zeroyankee

Took our first cruise in 2007 and became Platinum 5 years later in 2012.  Then another five years to Diamond in 2017 on cruise #26.

9 hours ago, h_blond2 said:

Side note...our van driver's father was originally from Missouri and had already heard about the tornado that hit Jefferson City the night before. We have several relatives who live in JC and, luckily, they all survived unharmed and their homes only suffered minor damage.

 

Yes, this was amazing that no lives were lost!  Still a lot of damage being cleaned up, but it certainly could've been worse!  It passed about 3.5 miles from our house, but was pretty frightening nonetheless.  Such a small world that your van driver's dad was from here. 

4 hours ago, h_blond2 said:

That is another complaint...the lack of announcements. I appreciated the fact the Dustin, the CD, kept his announcements brief and far and few between, but we weren't always kept in the loop. We weren't told why we were late leaving, we weren't notified when we had docked in Grand Cayman, and we would end up being over an hour late to dock in NOLA at the end, and that announcement came about an hour too late.

This was one of our big complaints on our last trip on the Glory.  A different cruise director, but informative announcements were lacking in places.  Never a lack of announcements when it came to buy things, though!  We were delayed by an hour at one port because the announcement for the all clear never came.  Only when we noticed others leaving the ship and asked at Guest Services were we told the ship had been cleared.  I guess it could've been worse, but we made it work.

We'll be doing the Glory again for the 3rd time this fall.  Looking forward to your review!

We used a TA only once so far and the biggest drawback to me was that I could no longer manage my account with Carnival as I had previously.  I could buy my own add-ons such as Internet, Cheers, etc.  But to make a payment, I had to call the TA so if it was after business hours, I was out of luck and had to call back later.  Or I had to wait for the TA to call back and then hope that they passed the payment along to Carnival.  (I've heard some of the horror stories about bad TA's taking the money and not forwarding it on, but those are very rare.)  I didn't like giving up the convenience of making payments directly via the website any time of day or night.  So if you're a control freak like me, this may be something you hadn't thought of.

We were on a trip last month and did the Chef's Table for the first time.  There was a guy there that was a very picky eater and he admitted and owned it when his wife told people.  For example, he wouldn't eat chicken if it's on the bone, would not do fish so they served him something different, does not eat pork, and a few other things.  So, I believe if you're up front with them, you should not have any problem.  My wife doesn't care for fish, but tried the piece that was served and then passed it to me to finish.  There were no issues with this either.

Had this happen on the cruise we did for Christmas. Grand Cayman was the scheduled port for Christmas Day and it was switched with our Cozumel stop. Reasoning was that most everything was going to be closed in Grand Cayman whereas in Cozumel there would still be things open for the ships that were in port.

Our last time there was February 2017 and at that time there was no more shopping at the terminal. We used to go buy some coffee there and maybe souvenirs for friends at home, but it was a surprise as the entire building was empty. No craft vendors outside either. Not sure if it was temporary or a permanent change though.

Breeze is doing a 14-day from Port Canaveral that stops at St. Lucia and St. Kitts in November 2019. Also, I think the Pride from Baltimore does a 14-day that includes St. Lucia also in November 2019.

It's on Deck 3 forward starboard side on the outer deck. There are (were?) Muster station signs inside the Gatsby's Garden area (with seating) but they came through and made everyone gathering there leave and go outside when we were there in October. :(

I asked a friend that happens to be one of the Dreams photographers and she said they typically don't make reservations in advance. They recommend speaking to the photo department shortly after boarding.

Anyone ever used MaxKart Auto Rentals for renting a golf cart in Grand Turk? I haven't seen much about them, but their website indicates they have 6-person golf carts available. This sounds good for our party of six vs. renting two regular carts.

I noticed someone had a good experience with Lowe's awarding points quickly. I just made an inquiry on a purchase from mid-September that have still not posted. Hope they credit these soon.

Hi, I'm glad I found this thread! I don't have the Carnival mastercard right now, but have been thinking about applying for it.

I'll try to help as I understand it. I may not be 100% on these either and if not, someone can correct us both!

Just to make sure I'm reading this right. To get the most value from the points, I'd need to make a charge to Carnival for at least $1,500 and I could then pay it off with 100,000 points.

Correct.

If I didn't quite have the 100,000 points saved up, I'd have up to 180 days to acquire them and then apply it to my charge.

You could do this, yes. However, if you only had a balance of say 50,000 points, you could still apply them if you wanted to. If you apply them to a balance of $1,500, you would still get the 1.5x multiplier so it would get you a $750 statement credit and leave $750 for you to pay normally.

If I'd already paid off my credit card statement that included the $1,500 to carnival, I would just end up with a statement credit for that amount.

I don't think it works like that, but perhaps someone else can clarify.

At that rate, without the boosters or any bonus points when you receive your card, that would give a 1.5% return if I'm figuring it correctly.

 

Does that sound right?

You will always get a 1% return with whatever amount of points you redeem. When you redeem them for a statement credit that includes any Carnival charge of $1,500 or more, then your return bumps to 1.5%. That's the way I've understood it.

Another good one:

 

Shoebuy dot com. 6 point multiplier, and the points were awarded within 2 days of my purchase. (in fact, I got the points faster than I got the shoes. Hopefully the shoes will be arriving today.)

Good to know! I was considering using them for a purchase a little while back, but I received a pair of shoes I was eyeing as a birthday gift before I could try them. Thanks for the update!

After several emails back and forth, I finally received a letter stating that my account will be credited for the missing bonus points for using the TireBuyer.com link. So, while it took quite a while, they did eventually come through. Just another one to be sure and keep an eye on!

Thank you.

Do you know how long it takes to get the extra points or how long I'm supposed to wait?

Every time I've made an inquiry on missing points, I get a canned response saying that it could take up to 45 days. So I set a calendar notice and if by the 45-day period I haven't gotten anything, I send my inquiry at that time. Usually it isn't too long after that and they will be credited. It's a pain, but you have to be vigilant and keep them honest!

I used the 1-800-PetMeds website via the Rewardsboost portal & promptly received my 5pts per dollar about 4 days after purchase. Good site!

Good to hear that!

I'm still waiting to hear about my inquiry on my TireBuyer.com purchase. I sent the inquiry after the 45-day period and got a response that my points had already been credited. After several back and forth emails, it dawned on me they were talking about the points for the actual purchase, not the BONUS points. So now they are in the process of investigating that. Next week is the deadline they gave for that investigation.

I did make a purchase with Norton to update my security software and got the 12X points two days later, so they are easily on the whitelist.

Yesterday I received a letter in the mail stating that after further review, my account was being credited for the missing Rewards Boot points from my purchase through Candlewood Suites last summer. So while they aren't necessarily on my blacklist, they will be on a watch list to make sure points are credited eventually.

I received another email stating that they will open another case into the missing points for Candlewood Suites. So for now, it remains open and I'll update when I hear back.

On a separate note, I used the link for TireBuyer.com to purchase some new tires back on 4/27 and have yet to see any points credited for that one. I'll keep an eye on this one and file another report if it gets to the 45-day mark with no activity.

The only merchant for me that was spot on about getting points issued within a couple of days has been Toshiba. I bought a new computer a while back and had the points credited quickly. Most others I've had to open inquiries into.

I've been slipping on checking up on some missing points. Last summer I used the link to book a hotel stay at Candlewood Suites. I never did see any points issued so after the 45-day wait, I inquired. They were going to look into things, but I never received anything after that.

So, the other night I sent another inquiry. I received an answer tonight saying that the my account was not approved to receive the points. It went on to explain that purchases using discount or coupon codes are not allowed, nor are rooms booked and paid for with IHG rewards points. I had done none of these as I clicked on the link, made a selection, and used my Carnival Mastercard for the booking.

The only thing I'm wondering about is if maybe Rewards Boost points are only applied if you check out and pay for the reservation at the time of booking rather than actually when checking out of the hotel and settling the bill later on. There was a mention of Rewards Boost points not being eligible until the reservation has been fulfilled.

I asked for clarification on this but I'm not expecting to get the points credited. For the time being, IHG hotels are coming off my list of merchants in this program. Anyone else have any similar experiences?

A $1500 statement credit will "cost" you 100,000 FPs, whereas a $1499 statement credit will cost you 14,900 FPs.

You forgot a zero there. $1499 credit will run 149,000 FPs! ;)

Yes, it's a horrible company! I bought three different arrangements from them, to send to three different people. I was so embarrassed when I saw the pathetic crap that was delivered 'from me' to my widowed neighbour.:( So I called up the other two recipients and asked for blunt critiques on the arrangements they got - they were also small, lacking the number and variety of blooms that was supposed to be included, wilted, and badly arranged.:mad: Then, I got no satisfaction from customer service at all, I couldn't even get my points. Just rude jerks.:mad:

Sorry you didn't get your points. It took me about 3 months before I finally got mine. But worse than that was the horrible arrangement that was received. I also realized that all they do was contact a local florist and pass along the order details. When I called to complain about the arrangement, you could hear it sounded like a huge call center. They know nothing, but are just a large order processing house. Sure, they claim to offer more points than the others, but it's definitely not worth it!

If you're interested, some other non-points awarding retailers I've blacklisted over the years:

 

 

• Crate & Barrel
  
• CB2
  
• From You Flowers (they also sent a horrible product and had miserable customer service)
  
• PetcareRx
  
• Oriental Trading Company
  
• Calphalon (although I do love the product, so I'll still by Calphalon pans from other retailers. Also, I don't think Calphalon is a RB retailer anymore.)
  

Yes, we got ours yesterday, but still just outside the cutoff. I'm thinking, ok you put this deal out there good for about 45 days, but SOMEHOW you don't get around to mailing the letters until the final week of the promotion? I know snail mail is slow, but come on! It has to be deliberate!