week or so they send us an email that the system might be down for the merge process and it might take one day . Once the merge was down I could do the same activities as I done before , all my points from SPG and Marriott were combined , nothing was missing , I could see my past stays in both chain , my status was kept and it was almost without any issues , I just now have a new number The SPG application I used worked with the Marriott information until they were ready with a new application , again it had all what i had in the past + more. I think the main differences was in the approach , while RCL decided to do the upgrade in phases and release whatever is ready (Dev OPS/agile approach) the other company decide to wait until 99% of the featured they had in the past going to be ready also in the new merge system , I believe its the right approach for such big transformation projects