jenf22

On Allure, they were programmed to work for a specific time. So they "expired" at the end of our cruise. I think the drink package at Disney works the same way. People used to bring back their mugs from a previous visit to reuse them. The RF chip prevents that now. On a ship with 6,000 people there were 2 Freestyle machines in the main, center area of the ship (Central Park? by the pizza place). There were also 2 machines in the buffet. We never waited more than a couple of minutes. I think the longest line was about 6 people. Typically, we wait longer at the machines in Qdoba. :) This is just my one sample case though. Could be worse on Princess. Could be worse on Allure during a different time of year.

Whoop, yeah. On RCCL.

Does anyone know if the 3 for Free promo is combinable with a Casino rate? We were surprised when we switched from Sip and Sail to the Landmark sale and they applied the Casino promo (that I didn't even know I had). Our rate dropped $900 and we got all the OBC. I guess I'll find out when the new promo comes out and I call for a reprice.

On Royal the cup has to be sitting on the base for the RFID to activate the machine. The dispenser is inches from the top of the cup. Not to mention the lid is off the cup and most people drink with the lid on. There were 16 of us on Allure last October and no one got sick... didn't see anyone sick on the ship the whole trip. LOVE the Freestyle machines! Hope it's on Regal next summer!

Yep, they are actually deleting every post about it. It's weird.

We moved our cabin to D409 for our British Isles cruise next summer. It was $65 more than the room we had booked. I hope we like it. Thanks everyone!

Check out post #263 on page 11. You can see the railing in the picture. It looks like it's pretty close to the window.

I keep checking NCL for June/July 2020 possible British Isles cruises. The Jade has only 1 cruise in June 2020 and then nothing for July or August. I know NCL can be slow, but I don't get what's going on. Is the Jade in a 2-month refurb or something that takes her out of service? Have they just not figured out the itineraries yet? What am I missing?

Ah, you're right. The obstruction is because it's not glass on the bottom part. This is what it says for those cabins: " PART OBSTRUCTED VIEWNON-GLASS BALC RAIL BALCONY ACCESS WHEN IN PORT ONLY " I think I'll call my TA and price those couple of rooms. I've got a casino offer on my room now and have no idea how that made the fare lower or if it's only for certain categories. Thanks for the help!

We've got a 12-night British Isles booked for next summer. When I looked at the forward facing balconies, they were listed as obstructed because the balcony could only be used in port. L101 and L102 are still available. The picture makes them look great! I'm not sure I could sell my husband on the very front of the ship though. And I think I'd be nervous they would tell us we couldn't use the balcony while we were moving. Right now we're in B614. It looks like it would be ~$80 to move to D407. Do you guys think that's a change worth making? I think we'd save money if we moved to the front of the ship. Should we move there? There are 3 of us in the cabin.

Oh, I know. Totally unusual. I'm honestly not worried about anything happening to my kid. He's just at the age where if he asks to go somewhere on his own (on the ship), we would let him. I know (hope!) he wouldn't go with anyone but it just creeps me out a bit to think someone could address him by name. And having never seen this name thing before, I find it weird. So now we can say "Oh, it was Dan and Jane who slammed their door at 1am" or "wow, there are 5 people in that room". Seems like information we don't need. Not harming anyone, but not needed. Regarding the name on the mailbox @JennyB1977, you put your initial and last name on the box. I'd be fine with that on the door. For some reason, full names weird me out. And you shouldn't have to do that if the mailman did his job correctly. I believe our names are on the inside of our box (we have a central locked box). Back in college my student ID was my Social Security number. I put it on everything. Now no one asks for it. Times change. I think they should give people the option to not display names. If we were without kid, maybe I wouldn't have given this a second thought. Ask your sister (brother?) about your nephews and what they think of names on doors. I'm curious. They'll probably hit an age where they want to go play basketball or to the arcade on their own and eventually you have to give them that freedom. I've been thinking about this a lot and I've asked everyone I work with - every person said no to names on doors. But maybe we're all just introverts 🙂 Oh and our Princess cruise isn't until June 2020. They have a lot time to make changes to the Medallion system!

Why can't it just be enough that I don't want my name there. It doesn't have to "harm" anyone. Ever wonder why no other cruise lines do it? Why hotels don't do it? You mentioned PII earlier. It only takes one additional piece of information to be PII. (I take training on it too) All you have to do is look at us and hear us speak to know what country we're from. Why give anything out? Why not let me decide what I display on my door just like I can decide what I display on the internet or this forum? Oh and sorry for 2 posts - I don't know how to multi-quote on this board.

Again, whatever. I guess people never stalk kids. That never happens. Kids are never harmed ever. And no one is ever in the hall when you go in your room. Ever. And seriously, forget my kid. I don't think it's necessary to have my name on my door. Maybe we could just leave it that. I'm not a paranoid person and I think it's creepy and actually lazy on Princess's part. They can't have the steward look at a paper to verify the right door? 10 cruises - over 80 nights on a ship (with no name on the door) and I've never been delivered the wrong mail.

Because they watched him go in the door with his name on it. Just like if I see you go in your room I now know your name. I find it odd. I'm in the minority (on this board). I don't think anyone is going to kidnap my kid or steal my identity. I just find it weird. I've come to the conclusion I don't want random people seeing my name on the door either. Will I cancel my cruise because of it - no. Princess folks seem to like it, seem to think it's more personal. Whatever. I don't think anyone would be ok with a hotel doing it. And I think Princess should allow people to "opt out".

At some point kids get some freedom. We cruised last year with friends and for the first time our kid got to walk around the ship with his friends (and no adult). I was worried every single time but I let him go because it's important for him. It was the first time he had that kind of freedom on a cruise. On Royal our names weren't on our door. Nor have they been on DCL or NCL. All of our previous cruises if someone knew his name it's because they met him at the meet and greet or they were staff. So I would expect him to be polite and maybe engage in chit chat when spoken to (granted we were with him). He would assume if they addressed him by name, then they met him previously and he doesn't remember. Now Princess has added an element where someone could know his name but be a total stranger. All they have to do is watch us go in our room to know our names. I will admit there's probably nothing that will happen because strangers know his name. I, as a protective parent of an only child, would be happier to not have my child's name on the door. If they want to just put my last name or initials, fine. But we will deal with whatever. I'm tempted to post this question on the NCL or Royal board. Wonder how they would feel about their names being on their cabin door. Seems the Princess folks are used to it and don't mind. I also wonder why it's totally fine on a cruise ship, but I've never seen a hotel do it. Oh well, I'm not crazy about it but I'll be ok 🙂