colesc15

Looking at future options for cruises and I think I have it narrowed down and want opinions for my wife and I. We've been to Aruba and Curaçao many times and we love it. Been to bonaire once, grand cayman a handful of years ago, and Coco cay plenty. The others, never. Cheapest for a oceanview balcony is oasis, then adventure being about $200 total more, and then the 11 nighters are close in price and roughly $700 total more than Adventure. Opinions? Talk to me! 

Looking for recommendations on what to do on each island. Lots of old info on here. Gorgeous beaches, etc. Either through the ship or private. 

2 minutes ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

We use our BOGO for lunch and we’re ok with the price.

I’m not a meat lover - I eat mostly vegetarian at home, so Chops isn’t  worth it to us, but we do like Italian and on smaller ships it’s our only choice.

I have a dumb question.. My wife and I turn d+ on our next cruise. After that sailing, how do you use the bogo specialty? 

Didn't think club royale would be open today but got right through. It was the change fee that was supposed to be waived. Quick and easy fix. 

Just now, orville99 said:

Is it possible you made a change to either the cruise date, ship, or cabin? $200 looks exactly like a change fee.

I didn't, but royal did, so I bet that's it. We were originally booked on a transatlantic that Royal canceled and gave us different options to choose for a different transatlantic. Sigh, likely royal IT at its best. 

Before having to call tomorrow, anyone ever run into this or have any thoughts? Invoice shows a final payment due of $1175.42. When I login to make a payment, shows $1375.42 which is exactly $200 more than it should be. This is a transatlantic so deposit was $900 which was already paid. I have no clue. 

It wouldn't have mattered if it was forecasted or not. We were on Freedom last weekend and a few strong storms similar to Indy popped up and they quickly cleared the pool deck. We stood by one is the doors to the pool area where they put the rope across to close it and in the 5 minutes, at least 10 people went under the rope to get to the pool deck and eventually a passenger removed the rope to avoid having to go under it. Natural selection at that point. Unfortunately I didn't see any of those individuals get belted by a flying chair or umbrella. 

16 hours ago, TeaBag said:

Have you looked at United?  They fly non stop from ORD to YVR.  We have done it many times.

I have heard the Amtrak train is delightful and the scenery lovely, but have no experience myself.

You will see a difference cruising out of Vancouver vs Seattle as you will be sailing the inside passage which is very scenic.

Bon Voyage!

That's what we're most excited for! I'm assuming the scenery and even wild life is more abundant on the inside Passage. 

I ended up booking q Delta flight yesterday. Goes from my local airport to Minneapolis straight to Vancouver. Once the return flight becomes available, I'll deal with that,but I have a hunch it'll be more pricey. 

3 hours ago, Fairgarth said:

 

Well, you have not said when you are travelling or where you are starting from but..... currently American does fly non-stop between O'Hare and Vancouver.

Looking at May of next year. Flying out of green bay would take my grb to O'Hare to Dallas to Vancouver on American. 

I think we'll end up just paying the extra to fly into Vancouver. Options are looking like Delta, American, United, and air Canada for the most part. American doesn't have direct from ohare which is odd, going down to Dallas to then go north seems silly. 

Just booked our first ever cruise from Vancouver for next year. We've done Alaska out of Seattle before, but never Vancouver. We live in the US so Seattle was just easier. 

With that, flights to Vancouver are considerably higher priced than flights to Seattle. Would you just pay the extra and fly right into Vancouver, or potentially fly into Seattle or even Bellingham WA where southwest flys and deal with crossing the boarder via a car rental or some other method of crossing? 

As it stands right now, flight to Washington would save the two of us about $400ish total. Maybe $500 depending what I can find. 

Thoughts? We've never been to Vancouver so it'll all be a first. 

47 minutes ago, reallyitsmema said:

 

 

Excellent! Thank you! Confirmed my thoughts. Much larger balcony and basically no real obstruction

26 minutes ago, reallyitsmema said:

 

We were on deck 8 and they weren't closing the firedoors at that time, so the noise was loud until around midnight.  Not a big deal unless you have an early port day the next day.  The person who did the video of 7594 didn't complain about noise.

Where did you see a, video of 7594? I've seen some of nearby, but not the actual room on any Radiance class ship 

16 minutes ago, Tree_skier said:

I'm up pretty late so it really isn't an issue for me but I can see how it might if you are a light sleeper. I had 1054 on Serenade and once they closed the door to the hallway at 10 pm the noise was quite faint.  Deck 7 might be a little worse but I know it wouldn't bother us.  

 

It is definitely something to be aware of if your sleep is easily disturbed.

Agree. We're usually up late each night so any noise shouldn't bother us. We live in the city as well so sleep through fire truck sirens and loud cars every night lol. The idea of getting this cabin with a larger balcony and some of what seems to be the least obstructed is intriguing. 

I haven't been able to find a video of this specific cabin on any radiance class ship unfortunately

2 minutes ago, Tree_skier said:

I'd take 7594 for the extended balcony.  

It definitely looks like it's bigger than most, and the "smallest life boat cover" below it. 

There's an aft balcony on deck 10 but for an extra $550 per person, doesn't seem worth it when the obstructed views don't look very obstructed other than looking straight down which in Alaska, everything is out anyway 

The only other Alaskan cruise we've done, we went out if Seattle. This time, we'll be doing Vancouver. We already have passports, obviously, but what will be different for us flying from the US? Seattle definitely has cheaper flights, but hoping I can find something reasonable to Vancouver. 

Basically I'm guessing we'll go through customs and show our passport when we land, and then same thing after the cruise is done back at the airport? 

From everything I've heard, these smaller ships have much better itineraries than the big ships from Seattle. 

Actually just received ours in the mail today. Spend $1k and get the $250 bonus points, will use as obc for our transatlantic and probably not use the card again. My chase preferred is much better with more flexibility

2 minutes ago, LilBlackDress said:

 

From this video, I'd definitely not choose 7596 because of how small the balcony is, but the end of the video, 7594 looks like a very limited obstruction. 

Trying to figure out what cabin to book for Alaska next year on Brilliance. The obstructed views are considerably cheaper than regular, and from what I can gather, most are due to the awning over the life boats so you can't look straight down.. 

Of the available cabins below, thoughts on the best one with the least obstruction?? I'm leaning towards 7594. Vintages is below so shouldn't have a ton of noise. 

We did  ovation already and assuming the downgrade in ship and added cost to get to Vancouver vs Seattle is worth it for the better itinerary. 

11 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

Did you happen to have any onboard incidents that they had to resolve and now you're forever on their "we're sorry" list?

That's originally what I thought, but not that I can think of. Neither of us are complainers. I the one who will get the wrong meal and just eat it to not complain. Lol. It's just so bizarre. I want to say it's been the last 5 cruises we've had that champagne waiting in the cabin upon boarding. 

So, the last probably 5 cruises, we've had this in the cabin and I have no idea why. Any ideas? We're diamond and prime, but outside of that?? 

I searched and came across a bunch of older threads. For those who have done early morning flights out of Miami after getting off a ship in Miami, how early were you able to get to the airport? I booked our flights for March on Icon. Options were early morning or super late, including out of FLL. We've managed early flights out of Fll but haven't tried Miami. With facial recognition now, generally outside of customs not clearing the ship which feels rare, how early have you done?  I assume Icon disembarking will be similar to oasis class. 

Right now, our flight is at 10am. I'm thinking of we get off the ship by 7:30 with self carry, at the airport by 8, should be plenty of time with precheck. Baggage drop off could be a hold up, but could upgrade to first class for the priority drop off as we get closer. 

Normally I'd prefer an 11am or noon, but there isn't that option, and I don't feel like sitting around for a 4 or 5 o'clock flight. 

Just a few reasons. And we had nice weather out of Seattle 

1 minute ago, Another_Critic said:

Nothing near you?

 

HARD MTN DEW is now available in IA, TN, FL, OK, AR, MO, MN, VA, Las Vegas, OH, IL, AZ, KY and CT! 

Nope. About a 4ish hour drive in any direction