Lovetocruise2002

For my last two cruises, dining opened up at about 170 days out and shows opened up at about 150 days out. Keep checking your cruise planner. There's no set date. I have noticed that they usually pop up on Fridays. Your drink packages will probably start to go on sale about 3-4months out. We're sailing in March and our drink package just went down to $43/day last week. Also keep an eye out in a few weeks for Black Friday. Last year they had many sales in the cruise planner during that time. So anything you pre-purchase now can be re-priced then as well. I couldn't agree with you more. I love this community here. Over the years I have learned so much myself from the people here. And even after many cruises I am still learning new things. The people on these boards are wonderful. Not critical or snarky like some other boards and always positive. ?

It will be later too...around 11pm or 11:30pm

Then you MUST do "The Quest". Don't ask. Just go. Don't bring the kids. It will usually pop up in the cruise compass around Day 6. ?

Central Park. Night time is so peaceful. Take a stroll, find a bench, listen to live piano or guitar music, feel the breeze. Love it. The Bellini at the Trellis Bar is super yummy as well. Breakfast in Central Park is my second favourite.

That's a terrible thing for that to happen. Sorry to hear about that and for the heads up. We stay with the stores on the Port Shopping Map not by the signage on the storefront. As far as I know, only the stores on the port shopping map are guaranteed by the cruise line. I don't think your store was on the Port Shopping Map and that is probably why they cannot do anything further for you. Still really unfortunate though....sorry

It was working when I was on it yesterday. Works today too. I'm using Google Chrome...

@JLMoran thanks for putting that together. And all of that is pretty consistent with the reviews from Divina too. Same type of complaints (cold/low quality food), culture shock for some people, and "rude" staff. Will be interesting when Seaside comes out in a month....

Phew....I'm not the only one. ? @Boston Babe you have to ask around because even as you can see on this board there are tons of different opinions. I think because every person expects and wants different things from a vacation. The big thing is do your research. Read reviews but be critical when you read them. Look at recent pictures. And like I said before, take a good look at what meets yours/your husbands needs. One shoe doesn't fit all right.

Very true...Lol....

Ok...My apologies ahead of time if I offend anyone with this post. I tried Carnival in 2003 (a while ago...so maybe they are different now...but doubt it) just after I went on Adventure (which I loved). Now this is all before I became I "cruise snob". This is what my husband calls me now. I prefer to think of it as we have cruised enough now that I know exactly what type of experience I want. Back to Carnival...I found them to be "tacky" for lack of a better word. The crowd is younger. The atmosphere is not refined. Lots of shouting, hooting, and hollering. I am not exaggerating lol. The decor was tacky (and I really can't think of another word here). Neon lights all over the place. I felt like I was inside a cheap Vegas casino the whole time. Food was low quality everywhere compared to RC. Shows and entertainment were low caliber compared to RC unless you want to party on the Lido deck the whole time. We hated it. And all those complaints might sound "prudish" but we are far from that. I was only 25 at the time and my husband was 28. But even then we hated it. A good friend of mine, the one who sailed in the Sky Suite on Celebrity is a seasoned cruiser. She mainly cruises RC but has tried Celebrity and Carnival (once). She found her experience to be the same and she went just a few years ago. However, my parents have taken more Carnival cruises than I can count so.... I really think you have to look at what types of cruisers you are. What experience do you want? What are you willing to put up with and what are you willing to give up? Carnival just wasn't for us.

Welcome to cruising...the best type of vacation if anyone ever asks me 1) Your cruise is still pretty far out. They probably won't offer sales this far out. Usually when you are with 3-4 months the sale prices start showing up. Same with Internet. You could always purchase now and just re-price it later if sales show up. I often do that, especially if I am sure I will get it. Worse case scenario is if the price goes up..... 6 & 7) Can't really comment. We are not really shore excursion people. We cruise to sit on the ship and relax mainly. However, when we do shore excursions we usually do it through the ship because I am paranoid about being one those "pier runners".... 8) I am always a believer in hanging onto my money for as along as I can so I do not pre-pay gratuities. It gets automatically loaded onto your Sea pass card then charged to your credit card once the cruise is over. Enjoy your cruise. The Oasis is a beautiful ship. She'll spoil you for future cruises...

Not necessarily. Depends if you want to risk it or not and how committed you are to watching prices. To give you a example, we were initially booked into a balcony cabin for our cruise on Harmony. I watch prices daily so a few months later I noticed the the JS had dropped a bit. Still more than what I paid for the balcony but low enough to make me want to make the switch. We stayed with that JS for a while and put down our final payment and everything. Then, about 6 weeks prior to sailing, the price on a GS dropped drastically. And by that I mean over $1000/person from what it was previously going for. I jumped on it right away. After that I kept watching and it went back up again. And the GS that popped up at that point were not available before. So read into that however you want...cancellations, TA releasing their blocks,etc. Who knows. I've also read many posts here and on CC of people getting offered an uograde just prior to sailing for a steal of a deal. But like @twangster mentioned those usually go to your upper level C&A people. And those upgrades are usually up one category from what you have booked. So from inside to ocean view, OV to balcony, balcony to JS etc. So there is no real rhyme or reason to it. The best advice I can give is that you should book what you cannot see yourself going below. And then watch frequently so that you know the prices well enough to recognize a deal when it does come along. For our Anthem cruise in March that is what I've done. I know that we want at least a JS so we currently have a FJ booked. I know the prices for higher level suites and I check several times a day so if a drop comes along I will jump on it then. Hope that helps.

Interesting conversation I had with an agent recently...they were encouraging me to keep calling back if I wanted an upgrade. I mentioned the with the new NRD policy that people likely weren't going to cancel as much. He was very chatty and proceeded to tell me that I would be surprised to know that many people still cancel at the last minute for whatever reasons. He also mentioned often they have people cancelling just before the sail date so asking at the pier is ok too. I'm not reading too much into it but there is still hope. If you have time then keep checking. It never hurts to ask or call.

That's awesome! Love it when good things happen like that! Enjoy your first cruise!

Ok. Good then I am not totally lost today. Our $20 is Queen Elizabeth soon our $10 will be Viola Desmond ?

The Vitality Cafe, that is the one in the spa/gym that everyone is referring to, does sell the fresh smoothies. I was able to get them with my deluxe drink package on the Allure and Harmony. The protein powder is what is extra. Your drink package won't cover that.

Lol ? @rjac If we are all talking about the same thing then here in Canada they are mostly but not all prime ministers...if not, then I am lost too...

I think a large majority of negative reviews are done by people who have not properly researched their vacations ahead of time. Enjoy your sailing on the Meraviglia. I will have to scour the net for reviews after December. Hopefully some will be RC cruisers. Lol! Make sure you post your findings Joe!

As @twangster was saying in another post about using TA or not, he mentioned that agents have access to some cabins and not others. Could it be one of those situations where your TA doesn't have access to what you see on the RC site? I'm just guessing here. I don't really know...

Yes, this is exactly what I have heard Joe. However, in all the things I have read, MSC promises that Seaside will be very different and very much cater to the North American market. I think this is what I am most interested in hearing from people between Dec-March. If they are successful with that or not? I take the reviews I read about Meraviglia with a grain of salt too because that ship does not sail in North America so it's hard to compare. To be honest, I would be slightly nervous to sail this ship without the Yacht Club as I have read about the "classism" you read about too. I have really good friends sailing this ship in March 2018 (when I am on Anthem) so I will be looking forward to see what they say as well. However, they have not sailed RC and it's that comparison between the two lines that I am most interested in.

Perfect! @DocLC if that is correct please provide all the details! It would be much appreciated! It's good to have someone familiar with RC comparing the two lines. I have never sailed MSC before and have heard and read very mixed reviews. And there newest ship the Meraviglia (out in June 2017) has not been received that well either. That is why I have two sailings reserved for July 2018 in case the Seaside is a bust (Type A again ).

This is the same as what I have heard from friends who have done both and also from the things I have read on other reviews and blogs. Been there. Done that. Never again. No other comment. I was thinking of Edge and Symphony but similar reasons, both are in Europe and with 2 kiddies left behind that's not going to happen yet. So it's Seaside for us. Unless the reviews start coming out in December/January/Feb and it's bad......

That is exactly how the Yacht Club thing happened. We got our suite for about $3600 (they give teacher discounts) for 2 people and it includes the entire Yacht Club exclusive experience plus the butler (which we feel a bit awkward about too). Sometimes you can't even get a JS for that amount! And the Seaside is a brand new ship so we figure it is worth a try. Going in July 2018. Headed to the Eastern Caribbean for now. I do feel weird about not cruising Royal though My friend got similar deal as you on Celebrity when she had the Sky Suite and she ended up loving the butler! Same thing, she said you cannot go back after that... I will definitely try Celebrity one of these days. I might wait till I reach Diamond in C&A first which will happen very soon and after I try Symphony.

Fuzzy logic or false advertisement...?? Either way, it is very dishonest.

You will most definitely be spoiled by the GS. Trust me! There is no going back after and if there is it is painful lol. I have researched Celebrity quite a bit too (although I have yet to book one) and I agree the Sky suites are somewhat odd. Maybe because they are at the back and some have that pole in the middle of the room? I have a friend who stayed in one in March and she loved it. And she has been on Royal and Celebrity. We're trying out the Yacht Club on MSC this summer. A TA told me it is comparable to a GS in benefits but closer to a JS in size...