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celoplyr

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Everything posted by celoplyr

  1. We made a 10:30 flight once with ease, but I realized later that it was New Years Day, and so not many people wanted a taxi, the airport was quiet (people were trying to take another day or two of vacation), our ship was way undersold (during Omicron wave) and we had first class tickets (which only means checking a bag is easier). Now, that was with my parents who are slow and like to be at the airport early. We probably got to the gate around 9am, and I was bored. But, for current conditions, I have no idea.
  2. Bumper cars are a family favorite. My family is 40-75 in age, so I would absolutely recommend them even if you don't have young kids with you. 270 is one of my favorite places, and we often go there for breakfast and to steal pound cake and keep it in our rooms.
  3. I have actively tried to give away our D drinks before and everyone either had their own or the drink package. We use ~3 per day and are given 12. I actually have some questions. I'm cruising on a ship next year with no Freestyle machine, and this is a problem in my house. Would they give away soda water for free at the bars, or do they charge for that? I'm thinking to bring the diet gingerale packets that you can put in water, and they taste a lot better with carbonation. (we only drink diet caffeine free sodas, so the bar ones are really limited in comparison, and it's a long cruise, 12 sodas per person is still less than we drink)
  4. If he wants non caffeinated sodas, the freestyle package is amazing (I only drink diet caffeine free drinks). Obviously, they have the caffeinated ones too. Options include ginger ale (with flavors), fanta, sprite, cream soda, root beer, coke, coke zero and some lemonades... and that's off the top of my head. I will always get the soda package on a ship with the machines, and will not get the soda package if there's no machines. Raspberry ginger ale, coke with lime and fanta strawberry or fanta peach are my favorites. Oh and cream soda with peach too...
  5. I heard that Icon and Oasis are built in different ship yards, so that another Icon would just be at the end of the line, but another Oasis isn't competing with the Icon class. I could be wrong, and hopefully if I am, someone will correct me.
  6. We had my mom medically disembark from the ship on our last cruise (although we were in port when the decision was made). My dad was able to leave with her, no problem. I was a bit more of a problem (different reservation) but they let me off as well. She spent 8 days in the hospital. What I remember is the number of other passengers who wanted to make fun of our situation to us. We were day 4 of a 13 day cruise, and everyone wanted to know if our suitcases had just gotten there or "why on earth you'd possibly be leaving". No one offered to help. ON the other hand, at the hospital, we met another cruising family who lost their husband, so I'll deal with idiots for that. The draw for the cruise was the Holy Land, and war broke out while we were in the hospital, so we even didn't lose out on anything the others didn't. And mom is fine now.
  7. We actually got off the ship before Israel was in their war, and things changed so suddenly!! I am big on policies and procedures, which is why I wrote this out, hopefully they can get a better protocol started. It's really scary anywhere when someone is that sick, so being in an unfamiliar area makes it even worse. Big picture, as long as it ends fine, it's ok, but I know my family has some trauma afterwards (mom is swearing she will never travel again, dad still can't sleep through the night, etc...)
  8. I wanted to give my experience on the medical disembarkation that we experienced on our last cruise, just in case any one else has to undergo this in the future. Long story short: my mom is fine. So, we were on a 13 day cruise from Rome to the Holy Land, my parents and I. On day 3, mom started getting sick with what looked like a nasty cold. We were at sea. On day 4, in Athens, I went on a tour to the Acropolis, and mom decided that she needed to go to medical. Medical did a work up, and after a bit of a back and forth, they ended up calling her an ambulance, and she and my father went to the ER. I was still on the Acropolis, so had to rush back to the ship. We had to pack (no steward help, some people say that they will help, no one contacted us to offer assistance of any kind), and then we wheeled all of our luggage downstairs to guest services. 30 minutes in that line (again, no joke, and only 2 people in front of us) with 30 minutes while they figured out that "surprise, the whole family will get off, not just 2 of 3 people". Mom and Dad had their disembarkation cards because of medical, but I was a surprise. It was also a surprise to them that I wanted a refund on my prepaid activities (shore excursions, spa, internet, etc). I just called today, and they still haven't refunded everything! The number they gave us for the port authority didn't work, so we had to stand in line at guest services, and I think they had to call a supervisor in. Once we got our card, we went down to the gangway and they took our seapass cards and our disembarkation card. We were told guest services would call us a taxi, they did not (and we got right royally ripped off by the taxi driver). After the fact, they called my mom's emergency contact to see if everything was ok, and they tried to call us. However, the number to call back is just the normal line, so the abnormal procedures seem to befuddle them. We left items in the room, that we discovered once we got off the ship and had a moment to breathe, those have not been recovered yet. I filled out both lost luggage (who said they wouldn't do a sweep of the room, we would have to list every item individually if we wanted it back) and the care team (who did say they would call our steward and have him sweep the room, but we haven't heard back yet). No assistance was given for if we wanted to go back to the ship (which we thought we might have, but mom ended up being in the hospital for too long, and you know, war and stuff). For the timing, we got off the ship on the 5th, Israel went into chaos on the 7th. When we left, I was devastated to miss it. Later, I was ok with knowing I wouldn't have made it anyways. One thing I was most discouraged about was the number of passengers who made a comment. We were two people, carrying off hastily packed suitcases for a 2 week cruise for 3 people (so 3 big bags, 3 carry on bags, and a lot of personal items) and a lot of people made comments like "getting off so soon?" "did you just get your luggage?". Obviously, to me, we were in a crisis. No one offered to help, they just decided to judge us for getting off the ship. It was probably 20-30 people, so not a small number. Dad thought the help that RCL gave was very minimal, and he had expected basically someone to guide us to get off the ship and help (since we were sent by the RCL medical staff to the hospital, they knew what was going on) and instead we were just on our own. Could it have been worse? Yes. We met someone in the hotel by the hospital where the spouse had passed away. Mom got great care, and is doing fine, and needed the hospital rather than the ship. We weren't in tel Aviv when we got off. It's just money (probably about 35k, who knows how much travel insurance would pay, but probably most of it). The hospital was a mess, but workable (only one person visiting at a time, which meant that one was alone in greece, not in the most touristy neighborhood, hotel was really sketchy, but no more than most European hotels, etc). And we got home.
  9. Outside is usually fine, but my mom thought that my Dad hated Christmas for years until they figured it out. He was flat on his back, sick for weeks. I'm not much better. I get allergic in the outside and sneeze (masks may also help) but inside would just kill us.
  10. they look so REAL on the video. Did you love the trip? Would you recommend it? We are on the fence- it would be our first river cruise. Thanks for answering the question!
  11. I was watching a video on the Viking Christmas market cruises, and I saw a ton of greenery decorating the ship. My family and I are highly allergic to live Christmas trees, etc. Viking claims that it's synthetic, but can anyone confirm that? I'd hate to get on the ship and then be sick for 2 weeks.
  12. The October 2nd still is, I wonder if the Oct 15th is just sold out.
  13. I figured it was Fuerte Amador that was the problem. I saw on the NCL board that it was a nightmare trying to board there, and I haven't seen evidence it's any better now.
  14. That train ride (we didn't do it through RCL) was worth every penny, and we would do it again in a heart beat. We've also done the drive (over 30 years ago!) and while it's amazing too, the train was better. We went a day early to have some time in Seward (which, again, we visited over 30 years ago, so we wanted to see how it changed) but unless you have that nostalgia, I'd just take it the day of, and then do the luggage transfer yourself.
  15. I also got this, and was so excited (and booked flights last month). Now it's a real let down, we won't fly to Panama just to do ports we've done from Miami. I was super excited about Costa Rica AND the Canal. I also feel like I booked this trip in early 2022, so it's like 18 months of excitement for it to cancel 8 months ahead of time. I was even getting my uncle to come along, so my mom could see him for their birthdays (he was going to be 80!)
  16. I've done 3 RCL Alaska trips. We did the one way first and then 2 round trip from Seattle. The one way was a better trip, but the logistics in alaska (we went south bound) were... rough. We stayed in Anchorage for 2 nights, did some stuff, took the train to Seward, stayed one night and finally got on the ship. We had been to Anchorage and Seward before, so we wanted to see how much they grew in 30 years (a lot. A LOT). However, the train ride was fantastic, Hubbard was a great glacier, etc. I've never been to Glacier Bay and don't feel like I've missed out. Maybe I have and I don't realize it. I do like the bigger ships though, and enjoy the round trips as well. If you want *Alaska* you may want the one way, and if you want cruising to Alaska or ease of travel, the round trips are great!
  17. I've stayed in the marriott by the airport for work and it's nice. I also stayed in the residence inn by lake union for cruises because we needed 2 bedrooms and they had 2 bedroom suites for cheaper than 2 hotel rooms. One year we were there during the fireworks on lake union and that was pretty cool because we could walk to the fireworks easily. Staying downtown is very expensive.
  18. Our 13 day Holy Land cruise (which only has 2 tender ports) is at 47.99/day. It started at ~30/day and has just gone up. Like everything else, if you're interested in it at this price, buy now, and reprice (or drop it if you decide against it later).
  19. I'd go for B in a heartbeat. Cruise planner purchases seem to be a better deal than a lot of the discounts, and I'm not pinnacle yet! As long as you still get the milestones (and the drinks and the internet and the laundry) I see no reason to stay with benefits!
  20. Sure, it's easy to me. I could have paid less for a Greek Isles cruise. If RCL is charging a premium for going to Israel, they should understand that if they decide not to put the ship or passengers in harm's way, they should have plans for undoing their premium. Same way that the Cuba cruises that were scheduled to go, and people were on the ship, had some of that premium refunded. In a extreme view- why not put everyone on a premium port on a cruise (Havana, in the caribbean, israel in the med, etc) and then cancel that port, replace them with cheaper ports (Cozumel, Chania) and keep the money for every cruise? I'm not suggesting that RCL should refund a lot, but let's say the passengers get back 50% of the premium they paid over an equivalent Greek Island cruise (which is what they got). Then both parties are sharing in the risk. Heck, they're even homeporting in Haifa soon! Can you imagine them being like "oh sorry, you can't board the ship here, so you have to buy new flights, and we aren't refunding you"? That's insane. And other companies have run Holy Land cruises for years and this isn't a new thing that Israel is unpredictable.
  21. We do. And we know the risk. But so should Royal, and they should be prepared for this as well (I was reading that the shore excursions aren't ready for the new ports, etc.)
  22. Once in a lifetime cruise billed as going to ports that ended up cancelled... It sucks all the way around. I'm on this cruise in October, and I know it's a possibility, but I would be extremely bummed. I'm taking my parents as a retirement trip, and I don't know if they will ever be able to go back. We are also paying a decent premium for this.
  23. I got that price this week! (low volume sailing)
  24. We are all different. I had internet that was $17/person/day and then the key was $21/person/day. Yes, I could have bought a 4 person package for the internet and be slightly cheaper, but with my family, it's soooooo much easier if we have our own logins and then there's no argument when my uncle "accidentally" adds 17 devices and kicks me and my dad off in the middle of a work meeting. He can kick himself off! And the chops lunch (maybe $20). Nothing else is important to us.
  25. oh God no, we are not foodie enough to enjoy a chef's table meal. It was at lunch, and the guy running it said he just got some sort of sommelier license. Ok after way too much searching in my email it was called "Wines around the World" and was on the Radiance in Alaska in 2018. It also cost 17.70... it'll never cost that price again!
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