canderson

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.

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

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

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.

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.

Have you tried it with Roquefort?

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.

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

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

@FlyerTalker Our itinerary is unlikely to have been popular to begin with. We've got one way business, direct DEN to LHR then LIS, for what is, I believe, the last European SS departure ( a TA) of the season. No other reason for eastbound flights, much less one to LHR / LIS. Wouldn't make sense for SS to buy a block for that, much less one four days early. That it's one way raised the ante for a private booking. (Ah, the old days of consolidators and consolidator fares!) I couldn't touch it for the add-on SS was offering then, and the public fare is even more now. This leads me to believe that we were the beneficiaries of a substantial general discount SS receives from United and TAP.

I will say I was surprised that SS was perfectly happy to move my flights to 4 days ahead of departure with just the standard small deviation fee. I understand that 3 days max is the norm, as is the case with pre-cruise hotel. It would be interesting to know, for the future, just how "soft" the "before" ("after" would make no sense) is in days in their contracts with the airlines.

We scheduled !4! days ahead for our 1 way business class to LIS for a TA and only had to pay the standard $150 deviation. However, we did this immediately after the original booking, and fares have gone up considerably since then. Might be a different story if we tried to switch to an earlier departure now.

Is it just that I'm viewing on a phone, or were a large percentage of those reds screw tops?

Not until they get their own alphabet!

Ask SS specifically for the Silversea port agent's phone and address for the port city and see if you can get a response to that. Since you have no personal/business/hotel contact there for your trip, the agent is about all you've got available.

See link, post #3.

Great upgrade! The SS Silver Suite is of equivalent size to a Royal on X.

An aside: Ever wonder why gift sets of tableware in Japan come in sets of 5 vs the 4 more common elsewhere in the world? It's a cultural thing. 4 = death = unlucky. That said, setting a 3rd place for what is clearly a dinner intended ONLY for two assumes too much.

We will be spending 4 nights there in November, so any tips will be appreciated. We have one dinner included, so any info on the two restaurants are of particular interest.