Traveler

Allure 9-16 Dec 19

DX - 45 $

Refreshment - 15 $

Ultimate dining - 126 $ !

I can see also available for my cruise .

The only limitation , I guess , is that they give it to you as non cashable and you must play with them (as they give it to you know when you take money from the casino) .

The current cost of the 2020 European cruise are crazy, its seems almost 30% more than 2019  

23 hours ago, copper44 said:

Just curious if everyone takes a "boat" load of cash with them or for security reasons do you pay the 5% and use a card?  I am going on the Symphony in February for 7 nights and planned on allocating roughly $3-4K, obviously it would be nice if I don't have to use all of that :).  But with prior airline travel and such before even getting on the ship it concerns me walking around with that much on hand.

 

Thanks!

For sure you can bring less than half of it and get the rest from the Casino without the 5%.

Even if you do not have any status in Club Royal , to get to the status which give you the 5% waver you need to accumulate 1000 points (you get to prime level) once you got the points the hosts can put a sticker on your card indicating you have prime status which will give you the free drinks (at the Casino bar) and the waver.  its all depends what you are playing ,playing the slots will give you 1 point for each 5 $ played , on the table the calculation is more complicate and depends the amount you play per hand , the game , the time you played and sometime making sure the host notice you are playing more than the table minimum.

To check your point balance you can always insert you card to one of the slots machines.    

First of all great blog.

Regarding the CK , Also on the Symphony Of the Seas the CC indicates its for GS and above so I guess its a cruise ship "mistake", I guess they want the option to deny JS if there are many Pinnacles during the cruise. 

The JS keys never opens the CK , do not know why it so problematic to program the door in a way the JS key will work. 

Anyway, on the Symphony we found it very easy to book the CK  (we stayed at a JS) during the first day we just called GS and asked to transfer us to the CK and booked for the first night. after we enjoyed the first night dinner, before leaving we booked another dinner at CK ,in total we eat three times there. most of the times the CK was half empty.

3 hours ago, tonyfsu21 said:

hey do sell depends adult diapers but I think he would rather wash his dirty underwear every day and keep his pride and dignity

That is why I suggested disposable underwear from the SPA , not diapers.

I know it would not help this gentleman but maybe it will help someone else.

In such case, I would ask the guest service (although maybe they do not sell them they might have some emergency solution) , My next station would be to go to the SPA and ask them if they sell me some disposable underwear which every respectable SPA carries. although maybe not the most comfortable but still better than nothing ...  

Thanks for blogging, it was fun to read

3 hours ago, Matt said:

Honestly, the last few weeks have thrown any ideas I had for a GC completely out of whack. So many ideas, so little time!

I will add some complications

If you plan a Europe/far east cruise you can plan it on one of the US vacations without paying the extra for Holiday cruise   (4 of July for example or even better Labor day).

11 minutes ago, monorailmedic said:

Now, if you replace the MDR with an automat, that may be crossing a few lines  

You mean something like that :

Not sure , maybe it can add more option to the 7 days menu  

8 hours ago, Auto said:

Friday, 2 November- Fly from Frankfurt to Venice, which hopefully hasn't washed away by tomorrow - The port area should be fine not sure if you want to go to the city ....

Saturday, 3 Nov: Sail away from Venice

Sunday, 4 Nov: Kotor, Montenegro; scheduled activity: Private 4 hour driving tour of Kotor and surrounding area. I know nothing about Kotor, other than the pictures are amazing, and it is like doing a fjord cruise getting to the port. - the view of Kotor bay is amazing , make sure you go to one of the open deck 90 minutes or more before you suppose to dock , many things to see. This port is tender port so make sure you take tickets for the tender boat, also I recommend to leave some time to the city itself which is very bellyful.  

Monday, 5 Nov: Corfu; scheduled activity: either Hop-On/Hop-Off around town, or just hoof it around and check out the city - Its not a big city so I think you can just get a transfer to the city , not sure you need the hop/OFF 

Tuesday, 6 Nov: Athens; scheduled activity: private "Mythology Tour of Acropolis and Ancient Agora" including transfers to and from port- super excited about this stop

Wednesday, 7 Nov: Mykonos; scheduled activity: none- will probably explore the port and maybe try to get out to a beach, weather dependent - the tender port is just next to the city (which is small) you can go directly from the port and start climb the hill  .

Thursday, 8 Nov: Argostoli; scheduled activity: RCL shore excursion to an underground lake and cave complex

This cruise is amazing , done it at the end of August  , Enjoy it.

Free WIFI , if you need exist almost in all the cafes in Greece.

Just now, Matt said:

Can't wait to follow along! This may show my own naiveté about Greek isle cruises, but I had no idea they still sailed this late into the season.

As Far as I know this is the first time RC trying the Greek isle cruise so late , I think they are planning to do it until mid of Dec ! 

Weather wise it will not be a cruise to enjoy the beaches (on DEC) but this week its 80 in Athens , and 72 at Mykonos , not bad at all. Weather in this area can be quite hot , Its Nov and 87 here , I might go to the beach tomorrow 

16 hours ago, princevaliantus said:

ow, imagine if you use your Sea Pass card to pay, assuming that is how these items will be paid, and your item either gets stuck or doesn't work??

Very simple , today the vending machines coming with sensors that can check if the item delivered or not (for example I bought a cable from such machine in the airport , the box did not arrived and I was not charged in my CC).

If the item dose not work , well lets say you bought something int he regular shop , you went and test it in your room and it did not work , I guess you will go back to the regular shop and ask to replace it , same here , I guess you will go tot he same shop talk to someone and it will be replaced.

The vending machine is not coming to replace the shop its an add on.    

I think its a good idea , 

After all its not coming instead the retail shop , they still offer many of the things in the regular shops , there are few advantages:

1. Ability to buy in the middle of the night (for example cold medicine , sunscreen before a shore excursion which you forgot to bring , buy before , run out of).

2. Ability to buy things which some people prefer to buy from a machine and not in person.

3. More variety , yes , its better to bring everything with you but it can happen that people forgets things.

And its not coming to replace anything , it is not taking that much space , even if you want you can not push over there another restaurant or a shop  

7 hours ago, Neaxan said:

Still no sighting of the Twangster bot – or were you periscoping sailaway on the bridge wing in Barcelona?

Well the @twangster is very elusive and you will need to work harder to catch a rare picture opportunity of him , here is how : 

First, go to all the bars on the ship and order Kraken rum until the barman will tell you he don not have anymore. Be sure to buy one bottle for later , you will need it.  Second collect some diet coke from the vending machine.  Wait until  4 am a, leave the bottle of rum and the diet coke on the pool deck were it is visible from an excellent photo ops location, it might help if you will hang  near the bottle a sign saying "the best Voom reception point on the ship"  . Now all you need to do is to wait and cross you fingers, with some luck you might catch a glance of his shadow.

Good luck.

17 hours ago, Neaxan said:

Food portions were way too much for us

We went to Hooked on our April cruise (the third Symphony cruise) and when the came to ask us what we thought we said the same , it was very tasty but way too much. I guess  many other people said the opposite ... One of the issue/good thing is that usually you never come hungry to a dinner on a cruise     

By the way , excellent blog and pictures. 

2 hours ago, twangster said:

Day 3 - Rainy Malaga

Rain and lower visibly.   Still adjusting to the time change I slept in.  Like many I remain on the ship.   

Weather radar doesn't look promising.   

Thermal spa is calling my name.   

Local time as I write this 10:50am,  5:50am in NYC. 

The good thing is when you are going back its much easier to adjust.

I have less issues going to NA ans SA , but going to far east killing me and every time I am coming back from the US or one of the SA countries I do not have problem to wake up but around 4 PM I find myself fighting not to fall asleep.

The Ice shoe is very impressive, we saw it twice and I think the second time was even better, each time I saw more things. lovely pictures  as always. 

1 hour ago, Matt said:

I think perhaps @twangster has spent too much time with @Big Dawg Ron, which has left this live blog limbo 

You can always read the updates on the other board  

Allure - 12/9/2018 - 12/16/2018

Have fun in your cruise , 

If you want to try the laser tag , try it today , most of the chances you will have less lines than in any other times. Same for many of the other activities.

Cruise day ! , 

I gues you already in the cruise port , hope it will be quick embarkation (They are very quick there in Barcelona terminal) , enjoy your cruise.

3 hours ago, Matt said:

If the third person isnt going and you aren't interested in a price change, just leave things as they are.  RC does not care if the people booked actually show up or not.

If they will let RC about only two people in the room after boarding will they still get the tax and ports fee back  (+ gratitude) ?

I tried the Wow bands on Symphony , it was working well for the doors (which is very good if you want to go to the pool) less well in other places like the Casino and bars.

I would take option A unless you really want to see the Greece Islands. 

I love Nice , Kutor is very nice and in Venice many things to see