teddy

5 minutes ago, FionaMG said:

You can book it at Next Cruise. Just ask them for an open booking. It's the same reduced deposit and then you can convert it to the specific sailing of your choice once they're released.

If you've booked your current cruise with a travel agent, the open booking will be assigned to them, so you just have to get in touch with them to let them know what sailing to convert it to. If you booked direct with Royal then you just have to call them when you've picked your specific sailing.

And you'll still get your OBC as long as you pick your sailing within 60 days of booking.

Oh. That’s perfect.  Thank you!!!!

Thanks @FionaMG

We’re going to book an Alaska cruise for August or September 2025.  
 

Kind of bummed we’re going to miss being able to book it at Next Cruise with the reduced deposit.  We disembark on October 29, and the itineraries are showing they’ll be released sometime the next week. 

3 hours ago, FionaMG said:

@teddy I'm so sorry to see the weather is being so horrible for your layover.

I can't remember if I already mentioned it but if you want something indoors to do I suggest you check out the Oceanarium: https://www.oceanario.pt/en

 

We ended up going upstairs to the lounge and sleeping.   The flight from Boston was extremely rough last night and we got no sleep.   Turbulence doesn’t bother me, but my wife isn’t a fan so I have some fingerprint bruises on my arm. The shrieking people near us was a bit much, too.  
 

Our flight boards in two hours so we’re kinda out of luck for going out into the city.   
 

We’ve already decided we want to come back and spend some time in Lisbon. 

Check in at the airport was easy and we’re at the gate. 
 

A head’s up…TAP Air at Boston is serious about carry on size.  Quite a few people had to check their intended carry on when we checked our bags.  $105 a bag.  We weren’t worried about our carry on bags because we followed the dimensions listed on their website. 
 

I’m gonna do an after action report of our travel to Italy and cruise.  I learned last year that I suck at trying to do a blog in the moment. 
 

Ciao

I’m glad we were able to book a “Sunset Balcony” on Explorer next week for the same price as side balconies. Hopefully the prices won’t increase too much for aft balconies going forward. 

I’m assuming it’s either the apostrophe in our last name that’s fouling things up or the fact that they want our “National Identity Card” information in addition to our passport info.  
 

Whatever it is, we’re arriving at the airport early. 

Well.  This is slightly alarming. 
 

1 hour ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

our first week as Pinns

Omg!! Awesome!!

There will be an announcement over the intercom when rooms are ready.  It’s typically 1 pm, but there may be times it’s a bit later. 
 

Luggage gets put in the hallway over the course of the afternoon.  You may see yours as you walk to your room after the announcement, but sometimes it takes a few hours before it gets out close to your door. 

We ran into problems with an online Expedia hotel room booking years ago.  They say they’ll help with any issues, but when you arrive at 11 pm after driving all day and there’s no room in your name, they don’t seem to be around. 

 

1 hour ago, Matt said:

Besides the lengthy commute times, did you encounter the infamous puke inducing experience the ferry is known for?

The day we went was choppy but didn’t bother my wife or I.  We rode up top.  
She did say that she saw some queasy people when she went below to go to the bathroom.  

We've used Air2Sea most recently for our flights to/from Italy next week(!!).  

Because the cruise starts in Ravenna and ends in Civitavecchia, we had to book one way tickets.  Air2Sea was cheaper than anything we found through the airlines (for Economy Class at least). 

Air2Sea had no problems with us arriving three days early, and we even changed our flights from arriving in Bologna to arriving in Venice a week after initially booking.  We did end up paying right after we changed our arrival airport to Venice so we could pick our seats.  We are flying TAP Air to Italy and Lufthansa back to the US, and neither of them would allow us to choose seats until paid in full.  Since we have a decent annual travel insurance plan, we weren't worried about having to change or cancel, and we were pretty sure we wouldn't find flights any cheaper (and we haven't).  By paying in full immediately, we were able to chose (and pay for) seats that have more leg room, so despite flying in Economy, we have decent seats.

I agree with @Lovetocruise2002 that calling is the way to interact with Air2Sea.  We had so many more choices when talking to the representative than showed on the website.

We view Air2Sea as one of the many options to explore when booking flights for a cruise.  Sometimes they've been cheaper, sometimes not so much.  For this Italy trip, they happened to be the cheapest by a long shot so we used them for that reason.

Tulum from Cozumel

The ruins were amazing but it was a long day going from the island.  

1 hour ago, Traveling Mike said:

Royal did it all wrong.  They should have kept the ports in Israel and gave each of the cruiser a gun and helmet as they exit the cruise ship at port.  They will get the real Holly Land Cruise Experience.

Or maybe Royal is looking out for their cruisers....

Lol

Uncle Sam had 8 years of my life for that kind of stuff.  I’m too old now and my knees hurt

5 minutes ago, Eyeonhevn said:

I guess it’s set to offer the "better" discount and it must be better than the CAS discounts, etc?

Yup.  Most discounts won’t stack.  
 

I say “most discounts” because absolute statements on the internet always brings someone along who has experienced something to the contrary.

While I agree with you, I also know what a disaster confronting other people’s kids can be, especially when parents get involved.   Since I know my tolerance level and how I tend to react, I keep my thoughts and words to myself. I suspect that security onboard won’t play around, and I have no desire to end up in the brig…..not to mention I would like to keep cruising with Royal.

Walking is key for my wife and I, along with eating sensibly.  I actually eat healthier on a cruise than I do at home.  

Early morning is a great time to walk on the track.  

Two weeks till we fly to Europe and 18 days till we board. 
 

I think pre-cruise time is passing slower than it usually does. 

/snip

12 hours ago, Pattycruise said:

So if I should ever go back to Texas I will use Galveston Express for both directions. 

We had great experiences with Galveston Express as well. 

We made that mistake ordering breakfast one time.  So much food.  
 

Glad your cruise is going well. Thank you for bringing us along. 

My wife and I have four Royal cruises booked together between now and January 2025.  She has an additional one with her sisters and a bunch of friends.

However, we do have two MSC cruises booked in addition to the Royal ones. Price and itinerary were the deciding factors in booking these. 

15 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

At the end of this one we will have 697 C&A points.  Hallelujah !

Damn.  That’s awesome!!!

On the flip side, we are within striking distance of Diamond Plus, but the impetus just isn’t there like it was a year ago.  
 

We like Royal Caribbean, but aren’t adverse to sticking our toes in other waters. We didn’t think this way a year ago. It’s hard to explain our thoughts and put forward one concrete reason for our change.  

Our cruise on Explorer leaves the same day as the group cruise on Serenade.  We’re kinda bummed, although we got a great price by booking as soon as the Mediterranean cruises were released and are excited about going to Europe for the first time. 

We give our cabin number to one of the crew members doing check in at our muster station. We’ve also let them scan our set sail pass on our phones.