PurdueFlyer

"See how some benefits are being re-imagined for Carnival Rewards" I've been around the travel industry long enough to know that anytime a company uses words like "re-imagined" when describing a loyalty program, its usually a bad sign. In Carnivals' case, they completely nerfed theirs.

Right, that was my main takeaway also. Burn what, Jason? Does he actually understand you need to be able to redeem points for, I don't know, ANYTHING, in order to make that comparison to Bonvoy? I accrue nights with Bonvoy to maintain my status, or get to the next status level. The nights reset every year. I earn points at the same time, which can be redeemed for free stuff, or hoarded depending on my mood. It's not an either / or proposition. The ironic part is that any marketing executive will tell you that loyalty programs are designed to entice new spend patterns / behavior. Not to continue to reward existing behavior from the same people. That's what WE want, but not what the loyalty program VP wants. As much as I moan about Bonvoy not having a good Q3 promotion or whatever, they know my spending pattern isn't going to change on them, because it hasn't in 20 years. I'm lifetime Platinum; my travel is 100% leisure and self-funded. Give me my free breakfast and late check-out, and I'm happy. I'm a loyal customer, but I'm not really a high-value customer. Yet Royal seems content to just keep doling out the same 1 point for Inside/Outside/Balcony and 2 points for a suite. There's no reward for going to the spa, or buying specialty dining, or getting a drink package over and over. So I don't. I enjoy my cruise experience largely on what's included in the fare. Most sailings I leave the ship with a Folio that only has gratuities on it The promotions are always targeted at new bookings and are usually related to fares, or the occasional cruise planner sale. Pinnacle is still light-years away for us, and 4 of our last 5 cruises have been on Celebrity. Seeing "Elite Plus" on my next keycard is nice, but I was hoping Royal would have throw me something to "keep me on the hampster wheel" so to speak (and in turn, make me become more valuable to THEM). Instead, all they threw me was an extra bag of laundry on Celebrity. Hopefully this continues to evolve.

+1 for Carambola. did not book through the cruise line (this was on Celebrity). used our own transportation, and they returned to pick us up at the time we asked for. easy peasy.

even more bizarre, at least to me, are the people that have a continued appetite to consume this content.

APEX in 14 days. FLL/San Juan/Tortola/St. Kitts/FLL. First time on Celebrity. woot!

I am on the same 5-dayer that @Bazza is on, but leaving Jan 22nd. MIA/Key West/Labadee + 2 sea days. No changes announced thus far. I'm thinking with 2 sea days and Labadee being the furthest away we sail, they can probably keep that itinerary intact in a 5-day sailing.

I hate Uber, so I'm probably in the minority here, but if you enjoy public transportation you could take the Tri-Rail (commuter train) for 5 bucks. there's a free shuttle bus from the FLL airport to the train station there. takes about an hour. Another option is to rent a car for 24 hours, pick up from FLL Airport and drop it off Miami downtown. I use AVIS. the downtown Miami location code is Q8M and they have a free shuttle to the cruise port if you're picking up or dropping off a car there. so in essence you're getting your Uber ride to the port baked into the price of your car. since you have your own wheels, now you can rebook your MIA airport hotel anywhere cheap in the metro area (assuming your hotel was refundable). Miami Airport area sucks, and I only really stay there if coming in on a late night arriving flight.

THIS These CBP directors operate in their own little fifedoms, and handling of various situations often devolves to the local level rather than some over-arching national policy. 20 years in the airline industry here.

aaaand that's what won out in the end! For the price of the JS, more than double what the interior was, I could book another cruise. Which is probably exactly what will happen. So I'm confirmed for the interior on Deck 4. First time on Lady G & I know I'll enjoy it regardless of the cabin type. thanks all.

sorry for the bump! paging Grandeur experts ... I have an option for a solo sailing on Grandeur / 5 nighter in 2023. cabin choices are as follows: INSIDE for $410 total including tax -OR- JUNIOR SUITE for $940 total including tax. (the balcony is higher than the JS, oddly, and I don't bother with ocean-view cabins. But I digress) Here's my conundrum. I would pay that price for a JS, however, the only ones that are available are on deck 8, which is right below the pool / solarium / windjammer deck. I really can't stand noise (dragging of chairs, weird thunking noises from pool drain pipes, etc) and I like to pick decks that are in between other rooms if possible. I could do this with my choice of decks for the interior cabins, but those cabins on Grandeur are TINY- 136 sq ft! The JS's are a decent size but the photos look dated. I mean...the whole ship is dated. I enjoy smaller ships, but with 2 sea days, I know I would value the balcony / JS a little more on this sailing, since there isn't much else to do, but the potential noise factor is making me waffle. basically, 400 bucks out the door for 5 nights interior is ridiculously cheap, and I'm willing to do that, but its going to be VERY low-frills I'm sure. I usually don't vascillate over cabin choices. Any thoughts?

Have up through D+ pins. I don't wear them. They are collecting dust on a shelf at home with some photo albums and other trip knickknacks we have collected over the years, including our crystal blocks and my little Delft House collection from KLM Business class I don't think they're pretentious, per se. They just aren't something I would affix to my wardrobe while cruising. I'd rather Royal color-code the room keys by loyalty tier to subversively flaunt one's status. lol.

https://travel.gc.ca/travel-covid/travel-restrictions/cruise yes, Canada is still requiring a pre-cruise test up to 2 days prior to sailing. This is despite the fact I can fly there as a vaccinated foreigner without a pre-arrival test. They still feel "The chance of being infected with COVID-19 on cruise ships is very high, even if you’re fully vaccinated." hopefully this will be relaxed by October 23rd for my sailing but I am not holding my breath.

I booked a sailing on 23OCT via my travel agent. Yesterday I called Royal directly, and asked to be waitlisted for MyTime Dining (I am currently in second seating), which the agent said she did. Since the sailing is 75 days away, I don't even have the cruise docs issued yet. Will the "waitlist" show up on the cruise docs once they are issued? because right now I don't see it mentioned anywhere else on royalaribbean.com under my upcoming cruise.

I work for Delta and have actually been ONBOARD the 810AM MIA-ATL flight after getting off the ship that morning. . You will have PLENTY of time to make a 1030AM!

I enjoy it for the morning light fare. otherwise, the Oasis diamond lounge was about as exciting as a conference room at an airport Hilton.

Feb 2020 flew Atlanta-> Dubai for a 7-night Persian Gulf sailing on Jewel. that's a hike. Was originally booked on a 9-nighter Singapore to Hong Kong, so that would have been further to travel, but we cancelled it a few weeks prior to sailing as covid was starting to become a "thing" in mainland China and we got skittish. swapped to the Dubai sailing instead during the same time frame. I'm glad we did it though, as Royal has since pulled out of Dubai. we are becoming more interested in more exotic destinations which means longer sailings and / or further to get to the departure ports. it's a trade-off but the vacation bank is limited in America.

Interestingly enough, I am having a hard time finding concrete pricing for a Hop on / Hop off ticket outside of booking it as a shore excursion. It appears its operated by Grayline, but I can't book on their website. I get this error: but ... there's nowhere to input the date! bizarre. I then went to viator.com which is a sub-set of Tripadvisor. lots of good information and reviews on the bus HERE , but again, the website says "this experience isn't bookable for now." Hmmm. Check the cruise planner today, as there is a Memorial Day sale going on. We are on the 6/14 sailing on Adventure. We wanted to go to Peggy's Cove and there were a few options to do that, one being a Peggy's Cove + Titanic Cemetery (Fairview Lawn) combo for $53 pp. There was also a Peggy's Cove + Hop on / Hop off bus combo for $69 pp. As you alluded, the HoHo includes a stop at Fairview Lawn which is on the outskirts. I was weighing the extra $16 per person for that shore excursion knowing we would have the balance of the day to use the HoHo as we pleased once back from Peggy's Cove, including to get to Fairview Lawn. However, we decided that we'll probably get enough commentary on the ride out to Peggy's Cove, and since the downtown sights are close together, we can do those on foot. We ended up booking the Peggy's Cove / Titanic Cemetery combo for $53 instead. I'll put the $16 we are saving towards booze, or Ubers from the Newark airport The current HoHo pass on the cruise planner is showing $40 which is 15% off the normal $49 price. That still seems steep to me, as Halifax isn't that big. But you do have unfettered use of it for the entire day. I'd wager you can get your own transport out to Fairview Lawn for less than $80 and do the downtown stuff on your own, but there's the kiddie factor too. sorry for the long post!

its different now, you have to have have INTL travel scheduled, and you can only start calling to book your appointment 14 days before the date of travel. Once you are within the 14 day call-in window, they will assign you an appointment within 5 days business days of your trip. At the appointment they process everything and hand you the passport. Some people have appointments the day they are leaving for the INTL departing flight. its really a horrible process frankly, you can't book or even search for appointment availability online. You have to call the 800 number. Appointments are gone with in seconds of someone else cancelling it, so you have to call the 800 number multiple times a day. and of course most people don't live in the city where they can get an appointment.

roger, thanks !

apologies for the bump ... we are sailing on 6/14 out of Cape Liberty. I am getting my passport renewed on 6/3 (walk-in appointment, so I'll have the new one in hand when I walk out of there). Should I wait until the new passport is in my possession to do online check in? Or can I input the old passport number and then override it later with the new one? I don't want to screw up the process. I can't remember if that field is editable once you've done it. I don't really care about check-in time since we'll be in Newark all morning at the hotel, so I'm not in a rush to check in online right now. Plus if I wait, maybe the RoyalUp will have gone through by then

I second Long Beach, I've done the Westin there twice, and took a public bus to San Pedro for $1.25. Then walked 15 minutes to the port. Easy Peasy. The whole LAX arrival / ground transport process is a nightmare followed by a $60 uber ride. blah. You can technically do it on public transport from LAX, but its time-consuming and involves transfers. You can book a car service from LAX but its alot more expensive than the Uber. Be warned that Ubers aren't super prevalent in San Pedro in the mornings when the ship returns to port. Both times we had a little bit of a wait trying to catch one, so I'd befriend some other LAX-bound Uber-riders and maybe try and share one. And don't book a flight home too early from LAX.

"email? what email?"

just saw that on CC. the clock's ticking, Royal.

2 weeks ago for me, they were still pretty steadfast about it.

agree the "frictionless" checkin process is super easy and better now, since they are strictly adhering to the check-in times you select (it's a shame it took a global pandemic to make that transition lol). however, anytime you group people into "buckets" like CAS tiers, they are invariably going to compare what one gets versus another. maybe on the day of sailing, the app should allow you to move-up to a different time, but maybe only make those additional times visible to you depending on what CAS tier you are? kind of like an airplane seat map that might show that the exit row is open if you have Super-Tungsten status on Delta, but if you have no status, the row shows full. this creates the appearance of your CAS status giving you an added perk of flexibility while Royal can still maintain order at the port by deciding what times to release, and for whom. Also would drive more people to the app in general. I think there's a Royal IT wishlist thread somewhere on here