JLMoran

So this morning I got to experience something @Sabrinaklai said had happened to her with United -- an email out of the blue saying my flight back home had been altered. Instead of our originally booked flight at 4:00, now we're on a flight home that's departing an hour earlier. So far not a problem, it actually was kind of good because it meant we'd be home in time for dinner (barring delays, of course). They also left me in my Economy Plus seat that I'd bought, but... they went and changed the seats my wife and girls were in. To their credit, they did preserve everyone's prior seat type selections, so my wife was still in a window seat, and my kids were in window and middle; but now my wife was about 5 rows further back, while my kids were now over ten rows further back, almost to the last row of seats on the plane! Thankfully, I was still able to change seat selections on this new flight since I had already paid for regular Economy and not Basic Economy. The kids are now in the window and middle seat directly behind me, and my wife was fine with me spending $70 to get her into the Economy Plus seat next to mine so that we're now sitting together. So a decent ending after some unexpected hoop jumping (and a little more cash out of pocket). Hopefully there won't be another change like this, but if there is I'll just have to do my best to roll with it. Long as it doesn't shift me to a redeye or crack of dawn flight, I'll be fine.

Strictly speaking, no. But many here have done so, putting it in their carry-on bag (not a checked bag!), and had no issues when going through security. As @Matt, our dearest leader friend and blog founder, is fond of saying: Just follow a don't ask / don't tell policy. What itinerary will you be taking? I'll be sailing on Anthem in October to Bermuda with the missus. And welcome to the boards!

Yikes! I’d be very leery of giving them my passport, just because of all the identity theft that’s going on. That’s even more valuable than a driver’s license and social security number! Almost enough on its own to procure a driver’s license here in NJ, not sure about other states. Plus, they now have your home address and with the itinerary they know how much longer your home will be sitting empty. Color me paranoid, but I’d rather just pay the VAT.

Ok, it’s obvious which is which, but what exactly is mofongo? I recognize the plantain in that picture, and the yellowish stuff at the front looks like chopped and maybe fried plantains? But what’s that in the middle of it with what looks like pickle slices and celery on top?

I’m currently booked in the Embassy Suites 17th Street, based of recommendations from some of the members here who live nearby. But we were also looking to splurge a little since we’re spending two nights there before boarding; depending on your budget it might or might not work for you.

The short answer is yes. The slightly longer answer is that I believe you'll need to have one of your two device logins tied up all the time with the router, unless you feel comfortable going through the connection step every time you go back to your cabin; @twangster can qualify that as far as how easily one can re-connect after the first-time setup when you board.

Dude, before I read the post and just saw the photo scroll into view, I thought you spotted Elliot Gould on your ship and caught his pic! Spooky resemblance there!

The C&A Members list includes people like me who signed up for C&A with our cruise booking, but haven't yet sailed even once and don't have a ranking yet. I don't know what percentage of the overall C&A membership people like me make up vs actual ranked individuals, but they certainly aren't wasting their time trying to reach "cruise noobs" by sending that email. And thinking about it -- would it be fair to say that the newest members are the most likely to read those emails because of "new member excitement" or just general increased interest in contacts from Royal, compared to the seasoned veterans who may very well ignore most of those emails or stop after reading the promotions at the top? Or does getting the C&A letter still elicit some level excitement even in Pinnacle members?

Have safe flights with no delays! And big hopes that your Air BnB is better than expected!

Wait, I'm confused since you said there are five of you -- so that $7.49 pp per day is based on 5 people, not the 4 devices that can actually log in at one time, correct? So $37.45 per night? Asking as that would indicate you got an even better rate than I had managed for the four of us on a 4-device plan ($39.17 per night, which if I did per-person with a 5-person group would be $7.83 pp per night) -- in which case I say to you, very well done sir! Some might say, "It's just two bucks a night difference, who cares?" To which I reply, "The porters, the room attendant and headwaiter, and the bartenders, as they all get a few extra tip dollars." Or, "Me, because that's $16 over the 8 nights, which means I get that many more up-charge reposada margaritas on my drink package!" I'm honestly surprised at some of the numbers I'm seeing from a handful of folks lately with the drink package ($39/night!?!?) and now apparently VOOM. I've gotten close to those numbers, but never once that low.

How about we form a pioneer gang and kick off the new craze — American river cruising? Just saying...

Yeah, we’ll, do recall I started off with “if it’s a formal usability study”... ??

@toodle68, most likely not until March 2019 at earliest, maybe as late as May. Edited to add the year.

@coneyraven, if it’s a formal usability study, the testers will be in a room with specially prepared computers that include sensors to track eye movements (to get a sense of how much time people are taking to find some item on the screen), as well as mouse and key loggers. I think some tests also include video cameras to record the session, as there is typically a person there asking them to do specific tests and guiding them if things start taking too long (itself a test failure that should be recorded and analyzed with the other data). Usability tests, as I recall, aren’t generally things where you’re free to do whatever you’d like. There are prescribed tests that the participants have to follow (e.g., find a cruise to the Mediterranean; now narrow it down to a Radiance class ship; now book a balcony on deck 10), although how they choose to do so is up to them (and often reveals surprising information about how the users actually think how the site should work, vs how the designers thought they would think). It’s actually a pretty complicated subject, and setting up a proper set of tests to avoid confirmation bias or unintentional leading is harder than it looks at first glance.

By the way @KLAconQueso, I got my C&A email and it just says “if you’ll be in the area”, not specifically that you have to be a resident. So maybe you could arrange some kind of work trip? Consulting session for @Matt‘s employer, maybe? Or interview @monorailmedic for an opening? ?

Hah! I’d LOVE to see your feedback as an official QA rep! ? Frankly, even as a software architect and web app UI developer, I’d also love to give them some honest feedback. I feel like without even seeing their original requirements doc, I could flag at least half a dozen use cases they never considered. I do hope if they’re truly doing a usability test that they are also looking for users with various disabilities (requires a screen reader, needs to view in large type, requires a high contrast display mode, etc). ADA compliance is not something that should just be on their ships.

I second this! If you don’t mind spending a couple extra dollars for the upgrade, have them make it with a reposado tequila.

Now I’m curious, after reading that itinerary. What is in Zadar, Croatia that would make it a better / more appealing port than Dubrovnik? Serious question, as I only learned about Croatia via Game of Thrones (which films scenes from The Red Keep at the oceanside castle in Dubrovnik). I know nothing else about the country and what are good spots to try and visit. I only know after watching the behind the scenes clips showing the area that Croatia has suddenly become one of those countries I really want to visit when I finally make it over to the Mediterranean. It looks absolutely gorgeous!

By the way, bit of additional good news on this illness: It's not the flu!! It sure as hell feels like it, but the nurse practitioner ran a flu test on me and it came back negative for both type A and type B. She said they've been seeing a lot of this year -- they normally go through maybe 3 boxes of test kits in a season before they learn the symptoms of that year's flu strain and don't need them any more. This year, whatever this mimic virus is, it's caused them to go through ten boxes of test kits (at $600 per box)! They've had to, so they don't mistakenly prescribe Tamiflu for something that doesn't actually need it / won't benefit from it. And, she said that because it's not the actual flu and just a mimic, I'll probably be better in another day or two. So just have to ride this out a little longer, and then please let that truly be the third and final! You hear me, 2018?!?!? I said I'm done!!!

For me, or for you guys? I promise I'll try to keep the "I wanna go NOW" whining to a minimum. And for the record, as of today it's 39 days until I board the ship, 36 days until I'm on the plane flying down to FLL.

@twangster has made a number of posts about the internet offerings on the different ships, and has noted that Freedom class, Oasis class, and Quantum class all now have the faster satellite broadband, while the other ships in the fleet do not (yet). Not clear if part of why the other ships don't is because of their age, because of the difficulty retrofitting them with the necessary wi-fi hardware and satellite antennas, or maybe a function of those ships going over a much broader section of the world that may be out of range of O3B satellite service for more of the year than they're in range, which would make upgrading them impractical.

Seems the complaint here isn't about the marketing, it's about how the C&A members appear to be getting treated "worse" than brand-new cruisers, where the expectation is that as loyal and long-term customers the C&A people should at a minimum not be getting charged a worse rate than a brand-new customer. I totally see your point, and my comment above was 100% tongue in cheek, but I also see the point of the other posters here that they shouldn't have to go through hoops when trying to book their cruises just to get a deal that's as good as someone who's never cruised with the line before.

So the moral of the story is... stay with a cruise line until I hit the first level with “discounts”, and then jump ship to the next cruise line? ?

Thanks for the review of Adventure, @HLWIser! Good to hear about the entertainment and dining, sorry about the bad experience with embarkation. Definitely sounds like a ship we'll be booking for NE / CA in 2019!

40!!!! W00T W00T W00T!!!