graphicguy

AMEX comes through. Just got an email this a.m. that they are crediting $109.45 back to me based on their research of Booking.com's terms. This is one of the reasons I pay as much as I do for AMEX Platinum's Annual Fee. Their OBC is another. And, their travel insurance is another. And.....and....and......!!!!

I’ve probably had 20 written exchanges with booking.com. Probably a ⅓ of them were replies from the Netherlands and either in German or Dutch. Their price match policy is clearly just a marketing tool. They don’t actually honor their own policy. I’ve turned it over to AMEX given I’ve contested the charge. Long and short of it, regardless of their increased recent marketing efforts, booking.com has provenj to be untrustworthy. Trivago is a web aggregator that searches web prices. Booking us an actual booking site, like hotels.com. It’s just that you can’t trust booking.com.

Seems I get asked a lot about what booking with the American Express Platinum card nets with NCL cruises. I had saved the "perks" in a folder I had forgotten about, but ran across it again today. While there is some confusion about whether these perks are available through booking with NCL directly, I can't answer that as I use a TA. What I do know is whichever TA you use, they have to be part of the AMEX program to be able to offer these perks. And, you don't HAVE TO use American Express Travel to get these perks (although, they obviously offer them, too). Hopefully, this is helpful.... American Express Platinum Card Benefit Program: Details Valuable benefits and amenities for Platinum Card Members and Centurion Members. Benefits Platinum Card Members and Centurion Members receive benefits on select sailings of 5 nights (6 days) or more. •USD Shipboard Credit per stateroom Stateroom Category USD Shipboard Credit Amount Haven/Suite $300 Balcony/Mini-Suite $200 Outside $100 Inside $100 •Complimentary dinner for two at Le Bistro Restaurant* One extra Membership Rewards® point on each eligible dollar you spend per booking with American Express Travel. Single passengers who pay the single passenger supplement are entitled to the full CPP amenity. Shipboard credit can be used for onboard spend and shore excursion (except service charges)and cannot be utilized toward gratuities. Should a Card Member chose to utilize their shipboard credit towards pre reserved shore excursions, NCL requires pre-payment of the shore excursions and the charges are reversed by the OBC onboard. *A voucher will not be issued for the complimentary dinner as a shipboard credit will be applied once the dining reservation is made onboard. Should the Card Member chose to pre-reserve their dining, the dining must be pre-paid and a credit will be applied once onboard. Please see the terms and conditions below for complete details. Eligibility: •Available for U.S. Platinum Charge Card Members and U.S. Centurion® Members only, and excludes Platinum Credit Card Members such as Platinum Delta SkyMiles® Card Members who are not also U.S Platinum Charge Card Members or U.S. Centurion® Members. Combinability •Cruise Privileges is combinable with nationally PLATINUM (new bookings only), available tactical offers, discounted promotional fares, early booking discounts, past passenger programs/discounts, regional and other discounts, cruise tour programs. •Not combinable with X (IX, OX, BX, & MX) categories "SAILAWAY" rate. •Not combinable with Amex Groups or other American Express Card offers. Existing PLATINUM promotion bookings are not eligible to be moved into the CPP promotion. Full Cruise Privileges amenities will be provided by Norwegian Cruise Line once on back-to-back and multi-segment itineraries sold as one. Bookings must be made in the United States.

Just talked to my Walgreens pharmacist yesterday. She said she just found out about the change via memo from 7/1. What she didn’t know was which conditions would warrant free testing (i.e. age? Physical requirements? Etc.). As far as not cruising because of testing, I don’t think it matters much for any of the cruise lines. They’re starting to sail at capacity even with testing still in place.

Back up plan if the Cocoa Beach shuttle doesn’t work out is probably UBER. AMEX must be short staffed for the long weekend. They have (nicely) asked if I could contact the vendor and give them until Monday to get involved. Booking.com keeps wanting more and more of the same info. I keep repeatedly sending them the same thing, over and over (link to price, dates I’m staying, room type, etc). I think they are trying to see if I’ll wear down. For $100? Not on your life. I’m retired. I live to do this kind of thing! 😉

Uh...Oh.....Gonna have to find somewhere else, it seems. Thanks for the heads up. Booking.com is a joke. AMEX said they wanted more information and forwarded me this from Booking... "es tut uns leid für die Umstände, die Sie mit dieser Buchung haben. Vielen Dank für den Screenshot. Nach Prüfung Ihres Screenshots haben wir festgestellt, dass man auf ihm nicht die Bedingungen, die Verpflegung, usw. sehen kann, auch die Tage und die Anzahl der Gäste sind unterschiedlich. Aus diesem Grund können wir Ihren Anspruch nicht auf Gültigkeit prüfen. Sie können uns natürlich auch den korrekten Link zuschicken. Falls Sie weitere Fragen haben, sind wir jederzeit für Sie da." Not sure if they're trying to be funny, or they are just jerking me around. I am not fluent in German but Google translate helps. They are asking (I think) the date(s) of my stay (which were included in the screen capture), whether breakfast is included (it is) and what kind of room (King, same as booking.com). After providing proof to Booking.com that there was indeed a cheaper hotel price, I provided both a link and a screen capture. So, either they're not reading my responses to them, or they're jerking me around. I vote the latter. What a scammy WEB site.

Yeah...should be $146/nite for Best Western Cocoa Beach (via Trivago). Transport is $75 (CoCoa Beach Shuttle), but that's round trip. AMEX acknowledged that Booking.com is "researching" the price match. At least they didn't say "no". AMEX is good about siding with me. Over the years while traveling for both leisure and work, there have been perhaps 3-4 issues with hotels. AMEX took care of me. One time for a hotel in Paris, the heater in my room did not work, in the dead of winter. The hotel refused to move me to another room, refund or even discount my stay. AMEX took care of me even though the hotel wouldn't. It wasn't a few dollars, either. It was like $800 AMEX refunded me for the multi-nite stay.

Unless you’re the person/family far back in line, and you see all the people who don’t have their docs/checkin together and dominate kiosk after kiosk taking 2X/3X as long to check in, causing the big back up.

Week away from sail away day. 😃 😊 😆. Little wrinkle and a warning. The pre-cruise hotel transport (3rd party) accepted my transport reservation a couple of days ago. But, they sent an email this a.m. telling me they cancelled it. No idea why. But, have been scrambling trying to find transportation that won’t cost me $150 one way from MCO vicinity to Port Canaveral. Most of the busses, multi-person transports, etc don’t go to Melbourne, which is where my original Hotel was (Avid). I guess they have a set route. MCO to airport hotels and on to Port Canaveral. So, this set off a series of events. I didn’t want to stay at an MCO hotel, as that means I would be beholden to whatever dining and activities. I’ve never found airport hotels and areas around them to be very appealing. It doesn’t help that I’m not familiar with the hotels and area around MCO (know the area around International Drive quite well, though). Don’t want to get caught up in the International Drive scene either (Disney crowd). Probably making this harder on myself than it needs to be….but whatever! Started looking at hotels in and around Port Canaveral. First, they’re certainly in an area (route A1A) that has to be more picturesque than around MCO. Well….apparently most think the same as I do. Lots of “sold out” and “Unavailable” for booking airBbBs, hotels, etc. And, those that are available, are creeping towards $400/nite….NO THANKS! Wait a minute…found one. Best Western….good ratings….close to Port Canaveral….shuttle service available…..not outrageous……..BINGO! Called the hotel to see where they were in proximity to the cruise docks. Very nice person gave me all the info….about 10 mins to the ships….MCO busses stop at the hotel…restaurants around….PERFECT. She also said the online booking sites offered a better deal than booking directly through Best Western. Appreciate the heads up. Cancelled Avid stay! Found Booking.com (here comes the rant). Nightly rate was not heads and tails better than direct booking, but less. OK. Booked the room. Booking.com states all over the place that they price match anywhere. Even better. Credit card input, confirmation given. I now have a place to stay. Transport booked (again). And, being the perpetual cruise fare, hotel stay, etc shopper, wouldn’t you know, I found a cheaper hotel price, same hotel, same date, same room type on Trivago vs Booking.com. Wasn’t by a little either. It was a LOT….more than $100. File with Booking.com for price match. Booking.com says it’s a different room type so they won’t match. Huh? No it’s not. It’s a King room, overlooking the “garden area” that Trivago advertises…same as Booking.com. Both come with free breakfast. I email Booking,com and try to get an explanation what’s different between the two rooms. They won’t explain (or more likely can’t give me a good answer). Not going round and round. Cancel my Booking.com and I’ll just book with Trivago. Oh wait, Booking.com says the room is non-cancellable. OK…fine. Just honor your price match guarantee. They won’t. But, they give me a phone number for customer service I can talk to. The phone number is somewhere in Europe, which means a huge phone bill as they’ll probably put me on hold forever. AMEX has my file as I’ve disputed the charge. We’ll see where this goes. Cautionary tale….I know I’ve seen a lot of commercials for Booking.com. DON’T! They’re pretty scammy.

I had heard that. We've been testing for well over a year and a half. I understand a few of the sailings in the EU have changed policies. I don't sail P&O nor HAL. I thought I had heard that HAL was reinstitution masking protocols, too. That's something I wouldn't want to do. I don't doubt that we're at the tail end of testing to sail. I read that Royal said it would be a "couple of months" before they'd look at testing changes. Pretty nebulous on timing. That said, none of these cruises are NCL, though. Said it before....I tip my cap to NCL (and Celebrity, too). They came out of the restart gate steadfast in their policy of requiring full COVID vaccine and pre-cruise COVID testing. Celebrity was similar, except they allowed a few (very few) unvaccinated children to sail. NCL did not. Neither wavered. As a result, there have been no massive outbreaks of COVID on either NCL or Celebrity sailings since the restart (Princess probably wishes they could say the same). I do expect policy changes sooner rather than later, given the decreasing COVID threats, even with NCL.

Just as another data point, just called my local Walgreens and they can't even tell me who or what is covered right now regarding testing.

I don’t think one has any relation to the other. Plus, the cruise lines are going to do whatever they need to do to keep a widespread COVID break out on their ships, now that they’re sailing at or near capacity, again!

Thanks for the update. Just checked Walgreens in my area and they made it sound like they still test for free. From their WEB site…. Why testing is important Testing is an essential tool to help stop the spread of COVID-19. Whether you’re preparing for travel, think you’ve been exposed, feel sick or have symptoms, get peace of mind with our in-person drive-thru testing and convenient at-home tests. You can get tested at Walgreens for free* at one of our 7,000+ drive-thru testing sites. Appointments are available up to 7 days in advance. Here’s the asterisk part….. * You will not have out-of-pocket costs if you meet the criteria for no-cost testing through your insurance or a government-funded program. You should contact your insurer before scheduling to confirm the test meets coverage criteria. You may be billed by Walgreens and, if applicable, the laboratory for up to the full price of the test if your insurance denies coverage or you don't meet eligibility criteria for government no-cost testing programs. So, I know my insurance covers the COVID home testing that we’ve all seen over the past couple of years. What I don’t know is if that means I’m in an age group that qualifies as a government funded program (Medicare)?

Spice H20 late night seems to always generate stories that begin with. “…should have seen what happened after you all left…!!!!!!”

NCL has late night entertainment, usually by the house entertainers, in one of the venues on the ship. They really let loose and do a great job. Again, depending on ship, there are outdoor venues where there are bars and couches to hang out late at night. Spice H2O gets its party going late at night, too. So, plenty of late night outdoor activities. Not certain any are geared for children, but plenty for adults.

No....TA is giving some perks (usually paid for out of part of their commission) that NCL does not offer.

I don't remember where mine were, either. I do know I checked in and got my card scanned outside the venues, which took about 5 seconds. This was done after I had viewed the safety video. Cruise lines have really streamlined the Muster Drill and made it as simple as possible. Which befuddles me why they still have to chase people down to complete the check in process. It really couldn't be easier. I know my last Royal Cruise, they would not serve a drink to anyone who had not viewed the safety video and had their cards scanned at their designated muster location.

Holy Moly! Geez-Louise! Smack my Momma and call me Shirley! LOL!

You can always tell the person/people/families who weren’t prepared. They’re the ones dominating one (or more) checkin personnel at a station. There’s always confusion, papers and phones flying every where, etc.

They did that on my “E” ship sailings. Everything was done on the TV, and all we had to do is show up and have our key card scanned showing we knew where to go in case of an emergency. Took all of 5 seconds. MAtter of fact, I don’t think we actually went into the Muster Station. We actually had our key card scanned outside the doors of the muster area after we had viewed the safety drill on our TV.

Making slow but sure progress. Preface this by saying I'm relatively familiar with Orlando, but that's because my former company had an office there and I spent quite a bit of time in the area. Plus, it's a hot spot for conferences. But, I've always stayed either near UCF or around International Blvd. I've never cruised out of Orlando. Booked the pre-cruise hotel at avid-IHG in Melbourne/CoCo Beach (Sheriff Blvd). Thought about staying near the airport. But, Have plenty of time the day before as my flight gets in around 10:30 a.m.. I'll have a day to roam before embarkation. Didn't want to "hang" around the airport. Avid looks relatively new (thanks for the recommendation @KKB). Avid was relatively inexpensive given what some of the prices were for (decent) hotels in and around Port Canaveral. Plus, the hotel is only about 20 minutes from the cruise port. Transport from MCO to the hotel was $30 from Port Canaveral Quick Shuttle. Transport from the ship to MCO was $29 from GoPort. Funny, neither could really fit my schedule for roundtrip transport. So, if I were willing to bend my schedule and/or haul my derriere (plus luggage) to a nebulous meeting point, I could have shaved $9.99 off the $59.99 fare (up and back). But, I wasn't staying near MCO, and I am too into the cruise at this point to look at being inconvenienced, even in the slightest. 😉 Slow progress, but progress nonetheless. Oh, and am still looking at an Oct Celebrity Solstice sailing that is a helluva good deal.

That's what I was thinking. Just make Micheal's the Muster Station for the Suite Guests.

OK, then. Looks like the Concierges have done a good job in knowing who is, and who isn't allowed into Michael's. That said, I wonder if Micheal's as Muster Station would be changed now that is a private retreat for Suite guests? Or, just make Micheal's the muster station for the suite guests.

OP....if you're still in the 3 day check in window, go ahead and get the check in done. If some in your group won't cooperate, leave them on their own to figure it out. That way, you can board, get a cocktail, and have fun. While, the lollygaggers fumble around trying to figure out what to do at the last minute. A pet peeve of mine....getting everything booked and prepared, while others in my party won't even do the bare minimum to get themselves checked in. It holds up the planner and those who are trying to check in behind them. Just flat out inconsiderate, or lazy, or both.

Am looking at sailing Solstice this Fall. I know Micheal’s Club is the Retreat’s exclusive bar/lounge area. What I don’t know is if you can only enter Micheal’s Club with a keycard, like the Retreat Lounge on “E” class ship. That would alleviate who is and isn’t allowed in. I do agree that the Concierges know who is allowed and not allowed in, pretty quickly. They introduce themselves as soon as you enter. So, they know who is sailing in a suite and can identify them. Even those of us who sail in Suites get to know each other pretty quickly in the Retreat Lounge. I would assume the same for Michael’s Club.