Starry Eyes

Yeah, I wouldn’t think Celebrity would want a unified loyalty system. Royal Caribbean is the larger line with a substantial number of P’s. Furthermore if they create a formula to somehow add current Captains Club points and C&A points as they combine the programs, that may create more P and Z because some people have points on both lines. While Royal would note an increase, combining the two programs might flood Celebrity with high level loyalty members accustom to substantial benefits.

You are missing the point. The point is not about weather. It is about your cruise contract . If you read your contract, the cruiseline can change the itinerary…pretty much any time for any reason. If you switch cruiselines, you’ll still have the same issue…potential itinerary change, any time, any reason. If you quit Royal over this be prepared to quit cruising altogether; the other cruiselines would do the same thing to you.

I was a relative newbie to cruising years ago when I booked a fall cruise on a different cruise on a different cruise line with a great itinerary. Well, due to an issue on the prior cruise, we embarked more than a day late. During that time a tropical storm moved uncomfortably close to our original route. We missed the highlights of the original itinerary. In fact, the itinerary was largely up in the air, as it seemed to change so often (thus was before apps, so communications were mostly overhead announcements and paper cruise daily). This was far, far more disruption than missing Nassau, lol. So, we really read the cruise contract. We realized we had no recourse. Never again have we booked a cruise because we just have to see a specific port or be somewhere a certain day. We book a land vacation if we must see a certain place. For cruises we are flexible. If you read your contract, you may understand why we feel this way. Again, that was a different cruise line. I’m not defending Royal.

Odds seem pretty long, especially as we are a party of two and the cabin can accommodate 3+. We did think about the possibility of having the same steward again; that would be cool.

Do you like your cabin? I just used the barcode trick, too. We are sailing on Mariner tomorrow; that gty cabin was assigned weeks ago. We just made another Mariner gty booking 4 weeks later. When I did the barcode trick, I thought I might be looking at the set sail pass for the first cruise, but, no, the barcode indicates they will assign us the exact same, perfectly nice balcony cabin again.

The D lounges were undersized before, Now with the increased number of D and above, the D lounges would be untenably crowded if they returned to unlimited drinks only in the DL during HH. Newly minted diamonds and aspiring diamonds would be shocked and disappointed (old ones know about crowded lounges). It really cannot literally go back to the old way. It could go to a specific D drink menu at various (or all) bars for set hours. Unless HH was shorter than the old days and shorter than suite HH, I think that would actually substantially increase the number of drinks per D. And I still don’t think most of those “moderate drinkers” who don’t buy a drink package with four vouchers will buy a drink package if they have a HH.

If those 12 Royal cruise have made you D on Royal, Celebrity will match that to Elite. But if you keep cruising on Royal and make it to D+, Celebrity will still only match that at Elite; the match does not go higher. Similarly, Celebrity Elite (and higher) can match to D on Royal. (If you those 12 Royal cruises have you at Platinum or Emerald, you match to Select on Celebrity) https://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Celebrity/General_Info/Reciprocity-Flyer_052021_FINAL.pdf

I see a JS gty at over $560 per person per night double occupancy. To me, it looks like they have sold all the JS and they are now overpriced.

Will it save money to walk it back to the old happy hour? I suspect it averaged more than four or five drinks per Diamond member during the old happy hour. There were lots of doubles ordered; lots of generous pours. Plenty of people seemed to try to maximize the drinks ordered in that timeframe.

I like to use the app. With the app, DH or I can skip straight to “select arrival time” (step 2). We select an arrival time for everyone in our party; we do this as soon as we can as we prefer early arrival times. We can almost do that in our sleep, lol. Then at my convenience and when fully awake, I go back and do step 1, scanning the passports and filling in addresses and such. Last I checked, the website did not allow one to do the steps out of order.

As I already had the website open (that’s how I found the rate), I thought I could finish booking on line faster than calling. This time it worked. I have missed out sometimes in the past as rates can sell out quickly. Wow, I did get lucky. I was not refreshing. I had seen the GGG flyer but never expected the rates to appear midafternoon.

You might want to read this thread.

I did not notice the deal come and go. The moment I saw it, I booked it as fast as I could type. I know how fast those deals can sell out. I also got a gty.

12/3?

We sailed on Mariner out of T5 about 3 weeks ago. They still had attendants at the base of the ramps and slips of paper for the dash.

Trellis Bar and Giovanni Wine Bar are both in Central Park. The menus for both, as wells as other bars, are in the app. Under dining, look for bars & lounges

Or maybe he wanted to see how long it took for his joke to be posted to CruiseCritic.

I understand you want to stay on the same ship. Nevertheless you might want to consider the alternative.

I’m not an expert, but I am not sure it will be allowed. The fine is pretty stiff if CBP decides it violates PVSA (Jones is cargo). Could you disembark at Vancouver and board a different ship for an Alaskan cruise? I seem to recall threads in years past when a TA or cruiseline (I don’t recall which one) initially said yes to a similar request then later (shortly before the cruise) decided they could not allowed it. A much worse spot for the passengers…

Surely you’ll have another chance to befriend him next time run into him. It’s bound to happen on that tiny ship😉.

Once you check in for your cruise and have a set sail pass, sometimes an unofficial stateroom number is encoded in the barcode. iPhone users just put the set sail pass in their apple wallet. Then they look at the string of digits below the barcode in apple wallet. To the right of the dash (-), there will be either gty or a set of digits. If gty, you do not have even an unofficial cabin assignment yet; You can try again later. If there are digits, that is your unofficial assignment. You cannot do anything with the info (like swap cabins) until it is official, but some of us like to know. Android users do the same thing using a bar code reader.

No. We checked the compass; there was no embarkation lunch for regular passengers. We saw Key guests and B2B guests in MDR.

If your neighbor is rude/noisy, you will be able to hear them even if your cabin does not connect. I do try to pick non-connecting cabins when reasonably possible, but I’ll pick a well located connecting cabin over poorly located non-connecting cabin. And we sometimes book gty, and may be assigned connecting cabins. We roll with it. I have had more noisy neighbors in non-connecting cabins than in connecting cabins. Perhaps people in connecting cabins tend to be more aware that their noise might impact a neighbor…if they don’t bother you, maybe you will return the favor. Since you cannot trade don’t sweat it. I think Harmony’s connecting door location is also better than on some ships. Always assume you will have a crying baby or noisy person next door when packing for a cruise. Pack earplugs and have a white noise app. Be happy if you do not need them.

Edit: I see from another thread your unofficial cabin number is visible with the bar code trick. They have saved a cabin for you. They just have not made the assignment official. I have sometimes waited until just a few days before sailing for my assignment to become official. NBD. If the cruise is sold out, the only way RoyalUp bids will be accepted is if someone has to cancel. There is still a chance, but perhaps not a very high chance of an upgrade

If everything goes perfectly (and often it does), you will make that flight. In the other hand, I have been on multiple cruises where disembarkation has been delayed for a variety of reasons. If you chose the early flight and disembarkation is delayed, don’t allow anyone in your party to be the cranky or mouthy passenger in the disembarkation line. Remember you knew you were taking a calculated risk when you booked a very early flight and sometimes those calculated risks don’t work out. Have a back up plan and use it if needed.