Toofarfromthesea

I don't know what port you are leaving from, but I also have difficulty walking so I requested boarding assistance. I boarded in San Diego and when I got to the terminal area there was a podium with a big red umbrella. I went up to it and whisked me into the terminal to a seated holding area. 10 minutes later a port employee came with a wheelchair and took me through the check-in process and then put me in a different holding area. As soon as the ship was cleared for boarding a bunch of HAL employees came and got us, with wheelchairs, and we ended up being among the first to board. None of this was predicated on having priority boarding. It all happened because I got there early and had boarding assistance. That was in San Diego in January, and no other ships were in the port embarking.

You can get a free upgrade to any available cabin in the category of the cabin you are nominally booked in. You can get it as soon as you pay for Club Orange. You cannot upgrade to a better category, it has to be the same broad category. Oceanview to Oceanview, Balcony to Balcony. You can't cross to a higher category but you CAN move up to a better sub-category. And yes, you pick your upgraded cabin from any available cabin. In my case I booked one of the few Oceanview solo cabins. Then I used CO to upgrade to a much larger Oceanview cabin which would have cost nearly $1,000 more to book originally. It was a 17 day cruise so CO cost me 17 x $15 = 255. The $15 is per person but I was sailing solo. I suspect my deal was close the extreme because of sailing solo.

Mine never did but I had no trouble getting it added to my account once I was onboard.

Re: Club Orange - depending on the cabin you booked the 'free' cabin upgrade is definitely worth looking into if you haven't already. I booked the cheapest Oceanview cabin and was then able to use CO to upgrade to a larger Oceanview cabin that would have cost nearly 1,000 more if I had booked it originally.

What we did was get a travel debit card to use for ATM withdrawals. It was safer than using a regular debit card or a credit card because we pre-loaded it with a set amount so it couldn't be used to fraudulently access our credit line or checking account. We could transfer more money in, if necessary, but the travel card could not initiate the transaction. Plus there were no foreign currency fees and gave a good exchange rate. Then follow the advice to select the local currency at the ATM so your bank does the exchange, which will be a better rate than the ATM.

You've had good answers on some of your question but I'll throw in the thought that kid avoidance is largely a matter of length of cruise and time of cruise. Cruises longer than 7 days tend to have fewer kids, as do cruises that are not in the July/August summer vacation period.

I was at a shared table of 6 and we had no trouble getting extra stuff. It was no more difficult than getting extras of certain items when I had tea at the Ritz in London.

I had all day and all evening to look at the sea so I didn't really care about not being able to see the sea while eating dinner.

Try it and report back.

Last January it was port employee 'pushers' who whisked me through HAL check-in, and then they deposited me in a holding area until the ship was cleared for boarding, at which time HAL pushers got us on board.

As I've talked about before, I also boarded in San Diego and needed wheelchair assistance and I paid no attention to my listed boarding time. For me the key was going up to the podium with the big red umbrella and telling them I needed assistance. I got pretty much whisked right through and was one of the first people on board. This was this past January. Have a great cruise!

I'm almost the complete opposite. It's nice that we can each get what we want.

I'm sorry, sir/madame, this is a Wendy's.

You were told wrong. https://casetext.com/rule/minnesota-court-rules/minnesota-general-rules-of-practice/title-ix-jury-management-rules/rule-806-jury-source-list

No.

Wow, I would have loved to be on a Grand Jury. I thoroughly enjoyed my 2 stints of being on an actual jury.

Where do you live where jury summons are sent so soon before reporting? In the 2 states i'm familiar with, CS & AZ it was at least a month and more like six weeks to reporting day with plenty of time to request deferment. And a scheduled vacation would be practically guaranteed deferment.

Paging Dr. Einstein.

Totally agree. Crew are not there to become friends with pax who feel guilty because they did better, through effort, talent, opportunity, or circumstance, in the game of life. And my guess is that some crew regard it as an imposition on them.

In re reusable water bottles. Be careful because a recent study showed that the average reusable water bottle has 40,000 times the number of bacteria as the average toilet. You can avoid this by careful cleaning each time you use it. https://healthnews.com/news/reusable-water-bottles-contain-more-bacteria-than-toilet-seat/

It's not a one size fits all world.

Getting unlimited completely changed my thinking about how much to take. I literally sent a bag out every day, so I was able to get by on carry-on luggage for a 17 day cruise and would do the same on any length cruise.

I did, however, have a printed copy of the email just in case, but never needed it.

Actually I showed the email on the phone and the guest services woman forwarded it to their email account and 2 days later (it was the weekend) I got a call that the OBC had been credited to my onboard account.

I showed them the email that said the OBC was credited. And it was no hassle at all.