DCPIV

Sounds perfect for whisky.

Retreat guests ticked off because they were refused. Perhaps also Aqua due to crowds.

They likely were getting too many requests for Blu which, in turn, resulted in a lot of ticked off Retreat guests.

We had a fantastic dinner in Murano on Equinox last October. I would not hesitate to go back there. We also enjoy Sushi on 5, and that also is fully included.

That most certainly is true if you are trying to book while on board. We were very recently in a Royal Suite, and we were interested in getting a reservation while on board (on a whim). They best they could do was 9 PM. Like I said, though, there's never been any trouble getting a "prime time" reservation when requesting with the concierge in advance (although I assume sooner still is better). If you are in a PH, I assume it will be even easier.

Just in case you don't hear from anyone by email or phone, you always can call 1-877-RETREAT and speak to a shoreside concierge (I believe option 3 and then option 2).

I have a form of disgraphia where I often reverse letters or numbers, and I'll often mix up left and right when making a statement. I'll say "left" or "right" when I mean the other. I might even be pointing in the direction I mean but saying the other! That drove my wife a bit crazy for a while, pointing left and saying "go right." Like you, though, I never mix up port and starboard. Crazy, isn't it?

Yes, you will be charged. I suppose you likely could have the refunded once you get on board, but you shouldn't have to do that. You will be contacted by a shoreside concierge roughly 2-4 weeks prior to sailing, and you can give your desired reservations then. We've never had an issue getting the reservations we want when we've asked in that manner in advance. You probably will get a nice table, too. 😉

When you have to change ports this close to sailing, you have to take what the world gives you. It is a shame, but you gotta do what you gotta do. I recall a sailing we were on that was originally scheduled to go to Damascus. That was right after all hell broke loose in Syria. The itinerary changed to Marmaris, Turkey. There's not much there but a large marina. We were disappointed, of course, but it was a lot better than being in Damascus at that time! By the way, we walked on through the marina and into the main city. We had an excellent time and one of the best meals of our lives.

It was under Loyalty & Suites when we were on Reflection a couple weeks ago.

Thanks. I completely misread your original response.

Everything has gone way down over the last week.

But that's its own animal. I don't know that you keep spa privileges if you move up to any other sort of suite.

I'll add an underlined "maybe" to the above response.

I'm not sure you keep them even then. I know your assigned dining room will change from Blu to Luminae, but I don't know about spa privileges.

I'm not sure where you are looking on the app, but I'm also positive that you have nothing to worry about. If you're in a suite, then Luminae is your dining room. We got Reflection on the 5th, and we had a great time in there! Tell Dewi we said hi! If I recall, Luminae was under "Loyalty & Suites" when looking at the dining options. You need to scroll all the way to the right.

As mentioned, that's not a big surprise. We've had the same thing happen. The app is only so reliable until very close to embarkation. It's not unusual for them to change things around.

They will have 1 of those on a 4-night cruise.

Maybe we'll bump into each other, then!

We rarely go the wrong way when we're headed to the room (do note that I said "rarely" and not "never"). We always take the stairs, and so there's another idiosyncracy we fall into. Whenever we are going downstairs and reach our destination deck, we always turn the way we were going on the stairs. If we were going downstairs counterclockwise, then we head left. We head right if we were going downstairs clockwise. That often leads to us turning around and backtracking or crossing to the other side of the deck at some other place. At it only happens when going downstairs. I guess that pause to catch our breath helps break the motion when heading upstairs. 😁

A liter of liquor and set-ups. The website allows you to choose from among Bacardi Silver, Captain Morgan, Jameson, Johnny Walker Red, Tanqueray, and Tito's.

I've seen no signs of bingo returning.

They only take reservations on board. You can mosey over there after you board and make a reservation if you like. As mentioned above, it's rarely all that busy, so you shouldn't have an issue.

Just so everyone knows, there is an excellent forum on CC about travel insurance. It's where I went to get the information I wanted, and I put together our plan(s) accordingly. There is a lot of good information in this thread, but there are only so many of us here. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/499-cruisetravel-insurance/

That is a very different (and older) profession than sailing.