Phillip Diamond Plus

Now that other perks are coming back, will Royal Caribbean bring back the Captain's party on the first formal night offering "champagne"/ sparking wine?

Although we have sailed twice with the strict mask rules and still really enjoyed the Independence and Allure this past fall , it will be a bonus to sail on Odyssey without having to wear the masks everywhere!!! And, we will actually get to see everyone's whole face next week! We can't wait until Saturday!

We just go off the Allure. We had purchased Surf the Stream packages and were surprised that the Chat feature cost about $2 a day for each of us. That would have been over $30 in addition to our surf and stream package price. We, therefore, did not get Chat. Chat was supposed to be for passengers to be able to contact not only family members, but also others on board that you meet. So, in order to use Chat, everyone would need to pay this fee. So the feature that we were looking forward to having is pretty much worthless. Royal Caribbean needs to make it free so that everyone could enjoy contacting others on board.

Our Allure sailing Nov.27th itinerary now does not have Puerto Plata and St. Kitts/Nevis. Instead we are visiting Coco Cay and San Juan,Puerto Rico. We are disappointed in not visiting St. Kitts as we had scheduled a shore excursion to Nevis where we had never been. But what the heck! Being on Allure in a Central Park Balcony room down the hall from the Diamond Club should be wonderful!! We have absolutely loved and will love just being on any Oasis Class Ship wherever it goes!!!

Wording of the benefit: "50% off 2 wines, beer or soda throughout the cruise"??? Is that for just one time only or is it for every day/all day??? I used it once on Independence last month but only got 50% off of the second beer. So, does this mean I could have gotten this all day, every day? And, was I suppose to get 50% off both beers? It's probably just the vague printed wording of this benefit that makes it unclear what the benefit actually is. Who knows what the actual benefit is?

Never mind:, Sorry; it was shown on the Cruise Mapper website and not Amber Cove's official site. I checked and Celebrity does not have their ships visiting Puerto Plata in November as Cruise Mapper showed. But why is it still listed on my Allure of the Seas itinerary???

I just found Amber Cove 's website. Although it is owned by Carnival, it shows Allure of the Seas docking there on Nov. 29th! Their cruises ship calendar also has several Celebrity and NCL ships docking there in November. So maybe, Carnival is being accommodating to other lines since the other new port in Puerto Plata is not ready yet! What do you think?

Shore Power ? Does anyone know? What west coast ports have this capability now? How hard would it be to retrofit Ovation to use shore power? Holland America says it is now installing shore power (ABB) on 6 ships.

Or could we be tendered? I just this week purchased a shore excursion there???

Upcoming Nov 27th cruise on Allure of the Seas: The new or planned " Taino Bay" is designed to handle the super large Oasis Class ships. It is located in the middle of Puerto Plata city. But there is a news report that it will now not be open until Dec. 15th. So, will we be able to dock in Carnival's "Amber Cove" outside the city if "Taino Bay is not open yet? ( I hope Taino is the name of the new cruise port?).

I have a deluxe room Harbor View, so I hope to see my ship.

We have stayed at the Hyatt Regency mid town, which is an excellent location. It is a super nice hotel. It is probably about 7 or 8 blocks from the cruise terminal as I remember. it is also right next to the Sky Train. Get on the Sky Train and go one stop to Gas Town where many restaurants and attractions are. We are on the Ovation May 5th, 2022 cruise and have decided to stay at Pan Pacific this time which is at the Cruise port. We hopefully will see our ship outside our window before boarding in the morning.

Thanks!!! That can be a good reason to upgrade!

Lose weight on a cruise: I somehow lost about 3 pounds on my 7 day cruise last month. And I ate and drank a lot!!!. Go figure? I believe that I lost some weight because I was so active each day. I am much more active during a sailing week than I usually am at home. My "fitbit" proves that. And, a lot of the foods that I ate may have been healthy choices??? (Except the desserts! Ha Ha) So maybe cruising will not be so bad for your diet???

I booked my balcony room before the September 30th deadline for double points. So I now get 2 points for each night. I am now (in October after the deadline) considering changing to a Junior Suite. I assume that I would now get 4 points for ever day cruising. Is that so?