JLMoran

Happy Thanksgiving, all!

IfI understood the earlier replies, @Sabrinaklai, you will (a) get the credit for the nights you sailed on X, but you are starting at 0 with them; and (b) if you hit Diamond in the interim then you’ll get treated as Elite level with X when you book that sailing. To actually reach official Elite status with X will take ~80 nights with them since you start from zero with their loyalty program. Just to bake your noodle a little more, let’s say you loved X so much you only sailed with them going forward, never reached Diamond with Royal. If you hit Elite status with X after ~80 nights and THEN decide to go back on Royal (trip with the grandkids by that point?), NOW you’ll have Diamond status on Royal, ev n though you haven’t sailed with them in years.

Ummm, my daughter and wife are both redheads with the super-fair skin to match. They burn on a cloudy day after using SPF 50, so lounging by the pool is not one of their favorite activities.

I actually do have a TA, Heather from MEI. She knows Celebrity really well, as well as Royal, and was super-excited to hear that I was considering doing a cruise with them for my 50th birthday in 2020, and that I was looking for input from her on finding an itinerary that could measure up to what Royal's Norway & Iceland itinerary offers. She did tell me that if I wanted to bring the kids (who by that time would be 19 and 16) along for that trip that I might want to stick with Royal just so they had more to do onboard and would find more people their age; but, if we went on Celebrity they certainly wouldn't be bored, there just wouldn't be as many kids or as many activities geared towards teens and young adults. I may do Celebrity anyway if I can't convince the wife to do the Norway and Iceland offering, or if it's simply too costly (I want that trip to be one where I do a full suite, regardless of the final itinerary, unless it has so few sea days that there's really little point). My older daughter will be in that limbo age where she's too young for teens club but too old for adult activities, and my younger one is already pretty eclectic and has more varied and "grown up" interests than your typical 14 year old, so by that time fewer teens / kids on board may be less of an issue. And if it's a port-intensive trip like one to the Mediterranean and Adriatic, having a lot of on-ship activities won't be so crucial.

Thanks, @Orange Crush and @twangster! Even after reading the official verbiage from Royal and Celebrity I just wasn't clear how it worked after that first cruise "across the line". What you've said makes sense, and frankly is a lot clearer to me than the boilerplate semi-legalese the cruise line publishes. Now, when I eventually book a cruise on X, I'll be able to explain to my wife how this works and actually feel confident in the explanation.

OK, I know from the other posts here that your C&A status on Royal is transferred over to Celebrity or Azamara when booking a cruise with them. I've also read that your nights on that Celebrity / Azamara sailing won't transfer back to Royal, which makes sense. But when the status from Royal is transferred, is that a permanent thing, or only for that sailing? The flow in my head is like this: I've never sailed on X I'm Emerald on Royal, and I book my first X cruise I now start with X at their Emerald equivalent Nights on X sailings immediately start counting towards the next loyalty ranking with X I do another 4 sailings on X for a total of 28 days and now I'm bumped up to the Diamond equivalent (assuming the points for each X rank are the same, at 55 days to start at Emerald equivalent, plus 25 more to hit Diamond) Is that right? Or is it this way? I've never sailed on X I'm Emerald on Royal, and I book a cruise with X For that sailing, I'm treated as X Emerald equivalent, but I don't actually have that rank with X and I'm building loyalty on them from zero My Emerald rank from Royal keeps carrying over with my future X bookings, but... I don't actually hit the Diamond equivalent on X until I've done the full 80 nights or whatever they require And in both cases, if I happen to hit Diamond on Royal before I hit the equivalent on X, the new rank will carry over to my next X booking?

Yes, you can rebook with a non-refundable as long as you do not change the ship, room, or sailing date.

Now I'm really glad that I asked my TA to convert my Anthem booking from refundable to non-refundable: Up to $400 Onboard Credit per stateroom: 5 Nights or Less: $150 Onboard Credit for a Deluxe Stateroom Guests can get an additional $100 onboard credit if they elect to book a sailing more than six months in advance with the Non-Refundable Deposit program. I already got $150 OBC from the last repricing where I converted to non-refundable. As long as the price hasn't spiked more than the extra $100 of OBC, we can come out a little bit more ahead with this offer. Definitely will be keeping an eye out for an email from Heather!

Either that, or book a ride with Lyft. If it's just you or you plus one, Lyft will probably be reasonable (though more than a rental).

That I can't say, since I haven't even been on a ship yet. But I have seen this as an option in the Activities & Entertainment section of the Cruise Planner for my cruises. Here's the one for Freedom of the Seas in March. The prices are definitely at the level where I'd expect mostly suite guests to be booking this. I clicked on the "Ultimate FlowRider Experience" activity to see what it says and do a mock booking. The description reads, "Reserve the FlowRider for the family (or yourself!) with this exclusive private lesson." Only one person can actually make the booking, and a single booking is limited to an hour so I'm guessing it follows the pattern of cabana rentals where just one person buys the activity, but a large group can then take part. The "Number of Guests" pull-down shows up to 12 people, although I couldn't select a date or time if I said there was any more than one guest. After doing that, all dates showed only one time slot available for each day (the very first one of the day, at 7 or 8 AM, depending on the day). So either all other available slots have been booked already, or they are making an effort to limit hogging; I'm wagering on the former, but I'm a natural-born cynic.

It is, but they also offer paid lessons / private sessions where you can lock it up for an hour or more.

Have great trip!

Interestingly, there are no sailings to the Caribbean on Anthem for the January/February 2020 timeframe. Is Anthem always considered a "Northeast" itinerary, even when the sailing is to the Bahamas and Caribbean? I hope they are still offering these sailings. They have them for 2018 and 2019, so hopefully it's just that I have to wait for the right category of itinerary to open up..

Thanks a bunch for such a great liveblog, @twangster! Really really excited now for my own 8-night voyage on her in just 132 days! Can’t wait wait for your next live blog on Anthem!

The Moment lenses now can use a case and not just a mounting plate. Granted, it's their case, so you have to swap out for the period you expect to be using the lenses. But at least at that point it becomes as simple as using the Olloclip (which doesn't work with any case or even a glass overlay screen protector, btw) -- pull out the lens, screw it into the case's mounting slot, take photos, remove lens and pop back into travel case. Their case looks very much like the Seidio case I already use, so swapping out for the duration of the cruise won't be a big deal for me. And it's like half the cost if you buy it at the same time you buy a lens.

Matt, you need to add a "Love" and/or "WOW!" reaction to the set of possible choices. "Like" doesn't do his photos justice.

This is awesome! I am also planning to go to the helipad and try to get some star shots, even though I realize that on an iPhone it's going to be even harder than with your good rig. I'm hoping that the combination of the Gorillapod magnetic tripod, plus the Rigiet gimbal for stabilization / orientation lock, plus my Slow Shutter or NightCap app, will help enough that I can get a halfway decent shot.

Thanks, all! I tried to put a "Thanks" reaction for everyone, but that used them all up and, well... Sorry, but I need them for @twangster's photos!

This is part of why I'm strongly considering the Moment tele, wide angle, and fisheye. They attach using a custom blade mount that works with the cases they sell for phones. So instead of having to buy a new lens when I eventually upgrade my phone, I can just buy a new case. Only consideration I have to make is that to work with newer phones/cases, I'll have to buy the newer models of the lenses that go for $99 each, instead of the previous version that only works up through the cases made for 6s / 6s Plus but are now sold for only $60 each. EDIT -- Forgot to note that getting Moment lenses also means that I'll have to get a Moondog Labs filter adapter designed for those lenses, along with their CPL and maybe an ND filter or two. Money comes in, money goes out...

For me, an iPhone has been my only camera for years and not just a phase. Only so many items I can spend over $1,000 on before the Chancellor of the Exchequer starts banging on my door. ? Heres what I already have bought to bring with me as accessories for my phone: - ShoulderPod hand grip / tripod mount - UltraPod folding mini tripod - Camalapse 360° time lapse mount - Rigiet 3-axis powered gimbal And still planning to get a Gorillapod Magnetic XL flexible tripod, plus an Olloclip Telephoto & CPL lens kit OR Moment telephoto lens and some kind of CPL I can attach to it; for whatever reason, Moment doesn’t sell a CPL! ?

My wife saw a tip for Freedom of the Seas via Pinterest, saying to reserve a spot at the gym on embarkation day. She’s not sure from reading that if it’s meant just for classes, or if it’s for something as simple as getting access to an elliptical machine. Does anyone here have experience using the gym on Freedom and what one needs to do just for access to the ellipticals and other machines in the gym? I know the gym is small compared to total passenger capacity, but it seems odd to me that you’d have to reserve access to a machine on embarkation day.

I will confess that the only camera I shoot with nowadays is my iPhone (currently a 6s Plus; was planning to buy at least the 8 Plus this year if not the X, but circumstances have blocked me). That said, I’m absolutely investing in an Olloclip and/or Moment lens set for it with a CPL and telephoto (as the lens on the 6s Plus is already pretty wide-angle at 28 mm and a 56mm adapter is kind of a must-have with it for any kind of decent close-up shots). So congrats, @twangster, you’ve cost TWO people new lenses. ?

@twangster, do you use a circular polarizing lens or a neutral density filter when taking your outdoor shots, or just bare lens? Your skies and the ocean are so sharp and clear, no reflections or glare or anything!

Don't forget Dubbels and Tripels!

Could this be a room behind the living wall section of CP? I remember Matt doing a scope that showed how the wall went up and basically took up the space a balcony would.