Geldhart

i see we can precook specialty restaurant deals

Sorry. When I go on cruises I expect the staff to prepare my meals AFTER I order.

[emoji1]

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One more reason for me not to use a TA or any third party for my bookings. Lack of so called perks is more than compensated by the fact there is no finger pointing if I book direct.

At most I just have to yell down the hall "Hey Mrs Geldhart! Did RCL call asking to move out cabin? Ok, thanks"

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An hour away on local roads is much different animal than an eight to ten hour drive. It takes me an hour to drive to Costco not a big deal.

Just pack up your vehicle the night before and leave ASAP direct to port - don't go back home. Just give your pardons and don't hang around to long afterwards.

Also have alternate routes planned and pay close attention to traffic and accident reports.

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DWI is considered a felony in Canada. Your friend will need to contact Canadian authorities to determine his status and there just might not be enough time to sort it out.

Is there someone who can go instead and buy your friend's ticket?

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One more thing about price drops. After final payment date you can't take advantage of them anymore. At that point you are locked in.

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The good news is that all the issues you had with the first cruise are fixable and you already seem to have a plan for most of them.

1. Assuming you book under North American rules, you can book a refundable option. RCCL is rolling out a non-refundable option for non-suites, just make sure you book under the refundable option. It will be more expensive, and you don't get an OBC bonus, but the deposit will be refundable. However, be aware that for SUITES, they are moving to make those deposits non-refundable, but unless I am completely wrong, you can still take advantage of price drops.

Just so you know, if you want to take advantage of price drops, call the cruise line directly (or if you book through a travel agent, your travel agent). They can re-price the cruise without you having to cancel and re-book.

2. You already know what to do about the windowless room and location. I'm not subject to sea-sickness so location for me on the ship doesn't matter too much, but what I've heard is low and center. Balconies won't be the lowest deck possible, but likely still doable. Can't do much about the Captain taking the ship through a hurricane though, but they generally try to avoid those.

3. Always assume that the room you book and have confirmed is the one you are going to get. In your case, don't go for a Guarantee cabin, no matter what price saving you get. Get a confirmed balcony on the lowest deck possible, as close to the center as you can. You might have to pay extra for that, but not too much more. That way you can enjoy your naps.

4. In regards to your table mates, you have two options. Either go with My Time Dining and get a table for just your own party, or if you prefer traditional dining at a set time and table with the same wait staff, send a request to the ship to be seated with only your party. When you board, you can always go to the dining room on embarkation day and find out where you are seated and request a change at that time.

As for the sea sickness, talk to your doctor and find out what they think as well. I would be very cautious about combining a patch and a pill - drug interactions can be unpredictable. I'll leave more specifics to the experts on sea-sickness, as I am not one.

Did you have a tracker on the items? Find my phone app or something like that? If so, I would have demanded to use the ships Internet to find the location of these items.

 

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Find my iphone (or Android equivalent) won't work for that. Assuming it had a data connection, at best about all you would be able to tell is that it was on the ship somewhere.

GPS signals are quite weak and would be blocked by the metal structure of the ship, and who knows what WiFi location will return.

Again, assuming active data or WiFi connection You could make it ring continuously.

Best you could do is put in lost mode or remote erase. With activation lock that would make the phone useless to whoever had it.

Glad you got it back though.

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I wonder if one of the security people gave a quiet "I hope Tamilyn's missing items re-appear in that cabin before they finish packing up" word to the person

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You missed the point! First of all the cruise lines are scared to death to confront any of those people, and they know it and take advantage. Do you know how many websites will issue fake certificates? I'm sure there are many legit pets out there but my MAIN point was the fact she had it in her lap and was feeding it from the table. Just wrong.

 

 

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By definition dogs eating from a plate in a dining room are NOT legitimate.

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Deciding to fly in same day cannot be determined by how many people have made it. It had to be determined by what well happen if your flight is cancelled.

Everything can go right. Leave on time with a perfectly good airplane but somewhere over the Middle of Nowhere another passenger has a medical emergency forcing the plane to divert.

The fact you have a cruise to be on that day won't get the plane in the air if the crew times out while the plane is prepped for take off.

That's not even considering weather, connections, labor disputes, etc.

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Once had a lady doing a blood test at the dinner table (finger) and then giving herself an injection as well. Just lifted up her blouse and exposed her stomach before injecting herself. Nothing was done discretely and there were toilets just outside the MDR. That was the last time I did Traditional dining.

I duuno if i would want to be doing anything like that in the washroom given what people leave behind in there. And for some meds you have to take them right before you eat so doing it in the cabin will take to long.

Not attention seeking just someone very used to the routine and probably not thinking about it too much. Likely does it all the time at her own kitchen table.

Yep! I drove from Denmark to Germany and back this weekend... on the right :')

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30 min connection leaves you with less than 0 room for error. You almost need your first flight to arrive early and your second flight to be delayed.

Especially if you cannot pull a Usian Bolt in the airport.

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Cabin for parents

Older boys across the hall

Grandma and grand daughter

Single adult + 8 yr old?

Guess is depends on who the single adult is and if they can bunk with the 8 yr old.

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The question top ask is "Why fly in same day?"

If it's just because I want to, or to see if it can be done, don't bother. Fly in the day before. See when you arrive and satisfy your curiosity that way.

If it's because of work our family obligations that is a different story. In which case you need to have a good Plan B or C, especially when travelling with connecting flights with an international leg. Too many things can go wrong to justify doing it same day just because. Hotel rooms are cheap insurance for airline issues.

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I use whatsapp on an android mobile all the time to keep in touch with the kids. I buy 2x100 minute wifi packages and it works quickly and well even when on the South China Sea! I send photos that way too so the kids can see what we're up to. I'd highly recommend it. Just make sure the people you are contacting load it on their phones too.

And test before you leave.

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You will want someone with the medical authorization anyway. In an emergency minutes or seconds can be the difference between life and death, you don't want decisions delayed because you are in a area with poor reception.

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If you are okay with just text messaging with Whats App then you shouldn't have any issues with data usage with GB. Text is essentially "free". It's voice, pictures, and video that would eat up your data usage.

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Late dining for us turns out to match normal dining at home due to time zones. Quite nice

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Thanks Fred&Lily and JohninDC. Thanks what I needed.

Will fly to FLL with my preferred airline that way there's fewer things that can go wrong. Ie I know exactly which airline is responsible for getting me to where I want to go. Had a buddy who has had an issue with a code shared flight in the past; both airlines referred him to the other.

Thanks for the timing suggestion on the return flight, I will book accordingly.

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My main concern is if something goes wrong on the flight, if I'm on my preferred airline the entire trip, there is no confusion about who I need to work with to get to my final destination. Hence any headaches about transferring from Fll to Miami.

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Our cruise will be leaving from Miami and I am looking into our flight options. Narrowed it down to 2 options. Both priced similarly, have the same first leg, and have similar layover times in the same airport. We are going to fly in the day before the cruise.

Option 1

Using our preferred airline all the way from home to Fort Lauderdale.

Option 2

Preferred airline on the first leg, but a codeshare for the second leg to get us to Miami. I have no strong experience or feelings either way about the code share airline.

Cruise will be in November. We don't want to be driving ourselves at all in Florida. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each option? Is there any headaches I should be aware of with Option 1 to Fort Lauderdale?

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In general, the way it works is if you go onto the website you'll see what the rooms are currently selling for. Once you find the room category you'd like to upgrade to, take that price and subtract what you have already paid. This should be the cost for the upgrade.

 

Try calling back if that's not the price you were quoted.

 

 

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And to be clear, it's the price you paid (or would have by final payment day) not what the cabin is going for now.

Eg. Current price of upgraded cabin $4000 all in

Price of current cabin at booking $2900 all in

Current price of current cabin $3300 all in

Your upgrade price should be $1100 all in. The current price of the cabin is meaningless

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Loved EMP when we were in Seattle. My older child listed that as a really desired activity and since none of us had strong leanings elsewhere that's where we went. Awesome experience.

In the evening my younger son and I went to Safeco Field to see his first baseball game while the other two went too a movie.

We cashed in our Westjet point too fly to Vancouver took the train to Seattle and also cashed in almost all my IHG points to stay at the Holiday Inn on Aurora.

Really glad we went. Seattle was an awesome port city but w did find it pricey. If it wasn't from accumulated points from lots of business travel from a previous job we wouldn't have been able to go.

Perhaps one year we can go back and just experience Seattle properly

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Big difference between pushing and carrying. There are practical operational reasons for refusing to carry a person and their wheelchair. The chances of injury to either party or damage to the equipment goes up very quickly based on the total weight.

Pushing a chair, not so much.

I will assist pushing someone who is in a chair (if asked). Even with a team lift I will not carry someone and their chair ( life threatening emergency excepted)

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There are reasons to buy OBC yourself. For me that is how I control my teens' spending.

They give us their money before the cruise, my wife and I then match it then purchase the OBC. (eg my DS gives me $25 from his savings I buy $50 in OBC for him) This is in addition to any promotional OBC they get from the booking as well.

We then set it up so once the OBC is gone so is their ability to spend.

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