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ARandomTraveler

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Everything posted by ARandomTraveler

  1. Asia cruises also provide kettles in regular, non-suite rooms.
  2. I know that you get double points when you book as a solo, but sometimes when you book as a solo they charge more than double the price. For example, I was looking at a cruise for this July and if I book it for 2 people it's $4400, but if I book it for 1 person it's $5900. So it would be better for me to book it for 2 people and have 1 person be a no-show, but if I do that, I don't get double points, and it seems like a waste of money to pay for 2 people and not at least get double points if someone else isn't gonna get to enjoy the cruise. That's what I meant by that.
  3. I think going solo could work in your favor on this ship! You'll have a very easy time finding a good seat in theaters, even without a reservation. Often when I'm traveling with other people, I end up wanting to wander around or grab a bite to eat while they're napping or showering or doing something else, so even though I'm not technically traveling solo, I'm doing things on the ship by myself. Nobody can tell whose solo vs who's just doing something on their own for a bit, so don't worry about standing out or not being able to find things to do that are enjoyable on your own. I often find doing things on my own is easier because I don't have to check in with anyone else. I can come and go as I please, eat when I want, sleep when I want. I would like to try a cruise by myself but most of the time when I price out a solo cruise it costs more than paying for 2 people, and it seems like a waste to pay double the price without getting double the points, so I haven't done it yet.
  4. Not true for Asian countries. Sat in hours long lines and had to go through immigration in Vietnam and Japan. But this person is most likely not going to either of those places. We couldn't take food off the ship on Vietnam, Hong Kong or Taiwan, and they were very serious about it. Had government officials and dogs along with multiple warning signs and plastic food examples of all the things you couldn't bring off the ship. I know some Caribbean ports also say that you can't bring things like fruit or meat off the ship, but it's not as closely monitored as it is in Asia.
  5. Keep in mind that if you booked the restaurant when it was on sale, and the price has now changed, they won't honor the sale price when you rebook. If that's the case, you're better off waiting until you board the ship and asking them to change the reservation for you.
  6. I think all of the ships have Starlink internet now, if that's true, you should be fine steaming it on your phone. High likelihood that game could reach game 7. My daughter and I both watched sporting events on our phones on the Symphony (regular Caribbean route, we were somewhere between Mexico and Honduras) and also on the Spectrum, while in the middle of the South China Sea. I even made a phone call on that one (there was a bit of a delay/dead spots on the call though.
  7. Except Spectrum doesn't have playmakers so I'm not sure what makes it ultra-class. Spectrum is the only Quantum class ship I've sailed though so I have nothing to compare it to.
  8. I had to read that sentence twice too, and then realized they probably just have a very low limit credit card. If their mortgage is $2,600, and they drained their bank account PLUS had to use a credit card and still only came up with $1,500, then it doesn't sound like they were gonna make that mortgage payment anyway. Even funnier is that they think they'll be able to afford another cruise.
  9. Agreed. To be fair though, the article did say the cruise was gifted to them. Another funny thing at the end of the article was the couple saying they'll be sure to get travel insurance before their next cruise 😂 Good luck booking a cruise when you don't even have $2,600, nor a credit card with that low of a limit. I guess they probably don't know how much cruises cost these days.
  10. I was on Symphony for Thanksgiving week 2023 and they didn't put up any decorations.
  11. I saw several listings today for cruises at insanely low prices ($300 for a 7-day cruise on brilliance in an ocean view balcony for example), but as soon as you click on it, it showed a price of $1500/per person or something like that. This was the case on several cruises. I figured it was a glitch that happened after they did their website update last night and was definitely probably a pricing mistake on the listing. Maybe you were seeing something like that.
  12. I did a cruise on Spectrum in August that left from Singapore and ended in Japan. It was 12 days. I think they only did that longer route a handful of times before moving back to China for the shorter cruises. It seems like there's a big draw for gambling on the Asian cruises, so maybe those 5 day routes are conducive to the Asian gambling market moreso than the US/Europe/Canadian market for longer tourism routes. Not sure, but I really enjoyed the 12 day.
  13. I book independent excursions 100% of the time on Caribbean cruises. But on my 12 day cruise in Asia last summer (Singapore, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan), I didn't even consider an independent tour, I booked ship tours for the whole thing. I wasn't willing to risk it in countries where there are very few reviews for independent tours, the language barrier is pretty extreme, and where there was a level orange travel advisory from the United States in some of the ports. I wasn't willing to get left behind.
  14. Get on the waitlist as soon as you board.
  15. The only port that checked my temperature was Hong Kong back in august (2023).
  16. I doubt you'll have any issue. I brought honey back from Japan a few months ago with no issue. I brought it back on a plane.
  17. There is actually another one by the bed that you might not notice if you aren't looking for it, there's a USB outlet in the phone that's on the nightstand.
  18. I was told the same thing on Spectrum. All 3 of the different service providers I had let me know they work for a 3rd party company who is not Royal Caribbean, and they don't receive anything from the service charge, and that if I'd like to add a tip that goes directly to them I can do so (or some version of that - one of them said "this is the service charge that goes to royal Caribbean, and if you'd like to add a tip for my service specifically you can add it here"). I don't know if that was true or not, but I tip anyway so I just gave them another $20 per service. It's already so expensive, what's another $20? It's not worth making a fuss about and if you're unsure and would rather err on the side of making sure the service provider gets something, don't stress about the fact that you added extra.
  19. Good point, I'm pretty sure every ship I've sailed had bad reviews, including Symphony and Spectrum which had both sailed for less than 2 years by the time I got on them. Loved them both, including all the other ships I've sailed (though I haven't done anything smaller than the Voyager Class ships).
  20. I wonder if the travel agent made a mistake in the pricing they quoted you during Black Friday. I have the same cruise booked, but for July, and I booked it more than a year in andvance, and my price was $4600 for a balcony, no drinks or wifi included. I checked the price during Black Friday to see if it went down but it hadn't, it was around $5900. I know travel agents get good deals but $4010 for concierge class with drinks and wifi sounds too good to be true. Maybe it was a real price, but I wouldn't be surprised if the travel agent made a mistake when they gave you the original invoice, and that might be why they aren't able to go to celebrity and argue their case now. If they had the paperwork, seems like it would have been an easy fix. edited to add that I forgot I forgot my price included $800 to make my reservation refundable, so my price would have been $3800 without that. I still think the price you were quoted was really low, but if you have the invoice from the travel agent, they should honor that price for you, regardless of what celebrity is charging them.
  21. I would keep fighting for the refund, but in the meantime, maybe the friends should agree to take the total refund and distribute it equally amongst you.
  22. That stressed me out! So glad that worked out for you.
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