WAAAYTOOO

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 !

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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 !

I always bring wraps but that is primarily for the casino where temps are normally subzero. To be honest, Dan is more likely to be cold than I am. He almost always brings a hoodie or sweatshirt. The breeze on the open decks in the evenings can be chillish....even in the summertime.

I’m going to suggest that they got really lucky. It is my understanding that the cruise line will ONLY accept a raised seal birth certificate and that even a certified copy (without a raised seal) would not be good enough. Hooray that you friends/neighbors were able sail but I think that there was a far better chance that they would have been denied if they had not gotten the right agent. So glad it worked out.

Don’t you hate how they made the change to include the milkshakes in writing but now that they are reversing that policy it’s nowhere to be found in writing ! This really stinks. Navigator never honored the milkshakes without a cover charge, to my knowledge.

Welcome to the boards !

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Good ol' 35X. Know it well.... We are also equidistant.....but only to DCA and IAD. BWI is waaay out of the way for us. I truly despise IAD so we will always try and use DCA whenever possible. I was just there this morning...biz travel AGAIN this week.

Wish we knew but we don't. I will be on the second cruise after O comes out of dry dock being amped. I am so excited. I hope she isn't delayed for some reason !

Same here. We always travel AA and in order to fly from DCA to FLL we would have to have a connection. No thanks. I will fly a nonstop into MIA and get to PE from there.

Wow. I’ve never seen a CLEAR site where you couldn’t use PreCheck. I agree....that’s the whole point ! Concur about Gobal Entry if you’re going to go to the trouble of getting PreCheck you might as well go just a couple of bucks more and get Global Entry. It’s certainly worth it and you CAN use GE at Port Everglades. It’s a huge time saver but as far as I know PE is the only port that uses GE. PoM claims to have I t but they never have the kiosk manned so for all practical purposes, it does not exist at PoM. Port Everglades does have a Global Entry kiosk.

I’m sorry to hear that they would not include 150 in the BOGO. Frankly, I’m surprised. 150 is not the she-she restaurant it once was. I’m sorry, TBH. It was once a very unique restaurant with a great menu. Now it’s just another specialty restaurant.

So excited for you ! Have a GREAT cruise.