teddy

I can relate…..albeit going the other direction. I wear steel toe boots, jeans, and t-shirt daily. I have one tie, one button up shirt, one pair of nice pants, and one pair of shoes. I wear these for our kids weddings and formal nights on a cruise. Since two of our three kids are married, it’s mostly on cruises now. I can barely tie my one tie, and after not wearing it for a while, I have to refer to internet instructions.

We’re looking forward to hitting Diamond for the drink vouchers. Once in a while I’ll get the soda package, but mostly we just drink the complementary beverages. Four vouchers a day each will be nice. If our points get doubled for our upcoming August sailing, we’ll be at 79 points and are planning on booking an October sailing out of NJ after our son’s wedding craziness is over, so that would add another 7 to make 86. If not, we’ll have to wait till next spring. Either way, it’ll be a treat.

We've had much different conversations with crew members after the restart than we did prior to the pandemic....especially when the ships were more empty than full.

I don’t either.

I've personally stayed at the Westin Boston Seaport, Aloft Boston Seaport, Element Boston Seaport, and the Renaissance Waterfront Boston.....most recently the Aloft back in April of this year. There are other hotels there, but I haven't personally stayed in them. The hotels are pretty close to the port....a few blocks from the Hampton Inn mentioned above. I'm not sure how the walking to the terminal itself would be with luggage, but a taxi/uber/etc wouldn't be too much. If you're flying in to Boston, and in an adventurous mood, you can take the Silver Line mass transit from Logan Airport to the Trade Center Station or Silver Line Way Station which are fairly centrally located. The rooms we've stayed in at those hotels were just basic, two queen beds rooms. Nothing special, but comfortable for the 5-6 nights we spend when we go. My son and I have driven down to Boston from Maine every spring since 2013 to attend (and now work at since he became an adult) a convention in the Seaport District. Over the years, we've watched the changes that @michaelp1446 mentioned. My Irish family comes from South Boston, so we usually head in that direction for food (it also gets us away from the thousands of other convention goers looking for food), but there are a lot of restaurants just to the north of the convention center area...every year it seems like there are more and more. One thing that I think bears mentioning is that it can be quite windy down there, so a jacket is in order for any walking around, especially if you're from a warmer climate.

I'm the same way. I have no problems with politely asking people to wait for "mobility-challenged" people to get on and off things. Once I bring it to everyone's attention, most of the crowd gets it. The ones who don't are in the minority and outnumbered If you're the one trying to enter/exit, try being politely, but insistently vocal. I find most people are clueless to their inconsiderate behaviors. Strike up a conversation with some of the people while waiting. Ask them if you can get on first so you don't block the door or something. I once stopped a crush of people from getting on a Green Line train in Boston after a Red Sox game because an older couple with canes was being trampled. The wife was on her knees trying to get up and the husband was being pushed into the side of the entry. I wasn't so polite that time. My wife's boss still talks about it, and the incident was well over 20 years ago.

Paid for VOOM.

I have an iPhone and have been able send/receive SMS messages as well as iMessages while using WiFi.

You said it yourself: Severely understaffed. In my opinion, it’s a sign of the times. From recent reading (here and elsewhere), people are still expecting things to be like they were before early 2020….not just on cruise ships, but everywhere. Unfortunately, the world has changed since then and is still changing….rapidly. Everyone is trying to catch up, and by everyone, I mean consumers and businesses alike

Make sure cellular data is turned off in addition to being in airplane mode. I know it’s supposed to turn off when airplane mode is selected, but I’ve seen weirder things happen. Our AT&T plan includes Mexico, so when we were there, I used cellular data and turned it back off when we left. I did the same in St Thomas. I never accrued any charges.

We’re embarking from Ravenna in October 2023 and live in Maine, so I guess that’s how far we’re willing to travel.

Off topic, but was this on Oasis? They look like the Captain and Cruise Director we had when we were on her a few months ago

We’ve already booked with Galveston Express for our cruise in August. Hobby to our hotel the day before and terminal back to Hobby on the day the cruise ends.

I’m confused. Are you saying people who can’t isolate before a cruise should not go? I’d have to take a vacation from work to isolate the week before I took a vacation from work for our cruise. I can’t get two weeks back to back for vacation. When the pandemic hit, my wife’s job transitioned to remote. I can’t. I’m a butcher/meat cutter for a large regional supermarket chain. Other than mask wearing, the only thing that changed for me (and my coworkers) was we had to work many more hours and had to deal with supply chain issues (and deal with how people behave toward us now, but that’s a thread for a different site ).

We’ve been on three cruises in the current pre-cruise testing era. We’ve never been able to isolate even a little bit due to my job.

Granted, ymmv, but we’ve only get the Surf package and use WiFi calling onboard.

I want to read the post and understand, but it’s a giant wall of text. Paragraphs would help.

We are cruising out of Ravenna in October 2023 and our plan is to take the train from Venice, and stay a day or two in Ravenna.

We have done three cruises since the restart and saw a huge difference in guest behaviors on our last one (back in Feb). Politeness and respect are becoming a lost art. I’d hate to be new to a customer service job right now. At my work we lose about half of the new people we hire because they don’t want to be treated like trash. Even people who have been in customer service for a long time are getting tired of it.

When my wife and I went in Adventure back in September of last year, I had six more points than her, which made me platinum to her gold. We went to the loyalty desk and they matched her status to mine. It was very easy other than the typical issues we have with the apostrophe in our last name….but that’s a story for a different thread.

That’s pretty cool that she’s right there by the cruise terminal. I had the opportunity to go see the Missouri (which I believe is an Iowa Class) when she stopped at Subic Bay in…1990 I think. It was awe-inspiring. I can’t imagine serving on a ship like that. No Royal Genies onboard a battleship.

This is what prompted us to book a short cruise to get the extra point before Europe......well...that and leaving Maine in February is always nice.

Double points has definitely helped us climb the ladder. After our cruise on Liberty in Aug/Sept of this year, we will be at 79 points. Because of this, we decided to book a short 4-nighter in early 2023 to hit Diamond before our Europe cruise in October.....then we decided to add the 3-night itinerary prior to make it a full 7 days (by doing a back to back). Other than booking the short one due to being at 79 points, we haven't been chasing status. Not bad for people who never cruised until Jan 2019.

Fact.

Yup. We also lost Coco Beach Club admission when we canceled to rebook at a cheaper price.