jan-n-john

Holiday sailings are not typical AND it is about a month out, to expect to get what you want was not a good idea, unless you just booked the sailing.

 

Your only option at this juncture is to wait and see if you can get it onboard, which is highly slim as most people who want such packages may have snapped them up by final payment date or before. X may not even offer them as the demand is sure to be high without any discounts.

 

You may want to consider booking dining venues ASAP, if any of them are available when you want to dine or take your chances aboard. Also, that is, if you are not looking for a discount which may be non-existent.

 

bon voyage

We did a holiday sailing on X last year and there was no problem. So it doesn't appear to be as cut and dried as you suggest. That's why I asked about it in the first place. FYI we did indeed just book this sailing in the last few weeks, well past final pay date, and they were practically giving away verandas. And BTW, we even got a hump cabin. That doesn't suggest high demand, although it is now sold out.

We have an upcoming trip over Xmas on the Reflection. Dining packages are not being offered on line or over the phone for that trip. In fact, specialty dining reservations are quite scarce on-line.

Does anyone have specific knowledge (not guesses) what that tells us? Will specialty dining will be tight during the trip? Will packages be offered on-board? Will the UDP be less likely to be offered? Will those 30% or 50% discounts be less likely to be offered?

Just curious what to expect. Thanks in advance.

That surely must be the bow -- it is upside down and the steel sticking up would be the beginnings of the internal structure for the bulb.

Click here for an image of the bulbous bow on Oasis:

https://goo.gl/images/x5zh4w

Virtually all ships today have bulbous bows.

On Celebrity they raised the cruise rates to cover the forced go Big, Better, Best promotion then use that excuse to deny the "shareholder" benefit.

 

Face it, RCL does not appreciate their shareholder cruising with them or they would treat the benefits the same way CCL does. RCL looks for excuses to deny granting the benefit.

 

The pitiful part is when you look at the actual out of pocket cost of goods that it really costs RCL to grant the OBC. Couple that with the elimination of small things that add to their bottom line and you see the real direction that the RCL is going. Here is their excuse to not grant it, "Benefit is not combinable with other onboard credit offers, general loyalty offers, “dollars off/wave” promotions, savings certificates, onboard chartered sailings, certain group sailings, certain price programs or bookings made at a reduced rate or travel agent rate."

 

Thus the "shareholder" benefit has become a consolation prize for anyone overpaying for their cruise?

 

I have a first upcoming AZ cruise. I expect to be denied as I have on all my Celebrity cruises. Hopefully I will have found a better line because the investment has been lacking for me. I've made money on my CCL stock. I have actually lost money on RCL so I will be dumping it.

 

Because RCL doesn't value my business, I've also begun including a couple of the CCL lines and other cruise companies when searching for 2018 cruises. I look at the bottom line (including perks/benefits) for value.

That's my conclusion. Apparently any time you actually get the shareholder benefit it means you overpaid in the first place -- any cruise fare lower than the highest involves some type of "promotion," including simple fare reductions to move inventory near the date of the voyage, and thus is not eligible for the benefit.

We always self disembark. This means we don't put our bags out the night before, finish packing in the morning, have breakfast and off we go. We each had a large suitcase and carry on.

 

You could easily disembark as soon as the ship is docked and cleared.

Thanks. That answers my question.

Will you be in Miami overnight? Don't forget you have to clear immigration before debarkation. We were on Quest in Chennai and had a 4 am flight so left the ship about midnight without a problem but this was an overnight stop.

No. We just have a long drive and hope to make it in a day,which is possible if we can get an early start. So we want to know if its worth it to pack lightly to be able to carry our own bags and depart the ship as early as possible. Otherwise we may have to stop overnight on the way, and therefore wouldn't be pressed to pack lightly and could just get off later and pick up bags in the claim area.

I've looked on the Azamara site and the forums here but didn't find an answer to this question. If one has only roll-on bags and can carry them off, is early debarkation available? I know it is on Celebrity, and assume it is on Azamara as well, but just wanted to be sure. I'm specifically referring to arrival in Miami. Thanks.

WE will be doing our first Azamara cruise in Nov. Caribbean. I have read the dress code information on the website and viewed some threads here. Here is my question -- how typical is it for men to not wear jackets to dinner in the MDR, specialty restaurants, Amazing evenings, White evening, and so on. If I want to travel light and not bring a jacket, I know I don't have to, but will I end up feeling out-of-place or will it even be noticed?

The heated mirror is not a "secret perk." As noted above, but to be more explicit and clear, all bathroom mirrors in all AQ cabins on all X ships have the heated mirror as part of the AQ amenities. They defog the glass. Maybe it's because AQ pax tend to use their showers longer due to the special massaging showers and thus fog them up more?? Who knows.

PS we recently sailed on Infinity in one of the Deck 11 cabins (might have been 1125 -- don't recall -- about in the middle on port side) with the MUTS (movies under the stars) directly above and never once were bothered by noise. Take it FWIW.

FWIW, I have been on Infinity for two weeks (Valparaiso-Panama Canal-Miami) using the unlimited package for one device, switching among two iPhones and a laptop, and the speeds have been tolerable. Not as good as a cable at home, but it has generally been way better than dial-up. I have been using it mostly for general surfing, reading the New York Times, checking stocks (I did a trade one day), e-mail, and so on, and it has been OK. I have not done any speed tests, but it seems to load a typical web page in I would guess 5-10 seconds most of the time.

IIRC the elite discount on the unlimited package is 30%. If you plan to use it much you are well advised to choose the unlimited option, because (again IIRC) the minute packages are connect time, and on the ship you tend to use most of your connect time waiting for the slow internet. With unlimited it doesn't matter.

I agree with PartyAllDaTyme. If I lived in Florida, I'd be quite happy to take a short cruise at that price, points or no points. :)

Perhaps, but based on that logic one could/should take a cruise every week. Unfortunately, and I know what I'm about to say may be heretical to some on this board, there is more to life than cruising, sometimes by necessity but sometimes even by choice.

That said, we now live part time in Florida and I'm typing this sitting in Oceanview on the Infinity, just pulling into Callao/Lima. So take it FWIW.

Personal view only. YMMV. But we just crossed over to elite and I don't see enough advantage to justify taking a cruise just to get the extra points. Admittedly the perks that come with it aren't a big deal for us, but still it's hard for me to see how it would be worth it. You save a little money here and there but you have to be a user of those things to get anything out of it (e.g. we bought the unlimited internet pkg and it saved us a few dollars relative to select, but not that many dollars). OTOH if you have the time and inclination to do the extra trip, why not.

It's not simple. The sun doesn't simply rise in the east and set in the west. Generally speaking, in the North Atlantic, over the course of the day there will be considerably more sunshine on the southern side of the ship than the northern; that would be starboard if going eastbound, and port if going westbound. The opposite would be true in the southern hemisphere. That's why, when you build your house in the northern hemisphere, if you want to maximize solar warmth you put lots of windows on the side with the southern exposure. However, depending on how far north you are and the time of year, the sun may rise and set somewhat toward the north, and swing around to be on the south during the middle hours of the day. So even if you are on the port side you may get some sun on your balcony early or late in the day, depending on exactly the vessel's heading.

Our experience with Verizon on cruises has not been satisfactory. However, on a December cruise on Equinox, we had the internet package and were able to make phone calls through WhatsApp, along with the more usual texts of course. It is internet based, but works very well provided the person on the other end has WhatsApp (free download) and at that moment has an internet connection which, in addition to WiFi, AFAIK can also be LTE from your cell carrier. Calls made this way are free anywhere in the world.

It was very handy because we had a health crisis with one of our dogs. We just had the vet download WhatsApp and we were in business, and spent a great deal of time on the phone with them as they tracked down what it was. The dog is fine, but my wallet is now lighter.

WhatsApp is owned by Facebook. I don't use Facebook but I think they now have a similar phone capability, which if so is probably the same and is routed through the WhatsApp system. Just a guess. Anyway, it may be that the best way to make calls from the ship these days is to have an internet package and use it -- just be sure the person you wish to reach has the same software and is connected to the net.

Never take these reader poll results seriously. They are totally unscientific and as a result completely useless. In this case, simply being large results in more votes irrespective of actual quality. That's why McDonalds wins many "best hamburger" polls. Few people who care actually think MD has the best burgers, but so many eat there and mindlessly vote in these polls that the smaller places that actually have a good product but limited clientele get lost in the shuffle. Serious polling organizations such as J D Power have ways to eliminate this sort of bias. But popular publications and websites seldom do. It is one of the dangers of using crowd-sourced data for your own decisions.

Not sure what the comments about Az being more expensive than O are about. I just did a quick search of per day rates on the two for most trips this year in both oceanview and balcony, broken down by region, and wasn't able to detect any pattern one way or the other. Can any one enlighten me?

We had the same problem on Celebrity. The future cruises agent had no idea. I had printed the information she needed and she still did not get it. Ended up getting nothing for booking onboard. My t/a at home knew more than the future sale agent.

We recently booked an Azamara on Celebrity (the Equinox) with no trouble at all. In fact, they seemed to have people in the office that were there specifically to handle Azamara, or at least were well trained to do so.

I buy your argument at 3% which is the charge that was in effect for a long time. The rise to 5% is 2% pure profit.....credit card companies are not charging more....just Celebrity.

I agree the commission percentage is likely less than 5%. OTOH, cc's vary in the commission they charge. Amex, which is likely a frequently used card for cruises given the demographics, charges more than most. I myself have an Amex, issued by one of the big brokerage firms, that gives me 2% cash back. I doubt it could be done if the charge to the merchant were only 1% more than that, ie, I imagine it's more than 3%. But I obviously don't know the background deals that went on to create that card -- I do know it is soon going to be replaced with a Visa, still with 2% cash back.

One clarification about the reason for the 5% fee for using credits or otherwise cashing out in the casino:

If I understand things correctly, the reason Celebrity does this is not as if its some sort of arbitrary fee to get a little extra revenue. Remember that OBC has been paid for by credit card in the first place, directly or as part of the cruise payment. There is no casino in the world that I know of that will let you get cash with a credit card and then play dollar for dollar. The reason is that their profit, which comes from the house advantage that they must have to make money, would be greatly reduced if not eliminated by the fee they pay to the credit card company; in most cases, casinos are cash only operations for that reason. Similarly, if you buy something in a normal store with a cc and return it, they don't usually give you cash back -- they credit your cc, which allows them to recoup the cc charge they have paid. X does the same thing for any overage in your account.

If you go to the cage in the casino on ship and get cash from your account, this effectively comes from from funds X got off your credit card. Even if it's perk credit, you've still paid for your cruise with a credit card. So I think that's the real reason for the 5% fee when using OBC to get cash in the casino. Simply a necessary business decision similar to any casino.

Possibly be bunkering???

 

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Almost certainly bunkering (delivering fuel to the ship for you landlubbers). I'm surprised they are doing it so late though.

I've just posted this statement on a separate thread...

 

"Boarding for Azamara Journey has been delayed until 5 pm today.

 

Azamara Journey just arrived to Port Miami this morning from the shipyard in Nassau, where it underwent an extensive drydock. Unfortunately, work at the shipyard was hampered by terrible weather. The process was also delayed when a number of containers with supplies did not arrive on time. Because of these unexpected issues, the ship requires additional time to prepare for guest’s arrival.

 

We sincerely regret that boarding has been delayed, and we are grateful for our guests’ patience and understanding. Our staff in Miami will do their very best to minimize any further inconvenience to them and our shipboard team looks forward to welcoming them onboard.

 

We hope our guests enjoy the changes we have made to Azamara Journey. The ship’s interior has been reimagined from bow to stern, with a complete upgrade of all guest staterooms as well as extensive redecorations of most of our public areas. The ship now has a new look and feel, setting a brighter, more contemporary ambience."

Not to seem too picky, but the shipyard where the refurb was done is in Freeport, Bahamas, on the island of Grand Bahama, not Nassau, Bahamas, the capital and best known city in The Bahamas, which is on the island of New Providence. As one might imagine, there is a certain, mostly good-natured, rivalry between the two, so the shipyard folks might be a bit put out at the error.

We've learned the hard way in our home: the more beautiful the carpet, the harder to keep clean! This applies to both light colors (stains) and dark (lint). The best is a tightly woven Axminster with a busy floral pattern -- but I doubt that any cruise line runs to 100% wool carpeting.

In any high-traffic commercial application, including hotels, conference centers, cruise ships, etc., carpet will be selected that, to the maximum extent possible, hides dirt and stains. Otherwise it truly would look horrible very quickly. Such patterns are not seen in residential applications, but are a sine-qua-non in commercial settings.

This reminds me of one of those restaurant renovation shows where they (supposedly) completely redo the place in two days, only it's a whole ship. Hope they can actually get it done -- it's a tight timetable.

There is no fixed pattern. Whether or not deals are being offered depends entirely on how specialty restaurant bookings are going on the particular cruise. On some cruises lots of people are booking so no deals. On other cruises sales are slow so there will be deals. You never really know in advance. Just ask. If things are really slow they may become aggressive and send people around, e.g. around the pool, soliciting business and offering deals on the spot. Again, it all depends, and there's no way to know for sure in advance of your particular cruise.