WAAAYTOOO

They’re so adorable !  They both look wide awake to me though !

If you have the Unlimited Dining Package then you can eat in one of the specialty restaurants on embarkation day.....or can choose to eat at one of them if you want to pay full lunch price.  There is no Coastal Kitchen on Mariner so it's either the one of the complimentary places or one of the specialty places.

Faintin' goats ?  There's a story there somewhere.....

Just another example of the Star Class hypnosis...they always completely Shangai'ed with activities and overindulgences. 

3 minutes ago, PRebecca said:

Do you all feel this applies for both MDR and My Time? Do you think it makes a difference if you're at a table for 2 and not a shared table? I had heard this also and was hoping my husband might try something new in September but didn't get the feeling it would be ok, I kind of hinted hoping the waiter might encourage trying both entrees we'd been discussing and backed out out on asking when the waiter didn't suggest it. I wondered if it's different for MTD or at a 2 top.

No, Traditional or MTD would make no difference for this.  You can get as much of anything on the menu that you want in either TD or MTD.

Welcome to the blog, S Godzicki !

Yes, Oasis does have WOW bands now.

17 minutes ago, Flacruiser99 said:

Has anyone tried to order a cucumber martini at the Central Park bar?

I believe so but I have never tried.

Some restaurants have bars and some do not.  Some restaurants have bars on one ship but not on another (Wonderland comes to mind, here).  Most of the specialty restaurants do not have integral bars.  For instance, 150 Central Park, known for the cucumber martini, uses the Central Park bar.

1 hour ago, Ike_317 said:

Just got email that Royal Up bid was accepted. Upgraded to Grand Suite from Junior Suite for Feb 20th sailing on Grandeur. Put in the bid about a month ago for $135 over minimum bid of $300. 
 

Received email last night that RC tried to charge the payment card I put down on the bid, but I didnt realize the card expired. The email told me to either contact my original card issuer and RC would try charging again or to change payment method within 24 hours. I updated the card and sure enough about 24 hours after that first email I got a confirmation email of the upgrade. 
 

 

Congratulations !

2 hours ago, JLMoran said:

One thing I remember @WAAAYTOOO saying she did on one of her recent SC cruises out of Cape Liberty, was to print out a large banner (or maybe just print the Set Sail Pass enlarged a bit) so that the words "Star Class" with that purple background are really visible. Then they put that in the dash of their Lyft / Uber so the guy directing traffic saw it and could tell them where to go / to bypass the porters at luggage drop-off.

Wasn’t me but this sounds like a great idea !

It seems obvious to me that this latest position is an attempt to have the video evidence thrown out.  

8 minutes ago, Va4fam said:

Our first GTY Stateroom cabin will be Feb 2021 but I checked anyway to see if we got an assignment.   No luck yet.   Too soon?

Probably too soon still.

The Genies are very aware that most of us aren’t comfortable cutting or bypassing lines.  They are very good at ushering you up front rather than asking you to do it on your own and I am always grateful for that.  Yen Lee, as tiny as she is, was amazing at this maneuver.  She would turn to us and say “stay close to me” and then proceed to bulldoze through a mob of people until she got to the front. Having said that, I am not sure how they handle situations like priority on the Flow Rider.  I’m sure they don’t stand around all day ushering you to the front of the line each time....but with any of the other “single” events, they stat right with you in case there are any “issues”.  I’ve read that the Flow Rider has a separate priority line so I guess that’s how they handle the FR.

Honestly, with the single exception of one ride on the North Star, I have never been aware of anyone being upset that someone (us) was being given priority.  ....and if they are (upset), tough.

I've done it many times.  Completely acceptable and common. No one will think twice about it.

So exciting !!!  Can't wait to hear from you once you are onboard !!

Just now, Baked Alaska said:

@WAAAYTOOO and @dodgestang, if I were to win the bid, would they refund the intern drink special, UDP, and tour as OBC (since we may not find out until less than 2 days prior to sailing?) I can take or leave the Genie. I do like the concierges, but I don't really have an opinion one way or the other on the Genie. 

If your RoyalUp is within 48 hours of sailing, most likely your refunds would be in the form of OBC but you can always cash out that OBC onboard if you do not use it...so essentially, it will be a cash refund.  You would be refunded for any drinks, gratuities and/or food packages that you have already paid for.  Be aware that the tours that you would get from being Star Class is NOT the same as the All Access Tour.  If it were me, I would KEEP the AAT as it is much more comprehensive than anything you will get with Star Class.  Dan and I did an AAT years ago and we still talk about it.  You get to visit all of the areas that the standard tours take you plus the laundry room, the engine room (although you do not get to enter the engine room), some of the crew areas (we saw the crew dining room and their "party" room), the food storage areas, the garbage and recycling areas (waaay more interesting than it sounds !!), the area where they make fresh water and I can't remember where else.  We got to see the area where they store and post the ship's flags.  Some of the best money we've ever spent on a ship's excursion.  We got some aprons and bags that we use on every cruise (the bags, not the aprons !!).  We even got to visit the Captain's quarters but this was not part of the tour.  We just got lucky....

Back to the prepaids and OBC.  This is one of the areas where the Genie would be extremely valuable.  He/she will make sure that everything is properly credited.  You will not have to lift a finger or leave the couch to get this all taken care of.

9 minutes ago, RockerDom31 said:

I apologize in advance if this is a silly question but I don't know too much about the process of publishing ports of call...but just out of curiosity...is it possible that they are reserving a spot for a 3rd or 4th ship, just in case a ship needs to redirect due to inclement weather? Therefore, if all goes well and no itineraries need to change, only 2 ships will be there. A lot of these dates look like it's in the middle of hurricane season.

I wouldn't imagine that this is the case but stranger things have happened !!

2 minutes ago, bossdog421 said:

So i saw a post on reddit's r/cruise (dont go to cruising, different type of board o.0 ) that had progress pics of the beach club area as of 1/19/20. It looked like there was a long way to go for the areas.

 

When i finally got my concierge email i expressed my concern and asked if they knew if they would be ready by Feb 1st. I just got the response back today that they will be ready by Feb 1st!

 

Excited!

Fingers crossed for you !!  We are there on Feb. 11 and I am very worried...but if it's ready for you on Feb 1 it will be WAAAY ready for us on Feb 11.

Not sure that Southwest even uses LV.  Back in "the day" they did not.  Maybe they do now.  At any rate, I wouldn't expect an 11:30 AM flight out of MCO to qualify for LV.  That is waaay too early.  Even in FLL your flight must be after noon and the airport is a stone's throw away from the port.  I wouldn't hold my breath on this one.

I agree with Neesa.  I would not spend another dime for either the ATS or the UPS.  I would, however, for the SLS...especially since you covet the proximity to the CK.  While it seems like a lot of $$, you could try out Star Class for a very good price and see if it's something that you would ever spend a LOT of money on. IMO $1600 to move up to SC is well worth the money.

Also remember that with MTD you don't even need reservations.  You can always just walk up when you are ready to eat without reservations.  There may be a short wait but they will always take you on a walk-in basis if you do not have reservations.  That's one of the things that makes MTD so popular.

6 hours ago, twangster said:

Maybe a class?

Must be

I would avoid the deck immediately below the pool and Windjammer to avoid overhead noise from moving chairs, etc.  I’ve always found Deck 8, midship to be convenient. 

Dan said he paid $35 to rent snorkel gear on Coco Cay last year.  He did it on a walk-up basis....no rezzie or Cruise Planner so apparently there is no savings for pre-purchase.