USCG Teacher

Ok so we went to Hayhu!  I made a vid of the experience!
 
 

@twangster
all sorted 👍😎

I buy as soon as it seems reasonable and then check obsessively until my cruise.

It depends on what kind of "thing" you are looking for.  There are some agencies that give their clients onboard credit (OBC) and a lot of cruisers really like that.  As a general rule, MEI (sponsor of this site and friend to many of us, here) does not do that....but they more than make up for it with their excellent service. Shouldn't all agents provide excellent service ?  Of course...but with those big agencies you normally do not have a "personalized" relationship with your agent like MEI provides.  If you decide to use a TA, make sure BEFORE you enlist their help, you know whether or not there are every any fees or potential penalties (cancellation penalties, etc.) involved.
Frankly, TA's aren't really all that critical until things go sideways or are very complex (group bookings, etc.).  MANY cruisers found that out the hard way when the pause in cruising hit us a year-and-a-half ago.  THAT is when they really earn their commission (which is entirely paid by the cruise lines....at least, in the case of MEI).  Not only do they save you hours on the phone, but they have their little "ways" of making things happen that you normally would not even know to ask for.
My evolution was from a self-obsessed do-it-all-myself cruise planner to an occasional agency user to a full time no-way-will-I-ever-do-this-myself-again MEI faithful.
Michelle Cunningham
Michelle Cunningham, CTC-ECC, affiliated with MEI-Travel
Email to [email protected]
Or Call 703-881-2727

After Mariner's big adventure in Freeport, I'm glad to see that this is what the thread is about!

After Mariner's big adventure in Freeport, I'm glad to see that this is what the thread is about!

I work for the network to make the show okay for basic cable. Read scripts, work with the show people to make certain scenes/language okay for the rating. 

How it works: All throughout the cruise (most specifically around dinner time, formal night, in the dining rooms, within the first 3 or so hours at each port and on embarkation day - also maybe at the water slides or pool) there will be Royal Cruise line photographers at sectioned off staged photo areas with either canvas backdrops of various scenes or colors, a prop or costumed crew member (at ports) or around highlight points of the ship such as The Royal Promenade Bridge, Central Park on Oasis Class, the atrium glass stairs, Wonderland's chair on Odyssey. They will scan your seapass card or just ask for your stateroom number and then guide you through several poses though you are more than welcome to try some out yourself.
By the next day around mid morning, those photos will be viewable in the ship's photo area on computer workstations. The pictures are (I think) lightly edited - blurring backgrounds, adjusting lighting - but no heavy photoshop changes. They don't have time for that lol.
With or without a package you can take photos - you are only paying to OWN them after the cruise.
Within the first 2 days onboard, Royal will have photo package prices that echo what you see on cruise planner now (save for any steep discounts that come with specific sales) and you can buy a package at any time on board.
I would suggest, that even if you're on board and haven't settled on if you will or won't get a package, stop by every station and take all the photos you can. If you end up with that 100-photo package, you want to have plenty to pick from to get your money's worth.
 
Packages: As with most things on Cruise Planner, package prices vary by ship and sailing and not everyone will have the same thing. Not since my first cruise in 2015 have I seen prices as low as Mum got. Most times I see $20 single photo, $150 for 20 photos, and $250+ for 100 photos. There is also a private session package which may interest you if you want to go bigger on your anniversary.
With the ongoing sale, prices on my August Allure cruise are:
10 photos $96.99 (regular price $149.99) 20 photos $119.99 (regular price $199.99) 100 photos $136.99 (regular price $249.99)  
Is It Worth It: That is something only you can decide. Some people don't find it worth it if they have a cell phone or DSLR that takes really good photos. All of the areas the photographers are in are publicly accessible and you can use them once the photographer leaves or before they get there. But, you may struggle to get non-selfies of the two of you together unless you ask a passing cruiser or staff to snap a photo or 2 of you. In that circumstance you won't have the photographer to help you pose best (i.e, what to do with your hands, how to open your body to the camera, where to look, avoiding a double chin etc), not as much time to get it right, and be subject to the potentially dim or bad lighting of the area. You should also consider if you're going to be off ship early enough to catch the port photos (my favorite). Since they have to be back on board in order to get them processed for viewing by dinner-ish, they aren't out there all day. Only a couple hours. Also a good idea to consider what you'll do with the photos.

The cruise compass and the navigation channel on the ship TV system will display sunrise and sunset times.
The ship is often moving for sunrise and sunset so the actual position of the sun can't be predicted ahead of time.  You can estimate where the ship be and knowing the sun rises in the east you can predict roughly what side of the ship sunrise will be on.  The solarium and bridge wings can sometimes be a good spot or if the sun is directly aft the jogging track on deck 5 aft might be a good spot.  Deck 16 can be a nice spot.  Deck 15 aft on either side of the Abyss for aft view angles.

@twangster
i just phoned and asked about a new cruise with a XN category, low and behold it exists 😮 so anyway the good agent repriced and $550 OBC should be applied in 14 days so I will keep you updated 😎👍

This is the right way to handle such things.  Good for you.  No scene...no embarrassing anyone else, and then [quickly] going to the right person to graciously explain the problem.  I'm sure it was handled quickly and professionally.  Bravo for your tact.

It was all set.

This does not work with my obsessive compulsiveness. 🙂

On my last cruise, by Wednesday my waiter would ask me, "and which two desserts will you be trying tonight?"

I am fully expecting to see the threshold price of Individual drinks go up any day.  They will never get anyone to buy a drink package unless the onboard prices go up.  Given the supply chain issues (some liquor scarcity) and inflation I’m sure they will be able to justify it.

Thanks everyone! I'm going to move my flight to a later one. 🙂 
 

Not sure if you've seen it already or not, but there's a whole subsection on the boards dedicated to Celebrity (and Silver Sea).  It's not as active as the Royal threads, but there's lots of good info there:
 
https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/forum/12-celebrity-silversea/

Just off Allure and I found the Main Dining staff to be extremely accommodating. I read before the cruise that the staff were excited to meet your needs - and I admit, I scoffed a bit. I thought that they are most likely willing, but probably not "excited" to do so. Now that I'm post-cruise, I stand corrected. The staff in the dining room bent over backwards and genuinely seemed thrilled to respond to requests. They really want you to be happy. 
I was never hungry enough to order two of multiple courses, but I did order appetizers for first and second course one night, and two main dishes for first and second course a different night. But the biggest thing they did for us was to bring us cold fruit soups. I asked on the first night if there would be any cold soups available during the cruise. They went out of their way to create a cold fruit soup EVERY NIGHT for my whole family. They were almost mischievous about "surprising" us with the flavor of the soup and were so excited when we arrived in the dining room to present our soup to us. Also, the night my oldest child got really sunburned and had to leave the dining room early to go and lay down/put aloe on, the staff volunteered to pack up dessert for them. When we got back to the room, they had packed up multiple desserts on the plate, not just the one my child ordered. 
AND, our assistant waiter worked at Windjammer during the day and always recognized us and came over to say hello. On our last sea day, he saw (from WJ) my husband getting on the Zipline and videotaped him going across to show us at dinner (and then sent the video to my husband's phone). Really phenomenal service from all of them in the dining room.

As a person who had a long hard fight with cancer and was left feeling like I could die any minute, I get a lot of comfort from my small 5 lb poodle. I love my Doberman also but my poodle has really helped me. It's hard to go from actively dying for a couple years to "hey you're okay". I have passed my 5 year mark so I really am okay.
But...my dog is not an emotional support animal. I'm sorry, but if someone wants to classify a dog as a support animal, you better spend a few hours training them every day. EVERY DAY. They should be able to be quiet. They should be 100% house broke. They should have several AKC, or the equivalent, training certificates. They should be flawless on a leash. Above all, they should never be a danger to others, never should they be uncomfortable around any person, any dog, or anything. 
Otherwise they are a pet. I do train my dogs. I believe my dogs do meet that criteria, but for the time frame of a cruise, and I have done long ones, I am okay with out Ziggy, and certainly he is better at the vet's office with his Dober brother. I know it is stressful for me and for my dogs to be away from each other. Plus since they go to my Vet while we are gone, it's a lot of extra money, but even as well trained as my dogs are, I don't know for absolute certain that Ziggy wouldn't bark at times, and that would be wrong.
I will also point out that people are now selling "real" service animal kits, with a "real" Vet's letter, for people to cheat their untrained dogs into places they do not belong.
 

If you have airfare included then the id needs to match the tickets. 

I haven't seen it mentioned yet but on return you can bring your car down to level one in the garage before exiting and pick up your luggage right next to the machines where you pay. They have a designated spot just for this. I left the DW to watch the luggage and I went to get the car.

Correct!  The only thing you'll have to carry is what you plan to carry on.  The porters will even take the bags straight from your trunk/hatch, and they won't even grumble about it for a small gratuity! 😉
In your situation, I'd be more concerned about disembarkation than drop off.  Even there, if you just look for the porters you'll be in good hands.  Well worth the money you'll tip them.

I guess there really is no question that demand is way up for this summer...

Correct!  The only thing you'll have to carry is what you plan to carry on.  The porters will even take the bags straight from your trunk/hatch, and they won't even grumble about it for a small gratuity! 😉
In your situation, I'd be more concerned about disembarkation than drop off.  Even there, if you just look for the porters you'll be in good hands.  Well worth the money you'll tip them.

Which ship?
If its Anthem 10 will get me 20 you will be in the parking garage.  Other ships may be kin the open lot.  If you are in the open lot, pay for a porter when you debark.  When we do the covered we don't pay for porters ....hubby and I get the luggage and than I wait by the garage as he runs to get the car and brings it down to loading level.  Open air out door you will want to pay for a porter bc you can't drive the car closer and it's more of a haul....2 min walk in the sun, but when you are talking multiple luggage bags, carry ons and a stroller its a pain.  The covered garage less than  a min. and they can stand in the shade.