mnocket

So true. It seems that customer facing IT is low man on the totem pole at most cruise lines. It's hard to imagine that IT management could be so inept, therefore I'm led to believe that it must simply be a matter of underfunding and a complete lack of attention from corporate management. Quality doesn't just happen - it's the result of diligent oversight. I'm of the belief that corporate management isn't aware of how bad their customer facing IT systems are, and even worse, they don't really care. Their focus seems to be exclusively on the shipboard experience.

For me it's not a cruise - it's a high-end adult only all-inclusive in Cancun.

Am I getting this right? The passengers on O tend to be older and more suffer mobility issues? Are the O demographics similar to Holland America?

I've also been interested in trying EJ. My problem has been their itineraries. They tend to be short and not particularly interesting. I'm hoping as they add ships, the itineraries improve. That said, I'm a bit concerned that they seem to be suffering from low occupancy.

I suspect this is one of those situations where the practice differs from the policy. I was also surprised to see the policy as I've never experienced a problem with people checking in separately.

I read recently about a fast food restaurant that was toying with the idea of using AI to implement demand pricing - i.e. automatically raising prices when demand is high. Maybe Celebrity is trying the same thing?

Well, I guess the good news is that since you found so little positive about your QM2 sailing, you're not conflicted about whether or not to sail her again🙂

Somehow I was under the impression that there was some benefit to using Chase's travel department to book. I'll have to research that as I'm considering breaking my "never book flights thru a TA" rule for an upcoming overseas Business Class booking. I'm not experienced with booking with points and I'm a bit apprehensive about moving my points from CSR to an airline and then finding that the airline doesn't have frequent flyer seats available for my desired flight. I'd appreciate any thoughts you have on this.

This is good to know. I actually stopped booking flights thru travel agents years ago after trying, and failing, to do exactly this. I don't remember the airline, but I do remember the airline representative telling me that they couldn't help me since I booked thru a TA. They said I'd have to contact the TA and have them make the change. Since time was short, I wasn't able to get my TA to help. Since then, I've always booked flights myself. Good to know things are changing, or perhaps my experience was a one-off.

Can you be more explicit about what control you do, and do not, retain when you deviate when booking flights on Delta and United? What changes can you make without going through Regent? For example, can you change your flight or upgrade you cabin?

So what is the procedure for taking a gondola ride? Is there a kiosk at the dock where request a ride or do you just approach a gondolier? Who & when do you pay? Do you pay cash or do they take credit cards? Thanks.

You really don't have to tip anyone. That said, if there are crew members that you felt went above and beyond to make your trip pleasant, by all means feel free to give them a tip at the end of the cruise. The amount is totally up to you. They will appreciate any amount. Now that advice represents the "tipping is for recognizing outstanding service" philosophy. Some subscribe to an additional tipping philosophy - "tipping to receive better service". If you adopt that approach, which I do not, you can tip your service providers as service is rendered to hopefully encourage them to provide better service in the future. How you choose to tip is a personal choice. There's no right or wrong approach.

Please take a look at post #109

The only justification I can see for AOV's internet restrictions, given the switch to Starlink, is perhaps that AOV frequents the polar regions and Starlink's bandwidth may be limited in those regions? I don't know if that's true or not, but it kinda makes sense. I guess the other reason for the restriction could be, that by offering free internet that is inadequate for many, AOV keeps alive their revenue stream for internet packages - while advertising "free internet".

See my reply in post # 76