fredflint

You can also log off the other person which is handy. Worked fine for us with laptop and phone sharing connection. With the 300 minute make sure you log off and it says you are logged off if you have issues do a scren shot then head down to the internet cafe when you can to get your minutes back. On my last trip there was a constant line every day of people unable to log off and needing to get minutes back. It would make much more sense to charge by the GB then you could just buy a pool of data and use it as you needed, same as many cell phone plans.

you can try an agent from a large membership company or there are web sites where people can compete for your business. Google is your friend.

Talk to your travel agent, I am not sure how cruises are post COVID but the TAs I have been on are usually near capacity but going East is less desirable. It seems many Europeans go to Florida for the winter they can take a cruise for not much more than airfare and they do not need to worry about baggage allowance. The come over on the Fall West TA then go back in the Spring. You can usually spot them by the large amount of luggage. I am not sure if the room steward stores the extra bags somewhere or they just keep them stacked in the room!

They seem to have 2 packages one that allows streaming and one does not, plus by the minute. They are the same speed there is just a web filter that blocks the streaming sites and it seems that by the Minute also blocks streaming. One person on my cruise had downloaded some shows to watch but they needed to log onto their account to authenticate in order to watch the downloaded shows and they could not with the by the minute plan. They were told they would have to buy an unlimited plan for a day in order to do it. When I found out I told them they should just ask someone on the cruise. I would have let anyone log onto their Netflix account on my computer so they could get their stuff activated. Or I would log onto there device and then change my password afterwards but that is just me!

The Carnival Case was an individual that claimed they owned part of the dock vs a company that I am pretty sure can show ownership of the property. This is not that unusual I believe people have sued other entities and governments for damages and won. I believe that Iran had the issue when the Shah was overthrown and the assets were seized. It would make sense for the cruise lines to settle the claims out of court depending on how strong the case is. If the case is appealed and tied up for a few years they will owe the interest on the amount plus increased legal fees. Pony up pay a smaller amount and settle with the other cruise lines would make the most sense to me. They know or should have known they were breaking the law when they did it so I would sure like to see what their actual defense was other than questioning if Havana docks was the legal owner and that Cuba seized the assets. This more points to Congress passing a law and then a President or several Presidents deciding not to enforce the law so everyone then ignores it!

I just came back from 14 days on the Star the entertainment was by far the worst I have witnessed. I do think they cancelled one night and decided to show a movie instead. We had no comedian at all. The musical shows were just bad, I am not a music person but my wife has taught piano, so she does know a bit about music when she says they were singing in the wrong key and off key I believe her. Spending a few bucks for an AutoTune license would help that. However I have a degree in Theatre and worked professionally for a couple of years the timing of many of the cast members was very poor like they had rehearsed just maybe while they had been onboard the ship. Magician was OK but they do get old after a while.

The only sale that has actually been worthwhile has been the free/reduced airfare deal on my 2 flights that involved International travel. Saved money and did not have to worry about missing the cruise.

Use your trip insurance do not count on Southwest.

Starlink I get the feeling is going to be a bit of a challenge they are moving pretty fast and on land handing off from one to the other works, on a moving ship it will be more of a challenge for sure. But who knows, Royal Caribbean has had their VOOM service using OB3 (Now SES) we have had pretty fast internet speeds ( 25+ MB download) so you don't necessarily need something new and fancy justn need to invest some money in the technology and people. On our cruise they said they could not lock on and track the satellites, something that should be pretty simple considering we were not in rough seas or major overcast storms!

I use Google Fi you can turn it on and off as needed.

I did it by calling getting credit from my minutes to convert to unlimited.

Yes I can pretty much vouch I had the unlimited "premium" package for streaming my wife had the regular unlimited both were equally slow. One thing to note we had many issue with the internet not working and people on the minutes plan could not log out. They had to go to the internet cafe every day to have them get their minutes back. I would just go with one unlimited plan and swap back and forth the most part you will both be disappointed 🙂

It is funny they push it so hard and fast, on my recent cruise there were 10 channels on the TV that were either devoted to the certificates or had multiple ads for them. If the certificates are such a good deal for customers and cost NCL money why do they push them so hard? Are they just trying to get cash now to keep the line afloat and plan on raising rates to negate the certificates in the future?

Funny I had the same issue and same solution 🙂

We asked our cabin steward for a coffee maker and he brought us one right away. You could bring powdered creamer with no issue at all. Liquid in individual containers could be easier too since they usually don't need to be refridgerated.

Funny we were on the Star a couple of weeks ago and noticed the same thing. we went out in Recife in search of a pharmacy. I tried using google maps and the 2 places they listed did not exist. I finally searched for a mall and we took an Uber to the mall it was about a 20 minute drive away. On the drive over we saw 2 pharmacies and were able to pick up some meds. Lesson learned bring all kinds of cold meds with you as well as stomach meds.

On our recent cruise since we had a connecting flight out and 3 flights coming back I put Apple Air tags and Tile tags in our suitcases they were not needed of course but they did work and you could easily use it to find your suitcase in a sea of others!

We had to request coffee maker and fridge was empty on our Star cruise a week ago?

You can have a plan for one device, I actually had to do this as they said since I had a 500 min free plan I could only upgrade to a single unlimited plan. As has been posted you should be able to do it yourself, for one device. Also as has been stated international calling does not include onboard the ship!

Can't comment much on the ship riding in rough seas just did TA from Lisbon to Rio and the seas looked a little rough at times but the ship was pretty calm. We did notice the pool was sloshing front to back vs side to side. Ship was very clean, I even saw one person cleaning the picture on the stairway using a flashlight at an very narrow angle so they could see any smears or lines on the glass. Crew was very good but they all mentioned they prefer the larger ships due to better crew quarters. Internet was very poor it seemed the people running the equipment were ill trained as we were constantly told they were having a hard time finding and locking onto satellites.

I am a bit confused as to why they put so much pressure for the cruisenext certs they seem to save people money but they also push them all the time on the TV during shows etc. I just have the feeling if it sounds to good to be true................................... I am wondering if they are trying to get more cash now and will just raise prices to make the certificates worth less?

Well it does depend on the ship and Itinerary, I just came back from a 14 day cruise on the Star going to South America and the entertainment was subpar. Now normally I don't try to critique food as I am not a food critic. That said I have a degree in theatre and worked professionally for 2 years on the technical side. I can tell when the Choreography and Dance numbers work or not on our shows they did not work. My wife taught piano for several years as side job and she can tell when people are singing in the proper key and in tune etc. The cast was not singing well at all, just for grins I checked on the cost for AutoTune and it is a few hundred dollars a month so they could at least fix that part. I feel that Royal has better entertainment, you would literally have to have 30 shows videotaped from each cruise line then play pairs to a group have them vote not knowing which cruise line then have them pick A or B ....

I have found that it goes a long way and if my room Steward is working hard I tip them after providing me with some stuff. Recent cruise requested: Robes, Coffee Maker and mattress topper all were provided right away. I gave the steward a 100.00 bill and he was very grateful, by giving him the tip then he did not think I was going to be a jerky guy always asking for stuff. He was very nice and would not even dish on the worst cabin he had to clean: IE someone that drank too much, Spring break or 4 people in a cabin always needing something.

You cannot remove them as they are no cost to you, just do not use the internet but you might need it to get your flight information for your return. The specialty dining is the same don't want it just don't book it. The shore excursion offer is just 50.00 off when/if you book a tour. This could be worthwhile for the end of the cruise. We never used our credit as the ships offerings were meager and expensive. You might be able to invite another couple to have diner with you if you meet someone you like 🙂

I just came back from a 14 day on the Star I had a balcony and for 300 bucks total I was able to upgrade to a club suite. I think it was a decent deal our bathroom looked lie it was just redone it was pretty much spotless and having the tub provided lots of room in the shower. We went petty far south crossing the equator and having 2 thermostats and 2 units in the ceiling was nice. The ship was not full but I rally did not hear of many people getting upgrades 1400 out of 2400 capacity.