Tin can

Yes the same reason we are looking into Spectrum from Shanghai, the prices are very reasonable.

You won't know this until onboard, the price will be dynamic based on online sales already made. Your son may get lucky buying on day 3 and save some money but I have never seen on board package prices anywhere near some of the online sale prices.

There are a few 8 nights dotted around the schedule and a good looking 7 night which goes to Yokohama (Tokyo), Kyoto and Osaka which we are looking at.

I wasn’t keen on the manufactured port area. After a lot of persuading of the security guards I took a walk into Falmouth. Right outside the gate was chaos and whilst there isn’t much in Falmouth itself, it was interesting enough for an hour. I got the impression that unless on a tour not many people go for a wander in Falmouth.

We have always had priority boarding with a JS. We are though looking at a cruise out of Vancouver as you are taking and my general impression is that boarding is very chaotic and no one seems to get priority…. only 2-3 hour waits in various queues.

Yes I agree, I can see big changes coming along those lines and a revenue based system. I may be way off the mark with this but I can also foresee a combined single RCI Group loyalty scheme with the ability to earn points across RCI, Celebrity, Silversea and whatever that Tui/Hapag German line is.

I'd be amazed if this doesn't happen at some point in the near future.

Our only experience when we didn't make final payment and let a booking expire (UK cruisers so you can't transfer) resulted in a call from Miami HQ. We are just D+ so nothing special and he couldn't have been more helpful asking if we had forgotten to pay and was there anything he could do to assist. This was over two weeks past payment date All very strange, perhaps they got us mixed up with a high rolling Pinnacle 😀

Yes we were in 6664, the room was great. The best part about deck 6 is that it is so convenient to get to the room from the Esplenade and it was a short walk down the corridor to a door that go you into the upstairs of 270. We had no issue with the obstructed view, stood up you could see the sea below, sat down you could look out at a distance. We heard no noise from the promenade deck below. We have stayed again on deck 6 (can’t recall the number for that one) as the saving in cost and convenience for deck 5 is a winner for us.

We are cruising from Vancouver in 2025 and I'm just starting to look into things. From what I have read there are two sets of customs to clear and it can be extremely busy so if you have got 10am, which I would imagine is the first time slot, you have done well. The Pan Pacific hotel you mention looks great, that's the hotel we are planning on staying at.

I don't know how good or bad Blacklane are but they are just a booking website connecting customers with independent drivers. Personally I would be looking into booking with a company directly.

I thought the cruise lines waited if they could for their own excursions and took responsibility to get you to the next port if they couldn't. I'm sure their is no absolute guarantee they will wait, I recall a Royal sailing in the Meditteranean that had to leave late passengers on one of their tours due to rising tides at the next port or something like that and the late passengers were transferred to meet them.

We are UK based but cruise all over the world with Royal. It’s our differences that make travel interesting. Florida departures seem very relaxed and we have sat in the MDR with people in pyjamas and swim wear. The North East of the US to us appears quite formal like Europe and my native UK very formal. When Royal cruised from Dubai every night was very formal a bit like our Singapore cruise. Personally I wouldn’t go to a restaurant in shorts, it’s a cultural thing, but I have no issue with people who do.

Wow…. never seen an MDR line so quiet let alone on formal night. It’s very different on the European sailings we take.

Absolutely agree, the Royal comparison was just to indicate they were similar sized companies when Thomas Cook filed bankruptcy. If Royal does keep US deposits in escrow then great as there is no federal US law requiring them to do so and I'm fairly sure deposits were used as working capital during Covid with the 125% FCC incentive. This wouldn't have been the case with UK funds even though we got the FCC promotion as there is law in place here that funds are held securely. With all that being said I would still prefer your US price adjustments 😐