Tunkhannock

Thanks for the catch.

No problems, it's all good. My wife corrects me all the time when I have one of those "I read it on the Internet, it must be true!" moments. ;)

Other than the extra costs, there really is no downside to taking the passport book with you. In fact, I would recommend it over the passport card.

Why? Let's say something Bad happens when you're in the Caribbean. Say you or a loved one is injured to the point of hospitalization and the ship leaves without you. Or, for whatever reason, you need to travel back to the US as soon as possible, and that means flying back.

The passport card is not good for international air travel. And I imagine neither is a certified copy of your birth certificate and driver's license.

Worst case scenario? Probably. But a possible scenario none the less.

Also, a passport book offers you far more travel flexibility than a passport card does. If you want to fly to Cancun next year, you'll know that you can since you already have a passport book, and you don't have to do the song and dance with the State Department again.

I'll try to find the reference to closed-loop cruises.

Thank you much, as I'm curious now myself.

You can use the passport card for cruises out of the US that start and end at the same port.

Are you sure about that? The State Department's website for Passport Cards lists no such restriction.

The U.S. Passport Card can be used to enter the United States from Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Bermuda at land border crossings or sea ports-of-entry and is more convenient and less expensive than a passport book. The passport card cannot be used for international travel by air.

Source: http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/passports/information/card.html

I don't know anything more about you and your style of life, except what you have put into this post --- so I have to wonder, do you cruise for the 'exclusive factor' that you may attain when you reach certain levels of the loyalty program?

Oh, no, neither do we. We're cruising for the experience itself and to visit new places we've never been to. We've booked a JS for this cruise, but mostly just for the extra space a JS provides.

I've just noticed that many seem to be very upset over the changing levels of benefits that certain tiers in C&A provide. Is such anger justified or not? I'm in no position to say.

My point was that as more and more cruisers move up in the C&A tiers, I imagine that the tangible benefits will become less and less. It's simple economics, really. As such, any future cruises we plan will not be very concerned with staying with a particular cruise line in order to advance in their loyalty program.

As a brand new cruiser, I'm reading this thread with some interest.

The message I'm taking away from this, as a newbie cruiser is: "don't put all your eggs in one loyalty program basket". If we choose to go with RCI with our second (or third, or fourth...) cruise, it certainly won't be because of the C&A benefits which may accumulate in a couple of years (or longer).

As more and more cruisers reach the higher levels of the cruise line's loyalty programs (in RCI's case, D/D+/Pinnacle), the "exclusive factor" of those levels diminish. Agree or disagree, but RCI's way of coping with this is to cut the benefits that C&A members receive. I can only imagine that if/when we get to D or D+ level, their will be so many D or D+ members that the benefits received will be negligible.

See, the "good old days" were just last year.

Now you have to yell at those darn kids to get off your lawn! ;)

All of a sudden I can't do online check-in until 90 days out. In the past I have done it a year out. What's going on?:confused:

I'm not sure what it was like "in the good ol' days", but I booked in January and it's always told me that I can't check in until 90 days out.

It's certainly made me think twice about our plan for a 9 nighter on Constipation of The Seas.

You're probably better off that way. I hear they treat you like crap.

Thanks for the review. We're going in October and I found it very informative.

I never even thought of staying in a resort in Bermuda while the ship was docked. I just assumed we would be sleeping in the ship. Do many people stay onboard overnight or stay in a hotel?

I told him about the lint and he wanted to merely remove the lint. I told him that the whole comforter needed to be replaced immediately. He left and came back with a new one but we had to wait for him for 7 minutes.

Unacceptable! Back when Royal Caribbean really cared about customer service, they would have burnt the offending comforter right then and there and offered to ritually sacrifice the responsible housekeepers for their crimes.

Based on the article from 'truthvoice' (never heard of them before seeing the post on the roll call) there was a time separation. One incident happened with Port Authority. The second (the comment) was overheard on board.

 

From 'truthvoice':

After being detained during the luggage search, Tim Baker was interrogated and asked questions such as, “Why do you need to own a gun?” and “Are you in law enforcement?”

I can actually believe this part. Port Authority police once gave us a tough time at JFK because I had a unloaded, disassembled handgun in my checked luggage (not carry-on) that I declared beforehand to the airline staffer during check-in during a flight to Florida. And I was actually in Law Enforcement at the time, and I presented them with my Law Enforcement credentials and my Concealed Carry Permits for both Pennsylvania and Florida. But they still detained us for three hours and jerked me around before deciding there wasn't anything they could charge me with.

Yes please !!

Oh, I am getting weak at the very thought of it.

Imagine waking up on a beautiful sunny morning, room service breakfast has arrived, with two cups on the tray.

You walk out to the balcony, and there he is........

"Good morning, ma'am. I'm here to unclog your pipes."

I hope we are on the same cruise. Since it is my cruise, not only am I planning on wearing what I want no matter what, I am going to chair hog, get on the elevator without letting anyone off, (not letting anyone in walkers or wheelchairs go first ), cut the line in the Windjammer, save lots of seats in the theater , get one drink package for the two of us, smoke on my balcony and bring my service pig. I don't have kids at home but I sm thinking I might rent a few to do cannonballs in the solarium pools, push all the elevator numbers with sticky ice cream hands, cry in specialty restaurants and run amuck through the ship. I will have those kids knock on all the doors at night and change the room service tags.

 

Why not? It's my cruise!

Wearing shorts in the MDR doesn't effect anybody else. All of your "examples" above does. Apples and oranges.

(flat monotone) I loved it. It was much better than "Cats". I'm going to see it again and again.

I have to work some time. ;-)

Don't ask, don't tell!

Silly question --- I see that there are some men that SHOULD shave on a 3 day cruise and don't.....they must have gotten the cabin without mirrors in it and they are afraid to shave and cut themselves. (LOL)

Hey, some women like "bears"!

If RCI is so damned concerned about the "safety of passengers" why don't they cancel Baltimore MD????? I feel safer in PV at 2am on any street than I would ever feel in Baltimore!

Violence in Baltimore: pretty much limited to property damage (arson, looting). Someone took a single potshot in the general direction of cops and the media flipped out over it. Things quieted down once the Maryland National Guard rolled in.

Violence in Puerto Vallarta: running firefights between government troops and cartel members. They just blew a military helicopter out of the air with a RPG.

Not quite the same.

Jalisco: Guadalajara, Puerto Vallarta, and Lake Chapala are major cities/travel destinations in Jalisco – Exercise caution throughout the state, particularly in rural areas and when using secondary highways. Violent clashes between criminal organizations and government authorities, and related disturbances including barricades of burning vehicles blocking major roads and highways, are ongoing concerns that typically occur without notice. Defer non-essential travel to areas of the state that border the states of Michoacán and Zacatecas. The security situation along the Michoacán and Zacatecas borders continues to be unstable. U.S. government personnel are authorized to use Federal toll road 15D for travel to Mexico City; however, they may not stop in the town of La Barca for any reason. U.S. government personnel are prohibited from personal travel to areas of Jalisco that border Zacatecas, and are prohibited from intercity travel at night.

Yikes!

Sometimes RC gets the "brown flu" when it is very convenient for them and keeps the revenue on board.

Are you implying that RCCL is acting in a racist manner?

I wonder if that'll get you into the crew areas...

The point is that there isn't a culture of using agents in the Uk. I could use a TA half way round the world- although the time difference would be a pain.

For what it's worth, I booked using a fairly well-know internet-based TA and I've made all my calls to this TA during the middle of the night on the US east coast, as I work the overnight shift. I've never had a problem with getting a hold of somebody at "oh-dark-thirty", and the TA I usually end up with told me she's based in Arkansas.

Bathtub instead of the Star Trek transporter tube shower.

Yeah, but if you want a sonic shower you have to book a GS or higher!

(I'm on the app and can't see your signature), but when is your Liberty cruise? I'm on August 27 and I could not sign up for MTD.

His sig says he's going on the May 21 cruise.

We're booked for October 03 and we are able to make appointments for MTD, but we selected MTD when we booked.

So now we need rubbers for the "Royal Night"????

(biting tongue)

Are you trying to get me banned from the CC forums? :p