steverk

I love it when I'm on board a ship and people see another ship and wonder what it is.  I check cruise mapper and then look carefully at the ship in the distance.

I say something like "Hmm. Dark blue hull. Two blue funnels. Those could be "X" on the funnel. It's gotta be Celebrity Millenium." People leave so amazed!

I stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Jersey City. I Liked it, but it doesn't have a shuttle.

14 hours ago, mattymay said:

 we are the ones who have to pay the fees. 

So Australians pay a foreign transaction fee when sailing on Royal out of Australia?  That stinks!  I did not expect that.

17 hours ago, BRETTB said:

Thanks SteverK.  It is odd as I have been going back to cruise.com (where I typically booked my cruises) and there were no inside rooms, there some popped up (although true inside, not promenade view).  It seems like a few rooms are coming and going throughout the day which is odd so close to sailing and also they seem to disappear quickly.  It sure would be cool if the system would allow to to say these are the room types I want and it would grab on if it comes online     Wish me luck refreshing.  I may resort to a true inside room, I have just never had one of those before and not sure I want one. 

I do wish you luck.  I've noticed the cabins popping in and out of availability. I think it is a small number of available cabins and a lot of people looking at them.  Based on my experience, and a discussion at NextCruise, I believe Royal will take them out of available inventory when someone is doing a booking and selects the cabin. If they don't actually purchase, it returns to inventory after about 15 minutes.

16 minutes ago, BRETTB said:

Great information.

Any other tips on last minute booking?  I (naively) thought the rates would drop within a week or two of the cruise, but with demand so high maybe that's not the case.  I am looking for a room on Freedom or Liberty Jan 8-11, traveling alone, and don't want a true inside room but I do enjoy the inside room with a promenade view. Those seem to be sold out.      Since I am within 8 days I also assume anyone who was going to cancel must have done so by now, meaning it's unlikely new inventory will pop up in the next day or two.  $1300 was a little more than I wanted to spend, but I get that traveling alone I need to pay a higher rate.

One more addition- I tend to avoid the low decks which seems to bump me into an even higher price category

 

I'm afraid there's not much you can do this close in. If you can find something it's going to be a left over room. That usually means interior at the end of the ship.

I'm not sure there is a perfect time of day for this.  The schedule changes every day. Therefore what might interest people changes as well. 

My advice is to plan something and just make it work.

Here are some considerations.  

1. Do you have a set dining time? If so do you want to make that time or do you want to spring for specialty dining?

2. Do you want to work around an evening show? Normally there are either 2 shows about 7 and 9 or 1 at about 8, but this varies.

3. How long do you want the event to last?

4. Do you need to reserve a venue for this or are you ok with finding a quiet spot in one of the lounges?

I like both Victoria and Sitka.

In Victoria I walked to town and watched the boat ballet in the harbor.  It was fun.  I didn't have a lot of time, so walking around is about all I did.

Sitka has some interesting stuff to do on your own. I've visited some museums, native history shows, the raptor center and the totem pole park. All were worthy experiences. If you're looking for something more adventurous,  I'm sure there's options,  but I'm not the person to ask.

1 hour ago, Europa03 said:

We plan to have someone drop us off and pick us up from the cruise terminal.  Are there any special instructions for passenger pickup we should give them or is there a good area for them to wait if they get there before we are off the ship?

There's two areas where you can pick up. When you exit the terminal, you will be in the main pickup area. If you turn right and follow around the building, you'll pass the uber/lyft pickup area and then there will be another pickup area. In my experience,  the 2nd area is quicker, but not dramatically quicker.

Both have numbers posted on the pillars to help you find your party. The bad news is they didn't number the areas with unique numbers, so there's a number 1, 2, 3... in both areas.

I've got an odd question.  I'm going on my first Australia cruise in February.  I want to avoid foreign transaction fees on my credit card. Will the on board charges go through an Australian or American credit card processor?

12 hours ago, F1guynz said:

I wish we had the option to use air2sea in New Zealand.

I find it very odd that you wouldn't.  I have a Celebrity cruise in February that ends in Auckland.  I booked Air2Sea back to the US. It was booked as a United flight but operated by Air New Zealand.

14 minutes ago, Doug_Texas said:

Wow, so you pay zero on the airfare until the cruise payment date, even booking different air fare classes.  If something happens you are only whacked your cruise deposit or the $100 pp for sailing change (we never book refundable deposits)?  That is a big deal.

You get the picture wide screen. It's worth a few extra bucks.  Normally that's what it works out to be. A few dollars more than other bookings 

The benefits of booking air 2 sea are no payment until final payment date. Refundable until paid and help if anything goes wrong. 

The last one has saved my bacon more than once.

I've booked air2sea several times.  Bags are never included on domestic  (USA) or Caribbean flights.  However 1 bag was included on my Australian flight. 

9 hours ago, happy cruisers 2 said:

Does anyone know if giving an unopened Truly or beer to your room steward is allowed or are there rules against stewards accepting this?

I spoke to someone that did this on every cruise.  I'm not sure what the rules are, but she said she would ask the attendant what he/she would like and then she would leave it in a specified location in the stateroom.  She tells me it always disappears.

18 minutes ago, BB1 said:

Has anyone taken Uber from Galveston to Bush airport recently on a Sunday morning and taken Uber? We will do self assist.  Was it difficult or did it take long to get an Uber, what was the cost, and how long was the trip?

Thanks

The trip is about 90 minutes,  but I can't speak to uber from the port as I live locally and have never used one

As mentioned earlier,  4 per day. Use or lose.

But you can go to a bar at the end of each day and get bottles or cans of your favorite beverage and bring them to your room. 

@shaburr not to be negative, but there are activities the occur in the centrum.  4560 will probably be noisy. 

1 hour ago, Shaburr said:

Will I need the view to ground me..

Probably not.  Radiance may be a smaller ship, but she's still large. Therefore, the motion probably won't be as bad as you fear.  Further, being able to see outside doesn't help me very much.

Since this is your first cruise, do come prepared.  Ginger tablets or other motion sickness meds might make sense, although I've never needed them.

53 minutes ago, Shaburr said:

@steverk 4016 isn’t available for 2025 May 16th Northbound. Do I want to be looking at rooms on the left side of the ship then?? I would have guessed that right side is better.

 

much appreciated. This is our first cruise… all suggestions welcome.

 

i did consider last night that perhaps a balcony could be justified as “part of the Alaska experience “. Or possibly ocean view at the least.

 

t

I like 4016 for its location on the ship rather than the view.

It's quiet yet close to forward elevators. The midship elevators and dining room are on the same side so it's convenient for that as well. 

I was watching Don's Family Vacations on YouTube yesterday an he discussed this. According to his recent experience,  the visa application requires a bank statement with at least  $1000 balance and you must be employed.  It wasn't evident how a retiree would apply.

On 12/22/2023 at 2:09 AM, FionaMG said:

I don't understand why the sales tax isn't included on the price ticket up front. I remember buying something once in Fort Lauderdale and looking out what I thought was the correct amount only to have them ring it up at a higher price because of that pesky tax.

I agree it doesn't make much sense.  Buy gasoline and the posted price includes tax. Buy a roast beef sandwich and you pay tax.

10 hours ago, Shaburr said:

Courtesy hold placed on Radiance Northbound May 16th. Eeeeek. Deck 2 (for motion) and Inside to put more $ towards experiences.

If you can afford the upgrade,  room 4016, ocean view window, is a great location and still affordable. 

1 hour ago, GatorCruiser said:

Well I can tell you without equivocation, Royal is making a ton of money off me and my pursuit of diamond plus. Once we hit it , we’ll check out celebrity. 

Keep in mind that diamond, diamond plus and Pinnacle all status match as elite. Therefore,  if you are diamond and want to sail celebrity,  you might as well just do that. There isn't any advantage in waiting for diamond plus. 

I've had similar problems with the website lately.  My advice: wait 15 minutes after canceling.  If it still won't let you book it, call royal. 

Btw I've had excursions that wouldn't canceling, but I received my refund.  Royal insists the reservation is still active. We'll find out when I get on board 

I hope they don't make it into a revenue model.  I like it just the way it is