firegal2539

I purchased an emerald and diamond ring from Colombian Emerslds (there in practically every port) after about s month one stone started coming lose and I found out that one of the prongs was bent. I called them and they asked me to insure it and send it back, which I did, and I got s brand new ring about two weeks later. I think the big retailers are perfectly fine. Make sure you check prices in your city before your cruise!

Thanks to WAAAYTOOO I called RCI and had mattress topper added to my four RCI reservations. Thanks WAAAYTOOO I really appreciate all the help you have given me.

Barney, When did they start the variable pricing for different floors. I just booked two cruises and just realized they are doing this. Some of the cabins I was looking at, ocean view unobstructed, seem to be on the two lowest decks, 2 & 3. Before I had choices on decks 6, 7, and 8. Is this just more revenue gathering for them? I don't like it.

At the airport this Sunday they confiscated my deodorant. While watching the agent put it in a large cabinet there were a pile of pocket knives. The deodorant had flown 5 times since July 2016 and never been touched. I think it is the agent running the scanner. Kind of scary to think about what else gets through airport/cruise security.

We have had to huge shake ups, a new President and Castro passing and his brother, Raul, taking over. There have been many stories already about Raul won't allow cruise ships to sail to Cuba and President Trump isn't crazy about anyone sailing there. I agree that this will not happen fast, it will take time for both governments to iron out the details, maybe in a year or two, if it happens at all.

On another cruise line last month I hit a $1500 jackpot and didn't have to make out any tax paperwork. I kept wondering about that but I wasn't going to question it. That is the only large jackpot I have hit on a ship. I hit $300 or $400 almost every cruise which usually helps me to break even or close. A few months ago in Vegas I hit a $5000 jackpot, boy they were fast to get the tax paperwork to me. I asked for a check and they refused and paid me in cash, $100 bills, and I had to push that bag with the money in it through the scanner at the airport. My eyes didn't leave that bag until I had it back in my hands. I usually try to play max bet, but if it is a $5 or $6 max bet, I won't pay that much. It is useless to play a progressive machine if you don't bet the max, you won't win the jackpot. There are very few progressive machines that pay the jackpot on any size bet, but that is how I won $1500 last month on a Jackpot Catcher machine, max bet was $2 and I was betting $1 and hit. What I don't like is the ship casinos are not regulated by anyone, like they are in the United States. It is a known fact the slot machines are tighter than anywhere else. I found a site that explains what Las Vegas casinos pay on a slot and most are 89 to 94% payback. The video poker is even better than that, with about a 93 to 95% payback. Many people have asked for the casinos on cruise ships to explain what their payback ratio is and they refuse, just like the Indian casinos, they don't have to tell anyone what their payback is either. In Las Vegas you can ask for a payback sheet and any casino will give it to you.

Sweety, You sound like me. I have a cruise booked in January, February, May, September, October, November and December 2017, January, February, and May 2018. Unfortunately they aren't all RCI because they didn't offer the itinerary I wanted.

WAAAYTOOO, I just booked 2 RCI cruises with CR within the last 4 days and somehow I have become a member of CR and saved a considerable amount of money on both. I didn't ask to join and the last time on an RCI ship I asked a casino host to rate my play so I could become a member, maybe that is when it occurred. I didn't know that they waive the $5 fee for getting cash. I am writing that down so I can use that when I go on my February and May cruises. I agree that everything is secret/hush hush with CR. Even when I called and asked questions some weren't answered. I wanted to know if play is rated by how much you play in the slot or how long you play and never got an answer to that one. I know in Vegas it depends on the casino, some rate by amount of time played and some max bet in a machine for a certain length of time. Thanks for the new information.

Thanks WAAAYTOOO, I wasn't thinking about the full price fare, which as you said, no one pays that because there is always some kind of discount going on. I don't even know what the full price fare is for the cruise I booked, but again, I think it would be about a 40% discount. I was so excited to save that money. I also like that my TA can take over the booking. Most cruise lines won't allow TAs to take over a casino booking but Royal said they were fine with it. I asked the rep about getting a CR discount through Next Cruise, since I am sailing in two months, and she said you can't book a Casino discount through Next Cruise. She said that Next Cruise can never match the casino rate unless there is a huge discount promotion going on and she said that is very rare.

I always book through my TA and she makes my payments through her agency to RCI. Only once did I make a payment for a cruise by telephone. I like that I get an immediate confirmation to add to my folder. As WAAAYTOOO said you have 60 days to transfer it to your TA. The upside is the TA and their agency might have more OBC to offer you.

As far as I know, and I am sure Matt has more information, you can use the credits for shore excursions, specialty restaurant, etc. It goes on your shipboard account and purchases will be deducted from it. It sounds like a lot but when two people are eating at a specialty restaurant just once that is over $70, it doesn't take long to go through the OBC.

I have a big 4 day cruise in February and I had already booked just one excursion in Key West and one dinner at Chops. The cruise planner had my dinner marked down 20%, $7, and my excursion marked down by $3. I am so cheap, I cancelled both and then bought them again. I figure I can use that $10 in the casino.

WAAAYTOO, I just booked a cruise for January 2018, the 9 day Bahama. When I called to book it, the rep told me that I might get a better discount by calling CR, which I did. It lowered the cost by about $300 to $350 but I didn't get any OBC which is ok when I can save that much. The CR rep stressed to me that the CR discount is 20 to 25%. She again stressed that it is never more than 25%. As you said, inconsistencies from one rep to another, different answers. What I found funny, I had another cruise I wanted to book and the CR rate was higher than the regular Cyber rate. The rep said that is very rare, but it might be the ship or destination. The other thing she mentioned is you can only book 18 months out, so if I wanted a cruise in June she couldn't have booked it at the CR rate. I don't know whether this is all true or not but that was what I was told.

I create my own spreadsheet too. I was on a different cruise line in August, a brand new, huge ship and there were so many dining and entertainment options. I went online and Goggled the ship's name and dining options, which I did get a sheet of all restaurants on the ship but nothing for the entertainment. I went to CC and searched and finally found an entertainment listing for my ship, then I created my own with dates and times, etc. Much easier!

It is my understanding when you change bookings you stand to lose some or all of your OBC, if the new cruise isn't offering the same deal. You have to weigh your options about changing. Like you I want the 2018 schedule to come out, I want to do a cruise to Norway during the summer of 2018. I am thinking of booking a cruise towards the end of 2017 and then decide when the 2018 cruises come out if I want to change it and lose my OBC.

My favorite dessert is Creme' Brulee, I don't care what flavor, as long as it doesn't have coconut and I might eat it anyways. Most cruise lines have Creme' Brulee on the steak house menu. You usually can't get it in the dining room. I just came off of a 14 day Panama Canal and 7 day Mexican Riviera and when I went to the steak house they had Raspberry Creme' Brulee. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I told the manager I loved it and it wasn't served in the regular dining room. Every single night there would be a card on my desk that said a Raspberry Creme' Brulee was in my refrigerator, compliments of the steak house manager. That was a total of 21 of them. I now weigh about 20 pounds more.

I have flown during all months of the year to Fort Lauderdale and Miami. I never fly a day before, since I leave from Dallas-Fort Worth International I have a multitude of different flights and airlines to choose from, so I have never had a problem flying in the same day. Since you are coming from LAX, which I was just at yesterday, you also have a multitude of flights and airlines but you also have a long flight. My TA has always advised to make sure there is at least one other flight, that will get me to the port on time, after the one I booked in case the airline cancels my flight or has issues, that way they can put me on that next flight. I always look for a flight to Florida at around 8 am, that way I know there are several flights after that if I am bumped for some reason. I have arrived at Miami and FLL as early as 9 am and have a short wait until the cruise transfer bus picks me up and takes me to the port. I have arrived as late as 11 am which I didn't like, it made me nervous about getting from the airport to the port on time. You can use other transfer services but I like to keep it with the cruise line so I won't have a problem with insurance if I have to cancel for some reason. Now to the pricing. There have been many articles written about when to purchase and most sites and articles say about 2 months before your flight. I am in agreement with WAAAYTOOO, I want what I want and I want my flight purchased, so I will research it for about a month and if I find it has dropped in price I will purchase it. I have bought air tickets 330 days before my cruise and only once has it decreased in price, with most going up in price. I use a website to track the price so when it drops I can purchase them. The way my TA explained it to me is if you look at a map of the plane seats, such as on SeatGuru.com, you will see Main Cabin seats start at row 9 through row 42. Row 21 through 42 are the cheapest seats but there are three categories of those and each goes for a different price, in other words closer to the front of the plane more expensive, all the way back the least priced. According to my TA the airline will only put one group of seats up for sale at a time, usually the least expensive, when those are sold the next group goes on sale and they are more expensive. If you use Orbitz, Expedia, any of those sites they do include Virgin America but not Southwest. Southwest does not play in the sand box with others very well. They only publish their rates 6 months out and I have found them to be higher on several flights I have booked with Virgin and American. I absolutely love Virgin America. I use them to Las Vegas all the time, more leg room, better seats, just all around nice, helpful employees. I saw they have many gates at LAX, maybe they fly to FLL or Miami. The only other drawback to booking flights early is the airline makes many changes to your ticket. I have a round trip to FLL in January 2017 that has changed six times already. The first three changes were flight numbers but the next three have been time changes and all three wouldn't get me to the port on time. I have had to call and American has been very nice in booking me on another flight with no extra charges but it is a hassle. The American rep said that they change times for many reasons, combining two flights into one, doing away with a midday flight, etc. All of these changes can make it hard to get a decent seat on the new flight. I would also suggest that if you are buying the no refund air tickets you buy travel insurance that will cover the cost of your cruise and air tickets. I always do that and have had to cancel twice and got a full refund of the cost of the ticket.

Hi All, I was talking to my TA about how some people were able to use their OBC before boarding to pay for things, excursions, grats., etc. She said she had never heard of this and proceeded to call RCCL to find out why this was taking place. Here is her answer: I spoke with RCCL. You are referring to a pilot program that was available on only Oasis and Anthem and on only specific sailings. ETA for general rollout is unknown. I assume the folks commenting on the blog did not know it was a pilot program. As of right now she said that there are still a few sailings on these ships offering this pilot program but only a few and when those are booked the program will go away until RCCL decides if they will roll it out.

I didn't see pai gow but I did see baccarat.

DocLC, I don't remember all of the ships but the Majesty OTS, Carnival Fantasy and Elation, Disney Dream, NCL Escape (huge ship), another Royal ship. The reason I listed the vendors as a problem, you just couldn't get through on the walkways, they were out in front of their booths selling like crazy blocking everything. It's funny but I have never been hassled by any vendors in Nassau. Now in Ocha Rios Jamaica, is was horrible, I actually turned around and went back to the ship. They were in my face, yelling, I remember taking a picture of a woman with a basket of fruit on her head and her coming over with a big guy and telling me I owed them $10 for taking her picture. I told them where they could go and went right back to the ship. Candie

I live in DFW but am not sailing her. I looked on Ebay and there is one listing for a diecast Navigator of the Seas, 11 1/2" model for $19.99 but it looks like someone bid on it. You might try that way to get one. Candie

I was in Nassau in August and there were six ships in port. Several problems, 1) couldn't get a seat on the free shuttle bus to and from the ship to the port entrance, had to walk, 2) long wait for a taxi, there were so many people using them, 3) the port area was so busy that the vendors didn't have time to hassle the passengers, like they usually do, 4) walking through the port area was awful, so full, people were bumping, shoving and pushing you to get through, and last but not least 5), it took over 45 minutes standing in line to get through the port custom check, the line was that long. I asked a customs person and they explained four ships is usually the norm. Candie

The woman who has lived on the Crystal Symphony for the last eight years pay $175,000 a year to be able to do it. Probably is cheaper than a nursing home but not cheaper than my house payment, insurance, utilities, etc.

Raye, The way Susan (the non-flyer) explained it to me was that her travel agency, (has 3 of the first letter of the alphabet), sets this up, trying to make her embarking and disembarking on the same day, if not she stays in a Holiday Inn Express to wait for the ship. If she has to go to a different port, Miami to Fort Lauderdale, she catches the ship's shuttle, it is cheaper. She does get off in some ports, she got off in Cartagena, but didn't in Cabo or Acapulco, because of the armed military and police presence. What I got from talking to her, she is frightened to fly, and certain ports frighten her, but she loves to cruise. I asked about laundry and she brings a box of gallon sized baggies and the detergent pods with her. She washes all underwear in these, which I did on my 14 day and it worked out perfect. One baggie is for washing, then dry it out, and the other is for rinsing, then dry it out. She also does her tops the same way and only wears knit pants that she can hand wash in the sink. Since I live in denim most of the time that wouldn't work for me. I brought 14 pairs of pants with me for my cruise. She said if she has to, she will use the ship laundromat. Some of her cruising is port to port to get to another ship, but the 4 day Bahama on Royal was just to waste time and not sit in a hotel. She said she wouldn't get off on the private island or Nassau but would get off in Key West. I also agree that packing and unpacking would be a hassle. Susan did say that she brings 2 big suitcases she checks, but leaves one packed and unopen for the 4 to 7 day cruises. Crazy, huh! I guess it is according to her taste. To me I would become a land cruiser, doing all the land tours I could book and see the USA, I wouldn't spend 4 months on different ships and not get off. I want to see the ports at least once. Candie

Since I am a gambler, Cozumel just opened a casino this year, that is where I will be on my 2017 cruise there. Belize has casinos, not sure about Roatan. I went to Senor Frogs about two months ago was very unhappy with it. It is a tourist trap, that charges outrageous prices for drinks, food, etc. I didn't enjoy it at all, in fact, we left before we ordered.