WAAAYTOOO

I haven't heard of this before. That's pretty cool ! We are lucky. Our CBP location for GE is at Dulles Airport which is only a 20 min drive for us. I do feel for those people who do not an office nearby.

OH YIPPEEE ! I am so happy to be of help ! GOOD LUCK !

What a great question ! I am a big time Coke snob...and I have the answer !! LOL If you have the refreshment or soda package, you are technically only entitled to "fountain" drinks. If you have Deluxe Drinks Package, you are entitled to EITHER fountain drinks or canned drinks. This is one reason why we always get the DDP. I cannot stand fountain Cokes. In the past, before they started including canned Cokes in the DDP, I often requested canned Cokes even though they were not obliged to give me one. So sometimes I think they will give you a can if you ask for one. If they decline to give you a can I really don't think you have any recourse..but it never hurts to ask....and give them a $1 tip. ? Welcome to the Boards, BTW !

A couple of years ago we had an inside room on Deck 4 on Grandeur RIGHT BEHIND the R Bar. I thought for sure it would be noisy but it WASN'T at all. Other than being small it was a great room in a great location.

Wouldn't it be nice if something comes up that DOES top it !

WOW !! That sounds great ! have a GREAT cruise ! Talk to you when you get back !

..but didn't Twangster say that they wouldn't give him the shakes even if he DID pay the cover charge ? Maybe I read it wrong...

Even if your cruise is paid in full you can still take advantage of a price drop as LONG as the final payment date has not passed. If it is past final payment date, as Ashley said, upgrading is really your only option as you would have to pay a rebooking penalty which would almost certainly be more than any price difference.

Thanks, Matt. You are AWESOME !!

We are, too. In fact, I booked the Feb 2020 JUST so that everything WOULD be done but now I'm beginning to worry !

Freedom is the only one that is that low. The rest are $47, $49 and $52. UGH. I did buy the one for $49 but I'm not paying $52. That is for a 5 night on Brilliance right before our next Star Class on Oasis. I will just wait until we get on Oasis to drink anything !

This is SOOO smart. I never remember to do that !

You cannot combine a free cruise with a certificate of any kind. But you CAN upgrade your free cruise by simply paying the upgrade fee, which is very reasonable, as a rule. If you are both Prime, you can actually combine your annual "free" Prime cruises to upgrade from your free inside to an ocean view BUT combining your cruises in that way is very inefficient, IMO since they will only upgrade you 1 category. If, instead, you chose to use both of your free cruises on B2B cruises (or any 2 cruises even if they aren't B2B) then you get the full benefit of both cruises. We recently did that with our free casino cruises. I booked each of us a cruise on Anthem, for 2 consecutive weeks in Feb. So we basically got a free 16 day cruise. Well....it would have been free if I had not upgraded both of them to Star Class...You definitely get more benefit from taking both of the cruises individually than you do by combining them but you CAN combine them if you choose to do that. Keep in mind that your "free" cruise is based on the lowest category inside room on the ship....

Our upcoming Freedom cruise is offering the DBP for $44. It had been as high as $52 but has come down with the latest sale and pretty much stayed there. We snagged it immediately, of course...

You cannot combine casino discounts. If you are starting off with a "free" cruise (whether it comes in the form of a certificate, an email offer, a snail mail offer or your free annual Prime level cruise) you cannot add anything more to it - so you cannot combine a certificate and a free cruise offer. What you CAN do, however, is upgrade a free offer (no certificate needed). So if you are awarded a cruise for an inside room (or use your annual Prime free cruise), you can upgrade that offer to any level of stateroom that you want - all the way up to Star Class (assuming it is available, of course). You will just pay the upgrade fee. I have found that the upgrade fee is very reasonable. As a general rule, you will end up paying about 40% of the already discounted price. So if you are looking at a Grand Suite that is BOGO30 and the net price on that suite (after deducting the 30% off) is $5K, you can expect to pay $2K for that upgrade. I'm totally making up those numbers, but you will generally end up paying 40% of the net, already discounted price. There is only one way (that I know of) to combine casino discounts and that is if you and your spouse BOTH receive a certificate on a cruise, you CAN combine those certificates towards a new booking but the value of those certificates will be subtracted from the retail price of the cruise so it's rarely as valuable as a "free" cruise certificate that is upgraded. That is why we just toss all of our "$$ off" certificates into the garbage. They are basically useless. Now, the offers for free cruises ? That's a different matter... AND if you upgrade to a JS or higher, you will still get the double C&A points !

??

Should have no problem asking the Concierge to make reservations for anyone in your party.

We always tip as we go. We always leave a cash tip for every meal.

...but aren’t some reporting that the shakes aren’t included even if they DO eat?

I can only provide the experience that I have had. We almost always purchase the UDP and so far, we have always been able to use it on embarkation day at Chops or Jamie's/Giovanni's, depending upon which restaurant is open on that day. Traditionally, only 1 specialty restaurant had been open for embarkation but with the advent of The Key, most ships seem to be having both Chops and whatever Italian variety restaurant they have on that ship, open.. We've never been turned away BUT we will be doing our first non-Star Class cruise with the UDP next month on Freedom. I really don't know what to expect ! Luckily we are in a full suite so I intend to ask the Concierge to make a reservation for us. For those who do not have access to the Concierge, I fear it could be a problem. I think it will just be a wait and see kind of thing. Up until now we have always been able to eat at a specialty restaurant on embarkation day using our UDP. That's really all of the intel I can offer ! BTW, welcome to the Boards !

YES ! And on Anthem, it was very good although they had that thick nasty gravy instead of au jus.

I think Uber or Lyft would be your best option. Enjoy your cruises !

There is a free tram that will take you all around the dockyard. That’s good for a morning or afternoon. It also stops by the beach.

Agreed on the international flights. That’s about the only time you will find me anywhere near Dulles.

Ooooouch !