FManke

I always tip for every drink, soda, water, or coffee. Sometimes I tip a $20 or so on embarkation day to two of the bars I will frequent. Rarely have to wait for a drink.

You are going to need proof that it was food poisoning and that you ate the afflicted food on the ship. Food poisoning on a ship isn’t just going to affect 2 people out of thousands. Thousands of other people ate the same exact food as you did and I doubt there was lots and lots of other people in your same situation with getting sick. Since this happened so early in the cruise, how can you be 100% positive it wasn’t something you ate before you even boarded the ship? Food poisoning doesn’t always happen within a few hours. 

Given so many people are eating the same food, if you two were the only ones who got sick, and in light of the fact that it happened so early on in the cruise, I’m not sure how you could be so certain it was the food that made you sick. What food in particular do you think it was?  

The name pretty much explains all you need to know.
 
Happy Cruising!

I'm okay with it just like other non-refundable options in the travel industry. 
I can save money at a hotel by paying for the room upfront with no option to cancel or change the booking.  I often choose to pay a little more for the peace of mind to make changes to hotel bookings.
Airlines also have a big play with non-refundable tickets.  Some airlines have better terms for their non-refundable products like Southwest.  The legacy carriers tend to have the least favorable terms for their non-refundable products.  Caveat Emptor.  Know what you are agreeing to.
I often choose refundable fares for cruising even though it costs more money.  I accept that additional expense knowing it provides greater flexibility.  
When any travel related company offers non-refundable options I would not expect any flexibility for unforeseen challenges in a guest's life.  
It still boggles my mind when I see guests complaining that a non-refundable cruise booking is actually non-refundable.  Seriously?  

Hoping they drop the mandate all together by Oct!
 
Happy Cruising!

Hoping they drop the mandate all together by Oct!
 
Happy Cruising!

Hoping they drop the mandate all together by Oct!
 
Happy Cruising!

Hoping they drop the mandate all together by Oct!
 
Happy Cruising!

Hoping they drop the mandate all together by Oct!
 
Happy Cruising!

Hoping they drop the mandate all together by Oct!
 
Happy Cruising!

We're in a GS now, suite 1060. It's got I believe the biggest balcony for its size on board, looking at the deck plans. Don't need 2bdrms, so if we bid, it would only be for an OS or the RS. Not sure it's worth giving up that balcony. We'll see.
Happy Cruising!

Just got an email today with a chance to bid on Royal Up opportunities for our Greek Isle cruise leaving Oct 9th on Brilliance of the Seas. Isn't this kind of early? Here are the minimum bids.
Royal Suite $455
Owners Suite 2bd $300
Owners Suite $225
Grand Suite $205
Any thoughts? How do these minimum bids compare to your comparable cruise?
Happy Cruising!

I read this many years ago and have used it ever since and it helped save us on an Hawaiian cruise.  The last thing I put in our suitcases is an itinerary from the time we leave home until we return home.  This includes names, cell phone numbers, address, flights, hotels and cruise line and ship.  One of our pieces of luggage got lost and unfortunately our identification tag had been torn off.  Our piece of luggage was eventually opened, our itinerary was discovered.  Delta called us to inform us they had our luggage and would forward it to our first port in Hawaii and would be at the pier waiting for us.  I mentioned this to the Concierge and she said they would take care of getting the luggage at the pier and to our room.  Much to my relief everything went off without a hitch!  Made a believer out of me.
Bill

I would have no problem with cleaning once a day.  Make my bed, give me fresh towels, fill my ice bucket and then bye-bye until tomorrow.
The lack of daily service in hotels is a BIG pet peeve of mine.  I acknowledge that there are supply chain issues which could limit the availability of products but I am highly suspicious of the claimed unprecedented shortage of labor.  Of course I realize that during the plague and immediately afterwards, there were labor shortages but now ?  I believe it is truly more that the hotels are trying to KEEP their labor minimized to save money and use the "pandemic" as an excuse.  The same goes for many other industries.  Many industries did this to themselves with the ridiculous vax requirements (airlines...I'm looking at you !) which have been a spectacular failure and have done nothing but hurt their businesses/ [military] readiness.
But regarding cruising, I have no problem with only daily service.  I don't really want the room attendants popping in arbitrarily anyway.  I usually just keep the "sleeping it off" sign posted after my room has been serviced in the AM.

It really all depends on what type of activities we are interested in. As far as the MDR, we always choose My Time Dining. This always us the ability to adjust what time we eat. Eat earlier if there is a show we want to see. Eat later if we are coming back from an on-shore excursion. Even though you need to select a time ahead of time, you can change it easily once you are on board to suit your needs. Or just show up at what ever time you want and wait for the next table available, like a traditional restaurant. We've done this multiple times with a very short wait.
 
Happy Cruising!

We stayed at the Seaport Boston a few years back and it was fantastic! Surrounded by great restaurants and only about a 10min taxi or Uber ride to the cruise terminal. 

Haha. I read your response too quickly and did a double take because I thought impatience was some thing else! ???

"Boy, those French. They have a different word for everything!"
 
Happy Cruising!

I second that!

My favorite ship is whatever ship I am on at the time. If not on a cruise, my favorite is the next one scheduled.
My wife's favorite is Freedom.

We always do this to have something to munch on a we get ready in the morning. We like to refer to them as "breakfast appetizers."
 
Happy Cruising!

I'd have to agree from what I've read here over the years.
 
Happy Cruising!

I have Jennifer and she's been awesome. But I don't think you can go wrong with any of the MEI agents. 

We've been very happy with Kathy Geiger.
 
Happy Cruising!