Peter D

All the benefits with Platinum tier are already loaded to your account when you board, but you will want to manage the usage.  You would want to tell the waiter or bartender when to use them (50% ones and 10% one) each time and if you are a wine drinker, that would be the best value rather than beer and soda.  You'd want to do the same for the one-time coffee beverage discount.   The casino $4 free play is also automatically applied to your account.

Journey band, DSB, is scheduled to be on Ovation of the Seas sailing starting today (21Sep2023).

52 minutes ago, RCARD said:

On recent 7 day cruise I pre purchased discounted internet package for entire voyage.  

My wife then used her D+ free days for day 2 & 3, and ....

We then added a second device on to my package for days 4-7, using my D+ free days.  

Based on the onboard ZOOM desk rep, this was the best way to do it.  

Seemed to work out for us

Thanks for sharing this approach.  I like the idea that you were able to apply your Diamond+ 2 days as a discount on a 2nd device essentially giving your wife six days of service for price of 2 discounted days.  I am definitely going to look into this for my next sailing.

Royal is still doing the tribute bands on the ships, but it is difficult to determine if one will be on any given sailing.  They are definitely not on every sailing.  You can keep an eye on the websites of the usual suspects to see if they mention any upcoming sailings.

Journey  https://dsbband.com/

Led Zeppelin  https://noquarterlegacyband.com/no-quarter-international-led-zeppelin-tribute  and  https://www.zepagain.com/

Aerosmith  https://www.aeromyth.com/    (recently on Oasis out of Bayonne in June)

Bon Jovi  https://slipperywhenwetband.com/

Van Halen https://fanhalen.com/

There are probably others that I cannot recall, but these are the ones I keep an eye on.  If any can think of others, perhaps we can keep a 'definitive list' 

Coco Beach Club always felt like the 'adult only' venue as child pricing for beach club is pretty high.  I also assumed this was going to be a 'solarium' on Coco Cay.  I have not interest in paying for it.  Maybe someday it will be complimentary, if not, I'll find other options for my Perfect Day .

On 9/11/2023 at 10:13 PM, Bearlypat said:

Looking to get puzzle room and the free Ifly along with laser tag. Puzzle room is sold out on app but I can’t believe everyone will show up for their reservation when we are in port.

When I was on ship for 21Aug sailing, the puzzle room was never available through the app and I never actually saw opportunity to do so.  For that matter, I am not even sure they ever actually happened... Free IFly reservations book quickly onboard.  Laser tag was very accessible.  We booked one session and participated as standby in others.  

19 minutes ago, Ampurp85 said:

This would be responding to your post. 

I was replying in general.

The CP price quoted is still based on a discounted price and could be based on itinerary and length of cruises. My understanding is that Alaskan cruises have cheaper per day internet as a whole. I used my D/prime discount in Jan before the price increased and it was $27.99 a day on Grandeur for a 5N. My last sailing as D in April the internet was $29.99 onboard.

I think you are right that cost is based on itinerary and length of cruise.  I just looked at the pricing for 3N and 4N Utopia in August 2024.  Cruise planner lists $23.99 ($30.99) per day.  I believe the $30.99 accurately represents the onboard cost and if so, the Diamond/Diamond plus onboard discount is better deal for a single device plan.  I guess at the end of the day, it is a gamble against onboard pricing.

1 hour ago, Ampurp85 said:

The price for internet onboard is $29.99. So, the only way it actually works out is if your cruise is 4 nights or less. The price in CP will always be better unless you are D/D+ and also prime in the casino. 

I am not sure if you were directly responding to my post regarding onboard cost or if we just responded to topic at the same time, but my example came from my August 7 night Quantum sailing as well as my upcoming Oct Wonder CP offer $19.99 ($25.99).  I have not ever personally seen onboard at $29.99, but frequently see $25.99.  But yes, at 29.99, YMMV, even then, I think D+ is still better off getting onboard.

Couple other things to consider, the onboard Diamond and D+ discounts apply to each guest but it cannot stacked in a single purchase.

Also, if you are willing to give up internet access on day 1, you can purchase the plan on day 2 for 6 nights but with discount is essentially 5 nights.  For example:

cruise plan for 1 device $19.99x7=$139.93

day 2 with one day Diamond discount:

$25.99x6=$155.94-$25.99=$129.95

In this scenario, you are only giving up internet from sail away to midnight.  With D+ two day discount, this is the approach I do every cruise.

25 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

Did you scroll down past the wine lists? I can see menus for Wonder's October 29th sailing (assuming I did the math right and that's your sailing).

I can even see them for my March cruise (FWIW, Wonder's menu order barely changes, if at all.)

No I did not.  I figured it was broken and didn't look any further down.  Thanks!

It must be something with the app updates.  I am 43 days out of Wonder and all it is showing me is the same wine lists for every day under deck 3, 4, 5 and my time menu.  Hopefully as we get closer, it will update.

You can definitely cast to the Odyssey TVs.  I have streamed Netflix to it from phone in the past and it generally works well.  I am not sure if you can use fire sticks or not; nor am I sure if you can do any of it without paying for ship wifi.

As stateroom services change to once per day rather than twice per day, I find it harder to justify any 'above and beyond' gratuity, but we do usually give a few extra bucks as a direct tip to the stateroom attendant for job well done.

I am booked on it in October 2024 with a 'not terrible' price.  The aft of the ship does give me the 'avoid at all costs' vibe, but I am certainly excited to check it out.  I think it is going to be a fun ship to be on.

1 hour ago, Linda R said:

On Odyssey this year they held it in the Sports Plex, inside.  You basically had to stand the whole show.  I was not happy.   And most of the people were watching from the second level that made it near impossible to come down to join a quest.  

We were on the Odyssey in May and they didn't even do the Quest.  I would agree that Sportplex is not great location for it.  270 seems a better venue on Quantum class ships.  I agree with others that Studio B is the best location.  We saw it once on Serenade is the back lounge (Safari?).  It was so bad in that location that we actually left because you could not see anything going on unless you were sitting immediately around the dance floor.

We did this cruise in May 2023.  If you are cheap like me, you can also walk into the port no problem (about 1 mile from Forte Michelangelo).  There were walkways all the way into the port.  At that time, Odyssey was third ship in, but from not a bad walk at all. 

We took the train to and from Civitavecchia. and walked both ways to the port (about 1.5 miles from port to train).  It was reasonably priced both ways.  Outgoing was no problem but the return trip to Rome was crowded.  If you are taking the train back to Rome, I would recommend buying your return trip ticket early, because the train station is super crowded for the return and trains sell out.

If I were going to book flights from EWR to YVR and SEA to EWR.  I would try to book airline flights refundable if possible or I'd try to book with airlines that allow you to cancel without fee and funds go to a 'travel bank'.   The problem with travel bank is that you would have to use them on a future flight (probably on Air Canada).  Either way, you are able to take advantage of price drops.

Alternatively, if you do not mind driving, you could fly from EWR to SEA, rent a car, and drive (approximately 2.5 to 3 hours) to Vancouver.  I did this last year and it wasn't a bad drive at all.  The advantage with this is you are able fly 'roundtrip' only on domestic flights and if you end up doing the whole 'travel bank' thing, it easier to use.  The cost of the rental car needs to be figured into your budget, but it's an option. 

As for booking the flights now or not, it's really impossible to predict if flights will go up or down.  You might find though that not all airlines have posted their flights to these locations right now, so as more flights become available, the price will definitely react. According to Expedia, flights on May 8th at 6pm is Air Canada only.  So the other major carriers have not yet published flights.

Hope this helps.

2 hours ago, jbrinkm said:

Did they take you to the ferry port? 

Yes.  I believe that was it.  When we were ready to go back to the ship, we had to wait for the ferry to dock... unload everyone and everything.... reload... and leave.   Still was better than the other tendering port.

In my opinion, the easiest thing to do is take the water taxi over to Philipsburg.  The beach there is decent and there are plenty of places to eat and shop.  The potential downside is the cost of the beach chairs (but not needed if you like) and the beach vendors (people peddling stuff, but will take no for answer).

I'd also recommend the 'Yoda guy' museum in Philipsburg as alternative to beach day, but it might not be that interesting to 3 and 5 year old.

We just got off Odyssey in May and we opted to do the 'Best of Santorini'   

Santorini tour included visit to Oia and Akrotiri tour with a pretty good luncheon with Greek Wedding vibe.  The biggest benefit I saw with the best of Santorini was that the tender took us farther away from the usual port to catch the buses and used it to return to ship.  In hindsight, this was very valuable to me.  We were able to completely avoid the cable car with its 12 euro cost and wait times (excess of 1.5 hours) and the 'donkey trail, which sounded very treacherous from all the stories I heard on board.  The tour also went straight to Oia which probably lessened the crowds as there were 3 cruises in port that day.

We just got off Odyssey in May and we opted to do the 'Best of...' versions of Santorini and Mykonos, and the 'taste of Crete'.  I think of them all, the Santorini one was the best value and the Mykonos was not worth it at all.  Crete was unremarkable, but it was fine.  

Santorini tour included visit to Oia and Akrotiri tour with a pretty good luncheon with Greek Wedding vibe.  The biggest benefit I saw with the best of Santorini was that the tender took us farther away from the usual port to catch the buses and used it to return to ship.  In hindsight, this was very valuable to me.  We were able to completely avoid the cable car with its 12 euro cost and wait times (excess of 1.5 hours) and the 'donkey trail, which sounded very treacherous from all the stories I heard on board.

Mykonos tour was not good and very expensive.  The tour takes you to Delos for a guided tour of the ruins which was good, but I think there are plenty of trips and options to do that off the ship, in town.  Our tour did not offer any time in the town of Mykonos which was very disappointing.  I would not recommend the best of tour at all.  If I go back to Mykonos, I will just go to a beach and probably the town itself.

On 6/2/2023 at 6:00 PM, Ampurp85 said:

I believe it is on 2 of the 2br GS on Allure/Oasis. Then the 4Br Villa on Harmony/Symphony and a couple of star class cabins across the fleet. However, they are few and far between, so OP might have a hard time booking one since suites go pretty fast.

Do they empty and clean these suite hot tubs after every sailing?  Do they monitor water quality throughout the cruise?

I just finished my post cruise survey for 10 night Odyssey of the Seas Greek Isles cruise.  The dining room staff did mention the importance of the survey, and may have dropped the 10 request, not 100% sure.  What is interesting is that the survey did not ask about it.  Has anyone else seen that the question was eliminated all together?

Just got off Odyssey for 10 night Greek Isle cruise.  We had a JS (9612) and it was a great room with two bathrooms.  Never seen that before and it was very pleasant surprise.

I am a fan of it and the quantum class in general.   Odyssey in particular has excellent shows (Effectors, Showgirls-past present future, and the Book (in 270).   Seaplex is a cool places with bumper cars, laser tag and many sporting options.  It also has playmakers.

Frequently quantum ships will have very good cover bands (DSB, No Quarter etc ) in Music Hall.

Food quality is generally good.

I agree that the ice shows and aqua shows of Oasis ships are sorely missed.   Esplanade vs Promenade is fine with me either way.

As a side note, we had Mike Szwajkowski and I thought he was quite good and one of the best CD in my opinion.

I just heard while on Odyssey that Effectors 3 will also be on Icon.