MindyJohn

On 11/28/2023 at 3:08 AM, Ourusualbeach said:

While most next cruise bookings are non refundable if you pick a specific ship and sail date, pay the full deposit and ask for a refundable rate you can get a refundable next cruise booking, you do get less OBC for the booking though.

I'm calling RC again tomorrow in hopes of locating the right agent.  I've done Next Cruise refundable future bookings for specific ships and when trying to change to a different ship/sail date, agent insists a $100 fee is appropriate and that Next Cruise bookings are NEVER refundable. Checked with and confirmed by supervisor.  One that I already changed shows they've added the $100 fee and I didn't realize until I saw invoice 😠

2 hours ago, island lady said:

Turned around and realized...hey...glaciers coming into view.  🤗  Thanks Captain!  First order of business..."naturally" chill down a nice glass of SB.  🥰

 

 

Cheers to you and living the good life!

3 hours ago, island lady said:

Starting to enter the Beagle Channel, on the way to Ushuaia.  World Navigator right behind us...twin to the World Traveler that was in Paradise Cove Antarctica with us.  Pretty ship.  Will be nice to check her out when we get to the dock. 

 

Is it windy?

57 minutes ago, RHDZ said:

Beautiful pictures!!! Thanks for sharing. We have a cruise booked to visit Stanley Island. Who did you use for your excursions?

I had to go back to our 2015 rollcall to find the particulars.  We were lucky to have a very active group with many members organizing private excursions.  Google Murrell Farms for information about tours to the farm with Rockhoppers.  We used Estancia Excursions to see Kings, Gentoos and Magellans.  I mistakenly said we went to Bluff Cove but our Estancia tour was to Volunteer Point. Another operator frequently mentioned is Patrick Watts.  I'm so glad we had time for two different tours.  Of course we wanted to see and photograph Kings, but going to that farm was one of the best things we ever did.  Not only adorable Rockhopper penguins, but driving over peat fields with no roads, going into their extremely rustic farmhouse for tea with the wife opening the frig (electricity from windmill) to show us a gallon bowl of fresh cream.  Also educated us about the process of sorting, rating and selling wool.  It was very special to glimpse the farming lifestyle in such a remote place.  

On 1/15/2024 at 2:47 AM, pstone1 said:

We’re sad but certainly understand.  Our Penguin excursion to Seal Bay was not cancelled so we were all packed up and looking forward to it this morning!  
 

I guess I’ll just have to book another cruise with the Falkland Islands on the itinerary!  😉

I saw a post yesterday from the tour operator we used in Port Stanley in 2015 saying he had a whole lotta sandwiches to give away since Celebrity and Serenade had both had to sail away.  

I've finally been able to spend some time catching up with your Thoughts and Impressions group, @island lady  The photos and discussion are wonderful and we are grateful for your time and effort!!!  

We were fortunate to sail this area with Azamara in 2015.  Here's a pretty 11pm sunset shot from Paradise Bay area and several from our penguin excursions at Port Stanley.  I'm sorry the weather didn't cooperate for you.  We were also rerouted to avoid a storm but luckily got into Port Stanley.  We went to a sheep farmer's house in the morning to view the cliff on his property inhabited by cute Rockhoppers.  In the afternoon it was Bluff Cover to see Kings.  

Our Azamara captain had to do the same thing re Falklands.  Hurried first to Antarctica then went back for Falklands.  Worked out great.  Later our Ushuaia arrival was delayed about six hours because the wind prevented ships in port from departing and freeing up space for us.  

35 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

Not this one.  Though indeed there are still books (looks like various old donated by pax books) right next to the pool tables.  

 

The ones in the picture are brand new on deck 12, where the LA used to be.  They put in new comfy chairs and stocked the new circle type library shelf with various novels, all titles with 5-6 duplicates.  Must have been quite the Amazon order.  😉 

Thanks!  That's a great use for that space!

Pat, the library looks great.  Is it located back by the pool tables?

6 hours ago, pamela27 said:

Hi, does anyone know what is happening to Rhapsody after she does her 10 nights on 16th February 2025?. We are booked on the 7th March sailing and would have liked to do a b2b. There is not a sailing listed between the 16th feb and 7th March.

Would she be chartered?

Thank you.

Yes, charters between Feb26 and March 7.

On 8/7/2023 at 8:50 PM, Semi Retired said:

Me too!! Hopefully most of the ppl from the original sailing will come onboard.

I can barely remember back that far - thanks for the reminder!

14 minutes ago, Russ Lomas said:

Interesting.  Personally, we usually really enjoy Costa Maya, but I know a lot of people do not.  I know that NCL has a private island in Belize, so for RCCL to do such a thing in the Western Caribbean would not be surprising.

I enjoy the current version of Costa Maya.  If they had a poll, my vote would go for a private beach area at Roatan.  .  

9 minutes ago, Jumping Cruiser said:

 

I was particularly referring to it being categorised as ‘amped’ by Royal, as not an every ship that receives updates has been amplified ‘fully’, such as Explorer which just received waterslides in addition to general maintenance.

They did such a fantastic job amping Navigator, but I think money got tight after that. 

The HD on a ship I sailed last summer told me there was a whole warehouse of furnishings, carpeting etc. intended for a Liberty amp, and after Covid, those supplies got sent out to other ships that needed sprucing up before the restart.  

21 hours ago, Jumping Cruiser said:

 

Voyager already received a full amplification back in 2019, which included new venues and activities, so I think it will be more routine maintenance. However, Adventure has yet to receive a full amplification so Royal may decide to add some newer features/venues, especially with there being a slight mention of the amplifications coming back in the earnings call recently.

Some of us were on Voyager last winter and I wouldn't say they've done much to amplify her except add a waterslide.  It'll be interesting to see what they plan for these two drydocks.  Are there any other Voyager class besides Navigator with the extra venues like Playmakers, Loco Fresh etc.?

Our first RC cruises were repo's back in the good 'ole days when they were cheap.  We sailed AOS San Juan to Malaga in 2012, transferring 2 days later to VOS Barcelona-Dubai-Singapore.  For 39 nights the TOTAL pp cost for balconies was USD 2400 including tax.  We snagged upgrades to JS and GS on the first two legs for an extra $1200 pp.  A year later we had a balcony on Legend's repo from Singapore to Dubai for $890 pp.  Regrettably those days are long gone!

7 hours ago, RedIguana said:

Was on the Rotterdam March of 2022. Wonderful ship. I was on the Crown out of Vancouver a few weeks ago. No problem with the bridge. I believe Ovation of the Seas was also sailing out of Vancouver, and she is pretty big at 168K tons or so (pictures going under the bridge are in a few posts). Not sure if there are tide height restrictions though.

I've read Ovation has retractable stacks and for sure they schedule according to the tide.  They're only in Vancouver at the beginning and the end of their Alaska season.  Weekly departures are from Seattle.

5 hours ago, EDDY0827 said:

No kettles on US cruises with Princess.

The cruise I'll be on is Baltics itinerary from Southampton.

3 hours ago, twangster said:

Just to show how important Perfect Day at CocoCay is, they have a column in the chart from post 1762 just for PDCC.

 

Someone's job is to fill that column as much as possible 🙂 

I see those green dots.  I wonder about their hurricane contingencies 🤔

Any suggestions for early morning strong coffee on Island?  Is Room Service coffee nice and hot?  How early does the Good Spirits Bar or Amuleto open?  Do cabins have kettles?  Thanks very much!

On 11/10/2022 at 7:28 AM, Ombud said:

This will get you locked out of your casino account. Happened 2× to me. Then the casino mgr was able to make it so I could load cash (but not transfer funds) to continue.  The casino is not an ATM

I realize this thread was from last year, but soon I'll sail Princess for the first time and am making plans about how much cash to take with me.  On other lines I've transferred money from my cabin account to a machine, played a bit and cashed out.  In your opinion if I do this one time for everything I need, do you think I'll run into any complications?  Thank you.

On 4/23/2023 at 7:39 PM, Steelers36 said:

Onboard account.

If you upgrade onboard rather than prior to embarkation, is the price the same?

Phenomenal photos and narrative - thank you so much!!!  Have you heard of anyone using a travel router to stabilize ship wifi?  I tried recently on Voyager but with my lack of expertise I was stuck when I was unable to log the router into the ship's captive portal. 

Sometimes they're holding window tables for suite guests or higher tier Crown/Anchor members.

1 hour ago, Hlitner said:

We were on Seabourn, so simply went to the Guest Relations folks and they took care of it.  Since we had a ton of non-refundable OBC that car actually cost us nothing.

 

Hank

Aha - definitely a higher level of service on lines like Seabourn 👍

On 1/2/2023 at 7:20 AM, Hlitner said:

LOL, Yep.  JB knows us too well.  DW and I have no love of MC although it is certainly worthy for a day visit to visit the Palace area and witness the daily Changing of the Guard.   We were recently in MC because that was the debarkation port for a cruise we took last Spring.   In keeping with over "love of MC" we arranged for a car and driver to meet us on the pier and rush us to nearby Nice :).  I think we were in MC for less than 45 min (which was 44 minutes too long).

 

Hank

How did you locate and reserve the car and driver?  Thank you.