teddy

For sure. My ex-wife and I were all excited to have a drink there in the early 90s when I got out of the service. It was quite the disappointment.

Boston is walk-able and safe unless you really try to find problem areas. The subway system is pretty easy to navigate if walking isn't your thing, and cabs/ride share are available. I've never ridden any of the tourist buses/trolleys/duck boats, but they are ubiquitous, especially in the Aquarium area. Something to be aware of is that it can get quite cold and windy, especially in the Seaport area if the weather isn't great. The buildings create mini wind tunnels. When in October will you be there?

Our cabin on Anthem at the beginning of the month had a whole collection of different types of hangers...wire, plastic, wood, etc. It was nice to have plenty of hangers.

I agree. I can't imagine negotiating the whole covid thing without our travel agent. I suspect she spent most of her awake time on the phone with Royal taking care of all her customers, but to my wife and I, things went flawless.

Yes. We did exactly this back in December for our son and daughter in law who are expecting their second child this coming June. We booked a cruise in Feb 2024, and our travel agent did the booking with the unborn child is listed as "TBA". If you don't have a travel agent, this is a good time to find one. There is a minimum age that the infant has to be in order to sail. I can't remember exactly, so I won't make a guess and confuse things if I'm wrong.

They aren’t issuing a pardon in the sense that your record is all clear. They are allowing a non-citizen to enter their country with a specific criminal conviction in the United States My DUI will forever and ever be in my record regardless of where I go.

I’ll share some personal experience with entry to Canada and American citizens with a past DUI conviction. My US conviction was in 1997. I finally bit the bullet and applied for a pardon in 2012. My wife and I married in 1999 and she has dual US/Canadian citizenship, so we go there frequently. Luckily, when I finally applied for a pardon, there was a Canadian Immigration officer at the Calais, ME/St Stephens, NB port of entry who was willing to take the time to walk me through everything. I was never asked for any documentation when we cruised to Canada last fall, but I damn sure had it with me. Disclaimer: My information was current as of 2012. I would be surprised it it’s gotten any easier. Imagine getting ready to disembark at a Canadian port for your shore excursion and dealing with this: On the surface, an American citizen with DUI conviction is prohibited from entering Canada. If you go to a border crossing with the intent of entering Canada and are not asked, you do not have to volunteer the information, and can go on your merry way. If asked, and you lie, and the Canadian Immigration does a background check, you will be 100% banned from ever entering, no chance at a waiver or pardon. If you tell the truth, it’s up to the Immigration officer at the port you are entering at to decide if you should be granted a waiver for that trip only . I forget what the cost was, but an on the spot waiver will cost you. If you cross at a port of entry where the Canadian Immigration office is closed, you’re sol. (Many times we drove a longer distance when going to my in-laws so we would be crossing at a port with 24 hour immigration staff in case I was questioned). You can petition the Canadian government (federal, not provincial) for a pardon. As I recall, it was $500 Canadian, but I’m not 100% sure as it was a while ago. The pardon is not guaranteed, and it’s not fast in coming if granted. It’s quite a process.

Have Canadian money if you plan on spending anything, or use a credit card. American dollars will be gladly accepted, but most likely at par, especially at smaller places. I agree with driving not being an issue. I spent my first 27 years two hours from Quebec City. I’ve driven up there a lot and never had a problem. It’s more similar to the States than different. Just remember that the speed limits are in km/hr. 90 or 100 on the speed limit sign isn’t as fun as it seems at first glance.

We had decided to get it because we cruise two to three times a year and figured it would be a way to get something back. We use our debit card to pay our cruise fares or use the AAA card if the fare is over the debit card daily max and pay it off before the billing cycle ends. Oh well. Screw ‘em

I’m not a BOA fan. We had an AAA Visa card issued by BOA for many, many years. About six or so months ago, Comenity (sp?) Bank started issuing AAA Visa cards, so we were sent new ones through them and told our old BOA ones were no longer valid A month ago we decided to bite the bullet and get a RC card. BOA declined our app because we don’t have any other accounts with them. Both of our FICO scores are over 800 but that didn’t matter….they didn’t even do a credit inquiry. The actual written reason (and only reason) for declining our app was “Insufficient or no active accounts with Bank of America”.

Interesting. I wasn’t aware of that. We only did three cruises pre covid, and that seems like so long ago

We saw crew wiping down stair and hall railings and common area door handles when we were on Anthem earlier this month. I was surprised to see it still being done.

The conundrum is knowing when people are late due to their own irresponsible actions or on a Royal Caribbean sponsored excursion that ran into issues returning on time.

Yes. Plenty of plain burgers, cheese burgers, and even veggie burgers.

I was on our balcony back in September when people were running for the ship. We were very overdue for leaving and lots of people were yelling from their balconies. Turns out that they were all on a Royal excursion and were late because there was a traffic accident with a fatality in front of them and the road was impassable for a while.

We’re very fortunate that we’ve been able to book four cruises through March 2025 at “old” prices, three of which are “bucket list” itineraries. One of them is with another company, but other three are with Royal. We’re (im)patiently waiting for the rest of the 2025 itineraries to be released. Our fingers are crossed that we’ll be able to afford another bucket list cruise, but we’re not overly confident.

That would make me gun shy as well. I hope everything works out the way you want it

I’m not trying to beat a dead horse, but….Do you have a travel agent? This would be one of the scenarios that a good travel agent would come in handy. If you book it yourself and book refundable deposit, then you can change any time before final payment. If you book non-refundable, you’ll pay that $100/pp change fee.

Am I old because when I see this, I have to remind myself that it's not referring to 1899-1900?

Thank you for the heads up so we can actively monitor.

Looks like you found the people who rush into the elevators before anyone can exit.

We book by price unless it’s a bucket list cruise

We were in virtual balcony cabins for our last two cruises. They were the cheapest cabins when we booked, We wouldn’t pay extra for one. Our opinion: They’re neat, but the neatness doesn’t last long. When we book interiors, we don’t spend much time in the cabin, so we don’t really see it. At the end of the day, an interior with virtual balcony is still an interior. One issue we had on both Voyager and Anthem is that we couldn’t turn it off, so even at night, the virtual railing was lit up and hard to cover with the curtains. Our cabin wasn’t as dark as we would have liked.

We book as early as the various deployment schedules allow. We’ve never had any price drops. An example…our Italy cruise on Explorer in October of this year is now more than double what we paid, for a balcony cabin in a less desirable location

We paid $1184 after taxes but before gratuities for the 8-night Anthem cruise we just finished. Interior on deck 9. This will be hard to beat.