jspqld

It's really just an algorithm lottery lol. My wife & I are both platinum and have not received any such offers recently. Last year though I received and booked an offer for a 7 day cruise in a balcony for total of $540 with $500 obc, was just about free. Only I got that offer, my wife didn't. Dad who is only a red got same offer. We have had some other ok offers come through randomly but not as good as that one. Some people also mention of getting the offers emailed. I haven't seen an email offer in a long time...

Great deal for a suite

Same, I got a too good to refuse offer while my wife didn't. Who knows how their algorithms work...

54 minutes ago, Tripmode33 said:

I'd like to mention that you do not need to take up gambling. We, and our friends, have never stepped inside a casino on any ship, and have still been given ridiculously cheap Carnival cruises recently. Various codes, either by email or signing in. Less than $30 per day in balcony. 

True. We took advantage of one of those carnival deals a couple of weeks ago. $530 total for the cruise in a balcony and $500obc. Depending how you do your maths, you could almost say it was a free cruise. Parking and Insurance cost almost as much as the cruise lol. Was a fab cruise too!

3 hours ago, RTShaker said:

 

The obstructions are the extended balconies on deck 6, and the wall forward of 8006 (cabin 8002).

 

Thanks so much for this, makes a bit more sense. I don't see either of those as major obstructions. 

Looking at a Constellation cruise and see it has new deck plans starting soon. Is anyone familiar with the current obstructions, pro's and cons of V3 partial view balcony rooms, in particular 8010. A quick search has really only shown me external distant photos and a bit hard to tell. Thanks in advance.

Interesting, I'm not seeing these cheap prices when I jump onto carnival's page. If I log in with my vifp, the whole booking page seems to freeze, and I cannot see any sailings at all or click on anything.

I went through a horrible cancer journey a few years ago. Proud to call myself a survivor, best wishes to those fighting now.

As for Travel insurance and cancer, the two don't mix very well. Over the past 5 years, I have had numerous discussions with Insurance companies, the Ombudsman department and so on. The majority of Insurer's won't touch cancer. Of the ones that do, they are selective as to what types of cancer, what stage of treatment and how current or long ago, & they will charge a hefty premium for it if they do. Not unsual for quotes to be 4 figures and they generally will not give annual policies.

Luckily, for you, Breast cancer is probably the most covered type of cancer insurance. 

Insure and go and Tick have both covered me in the past for the best value rates. All Clear is another that will usually cover you.  The rest iof the companies nvolve a lot of trial and error, filling out lengthy forms, phone calls, etc, often to only be told no.

But it's a necessary eveil. If you don't have the coverage and you are overseas and you get sick, and they can relate it back due to complications of the cancer or it's treatment, you will not be covered unless you have taken out the extra pre- existing medical coverage.

Hope that helps.

I've sailed on the Splendor twice. Once in 2011 and again in Jan this year. The second one was in a Cloud 9 Spa balcony. These rooms have a little nicer decor than standard rooms and are very convenient to the Spa area where the huge Steam rooms and hydro tub are free for cloud 9 room guests to use. They are very quiet rooms coz not many people go up there. The views from being that high are also awesome. There is no extra movement. I would easily book one of these cabins again. In fact the Splendor is my fav of the 6 carnival ships I have been on. There are youtube videos from this year you can look at for more details. 

Yes friends and us have been in suites on ovation and we had the balcony door open between us. The doors would be the same on standard balconies as per suites.

Sailed a few times on Ovation & to be honest if the gt price saved you a fair bit of money I would book that. All the balcony rooms we have stayed in have been wonderful inc an obstructed one on deck 6.

Did the bus up and train down and both were a highlight of our trip. Bus stops for great photos and the train ride down gives you a different perspective.

If price and ports were same I would always choose celebrity over princess.

been on both, quantum first then ovation, love both, no real differences other than minor ones mentioned above.

32 minutes ago, Sunny AZ Girl said:

Very good reason to book the day of the cruise. Not the normal situation for most of us, but the beauty of the situation is that there are options for all circumstances. God bless you. 

Thanks

3 hours ago, dyeadave said:

To the OP on this thread, yes you can usually book a tour "at the dock" , here in Alaska. Of course, they may just be booking agents, like they are, here in Skagway, so they will be   getting their commission before they hand you off to someone that they are contracting with to actually do the tour.

The best way for you to deal direct with a tour provider might be to look up the visitor bureau in each port where you will be stopping and they give a somewhat unbiased list of  tour providers in that particular port.

Otherwise you might find them thru reviews on Trip Advisor or even from comments here on Cruise Critic.

If you contact them, ask them directly if they are the actual tour provider or just an agent? 

 

NOw, a special note to the poster just above.

In my home town of Skagway, anything with wheels on it, that is picking up passengers from the cruise ships, has to have a mandatory minimum of 1.5 million of liability insurance, before they can even be inspected for DOT compliance!

So, some  of those truly local people, running their 14 pax and under vans, are staying under ten thousand dollars for their six months operating costs, just for the liability insurance!

Before illness forced me to turn over my business to trusted family members, I was paying somewhere north of 15k for said insurance for six months operating, because when you go over 15 pax, or you go into Canadian territory, it is required that you have 5 million coverage on each vehicle!

So please,  Mr. Bruce Muzz, before you start the generalized scare tactics re.gambling, etc., check for some local facts first and meanwhile you will find lots of opportunities to gamble/get lucky on that floating casino on which you may arrive at one of our SE Alaska ports.

If I am ever bound to return to the Orient, I will check in with you,  so that I won't risk being shanghied while in that area of the world..........

Meanwhile, while I am in my mandatory retirement, we may meet on the pier where they are going to allow me to still meet and greet the prebooks arriveing for their adventures in our town.

Thanks Dyeadave for above info. Kind of what I was expecting and hoping for.

To add some clarity to my original question. As I already explained we are experienced cruisers, having sailed into many, many ports around the world. I always do a lot of pre-research as to what is on offer. In the past we have booked many ship excursions and private ones at the dock on the day. Overall I'd say the better ones have been the private ones booked on the day taking into consideration what we have seen, time spent at attractions, comfort/safety of vehicle, costs, etc. This is our experience in almost 30 cruises. I can't talk for others. If there is an info centre at the port and we don't have a ship exc booked we always hit the info centre first.

Secondly the main reason for my original question is because in the past 5 years I have been to hell and back fighting Cancer. I am much better these days, but 4 years ago due to cancer and extensive treatment I lost just about full mobility. 3 years ago I was still using a scooter to get around. 2 years ago I still relied on a walking stick and today I still need it sporadically. I've been lucky to cruise since Cancer. Some days I feel great, other days I feel exhausted. Cancer has left me with many side affects I deal with everyday. I'm just grateful to have the chance to be on a ship and cruise Alaska. Anything I see extra on land is a bonus! I don't know how I'm going to wake up feeling on any given day and as such is why there is no point committing to expensive tours I may have to cancel at the last minute and risk refunds and all the drama that goes with it. I know I'm not going to be strong enough to trek across a Glacier or paddle up a river. My lungs probably won't deal well with anything at super high altitude. It would be cool to see whales in alaska, but I often see them just off our beach a few mins from home anyway.

This is why the preferred and better option for us these days is to just decide on something on the day if I/we feel up to it. If not it usually means a nice quite 'sea day'on board while everyone is off exploring.

thanks for all the feedback

thanks

Sorry if this has been asked recently and I've missed it..

We have cruised across many parts of the globe inc the Med, Asia, Caribbean, etc, and the majority of ports we have pulled into have had Info centres, taxi's, local tour companies, etc, all selling tours for the day directly on the pier or as you leave the Cruise terminal. 

I have read that many Alaskan excursions can sell out a year in advance, and some cruise ship exc are extremely expensive. We often like to sail into a port with a bit of pre-knowledge of what we might like to see and then just book with a local on the day. I realise this does not work for the super organised, but has worked very well countless times for us.

I'm wondering if this setup exists in Alaskan ports ??

Yes you can ride more than once. If not busy they have standby lines. Night is nice but if at sea you won't see much other than the lit up ship below. Day is far more popular. Often used in port but rides are usualy quicker and just go up and down rather than also side to side. Fits about 15 people with plenty of room to move around.

We have been taking multiple copies with us on trips

for years.

30 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

I truly think those are booking benefits, such as larger OBC, etc

I hope you're right. I tend to read the sentence as promotions being OBC etc, and benefits being the standard room benefits. Time will tell, & I think common sense will prevail and see the standard benefits included regardless and if Royal wants people to bid high they should do their best to clearly advertise this.

As for the genie, I've seen how hard some of them work night and day and I think their services would be wasted on me as I actually like organising a lot of things myself. They do seem perfectly suited to cruise newbies though as I have witnessed before.

6 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

The Upgrade will not be eligible to receive any promotions or benefits that are applicable to the stateroom had it been originally booked at that stateroom category.

As much as I would love for the suite perks to be included, as mentioned above I'm finding this sentence in the bottom half of the terms and conditions to basically say you don't get any perks at all with the paid upgrade. The terms and conditions are typically written in a format and wording that makes it a little hard to fully comprehend.

6 minutes ago, HBE4 said:

 

Agreed.

 

I'm actually okay with not getting double points as long as my original price + upsell price does not put the total price into suite territory.  But I want the suite perks, otherwise what is the point of bidding? Other than a bigger room and bath tub.

Yep, the perks are worth more to me than the double points also. As you said it all comes down to the final total price as to whether it's worth it or not. And for me I would pay a tiny amount if any at all just for the larger suite room, but I would offer a certain amount more for the perks and a bit more again if it was to include double points.

I certainly could be interested in this program in future cruises if offered to me. However, as it's an Upsell and not an upgrade, if I am going to pay extra $$ and extra grats  to say go from a balcony to a suite, I would like all the regular suite perks that go with it. Concierge lounge, double points, priority lines, etc, etc. If all I'm getting is the larger room, well then my offer is zero and I'll just stay in my already booked balcony.