fstuff1

20 hours ago, TomandMo said:

Just saw the article…..they are changing the menu now that it’s free!

 

https://www.cruisehive.com/norwegian-cruise-line-dining-venue-becomes-complimentary/119931

last month american diner was free for lunch on sea days and i've had it a few times.

Buffet was better.

so a downgrade for american diner for dinner now that it's free?

https://nypost.com/2023/12/27/news/pet-cat-smuggled-aboard-royal-caribbean-cruise-ship-was-going-to-be-euthanized-but-crew-spent-weeks-trying-to-save-it/

'Biosecurity agents from New Zealand found Ovie in a guest’s cabin.'

I've never heard of port agents looking into guest cabins.

Random search of cabins and just bad luck for Ovie's owners?

What other countries do guest cabin searches?

How about this?
buy the unlimited specialty dining at the 35% off discount then buy each restaurant you want to eat at for everyday of the cruise.

since you're buying individually you get to pick your dining time.

When you get aboard, goto the restaurant desk and have all the costs of the individual restaurants refunded since you have Unlimited but keep the dining times?

53 minutes ago, Hawkstar33 said:

I ended up booking the unlimited on the second leg of both of our BTBs...Will try the dining room and buffet on the first part of each trip.  Silhouette in February, Beyond in April....Remember they add the gratuity when you book.   Happy Holidays

i'm also on Beyond b2b in april. (10day and 5 day, i think)

Update this thread after your Silly cruises?

On 12/19/2023 at 7:57 PM, Hawkstar33 said:

Hoping to hear from some of you that may have done this.  I'm looking to book the Unlimited on Beyond.  Flash sale showing 30% off.  Does this include all of the Specialty restaurants, or are you limited to which ones you can go to, or how many times you can go to each one?  I ask this because they vary a bit in price.  Ty in advance...

i got this email for my 4day cruise on Silly:

Only 1 sea day so 4 nights + 1 lunch
$159/5 = $32 each, which sounds like a great deal!

or am i missing something?

basically 40% of the normal $55 dinner price. (no idea what the price for lunch nor do i know WHERE lunch is??)
hm.. for sushi on 5, it's only a $50 credit? It should be $55 credit to match the prices of the other restaurants. (so only 1/3 off for sushi on 5)

This deal is probably better for cruises with more sea days like a transatlantic?

On 10/10/2023 at 9:00 AM, Spurs Fans said:

My wife and I sailed on Summit for 12 nights in August. We gambled 4 or so times for 2-3 hours at a time and went through $1,000 or so.  Yesterday we received an email offer from the Blue Chip Club offering complimentary inside cabin for several different ship options - all in Jan. - Feb. time frame and ranging from 3 to 9 nights.  
 

Is this type offer made to anyone who drops a few dollars in a machine or are we somehow “special?” Lol.  

i was on the summit in aug 2023 to iceland.

yes, it's typical now of blue chip.

it used to be comp casino cruises were only balcony and above so you had to play enough to earn that cabin level.

Now they have lowered it to Insides and a lot less play is needed to get a free cruise.

That's great for me. I no longer feel the weight of needing around $20k coin-in each cruise, especially on M-class ships with older slots that i don't like playing.

i'm ok with an Inside. I use the room for 3 things: sleep and shower

On 12/14/2023 at 9:01 AM, dleahy4444 said:

My husband is Onyx and received Offer 23MTh 205 for an interior room. When he gets an offer I usually get a better room offer, being Amethyst, with a similar code usually ending in 202. There was a problem with my account and Blue Chip claims to have fixed it. But he received this offer and I received nothing, no offer at all. Do certain offers not go out to the higher tiers? Has anyone received this offer ? 

go online at https://bluechipcluboffers.com/ and see your offers including the list of free cruises.

if you see your tier points, ignore it. they just copied your tier points from Royal (if any). it's a bug

On 12/6/2023 at 7:51 AM, wrk2cruise said:

I know how it happened.   I clicked on one of those stupid pop ups on the web page enticing me with some OBC on my next cruise by supplying my email address.  It didn't say it was registering me for Captains Club.   My real Captains Club number had the email that both me and DW share.  That's another issue as they will only send emails to one CC member on the shared email.

 

Finally I got someone to move my private email from CC #2 to CC #1 and then delete CC #2

I called celebrity's blue chip club because i'm getting casino offers based on the new #.

i'm also getting casino offers based on the old #.

bcc said there's only 1 cruise associated with that new # and it was my last sailing back in Oct 2023.

But my cruise docs list my old capt club's #. 

She said Celebrity's loyalty dept can help merge the 2 and gave me the #:

800 760-0654.

I called. It was easy. I gave her my old and new #'s and she said she moved everything (capt club points and casino points) to the old acct and de-activated the new acct.

It'll take about 24hrs to go through the system.

She said she has no idea how it happened.

I'm more worried about my casino status ($500 freeplay, free drinks package, and free upgraded wifi every cruise) than my capt club points.

Hope this merger didnt mess anything up.

(new acct has no casino benefits)

1 hour ago, PartyPlannerLady said:

NCLH is up $1.12 (5.85%) today alone.  What are you smoking?

yeah, why did it jump thse past 2 days  like Elon Musk said he going to buy it?

13 hours ago, oakridger said:

I can't see it either!.  Maybe it's a people from Tennessee thing??  (note my CC name)  Ha Ha

 

Hopefully @fstuff1 will come back and repost their review of the "excellent" small group tour!!

 

~Nancy

i have no idea.

ask a mod?

Solo male

Going on ncl pride of America.

Coming in a day early from DC area.

Suggestions for a cheap hotel between airport and cruise terminal?

Or should I (finally) try AirBnb?

Thx

2 hours ago, EatonDoolittle said:

Here's mine - 5 or so years old, has the jumper cables, which I have used several times. I don't know what kind of battery it is, I just recharge in the wall as mentioned.  Measures 7" x 3.5" X 1", size of a paperback book. 

No air compressor, but I have seen the newer ones advertised recently, which do have that feature. Maybe a bit bigger, don't know.  Jumper cables plug into it under the little white cap (loosened for photo) , probably also where  an air compressor hose would plug in. 

Oh, and a light on the opposite end. 

 

 

very nice. a 120v plug gives alot of flexibility!

My receipt.

Official exchange rate is $0.745 for 1 Singapore dollar.

I thought Capital one would have a better rate than the airport booths because capital one credit card doesn't charge foreign exchange fees and gives the market exchange price when I buy in a foreign currency.

The currency booths at airports are a ripoff.

I thought my bank (Capital one) would have a better rate. Nope 

I had 200 Singapore dollars. The official exchange rate would give me $149 USD.

The capital one near my house only gave me $139. I said the official exchange rate would give me $149 but she said that's what the computer says.

$10/149 is 6.7% fee 

4 hours ago, terry&mike said:

We flew home from Buenos Aires yesterday, and I can attest that charges we made on our US credit cards came through at astonishingly low prices. We had pre-paid our hotel room, but when we checked out the city tax was due, which the front desk quoted us as $2 USD or 695 Argentine Pesos - we put it on our cc and it came through as .81 cents USD. Our Uber to the airport was pre-ride quoted around 16,800 pesos and came through our cc at $18.05 USD. A purchase at a shop that was 6895 pesos came through cc at $7.38 USD. And so on.... Very nice. 

Yup. By dumb luck, my 5day hotel stay before my Antarctica cruise in Jan 2023 wasn't prepaid.

I paid by credit card when I checked out and the price was almost 1/2 off. 

Glad to see the unadvertised almost double the conversation rate is still in effect for credit cards.

But I wouldn't visit Argentina right now. With this 50% devaluation, I expect anger and chaos from it's citizens 

43 minutes ago, EatonDoolittle said:

 

This is the one I mentioned a few posts back. Made by HALO.

You can get basic one for about $100, but if you live in a storm prone area,  you can get a better model with USB, regular plug (so you can make coffee or plug in a lamp) and even an air compressor for flat tires. 

 

Amazon and QVC have them. I charge it up in the house a few times a year, it holds a charge very well. 

These pocket size jumpers now have a Plug for coffee or lamp? 

Wait.. air compressor?

I think you're talking about the old big heavy jumpers that have a lead acid battery and is about a foot tall.

The one in my pic has a lithium battery like in Tesla's and fits in my coat pocket.

41 minutes ago, BAYA said:

Fantastic tip. Any chance you can share a link to the exact little jumper on Amazon that you bought? I'm thinking of giving it to myself for Christmas. 😊

this was pre-covid.

i just checked and item is no longer sold.

Looked similar to this:

edit:

there might be a type now that plugs into your cigarette lighter instead of directly onto your car battery.

Ahh.. forgot to mention i'm going solo and only have a carry-on.

https://lite.cnn.com/2023/12/12/economy/argentina-milei-peso-dollar/index.html

When I was in Buenos Ares back in Jan 2023, Mastercard and Visa giving almost double the value of the official exchange rate.

Back then $1 USD = 180 pesos so a 1800 peso steak is $10.

But if i charged it, Visa was giving me $1 USD for about 350 pesos. That steak is now a little over $5!

And my Visa (from Costco) had 0% foreign conversion fees.

No idea if they're still doing it now.

On 12/7/2023 at 7:26 AM, BAYA said:

I'm posting this as a public service 🙂 We just returned from an 8-night cruise to find my car's battery totally dead. Neither of our two vehicles had jumper cables and no one departing the garage stopped to offer a jump start. AAA was going to be a very long wait (at least an hour when I called for service). Luckily my BIL walked to the pay-booth and they directed him to the guy who walks around the garage with a portable device for jump-starting cars. By then we were drenched in sweat and had been waiting for 30 minutes or so to get a jump-start.

 

This dead battery issue is apparently a common problem. My lesson-learned is to buy jumper cables and keep them in my car when I cruise. I ended up needing a new battery (old one would not hold a charge). Even with a new battery I plan to carry the jumper cables--batteries do fail sometimes!

P.S. We were in the Palm Garage at Port Everglades.

Bought new 2015 Mazda. I bought jumper cables same week i bought the car. Put the cables in the trunk.
4 years later, battery died. Manual key in key Fob unlocked driver's door but the trunk door can only be opened via electronic button. Since battery is dead, it doesnt work. There's no key hole for the trunk.

Had to pull down the back seat to get to the trunk to get to the jumper cables.

I then bought a lithium battery jumper about the size of 2 deck of cards side by side for $20 on Amazon. Charged it and placed it under the driver's seat.

A year later, I needed it. Power on the jumper was only 3 out of 5 bars but jumped my car on 1st try.

Since then, i've replaced my battery and make it a point to charge the jumper twice a year.

Doing a b2b on 2 cruise lines.
Celebrity debarks at Port Everglades (7am) and NCL embarks at Port Miami (11am) same day

I was thinking Uber but is there a cheaper option?

Costco prosecco rose $8 

I saw cars with driver side on the left so I assumed it was US driving rules such as drive on right side.

They were driving on left side like British. :o

I looked the wrong way when crossing 2 way street.

I can imagine 2 cars passing each other on a narrow road to be more dangerous

19 hours ago, marieps said:

Open a Charles Schwab account that includes a debit card.  Seed the acct and use the card at bank ATMs in the ports.  Zero fees and good exchange rates.

Yes, that's the only reason why I opened a Schwab account.

I withdraw $1000 Singapore for casino. I have$200 left.

Now to see what my local bank fees are to covert that $200 to usd

18 hours ago, wrk2cruise said:

I had this situation.  It took several years to straighten out with several calls to Captains Club.   1 was Preview  1 was Zenith

Did the merge mess up anything?
And did you find out how/why it happened?