karl_nj

You are correct; it's not like MSC and Disney where you have to sail every 5 years to keep your status.
With Carnival's new rewards program, status resets for everyone every 2 years, and everyone starts from scratch again. Sailing a cheapo 3 night cruise every 2 years won't help keep your old level. It's gone no matter what you do. Instead of rewarding lifetime loyalty, it's "what have you done for me recently"

You are correct; it's not like MSC and Disney where you have to sail every 5 years to keep your status.
With Carnival's new rewards program, status resets for everyone every 2 years, and everyone starts from scratch again. Sailing a cheapo 3 night cruise every 2 years won't help keep your old level. It's gone no matter what you do. Instead of rewarding lifetime loyalty, it's "what have you done for me recently"

Sounds like you made a great decision. The Green is way better for spending, with 3x for travel and dining. Just like Sapphire Reserve, before Chase ruined it.
 

Sounds like you made a great decision. The Green is way better for spending, with 3x for travel and dining. Just like Sapphire Reserve, before Chase ruined it.
 

And on the other hand, Royal has figured out how to use new technology and good terminal design to improve the boarding process for all of their customers.

No, I'm considering dropping the Sapphire Reserve and going for Amex Green, which will get me 3x membership rewards points for cruises.

No, I'm considering dropping the Sapphire Reserve and going for Amex Green, which will get me 3x membership rewards points for cruises.

The rewards points actually expire after 3 years; the stars you earn over a 2 year period which decides your level for the next 2 years.
You need to spend about $33K in that 2 year period with carnival to hit the top level (100k stars, 3 stars per $ spent)

Yeah, I agree; I found out about these overnight cruise ferries a while back, so when I knew I was going to be in that part of the world, I figured it was my opportunity to check one out.

That is a good question. I'm not seeing the yellow dot anymore anyway.
I think it was from this cruise, which was a one way overnight on a baltic cruise ferry from Tallinn to Stockholm, that had like a quick little 'technical stop' in the middle of the night for, I assume, some sort of duty-free loophole.
 

 

Well, there are plenty of other cruise lines out there. I don't restrict myself to royal. 
For some reason Celebrity abandoned Bermuda during the summer months. I found this somewhat shocking, since Celebrity was created for the NY->Bermuda run, but that's the change they made for 2025 and 2026. We'll have to see what happens in the future, but instead of sailing to Bermuda on a Celebrity ship, I'll be on Norwegian Aqua in June of 2026, and I'm looking forward to checking out a new ship. It's been a while since I've sailed on NCL.

It's a pretty cool website: The Cruise Globe

 

 

Good thinking -- that is actually why I'm sailing the following week... my youngest is still in high school, and we live in NJ

Well, there are plenty of other cruise lines out there. I don't restrict myself to royal. 
For some reason Celebrity abandoned Bermuda during the summer months. I found this somewhat shocking, since Celebrity was created for the NY->Bermuda run, but that's the change they made for 2025 and 2026. We'll have to see what happens in the future, but instead of sailing to Bermuda on a Celebrity ship, I'll be on Norwegian Aqua in June of 2026, and I'm looking forward to checking out a new ship. It's been a while since I've sailed on NCL.

Connie out of Tampa the week after Christmas. costs for flights to Tampa weren't too bad, compared to Miami/Fort Lauderdale, or San Juan, since it's a prime time for travel.

Well, there are plenty of other cruise lines out there. I don't restrict myself to royal. 
For some reason Celebrity abandoned Bermuda during the summer months. I found this somewhat shocking, since Celebrity was created for the NY->Bermuda run, but that's the change they made for 2025 and 2026. We'll have to see what happens in the future, but instead of sailing to Bermuda on a Celebrity ship, I'll be on Norwegian Aqua in June of 2026, and I'm looking forward to checking out a new ship. It's been a while since I've sailed on NCL.

Celebrity actually has better 'kids sail free' deals, since kids are <18 instead of <12. But you are right, there are way fewer kids on Celebrity.

Connie out of Tampa the week after Christmas. costs for flights to Tampa weren't too bad, compared to Miami/Fort Lauderdale, or San Juan, since it's a prime time for travel.

Connie out of Tampa the week after Christmas. costs for flights to Tampa weren't too bad, compared to Miami/Fort Lauderdale, or San Juan, since it's a prime time for travel.

AI OCR to CSV format. Spot checks have them looking correct.
Personally added in rating and note columns. 
Drinking the beer menus today~
CSVs because nothing nasty can hide inside and they can be opened by many programs.
Playmakers-No Ratings.csv Royal Pub Beer List - No Ratings.csv

Yeah, no Pork Roll on LI. I only learned about it when I moved to NJ. Which is really kinda weird, if you think about it.
Though I'm now in North Jersey, where the proper term is Taylor Ham.

the interesting part is they are renting them from NCL, they didn't buy them

In my experience, it's always been kinda random on if they end up charging the corkage fee or not.
If I don't get charged, I end up tipping the waiters more at the end of the cruise, so it's really a wash to me either way. Either royal gets the money as a fee, or the waiters get it as an extra tip.

If you do checked luggage, it appears that cruises out of Seattle have a free baggage service, so you can have your luggage sent from the ship to the plane (and get your boarding pass on the ship.)  This would speed things up: Port Valet - Enjoy Seattle Luggage Free! | Port of Seattle
But if you carry on all your bags onto the plane, then it isn't gonna work.

I'll be on the same itinerary, but about one month later. So looking forward to hear how your trip goes!