smillerholmes

I believe the port is the primary driving force for how things typically go, but there's definitely variations. On my recent B2B out of CIVITAVECCHIA there may as well have been a visio document. We had a meeting with over 100 people easy - maybe closer to 150. Everything was "if this" "then this". If your stateroom is changing, then "fill in the blank". Nobody had to get off the ship, but many people were very confused depending upon their situation.

I've done a B2B out of NY/MCT. We received a notice in our staterooms a couple of days before and we were instructed to meet in Cagneys (I think it was 08:30ish) There were about 30 of us and CBP came onboard and checked our documents. It took about 15 minutes tops and we were allowed to enjoy the ship until the new passengers came on.

OMG - I was sooo confused.

Has anybody figured out how to double dip a CAS offer with CPP/AMEX?

I was looking to do something similar for my sister who I am taking on her first cruise in September. She was watching me pack before I left for Rome last month and if I had a nickle for every time she said "what is that?", "what do you need that for?", "you pack all of that?" etc., I'd be a wealthy woman. In the end I decided I would buy her some OBC and every time she uses/borrows something I pack it's going to be her Christmas gift NEXT year. Out of the goodness of my heart I will just give her a lanyard and save us all alot of stress because she is the most "key" losing type person I have ever seen. Drives me insane! It's a very nice gesture and I hope you come up with something useful.

So hilarious - I cannot lie, I got a good chuckle out of the title of this thread.

@7Contraveler CAS is not excluded. If you book through CAS you are still eligible for your Shareholder benefit. I just submitted all my requests for 2024 and they were applied within 72 hours.

if I am not mistaken @cruiseny4life bought one of these - he may be able to chime in here

Yep - NE/Canada. I've been wanting to do that cruise for a while.

I had just been waiting to hear back from my guy. He said it was supposed to be for 4-12 days, but he ended up giving me a B2B on the Joy. 9/2 - 9/10 | 9/10 - 9/17. I got a Balcony my sister got an Inside. Thanks for the info!

Same. Once in a while I will add the shrimp fried rice, but the dim sum is excellent.

I was on the Getaway 09/2022, the Casino had put me in a forward facing OV. I think I was on deck 10? I was in it for most of a day because there was a kerfluffle with my balcony upgrade. I didn't measure, but it seemed comparable in size to a balcony. Nice sized bathroom and nothing that immediately raised my hackles except I don't like forward cabins OV or otherwise.

I am on this cruise too - can't wait. Hawaii had never been high on my list, but Alaska is always there, so the opportunity to combine both was too good to pass up.

I was curious about this as well. I've always gone September/October and now I'll be going in May 2024. I will be interested to see if the differences are important to me. Let us know what YOU decide.

I definitely agree. As a landlocked cruiser - flights are the most expensive part of cruising for me, so I suck it up, but if I can do pre and post cruise days in two different port cities that is more valuable to me. I envy those that live near ports, but I am pretty sure that will never be me so I suck it up buttercup and use my airline miles to defray some of the costs.

Did you ask for "gift of giving" by name?

This type of info is why I love, love, love CC. Gift of giving you say...? Will have to check it out and report back. Thanks for the info

Just made Ruby for April 2024 - March 2025. When I booked those cruises I was at Pearl/Sapphire and I was only offered "inside" cabins. I had to use my BofA WP points to upgrade. I felt like it was still a good deal for me especially since I tend to take longer cruises. I just booked another back to back set of cruises and for the first time I have been offered balcony's. 😁

My 20-day Sun/Panama Canal was comped and my upcoming 15-day Spirit/Hawaii-Alaska followed two days later by Sun/Alaska all comped. I travel solo so I'm sure that's in the calculation for how many nights.

All of those things "should" be available in the Casino Bar and you are entitled to them, but I am guessing it varies by ship whether they are readily available in the Casino Bar. They will source them for you if it's not at the Casino Bar. On the Sun, they didn't have a fancy coffee/espresso machine in the bar area, but whenever I asked my drink appeared within minutes.

Ha! I've been saying that one a while since my early years in my true home state - Michigan. It's my 2nd grade teacher's fault - none of us could say coincidence - not sure where she got the "easier version", but it stuck and there you have it.

Yeah, that happened. The host took care of it for me, but you are right there were a few charges in there. They blamed it on "newer" bar staff.

Maybe just Pr1ma because I went from Sapphire to Ruby and they made a big deal out of giving me both the new players card and new drink card even though I used by room key card for everything. The new cards aren't as pretty. They aren't a solid color anymore they are white with green/blue/red etc. markings based on your level. Those points are good to "utilize" until March 31, 2024 - you can just "spend" them on a machine. Should get you a few pulls/button pushes. You never know.

They are still providing the player's card. Both the player's card and your room key work for "tap to play". There were a few machines that still required the insert so I carried all 3 cards around for the first few days. Once I found my favorite machines no need for that. A curious thing about the drink card...I showed it to the bar waiters, but they always wanted my room key card.

Ah, but they did process free casino drinks. It may have just been a weird one off, but I had no problem getting free drinks any time they were open. I didn't realize I could get espresso as part of my casino drinks package until several days in, but after that I stopped in nearly every morning.