twangster

Freedom day 3 of 4.

For sure. Some have visuals or sounds that are, by design, enticing. Frankenstein “It’s Alive, It’s Alive” still rings in my ears. Generally speaking a lot of human engineering has been put into slots to make them engaging. Subwoofers, vibration, visuals are all meant to keep you in your seat as long as possible. Yet they still often replicate traditional sounds from slots of old.

Those are fire doors.

That's interesting. It's unusual for fire doors to be locked.

Are these what you are seeking?

From June 29, 2024 9:58am and the queues outside were well populated and building. By 10:05am I was through security, checked in and waiting. Being Pinnacle with access to the suite line at Miami helps a lot. Vehicle traffic flow remains to be an issue at terminal A. You can easily spend 20 minutes inching towards the terminal regardless if you are in a personal car, taxi, ride share or bus.

Boarding tomorrow. I'll see what I can see and hopefully remember to respond to this thread

I've sailed them four times all in America. I haven't sailed Yacht Club but I like their private island so for short FL cruises I sucked in my cruise expectations and survived non-Yacht Club, but barely. For two of my cruises MSC refuses to give me points despite showing my card and onboard invoice. I even live blogged one of them here on CC but yanked my photos since they claim I wasn't onboard and won't budge on that. For my fifth MSC cruise they raised the price well after making my deposit and they refused to honor the contracted rate. I had a lot of back and forth on that and learned they really hate cruisers. Their customer service folks actually despise us. Fortunately the deposit was refundable so I cancelled and haven't given them another look. I also cancelled a longer cruise in YC based on their terrible customer service. Fool my once shame on you, fool me twice, ... "Yacht Club or don't go" should be the MSC motto. Pray you have no hiccups and you'll have a cruise to experience MSC for yourself.

Rumors abound they are considering it but not for a few years.

Enjoy your cruise! I’m jealous!

I like the color blocks. Whole new set to collect.

On Icon. We were Eastern, now Wedtern Caribbean. Heading towards Costa Maya after leaving Cozumel yesterday. By Thursday we will be well away from the area. Should be near Florida by that point on the way to Cococay.

I've liked Quantum class since my first Anthem cruise. I have now sailed most of them multiple times, just missing Spectrum. I also respect other cruisers are not me and have their own preferences, likes and dislikes.

If you have WiFi calling set up you can see how it will work with Voom at home right now. Go into airplane mode, turn on WiFi, connect to your home WiFi. Can you make WiFi calls? Does texting work? If you have Apple devices iMessage will work on Voom just like it does at home. If you don't have Apple phones (kids and you) then it will be reliant on WiFi calling working with your cell provider or using an app like Whatsapp or F B messenger.

Liberty received updates before the amplification program existed. Things like a proper Suite Lounge, water slides, more cabins and a few other things. They didn't call it amplification back then. Her slides are unique in the fleet. Not all applications are equal. Just look at sister ships Indy and Freedom. That was before the pandemic. Voyager versus Navigator is another example of ships in class getting very different amplifications. Royal has not said exactly what Liberty will get to complete her amplification. We can hope for a Playmakers but Voyager didn't get one in her amp. We can hope for ELF but that isn't a given either. Liberty doesn't need extensive work to call her amped. Maybe they'll do the resort style pool deck. Maybe they won't. Indy didn't get it like Freedom's at least. To date Freedom got the best amp in the class. Where will Liberty land? No one knows. Certainly not any TAs. Royal may still be figuring it out depending on cash flow and trying to pay debt down.

You are always wise to ask but CAS discounts are not a fixed amount from the lowest price you see online.

Many times over the years the CAS discounts are not the lowest fares. This was especially true when I was lower in the CAS program. As I climbed higher CAS rates more frequently became the best rate. Even now as Pinnacle they are not always the best rate. I have a Utopia booking in a suite where the CAS rate wasn't the best rate. It happens. Some sales and promotion are combinable with CAS discounts and some are not.

I suspect the notion and research of a smaller ship (smaller than Q class) probably started under the previous CEO (Fain). Bayley continued exploring it as possibility as Fain transitioned to Liberty. As we see Liberty settling into his new role we also see some pretty significant changes with things like senior leadership roles turning over. This is normal with the arrival of a new CEO. I also suspect Liberty has established his position on the small ship concept and we won't see any additional investment or exploration for the concept going forward. Just a hunch on my part, nothing to back it up.

Access points still in the hallways. I changed cabins for my B2B. Ironically I had a better experience on cruise #1 with the AP down the hall 10 feet compared to cabion #2 with an AP right outside my cabin door.

As a solo cruiser my OVB has gone up $210 since booking. When I first looked that was around the delta to book it refundable. I put the $100 down for NRD.

A bigger concern might be what if you enjoy solo cruising and want to book more solo? 😇 Seriously as a frequent solo cruiser who sometimes cruises with family or friends I've come to enjoy the solo approach of doing what I want, when I want, where I want and only paying for one on shore excursions. Then I cruise with someone and it cramps my solo freedom.

Guess who is having a USCG inspection in Miami this weekend? Dear Guest, We're looking forward to welcoming you onboard! Before you make your way to Terminal A, we have information to share. As a standard procedure, prior to boarding, Icon of the Seas will conduct its annual United States Coast Guard inspection. Please note, the terminal will not be open for embarking guests during this time. As a result, we will experience some boarding delays. We kindly ask that you please stick to your selected arrival window. Arriving earlier than your original time will result in us having to turn you away until we complete this process. All guests should be checked in and onboard by 4:30 PM. Please arrive no later than 4:00 PM.

While I typically look at a PC as a cruise to avoid I may jump on UT next year. It's in my backyard and it's short. Might be easier to get through 4 days of madness versus 7 of a typical PC. Gotta try it once right?

Perhaps a faulty sensor that was appropriately assumed to be the real thing? If it was a significant event there would be more participation from authorities and classification society that might have delayed her. Seeing Icon underway on time hopefully indicates a minor event with no impact to life.

In reference to the first cruise to Iceland I just came across this Youtuber who visited Akureyri early in June several weeks after my visit. That thumbnail for her video is the mountain pass road we used. It was closed in her video. It's just amazing to me how the weather can vary in Iceland. One might assume a later summer visit might be better yet in this case I'm am feeling very fortunate for the great weather we experienced. If you have an early summer visit to Iceland maybe consider still bringing all the cold weather gear. You never know.