ARandomTraveler

I think DS stands for "dear son," DD would be for daughter. Not sure which yours is, as you've referenced DS but also called them "she." Not that it has anything to do with your post, just thought I'd point that out in case you didn't know what DS stands for.

D'oh! Sorry, that's what I meant - they're encouraging non-refundable, and discouraging refundable.

Wow they're really trying to discourage non-refundable bookings. They must make a pretty good profit off those.

You're gonna cancel just because you can't drink unlimited alcohol?

I use these ones, they're small but very strong. They claim to hold 22nd but they don't. I use them for lanyards, hats, Fanny packs, wet swimsuits, wash rags, towels. Sometimes the towels are too heavy so I hang them over 2 magnets instead of 1, and that holds them. MHDMAG Magnetic Hooks... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07N57H5F6?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Technically you cannot bring those, but whether they actually check your bottles or not is another story. If they check them, they'll probably take them from you. On my last cruise (in November), they didn't even open my suitcase to see what was in my bottles (and I went through security with them twice).

With an attitude like that, he's bound to find something on the ship he doesn't like, whether there's long lines or not. I wouldn't push him to do the trip, if he wants to miss out, it's his loss (and your daughter's for having married such a negative person).

For me it's not about saving money, it's about having better wine than you can get on the ship.

This is why I keep reading this thread, to see if anyone is reporting having this actually enforced yet.

I agree, I don't think they're gonna check, and I think since you already booked it, they're not going to kick you off. It would require them to go back through all the bookings to see how old everyone is and I doubt they'll do that.

I sailed out of Miami a couple months ago, walked from my hotel to restaurants and to CVS every night by myself, felt totally safe.

Johnny Rockets was included in the dining package on Symphony in November

Is it actually champagne, or is it a bottle of cheap $8 "bubbly?" Cause if it's that, they're doing you a favor by saving you the headache you'll get from drinking it.

Yeah that's what I was saying. But if you don't use up the whole refreshment package to begin with, or you're not going to drink more beverages, that math doesn't work. For example, if you would normally use up the refreshment package by drinking some non-alcoholic frozen piña coladas, then you can't really factor that drink into the calculation of drinks used under the refreshment package anymore, because it would likely just be swapped out in the alcohol package as the same drink, it's just that now it has alcohol. For example, let's say you need 5 non-alcoholic drinks to get your moneys worth out of the refreshment package. 1 coffee, 2 waters, 2 virgin piña coladas. If I upgrade to the alcohol package, those 2 Virgin piña coladas are now 2 regular piña coladas, so I'm still drinking the same 5 drinks. I'm not drinking 2 additional piña coladas (2 without alcohol and then 2 with alcohol). So the math, for me anyway, doesn't work out, because I'm not drinking enough non-alcoholic beverages that would be converted into alcoholic beverages to make the math work. It's cheaper for me to just pay the up-charge for the shot of alcohol in my "free" refreshment package drink. If buying the alcohol package means that now you will suddenly be drinking more liquids, then that math might work.

Yeah sorry, I meant the Chase Sapphire Reserve (not rewards, I think Siri changed the word on me). The Sapphire Preferred is the other card they offer, it only costs $95 and does not come with the insurance. The benefits of the Reserve card are great if you travel. Between the $300 credit, Lyft credit, airport lounge benefits etc, it pays for itself. The insurance is a bonus, plus like you said, the Lyft credit etc. Plus all travel and food gets 3x points, and if you book travel through ultimate rewards it's 10x, and the points can be transferred to Southwest Airlines, which I fly on almost exclusively.

Credit cards that offer insurance are generally not the free credit cards. The absolute best credit card travel insurance out there is offered by the Chase Sapphire Rewards card. It provides everything a 3rd party policy would offer except cancel-for-any-reason insurance, and they don't offer a very high medical reimbursement (it's only $5,000), so I buy a supplemental medical plan for $50 to cover that gap. But they do offer reimbursement if you or a traveling partner can't go on a trip due to illness etc. The catch? This card costs $550/year. No other credit card offers this comprehensive travel insurance, but some others do offer a less robust version. Usually they only cover accidents and sickness during a trip, but do not provide cancellation reimbursement. My guess is that this person who got sick and can't take her cruise, does not have the Chase Sapphire Rewards card, as it tends to be a card that people sign up for because they travel a lot and can get a lot of benefit out of that $550 fee (or $625 if you add an authorized user). An inexperienced traveler is unlikely to have this card.

I'm kind of a wine snob, so I always bring my own wine. Even if they sold the wine I like on the ship, they're gonna over charge for it, and since you can bring on your own bottle (used to be bottleS), you may as well carry on the good stuff you like. I tend to like wine I buy straight from a vineyard, $50-155 bottles of wine that would cost $80-$300 on the ship, if they even carry it, which they don't.

This math is assuming you'd use up the whole cost of your refreshment package every day first. I'm one of those refreshment package people too. I don't drink enough alcohol on a cruise to justify the $73-$80 price tags I usually see. But I also don't get my money out of the refreshment package. I buy it for convenience, and some days I do use it to its full daily cost, and other days I don't. So for me, assuming that the upgrade to the deluxe package is simply the difference between the 2 packages doesn't work out, because I'm already under water on the refreshment package.

I dislike all the alternative options, but if you're going to pick one from the list I'd do the Hard Rock option. I wouldn't give the cruiseline thousands of extra dollars in order to salvage something they screwed up for you. Plus that seems like a lot of money for a 4 day cruise. I'd personally just stay home and enjoy the days off.

Yes probably the itinerary. I have a non-Caribbean itinerary this summer too, and mine is priced at $54.99-$58.99 (depending on the day and which "sale" is running).

I bet you hold a really good grudge 😂

You don't get it though, you're saying you expect a company you've been loyal to, to show some compassion, and what we're all trying to help you see is that it wouldn't make sense for them to do anything in situations like this. There are way too many people who have a sad story, and they can't go around compensating everyone just because they're having a rough time, or because they're loyal customers, or for any other reason. This is why insurance exists. It is very sad that this is happening to your friends, but they're no different than the thousands of other people having the same or similar issues every day, hoping the cruiseline will bail them out of a bad situation they didn't properly plan for (or didn't expect to happen).

There are so many people who cruise that have health conditions, and if the cruise line was going to make exceptions for these kind of circumstances, it would negate anyone's reason for buying insurance. In fact people would be better off NOT buying insurance because most of the time, pre-existing conditions are not covered, unless you buy a certain kind of insurance within a very short window of time after making your initial deposit. It would be a waste of money for an unhealthy person to pay the insurance premium if it were easier (and free) to just get an exception from the cruiseline. Being a new cruiser and inexperienced traveler isn't any reason to make an exception either. It's unfortunate, but it's called "learning the hard way." I'd be more upset at the person who made your group booking who failed to educate these new travelers about things like travel insurance.

Same. I traveled to Europe last fall and a round trip ticket was just under $2,000. This summer my round trip ticket (premium economy) is just under $5,000. Crazy.

I never did figure that out when I went. We let the waiter pick everything for us except the main course, which we picked ourselves based on the section of the menu he told us to look at. I think the waiter picks one item from each section of the menu, but then again who knows. I think we had 5 or 6 courses at least. It was fun, very unique, and the food is actually good. I'd go again.