canderson

2 hours ago, njguy_south said:

Yes, I googled it. Always google it, but have found nothing, hence my question. Most people google. Perhaps we should stop using Cruise Critic and discussion boards and just google it! The pics for Vista Suite are only stock pics, and the one video is of the handicapped cabin.

I suspect the reason for the Google suggestion was because the answers may be found on a competitive site whose url, if posted here, would cause instant moderator 'consternation'.

This being our first SS cruise coming up next month, I had no point of reference, but at 120 days when I started reserving things, the bow ties were already in place for our cruise, and haven't moved.

Found my old post.  Search on mobile is greatly limited in scope vs. full PC version!  Yeah, in strange topic.  See post #7 for sceen shot.

Use MySilversea, not Silversea.  Look at each of your itinerary your days for bowties.  On a phone or I'd repost the shot I did here a while back.

16 minutes ago, Stumblefoot said:

Shardonnay 😉

Argh.  'Sera' a bit of misdirection, then.

As to the jigsaws, at least people were good enough to enumerate the count missing, with a date, in the lid of the box.  Overzealous vacuuming around the tables was most often cited as the cause.  Wouldn't surprise me if a few other game pieces occasionally get Hoovered as well. 

6 minutes ago, Stumblefoot said:

I have to ask… what does the “c” stand for in Earl Anderson?  Yes, I’m on the @QueSeraSera wine drinking program tonight. 😁

The Syrah or Shiraz version???

As to the other, you'll have to be on the same cruise to find out, and you'll still be scratching your head!

6 minutes ago, Randyk47 said:

I asked a couple of years ago and was told they couldn’t keep complete sets so they basically gave up.   Even some chess sets have pieces missing.  Lovely behavior.

When reduced to using a Pebble Beach ball marker for the King, you know you've got problems <g>.

Another thing that we've often seen are jigsaw puzzles with a couple or five pieces missing. 

Was this resolved for the Dawn build?

@ggo85

Sounds more like our experience with how upper suites are managed on Celebrity.  Probably similar on RCL. 

1 hour ago, saminina said:

Not saying it does not work.    Less hassle and cost effective to use phone in suite.

Ah.  Had me going there with "useless".  Our plan runs $1.39 a minute.  There's a monthly fee, but that's a sunk cost whether we use it or not.

3 hours ago, saminina said:

Call from room was about $1.79/minute last year.   Very surprised.   My satellite phone is useless on SS.

Iridium?  On an open deck?

When you see all shorex starting concurrently, I've come to understand that these are only 'placeholders' and that all is subject to change.  IMHO, SS shouldn't display those for booking, but that seems to be how they roll at SS IT.

This would probably be a good time to bring up using one's own phone for WiFi calling, and query those familiar with how it goes (or doesn't) on SS, being careful to specify which ship - since it does seem to matter.  I do know that I've had good luck on Celebrity ships using WiFi calling provided I was on their upper tier data plan, but that was a year ago.

@ggo85

You don't say where you'll be - what itinerary?  If always more or less in sight of land, what you'll want is a cellular phone and plan to deal with GSM in Europe.  At a minimum, you'll always be able to make calls while in port.

Attempts to video conference are going to be a function of both what ports SS blocks on their shipboard network and the bandwidth available to you.  There's some chance that with the right VPN, the upper tier data plan, and not too much competition for satellite time, you could make it work.  If any of the above sounds foreign to you, either get your IT folks on this for you or consider not using video.

37 minutes ago, Lemorvan said:

 

Ah, we have the same tailor. I got two pairs of trousers plus the jacket for my $35. Can’t beat a bit of Thai tailoring. 

Tailoring?  The way that jacket fits across the fronts of the shoulders, it's definitely not bespoke work.

Yikes.

2 hours ago, david63 said:

I think that I would hold off the praise until it actually happens - there is a lot that can go wrong between now and then.

The praise is warranted for the proactive approach, regardless of whether SS is successful.

7 hours ago, drron29 said:

And @canderson we are having dinner with the Shore Concierge manager tonight and i will bring up my experience and yours.

Appreciate it.  If one can't trust the "Available" banner for 10 sec, the system should allow for the double booking for a minute or two to provide time to book one and then subsequently cancel the other.

Will give those a try.

11 minutes ago, JSR said:

They may not allow communication but I do it all the time. I send an email.

What i meant was phone.  I have the X shorex and shoreside concierge numbers available.  But email for SS shorex sounds hopeful.  Any address in particular?

The SS site has a nasty little IT trick that can hurt.  I'm sure they meant well by making it impossible to book overlapping events, but ...

Book an excursion.

Go back later and attempt to book the same excursion, but at a slightly later time, and that shows as Available, NOT Waitlisted.

Web site says cannot book the excursion at the later time because of conflict (overlap) between times for the two.

Must therefore cancel first booking in order to make later booking.

Immediately (and I mean within seconds) attempt to book the excursion at the later time.

Web site now informs that the second booking is in fact NOT Available, but is Waitlisted.

Now have no confirmed reservations for either time for that tour, and both are now shown as waitlisted.

Annoyed.  If the later schedule had shown as Waitlisted, I would have never touched my original reservation.

Based upon what I've read, I assume, unlike other RCL lines, that SS allows no communication with the Shorex desk for customers using TAs for reservations?

Never mind my previous post.  SS doesn't bid out upgrades using a 3rd party company the way Celebrity does.  So the person I mentioned wouldn't have a role.

Guarantees are a little more complicated there.  Especially for more fully booked cruises, only after it becomes clearer about how the flow of the upgrade bidding process is moving and available inventory more clear would it be possible to assign guarantees.  Too many years traveling on X needs to be unwound in my new SS brain!

Good question.  RCL employs a "Manager, Hotel Finance, Onboard Revenue, and G&A".  Could be that person has some say in final assignments.

14 minutes ago, lincslady said:

The only time I enjoy Sauternes is with foie gras;  a match made in heaven.  To my mind that special deep flavour does not go with puddings at all - but chacun a son gout of course.

Have you tried it with Roquefort?

6 hours ago, Silver Spectre said:

Oh I forgot, grumble 2. The Pressreader app is no longer supported, apparently it’s been RCL’d away. You can use a link to the Pressreader site to read for example the Daily Mail. What you can’t do is use the slow Wifi to download a newspaper from the local server when busy doing something else and read it later. You have to online and even Premium doesn’t seem to gell well with the website, it’s difficult to resize pages, they get stuck and have to be reloaded. Not surprisingly the ship isn’t advertising that Pressreader is accessible any more.

We have noted that for other RCL ships, the IT configuration seems to vary a bit by ship.  Since we'll be on Dawn soon, wondering whether you attempted this via VPN, and if so, which VPN (or VPN protocol) seems to work on Dawn at this time.

2 hours ago, Gourmet Gal said:

So Amman.  I was just there and traveled to Petra by military Blackhawk!

So what did you think of the food service on "Royal Jordanian"? 😅

10 minutes ago, crusinbanjo said:

Mrs Banjo and I received our cabin assignment today for the October 6 sailing on the Dawn.  We had originally booked a Panorama suite guarantee, “Port to Port” and took advantage of the 20% discount for full payment up front.  So today we were upgraded to a superior veranda suite in what I think is a very favorable position on the ship.  Yippee, getting very excited!!!  

Good deal!  At today's prices, that upgrade was worth about $2,200 and a veranda.