bhee

I am guilty of buying the t shirts

I am guilty of buying the t shirts

I am guilty of buying the t shirts

We've never done a cruise this long and are hoping to meet some new folks while onboard. I just found this site & thought I'd give it a try. My husband & I live in Cocoa Beach, Florida and are Diamond cruisers.

I think it's rude to hold up a ship full of thousands of people who were on time because of whatever reason they couldn't make it back in time.
I think it's rude to cause a cruise line to burn more fuel at significant cost to make up for lost time to reach the next port because of whatever reason they couldn't make it back in time.
I think it's rude to the dock workers at the port who want to go home after a long day of work but can't because of whatever reason they couldn't make it back in time.

35 Days............
I didn't think I was going to cruising so soon but lots of changes and developments. I was hoping that eventually, just maybe a casino comp would come my way and I might be able to meet some of the blog members. I kept getting nothing but $100 off offers and I was like I won't be at sea until hurricane season. I had originally only one cruise schedule for this year with my family in Oct on Allure. But at least I/we had a bunch of land-based vacations on the docket. All but one has been scrapped. Lots of cost increases with minimal offerings. I was scheduled to go to Vegas Easter Sunday, but everyone who was going cancelled. One of the vintages lost her niece in February, that she raised since a baby, and then had issues with a tenant; she is scheduled for court on April 10th. Two of the other people just got new contracts and no longer have the vacation time. Then the owner of the RV we wanted to rent tried to pull a fast one and almost double the rental cost. I was like ........shakes fist at universe...........you don't want me to live my best life in 2023.
On the day this all happened, I checked my Prime offers and couldn't believe I had a free offer. I actually have not had one since last year around April. The offer was for mostly Alaskan sailings starting in May, but I saw a sweet 4N on Freedom that worked with my schedule and jumped on it. The rep said they only had two rooms left and I took a midship interior. As it happened, I booked this sailing right when check-in opened and was able to snag an 11am, which was the first check-in time. I also should note that before I called I had to do a bunch of research..........while actually working. I started a new schedule in February. It is a bit of a mess. I am primarily remote, with the exceptions of 2 days a month at a hybrid office for meetings but I work Saturday to Wednesday now. I needed to check flights and see what was feasible, thankfully April's office hours were the Tues after Easter, so I could get my regular work done on the ship.
I decided to try a bunch of different things on this sailing that I wouldn't normally do. First, I was supposed to be D+ after my Grandeur sailing in Jan. But my brother joined me, so I was short 4 points. It did burn me a little, I wanted to start my Oct family sailing with all those sweet D+ perks........even though nobody else will have any🤣. That being said I will make D+ after this cruise as I am sailing solo. Rare for me, given my experience on Grandeur in the MDR with the new menu, I have decided not to get any dining packages. I vacillated, hard. Compounded by the fact that I have 8pm traditional dining, which means I will be sat with strangers each night. I have also decided against any sort of drink package. I always get the soda package but it's $11.80/day with grats and I can't justify almost $50 in soda for 4 days when I will mostly be in the casino. Plus, I have yet to use my 4 diamond drinks to the fullest. Lastly, I will not be purchasing internet ahead of time, I will use my free day and then my 30% off prime for the remainder of the cruise. It comes out way cheaper as now its 25% off with the "sale." I also had purchased a Premier Pass for this cruise and received the $100 OBC for the confusion. So the plan is to use that at Playmakers, JR and possibly room service. 
I will update more .........Also yaaaaaaaaaaay for the Premier Pass fiasco OBC. 
 

D+ keeps getting better too with extra stuff coming at 340 and 525.  
Are these worthy of being named levels in the program?  Probably not.  However depending on your cruising habits they can be important.  340 was a turning point for me as a solo cruiser.  I've saved tens of thousands from it.  In fact it's  probably the biggest money saver for me in the whole program.    

Mariner has left Gibraltar and is on her way to Port Canaveral.
In case you can't tell. I'm excited. Only 45 days till we spend 2 weeks on board.

i would lose my mind if I had a cruise in 3 weeks and it was cancelled. I feel so sorry for these people looking forward to this sailing and getting that crushing news. 

I just returned yesterday from a 7Night cruise on Harmony and on embarkation day which was May 1st, 2022 I had dropped my bags off before my checkin time which was 11:30/12:00 but I had to wait in a very long line for about an hour before I even entered the cruise terminal. Once I was in the terminal it was about 20 minutes going through security screening to boarding the ship before I boarded the ship. I was on Mariner April 19th, 2022 & I entered the cruise terminal after my checkin time @11:00/11:30 and it took 15 minutes for me to board the ship. I even dropped my bags off toward the end of my checkin time. I embarked on independence on March 21st,2022 & I had dropped off my bags a few minutes before my checkin time @ 11:00/11:30 which I had to arrive between my checkin window for my cruise on independence that embarked on March 21st,2022. Also I had to wear a mask checking in for independence in March & April when I checked in @ the cruise terminal for Mariner, & I had to wear a mask in the cruise terminal to go through customs just to re-enter the United States in March & April but for my cruise on Harmony I did not have to wear a mask when checking in or when going through customs to re-enter the United States. All 3 cruises that I went on since March 2022 had embarked & disembarked in port Canaveral.