Tagsalong

Currently on MSC Seashore for 21 days.  Paid $49 pppn for inside HC.  Meals (breakfast & dinners) far better than recent experiences on Celebrity and Royal.  We have always done a mix of cruise lines even on our trek to Pinnacle.  Will continue doing Royal ships but think MSC offers a better experience regardless price - and most times price is significantly better.

13 hours ago, MPH711 said:

Congrats! I also bid on an Inside Yacht Club for October 29…still waiting. When did they notify you that you won your bid?

For the Oct 29, they did a counter offer that we accepted.  The counter was for a YC balcony came two days after our bid (minimum)  for the YC Inside, which we immediately accepted and it was confirmed within 24 hours.  YC Balconies 18015 & 18025 are still available, so you may get one.

We also put a bid in for a YC inside on the Oct 26 cruise one week ago but have not received a counter offer as of today.  Still hopeful since there are 11 YC Balconies available and all insides are booked,

why ask why???  We booked inside guarantees for Seaside Oct 26 and Oct 29.  They assigned us a Bella experience balcony for each cruise.  We are at Diamond level with over 20 cruises on MSC so it's not just 1st time cruisers.  We then bid for the Inside Yacht Club and got a Yacht Club balcony for the 7 night Oct 29 cruise, 

There are certain web sites which show all available cabins which cannot be mentioned on Cruise Critic.  These two dates still have many unsold cabins in all categories.

4 hours ago, Wineaux007 said:

True.  We cultivate a relationship with the Viking Crown evening bartender.  It's a great place for evening drinks.  I hope they fixed the rotating bar.  It was out of order during our last TA.  

The bartenders rotate every two weeks and the Star Quest bar (ie Viking Crown) was rotating three weeks ago.

3 hours ago, hammo said:

 Just got off Grand Princess last week and were treated Royally . Not sure if thats ironic. lol .

We did Regal Princess B2B over the holidays and were treated regally.  If Princess would put a ship in Port Canaveral (practically in our back yard) we would do mostly Princess.  And we are Top Cruiser on Brilliance this week.

On Brilliance now and StarLink up and running.  Much better than last month - November/December.

At 5:45 am Suite Lounge coffee machine working.  Wedge in door indicating Eduardo has already been there.  Diamond Lounge needing grounds removed.  Also wedge in doorway.

Up so early Molly361?

Coffee machines in lounges run 24/7

Nope,  I get up there at 6:00 am  most mornings and they are turned off.  The grounds container taken out and hidden,  Have to wait for Eduardo to come to set up the breakfast and turn  on the cleaning cycle.  Don't know when they turn them off.  Usually available by 6:30 - 7:00 am.  This for both lounges.

On Mariner now, going to Bermuda, and yellow post-it notes with times on every unoccupied chair and day-bed in Solarium.

Last week Harmony of the Seas had 5800 guests (per Capt. Johnny).  That's 105% (double occupancy is 5497).

Got this via e-mail yesterday, 3 days before cruise.

We have reviewed the RoyalUp bids for your upcoming sailing onboard Mariner of the Seas^®, and while we have not selected your offer yet, the team onboard the ship may choose it for upgrade based on availability at departure time.

You will be able to modify or cancel your bid(s) up to 2 hours before departure on embarkation date. If you do not receive any communication by departure time, your cabin has not been upgraded.
 

The threshold number on Mariner is 50 per the Concierge.  Over that and Pinnacle cards will not open the door.  In May they were expecting 65 (approx) pinnacles for the southern Caribbean run so our cards were not programmed to open the door.  When only 54 actually were onboard, the HD decided to let us in and everyone had to get new cards made in order to open the door.  Then the next week - the Bermuda run - there were over 60 pinnacles and we were not allow in the lounge.  Every ship has there own threshold number. 

What I find intriguing is this statement in the pricing page.

In addition, due to rising fuel costs, a fuel surcharge will be added to your booking at the rate of $55 per person. Should this not be assessed by the cruise line at the time of sailing, each guest will be refunded the fuel surcharge amount paid to their onboard account once on the ship.

46 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

So no more leaving from 1 and returning to 5?

Correct.

1 hour ago, orville99 said:

Let me know what the parking is like. One thing I would like to know is whether you pay for parking when you enter the garage or when you exit.

Get a ticket when you enter - pay when you leave.  Pay for all days parked unlike Terminal 1 where you pay upfront for days of one cruise even if you are staying longer doing B2Bs.

3 minutes ago, Silvery Seas Cruiser said:

Well, surprise! Royal Caribbean just called me back and said it was Terminal One. I have to say I'm impressed with their customer service. 

Capt Tobias and HD Paul said Terminal 5 tomorrow.  Who to trust? Captain or Shoreside?

Terminal 5 from now on.  No more Terminal 1.  They installed facial recognition machines in Terminal 5 last Sunday.  No more bussing from 5 to 1 or visa versa.

We will be arriving at Terminal 5 tomorrow even though no ship will be at Terminal 1.

14 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Was he the Captain for the scrubbed SpaceX launch🤔

Yes

17 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

How wrong you may be.

Probably not.  This Captain (Patrick) has made two serious/expensive gaffes this year.  He's toast.

What a video shot!!!.  All speculation is now over.  Nice knowing you Captain.  Hope you like your new job - or retirement.

On the ship now and been on for three weeks.  Yesterday, during turn-around, as we were going off the ship to immigration (via deck 4) in the terminal (aprox. 10:00am), I saw 30 (est) passengers being escorted off the ship via a gangway on deck one.  All were lugging their luggage.  They were not crew, I recognized several of them from early in the cruise.  These had to be the covid cases that had been in isolation on the ship.  They were being kept away from the regular departing guests,  IMHO.

Allure and Celebrity sailing out of Port Everglades all summer.

Oops, wrong year.

Celebrity and Princess in 2023.

Do it (wellness check questionnaire) on the app ahead of time, or wait until you are in the terminal where the gal/guy with the i-pad will do it for you.  Check-in time is only for showing up and entering the terminal.  You will still have to show your vaccination status and covid test result even if you enter them into the app check-in process.  Doing the Wellness Check ahead of time will save you about one minute of time checking in.

7 hours ago, brillohead said:

This is incorrect.  Concierge/Suite lounge drinks are unlimited during Happy Hour.  It's only in the DIAMOND lounge that vouchers are used.

I have heard of card-swiping being used for inventory checks, so maybe that's the reason.

This is incorrect.  On Harmony they are charging a voucher anytime in the SL, including happy hour, for all Pinnacles (not staying in a suite) and unlimited for suite quests.  Suite guests have beer and wine available at no charge from 11 to 11, Pinnacles will be charged a voucher.  Was told this is the procedure for all ship's Suite Lounges with a bar going forward.

Just got upgraded from inside to Oceanview Balcony with minimum bid on Harmony this Sunday.  DW on phone now - waiting, waiting, waiting for someone to answer - to change to an accessible HC that is available in same category.  Wish us luck - the cabin given has bed near door and will not accommodate her scooter.

On another cruise we were also offered Royal Suite for $12,000 pp min bid.