smokeybandit

Happy "You get to print your luggage tags in May" to me.

2 hours ago, TexanTwoStep said:

Hey Matt,

We're staying at the Hampton Inn across from the port.  Is it feasible to walk from there or do we need to set up transportation?  We're able-bodied people

It'd be a 2.5-ish mile walk on the shoulder of a busy road with no sidewalk or other pedestrian access.   So you are better off with transportation.

1 hour ago, Andy & Sheryl Unwin said:

For what it's worth, I was in the exact same situation when Marriott bought out Sheraton and Starwood Brands some years ago. I had status with all three.

The points earned for each program simply merged into one, Marriott. Thereafter, based on total points, I was given a new Tier. Based on an accumulated 941 nights spent in those brands, I went from what was then mere platinum at Marriott, to a "Lifetime Titanium Status."

There is no telling if that's what will happen here, but it's fun to speculate. Sheryl and I have not yet cruised on Celebrity; we prefer to stick with one line and have cruised only on Royal Caribbean ships. Perhaps if things merge in a way we feel is beneficial to us, that may change, at least once.

 

 

The difference there is Marriott and Starwood were merging into a single entity. 

34 minutes ago, TheoneandonlyMICAH said:

While we have a 11:30 time to check in, we also have a suite. So it became, what time did we really want to get there.

I'm in a suite and plan to get there between 10-10:30, and expect there to be 100+ people already inside.

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/hideaway-beach-adults-only

Unless it's a bucket list thing that you really only have one chance at (say, Panama Canal or Greenland), cruising is a lot less stressful when you just prepare yourself that port changes may happen and mentally adjust when they do.

 

44 minutes ago, msgeueke said:

We are on the WOS cruise and very disappointed with the itinerary change from Puerto Rico. This stop was one of the main reasons we selected this cruise. We have travel insurance on the cruise and probably would have cancelled this one and booked a new one. My question is why did RC wait to announce this change if they knew there was port damage from weeks ago?? Doesn’t add up. If they knew we couldn’t dock there, why did they wait?

Because maybe San Juan ensured them it'd be fixed by now and yet it wasn't.

Strange thing (to me at least) is how much the crew likes ducks. It seems each cruise some crew member makes a comment about our stash of ducks on the table. I guess maybe they're a distraction from the every day routine.

One room service person even asked to take a picture of the stash.

We keep them until the next cruise, then re-hide. We found one once that the finders kept writing the duck's next cruise on the label and when we found it it was on cruise #4.  Almost to Diamond Duck status.

And yes you can use an existing photo. It may reject the photo the first time (mine always is) but try it a second time and it works.

Just note that other than formal night (I'd guess 50-70% participate) and to a lesser degree Caribbean night (25-35%?), the dining attire themes are largely ignored or people simply don't even know.

This is huge.  The elevator software is by far the most inefficient thing on a cruise ship.

8 minutes ago, steverk said:

I just left the Captain's Corner and asked about Project Discovery. 

I was surprised when the Captain deferred to the hotel director for an answer, but the answer was interesting. 

1. There was a large brainstorming meeting held in January.  It included hotel directors, Captains and cruise directors. He stopped short of saying he attended, but it is my impression that he did.

2. The ship being discussed would be a little smaller than Voyager class. "About 120 to 130 thousand tons"

3. We should expect to be sailing on this class in 2029.

Based on this, I am even more convinced there will be some kind of announcement before the end of 2024.

On the Adventure captain's corner, he said it was announced internally at some captain's forum they had recently.

38 minutes ago, twangster said:

The two programs are running the same version of the web platform in the background and clearly share a password database at a minimum. 

And they just upgraded it, causing the entire population of C&A to change their password (which makes sense) and didn't email blast the population as to what was happening (which doesn't make sense)

8 minutes ago, Geezer Of The Seas said:

Except on Wonder in Port Canaveral last April when we encountered a contract terminal employee who threatened to call security over if we didn't get in the 'correct' boarding queue, despite showing him boarding docs/Set Sail Passes indicating we were in a Jr. suite.

He must also have been an HOA president..........................

Never tell boarding people you're in a Jr Suite. Just simply, a suite. Especially since your setsail pass says "suite" on it.

Jr Suites can board in the suite line on all ships.

14 minutes ago, WorldCruiser5 said:

First time on Royal, trying to find good cruise line for world cruising. Folks chose cruises in large part on itineraries. To just drop the D.R. is unconscionable. We are now on the exact cruise we just took in January and would otherwise not have booked. Royal has now delivered on 25% of the destinations we purchased. 

They dropped DR due to geography with the replacement ports. Plus DR is pretty overrated as a cruise port.

2 hours ago, JGuz12 said:

I’ve been trying to find information on this and can’t find any information anywhere. Not too happy about the change, really put a damper on our honeymoon. We were very excited to go to PR & DR.

Honestly, I think St Maarten and St Thomas are better.

In the end I think we're mind melding a lot of changes that the RC IT system simply isn't prepared to handle.

An MSC ship apparently caused some damage to that pier a couple weeks ago making it not possible for an Oasis class ship to dock there.

Looks like it's existing pier damage from an MSC ship a couple weeks ago. But Oasis ships can only use that pier.

But I'd rather do the new itinerary than PR/DR

3 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

We’re on Freedom now and the main pool was shut down before we even got out of port due to a child “throwing up” in the pool.  I know this isn’t the same as potty issues but the result is the same. 

We had that on one of those circulating whirlpools once. We fortunately got out seconds before a girl spewed all through it.

We have one booked for Star in 2026. I know I'll miss the ocean view, but, it was a "decent" price to experience an Icon class ship.

I still think merging programs is an effort to get people chasing C&A points on the over full ships on RC onto not as full ships on Celebrity.