smillerholmes

I am about to test this - I cancelled a cruise with a 60K point upgrade. Pre-cancellation I called and was told the same info. It's been two days - my Cruise First has been redeposited to my account, but not my WP points. Starting to get nervous....

Who says FB is the devil?!? - Good job!

Thank you so much! I must have been checking my eyelids for cracks because I guess I missed this little tradition.

Wait! Whuuuut?!? Who is this King Neptune you speak of...?

That's a great idea. American Airlines has a menu of "options" you can choose from once you hit certain mile markers. The 15% discount when booking with Skymiles is a pretty good option, but I think Delta can do better.

I wish Delta would let me pay 1/2 price as an option to the companion. I rarely get to use my companion tickets. I only keep their card for lounge access, but I am seriously rethinking it.

Ha! I will see what I can do. Twenty days on the Sun was a wee bit ambitious for my first semi-live. I am doing a B2B the first 10 days is the Med and the last 16 days is Rome to NY. That's a looong time so I'll probably just report major stuff like power outages and medical airlifts 😆

Hey @cruiseny4life! I am cruising during Thanksgiving this year too. I'll be on the Breakaway - want to compare notes? Pr1ma is on my list for 2025 so looking forward to your very insightful observations.

You are cracking me up with the countdown! - I have multiple countdown timers going on my desktop. -Next Cruise -Football Season -Retirement

December 2022 - it was about 36ish hours. My steward collected it during cabin cleaning and it was returned the next evening before dinner.

Absolutely love the way you give back to the community. I also fear watching will cause budget busting. Not that there's anything wrong with that...

🤯 Mind blown! I had no idea how much of a heathen I was/am? OMG - thank you for sharing!

To my knowledge there is no advantage to waiting until you are onboard. If you can snag the 25K points instead of 20K I would suggest you go for it.

This is #2 for me. That "unpleasantness" needs to cease and desist because I am with you...some day some day St. Petersburg. Also, while an aft balcony is my favorite accommodation I suspect it is only because I have yet to experience the Haven. 🤔

A little over $22/share...but don't you worry about that. Continue on with your planning. Us Midwesterners gotta have a role model. 😁 My Med cruise is the first week of November so looking forward to your review.

What an awesome thread idea! Port: Sitka - just love that little Alaskan town with it's Russian influenced architecture Ship: Pearl (so far) the Jewel class ships are just the perfect size for me Room: Aft Balcony - preferably decks 9 or 10

This has been my solo experience as well.

Taking a stab at world peace is just awesome! Bravo!

I am so glad this thread was not locked! While the "conversation" did get heated at some points, this is totally in line with why most people come to CC. EXPECTATIONS. From newbies to veterans we could all look at the brochures and read the websites, but any adult that has lived in the real world knows what's written/portrayed can vary by ALOT. The number of posts on CC that end with YMMV is a testament to that. For all those that posted your experiences good or bad - I thank you. Information is power. Tainted with personal feelings or not. It's another data point that can be drawn upon to allow you to make decisions that will enhance YOUR individual experience.

Same. I am booked through CAS for the first half of my back to back in November and I just made final payment. I still can't book shore excursions. Annoying for sure.

Thanks this is helpful. I am currently Sapphire and hoping to hit Ruby on my next/only cruise before 03/31/2024 so any nuggets like this are pure gold. Thank you!

I was on track preCovid to do just that. I had no intention of actually using the points that way, but I had accumulated quite a few. My intention was to use them for upgrades when I thought pricing for balcony cabins was too high. I had been fortunate to keep finding deals and price drops so never had to use them. Fast forward to a post Covid world with an introduction to CAS and they have come in handy. I have upgraded several times. I certainly wouldn't waste points on a 7 day cruise I don't care where it is going.

THIS ^^^^^^^^ was the missing piece of info. That discretionary part. I am still learning. Thanks so much for the detailed explanation(s). On my last cruise CAS Next was explained to me but I declined because of the "use within 1 year" stipulation. I want to like CAS Next better, but as a solo cruiser still grinding it out in the corporate world Cruise First/Cruise Next is the safer/better bet for me. But retirement is less than 36 months away and counting so...

Thanks for the breakdown. I am relatively new to CAS and wasn't really sure what to expect from the Host. I am struggling to understand the point value/conversion rate for this line: Used 5k ($50) for a $250 CasNext cert VS From past experiences: 4k points is +$25, 5k is +100, 10k is +300. HELP!

Not to throw a monkey in the wrench, but I have done this. I had a cruise booked on the GA 09/03-09/12. I called in on 07/19 to point out that there had been a price drop and I would like FCC. My PCC noted there was a coupon on my account for a free cruise. That was the beginning of my CAS relationship. The coupon in question had to be used by 12/31/2022 so with limited options I went with adding on to my current cruise and booked the Getaway from 09/12-09/22. I had no Cruise Next certs since I had planned to restock once onboard the Getaway and I ended up buying a Cruise First $150/$300 (I wasn't lucky enough to get the $250/$500 deal) and it was applied that same day.