Bruin Steve

Our April Transatlantic Infinity cruise disembark in Lisbon...We've booked three nights post-cruise there at the Hotel da Baixa--(before flying out to Barcelona to pick up another cruise!)... Last time we visited Lisbon (on a one-day port stop), we took a tour to Sintra/Cascais. This time, we were thinking of using the disembarkation day and one of our full days to tour Lisbon on our own...and to take the "middle" of the three days to do a tour somewhere outside of town... Looking at available options, there seems to be a lot of tours to Fátima, Batalha, Nazaré, and Óbidos... Obidos looks very interesting to us (We tend to really love historical/Medeival sites)...I am guessing the others might be interesting as well...We are NOT Catholic, so Fatima doesn't quite have the significance for us that it might have for religious Catholics. For those who have visited, will it be of any interest to us "nonbelievers"? Is this a tour worth doing? I see very similar 8-9 hour small group (8 persons max) tours offered by different providers--Inside Lisbon, Go2Lisbon, Lisbon Riders, Around Lisbon, more...Anyone have any information/opinions on any of these? Or any other recommended tour companies? How about any alternative suggestions on sights/tours? Thanks...

I just canceled and rebooked a shore excursion for my April Symphony of the Seas cruise last Saturday and received the credit to my Visa card on Friday...about a six day turnaround. However, the much bigger problem is that Royal Caribbean overcharged me on the new booking! The price had dropped from the originally booked $193.99 per person to $159.99 per person on the website...but, when it showed up in the cart, it showed as $182.99 per person and charged me that. Several calls to Royal Caribbean...and all I got was a brick wall--no one able to correct it...with some agents telling me the correct price was $182.99. Of course others saw the $159.99 price...but everyone, including "supervisors" or "Resolutions" kept saying they were either "unable" or "not authorized" to do anything. Finally, yesterday, I called and had an agent cancel and re-book to get the correct price. Now, I have to wait for a SECOND credit on the $182.99x2 amount paid...

Yeah, you can walk it if you want...If you don't want to walk along the road with car traffic, there is a footpath along the waterfront behind the Maya Doubletree...and you can stick to the waterfront. The Carnival Terminal is a giant white Geodesic Dome (originally built to house Howard Hughes' Spruce Goose airplane)...and you will see it in front of you for a good portion of this route. google maps link to route Of course, the shuttle works as well...and saves you the walk...

We have never been to Rio before. We will be arriving on a Monday morning (April 10), staying three nights at the Hilton in Copacabana and departing via the Celebrity Infinity on Thursday, April 13. Figure we're a little tired on Monday...after a long couple of flights from Sunday afternoon, our time...and, by the time we get off the plane, collect luggage and get to the hotel, trhe rest of that day will mostly be relax and recoup time...that would leave us with two full days--Tuesday and Wednesday--to see Rio. Having never visited before, my thought is to use Tuesday for a comprehensive tour of the major tourist sights of the area and to leave Wednesday open to "play by ear"... I do not mind doing an organized group tour with a local tour company for this kind of day... So, the big question is if anyone could recommend such a tour company and/or tour? Also, anything to consider doing on our own on Wednesday? And, any recommendations on ground transportation Airport to Hilton and Hilton to Cruise Port? And, any recommendations on restaurants near the Hilton safe to walk in at dinner time? Thanks...

Maybe someone can help me sort this out... I am Diamond Plus C&A. I have three Royal Caribbean cruises coming up in the first 8 months of 2023...on three different ships: January on Navigator, April on Symphony and August on Quantum. The RCCL website says that, as D+, I have access to the "Concierge Lounge". I have never been on a ship with a Concierge Lounge yet. Not sure how it differs from the Diamond Club. Also, though we are D+, on that Quantum cruise, we are taking our daughters and son-in-law and other daughter's boyfriend (Yes, we know about getting them our daughters' matching status). But both daughters are only Diamond, not D+. And, yes, I am aware that, with the vouchers, I can drink anywhere...but I do like the "feel" of a selective lounge. So, I kept searching the deck plans...and, of course, as I know, there is a Diamond Club on Navigator (we were just onboard this past June)...but no "Concierge Lounge", correct? And...Symphony has a Diamond Club, but no Concierge Lounge, correct? And Quantum has a Concierge Lounge on Deck 12 but, according to deck plans, no Diamond Club--but, according to recent posts, it had one just outside the showroom on starboard--but they converted it to a high stakes gambling room called "Golden Club" for Asian cruises--but have sonce converted it back to a Diamond Club...Is this correct? And, since we'll have the kids with us, even if my wife and I could use the Concierge Lounge, they can't... Anything I'm missing??

My "A" List (Best hotels, best locations): Hyatt Regency, Hyatt Centric at the Pike, Renaissance, Westin "B" List (still pretty good, locations a little bit off the optimium): Maya Doubletree, Hilton, Residence Inn Downtown (the latter two being across the channel, near Carnival Terminal and Queen Mary but across a bridge from Aquarium, most restaurants and shopping). "C" List: Best Western Convention Center (on 1st)... Caveat: Long Beach is a BIG city with a population of around half a million. There are good areas and bad areas--often not far apart. The area near the hotels above is the best tourist area. The LGB Airport area is good, but not much there--and NOT close to the pier. The area near Naples--on the Eastern side of the city--is nice but nowhere near the pier. Other areas can be really undesirable. Don't go looking for bargains...they are likely cheap for good reason.

NOPE. When we were on Navigator having this problem every night, they NEVER even had anyone manning the "Diamond Concierge" desk. They had very limited hours. The ONLY place to go to address the issue was Guest Services. I really wish it were easier.

It has NOTHING to do with tips. RCCL is supposed to be a "cashless" onboard experience. They automatically attach a tip to all paid drinks. They attach a tip to all drink packages. If they expected a tip to be added to voucher drinks, they would merely automatically add a tip to all voucher drinks. EASY. But that is not it. Here is the thing: Their computers and/or their crew's tracking of the vouchers is often screwed up. And, often, passengers end up lining up at Guest Relations to complain...and it takes a lot of crew time to straighten it out...and it ends up costing them BOTH in terms of employee time AND that they end up, in their mind, handing out extra vouchers. They truly think it's the customers fault, not theirs. Of course they are wrong. We were on a recent cruise on Navigator where EVERY NIGHT, our voucher totals were mysteriously depleted...some nights even before we even ordered a single drink! Obviously a computer glitch. The other way people's vouchers disappear is that the servers only ask for a cabin number and some other passengers give them the wrong number...or they just put the wrong info in the system--so, someone else uses your voucher. In either event, the only way to fix it is to go wait in line and let them look at your entries on the computer and count. But, RCCL is convinced that it's not their fault but the fault of passengers losing track of what they've used or just hoping the system missed something to get more vouchers. So, the brains in Miami tried to figure out a way that THEY COULD PROVE TO PASSENGERS that RCCL's count was right...and the customer is wrong. For that, they would need real evidence that YOU used the voucher. Just having the computer say the voucher is gone doesn't prove that. So, they are looking for a system, that if operated properly, would result in them having a receipt for EACH VOUCHER used with a SIGNED signature line. That would prove that 1) the voucher WAS used and 2) that the person who used it WAS the customer charged...since the signature would match the one on file. So, it's NOT designed so that YOU could track your vouchers...It is designed so that RCCL could have VALID EVIDENCE that it was YOU who used it. It is a system designed to give THEM evidence against passenger error and/or fraud. It ignores that the error is likely ON THEIR END...So, if your vouchers are depleted by their computer--like it was for us--you still have to go wait in line and deal with the hassle...

Look at the Doubletree or Crowne Plaza in San Pedro...both have parking as well...If not one of those, you are looking at staying somewhere away from the port--Downtown Long Beach, perhaps--Torrance (the Del Amo Mall area), maybe Redondo Beach...If staying in other than San Pedro, consider just driving to the pier and parking there. Good luck. As to the prepaid charges, don't wait for them to do something. Contact your credit card company immediately and dispute the charges. They should remove them from your bill and they'll try to contact the vendor--and the vendor won't be able to justify them. One other thought...Best Western is not a great company to try to work with...hotels are not company owned, merely franchises, AFAIK...but, you might try contacting them and see if they'll work with you ...Here is what I'd ask for: That they give you rooms at another hotel--Long Beach "BW Plus" at the Convention Center on 1st St. or one of their hotels in Redondo or Manhattan Beach (and definitely NOT the BW in Wilmington)...and they should throw in free parking for the duration of the cruise and pay for your Uber/Lyft or limo from the hotel to the pier and return. And at the same price you paid...and up to them to recoup those funds from the folks who ran that San Pedro franchise. Worth a try.

Initially and typically, Aqua is priced higher than Concierge...but, over time, the computer that does the pricing makes changes by a "supply and demand" algorithm...So, often, there are quirks...We were once on an Alaka cruise where, for a time, Concierge was priced lower than Inside! We also have a current booking where we, initially, booked an OV....then some Balconies came up with prices at less than half our OV booking...We quickly switched. The balconies had been previously sold out (why we were in an OV) but, suddenly, one late night, three balconies appeared suddenly (likely cancelations) and the computer read it as a sudden glut of supply and set the price low...All three disappeared in very short time.

1. No Downtown Long Beach hotels have free shuttles to the pier in San Pedro...It's 6-8 miles away depending on the hotel...nor do they have shuttles from LGB. There are LGB Airport area hotels that may have shuttles from the airport...but thse are 16 miles from San Pedro. Getting in at 4:00 pm means you wouldn't have time to do much in Long Beach anyway. So, for you, the Crowne Plaza is a great choice. It IS walkable from the CP to the San Pedro cruise terminal...about 3-4 blocks depending on which berth you are at. I have walked it a few times...but I'm not sure I would do it with a 4 year old. It's such a short trip that an Uber or Lyft may cost less than the CP shuttle. It definitely will if the CP wants to charge $5.50 for the 4 year old. 2. I've cruised out of San Pedro often...but usually on Princess or Royal Caribbean. When we cruised on RCCL Navigator of the Seas this past June, embarkation was quick and easy...we arrived at 10:20 and were onboard at 10:30. I don't know if NCL makes things more difficult...but RCCL was easy...I always show up early if I can...I like to eat lunch onboard as well. You can check in with most airlines on the internet, so it's just the bag drop and "security"...We travel via LAX a lot and we never have had a difficult time getting quickly from curb to gate.

They don't necessarily bother swiping individual drinks at times because the imputed value is NOT based on an exact count of drinks, rather on the estimated number of drinks attributed to the vouchers...just as they used to estimate the number of free drinks served in the Diamond Club. An amount is added to the "pool" to account for those free drinks. OTOH, those bar servers have very good incentive to tell you they are not getting paid on your free drinks because you buy the story and give them that additional cash. I am NOT "assuagiung my conscience"...neither am I "stingy". I am guessing I have given out far more in extra gratuities to deserving crew members in my years of cruising than YOU have with all your dollar bills for your four free drink vouchers a night. You are NOT generous because you hand out dollar bills to bar waiters. For years, I've read on these boards where posters claim they hand out these individual tips because they think they'll get better service. But, it's just not how the cruise industry is designed. It is supposed to be "cashless". Traditionally, going back to earlier days in cruising, you brought out cash only on the last night of the cruise and handed out tips in envelopes to various service crew. There were "recommended tips" but many of us incresed these amounts to reward those crew who performed above and beyond. This covered wait staff, cabin stewards, et al. Bar crew were always automtically paid gratuities by an extra 15% added to each tab (increased only recently to 10%). There was always an option to add an additional tip on the tab when you signed. "Free drinks" became a thing with two developments--free drinks in the casino...and free drinks to Diamond members. The bar waiters in the casino and in the Diamond Club NEVER worked for free...and they weren't ever an exception--wirking for cash tips alone. They are and always have been compensated in the same manner as EVERY OTHER bar waiter on the ship. They don't individually keep track of every drink served by every bar server. Yes, they pool ALL of the tips (to which the cruise line adds an amount to account for those "free drinks"...and they divide that pool among ll of the bar servers. THEY DO NOT "STIFF" the servers who serve you free drinks. Thse servers are NOT working for your cash tips alone. But, yes, thiose servers have great incentive to make you think you must give them additional cash lest they be working for free--even though that is NOT true.

Lots of flights get canceled nowadays...and, even more so, lots of flights are DELAYED. Look at this another way: Let's say your cruise departs at 5:00 pm. They probably require you to be onboard by 3:00 or 3:30. Let's assume the absolute best case--Your plane touches down at 11:45 am. Guess what? You are NOT getting off the plane at 11:45. First, they'll take some time to taxi to where they unload. Then it takes time to "prepare" the plane--to bring the ramp or stairway to the plane's door and secure it before opening the doors...Figure a likely 15 minutes whie you sit there with the crew announcing "the pilot has not yet turned off the seat belt sign". Then, I'll assume you and your family are not up in first class. You are maybe back in row 20-something at best. Which means, once they open the door, you are going to wait for 100+ people ahead of you to each slowly get up and slowly take their crry-ons out of the overhead bin. Figure another 15 minutes. Then you will get off the plane and, even in the smallest airport, take some time to locate the baggage claim area and walk to it...while member of your family need to stop at the restrooms. Then, you may have to wait a little for your luggage. Okay, so, even with an "on time" 11:45 touchdown, you've finally retrieved your luggage and made it to the curbby 1:00-1:15. Now you summon an Uber. They'll be there in 15 minutes. You still have a drive on LA Freeways or maybe, LGB to Carnival, on surface streets. If it's not rush hour and there are no accidents or construction, it's still going to take a half an hour. So, you've made it to the Carnival Terminal by 2:00 pm...no problem, you have an hour to check in and get on the ship. Now, however, consider what happens if the plane is delayted one hour. Or, if the airlines temporarily misplaced your luggage. Or there's some inexplicable traffic on the freeway. An extra two hours would have been nice. OTOH, both of these options have some other issues. It doesn't natter much if you leave home at 3:00 am or 5:00 am...It means either you're not going to sleep or you're going to set that alarm for the middle of the night. Either way, everyone in your family is going to get to the cruise exhausted. Really hard to enjoy that first day when you are travel weary, jet lagged and overtired. Anyway you could find a flight for the evening before? Get in with enough time to check into a Long Beaach hotel, get a decent night's sleep and have a stress-free embarkation morning...and get to the ship ready to enjoy the cruise? Not recommending you get in way early if you just don't have the days...but this would be the difference between the night prior and the wee hours of embarkation morning...

I like both hotels...for different reasons. If I had to pick one, it would be the Crowne Plaza--for the convenient location. You just head down the elevator, out the front door and you are just steps from a lot of places to eat (Again, I like the Green Onion and the San Pedro Brewing Company and both are within a half a block of the Crowne Plaza). Both of these restaurants are very casual and reasonably priced--so perfect for a pre-cruise dinner with the family... http://www.greenonionmexicanrestaurant.com/menu.html https://sanpedrobrewing.com/menu The cruise terminal is about a 3-4 block wak from the hotel...I have walked it more than once. But the CP also has a shuttle for which they currenty charge $5.50 pp. You need to reserve a time when you check in...but, if there are four of you, you could get an Uber for less than that...or, of course, if you've packed light enough, with rolling luggage, and if you're in decent shape, you could just walk it.

I dont possess "proof" of it...just as no one else here can present "proof" of anything they post. But that doesn't mean I don't have extremely good sources. Unlike many who got their information from some random conversation they had on a cruise with their bar waiter, I've gone into detail with people who I would consider excellent sources. I live not far from the Princess Cruise Line corporate headquarters in Santa Clarita, Califiornia...and many of the executives live near me...A few execs and former execs at Princess are friends of mine...and a couple of these guys had previously worked for Royal Caribbean/Celebrity and others. I used to participate in a weekly breakfast with a small group of former corporate executives that included a couple of these guys...and you can imagine how many times we discussed cruise line operations. Do you really think that all of those years when the D/D+ and Celebrity Elite was giving out free drinks in the Diamond Club/Celebrity Elite Drinking Hours that those bar waiters dedicated to those lounges were doing all of that serving for FREE...just hoping people would tip them?...while, if they were in the ordinary bars, they would have pulled in 18% on evey drink? Gee, you couldn't have begged me to be a server in the Diamond Club were that the case. Yes, they were paid for it...and they are still paid to serve those voucher drinks.

Actually, you are WRONG. RCCL imputes a value and generates a payment to the waiter. They (and Celebrity) also did this back in the pre-voucher days when all the drinks in the Diamond Club were "free". You think they could have gotten ANY bar waiter to cheerfully serve people in the Diamond Club if they were getting NOTHING for it? There really is NO real reason to hand out extra tips on voucher drinks. Really, a cruise is supposed to be a "cashless" system. Part of the idea is that one doesn't have to carry their wallet around with them while onboard. You think the people not handing out ADDITIONAL tips are "shameful"? They likely think you are foolish. I wouldn't claim the bar waiters are "well" compensated, but they ARE compensated. And the payments are coming from two sources: 1) The 18% added to every paid drink and to each purchased drink package and 2) an imputed amount added to the pot by the cruise line, taken out of overall revenues. In fact, they are better compensated than the dining room waiters. Think about what they get as that approximately $15 per person per day is split up amongst your waiter, your assistant waiter, the Headwaiter and Maitre d' as well as the cabin steward. Compare it to what, say 15-20% of your dining room bill would have been worth if you compared what you ordered to what it would cost if you ordered it at an equivalent restraurant back home... I will NEVER walk around a cruise ship carrying my wallet and pulling out dollar bills to hand out as ADDITIONAL tips. As always, on the last night of a cruise, I will get envelopes from the Guest Reltions desk...and put in larger to additional tips to hand to those specific individual cew members--whether they be the Diamond Club waiters, the MDR waiter or assistant waiters...or others in service jobs...who I believe went above and beyond in providing extra or exceptional service. I do not "buy favors" by hitting people with a dollar at a time while I'm being served a drink. Tat is NOT how they are compensated and NT how the system is designed.

Yeah...I just recently made a Million Miles on American AAdvantage and was awarded lifetime Gold. I joined AAdvantage back in 1981 when they first started the program...and it only took me 41 years!

I had a MAJOR problem with the vouchers on a recent Navigator cruise...and THIS would NOT solve the problem. Here's what happened: We NEVER ordered ANY drinks on the vouchers until the evenings...and, then, ALWAYS wine or cocktails. EVERY time we ordered a drink, I would ask the bartender or waiter to check EXACTLY how many vouchers we had left. EVERY night, at some point, we were told we had ZERO vouchers left. One night, we were told that BEFORE even ordering our FIRST drinks of the day. Getting paper receipts would not solve a thing. It is a SYSTEM ERROR. Each night of the cruise, I would need to make a trek down to the Guest Relations desk--where, most often, they did NOT have any special D/D+ line. EVERY night, someone would look through the account online...and see, clearly, that vouchers were NOT used. But, somehow, the bartenders' computers were NOT showing this. EVERY night, someone at the front desk would have to CALL the particular bar we were trying to be served at and instruct them to serve us and not charge us. EXTREMELY FRUSTRATING...and time-consuming. Giving us "paper receipts" wouldn't do a thing when the SYSTEM was telling the bartenders to charge us as if we didn't have any remaining vouchers. All the paper receipts will do is to waste paper and to add another step to what should have been a simple process. And, when the system screws up, we'll still end up waiting in line at Guest Relations. Paper receipts would not be evidence of anything in our favor. FIX the system for OUR benefit...don't complicate the process for YOURS, Royal Caribbean.

Well...MY kids got to Diamond because they cruised with us...and we may have paid for their cruises...but the fact remains that they were on those cruises and that the cruises were paid for--and, therefore, that status was just as "earned" as any adult who qualifies as Diamond. In fact, because we always cruised during "high" season and on rather nice cruises...and we booked our daughters, at times, in categories as high as suites, I would say they are more deserving of that Diamond status as those adults who got there cruising on off-season three night cruises in cheap inside cabins. As adults, they shouldn't have to "revert" to anything. As they progress on the path of life, get married, have kids, etc., it would seem ridiculous to say "Well, you can drink in the Diamond Club but your husband has to wait outside". If you want to look at how the cruise lines have diluted the loyalty programs, how about looking at the "reciprocity" issue. We are independently Diamond Plus on Royal Caribbean and Elite Plus on Celebrity because we have cruised a lot on BOTH lines. But, the reciprocity thing pretty much instantly overcrowded the loyalty lounges on both lines... And, does the whole loyalty thing even mean that much anymore? Sure, on RCCL, the drink vouchers have a value...but, over on Celebrity, it's all fairly meaningless as they pretty much require everyone to purchase drink packages and WiFi as part of the deal. The Captains Club has pretty much been limited now to a free bag of laundry. It may not be much longer before neither of the loyalty clubs are worth more than a few token benefits.

Personally, I prefer SELF parking. I don't like the idea of someone else--even a hotel employee(s)--having access to my car or moving my car while I am on a cruise. We've had self-parking at both the Crowne Plaza and the Doubletree. As was mentioned, at the Doubletree, it's a large outside lot...at the Crowne Plaza, it's not only underground, it's directly beneath the hotel...and only a few feet from where we parked to the hotel elevators--so, with our luggage all on wheels, very easy for us to get it from our car to the hotel lobby and from the hotel lobby to our car. Plus, with self-parking, we were able to choose our parking space...and we parked our car in a space between a wall and a pillar--so we were comfortable all cruise long knowing no one could move our car and no one could park next to it and give it any door dings...

I'm going to have to deal with all of this soon. We're taking our daughter/son-in-law and other daughter/boyfriend on a cruise in August on Quantum. We are Diamond Plus. Both Daughters are Diamond (we took them on a lot of cruises as kids). We last took them on Royal Caribbean in 2012...Daughter #2 has been married for three years. Son-in-Law has never been on RCCL. Daughter #2, for business reasons, retained her maiden name--so, her and her husband's last names don't match. Daughter #1 has been with the current boyfriend about 6 months. He's never been on a cruise. It looks somewhat serious...but we've thought that before...So, to be realistic, we don't even know if he'll still be in the picture in August--in which case, she would likely end up replacing him on the booking with her still single old college roommate. So, I'm not sure of the best timing for this...but, sometime between now and August, I need to call Royal Caribbean and get Daughter #2's Diamond status applied to the son-in-law...and, perhaps, get Daughter #1's Diamond Status applied to the boyfriend...

Trust me, you won't...I've cruised on seven cruises on three different lines since the pandemic hiatus and they put in all those new boarding rules. I try to check in online early as possible to get an early time...but, even when I haven't, I show up early anyway...and have yet to have anyone check my boarding appointment time. I don't think they want to be holding a lot of people at the terminal. When I talk about the holding area, it's only really when you get there before they are ready to start bringing anyone onboard. As soon as it's cleared, they start movbing everyone on pretty efficiently.

First, I'm not really sure how much they enforce boarding appointment times at most ports. I take everything with me at once no matter what time I'm arriving at the terminal. When you get there, you will find a lot of porters milling around outside. I'll hand my bags over to one and give him a couple of bucks as a tip...If. in the odd chance you don't get a porter, there's a door where they bring in the checked luggage and you can just bring your bags there. They start taking in luggage well before anyone's check-in time. Keep any carry-ons that you don't want to check for soe reason with you. BTW, you can print luggage tags on the cruise line website as you get close to the sail date. There are complicated fold and staple directions--but better to go to amazon.com and buy plastic cruise luggage tag holders...easier--just cut to size, fold and insert...and they won't get ripped off easy. The tags let the crew match your bags to your cabin and deliver your luggage to the room. After dropping the luggage, there's a second door where you enter to check in and board. Have your cruise documents (boarding pass) and passport ready and in hand when you enter. If it's early, they'll direct you to a waiting area with chairs and give you a card with your boarding group.

I'd just use Uber or Lyft. The one complication now at LAX is that, for all "rideshare" apps and for taxis, one must head to the LAX-it lot...Which is actually right among the terminals--just across a side road from Terminal 1 (You can easily walk from T1...or even T2 or T7/T8...Otherwise, there is a shuttle bus that comes around and picks up in front of all the baggage claim exits virtually continuously and is a fairly short ride. Once at the LAX-it lot, go online and summon your Uber/Lyft. Signs clearly indicate where to pick up your ride. We just flew in a few nights ago...used Uber...and were picked up in five minutes. If you must avoid shuttles or walk and want to be picked up at the curb (and pay a lot more), Uber Black, as well as limo companies, can still pick up at the curb...

BOTH Royal Caribbean AND Celebrity...same story... I have three booked on Celebrity, three on Royal....Both websites show ZERO upcoming cruises. Earlier today, Royal Caribbean finally posted Shorexes in three of the ports on my upcoming April Symphony of the Seas Med cruise...and I was able to purchase three shorexes...just hours later, nothing shows... I am certain it's just a glitch in the system and will be fixed soon.