WAAAYTOOO

That’s absolutely amazing ! We just tried it. He is in absolute heaven over this. Thank you….i think !

Wow ! Phones are so smart these days !

Lunch at Giovanni’s Table was as good as always. I love the chicken piccata but I knew that if I got the “normal” order I would either overeat or waste food so I had them bring me a half order. It was perfect. Dan had the seafood linguini which he said was also very good. @Ampurp85 we both got the Casino Welcome Party invites….the first time I’ve ever gotten one. It is 5-6 tonite in the “new” non-smoking casino annex. Dinner at the CK is at 5:30 so we’ll only be able to stay a few minutes but maybe we’ll get lucky and one of us will win $100 free play ! Yippee ! We got full loungers on our double balcony. We’ve stayed in this room category a number of times recently but never had loungers before. Nice touch. Happy to see that the Central Park flora has bounced back from the freeze-out that it suffered in Galveston a couple of years ago. I’m sure most of these plants are replacements rather than survivors but the place looks really nice and you’d never know it had been in such bad shape so recently. Dan is “Mr Plantman” so he takes for-freakin’-ever to walk through CP. He examines every leaf and tries to impress me with the Latin names for each and every species. I’m certain he makes most of that up. I will have to call his bluff and quiz him sometime. Well, it appears to be nap time. I’m certain that as soon as I lie down our attendant will knock to introduce him/herself. That’s my luck with such things.

Forgot to mention this earlier. Until the CK manager got “the word” that they were only honoring the BOGO on night #1, he had seemed completely ok with allowing us to use our BOGO’s on nights #2 and 4, which was our original plan. Of course, all that changed when we found out that they weren’t allowing anything besides night #1. ….so I think Allure must have a somewhat lenient BOGO policy SOMEtimes.

I’m sure glad you said something b/c I was planning on draining the ship’s bank….but now I will leave a little sump’n for ya.

No. The door was not open when we “officially” went to our room (after 1:00 - 2J Central Park double balcony) but when I snuck in to get our Sea Pass cards everyone’s door was wide open. They were still servicing the rooms so I’m sure that’s why. Was first disappointed about the BOGO but since we can eat at the CK every night I won’t really miss the specialty dinners (too much). If we had been excluded from the CK that would have been a whole ‘nuther story.

Let us know how that goes.

This isn’t going to be a comprehensive live blog (just a shorty 4-nighter) but I wanted to pass on a few tidbits. Super quick and easy boarding. On board and sneaking through the hallway to snatch our Sea Pass cards by 10:15. Our normal process was slightly different today since we needed to (1) see if we were going to be able to get into the SL/CK and (2) Make dining rezzies in the CK if the answer to #1 was “yes”. So I went and snagged our Sea Passes and then went directly to the SL. I tried mine first. Nope. Nada. <sad trombone>. Dan said, “Let me try”. It worked ! <huge sigh of relief>. I guess I had allowed my Sea Pass to linger too long in the sensor or something similarly mundane. So the first time for us on an Oasis class ship since turning Pinnacle we have scored ! There are only 25 Pinns on this sailing (per the CK maitre’d) so we have full access and have already made dinner rezzies for all 4 nights. Now for the bad news. They are only honoring BOGO on night #1. Not sure if that’s due to Valentines Day or what….but since we intend to enjoy filet night in the CK tonite, we will not be having any specialty dining this trip (except for Giovanni’s for lunch). Their loss. We’ll just save our money and eat in the CK every night ! Enjoying a wonderfully sedate boarding morning in the SL and will be heading to GT for lunch shortly.

Yes, your TA can be removed but my experience is that it is very difficult to do and if your TA doesn’t want to give up the booking it’s next to impossible to do. For this reason, I would not use the app to purchase the NC open booking if there is a TA attached to your current sailing.

Bottom line….there is no limit to the number of changes you can make on a booking as long as (1) at least one of the original persons on the booking remains on the booking and (2) the sailing has not been closed out, as @MaryCS62 referred to, above. If you change the number of people on a booking, it is subject to repricing at current levels but as long as you started with 2 people and end with 2 people and both of the conditions above are met, you can change names. Having said all of this, I will mention that there was a situation discussed on CC recently where the only original name on the booking was going to be a no-show at the terminal, with the other 2 remaining pax being “new” to the reservation. I thought for sure that this would be a no-no, but a well-respected TA that I know and trust said that even if the last original name on the booking is a no-show, it would be ok….who knows how that story turned out. I sure wouldn’t want to try that one….

I’ll have to go look at this years policy. I can’t recall.

Welp….that explains why I’ve never seen it. We’ve always had the annual policy.

Thank you, @Karannk! Glad to hear that you are home safe....but this 11 days sure went by fast !

I've never seen it before and I've been using Allianz for nearly 6 years.

Are these replacements for the ones you had to cancel b/c of the school calendar change ?

Hogwash !! Do it !!

Add mine to the voices that love the hippo. All of those minis are so adorable. I'm with you, A. I like the minis way more than the big critters. The first time I ever saw a mini was a few years ago when we were Star Class and our attendant was Jose. He claimed to be the original towel animal artist. No idea if it's true, but he is/was very very talented.

Yes....you can do both. Congratulations on making D+. That's a very big milestone ! Now...hold your breath and swim hard. It's a long way to Pinn !!!

...but the Bahamas also has Royal over a barrel b/c of PDCC. PDCC is Royal's golden calf right now and The Bahamas knows it. No way Royal stops going to PDCC

Speaking of the price of over-the-water cabanas...Yesterday I noticed that the OTW cabanas at Labadee on our 6-6 and 8-15 Indy sailings were $799 ! Now that is still waaaytoo much and I would never pay it but it is certainly much less (less than half price) than it has been recently. No joy for OTW cabanas at PDCC.

@pete24, you will have no problem showing up at the terminal early at PoE. The only possible reason for them to adhere to arrival times would be if there is a Coast Guard inspection or some kind of abnormal complication to boarding day. That is rare. Go for it !

I've never gotten an offer that included a European cruise....but we don't get the big offers (instant or monthlies). Alaska ? Yes. But never Europe.

From which port are you leaving ? The answer to your question is almost certainly, "yes" but there are some ports where the arrival time is more strictly enforced.

I should add....that I am following my own advice on this one. I don't have a JS booked but b/c we are very junior level Pinnacles, we are basically in the same boat as the Sea class folks when we sail non-suite (which is more and more common for us these days). I have purchased 3 night packages for our upcoming Wonder and Oasis cruises with hopes of enjoying the CK the other nights and we also have our BOGO meals to use. If we aren't able to get into the CK then there will be much thrashing and gnashing of teeth (kidding) but we will not starve !

Believe it or not, I have never sailed on an Oasis or Quantum class ship in a JS ! ...so I have no experience with this situation at all. I have certainly heard of many people who have and for the most part, dinner in the CK is mixed on O class ships and nearly 100% available (from feedback) on the Q class ships. My advice is this: book a 3 night dining package and plan on eating "out" for 3 nights of your 6 or 8 night cruise. Then, plan on being able to get into the CK the rest of the evenings. I think your chances on OY are really quite good if you get to the CK maitre'd early and make your query as soon as you board. I do certainly understand your concern and it is a gamble for sure....but I think the odds are [ever] in your favor !