bomabound

Thanks for posting. I’m following the ship right now because I get on in Seattle on the 29th and can hardly wait! I’ve been checking the web cam and it looks like you are having a beautiful sunny day in Juneau. Enjoy the rest of the cruise!

After increasing my bids yesterday when live bidding opened I changed my mind this morning and decided to lower them. Well, once live bidding has started they do not make this easy! The system will only let you enter amounts that are higher than your current bid. After trying to enter the system a couple different ways, the only way I was able to lower my bids was to completely cancel my offers and start over, entering credit card info, etc. This doesn’t seem reasonable to me.

I had the same thing happen today, and did what you did. I increased my bids a bit, despite that I had already bid what I wanted my max bid to be, and was immediately informed again that I needed to bid more. That was enough of that for me! This actually has me feeling like cancelling my bids entirely. It feels manipulative.

Are you referring to when they offer extra latitudes points per night? If so then yes, you can still get an upgrade. I recently did back to back Alaska cruises that offered 3 extra points per night (so 56 points for the 14 nights) and won upgrades on both cruises. We were booked in a balcony and were upgraded to the Owners Suite for 7 days and then to a Penthouse Suite for the other 7.

I’m curious about this too. I’m also on this cruise and it has disappeared and come back repeatedly over the last month. This time it has been missing for a few days. The last time I checked the only sold out categories were ocean view and club balcony (and half the Haven categories). It’s so hard to believe they all of a sudden sold them all but it’s also hard to imagine they’d want the cruise to be invisible if it isn’t sold out. I seem to recall someone speculating that capacity may have been capped due to reduced staffing. It sure would be nice to know what’s going on. Regardless, we are sure excited about this trip!

I think you should kiss him first and follow it with “there’s more where that came from if you’ll switch seats with me”.

The daily service charge in a club balcony is actually the same as for a balcony and below. They are all $20. Only haven is more at $25. Prior to the price hike, club balcony was $2 more than balcony and below, but not any more.

I believe you get treats to the room twice per week as well as a free bag of laundry. I book a club balcony for the bathroom. I like the wider sink area and double size shower, as it just makes getting ready in the morning nicer.

Interesting details. It never would have occurred to me that there was a MIN weight requirement on Ocean Loops. The min of 130 lbs will eliminate a lot of young people and I’m far from meeting that. That’s totally fine, it just hadn’t occurred to me. I’m looking forward to trying the cars though.

I also got an email this morning, with a port added to the October Panama cruise on the Encore. A stop in Manzanillo was added to replace a sea day. I’m happy to have the extra port, but like you I’m feeling a bit suspicious that this is coming in advance of a cancellation. I hope not.

Wow, it is too! Thanks!

That’s how it is for me too. I have to find the email and use the link. I’m nervous about deleting my upgrade emails and then not being able to get back in. I sure wish it was available through my reservation.

I wonder if using a travel agent is the cause for international guests. We booked directly through NCL. I know the luggage tags and letter are completely unnecessary, and I have purchased the plastic luggage tags for holding cruise tags, but receiving them in the mail does add to the excitement for me. Sort of like receiving the personalized welcome package from Disney World before a vacation….it just feels special.

I’m in Canada and upgraded to a suite on my last cruise, and they did actually mail out the typical welcome letter and luggage tags. I’m surprised they don’t for Europeans.

On my last cruise I ordered art for the first time on a cruise ship. When we went through customs I declared it as goods purchased that were shipping later. The customs officer filled out a form to show that we qualify for an $800 personal exemption and said to show the form to the FedEx guy upon delivery to have the taxes adjusted. The art was delivered today and I tried this but the FedEx guy said they don’t do that at the door. I have called FedEx to start a case to try to get reimbursed for taxes on $800 and hope that will eventually get processed but I’m wondering if there is some other way to have FedEx notified in advance so that taxes are calculated properly. Has anyone here ordered from Parks West and found a better way to do this? Thanks.

Ship - Spirit Deck - 9 Stateroom # - 9208 Stateroom Category – Owner's Suite Starboard or Port Side - Aft, with view to the starboard side Quiet Stateroom? (With comments on problems) – The cabin was quiet other than the typical noise you find in most aft cabins: more vibration when the ship is entering or leaving port. Was stateroom a connecting stateroom? - No Balcony View - As an aft cabin the view is of the wake behind the ship. The balcony doesn't wrap around the side other than a tiny bit where you can peak down the side of the ship. Balcony Size? Normal or oversized for class? - Normal for an older ship, but definitely small by newer ship standards. It was twice as long as the other balconies, but still narrow, just wide enough for the chairs, table, and recliner. Was wind a problem? - No If an aft cabin, was soot a problem? - Not at all. Any specific problems with this cabin? - It was beautiful and I'd highly recommend it. The only issue we had is that almost all outlets were Euro plugs, with only two NA ones that were in poor locations for something like phone charging. There were no USB ports. We had to borrow (thanks to the butler) a converter and extension cord so that we could use our USB adapters. Definitely bring adapters. Any other comments? - This suite was perfect for the two of us and had plenty of space. I think with the couch made into a bed for a third person it still would have felt roomy. The separate bedroom that closes off from the rest of the suite makes for a great sleep as it is totally dark. The bathroom is amazing! If you like to take a bubble bath then it is truly a treat to lie back with a glass of wine and watch the ocean from the bath. Both the butler and room steward were excellent. The room steward made a new towel animal on each night of the trip. We also enjoyed having the second bathroom for when you just pop back to the room. There is also an amazing secret entrance to get to the aft pool deck (H2O)....if you walk out a side door right next to the cabin there is a little spiral staircase that takes you strait to the back of the pool deck right in behind the bar!

I don't know your taste, but possibly my favourite drink on the cruise was the Wasabi Cocktail at Silk (or Teppanyaki). It consists of sake, lychee liqueur, lemon juice, orange juice, and grenadine. Reading this it sounds like it would be sweet but I didn't find it to be. Edit: I have this wrong! There are two special drinks at Silk and the above is one of them. The OTHER was my favourite. 🙂 It is called Shaku-shaku and it contains sake, drambuie, sambuka, cucumber, lemon juice, and simple syrup. Honestly, they are both good, but the shaku-shaku was delicious. Hard to drink just one....or two....

@Seas2mountains At the Wines around the World, did you just go table to table to try the wines, or did someone make a presentation to talk about each wine?

Hi @YVRteacher. I’ve read that you’ve cruised Alaska many times! If I was in Vancouver I know I’d find the convenience of jumping on there waaaaay too tempting. 😀. I can only imagine the temptation for those living near a Florida port!

My husband and I did B2B on the Spirit two weeks ago and loved it. Yesterday evening we watched the beautiful Spirit cruise by from our living room window on Vancouver Island and wished we could be back on her. 😀. I hope you have an amazing cruise!

We went to one a couple weeks ago. There were many officers there who lined up at the entrance for you to shake their hand, say thank you, ask a question, etc. But then you just take a seat and get served drinks and cheese on toothpicks. We miss the days when there were door prizes and nice information shared. I wish they’d at least make a few announcements to say how many people were on board from each latitudes level. It didn’t feel like much of a party, as the crew left once all the guests had arrived and said their hellos. After that people just started to wander off when they had finished their drink. There were a few guests in fancier clothes but it may just have been because they were heading straight to dinner, but most people were dressed pretty casual.

Back on topic though, I would love to know if there is an actual policy for whether platinum members get more than one bag of free laundry for longer cruises, as asked by the original question in this thread. I’m going on a 21-day cruise later in the year and will be platinum at that time.

Just to add another voice…. I just returned from B2B Alaska cruises. On each leg, about half way through there was a piece of paper left in the room that offered the $29 laundry special (it was about 5x7) and it said to include the paper in the bag with the laundry and the itemized slip. After the first cruise we went from silver to gold status so they left a little card in the room at the start of the second cruise showing the perks for gold members. It looked the same as the silver card left in the room for the first cruise, except it had a tear-off coupon for a 50% off bag of laundry, so I assume this would be the same for platinum except that it would say free. The tear-off coupon did say to include the coupon in the laundry bag so that’s what I did. There was no mention anywhere of writing my status on the itemized laundry slip.

We just recently got back from a 14 day Alaska cruise. We ordered drinks in port in Vancouver and then in every port in Alaska along the way, and we were not taxed one single time. We expected that we would be but we’re pleasantly surprised that we weren’t.

Does someone here know the difference between these two options? I can see from pictures that there are cabanas in the Vibe Beach Club area, but how do people with access to Vibe know whether the cabanas are reserved? I’m curious whether you get assigned a specific cabana or if purchasing this option just means that you can use any of the available cabanas. Thanks!