gatour

As someone above mentioned earlier.  Costa did sail ship(s) out of North America.  While still primary marketed to the European market, they did market to North America.

I actually did some researh on them back then.  The comments were very mixed.  So took a pass.

Not sure if things have changed over the years and if the carnivalization will further affect things

Give it a day or two.  They probably did a fare update over the weekend.and may miss enterered some info.  Alternatively call RCCL directly and talk to one of their agents

This topic comes up periodically.  Carnival is not the only the cruises line that does this.  Since this was instituted years ago, I have never heard of any issues even among competing non Carnival cruise lines.

3 hours ago, brillohead said:

That's not always an option for everyone, either because they can't (work obligations, parents/kids back home, etc.) or they simply don't want to.  

Your comment is as helpful as telling people to give their swimsuit a vacation for the week and stay out of the pool / off the beach or to give their liver a vacation for the week and not drink anything but water/tea/coffee.  People are allowed to do what they want on their vacation, within the confines of the law and the cruise contract.  

At one time I had blocked matj2000.  Maybe he slightly changed his screen name.  Time to do it again

In regards to taxis.  You might want to prebook a car service.  On our last cruise that went out of Barcelona, we traveled with the my MIL.  Each of us had one full sized luggage, along with my wife and my self having two carry ons.  I think my MIL may have had one carryon.  The car I ordered had enough room to accomadate all three of us along with the luggage.

Plus it was nice to just look for a person carrying a sign with our name on it.  We did this both way from the the Barcelona airport to our 3 day pre-cruise stay,  then to the cruise ship.  And then from the ship to our one day post cruise hotel stay.  And then from the hotel to the airport.

Also on the last day or two of the first leg remind that room attendent that you are doing a back to back and your new room number.

16 minutes ago, baelor said:

$13 is cheap for a drink where I live.

And cheap compared to resort hotels, Disney World, etc

Someone used the term "greedy" in what cruise lines charges.  It is called supply/demand.  Basic economics and the base of capitilization.

If you don't like the price of the UDP don't buy it.  If enough people don't buy it at the offered price they will lower it.

For me before we made Diamond I would normally  buy the package based on a cost analyst taking into account if it was a port intensive intenery. 

After making Diamond the equation change so don't buy it as often.

It is two bottles of wine per cabin.

You can bring on canned sodas as long as they are smaller than 17 oz.  I know that is an odd number but it is due to they allow you to bring bottled water and 17 oz is equilavant to 500 ml which is fairly common size for bottled water.

Mind you, that wine, soda, water must be carried on by you and/or spouse.  It can't be packed in checked luggage.

At least a few years ago when they reinstituted everyone of age in the cabin must purchase the alchohic drinks package.  However they would make exceptions.  You have to call RCCL and give a reason.  I did this a couple of times as a my is almost a non-drinker (at most on a 7 day cruise at most she only has two alchoholic drinks)

The rest of your questions I can't answer, and also I may be corrected by people that have sailed post covid.

On 5/22/2022 at 1:09 PM, Bxc53 said:

About device sharing. If I understand, we could buy one 'connection' and use multiple devices ( iPhone and iPads) - but only one connected to the internet  at a time. Do I have this right?

Yes that is correct.  I usually buy the device package.  My wife and myself switch between multiple devices.  Android, Iphones, laptop, tablet etc.  We just made sure that each of us only had one device connect at anyone time.

One time, we bought a three device package, because on our in-laws child needed internet access for school purposes.  It was cheaper for her parents for us to have a third device.  They paid us back with them buying me glasses of wine until we were even.  Note.  I didn't keep track if we were actually even.

Yet another thread the devolves into a covid debate.

1 hour ago, rudeney said:

 

That strategy really makes no sense.  It takes a given number of staff to cook and serve food to a given number of passengers.  By closing venues, they are just consolidating all the poor service in one place.  

11 minutes ago, clskinsfan said:

I would prefer them to cut room staff and make them servers in all honesty. I can live without my room being made up every single day. But I cant stand poor restaurant service. 

To the first quote.  If they are short of staff in MDR plus staff in the specialy restaraunts, make sense to combine the two seperate staff that are available into the MDR or the remaing speciality restaurants.

In regards to the second quote.  It is not as simple reasigning room staff to the the restaurants.  The skill sets are different, training involved etc.  You can't simply snap your fingers and turn a room attendent into a server, assistant server etc. 

I have worked in restaraunts in a resort hotel and there was no way would just grab a member of house keeper and make them service the dining rooms.  Mind you if a house keeper wanted to transfer to Food and Beverage they would given consideration etc.  And then properly trained.

2 hours ago, Starry Eyes said:

 

That’s a good point….be sure there are no tabulation errors.  They do happen, though I personally have not experienced one yet.

 

Several years ago my husband took a solo 4 night cruise, so he has earned eight more points than me. Our accounts are linked, so when he hits a milestone, he hits it for both of us.  When I sign in to my account on line I see his point total rather than the number I have earned, yet when I speak to a customer service agent on the phone they congratulate me on my own point total (so we know they are tracking it, too).  If I take a solo 3 night cruise,  the number I see when I sign into my account on line will not change (I’ll still see hubby’s number) but if I talk to a CSA the number they say to me will only to two lower than hubby rather than eight lower.

Also several weeks after the cruise I would check with C&A and make sure your husbands account has been credited with points.  Several years ago when I was checking in after making Diamond, I noticed my wife still showed Emerald.

I checked my cruise history and verified that every cruise that got me to Diamond was a cruise my wife was on.  I called C&A and explained the situation.  The rep looked at my records and hers moved her to Diamond.

My fear was that she would do a cruise with my MIL but without me expecting to get the Diamond benefits.  We sometimes take vacations seperately due to work related issues.  Thus my concern

Bennybrun,  Scratching my head about walking to the surf shop during your stop at Port Caneveral, the only places that I can think of that is within walking distance the dock is a few restaurants and an obversation deck.  Any of the surf shops (Ron Jons) I can think of are in Cocoa Beach and definitely not safely walkable.

The restaurants near the piers are generally decent.

For $150 I would book an ocean view balcony if you want to see the ocean.  The one bad thing about Oasis class ships once they converted they converted the Royal Viking Lounge to a suite lounge, there is no inside lounges to have a drink and watch the ocean go by.  One of my favorite activities to do while catching up on my reading.

The trick about Central Park balconies.is to get a cabin closer to the aft.

There is gap between the bottom of the bathroom door and the floor of the bathroom.  There is a light that is always on in the bathroom which emits through this gap.  Alternatively she could always use the lights next to the bed as someone else mentioned.  Just show her where the switches are.

Several years ago my wife tried Hook on another ship (so I don't get the comment from the reviewer that is a new concept.  Maybe for Navigator but not other ships)

We were not impressed with food or service.  Since the reviewer threw out that he was from the Northeast and he knows good seafood.  I am a Florida native and have been eating locally caught seafood pretty much all of my life.  I don't normally bring this up.  Because I realize different parts of the country have their likes and dislikes in regards to particular food dishes.  Are they wrong, maybe not but I see several of their reviews, I can make decision on trusting them.

On 3/5/2022 at 3:30 PM, pxy cda said:

We sailed during the riots a few years back. Local told me docks are very safe as it is federal. So criminals stay away as it is penetentiary vs regular jail. Not sure if it's true but we had no issues. 

As a point of clarification most ports in the US are owned/controlled by local port authorities.  They provide most of the "on the ground security".  Mind you the Federal gov't has a say on entry and exit criteria, the port authority provides the personnel.  Would it be a federal crime to enter a port over a fence, most likely yes, but even if the federal crimes laws weren't there the local/state crime laws would still apply.  So I think most criminals would just bypass the cruise port parking lots for easier pickings, like at your local shopping center.

As opposed to serving time between a    penitentiary, which I assume you mean a federal one vs a state/local jail from my reading the state/local jails can be "harder" time.

Having said that I always park in the port lots more for convivence.  However, outside of Miami I don't hesitate to recommend people park at privately owned lots to save money.

For Miami over the years on this board I have heard stories about people returning from a cruise only to find their vehicle broken into, so I always recommend people to use the Port of Miami internal parking options

One thing to keep in mind, is the state you live in may affect your coverage.  Read the fine print to make sure you are buying the coverage that covers residents of your state.

You need to contact Crown and Anchor as soon as possible.  To make sure the points are correct.  If at all possible have both your Crown and Anchor numbers before making the call.

I really didn't pay attention to our status with Royal Caribbean because over the years we would jump between cruise lines.  I eventually got to Diamond, but during booking a cruise she was still listed as Emerald.  That wasn't correct.  I looked at her Crown and Anchor account and saw that they hadn't credited her account with some cruises that she took with me (I normally book our vacations) so something slipped through the cracks.

I gave Crown and Anchor and told them about the issue.   They looked at my account and I confirmed all of the cruises that got me to Diamond was cruises she was on.  They updated her account.  I was just worried that if I dropped dead, she would have issues with exercising her Diamond and now Diamond+ privilege's in the future.

The reason why I say contact them ASAP, is that it sometimes take time for the updates to work through the various computer systems.

Some of the replies are assuming that the upgrade is foa r an ocean balcony and not a Boardwalk/Central Park balcony.

On Oasis class ships we have only done Central Park balconies.  I enjoy sitting out there in the evening enjoying the music.

On other cruises we have gone back and forth between inside cabins and ocean balconies.  Usually the deciding factor is the cost difference and how port intensive the cruise is and if we have been to the various ports before.

My wife does not like heights so she get very use of balconies.  The good point about inside cabins is I get my best sleep in them as I am normally as soon as I see sunlight coming in the window obviously not an issue with an inside cabin 

8 hours ago, ianj said:

From what I've read here and on RCCL blog, the answer is no. 

 

If you buy 4 device access in one persons name you can access the internet on any of the devices but only ONE at a time. 

If you buy 1 device in each of 4 peoples names, all 4 people can be online at the same time. 

 

Of course the second option is about 50% more expensive.

You are totally incorrect.  For years I have bought a two device package for me and my wife.  Different first names. 

We each have multiple devices, cell phones, computers, tablets that we would use during a cruise.   We each made sure that we each only had one device accessing the network at any one time.  For example.  I would switch between my laptop and tablet through out the day thus my one connection.  My wife would do something similar for  her devices.

A couple of years back I bought a three device package so one of my in-laws kid could do some school work with the understanding that they would only have one device attached at any one time.  Different cabins, totally different names.  No issues.  Cheaper for them, they just paid the price difference between the 2 vs 3 device packages by picking up a few drinks tabs during the cruise.

1 hour ago, Oceansaway17 said:

yes I agree with this last statement.   and yes of course it is about money but the idea of a charter is so the group can travel together.  They should try to offer the smaller and slightly older ships.  Never the brand new big ones.   oh well     

But what happens to the groups that can sell out the larger ships and their client group want the larger ship amenities.   Plus these whole ship charters will guarantee a per cabin premium over what the cruise ship would charge for that particular date/ship.

11 hours ago, Colorado Cruzer said:

The 6 month rule is for international air travel, not cruises. You should be fine.  

Actually not quite true.  It is dependent on the country you are visiting no matter the mode of transportation.

Several years ago Barbados invoked this rule both to cruisers (who are there only during the day) and people arriving by air.  Barbados rescinded this rule shortly there after.  Carnival and other cruise lines had to check for expiration dates for cruises that visited Barbados.

No country in the Caribbean that regularly accepts cruise ships require a passport that is expiring within six months for cruises.

Nothing to do with US rules

2 hours ago, twinmommy08 said:

4 device VROOM SURF + STREAM 
 

I paid $155 (7.75 per device per day) for our 5 night Mariner in March. $216 (7.75 per device per day) for our Ovation sailing in May.
 

Both $31 per day. The per adult is per package. You only need one package and everyone can have their own code if you buy a 4 pack.  
 

I believe I bought both packages during the Black Friday sale. We use the internet for iPhone texting and WiFi calling at sea to keep connected with our teenagers while they experience freedom 🤣 

Actually  if one person buys a four device package they get one code for everyone.  The only stipulation it is limited to 4 devices being connect at anyone time.  This normally cheaper than buying 4  1 device packages where each person would get their own code.

14 minutes ago, travelplus said:

Here is a thought.

How many vehicles can be fueled for one cruiseship?

The answer is none.

Cruise/cargo ships use bunker fuel which is considered "waste" by the refineries.  This is not useable by vehicles.

The exception is that cruise lines have to use a cleaner burning version of diesel fuel within certain distances of various countries including the US.  I don't think this fuel is usable by cars, tractor trailers.