USCG Teacher

1 hour ago, Pooch said:

I grab 4 towels for DH & I on day one.  When we are ready to leave the pool area for the day, I exchange those for 4 new towels for the next day.  Rinse & repeat each evening.  This way I am only checking out towels once then turning them back in on the last night.  Less (but of course not no) chance for errors and I always have clean towels to start the day.

1 hour ago, Mike n Ky said:

Not all OBC is refundable but that has never been an issue for us.

Absolutely correct.  In answering OPs question, I'm guessing that they would handle excess cash on his account at the end of the week in the same manner they handled my refundable OBC.

12 hours ago, LTR said:

Hello again! Living so close to the border I have a bunch of $USD cash that I have collected and haven't used (I use my cards for everything but some people still give cash). I was going to put it all on my Seapass card when I board as I don't want to have to get hit with the exchange to Canadian ruples by depositing it here. If I happen not to spend all of it, and I do not go to guest services at the end of the cruise, what happens to the funds? 

Not sure if it's the same in this scenario, but I'm guessing so: I had some leftover OBC at the end of my last cruise and it was just credited back to my credit card on file.  

19 hours ago, NewfieCruiser said:

Just reached platinum. Was anybody else excited to get the use of robes as I am? Can't wait for the next cruise to avail of them. 

My 9 year old turns into Hugh Heffner on cruises.  As soon as we get back to the cabin, whatever he's wearing comes instantly off and it's robe and slippers 100% of the time.

13 hours ago, Lucky said:

Are you talking about something like this?

That is fantastic.  If you don't mind a personal question, how much was it?

1 hour ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

...and just an OBTW, dining packages have gone on "sale" again.  I found nothing that saved me any more money than I had already saved but the prices are back down to the recent lows.  No such luck with the lunches though...just the packages.

Looks likes there's lots of random stuff on sale today.  Our July '25 Symphony cruise had the lowest Beach Club prices we've seen since we booked. Thanks to Royalpricetracker.com for the heads up-mail!

13 minutes ago, Cruiser70 said:

OK, I understand that. I have another question that I didn’t really think about. Do you get free Wi-Fi if you are staying in a grand suite or above thanks

That depends.  If you're on a ship with Sky Class suite amenities, then yes, everyone in the suite gets one complimentary device on WiFi.  If there isn't Sky Class on your ship, then there aren't any WiFi perks. 

4 hours ago, Mrs. Thomas said:

I would rather have too many documents than not enough.

A good overall approach.  I'd rather have something and not need it than vice versa.

1 hour ago, DevilDog84 said:

Is CK open for breakfast on port days? 

Sure is!  It's great choice on port days, too.  The turn around is pretty fast if you've got to get going for an excursion, but it's way more relaxed than the Windjammer.

3 hours ago, Robert M said:

its currently 158.00 for my July Symphony cruise....

Same here.  Enjoyed the tour in the past, but hard pass at that price!

1 hour ago, Mike n Ky said:

I would say no. We have booked Celebrity while on Royal and vice versa but I doubt you can get a generic cert for all the lines since they are operated independently.

1 hour ago, smokeybandit said:

Book Later is specifically for RC.

 

Traditional bookings at NextCruise can be done on at least Celebrity.

This was my assumption, but figured I'd ask those with actual experience.  Thank you both!

I always like CK, but it's essentially an elevated MDR IMHO.  The menus vary wildly from really good (the aforementioned Day 1 fillet is always an automatic for me!) to just meh, but even at it's best I just don't think CK is quite at the level of the specialty dining venues.  So, of Chops and 150CP, I'm 150CP all day, everyday.  As @WAAAYTOOO & @Geezer Of The Seas have both mentioned, Chops is fairly nondescript.  Good food, don't get me wrong, just very generic.  CP150 has some much more interesting dishes (my wife really liked the Lobster Thermidor and I loved the Lamb Wellington and the Roasted Tenderloin), the bread is absolutely todie for, and the fried cheesecake is just killer.  Finally, and this may sound silly, but the Garden Martini (made table side) is worth the price of admission alone.  It may not be the best drink on the ship, but my wife and I both think it's top 3 at the worst!

IMG_9118.heic

Dumb question that I'm 99% sure I know the answer to, but are Next cruise certificates good on Celebrity or SilverSea?

13 hours ago, themillennialcruiser said:

Excited to live blog another Celebrity sailing experience! Headed out in 10 days for a 7 night sailing on Celebrity Edge headed to Alaska. My husband and I are in our early 30s and love sailing RCCL but have recently come to love Celebrity Cruise line! This will be our 6th celebrity sailing and our second trip to Alaska. We sailed to Alaska in 2021 on the first sailing post pandemic on Ovation of the Seas. While we had an incredible sailing experience we felt that the experience was limited as there were still travel restrictions and masks in play. 
This sailing will be a round trip sailing from Seattle and we will be spending 1 day in Seattle pre-cruise and post-cruise we will fly to Vancouver to spend 3 nights in Whistler, Canada. 

Starting to do some VERY early research for a 2027 cruise to Alaska to celebrate my 50th birthday/25th anniversary, so I'm very much looking forward to this blog.  Can't wait to read about your adventure!

18 minutes ago, Coach9 said:

Just wondering if anyone knows the vacation weeks for the NYC schools and New Jersey schools winter break for 2025.  Last year we cruised in Feb and it was filled with children. 

NY's 2025 "Midwinter Recess" is Feb. 17-21.

https://www.schools.nyc.gov/calendar/2024-2025-school-year-calendar

1 hour ago, smokeybandit said:

They're building the terminal here:

 

https://maps.app.goo.gl/wGVJntN37rGqYLSB7

That makes perfect sense.  Royal & Carnival used the piers just down river closer to the mouth of the Schuylkill River when they shifted operations to Philly out of NYC for a while post-9/11.

15 hours ago, Fuzzywuzzy said:

They are evicting the SS United States from it's berth in Philly, that frees up another parking space.

Unfortunately, Pier 82 is not a viable site for a cruise ship for a myriad of reasons (cargo/warehousing on site, lack of parking & infrastructure, upriver of the 135ish foot Walt Whitman Bridge, etc.).

2 hours ago, PPPJJ-GCVAB said:

My opinion is…take the city bus.  It’s cheap…you get to see a lot and even talk to locals.  I don’t remember the price but you can purchase the tokens where you buy the ferry tokens (which I believe are the same anyway) at the dockyard.  The person selling the tokens can let you know which bus to take and the bus schedule is available too.

Highly recommend as well!  So easy to get to Horseshoe Bay from the Dockyard on the #7 bus (which also goes to Elbow Beach as well!).  They run about every 15 mins. all day and the ride take about 30 minutes.

On 8/3/2024 at 11:24 AM, WAAAYTOOO said:

Sorry, but that just cracked me up.  I have never heard of it, BTW.  All I could think of was National Lampoon's Vacation and WallyWorld.  Maybe that's the point ??

On one hand, look at all of that space!  On the other hand, I've heard the hours are not terribly reliable. 

14 hours ago, twangster said:

Sounds like an excuse to book another cruise on Harmony.

Starting out with $500 OBC is a strong argument!

15 hours ago, bobcatsteve said:

My kids (12 &10) are adventurous eaters and I would hate if they were limited to the kids menu. Does anyone know if that’s the case with the specialty restaurants?

It has been my experience that the staff are not only willing to allow your kids to explore the menu, they actually encourage it and seem to enjoy seeing kids trying new things.  My older son is very adventurous, my youngest not so much.  A personal anecdote: a few years back we were at 150 Central Park, and our waiter heard my oldest musing about never having tried duck before, but wasn't sure if he'd like it.  He encouraged him to try it, and it turned out it wasn't a hit for him.  The waiter checked in about 90 seconds after delivering the dish, and when he heard my son wasn't a fan, he had his backup choice on the table in what felt like less than a minute later.  This was one of the only cases where it turned my son didn't like what he tried (and the only one in a specialty restaurant), we have lots of other examples of the waitstaff allowing him to try things he ended up loving, but either way your kids will be good!

On 8/3/2024 at 7:43 AM, Bluesmom said:

I recommend the Venty fan. It will run for about 48 hours on one charge. It folds down to an 8x8x3 circle. And the best part, it has a hard shell carry case with strap, so you can wear it as your “personal” item on the plane!  It is a bit pricey. 

FYI, the fan @Bluesmom is recommending is the one that @Sharla provided a link to in her post.  So that's two votes for the Venty!

54 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Yes, I was having problems with pages loading, too.  I found that if I refreshed the page (F5) whenever I wanted to load a different page, it helped a lot. 

Same.  My CP also has a bunch of new excursions added today, so I'm guessing that might be related, too.

1 hour ago, Carlos A. said:

Let's see what happens.

Good luck! 

1 hour ago, Carlos A. said:

In my country notaries won't sign this if you don't pay first for a certified translator because the form is in english and they only sing spanish documents

Wow, that's a wrinkle I'd never considered, but it makes sense.  Out of curiosity, does the translator have to be present while you are with the notary, or is there a document they can provide indicating their certification along with the translation?  Either way, obviously inconvenient (and probably somewhat pricey)!