cyntil8ing

Here's a link to my Paris on your Own excursion last summer. In short, I am glad we did it, but would not do it again. The bus ride wasn't bad. We had a rest stop at a convenience store at about 2 hours both ways. It was about 4 hours in Paris, not counting the half hour we had to wait on the bus for stragglers.

Excel? Like I mean, the X fits, but I don't want to be thinking about spreadsheets when I'm cruising!

There is no need to earn of the other statuses. The only one that matters, because it will come with new benefits, is Elite Plus. You start 750 points away from it.

Status crosses lines. You will be Elite on Celebrity. Points are earned separately. Points earned on Celebrity are towards making Elite Plus. Points earned on RCCL are toward Diamond Plus. They do not combine.

The benefit has not (yet) been extended for cruises after 7/31/23. Its extension is usually with the publication of the annual report, which should be very soon. This was the response I got when trying to apply to my next booking. Also, if it is not extended, reservations must be made prior to 2/28/23 according to: Past annual report publication dates: .

I agree with the above post 100%. We have about a dozen each on Carnival and Celebrity. We most sail Carnival with the kids and X when it’s just hubby and I. We did our first Europe cruise last summer on the Pride. It was wonderful and very sedate for a Carnival cruise, but still lots of fun. Food and service were very good. We have booked Canada Greenland for 2025. Here’s a link to my review.

Why can’t I go into the kids clubs and play video games?

I just want to encourage you to do this, whatever ship you end up on! In 2019, my dad was sick and living with us. We split the family for summer vacation so someone could be home with him. Son, who was 13 at the time, and I went on the Equinox. We didn’t do much, in fact we didn’t even get off the ship after our stop in San Juan. But it was still a great experience and years later, he still brings it up. I can tell it’s a good memory for him. Link to photo album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/CZ6AqfGE3STkbGfr6 ETA: We will be on Silhouette, April 6th - 10th for Spring Break.

I called today to upgrade to Premium for our April cruise. Was asked if I wanted to upgrade one or both people in the cabin. Price was $13.99/day plus 20% gratuity, less our 15% discount. Used OBC for the upgrade. Except for waiting 30 minutes for an agent, easy-peasy.

Wouldn’t be a tough choice for me at all. Longer cruise and new ports! I will note that I have never had a Havana cabin, but have only ever been on one ship, Vista, that had it. I will also note that I love San Juan, and have booked cruises that depart from there.

Cozumel does not observe Daylight Savings time. It is the same time now when Miami is on EST, but when Miami "springs forward" to EDT next month, Cozumel will be an hour behind until we "fall back" in November. Grand Cayman is the same. The answer to this question always depends on the cruise date and if the ship changes time..

I believe it! He got three on our cruise in December! I left out the one at the Chef’s Table. He definitely used up the Robert quota.

The squeaky wheel is needed here. We mention it onboard and have never been disappointed. From an anniversary cake in the dining room, staff singing happy birthday to my daughter, the butler decorating the suite for my husband’s birthday, and even a song from Captain Kate, we have always been well treated. EDAA0E58-E893-4E6D-AA73-308BDC9CF240.MOV E71B175B-6C77-48B7-A24D-9383583DE769.MOV

Our arrival/departure port was Ijmuiden. Because the port was so far out (about 40 minutes), we pre-booked a taxi for pick-up and return. Used a consolidator - https://city-airport-taxis.com. The canal cruise was with https://flagshipamsterdam.com, but the poster above is correct. You can easily purchase tickets on the boats.

You’ll be in Puerto Rico! You have to try local cuisine, at least mofongo. Seriously, best restaurant is Jose Enrique on Ashford in Condado. We found it on TripAdvisor ten years ago and loved it. It took us nine years to make it back, but we finally made it back in December. It was worth the wait. Reservations required: https://resy.com/cities/sjn/jose-enrique

No, they were from our likely one and only MoveUp to a Royal Suite.

You will not have earned your Celebration points before the Radiance checkin window opens, since you will still be on the cruise. They’re not credited until a few days after completing the cruise. I would expect your checkin will open 14 days beforehand. But congratulations on platinum! I finally got there last summer. I too ended my previous cruise at 74 points.

We received L/XL pajamas. They fit nicely on board, but the pants REALLY shrunk once washed. I swear it wasn’t all the food onboard!

I didn’t realize Celebrity had stopped going to Labadee. Granted, it’s been 8 years, but I’ve been there a couple of time on Celebrity. It’s a nice day. I can’t remember the food so it must not have been anything special. I loved our stop at Coco Cay with Royal last year and I would prefer going there over Nassau. I am looking forward to going back in August. We went to the far side of the island and it was very nice. Drink service was great and food was good. We also enjoyed the pool, though in December, it was pretty chilly. I’m not a huge fan of private islands, except Half Moon Cay, and won’t book a cruise because of them, but always end up enjoying a low key beach day when there is one in our itinerary.

Grand opening is scheduled for the end of May. https://ewnews.com/300-million-cruise-port-grand-opening-set-for-may-2023

You will be fine. 8:30 isn’t closing time; it’s the latest they will seat arriving guests. We are late diners, never arriving before 8:00, usually around 8:15. Can’t say as we have ever had to wait. They’re usually cleaning up around us as we finish, but that doesn’t bother us at all. We have no problem being the last ones out of the dining room, but we usually aren’t. Last cruise, we dined in Coastal Kitchen, and they did come out toward the end of our meal, asking if we would like anything else from the kitchen, as it was closing. But we still enjoyed coffee and dessert and never felt rushed. It’s no different than showing up at the end of breakfast service. As night owls, we do that too!

I did not call. I just set up their C&A accounts online, then had my TA add the account numbers to our reservation. They were Diamond with 0 points.

If you are an advance planner and aren't set on certain sites that may not be included (like the London Eye), the London Pass can be cost-effective and it's certainly easy to use. We got three day passes for our four days in London this past summer. Months before, our family of four each reviewed the huge list of included attractions, picking some must sees and some would be nice to sees. Then I planned it out logistically to hit three or four attractions each day. It was a lot of advance work, but our days were full and we got to see a lot of stuff. We did some things that we never would have without the pass, specifically the World Rugby Museum and Stadium Tour. My daughter is a college rugby player and I think it was her favorite stop. My husband's was a James Bond Walking Tour where we saw many of the locations from Bond movies. We also had Oyster cards shipped with our passes. They came in less than a week. I'd not likely do it again. It was a lot of work to make everything run smoothly. I can definitely see it not being worth it if you just want to wing it. But in our case, the planning was a big part of the anticipation for the trip. It got everyone involved and invested, which can be tough to do with teens.

Fishing With Pedro in Cozumel! My kids had never been fishing, and really weren’t excited about it, but ended up having a blast. Great day!

It was not held on Millennium December 17. 😩 I was looking forward to trying it. Saved OBC to do it. We ended up doing Chefs Table instead.