OldCaver

Sneaking onto Voyager on the 25th of April. So less than two weeks now. It will be almost all sea days, except we're getting off in Cozumel. Love those virtual sea days.

Rainstorms in the Atlantic can take you by surprise. But I suppose it would be a wake up call you'd never forget! 💦

No problem. They'll just add it to your seapass card.

Required or not, I'd not go with open toed shoes. Imagine if a knife got knocked off a counter somehow and hit your toe. You'd miss your old friend...

OK, I successfully changed my password. I'm starting to think maybe this started out as an attempt to get people to change their passwords as a security measure, but they didn't do it right. That's just as suspicion, I'm not saying that's what's going on. Some companies require their employees to change passwords once a month. But if so, it's a good idea to tell people that up front. I had already decided that if we didn't get this fixed by boarding time next week, so that I can't do the last minute stuff to board, I would just assume I ain't the only one, so they'd have to figger something out to get us on board so we can spend our money on drinks and key chains. 😎

There's another thread with discussion about having your password refused so you can't log in. People are reporting workarounds, but something that works for one won't work for others. I'm going to quit trying to use the app for a few days until they can find Dennis Nedry to fix it.

Maybe they should fire Jethro and rehire Dennis Nedry.

Best post on the thread, right there!

I absolutely hate the Atlantic. Bunch of scumbags. Of course I say that with all due respect and Christian love.

Some cruises in my vast experience had a coffee package, but I don't know if that's still a thing at all. The coffee you can get in the Cafe Promenade is free, and pretty good quality, but my complaint was that the milk they provide for it is colder than a politician's heart, and cools the coffee down too much. But this next cruise, on the Voyager in a couple weeks, my daughter is bringing a box of those little creamers that don't need to be kept cool. That may well solve the problem. Just bring a few with us when we stumble out of the cabin, tear their little lids off, and presto! Cream in your coffee without turning it into an iced beverage.

Oooooh. Good question.

What caused this is that back many years ago, during the Crimean wars, your status depended on the number of cruises, not the number of nights you were on the ship. This means that somebody (looking at you, Florida residents) could take short little weekend cruises and shoot up in the ranks in short time. I resented that because I was taking Trans-Atlantics, and my 14 nights on the ship was worth the same as a 3 night cruise, as far as status. Didn't seem fair. So they made the adjustments, but grandfathered in your status, which is fair as far as I'm concerned, even though there could (theoretically) be Pinnacles on board who had spent less time than me on the ships. Relax, Pinnacles, I don't think it likely. But that means that now, theoretically, you could have half the ship filled with Diamond Pluses. So they wisely renamed the lounge so they wouldn't have to argue with angry Diamonds when they had to be turned away due to a full lounge. Even though I earned my D+ status the hard way, I'm OK with the drinks being loaded on my sea-pass card any time of day. I wouldn't be interested in squeezing into a crowded room just to get a snack or a coffee, but I do love stopping by in the wee hours to score a latte. I think given the situation, they did the best they could. I do kind of wish they'd establish something between D+ and pinnacle. But I don't cruise for the status, I just enjoy whatever perks they'd like to issue.

I could have posted this except for the one about bump ups. We've never gotten that, ever. We just this morning found out we're on deck 6, and we have no room number yet. Most of us who like GTYs think of the cabin as a place to sleep or shower, and that's it. And the savings will pay for more important extras.

My wife says it's when she looks down just before boarding, steps over the water, and onto the actual deck. This makes sense, of course. But for me the moment is when they took my seapass card, scanned it and I heard the ding. I guess the difference is between physically boarding, and being officially recognized as a passenger. Very little difference, I know.

"Yeah, that's the ticket. I wanted to make sure I was doing the cabin to their satisfaction. Yeah." 🙂

Great advice. What if you forget any of those things? Especially the safe combo. And leave it on the desk in case you forget where you left it. (we have to have a little fun.) 🙂

You can also go to Guest Services and get one, in case Stewart forgets to bring one.

Same experiences for me. I find that taking a four hour nap on arrival in Europe gets you all synced up right away. Love those sea days, no shortage of things to do. Sometimes after six sea days or so, I would get up in the monring, look out and see land, and it seemed weird, somehow.

Good strategy.

Things to consider: 1) If your cruise has a lot of port days, you won't drink as many back on the ship, which would make your package worth a little less to you. 2) If you are D+, you might want to tell your server not to count a soda or cheap drink against your 5 free drinks. (or 4 if you're just a lowly peasant D). Your mileage (or drinkage) may vary. 3) Often, your server will simply not bother with the extra price of your premium diamond drinks. This will be somewhat more likely if you (ahem) fold a buck next to your seapass card when he takes your order. But if he does charge your card with the extra buck or two, it's worth it to you for the premium liquor, or you wouldn't order it - am I right? 4) I once calculated that the package wouldn't be worth it for just the alcohol, but when I realized it also included coffee or orange juice, it became a good deal for me. Just things to consider when you're banging on your calculator.

We like to buy key chains from each port. They then become Christmas tree ornaments.

Now see, that is the attitude that virtually guarantees a great, enjoyable cruise. We, the passengers, are the single most important factor in whether a cruise is good or bad.

If there is a line of people waiting to board, they likely won't let you on. If there's no crowd or line, they'll let you on. The point of scheduled boarding is to avoid the long lines. It's one of the best changes they've made.

We loved trans-Atlantic/Pacific. Plenty of time to relax. I loved the lectures, but I hear they don't do that anymore. Saving some bucks for the cruise line, I suppose. Definitely prefer Europe to USA, because of the extra hour on many days. Going east I was tired most days. A 25 hour day is much better than a 23 hour day. We made a point of arriving in Europe 3 days early, so we could enjoy things before the cruise. As long as you have to fly, might as well make the most of it! Agree with Cruisegirl1 - fewer kiddies underfoot. If you just skimmed her post, go back and read it. So far, we're just now slowly getting back into cruising. It's more expensive than before Covid, but boarding is far easier than then, and there are other improvements. For now, we'll settle for 3-7 night Caribe cruises.We've been to all the ports, and we skip many of them and pretend that it's a sea day. This works for us.

I just asked Mrs. Caver (la esposa) about this. We generally bring around $500 for all expenses, including stuff on the way to the port and back. We never use it all. We tip maybe $20 per person in the cabin to Stewart (in addition to the pre-pay money), and a buck each time we order a drink or drinks.We don't ask much of Stewart, keeping our room more or less neat and orderly, so all he or she has to do is empty the trash and make the beds and maybe replace the towels once during the cruise. You do not need to bring a huge stack of ones, since it's way easy to break a ten or twenty at guest services, but you should still estimate what you need for tipping so you can avoid the long complaint lines. If you do exceed your estimates, it's not a problem, just a slight inconvenience while you wait for twenty people to complain about it raining too much. If you take an excursion (whether it's managed by the cruise line or not), you should be prepared to tip your guide or driver, but that's easy math.