sportsmum

AWESOME! Thank you!

Does the casino have the 'jackpot party' or 'fishing Bob' slot machine? I love the interactive ones. :D

I just called too! They have mine as well and I got our confirmation #.

Yay! Thanks for doing that. :D

Any insight on how long valuetrips takes to respond to an email? I requested a room last week and waited a few days before emailing, as I hadn't heard anything yet, but I haven't gotten an answer via email either.

I'm in the same boat as you. I requested on Wednesday and sent an email Sunday. Nothing back. Please post when you get something and I will too. Okay?:)

I have used them before and it's always been a day or two wait. This is unusual in my experience.

Thank you for asking. :)

Do you remember any of the MUTS offerings?

Back last month from 12 days on the Connie. I agree- ridiculous prices on internet. All or nothing.

About half way through (not sure exactly) it went to $199 for the rest of the cruise. No deals to be had on our cruise.

We have booked a guarantee and not known until we dropped our luggage off which cabin we were assigned.

Way too much to see if the dogs are alive. I'll check on a phone text package for when we are in port.

Not that I am using it, only curious - does X have a $3.95 'one time fee' when you sign in for the first time?

So it really is all or nothing? :( I'm in the same situation as the OP.

I drink Pepsi instead of Coke and have always, as stated above, slapped a sticker on my case(s) and had them onboard. I also take my can of Pepsi with me to the dining room and on the second day our waiter usually has a glass of ice and straw at my setting. :)

I can't even get my Celebrity 'personal cruise consultant' to reply let alone match anything. 3 Celebrity cruise booked and emails (his stated preference although I called too) to both him and TA for each one. He (Celebrity) has never replied. TA had me priced, cabin held and deposit to hold it done before I finished texting husband to let him know he was packing again.

I did call HAL once to ask if they would match TA pricing. Quote from HAL girl, "why wouldn't you book with TA if she is lower?". Well, I was giving them a chance but I guess I got my answer!

The one thing that may make a difference is that I have the Celebrity Passages that I have not been able to use with TA but would probably get to use with cruise line booking. The prices TA gives me are way better than Celebrity so it hasn't been an issue except they have been useless pieces of paper.

I have Euros for Greece, Turkey, Italy. USD for Israel. The Israel tour guide charged our card in USD and quoted expected expenses in USD i.e.: approx $20 USD p/p for lunch and USD for extra options (Dead Sea, cable car,). We are taking USD for shopping and tips in Israel too. If the guide quoted in that currency they must prefer it or at least accept it willingly. :)

We are taking extra USD for the ship. Room service, extra tip for steward. If we have extra left from that we will put it on our room account since it is charged in USD.

Because of exchange % on our card we are keeping it as little as possible. Big purchases will be on the card but don't expect too many.

We requested it in January. My email documentation shows traditional confined but online it shows select without the option to change.

I will make that call. I am not a fan of Select Dining. Thanks a bunch!:)

I requested traditional (early) at booking. Also did a Princess booking for a week or so earlier. Princess confirmed dining time immediately and Celebrity did not - they just show select. Good to know it may be a while before it shows confirmed. I won't fret. Thanks!

get confirmed?

How far out do they confirm your dining request? We are still about 7 months out. I requested early dining but am still showing select. Just wondering if anyone knows before I call and make a fool of myself!! :D

In my research for those ports I have found little. I looked on trip advisor for the private tours and came up with 2 choices for Alotau and booked with the only one who emailed back. :) It does the war stops as well as cultural stops.

Rabaul was the same: trip advisor and booked with the fellow who got back to me.

Both of these companies have high ratings from those who have posted and have been very pleasant to deal with.

Kiriwina Island (and the other stops) have nothing offered either ship tours or private that I have found. I believe, from what I have read so far, that they are hop off the ship and hop back on although there may be a chance to get on a boat run by locals to take you to a beach.

Have you found anything in the meantime?

Does the Sun have the self serve laundry as well? How was the casino slot selection? :)

All the Princess ships we have been on in the last couple of years have had token machines. $3 for wash $3 for dry. I do not know the detergent as I bring 'pods'.

re: staying with laundry. I used to go back and forth (just saw the time signs this last cruise) but at Christmas this changed. I came back to check on dryer and found a woman holding up my son's jeans looking like she was measuring them up. I say, "HEY!" and she put them back in the dryer and went out the other door. I still had time on the dryer so it wasn't a case of being nice and emptying it for me. I did notice cameras in the laundry rooms on the last cruise.

The USD has something to do with where I book as well. You could keep your booking in CND with Princess until close to final payment then have a look around. If, after doing the math and adding in any perks TA offer, it is better one way or the other - switch, or not.

Since we cannot predict what the dollar will do, or when, this works for us on cruises we book a long way out.

Bingo format:

On the Grand at Christmas is was the 'new format'. The cruise (same ship) after that is was the 'jackpot' format.

CB Princess in February: 'jackpot format'.

2 bingos a day on sea days on both ships. On CB, if we were early leaving a port they would stick another in at 4 or 4:30PM. One card, one game. $10 a card.

OP:

We were on the CB for two weeks as well. We overlapped your first week and we were on the week prior too.

We were not in the Palm but in the other one on floor 6 (cannot remember the name). We saw a couple of different men in shorts and flip flops for evening dining throughout the cruise- not just the night we sailed late. Before anyone gets all up your nose about how I knew they were different men- trust me, even two weeks on a cruise couldn't make someone gain that much weight.... :)

This was the case on our Christmas cruise on the Grand. Shorts and flip flops in the evening dining venue.

I understand what you are saying. If a dress code is stated then it should be enforced.

Someone above said something about men/women discrepancies. I agree. A few years ago my husband was sent back to the room for a jacket on formal night while I continued on to our table. I followed a woman in jean capri's and a t-shirt going to her table.

No, it doesn't ruin anyone's cruise or meal. I don't look under the table while we eat. But, I do think that it is a matter of respect for those around you to dress as the evening dictates. Should some decide not to follow the request and are let in then so be it. When it gets too bad that it detracts from my pleasure then I will move on.

Kind of just bumping this up, but: I believe CB is a sister ship of the Grand but with one extra deck.

I am packing today and your post made me think of the closet on the Grand and I will be curious about responses you get from those that have travelled on both. to the closet but the ship itself.:)

Closet and cupboard were adequate and just fine, but smaller than other ships I remember. Won't affect my packing.

I am not sure about it being the CD. We were on the Christmas cruise with the same CD and I have been reading the patters posted here. They are different than the ones we had on ours - this cruise being better, IMHO.

I collected my patters for a friend who wanted to entice her DH to cruise and we went through them last week. Different entertainers- more varied entertainment. Snowball bingo- we had straight bingo, no snowball. No charades, poolside trivia or mexican fiesta.

Not complaining, although it may sound so, we had a fine time - just mentioning the differences. Really enjoying this review!

"Senior cruisers" know full well what "chic" means.

LOL! That's what I thought too! Us older folks (probably our parents or grandparents) invented 'chic'. The younger ones are now redefining it. :)

The worst I have ever seen was in line for the dining room on NCL. A 30-something in Daisy Duke shorts in front of us. The line was quite long every night so we did the buffet or on shore so I cannot confirm whether that attire made it past inspection. Fill in your own joke.......

PV- $45 -$50 for one hour massage for 2 people. Price goes down as you walk the beach towards town. Or, at the start of the beach if you are walking towards the ship. :)

Loved this tour! We took a taxi there and taxi back. It isn't a long walking tour but it is a good drive to get there and back. $10 USD each way. He will direct you to where you get a taxi after.

You can probably get drinks during - ask when you email and book. No one on our tour asked for anything different. We had a schedule to get to each place so we didn't take a great long time at each restaurant/stop.