NevadaCruiser2023

Even a prepaid card is attached to a bank of some sort. It may not be a B&M with a branch you can walk into and conduct busines like a regular bank, but for MC or Visa to allow a card to be issued, it has to be chartered in some fashion.

Well, it's a Celebrity forum, so I think I'll concentrate on Celebrity. That's just me though.

All well and good. However, if you're going to raise prices 150%+ AND cut back quality to non-premium levels, it won't sustain itself. There'll still be people who pay it, but they'll be many more who'll take that money elsewhere. That's a balancing act I wouldn't want to be responsible for.

ISYR

Not a big fan of looking up her nose every time it cut to her.

If you read your cruise docs, at least in the USA, 90 minutes prior to departure is the cut-off.

They didn't show as paid on my initial booking, but after final payment, all was showing up the way it should.

I just was reading the Edocs for my upcoming cruise. The Book Later now say "90 days".

We also once had a $1k bar bill. That's when we started doing the breakeven analysis on the package. If (and we were being conservative in our assumptions), the out-of-pocket cost was higher or even with the package price, we'd go with the package, conversely, if it was less, we'd go out of pocket. This also depends on the number of port days vs. sea days. A high sea day voyage equates to more drinking. While we don't find ourselves drinking more to make the package worth it, we do allow ourselves to upgrade our water and coffee choices if we have the package vs. when we don't. To me, it's a delicate balance that I strive to come out ahead on. It's like negotiating $50 off the price of something, not a major thing in the history of the world, but a victory, nonetheless.

Am I missing something? 12 months and 1 year sound awful similar to me.

Hawaii is uber expensive. I finally got to visit Pearl Harbor and the Arizona Memorial, but with the prices of everything, we'll not be going back.

Depends on how good you are at Hide N Seek.

I wonder if the Cruise lines are looking to do away with the drink packages completely? If you look at Celebrity's cost of just the classic package and run it through Cruzely's drink calculator, if you just have a couple of glasses of wine with dinner, 2 drinks during the day and coffee and water the rest of the time, you're better off not buying the package. If you drink over 4 cocktails a day, you're starting to be better off with the package. I always run a breakeven before I decide to pop for the package.

According to what I've been able to find, the majority of RCCL/X cruise employees are out of the Philippines, the wait for a visa appt is 39 calendar days. I think the "waiting for a visa" excuse is running out of steam. Most corporate types only see out to the next quarter. As long as bookings are rolling in and the results are edging closer to the black, there's no incentive to change course (forgive the nautical sprinkle). I predict it'll swing slightly back to pre-pandemic, but it'll never be as it was. The cruise I'm taking in March has increased in price just about 66% over what it was when I booked it. I haven't taken my cruise yet (obviously), but if it doesn't meet my expectations, I can't see myself paying a premium price for simply a name on the side of a ship. It's the destinations I care about and I can get that on any cruise line.

The dress code says "designer jeans". Not sure what designer jeans are, to be honest. I'm guessing my faded 501's won't spread the mustard, so I'll just bring some chino type pants.

Don't' know about that. But it is of interest to note that people who thoroughly enjoy every aspect of their cruise are less likely to post on a message board. You always have to take the complaints into perspective and with a huge grain of salt. To be truly representative, there would need to be posts from people on the exact same cruise, eating in the same locations. We're going on a Millennium cruise next month, I think we'll be happy to be cruising.

In this day and age, gender questions are something most people would not even wade into. I doubt anyone would notice or mention it, even if the kid was older, especially if the kid was older.

I'm not a big lobster fan either (except for a place called Mickey Mantles in the Bricktown part of OKC, they have a lobster cargot that is beyond fantastic). However, I'm not for eliminating it just because I don't fancy it.

SPAM and scrambled eggs are a great quick breakfast.

I was in Nellingen, a few miles outside of Stuttgart. Wasn't really much out on the economy unless you went to Stuttgart. Most of our free time was spent in Heidelberg. Nellingen Kaserne no longer exists as a military base. The Germans did some pretty good redevelopment of the base though.

Way back when, I was stationed in Germany and for an Oktoberfest, me and a buddy rented portable toilets and set them up at a base party. We charged 10 pfennings to use it. We ended up making a 200 DM profit that day. Never underestimate the need for peed.

The probability of selling to an existing customer is 60 – 70%. The probability of selling to a new prospect is 5-20%, Customers who rate you 5 on a scale from 1 to 5 are six times more likely to buy from you again, compared to ‘only’ giving you a score of 4.8.

What I don't' understand is that you don't get the perks of the upgraded category. You pay to "move up", so you should be truly moved up.

True dat. I was watching something on the news or a tv show and I remember thinking "what the heck is the world coming to" and suddenly was possessed by what a middle aged person listening to Elvis for the first time in the 50's, must have felt. The more things change...

The "zooming" of the Magic Carpet is listed as an air conditioner benefit for your cabin. Be grateful.