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Orange Crush

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Posts posted by Orange Crush

  1. I just checked the cruise planner for our October trip & it's not there.  Although I did notice a couple weeks ago the old Unlimited Dining Package showed up, but I couldn't actually book it--just came up as no times available.  I don't know if they sold out or that was just something weird in the system, but doesn't look like I can get it on my sailing.  It's a short 3-dayer, so that might be a factor too.

  2. 18 hours ago, MicDay said:

    Wow, for our May sailing on HOS our Chill Island Cabana is $1299 

    Are you sure you're not looking at the price for three or four cabanas?  It's a little confusing in cruise planner when you put it in your cart.  You only want to buy it for ONE person in your party.  If you add all the people in your reservation, you're ordering everyone a cabana of their very own.

  3. It's also hard to get a real sense of the true height of a ship while you're standing on it.  If you're looking from a pool deck at the ship in the next parking space, there are some odd angles and forced-perspective going on that can make the neighboring ship appear much taller than it really is.  It's also hard to adjust for how much more ship is above you.  Theme parks use this trick on purpose to make the attractions seem bigger from the ground.

  4. On 12/31/2018 at 10:37 PM, Larry Muster said:

    Anyone know if any of my current perks (Diamond) will be offered on this cruise?  Also will I still earn points for the nights I stay?  I may be doing it solo but in a standard room so would be expecting to earn double points.

    I believe you don't get the perks, but you still get the points you otherwise would.  And the packages typically available (i.e. drink packages) don't typically get offered, so expect to pay an upcharge for all of your Blood Wine & Raktajinos.

  5. 1 hour ago, JLMoran said:

    That said, neither of my cruises to date (one on Freedom, one on Anthem) had JS cabins available for anything remotely that good vs. regular balcony prices. On both of my Anthem bookings it's pretty consistently been several hundred more per person, about +75% to +100%.

    Yeah, most of the time I see Junior Suites closer to twice the price of the next level down regular balcony.  I'd rather go on two cruises in a regular balcony if that's what the cost is going to be comparable to.  But for some reason there's not nearly the price gap on the 3-night trips out of Canaveral in October.  Not sure if that's seasonal, local market, length of the trip, or some combination of everything.  Maybe it's Royal Caribbean's attempt to hook relatively new cruisers on nicer cabins so they're more likely to splurge on bigger trips later.

    I've got no idea, but I'll take it

  6. 32 minutes ago, JLMoran said:

    My $0.02 -- a JS room isn't worth it unless you're on a Quantum class or Oasis class ship

    I agree, except for when the price difference is small.  We did a Jr Suite on our last cruise and are doing another JS on our upcoming trip on the Mariner.  The price difference between a regular balcony and junior suite was only about $100 out-the-door when I booked it, so I splurged for the extra elbow room and double points.

  7. 38 minutes ago, BrianB said:

    I purchased the dining package for my March 30 cruise on Anthem and when I tried to reserve specialty dining restaurants online, I was prompted to pay the charge for the restaurant...so I logged out and came here to ask;

    Will I be charged for the purchase now...or will it recognize that I have the package and not charge me? Or do I pay now and be reimbursed? Or must I wait until I board to make my specialty reservations?

    Thank you!

    The system is dumb, it will actually charge you if you go through with booking the restaurants now despite having the package.

    With the package, you have to book your reservations once you get aboard.  They book one automatically for you, but you can override that once you're on the ship.  As soon as you step on, I'd make a beeline right for one of the restaurants (any of them can do all of your reservations) or look for somebody standing at a kiosk.  A lot of times they set one up near the entrance on boarding day.

  8. Nassau is fine.  Some of the excursions are duds (don't bother with the Land and Sea tour or anything that will take you to Atlantis.  Nothing against Atlantis, but if you want to check it out, pay $6 for a cab not $60 for a tour group), but there's still plenty worthwhile to do there.  It's safe to walk around, just stay with the crowds.  If you venture too far,  you'll know.

    As you exit the port, there's a bunch of knick-knack booths.  Hang a right for all the slushy-rum-thing bars (Fat Tuesday, Senior Frogs, etc.) and straw market.  The straw market is mostly more knick-knacks and knockoff sunglasses & bags, but it's fine if you need a cheap pair of sunglasses (like if somebody sat on and broke the pair you brought with you.  Not that that's ever happened to me . . . )

    There's also a flight simulator people here have recommended but I haven't gone myself yet.  And, of course, it's also a good time to check out stuff on the ship that usually has a line when everybody's aboard (i.e. flowrider)

  9. 13 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

    Well...now the other side of my split personality will come out...and say that often (lately) it has been more about having options than $$value for me.  I am absolutely, 100% positive that the drinks package is NOT a financial "win" for me.  I am not much of a drinker to begin with and as the cruise goes on I am normally even less interested in drinking BUT when I have the DBP I know that I CAN drink anything that I want at any time so I find some kind of twisted satisfaction in that.  The same is true of the dining package.  I like to have the  OPTION of eating anywhere I want and I blame Star Class for this.  I will call this SCES (Star Class Entitlement Syndrome).

    That was kinda my logic when I got my MIL the Refreshment Package vs just putting some credit on her SeaPass.  She doesn't drink alcohol at all (she will have one drink once in a blue moon and then she's good for a couple months, lol), but I wanted her to have free reign of any sodas, blended drinks, coffee drinks, whatever she felt like.  It wound up being $72 or so, and I know she didn't get anywhere near $72 worth of beverages.  But if I hadn't gotten her the package, she would've stuck to the free water, tea and lemonade because she'd worry about chipping away at the set budget and the whole point of the trip was to make sure she didn't have a care in the world.

    1 minute ago, SpeedNoodles said:

    The drink package for my December Navigator cruise is $52 today.  It was $52 yesterday. And it was $52 when we booked 2 weeks ago. And all of the days in between (yep, I check every day).  Still hoping that it will budge at SOME point.

    I'm sure it will, you've got plenty of time.  I'm still looking at $56 in October, but I expect I'll get it for $45ish eventually.

  10. Key West is fun, I highly recommend it, but I'm torn about taking a cruise there since I can drive there & they seldom stay past 5pm or so, which misses all the night life.

    Since we usually sail out of Canaveral I've just come to accept that "no matter where you want to go, you're stopping in Nassau."  Although it's really just an extra hour in the car to get over to Tampa for the Key West/Cozumel runs, but then you start getting into 5-day territory which burns up more vacation days, and start thinking "well, if I'm going to burn 5 vacation days, I might as well make a full week out of it" aaaand you wind up eyeing that 7 day that hits Belize or the Caymans, so let's splurge on a suite. . . and it just spirals downhill from there.  I've probably booked or been on the brink of booking that cruise at least 20 times now. ?

  11. On 3/5/2019 at 11:08 AM, JLMoran said:

    The wine list for the main dining room is fixed, but if your ship has a Vintages wine bar on board you can find a much bigger selection there. You're completely free to get a glass there and carry it around the ship, including to the main dining room, so if you don't find any wines to your liking in the MDR then you can go this route your other nights. If you note down the name of the wine you want / got from Vintages, you might even be able to ask your waiter to get a second glass for you after the first runs out.

    Does Vintages take the drink package or are you 100% out of pocket?  I was a little confused on that point on the Allure.  Maybe it was just the food bites that had an upcharge.

    On 3/5/2019 at 1:33 PM, Ogalthorpe Haywood said:

    Often times it’s tough getting drinks in the mdr, we always bring a full drink in and get another as soon as the bar waiter comes around. 

     

    On 3/5/2019 at 3:53 PM, Matt said:

    I've definitely experienced this. It's rather hit or miss.

    I think they've got the standard house wines and basic coffees within easy reach; I've always had that refilled quickly.  But cocktails take foooooreeeeeeeevvvveeeer.  And specialty coffee drinks were even worse.

  12. 35 minutes ago, Joe Stahl said:

    When they say '1 device', does that mean at a time, or it will only work on one dedicated device? In other words, can you be logged in on one device, log out, then log in on another?

    One device at a time, but you can switch devices by logging one off and logging the other on.  You'll get a code to enter when you connect to the wifi, and when you want to switch, just go to "logoff.com" and it'll log you out so you can connect a different device.

    EDIT: @spiralqueen beat me to it! ?

  13. 16 hours ago, Joe Stahl said:

    Scratch that question - I just looked, and it has gone down to $20 from yesterday to today. Guess I'd better jump on it.

    Yup.  They'll randomly drop for no apparent reason at all.  Check OFTEN.  You were also talking about getting Internet, I'd just go ahead and book it.  You can always drop it at the last minute if you decide you don't want it.  $14.99/day is the usual price, but I've nabbed it for as low as $11 & change during an unannounced sale.  We usually only get 1 device and take turns.

  14. It's the old saying--a happy customer tells a friend, an unhappy customer tells ten.  I've seen a few grumpy-pants show up here and start a complaint thread but they often don't respond to any of the regulars trying to help or understand what went wrong for them.  They just wanted to post a complaint and get validation from others piling on, but we're no fun because we won't take the bait.

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