Me 2

I would not expect a drill to commence during an actual emergency. If they're announcing a drill (particularly into staterooms) I would conclude that the emergency wasn't actual.

I would tend to agree with you. If the announcement of MOB was for real, normal protocol would be for the ship to turn around and return to the spot that it occurred to initiate a search.

Looks like you may be fully covered

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Thank you, Bob!

 

That would make boarding easier for us :)

We sailed in a Junior Suite on Independence of the Seas from Southampton on 1 May 2017 and boarded with full suite guests at 11 am.

Wow! Thanks Trackhead37 for summarising your experiences. We have read lots of negative reports on the decline of service and standards during this time. Pleased that you found some solace in the Concierge Lounge.

Best wishes for many happy years together.

Enjoy, we absolutely loved the concierge Felix and the bartending staff in there as well during our honeymoon last year. Bad experiences throughout the cruise but the Indy concierge lounge saved our cruise experience for us.

Curious to know what "bad experiences" you had

Thanks again Bob.

We have booked 'W' guarantee. Am I correct in thinking gratuities may be higher depending on suite category assigned ?

Congratulations on your CC post count.

When was the last time?

November 2014

Thanks Bob. Have not sailed RCI for a few years. Have things changed much ?

Rejoining Indy on 1 May 2017. Are Diamond Plus members still granted access to Concierge Lounge ?

I don't want to mislead you too far from the key point so let's concentrate on that.

 

In consideration of your response to my post I suggest you concentrate on the fact that if you book through a travel agent your contract is with them.

How does that fit in with the fancy colour codes for priority boarding and priority luggage delivery?

I am curious to know what fancy colour codes apply to priority boarding and luggage delivery :confused:

Thanks Jimmybean for the info. Unfortunately wearing a jacket to dinner on informal nights is just a bit too much for me, so we'll be looking at other less formal cruise lines to achieve our northern European cruise goals.

If you like the ship and the itinerary you may wish to consider the following option offered by Cunard:

"If you wish to dress more casually, you are welcome to dine in the buffet restaurants and relax in the adjoining Winter Garden or Garden Lounge bars"

We recently sailed on QE for 23 nights from Dubai to Southampton and used the Lido buffet most nights since we like to eat when we want to eat, what we want to eat and serve portion sizes appropriate to our appetite at the time. The ship is beautiful and in the evening the buffet area has a relaxing and cosy feel. Indeed, it proved extremely popular whenever we went there. Think about it.

Have just found the following on Cunard website which defines the IVA tax legislation when travelling within the EU

https://ask.cunard.com/help/on-shore/iva_tax

According to the list of 'Applicable Cruises' Spanish IVA (Bar only) will be charged on our voyage V617D during the times when we are entering, alongside and exiting Spanish ports.

Thanks for the responses to my post ;)

We have a single booking to sail from 29 October through to 15 November 2016 which combines a 7 night itinerary from Barcelona to Rome and an ongoing 10 night repositioning itinerary including Gibraltar as a port of call en-route to Southampton. Can anyone clarify if Spanish VAT will be charged on onboard purchases (bars and shops etc) and if duty free goods will be offered for sale?

Perhaps I am short in explaining myself.

And so to bed !!

Silverhead

Perhaps???

On the final leg of QE world cruise from Dubai to Southampton in April of this year the duty free liquor policy was relaxed insofar as we were allowed to take purchases from the onboard shops directly to our stateroom at any time during the sailing instead of being held for delivery only on the last night of the voyage ;) Indeed, they had a special offer whereby you could purchase 2 litres of specific brand name whisky, gin or vodka for 25 USD ;);) The offer was so popular that some brands included in the offer sold out on the first day :mad:

Not sure if this will be the same for October, the QV is doing several smaller voyages in October.

We are sailing QV from 29 October to 15 November. Dress code is 5 formal, 10 informal (jacket required) and 2 informal (jacket optional).

I have just spoken to Emirates and they have confirmed the checked baggage allowance is 30 kg per person which can be made up of mulitple bags.

 

You cannot combine the weight allowance so you cannot check 3x 20 kg you both need to be under 30 kg.

Thanks for posting this. We intend to check just one piece of hold luggage per person, each piece being within the Emirates 30kg limit without need to combine our allowances.

Thanks to all for your input. Having considered all responses DH has decided to go with cruiseluvva's first post and take his tux, a suit and two jackets.

Pennbank - he is happy with this :)

LadyL1 and pepperrn - we are flying to Dubai with Emirates and can live with the 30kg hold allowance per person. Our concern was returning home from Southampton on Flybe with an upper limit of 23Kg per case each. Anything more would require booking an additional case which we would find difficult to handle. Have established though that if we are overweight at check-in the excess charge is only £15 per Kilo :cool:

Maggiemou - some brilliant tips that we can adopt if required ;)

Dress code includes 6 formal and 17 informal nights. Bearing in mind airline luggage limitations DH reckons his tux will take care of the formals but is struggling to decide how many jackets to take for the 17 informals :confused:

Would appreciate some input in this regard ;)

 

......we were told that even with a UK booking, you can make one change to the booking without any penalty, whether that be changing cabin in the same category or taking advantage of a price drop!

 

It is my understanding that the one free change is a perk available only to D+ and P status and the rules posted by trojan3000 are the norm.

 

So many things gone and losses to the menu.. And they wanna raise the price again! BAWAHAHAHA

... only on a bogo for this cruiser.

The irony is that a bogo now equates to full price when bogo coupons were introduced :rolleyes:

Even though I book and pay using a CDN $ credit card when I check in I use a US$ credit card that is issued by my Canadian bank. Never had a problem. Do not check either box on the form.

We too do not check any box on the form since the difference to us is negligible (RCI charge 3% versus my UK card provider fee of 2.99%) :rolleyes: