publicpersona

Which cruise lines allow that? Since the home proctoring costs between $20-$35, it would seem risky to risk a positive (possibly false) that you don't know about until you have travelled to port, and then not only could you not cruise but in theory couldn't travel by public transportation back home either.

I had a Belkin travel swivel charger that I've taken on dozens of cruises, and just recently realized that it had surge protection. It was never confiscated, and I know now not to take it on cruises anymore.

Circling back to report my experience on this offer. Though the wording calls out a cruise "booking", pre-cruise expenses such as shore excursions work just fine. The spend can be in multiple transactions. The spend does NOT have to be within a single billing cycle.

You could rightfully say that hadn't happened to you or any of your travel companions, but categorically saying they usually won't is probably not justified. I can report from my few data points that yes, sometimes they do insist on taking it, and I always use my passport photo, so it has nothing to do with the criteria.

Second thing first .. I actually did that with shore excursions, but didn't quite make the $500. This is for a Canada/NE cruise and they are not selling excursions for all ports. Regarding single billing cycle .. I see no such requirement in the terms and conditions (below). If you've had first hand experience with this, I'll take your word for it. OFFER TERMS Enrollment limited. Must first add offer to Card and then use same Card to redeem. Only U.S.-issued American Express® Cards are eligible. Limit 1 enrolled Card per Card Member across all American Express offer channels. Your enrollment of an eligible American Express Card for this offer extends only to that Card. Offer valid on cruise bookings made online at https://www.royalcaribbean.com, by calling 1-866-562-7625 or booked through your Travel Professional. Reservations must be booked on US website only. Valid only on purchases made in US dollars. Excludes onboard purchases, e-gift card and physical gift card purchases made online, transfers/transportation to the ship, MGM Resort International Joint Vacation and Royal Wedding Packages. Excludes Celebrity Cruise, TUI Cruises and Silversea brands. Please note that hotels, car rental companies, cruise lines do not accept prepaid cards for charges authorized in advance, although prepaid cards may be used to settle the final bill. Check to make sure prepaid cards are accepted before attempting to use your prepaid card to take advantage of offers for these merchants. ©2022 Royal Caribbean International. Ships’ registry: Bahamas. Offer is non-transferable. Limit of 1 statement credit per Card Member. You may not receive the statement credit if we receive inaccurate information or are otherwise unable to identify your purchase as qualifying for the offer. For example, you may not receive the statement credit if (a) the merchant uses a third-party to sell their products or services; or (b) the merchant uses a third-party to process or submit your transaction to us (e.g., using mobile or wireless card readers); or (c) you choose to make a purchase using a third-party payment account or make a purchase using a mobile or digital wallet. Purchases may fall outside of the offer period in some cases due to a delay in merchants submitting transactions to us or if the purchase date differs from the date you made the transaction (for example, the purchase date for online orders may be the shipping date). Statement credit will appear on your billing statement within 90 days after 8/15/2022, provided that American Express receives information from the merchant about your qualifying purchase. Note that American Express may not receive information about your qualifying purchase from merchant until all items/services from your qualifying purchase have been shipped/provided by merchant. Statement credit may be reversed if qualifying purchase is returned/cancelled. If American Express does not receive information that identifies your purchase as qualifying for the offer, you will not receive the statement credit. Limit 1 enrolled Card per American Express Card online account. The enrolled Card account must be active, not past due, canceled, or have a returned payment outstanding to receive the statement credit. Any benefit earned from this offer is in addition to the rewards (i.e. Membership Rewards or cash back) earned as part of your existing Card benefits, but your ability to earn spend-based rewards for the purchase will be based on the amount after any statement credit or other discount is applied. Amex Offers are dynamic and personalized, so the offers you see may change. For questions regarding your Card Account, please call the number on the back of your Card. By adding an offer to a Card, you agree that American Express may send you communications about the offer.

Even if you cancel onboard, and you’ve registered a different card for the cruise? I would think the amount would go back to onboard account once cruise starts.

I'm hoping they don't forget the promise to award double points if you have a 2022 cruise booked with FCC from a cancelled (by RC) cruise booked originally in the promo booking period, even though the new booking was outside the promo period.

Need to spend about $150 by mid-August to satisfy this offer. Cruise is in September. I'm odd, but I'd rather not have to call to buy the OBC. Strange that you can buy arcade credits, but not OBC online. Are there some creative ways to spend the $150 to result in OBC? We're already set for gratuities, specialty restaurants, excursions. Thinking of perhaps booking excursions near end of cruise, and then cancelling onboard.

I don't know. If they throw in a bottle of La Terre Chardonnay, it might be worth it.

The only thing that changed in the policy is there is no longer a corkage fee in a public venue if you have a beverage package. That’s more flexible than before. Quit trying to interpret that to mean anything else.

Did you mean to say "not now"?

I hated Cats the first time I saw it (on tour) so I fully understand how people can react so viscerally. Also, absolutely hated the movie flop. But .. every production I've seen since I really liked, even if just for the moment when Grizabella gets up from the floor and stands up as the music mounts and she belts out "Touch me ...". That's theatre at its best.

I totally agree. We made the mistake of booking a boardwalk view balcony on our first Oasis class sailing, and the experience was so bad we stayed away from Oasis altogether since (which I stipulate is silly since we could book a real balcony next time). We had a great view of Johnny Rockets as well as people across the way drying their laundry on their overhang, walking around butt nekkid, or worse, riding the hobby horse just inside.

Ditto. I’ve never been able to register a credit card during online check-in. It would be nice if it worked, but it doesn’t.

Delta doesn’t have anything to do with FBC’s $200 change fee. With a drastic schedule change, the airline has no choice but to offer a change/refund. But FBC is a travel agency and has a change fee inside final payment, no matter what. This is just part of the risk booking through FBC. Sometimes you can get a great deal with the consolidator fares on international flights, but you give up a lot .. including being able to control your booking directly with the airline.

It has been voluntary for cruises out of Florida since July 2021. I am well aware that the cruise lines voluntarily followed the guidelines anyway. I'm just pointing out that it isn't quite correct to say that it is now up to the cruise lines, as if that were not already the case to a significant degree.

Your second sentence here is the pertinent one. Regarding requirements being up to the cruise lines instead of the CDC, that has been true for sailings out of Florida for quite some time.

It says nothing about any of the protocols. It says those will be coming in the next few a days as guidance. I’d opine that there is an elevated chance of some changes to come, but by no means anything certain as yet.

I’ll take your word for it. I was going by a recent YouTube review of Seashore where they made special mention of it. But I’ll know for sure in a couple weeks when I am on it.

I’ve only done 3 cruises so far on MSC (one coming up end of the month), so admittedly a rookie. But I’ve never had any charges processed from a French bank, or any such issue. I heartily agree with everything else you said in your post. Re entertainment .. MSC always uses canned music for their production shows. Royal and Celebrity occasionally do. MSC says this allows them to pay more for their singers and dancers, and they do seem to be one notch up in talent. Re Ocean Cay .. my favorite cruise line private “island”. It reminds me of Labadee and CocoCay before they got turned into gaudy amusement parks.

This may be changing, or they are just trying it out on Seashore. Announcements are in English only (with possibly exception of safety related ones).

It seems some of the posts here are talking about the technology used for cooling the contents of the mini-bar. For the purposes of storing milk, the more important topic is the temperature. What we think of as a refrigerator cools to about 35-40 degrees F. The mini-bars typically are much higher, in the 50-60 degree range. The plan to bring ultra-pasteurized milk is a good one.

Off-topic, but I can help with this one. It is not obvious. You can't click on months (even if it says to choose months) or just any date. You can only click on a highlighted date in white which means there is a cruise that embarks that day. Also you may need to click Reset Dates to see the dates for choosing.

I can’t say for certain, but pretty sure the marine preserve description is new. It wasn’t a pristine island and reef prior to Ocean Cay; it was a junk yard.

OP’s experience is not necessarily due to recent airline issues. A similar issue happen with me last year. I talked directly to American who said because they changed the flight times, they’d be happy to book me on a different flight at no cost .. but .. wait .. I went through Air2Sea. So they couldn’t help me. Then the days ticked away waiting for Air2Sea to fix it. After a couple weeks of Air2Sea being unable to do anything in real time (take a phone call, look at the schedule, change a flight, etc.), I gave up and cancelled the Air2Sea arrangement, for which they charged me $400. Then I booked my two $150 flights myself in seconds.