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ChucktownSteve

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Everything posted by ChucktownSteve

  1. Oh boy, I can't wait to hear my wife complain, "when does this end?" Many years ago I booked us a 12 course paired dinner at a five star restaurant. That was her comment. roflmao. The wines kept being poured until the next course. I personally enjoyed it immensely. You should have seen our friend's expression when he got his check at the end. That was priceless. It was much more costly than the Chef's table. But he could afford it. He was an attorney with a boat named "Policy Limits". BTW Dynacruiser, you don't have to be the best people to get invited, you just have to be willing to spend your kid's inheritance. 😁
  2. I've preferred a tail wind to a head wind. However I've too wondered what a psychologist would have to say about people who ask what a psychologist would say. 🤪
  3. What can you share about your G2 aft experience? Positive or Negative? The Seat Guru didn't have any information. Thankx.
  4. Presuming the service and food was as bad as you say, (I have no doubt it was in your experience), I would have gotten up and promptly walked to Compass Rose to have had a good meal.
  5. I used to buy directly from the trip insurance companies. I had a claim because the airline I had booked didn't get the equipment to my airport for my flight. They re-booked me to land after the cruise sailed. So I was a no show. The nightmare with the claims department taught me I want a broker who books a lot of insurance in my corner fighting on my behalf. They have a lot of juice. The key to any insurance policy is not how little premium you can pay. It's whether you have problems with the claim because the insurance company doesn't want to pay the legitimate claim. During that time, I talked with Steve Dasseos at TripInsuranceStore.com about obtaining insurance for another cruise. I mentioned to him the months of problems getting the claim paid. He hadn't sold me that policy but he called the claims person and greased the wheels so I received my settlement in just a few days. I have been using him and his agency ever since. That was about 10 years ago. I recommend finding agencies which offer several trip insurance company policies. We are now up there in age. Over the years I've wound up being suggested various insurance policies and coverage depending upon each trip's particulars and what I needed. Steve is well known on Cruise Critic. He regularly answers questions to anyone in his own board. Check out the banner for this summer at the top of the main Board's page. I've found him to be very knowledgeable and caring. If nothing else, you'll learn a lot reading his responses to everyone's questions.
  6. Regent just released a preview of their end of 2026 and part of 2027 sailing. The bookings open next Wednesday. Since I'm looking for a cruise or two during that time period, it may be too late for me to consider Azamara if they wait too long to release their itineraries. Hint...hint.
  7. Don't forget you should be able to get about 5% dividends on money market funds which is in real cash.
  8. How long ago did you book that cruise and how close is it now to the sailing date? I usually book a cruise as soon as the itinerary is first released...about two years out. I also book during their two suite upgrade promotion. Then I don't care how much the cruise increases before sailing. 😁 We currently have a C penthouse February 2026 for $782pp/pn cruise only; which I felt was a fair price. Today it's $926pp/pn.
  9. In addition to what Grandma Cruising said, also ask your TA if their OBC is refundable or is a cross promotion in conjunction with AZ; thus non refundable. If refundable, you don't have to spend it unless you want to. You can get it refunded to you in cash at the service desk. I don't send it to my credit card, as many do, because that will reduce your cash back on the card it credits to.
  10. Thank you so much for an excellent review. That's a wonderful suite. I especially love the balcony and views. Which deck are you on?
  11. Insurance is only expensive if you don't need it. People need to figure out how much they wish to partially self insure to save money or buy the full coverage for the times they expect the unexpected. From the plan comparison, it appears that a minor claim will make up the difference in premium paid. I would however also check with an independent trip insurance agency such as tripinsurancestore.com just for comparison. There you can compare multiple trip insurers.
  12. Exactly. Businesses usually understand and calculate how many customers they'll lose by raising prices. However the bottom line is they can make more money with fewer customers. Kinda like the old 80/20 rule. The problem develops when the business gets too greedy and chase off too many customers. However if the pipeline is full, it takes a while for the long term effects to take hold. The thing many businesses don't realize is that if you kick your customers on the way up, they'll kick you harder on the way down. I don't see Regent in that category, however I suspect Celebrity may be going through some of that now. Perhaps that's why they did the status match across the three cruise lines.Keep the pipeline flowing from RCL to X to SS.
  13. If that happens, I'm buying more stocks not a cruise! 😁 However the general population will pucker their discretionary spending which should result in lower cruise pricing.
  14. My cruise mix shifted a little over four years ago when I transitioned to Azamara and then also Regent after I could no longer accept the continued RoyalCaribbeanization of Celebrity. My previous Celebrity cruise was 2.5 years ago. The death by 1,000 cuts and the surreal costs to eat up all those pandemic FFCs made the other lines a better value. I found I also like the smaller ships that dock closer in and call on some other ports. It's just a different feel which I enjoy more than the bigger ships. The port intensive itineraries are more interesting to me too. I booked three Regent cruises then at lower PP/PN costs for similar size suites but with a lot of extras included such as all the specialty restaurants, premium liquor ltr bottles in the suite, excursions in every port, pre-cruise night in a hotel, air, internet, daily laundry, gratuities plus more. I waited for the two suite upgrade promotions. Additionally I like the 14-18 day cruise lengths but celebrity shortened most of theirs to seven to twelve day to generate higher profits. We have three upcoming Azamara and one Regent cruise with nothing booked on Celebrity. I might try RCG's Silversea but I'm hearing gripes on their board they may have started the RoyalCaribbeanization of that line since acquiring it a few years ago.
  15. I believe the cruise lines should eliminate those ports where they experience disruptive protesters who don't want cruise line passengers. Lets see how the majority of other residents feel about the loss of the tourist dollars going elsewhere. Then it will be up to them to deal with the protestors if they want the visitors who dump their money for one day and sail away.
  16. Can anyone show me where one person ever paid the brochure rate? I ignore that because it's only a mark it up to mark it down. AKA Marketing HYPE. Discounts are meaningless. The real measure to me is what value do you receive for the PP/PN rate...bottom line. Everything else is smoke and mirrors which I don't buy into after working over 40 years in marketing and media.
  17. And that's why perhaps some of the cruise pricing has increased because of the less available suites? Pcardad, However I don't believe Regent uses dynamic pricing as cabins sell (as hotels and other cruise lines like celebrity do) but adjust their pricing every few months. That's what it appeared to me. Is that correct? You should hear people complaining on the Silversea board. The pricing increases by RCG have risen substantially. Now that the loyalty amongst Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and Silversea lines are matching, there will be fewer SS suites available since the other loyalists will move up to SS. Isn't that what NCL is considering with Oceania and Regent? Thus there will still be more booked suites on Regent and higher pricing. It's a huge pipeline feeding the luxury brands with fewer ships/suites overall. Probably thankx to the stock market returns as Pcardad indicated earlier. You won't be finding deals on the other luxury lines, I expect .as long as others are willing to pay the prices; even if some of you don't want to. To me the new Regent pricing model is more transparent so we actually see how much the airlines are responsible for a substantial part of the fare that Regent has recently been blamed for. If you want to find a lower air cost directly, go for it. If you like the total package booked through Regent, you can still do that. There's more flexibility for the cruiser.
  18. I had booked a 14 night Caribbean cruise this past February for February 2026. The price has only increased $350pp. Air excluded. That's within their normal, regularly scheduled increases.
  19. I understand what you're saying about NVDA (I got in @ an average $31.45/ps) however I don't equate that to cruising prices because most retail investors aren't savvy enough to have gotten in that early. They have brokers who manage their portfolios. My favorite expression about previously using a broker is, the only one broker was me! I also agree with un-bundling the air because it caused me to balk at booking a cruise due to the excess they had to charge to get there. The cruise would have been over $30k if memory serves me correctly. Even though I have the portfolios which have gained incredibly well to cover it, that doesn't mean I want to spend it on a cruise and airfare. The air lines IMO have kept seat availability artificially low to raise pricing excessively. I don't put Regent cruises in that category yet.
  20. I sure am glad I listened to my TA to avoid Azamara Air. Especially after hearing these stories. However I truly hope everything works out for the OP. I've always had a problem using a cruise line to book air when they don't pay for the tickets or assign seats until close to sailing. Plus if you want decent connections, you have to pay a fee to deviate. That way there is no recourse except what they give you. It's also late and expensive to book air on your own, at that point, too close to the sail date.
  21. I receive an email detailing the changes and can select an alternative flight at no cost if they placed me on a flight that I don’t like with the airlines I personally book directly.
  22. Wouldn't a schedule change show the replaced flight then? Every time I've had a directly booked flight number change or a five minute change in departure, the existing flight was updated with the new flight information. However it still existed. That's how airlines handle it. That apparently isn't the way AZ does.
  23. I took advantage of the 10% OBC bonus offer through my TA. All went smoothly with no hiccups. One thing not mentioned yet is that the % OBC is calculated, not just on the balance due, but the entire cruise fare less taxes/fees.
  24. Don't some of the suite levels have a coffee pod machine in suite? I always awaken prior to anything opening. Need coffee, coffee, coffee. Fortunately they do have coffee urns in the coffee Connections. I always bring back a travel mug full for my DW.
  25. I understand how you feel. I called AZ last month to find out about their flights and was told to call my TA as well. I did and the TA told me I absolutely don't want to use their air. I'm better off booking directly. So I did. I got the flights and seats I wanted immediately with only a 2 hour layover before heading across the pond. Good luck.
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