SHIP TRAVELER

Thanks, this is what I suspected based on their Bingo payout.

I am a non-smoking gambler who has sailed RCCL enough to make D+. In the last 7 years we have changed mostly to Celebrity because of the non smoking casino. Inb that seven years we have 11 cruises on X including the all the longer ones and only 4 on RCL which were all shorter drive to cruises from Galveston and NOLA. I am not big into shore excursions, shopping or the Spa so I need some place to "launder" my non refundable on credit into at least some cash. On recent X cruises that has been an average of $800 OBC which means a little more casino time than the $8 free play we were discussing earlier. I don't win but I do come away with partial value on the OBC. I don't know what you do with the OBC when you can't stand the air in the casinos long enough to gamble. I don't even enter the casinos on RCL ships long enough to do CC slot pulls.

I wish they had showed how the general audience cards paid out on the video instead of just the selected player. It would haven been nice to have had a shot of the total number of people playing that session.

Thanks for the information. I am Elite and see one of the new perks is a bonus card when you buy three boards ON BOARD so I will have to factor that one into buying on line before the cruise.

I think it is good to bring a couple of bottles of good wine that I know I will enjoy on board. I like to have a glass while I am getting ready for dinner (a before happy hour glass) and I like to have a chilled bottle so that I can have a glass on the veranda when I get back on board after a long shore excursion. Others may enjoy having all their drinks at a bar, in a lounge, or other public venue. I think it is just a personal preference. I definitely don't like to carry around a glass of wine in elevators. With a drink package those days are long gone.

I have never done this game. I am hoping if someone can tell me how much each card usually costs when purchased on board. I am thinking about trying it because this game seems to have replaced Bingo. Is it fun? How long does the event take? Have you seen anyone win a cruise or any big bucks while playing or is it a total rip off? Hard to talk myself into buying before the cruise even at a discount having never seen the game played.

My problem with this system is the fact that X keeps booking these cabins.....and then disrupts plans when you arrive at the pier. The cruise line knows that these cabins will be crew quarantine (not guests) well in advance so why not let people know in advance. Then entire sixth floor was blocked off on our TA (April 2022) with fire doors shut. The guests with Covid were on deck three BTW. We have had a deck six balcony booked on since 2020 (L &S) for August of 2022 to Alaska on the Solstice. Deck six is still being sold for this cruise. Why not assign us a cabin so that we can see what we are dealing with instead of pushing it off on guest services the day we board. You have all seen those lines. I feel like we have a balcony guarantee to be assigned at the pier. That is not what we paid for when we booked. I don't buy "it might change" because they know weeks in advance what cabins will be closed. Just a little venting. I sympathize with the OP problems.

Great Video. I am sure it represents a lot of effort and editing. Thanks for sharing your delight.

Just some input, now is too soon. We booked the Marriott Courtyard Plantation for a Sunday (Easter stay) before a Reflection Trans Atlantic in 2022. Many people stay home for Easter and business people are not staying in hotels. It is not the greatest hotel in the world but it has an airport shuttle and is next to a mall area with a Total Wine and places to eat. You don't say what part of the country you are flying in from or what major airport access you have if things go wrong. Right now LOTS of flights are being cancelled because of lack of flight crews to staff them. We live in Texas and sometimes chance a flight to the West Coast same day because the time change works in our favor. We are close to DFW airport and would look at how many later flight options we would have to still make the ship if our flight is cancelled. We no longer fly in the same day heading to Florida because the time change squeezes our options so much. I think you will be able to find a hotel if you check the Cruise Critic East coast port guide. Good Luck

We used the Elite up grade V2 for the price of a V3 on Memorial Day. This moved us from the obstructed sixth deck to the eight deck so it was a good move for a straight Veranda cabin. We were still able to pick our cabin number. You have to ask when you book, not automatic.

In April 2022, we shared a Bob"s Limo with another couple, we met through our cruise critic roll call. They had a reservation for four at 9:30 and the other couple they booked for had to cancel the cruise. Since we were overnight at the Rome airport, we decided to share. Our part was 55 Euros, the vehicle was a very nice spacious Mercedes mini van. We all four walked off and ended up waiting about an hour for the ride because it was booked for such a late time. The van arrived about 15 minutes before the scheduled time. We were at the airport before 10:30 because that was the time the driver dropped us at the hotel after dropping the other couple at the terminal. I didn't write down the time we left the port after luggage was loaded etc. All the off loaded luggage was set up and waiting when we got off around 8:30. I think you could safely book at 8:00 to 8:30 because the drivers, and there are lots of them with signs will wait for you a reasonable time if you are delayed. At FCO, the gates for airlines to the USA (such as American) are at the far end of the international terminal behind a wall and the security line for flights to the US after you check in is at the other end of the terminal. Definitely take the test online so you are ready when you get to FCO.

We have some status on Princess but find their loyalty perks to be minimum unless you are in the top Elite Tier. We like some things about Princess and have taken some cruises with them post shut down with Princess Plus perks for the itinerary. My big problem with them is the cabins, you absolutely have to book a mini suite on most Princess ships to get a chair for the second person in the cabin. I HATE sitting on the bed. On Celebrity (and most Royal) even inside cabins have some sort of place to sit in addition to the desk chair. My husband does not like the MDR on Princess but that is at least easier to deal with than the cabins. We much prefer X for the cabin layout and the MDR service.

We have had a suite GTY and sailed in a sky suite in April 0f 2022. It was booked before the shut down and ended up with a lift and shift. We had Micheal's drinks and Luminae included. We are Elite which covered some additional drinks, Wifi and laundry benefits. We brought two bottles of wine on board. We paid the regular tips plus out of pocket and of course tipped in Micheal's because we didn't have a package. We had excellent service and did not suffer at all. As a bonus it probably helped us keep our drinking to a reasonable level.

One of our tests purchased on the Reflection and picked up in the luggage area also was invalid so DH had to test in Rome FCO but luckily we were there the day before our flight home. It took about two hours. We already know he was negative but the proctor on line said the rules were your card had to self seal. We didn't have a back up test with us. My advice is to take your own.

This is good news about your timing on the Harmony. I am concerned about the change of mixing MTD into TD because of our experience on the Majesty in Feb. of 2020 before the shut down. We were a traditional table of six on the early sitting. Our service was interrupted almost nightly when MT diners were seated at empty tables in our area. They would be on appetizers when we were waiting for the main course. We would be waiting for desserts when they were on the main course. It is just my opinion, but I think traditional dining was set up to serve the same courses to all tables in the waiters set area. This saves trips to the kitchen and full trays can be brought out to serve several tables at the same time. It used to annoy me when MTD waiters tried to do the same thing with tables that were not seated at the same time. The dynamics don't work smoothly when the two types of service are combined in one area. I am sure the idea is to turn more tables and make more tables available to MTD but it ruins the service for traditional diners and probably rushes and exhausts the wait staff involved in trying to make it work. It may be a bigger problem when ships are 100% again unless a lot of people opt for the Windjammer or Specialty Restaurants.

I am surprised at this. I would think a negative test would be all that was needed.

Thanks for this input. We are looking at the Marriott Courtyard Downtown Long Beach (points) and are wondering exactly what the boundaries are for the Convention Center area. We are looking at Long Beach instead of San Pedro even for a Celebrity cruise because of the bigger choice of hotels in this area.