Rick&Jeannie

Heh Heh...you're not the first to mention the "civility" (or lack thereof) on FB! Don't hesitate to come back and post any questions you may have. There are a LOT of regulars here who will gladly try to help. Welcome aboard!

I cannot swear to this, but I'm pretty sure the US west coast is the entry point even if it's going to Canada.

Welcome to Cruise Critic! I just noticed that this was your first post!

And to answer your specific question about the OBC...any charges that you make will come out of OBC first before anything hits your CC.

That is *generally* only the case if you are using a debit card. I have occasionally seen a charge for $1 which is very typical of testing just to make sure that charges can go through...but it's always a "pending" charge and drops off after a couple of days. If you're using a standard CC then you should not be concerned about holds.

Absolutely...in the casino. You'll be amazed t how quickly your "problem" of excess OBC will be taken care of! 😄 Seriously though, you do not need to "put it on your account". It is *already* on your account. Any charges on board that you make (for ANYTHING) will use that OBC first and then start to accrue charges to be applied to your credit card.

Health questionnaires (at least for US sailings) have been discontinued. They were in place for Covid.

I agree. But you're not going to get a USPS tracking number until it hits the west coast and "accepted" by the post office. At that point (in my opinion) tracking (for whatever reason) just seems to fall off a cliff.

That doesn't seem right. For me, the only time that it wants a credit card is when I have used all of my OBC and there is a "payment" shortage.

The tracking on medallions really seems to have a life of its own! They seem to move all around the country. I personally don't think it's worth even *looking* at tracking for them...I don't think it is accurate at all!

To date...the only cruise that I have cancelled myself was on Celebrity, where I was not using any GCs. That cruise (for Feb 2024) was to Israel & Egypt. Shortly after I cancelled (with no penalty...it was before final payment) Celebrity changed those ports to ports we had already done before, so I'm glad I was able to get it cancelled in time. That's still a bucket-list cruise for us...I just don't think that right now is the right time.

I *strongly* suggest that you continue to "keep track" of those numbers and PINs! If anything happens and you must cancel (for whatever reason) you're going to need that original documentation! I print out *all* GCs and just keep them in my cruise folder for that particular cruise. When I get home...then I shred them.

Sounds like the dry dock took care of any issues that may have existed beforehand.

Does anybody remember the name of the comedic/acrobatic act on board? The "something" Twins...

Just recently on the Sky transatlantic there was a pair of brothers that did acrobatics. Can't recall the name... the "something" Twins. They were pretty funny.

I do this all the time. Especially if I'm using gift cards.

I have as well...policies may not be the same everywhere, or at least not enforced uniformly.

There have been multiple instances of members posting where they only found out about an "upgrade" was when they checked their online summary and saw the cabin had changed.

Yes...but there are WAY too many people here on CC that have shared that they had an upgrade forced upon them even though their booking was marked NO UPGRADE.

*You* cannot do this...you will have to call/chat directly to get this accomplished.

You just REALLY cannot depend on any of those cats that put themself out for hire... 😄

As best I know, AARP is the *only* place to get GCs at a discount. They used to be 10%...now only 8% but that's better than 0%! You do NOT have to be an AARP member...just join their free Rewards Program.

I guess they finally came to the realization that charging extra for Plus on a WC is just plain price gouging...

Chocolates...Wow! It's been so long since I've seen a pillow chocolate that I had forgotten what they look like! 😄

*IF* you have somewhat of a sailing history...they will "roll over" your previous security phots. We have never uploaded any ourselves. They took new pics probably 5 or 6 cruises back (~3 years) and we've never had to have any new ones taken. YMMV