AlohaLivin

On 1/15/2019 at 9:06 AM, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Not just the JS, if I book a suite, I will track all the suites, JS and above.  If I notice a drop in most of them, the sold out likely followed suit.

I am surprised that they have a list of what the new price would be for sold out categories at all (and admit to it)!

On 1/12/2019 at 9:52 AM, yzfmik said:

February 2020 is over a year away, I’d be surprised if it all wasn’t done with possibly the exception of the final phase.  I can purchase all the first phase things (water park, balloon, etc) for my May ‘19 sailing so I’m betting they are confident on the dates for that.  

We will also sail in May ‘19 and I had thought that surely it would be completed by then. Although construction timing is difficult to predict, I hope that their confidence is warranted. Would be nice to have the pier done so that it’s a faster in and out!

8 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

@2BeezeYes. You can still get a price reduction. I have done this first hand.

Here are some examples:

A) We booked a star Loft on Harmony and there are only 2 per ship. We grabbed the last one. This was back in January 2018. I have since priced it down 3 times for a total of almost $3K less than what I originally paid.

B) Anthem GC we booked a JS. There are many in this category but JS sold out a long time ago. I have also priced this one down about $500 since it disappeared.

C) most recently, we booked the Villa suite on Harmony. There is only one. I recently just got another $200 off of it. Not much but still something.

How does this happen? I track prices on all the categories in the class that I book. For example, for the Star loft, I was tracking all the prices for JS and above. If there was a drop in one of those categories, I would call and assume there was a drop in mine even though mine was gone. There was every time. 

So the answer to your question is yes, you can re-price even if the category is gone.  It is not hopeless.  As long as it is all prior to final payment. But you have to make the effort to track it.

Thanks! I thought you had said so before, I just could not locate it. Thanks so much!

Lynn

16 minutes ago, Hutcherl said:

That would be awesome! Very much appreciated!

Check your messages for the drink list

Sorry, this isn’t a ghost question

I know that the answer to this is here somewhere, but I simply cannot find it so please forgive me if this is repetitive!

Are there any options for getting a fare reduction over time when the cabin booked is one that has only 2-6 per ship and tends to sell out fairly quickly (so that none are left to which to compare)?  In our case we booked the Panoramic Suite on RCL Adventure of the Seas where there are only 2 of these suites total. We booked it more than a year out, so I would expect some probability of a price drop, but how would I know if it would have dropped or is this basically a hopeless situation?

Lynn

4 hours ago, Hutcherl said:

.,.,  it’s a limited menu. Not much on there appeals to my wife.  Just my luck!  She prefers the practically unlimited options of the drink package.  So I’m probably still buying two drink packages. 

 

FYI - I have made a list of the available mixed drinks (at least the ones that aren’t the basic types like a screwdriver or gin & coke) on the acceptable list in the suite’s lounge. I would be happy to send it to you

As innocent a play as you will find (any sexuality is such a caricature that your child is likely to miss the reference ). I do remember asking my father on a trip to NY when I was about 10 why I couldn’t go with him to see No No Nannette _ just made me want to see it more that I couldn’t! I haven’t seen it yet!

2 hours ago, JBsmimi said:

We are sailing in May with a group of 24. I thought it would be fun to do an escape room competition within our group. Is the escape room worth it? How do you reserve it? Is the max group size 12 at a time? 

I’ve also wondered if it’s worth the time. I’ve done escape rooms with family and friends, but I am not sure doing it with family and a large group of strangers would be a lot of fun (although it’s hard to imagine). 

On 1/9/2019 at 8:29 AM, Michael Vitale said:

My advice: if you’re “not a big drinker”, you don’t need to be committing $47/day to an alcohol package. #alacarte

This. At most we would drink 2 alcoholic drinks a day and 2 sodas. It would be truly insane for us to pay for a drink package (so we don’t).

On 1/1/2019 at 3:38 PM, SpeedNoodles said:

^^ This is one of the reasons I haven't been on a vacation in 8 years ... 4 giant dogs that I can't board. I finally found someone who's willing to stay at the house for 10 days with them.

We use to pay $75 a day for ours for someone to stay overnight and come one during mid day (they had a doggie door and fenced yard). They were old and the one time I boarded them they were a wreck (and hoarse) when I returned so paying that was worth it to travel without feeling horrible. I can imagine 4 would be pricey ! It did keep us from traveling for quite some time until we found someone we trusted to that degree with our furkids and our home. Glad you found someone to help!

On 1/1/2019 at 8:05 PM, KLA said:

My husband just downloaded the Slots app and was taking a look around - do you HAVE to sign in with Facebook in order to redeem the OBC?

I don’t think so, but someone else who has been at this a much longer time could say for sure.

10 hours ago, KJ1231 said:

I've not done the "friends" things yet. I'm Ken Johnston on FB. If you send me a way to add you on FB I'll add and send chips....

I must have 100’s by now, it’s semi insane (I got lucky and made friends with two women there running the big groups so I became a virtual magnet I think). Most people have playe profiles and are looking (it seems) for people posting little other than myVegas content (super easy for me since it’s my sole reason for being there ). Once you have a lot of people posting points it becomes relatively easy max your points everyday (although w a sick kitty this weekend I hardly turned on any device). The only people I exclude are the ones posting political opinions/memes. I will add you now.

On 12/25/2018 at 11:11 AM, WAAAYTOOO said:

Lorraine, very sorry to hear this.  While I agree that the hype over CC is excessive, Freeport is such a dump.  Not a good trade off IMO.  Enjoy the ship !

Freeport was a dump in 1972...I cannot even imagine it now.

22 hours ago, jurrjurr said:

 

 MyVegas release free chips throughout the day on FB.  There are sites that release the links.  Google "free MyVegas Chips."  

I collect the chips at the end of day and then just bet high at the end of the week and hope for a jackpot bonus.  Gain loyalty points with the bonus winnings.  

Thanks for the info So I am now reasonably good at getting the extra points (tons of “friends”) who play a lot and joined some decent MyVEGAS groups. I can become “impressive” pretty quickly but even then I somehow burn through it pretty past MyVEGAS Slots. I also do that on blackjack. However, I can regularly keep chips on the 3-15 million level in Konami and Pop! Slots. I tried building max points slowly, but it likely is best to do it quickly? It’s all hypothetical at this point!

So far my tactic has been to spin low and frequently (1-2 of them on lower levels will run a while without me around). But that is building loyalty points very slowly! I assume there is some sweet spot in terms of amount bet but I have not found it yet. I know what I am doing isn’t working (or at least wouldn’t be close to worth it for me in the long run with a job, family and 91 year old mother to keep up with).  

I have been trying to build up loyalty points - I cannot imagine how much time I would need to play to get 1,000,000 points! If you have a secret let me know I don’t enjoy it, that is definitely going to impact it all, I still have made quite an effort this last week to see what it’s all about and the loyalty points build very slowly.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

AND

FAIR SEAS IN 2019

From the U.S. east coast (a little early, but making sure it gets done ),

Lynn

8 hours ago, Shari said:

I will admit to buying $3 of chips a day.  I love the slots and want to keep playing.  I have satisfied my addiction for the moment and won't buy anymore.

As long as you aren’t upside down at the end and had fun, you’re golden   Happy Sailing

Cool. So is it the wake from hell?!

On 12/27/2018 at 12:30 PM, twangster said:

I received notice of an unsuccessful bid just after noon (eastern time) the day before boarding.

 

 

BUMMER I used to do a special “spell” when hubby was on call as we went to bed to try to ward off late night calls - it usually worked So shoot me a message the next time and I will see if I can’t abracadabra something up for you!

Lynn

3 hours ago, Shari said:

I want to thank all of you.  I started 3 days ago and am now addicted.  I have over 30000 towards buying $100 OBC with 50000.  My husband is confused as to why I like the slots.

Ok daggumit... how do you have 30k in three days? I max out on chips every day and it’s taken me lots longer. Unless you are buying chips? I just max out the free stuff (otherwise it might turn into something akin to playing real slots ).

13 hours ago, Hoski said:

Most policies allow you to cancel if your travel partner needs to cancel.  In that case you all would have to cancel to get your insurance to pay.  I would keep calling the insurance company though to find out if a government mandate isn't covered.  I see this as more a government mandate than an employer issue.  A lot of the policies these days do cover work issues. 

I completely agree, a govt mandate makes it quite different from an employer issue. We do have the official document which lays it all out clearly at least (or clearly enough).

 I think that our only option at this point is to cross our fingers. I was even up last night reading the wording to see if she had the option for leave without pay, but they don’t. There is some wiggle room for “brief or intermittent” time off ( not defined),  but then a mid-level supervisor who is rarely given any independent decision making would have to walk that fine line so I don’t have a lot of faith in that (I have people in my office sometimes so anxious they cannot tell me if they prefer an appointment at 10 or 11).  

This is a 10 day voyage, time has been reserved, just so much to change.  The real issue on insurance is that on paper her cost is tax only, I think these are issues that will become more frequent as fares are marketed as different percentages. Real issue.

6 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I’m sorry.  Having trouble following your plan of action. So, if the shutdown does not end are you planning on cancelling the cruise entirely or are you just going to cancel your step-sister’s portion ?

Sorry to hear of this unfortunate situation.  I’m (selfishly) glad to be on a cruise while all of this is going down. I sure hope it’s over soon but not holding my breath.  I’m a “Beltway bandit” so things could get ugly for us before long.

I really appreciate that you took the time to say you care. It is very nice of you   We will go anyway, we do not have a claim for not going. But her portion is over $2800 which is a lot for her to give up (or us) in addition to the already expensive cruise. Clearly we never would have booked a 2br 2ba for just the two of us, but that isn't going to matter to anyone in the end. 

I have a minor update as of today - 

I phoned Chase and although it was someone from card services rather than claims, she voiced the opinion that the claim might not be covered as it was an "employer issue." I believed it was a lot more closely related to the jury duty situation (which is covered), but she was not in a position to say. She suggested calling the cruise line or the travel agent.

I then called the travel agent who indicated that it was as I suspected, because she was officially a "free passenger" there would be nothing to refund (even if that were possible) although in truth she paid 1/3rd (the $2,800). Of course she would get the tax returned. She also suggested that the cruise line may allow someone to take her place (but those are very tight quarters and a lot of cash for short notice - I cannot think of anyone who fits that bill or could leave on this short of notice due to work or family obligations). There is no solution other than that the policy be changed or the shut down ended. I just have a hard time grasping just how truly wrong it is to do this to people without any real cause on top of requiring them to work without pay.  The next time it could be someone else's sister in this situation.

@Baked Alaska

3 hours ago, yaya luvs to cruz said:

I hope the government will reopen well before the fourth week in January, as the shutdown causes adverse consequences on your sister and hundreds of thousands of other government workers. Thinking good thoughts that the insurance will not have to be used and, if it does, that it will come through.

Thank you both I hope it does too Yaya, but I cannot say I have much faith left in humanity (sorry, present humans excluded ). I am a behavioral scientist and I would not want to wager on the likely actions of the players in this “game.”  

I will try to call and see - I assume that I will get the usual “submit the claim and see” that we see in my practice constantly. They often will not tell you if it’s covered, but give you the “if medically necessary” (to be determined by them at them at at that time but who knows which rules). 

I am really trying to be hopeful, but the next 3 weeks don’t seem like they will be too enjoyable.

20 minutes ago, CGTLH said:

Might be a challenge due to Royal's pricing gimmicks. With guest 3 being "free" they might see the value as $0 for coverage.

One idea might be requesting to have guests 2 and 3 swapped on the invoice. That way at least they have some value assigned to them. 

Also be sure to read every line to that policy. I know some paid policies do cover cancellation due to work nullifying a leave request. Just have to make sure everything job wise is officially documented.

Thank you

It is certainly a unique situation, but since it is s Goverment edict it seems closest to the jury duty than a pure employer situation and they do use that as an example of covered instances. Good idea on the swapping, although it could cause a few other issues (Certain benefits are for guests 1/2, also if 2 is a no show the effect on the 3rd passenger is unknown). 

‘The 3rd passenger quandary (or 2nd for that matter) is one I hope has been run into before since that odd pricing is so frequent now that there surely is a way they typically deal with it, just not one I know!

I am bringing this question here now because I don’t know who else to ask. It’s a super sensitive issue right now, I just cannot wrap my head around this - my family is feeling a huge mix of sadness, anxiety, and anger and I very much hope people will consider so I would ask that.  We have a cruise booked for the 4th week in January. The cabin was an expensive one, but it’s going to be split with my adult (step) sister and so it made it more reasonable when it is divided 3 ways.  It has been planned for nearly a year and we’ve all very much looking forward to it. 

The problem is that my sister works for TSA that is part of the government shut down. Essentially, they are now working for free (and this time, unlike past shut downs, Congress has not yet acted to ensure they will be paid later). What is worse, is that unlike every other shut down in history, this time they have been told that all vacation (leave) time is cancelled (no matter if for a serious illness or a prepaid vacation). Should an employee take the time off that they had scheduled anyway, they will be fired on day 3 for being AWOL. . As much as I would like to, I am not going to get into the ethics involved with the decision-making surrounding all of this, but as you can see it definitely could negatively impact this long awaited cruises for all of us if the situation is not resolved by the sailing date (and my faith is gone so we have to prepare for what is possible at this point).

We have trip interruption coverage through Chase Sapphire CC that we used to cover the cost of the entire cruise (her portion and ours). It covers immediate family (I assume my step sister would be that). The policy does covers problems like jury duty where the person can’t be released so to me that suggests that her situation would also be reimbursable.

My greatest concern is that our cruise happens to be one of those where the 3rd passenger sails “free.” It would be the same kind of problem if the cruise was one where passenger 1 pays 100% and passenger 2 pays 50%. We split the cost, despite the the odd way it is divided on paper for marketing purposes. Does anyone have any experience with how the insurance companies deal with those circumstances? I am assuming there is a general consensus with insurers on this issue, it must come up often, I simply have no idea what that might be.

Thank you for any help that you can provide on how insurance deals with these situations -

Lynn

P.S. I realize that it’s bad timing, but Happy New Year to all of you.