WAAAYTOOO

According to CruisingPower, all of the Freedom early July bookings are closed. The first sailing showing availability is 23 July. Switching ships maybe ?

Welcome, Nate. Glad to have a new member on the boards !

We are somewhat ambivalent on 150 CP. Back when the restaurant began it was extraordinary. We loved the "chef's table" feel and the seasoned salts and bread were yuuuuummmy. Since they went to a static menu we are less impressed. They have discontinued the salts which was bad enough but the menu is just not appealing to me. I think I'm more of a "simple" eater and the 150 CP menu is a bit fu-fu for me. We tried the roasted tenderloin for 2 but it tasted like eye of round to me - tough and tasteless. I guess I'm just a filet girl. When we have the UDP (which is always) we will still go to 150 but it's never one of the dinner highlights....or at least, hasn't been in the recent past.

What a sweet family !

Everything down here is wonderful. I just love living in FL. The house is moving forward. The outside is mostly completed (we now have a roof with tiles !!). It's a big mystery what comes next. We have always been able to predict what their next move on the house would be, based on how they have completed houses that are a bit ahead of us in the construction process....but once the construction moves indoors, I have absolutely no idea how the process works. So we will be learning daily what they are doing (we go over every day...sometimes more than once !!). We anticipate that we will be closing and moving in probably in September. Our original completion date was projected to be Sept/Oct so they are pretty much on target, as far as we can tell. Job is great, too. I was in DC last week but that has been the only trip I have made in 6 months. Dan is still working full time and received full telework approval so things couldn't be any better with our relocation "plan". He will be able to continue to work full time right up until our cruises begin encroaching on his leave allocation. Once that happens, his options are to retire or do what I did and become a part time contractor. We will not worry about that until it happens. We still haven't gone on a cruise ! I think it will happen in July but nothing is certain. It seems things change daily and b/c we are not getting vaccinated, that complicates our situation even more than most peoples'. We will go with the flow. Whatever happens, happens.

Ok. Since I made that last post they HAVE changed the itinerary in CP. It now shows the new itin. Looks like it is officially changed. UGH. Disappointed (Curacao is my favorite Caribbean destination !) but we will probably stay on this one. If they had shortened the itin from 8 to 7 days we definitely would have cancelled but since it's still an 8 day, we will most likely stick it out.

Following

UGH. Sorry to hear this news, Joe....both the news that you are not healing as well as you might and also that you will have to forego cruising for a bit. Double whammy. Very, very sorry to hear it.

Prodigal daughter returns. All is well ! Just trying to get ready to cruise again. We are on 7-17 and 7-25 Indy→Odyssey and then 8-21-21 Symphony. Can't wait !!

I am booked on this sailing. I have not received any email about an itinerary change. As of right now, the itin is still exactly the same one it has always been. If they plan to change it, I don't know about it yet.

I sure hope your armor is in place, knowing what arrows will be coming your way very soon. I find solace knowing that at least, in a few cases, the scales are being lifted from some peoples’ eyes. Not to worry though. I’m sure this thread will be locked down soon enough or your post erased permanently. Thanks for having the courage to post it though. Good luck.

If I had a Twitter account (which I don't) I would tweet a "LIKE".

I completely agree that the fact that Corporate America is not traveling for business as much as in the past is having an impact on the domestic airline industry, but I think the fact that the US Government is not flying for routine business is having an even BIGGER impact. Dan and I both used to travel at least a couple of times a month for one reason or another and neither of us have gone on a [government-related] business trip for over a year. That's a HUGE change. Don't get me wrong....I think it's a good thing. IMO most government travel is completely arbitrary and I think it's a good thing that they've cut most of it out. Some things cannot be done virtually (safety evaluations, for instance) but most meetings have, in the past, been nothing more than boondoggles to give government employees AND contractors an excuse to travel on the government $$.

ruh-roh

I do federal-level government risk acceptance (or, more often NON-acceptance) for a living and I know OH TOO WELL the "not my responsibility" mentality. The government is all-too-quick to implement all manner of regulations and controls and then once the controls and mitigations are verified and validated, nobody will touch the "residual" risk (an outdated term that we no longer use...but still descriptive enough for our purposes) that remains. There is no such thing as a "safe" operation or process. There will always be some level of risk remaining, even after everything that can be done, has been done. Everyone wants to be in charge when the risk is low or when it's time to bring the hammer down somewhere, but when it's time to accept responsibility, the remaining risk is an orphan. This hot potato will be thrown around for a while until someone is left without a chair (yes, I realize that's a mixed metaphor).

No. No confidence at all.

Wow, that really looks awesome ! It's going to be beautiful once they're done. Be careful. We don't want to hear about any a$$-bustin' goin' down in Tejas.

I have sailed NCL a few times and I think they are just fine. We decided to stick with Royal until we make Pinnacle but honestly, I would go on a NCL without hesitation. Just like Carnival...I would recommend that you stick with the newer ships, but NCL is a good cruise line, IMO. BTW, I hate hearing that August is a no-go. That SUCKS !

The obvious advantage to booking the 2 BR GS is that you would qualify for all of the Suite benefits. That includes access to the Concierge/Suites Lounge, breakfast in one of the specialty restaurants, services of the Concierge, invitation to the ship tours (assuming they still offer those after the re-start), reserved seating in the theaters. Are those things worth $2K ? Personally, I think you will have more room, overall, with the 2 JS. The second bedroom in the 2 BR GS is really the size of an inside room - very small....but 2 full JS would be LOTS of room....and if they were connecting, it would be like having 2 giant suites ! This would be a tough one for me. You know I love the suite perks...but to be completely honest, I'm not sure that the suite perks on a non-O/Q are worth $2K.

@michellealways checks prices when a new sale is announced BUT she does not, nor do I expect her to check prices daily. That is MY job and I do it every. single. day. If I happen to catch a price drop (this has not happened for some time, BTW) I notify her immediately and she looks into it. I have never ever been charged a single dime in fees from MEI. Never. Ever....and I've been using them for nearly 10 years.

Yes, once you are "out" of a particular reservation, you have no further obligation (not that you ever really did...but just the whole "honor code" thing) to that TA. Any FCC's that you may have garnered belong to YOU, not the agency. The only issue (at least, it has been an issue for us) is that you may not have gotten all of the info on all of your FCC's. In our case, the emails with FCC info have only ever gone to our TA...she then tells us about it. So once you are confident that you have all of the FCC values and their certificate numbers, you will be good-to-go. ...and whether they will admit it to you or not, the Royal agents CAN access all of the information regarding FCC's if they are willing to do that. Last week we managed to find an incredible Club Royale agent (Jean) who took almost an hour with us to locate and quantify every single FCC we have. I need to touch base with @michelleto make sure that she and I have the same info. So it's worth a try....if you want to try and call Royal and see if you can get a good agent who will help you locate and document all of your FCC's. Then you will have no need to interact with the old Agency at all.

I would definitely try someone new for this 2023 cruise. Your old TA has had plenty of time to act and she didn’t. Try someone new for this one and then figure out if you want to continue with your new agent or go back to your old one. As @AshleyDilloand @Lovetocruise2002said, the FCCs are yours - you can place them anywhere you want. There’s no harm in trying something new. I recommend Michelle Cunningham at MEI. [email protected]. All of the MEI agents are very good. Best of luck !

Izumi is almost always open on sea days but I can’t remember if that is true for hibachi. I don’t think hibachi is usually open for lunch. Even if you have the UDP, if you order anything at hibachi that is not on the hibachi menu, you will be charged. For example if you want sushi when you are at hibachi you have to pay for that. The only exception is if you are Star Class. If you are SC you can order anything you want at no extra charge.

Looks like the sale is being finalized Royal Caribbean completes the sale of its Azamara brand to Sycamore Partners for $201M | Seeking Alpha

Millennium is one of their older ships, isn't it ?