Mr. Click

YES, THE SHIP WAS WAY TO CLOSE TO SHORE, YES, THEY WERE WHERE THEY WERE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE. I AM NOT ARGUING THAT POINT. I WAS SIMPLY POINTING OUT THAT THE ONE PICTURE WAS NOT REALLY TELLING THE STORY BEAUSE OF LONG LENS COMPRESSION. I worked as a photographer for close to 50 years, I owned small boats for about 15 of those years...just an fyi. Oh, the only way I go up in a helicopter is if the doors are off or these is a window to open. Whey take a few thousand dollars worth of camera gear to shoot through plexiglass?

I saw, I said they were close. My only point about the picture I quoted was it is misleading because of the lens optics.

That is all well and good but the point I am trying to make is that use of a telephoto lens will make things appear closer, more compressed than they really are.

Yes they were too close but this picture is misleading. It was made with a telphoto lens and that will compress the look. It makes the ship look shorter and closer to the shore. The aerial images give a better perspective on the distance.

We originally booked a V2 on the 8/4 sailing months ago. In February we switched to the 8/16 trip. The price dropped 2000, a month later it dropped another $1000 so I repriced. Totoal savings of over 50% from the original booking. Suites look like they have just started to drop a little. I think the volcanic activity in Iceland scared some people away

We were on Beyond in January, our first E class cruise and really missed the Sky Lounge. Something special about being able to sit quietly and comfortably and looking out ahead and around. Eden looks nice but we found the seating uncomfortable, too low and while the wake view is relaxing it gets boring after a few minutes.

As long as your reservations are linked you should see all of the names show up when you are booking dining reservations. Even on an unlinked reservation I still need to select the two names on our reservation. They do have it set up so you can select some of the people or all of the people once you are linked. If you are in CC and thy are in a veranda they cannot join you on embarkation day. There are no reservations for lunch of sea days, just dinner.

Thanks. That is more than I got from the email I got from Hard Rock but since it is a Hard Rock puff piece there is nothing about RCI's relationship with MGM. My big concern now is with MGM now joining Marriott and RCI joining Hard Rock will MGM and RCI stay together too. Enquiring minds want to know.

Very true but for me taking public transportation into NYC while hauling a ton of photo and lighting gear was not a real option....and working all kinds of crazy hours did not help either. The good news for NYC and for me is I retired and bailed the land of high taxes, lousy traffic and crappy weather.....

JetDriver787, that long wait for immigration at EWR is just payback for me having to wait 2 hours at LHR the last time I was there to visit family...in the US I get to just my Global Entry and I am out in about 15 minutes.....oh, It was also the weekend of Harry and Megans wedding...... On the serious side, the tolls alone from EWR to JFK are now over $30 for the two bridges and that was 5 years ago before I abandoned EWR for LAS. The Belt Parkway is a nightmare almost anytime of day and the shopping, no sales tax on clothing bought in NJ so the folks in NY come over to shop at those outlet malls....

I got an email today from Hard Rock's Unity loyalty program telling me that soon they will be partnering with Celebrity and RCI, benefits to come soon. I only hope this does not spell the end of they partnership with MGM. I am not a gambler at all but I do live in Vegas and the MGM partnership does give me some decent benefits all over the strip while a Hard Rock/Unity deal would only give me benefits at one property. Anyone else know anything?

A while ago I booked an Iceland to Boston cruise. It was pretty pricy at over $6K for a mid range veranda but it was a trip we really wanted to do . 3 months ago the volcanic activity in Iceland started up again and the price of the cruise started dropping. AQ is now $2K less than what I had booked my V2. The V2 is now about $3.5K less than what I booked orginally. I did take avantage of the drops and have re-priced twice for the V2. AQ was tempting but I opted to spend some extra days in Iceland pre-cruise. Final payment is coming up in a few weeks so I will be watching closely...My TA has been great about the re-pricing. The only downside is as his commission goes down my OBC from his company goes down.

We were on Beyond in an OV in January. It took me a day to find all of the closets because some of them just don't look like closets. Once I found them there was plenty of space for our stuff on a 10 nighter. It is weird layout. For me things that looked like walls turned out to be closet/cabinet doors...

I have booked spa services in the cruise planner in the past. No problem. If you are looking for some status discount you may have to call Captains Club to get those. I know they are in transition to make those discounts available for online bookings but it is still hit and miss. If you really need to talk to someone, hang up and call again.

I believe that the whole third guest free thing is based on 3 in a room, not 3 on a mulit-cabin reservation. If I am correct and you booked a NRD fare then yes you are stuck with it.