WAAAYTOOO

Oct 21 ? More than a year from now ?

I seem to recall your Charlie Foxtrot when Allure was cancelled and they moved you over to Liberty (I think ?).

After the last round of cancellations we moved a casino comp cruise from Sept 2020 to Feb 2021. IIRC, Feb 2021 was the furthest out they were allowing cancelled cruises to be pushed. Who knows what they will do next time. Previous to this last round of cancellations, we had lost any casino comps that were cancelled.

I suspect that both Fascination and Imagination will go bye-bye. I was on Triumph years ago but don't remember much about it.

This is where your Genie can be a real asset. My guess is, before COVID, the Genie could definitely have put a special tour together for you. We got a private tour of the Central Park garden with the man who created the concept and has "installed" every Central Park on every Oasis class ship (Laszlo Turos). It was amazing. The problem might be that, due to COVID restrictions, you may not be able to. It would be a shame. This is the kind of thing Genies are best at. We have had all of the varieties of cabanas at Labadee except for the hilltop ones. While the over-the-water cabanas are very nice, I think, for the price, the ones that are on the beach are a better value. I think we've had B1 and B2. I don't know if you have any true beach bunnies in your crowd, but I will warn you that I found the water to be too cool to swim in February. If you are a very hearty group and will be spending a lot of time in the water regardless of water temp, then going for the pricey cabana may be worth it to you. All we ever did in our cabanas was sleep....so we don't get them anymore ! It's a great experience and I recommend you do it at least once. You can then determine whether it was worth the money or not. The Genie will notify you approximately 1 month prior to sailing. At that time, you will tell your Genie what to stock in your room. Once you get on the ship, there is a beverage guy who comes around daily to check your beverage supply and ask you if you want anything different from what you've got and have been getting. They are very diligent. I am a Wonderland hater....so I cannot give you any positive feedback on that restaurant. I thought the food was horrible but the experience is very different. Many people rave about the food. I found it to be so bizarre that I couldn't enjoy it even if I had found it tasteful, which I did not. I hope you have a better experience. I think most SC customers stick with the specialties, but with a 9 night itinerary it might be fun for you to try the MDR. If there is a specific menu that you particularly enjoy (for instance, Dan loves the lamb shank and never misses it) then you could either go to the MDR or have it delivered either to your suite or to whichever specialty restaurant you happen to be going to that night. If you choose to have something from the MDR served in one of the specialty restaurants, it is helpful to let the restaurant know that in advance. If you order from the MDR, someone has to go and fetch that item from the MDR kitchen....and if they know in advance that they need to do that, they can be prepared.

Interesting that they don't name the ships. Why would you make a big announcement about ships leaving your fleet and then not tell us which ships they are !?!

I can't answer for Anthem, but I can tell you that for Oasis (Dec. 6), this is what shows up when I look at booking a show: Now, granted....this is a sailing that is almost certainly going to be cancelled...so that may have something to do with it. ...but ordinarily, I would have thought that entertainment venues would be showing up by now. There's really no dependable rule about when entertainment opens up for reservations. Sometimes it's 200 days out and sometimes it's 60 or less. You just never know.

Wow ! Thanks for the information. I had no idea AirBnB would do long term rentals. I would never have thought of it !!

Good point. Hopefully the hysteria is over by then !

Don't be afraid to think out of the box. For instance, if you wanted to have food delivered to your party while you are at Vintages - you can do that. Your Genie will need advance notice for such a thing but it can be done. Officially, you can only have food delivery from one specialty restaurant at the time. So, if you are having surf and turf from Chops delivered to your suite, you would not expect to also order lasagna for someone from Jamie's. Would they do it if you asked ? Probably....but it's quite a lot of coordination to deal with multiple restaurants for delivery at the same time and so they generally ask you to stick to 1 restaurant at the time. Don't be afraid to ask the Genie to coordinate a party for you !! Again...advance notice required, but if you want to have some of your new best friends over for drinks and a snack, they will do that. The thing to remember is....they don't care who is visiting and/or participating in your events. I've had as many as 50 people over during a cabin crawl and the Genie arranged food and drinks for everyone. The Genie does not stay at your events and help or participate. They do not serve. The coordinate and supervise. That's it. They will arrange for room service to bring everything, including glasses, plates, napkins, silverware, food, drinks and they will make sure everything is cleaned up. It's up to you to tip the folks when they bring deliveries and come to clean up. Back to emarkbation day. Some people like to have a special snack delivered on boarding day. They can do that...but generally, it is too much to ask for a full meal to be delivered at boarding. Later, once the restaurants have opened ? Absolutely...but it's not really possible to have a full meal delivered when the restaurants are not in full operation. The "rule of thumb" for food delivery...you can have anything delivered to your suite from any restaurant that is open. In other words, don't expect lobster at midnight. IMO, the best meals to have delivered are breakfast. Dinner is great, but I prefer eating big meals at the restaurants. There's something about having breakfast outside that is so special. Regarding room service of ANY kind (even if you're not Star Class) ask for EVERYthing that you want. They will bring you exactly what you ask for. If you want grape jelly, be sure and tell them that. Butter for your bread ? Yep....have to ask for that. Bread with your meal ? They will not automatically bring it unless you ask for it.

Congratulations, Mike. You have made an excellent choice. Star Class on Anthem is very special. You have priority access to many unique actives and events. 1. In-suite dining from the specialty restaurants (or the MDR or Coastal Kitchen) is a unique experience that only Star Class enjoys (specialty, that is). Take advantage of it as often as you like. You’re paying for that privilege. Enjoy it. Speaking of “paying”, I think you got a GREAT deal, if you are paying $21K for 9 nights in the RLS. Waaay to go ! 2. My best advice to you, regarding arrival at the port is the same as I give to every new SC passenger. DO NOT SURRENDER YOUR LUGGAGE to ANYone except the SC greeter ! It can be difficult to accomplish. Everyone will be trying to grab your luggage from you but ignore them and go straight to the purple Star Class banner. Even after you get there, someone will most likely try and take your bags, claiming that they are SC porters. IGNORE them all. The greeter will give you directions once you check in. Make sure your Genie is aware, ahead of time, that you expect your luggage to be taken upstairs. If you don’t do that, your luggage will be left downstairs and it is a lot of work to lug them up those stairs. Unfortunately, the suites waiting area at Bayonne is pretty lame, but your Genie will be down to meet you and take you onboard within a few minutes. 3. The gratuities are included except for the Genie, as you already noted. Whether or not you tip in addition to that is entirely a personal choice. We always tip our room attendants (you will have at least 2) and we always tip for meals but it is a personal choice to do so. It is pretty much expected that anything delivered to your suite is worthy of an appreciation (tip). 4. Book nothing in advance. Trust me on this one. The only exception to this would be a cabana at Coco Cay, since the Genies no longer control those, but for Labadee, your Genie will have priority access to cabanas. You’ll be fine. If there are any excursions that you really want, I would reserve those in advance just to prevent them from selling out. It’s rare, but it does happen. For dining, shows and other events...no need. Your Genie will take care of it for you. I promise. 5. Star Class has a super DBP. It includes everything that the normal drink package includes plus unlimited water, soft drinks, juice and beer in your suite. You can get as much as you want delivered and replenished. Wine costs extra and <bottled> hard liquor is very limited. Interestingly, you can have hard liquor drinks delivered to your suite but they strongly discourage bottles of liquor. I can be done but it’s not easy and it’s not cheap. The big difference for the UDP is the fact that for SC, it includes all of the “add-ons” that are usually up charges, such as the lobster at Chops. ...and then of course, the fact that you can have specialty dining delivered to your suite. If you choose to do Chef's Table (and I highly recommend it), there is a $25 PP charge for the upgraded wines. Other than that, it’s all included. More later...

I received an email offer today for several casino comps for Alaska (May and June 2021). I don't recall ever seeing a casino comp offer for Alaska - ever. We booked 23 May 2021 Serenade. We were lucky enough to snag the 2 BR Ocean View Suite (no balcony). So looking forward to this one !!

Actually, I have never gotten notifications from this site. I guess I didn't even realize you could get notifications !!

Not at all ! You aren't raining on anything ! "Sell now while everything is moving" IS our strategy and I think it will be successful. We are "de-cluttering" now and beginning to pack up...but will save the heavy duty packing for after the first week. If we are lucky, we will sell quickly and then the packing will REALLY commence. We've decided to go back down to FL for a short visit to find a place down there to rent (if the house sells soon) and to attend our "options/upgrades" meeting in person. That's where we choose all of the upgrades that we will get on the house and from what I understand, they are marathon events. I just can't see doing that remotely. There is a brand spankin' new apartment complex right next to the development so that would be our first option for somewhere to live until the new house is ready.

Thanks, Joe. That is what we keep hearing. I’ll let everyone know if it’s true very soon !

So, by way of an update...we listed our VA home today. It will go “live” on 9-23. I guess we will start packing ASAP and do some “de-cluttering” to prepare for showing. No idea where we will go if it sells quickly. I guess we’ll be homeless...quite literally. The idea of moving into an apartment is very unappealing. I guess I’ll start looking into temp living options. Ugh. The fun begins....

Someone else will have to answer that one. I’ve never been on Enchantment

That’s awesome ! @Lovetocruise2002is on this one, too !

Are you on this same cruise or on this itinerary a different sailing ?

This is slightly different subject but somewhat aligned, so I will use this opportunity to brag on my wondiferous Travel Agent yet one more time !!! @michelle has once again proven that she is the TOP TOP of the heap (no disrespect intended. It's a FABULOUS heap) for customer service - especially since she has been working for 6 months on a DAILY (and often more than that) basis for us for $-0-... I have read, from time-to-time, people ask whether or not they can "swap" cabins with a family member or another reservation. It's not a super common question, but I have heard it asked before. @michelledid it for me yesterday. Of course, the primary requirement is that she (the TA) must hold control of both sets of reservations. If the other party had been booked with someone else, she would not have been able to affect the swap. I learned that someone in our unofficial group cruise wanted to switch their suite to a different one that had suddenly become available and I desperately wanted THEIR suite. I knew that if I let that suite go back into general inventory, my chances of snagging it were minimal. So, when I found out that Michelle was going to be making a change on their reservation, I asked if there was any way she could immediately change OUR reservation so that we could jump into their recently-vacated suite without having to put that suite back into inventory, first. To be completely honest, I fully expected to hear "no", I cannot do it that way. But, as usual, I was wrong. Within minutes, Michelle had transferred the other reservation to the suite that they wanted and moved Dan and I into their vacated suite. I had to pay the prevailing rate, of course, but I didn't care. I was so happy to get the suite we really wanted...and the other couple got the suite they really wanted. Win-win. Here's the real lesson in this story (and why this is slightly aligned with the thread topic). The Star Loft Suite that we vacated never came back into inventory on the website. Michelle said that there was probably someone on a waitlist for a SLS so that when we vacated it, they snatched it up automatically. THAT is precisely what would have happened to the other suite had Michelle not been there to affect the swap herself. It would have never shown as "available" and I would not have been able to snag it. So kudos to @michelleAGAIN and to all of the other TAs who are working so hard for nothing right now.

Wow ! That IS high.

No such thing. That's what the PVSA is all about !!!

I can answer that - at least for the Suites. I recently checked in for an Oasis Cruise (Dec 6, 2020) and the earliest time for boarding was 2:30....so no earlier slots for Suites - at least, not on my Dec 2020 cruise. I am not Star Class on that cruise so they may make exceptions for SC but not regular Suites, as far as I can tell. We’re in an Owner’s Suite on this one (and the following cruise, Dec 13).

I suspect that it’s a combination of many factors....more time for disembarking the previous passengers (realizing that we this won’t be a concern on the first cruise of restarting), more time needed for cleaning and social distancing.

Thanks for the correction. I didn't catch that.