Notlad

I was booked on the Allure of the Seas transatlantic Crossing for next October 30th that was cancelled. Royal Caribbean set my travel agent a message that they were transferring the Allure passengers reservations to The Wonder of the Seas transatlantic Crossing leaving the same date and also from Barcelona. This was supposed to have been completed by October 13th and when it wasn't and my travel agent inquired she was told they would have it all sorted out by the end of October. I'm very nervous about this whole situation. I already had my 18 night Grand Voyage with MSC I was supposed to be flying out to Genoa Italy for today canceled. 

My counter to The Key not being worth it is that if this is the cruise going to Maui it is a Tender port and I have read that many times rough waters causes delays and in that instance having The Key to get Tender priority would be a big plus. I got The Key for $24.99 on our Greek Island cruise September 2019 because we were going to get an internet package anyway so it wasn't that much more and I knew we had at least one tender port, Santorini. I would not pay more than $25 per day though.

If you are looking for bargains and nobody has mentioned it yet you can set up a Google Flights tracker based on the dates you want to travel. I did that for our Nasvhlle to Rome flights last Septermber and for months the fare never varied within a small range. Then one Saturday I remembered to check my tracker and it said if I booked an American Airlines flight through British Airways as a codeshare I could get 2 round trip tickets for what the price had been for 1 ticket for months. The info was so detailed it even said this price was only good to book by phone but the price included the $50 booking by phone fee BA would charge. I grabbed my phone and booked it ASAP! Oh, and on that same google flight tracker the two tickets I bought for about $1200 total would have been $2700 had I booked the same flights direct with American Airlines that day.

If you are looking for bargains and nobody has mentioned it yet you can set up a Google Flights tracker based on the dates you want to travel. I did that for our Nasvhlle to Rome flights last Septermber and for months the fare never varied within a small range. Then one Saturday I remembered to check my tracker and it said if I booked an American Airlines flight through British Airways as a codeshare I could get 2 round trip tickets for what the price had been for 1 ticket for months. The info was so detailed it even said this price was only good to book by phone but the price included the $50 booking by phone fee BA would charge. I grabbed my phone and booked it ASAP! Oh, and on that same google flight tracker the two tickets I bought for about $1200 total would have been $2700 had I booked the same flights direct with American Airlines that day.

Yesterday I snagged The Key for $19.99 for our December 2020 Harmony cruise. I have been tracking the pricing for many months for this cruise and this was by far the least expensive it has been. This is the same price we paid for it last September on our 9 night Greek Island cruise on Brilliance. My anecdotal observation is that it costs more on the larger ships like Harmony so I feel like we got a bargain.

I did the all access tour on either Mariner or Independence, can't remember which right now, and it was very much worth it for me. I am fascinated by cruise ship operations and so to see I95, the food storage area, giant freezer and refrigerator rooms, engine control room and last but not least the brdige was fascinating. I wish I had done it years before. We spent probably 15-30 minutes on the bridge and got to ask the Captain any questions we wanted to. By the way the only two places we had serious security was the engine control room and the bridge. If anybody would have had intentions of doing something nefarious they would not have gotten very far!

Because of the restrictions banning passenger brought extension cords and power strips I just let them know I have a CPAP machine and require an extension cord and they provide it.

I would love to go on one of those but WOW that pricing is not budget friendly, I know there are a lot of expenses involved in them booking the guests, venues on board, etc and they are in it to make some money as well so it may be fair pricing but still high for a cruise / Star Trek convention.
My Star Trek fan dreams came true in 2016 when I won two of 500 tickets to a private Star Trek fan event held at Paramount Studios in Hollywood. It was to promote Star Trek Beyond and Star Trek's 50th anniversary. It was in May 2016 and the stars of the film as well as producer JJ Abrams and director Justin Lin were all there as well as an entire soundstage of costumes and props from the film. We were given a swag bag that included limited edition numbered posters, custom t shirts, champagne, etc, etc. Best of all we were given "golden tickets" inviting us to the world premiere of Star Trek Beyond two months later in San Diego. The world's first outdoor IMAX premeire. So of course I had to fly back to California again from Nashville for that! LOL!!

Wow! I hate to hear you had such a bad experioence. I do a lot of research and check reviews, etc for things like limo companies but I read just the other day that for $60 someone can buy a few hundred positive reviews for their site / business. I had a similar situation to yours a few years ago in Honolulu. Small limo company that I booked as a surprise for my wife to take us from the airport to our hotel. He never showed up and when I called the number just got a recording. Luckily for me at the limo waiting area there was another limo driver with the opposite problem. His booked fare never showed up. After an hour of so and a bit of chatting he told me he couldn't book me directly as that violated taxi / limosine rules for the airport but if I called his office and booked him he could take me right then so I did. I left a voie mail with the limo service I had booked that I expected no charges to my credit card and to their credit they didn't. However they also never emailed or called with an apology.
When I am in Miami or Fort Lauderdale for a cruise now I use Lyft or Uber.

I thought I was sitting at 30 points Crown & Anchor points but when I looked discovered I was actually at 36. Our next Cruise in September will be our first as Platinum. Finally out of the basement! After this September 2019 9 night Greek Island cruise on Jewel we will be at 45 points. I have booked a 15 night Caribbean / Transatlantic crossing junior suite on Independence of the Seas for May 2020 which with the doube points will be 30 added to my 45 for a total of 75. That means by the end of May 2020 I will be only 5 points away from Diamond status! After a four year break from cruising starting last November with a cruise on HAL I am back in the game!

Ha. Was doing the same math last week. Hadn’t been on a Royal Caribbean cruise before December and trying to figure out how long it would take to get to diamond. Harmony(14) and navigator(6) in May will get me to 20. Oasis for late 2020 will get me to 34. So after that would be platinum and  “only” 56 points from Diamond, which would be 4 7 day cruises in a suite. So easily by 2022 could be diamond. Made Lifetime platinum with Marriott in 6 years so this should be a simple one. 

I thought I was sitting at 30 points Crown & Anchor points but when I looked discovered I was actually at 36. Our next Cruise in September will be our first as Platinum. Finally out of the basement! After this September 2019 9 night Greek Island cruise on Jewel we will be at 45 points. I have booked a 15 night Caribbean / Transatlantic crossing junior suite on Independence of the Seas for May 2020 which with the doube points will be 30 added to my 45 for a total of 75. That means by the end of May 2020 I will be only 5 points away from Diamond status! After a four year break from cruising starting last November with a cruise on HAL I am back in the game!

I would love to go on one of those but WOW that pricing is not budget friendly, I know there are a lot of expenses involved in them booking the guests, venues on board, etc and they are in it to make some money as well so it may be fair pricing but still high for a cruise / Star Trek convention.
My Star Trek fan dreams came true in 2016 when I won two of 500 tickets to a private Star Trek fan event held at Paramount Studios in Hollywood. It was to promote Star Trek Beyond and Star Trek's 50th anniversary. It was in May 2016 and the stars of the film as well as producer JJ Abrams and director Justin Lin were all there as well as an entire soundstage of costumes and props from the film. We were given a swag bag that included limited edition numbered posters, custom t shirts, champagne, etc, etc. Best of all we were given "golden tickets" inviting us to the world premiere of Star Trek Beyond two months later in San Diego. The world's first outdoor IMAX premeire. So of course I had to fly back to California again from Nashville for that! LOL!!

I would love to go on one of those but WOW that pricing is not budget friendly, I know there are a lot of expenses involved in them booking the guests, venues on board, etc and they are in it to make some money as well so it may be fair pricing but still high for a cruise / Star Trek convention.
My Star Trek fan dreams came true in 2016 when I won two of 500 tickets to a private Star Trek fan event held at Paramount Studios in Hollywood. It was to promote Star Trek Beyond and Star Trek's 50th anniversary. It was in May 2016 and the stars of the film as well as producer JJ Abrams and director Justin Lin were all there as well as an entire soundstage of costumes and props from the film. We were given a swag bag that included limited edition numbered posters, custom t shirts, champagne, etc, etc. Best of all we were given "golden tickets" inviting us to the world premiere of Star Trek Beyond two months later in San Diego. The world's first outdoor IMAX premeire. So of course I had to fly back to California again from Nashville for that! LOL!!

Our very first cruise as a married couple was on Brilliance of the Seas first transatlantic crossing bck in 2002 when she was just about 6 weeks old. We went from Harwich England to Boston. It was the great northern route and we happened to get caught in the edge of Hurricane Gustav. We had one day of 80 mph winds and 40 foot swells. All outer decks closed. It was pretty exciting. We had a balcony cabin on deck 9 and the swells were so hight the spray was hitting our glass door 
Brilliance is a beautiful ship. The Radiance class ships have lots of glass, etc and I have read many recent accounts saying that RCCL has kept Brilliance in great shape. We will be cruising on one of her sister ships, Jewel of the Seas, on a Greek Island cruise this September.
As far as weather and conditions during your crossing it may have more to do with what route you take than the month. I am guessing from your embarkation port and ports of call that you will be taking the Southern route crossing the Atlantic and both times we have done that the water has been incredibly calm. It was like the ship was moving through a swimming pool. On the Northern route even the times we have done it where we did not encounter a tornado the seas were rougher but not a problem. We never got seasick.
Our next T/A on RCCL will be a 15 nighter like yours but on Independence of the Seas in May of 2020. My favorite cruises are ones like these where you have a combination of port intensive days and then a bunch of sea days in a row to enjoy the abolute solitude of being on the ocean away from anything.
I think you are going to have an amazing time!

Thanks guys! I can't believe I couldn't find that pick. Also good to know this location was liked on Mariner. We have cruised on both Indy and Mariner before but before but that was 6 and 4 years ago. Interestingly enough we just cruised on HAL's Nieuw Amsterdam in almost the same exact location on the ship and really enjoyed it so this location intrigued me on Indy.