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Posts posted by dianajo67
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We’ve never had a problem getting extra towels….but we usually get a couple extra pool towels and keep them in our room on the off chance the attendant forgets.
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Just now, not-enough-cruising said:
When you are deployed you are paid an agreed upon contractual amount, just like
the crew. (USAF here as well)
The crew are making 2X-3X what they would at home doing the same type work. Their life is MUCH improved by this arrangement.
I agree. Just don’t want to forget that the wages don’t just support the individual in most cases.
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2 minutes ago, time4u2go said:
I honestly don't understand how you came to this conclusion. I'm pretty sure that nobody on this thread has suggested that the crew members should not be paid.
I never said that anyone said they shouldn’t be paid. I just think there are some pretty relevant issues being left out of the discussion of what constitutes a living way. It’s not personal.
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4 hours ago, not-enough-cruising said:
Ok, let’s use their place of work as an indicator of living wage.
$0 housing$0 food
$0 transportstion
$0 for anything
In this instance they are paid WELL above living wage.
The entire world bases living wage based on the place wages are being spent of the individual in question. Refusal to accept this as fact just means there can be no further fruitful discussion on the matter.
Virtually every staff member I’ve talked to is married and has a family with children or elderly parents they are responsible for back home. A living wage isn’t just about the employee. It’s about the employee and his/her dependents in this case. Most of these folks are trading time away from their loved ones for the ability to hopefully improve the standard of living for their children back home. Some may even want to send their kids to college someday. I’m retired Air Force. Based on the logic I’m seeing in this thread, I should not be paid when I am deployed because I’m being provided a place to eat and sleep. Very narrow views that folks should just be happy with the potentially squalid living in their homelands and not be compensated for “deploying” in such a way they can have an improved life once returning home. Also, who says they don’t own homes they are paying for back “home?”
BTW. Staff do pay for things such as internet, phone calls etc.
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I noticed that Icon is selling in-water day beds for $350 for the day on sea days. Zero shade and no way to use your electronics etc. We’ve rented a casita before on Odyssey and found it to be a reasonable deal. These wide-open in water beds have no appeal (for us anyways).
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Our head waiter on explorer during a post-covid b2b said that tables are not given away to MTD until 30 minutes past early dining time, ie. 6pm. Although MTD technically starts at 645pm, it’s actually possible to get an earlier seating than that if you are willing to show up earlier and wait to see if early diners are no-shows.
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We did an owners and a grand on a B2B on Explorer. Much preferred the grand suite for the balcony. The separate shower in the owners is small and I hated trying to shave my legs in there as there is no place to put my foot. Having the tub in the grand with the extended back ledge was perfect. The whirlpool tub in the owners was not enjoyable as the water was rust colored. Actually it was pretty gross. It was right after covid, so maybe that problem has resolved itself by now and the pipes were just rusty from not being used for so long. Didn’t need the bidet in the owners bathroom either. Grand just felt like a better value if there are only 2 people. Living room in the owners a plus if you’re squeezing 3-4 in the room. Just my opinion.
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I think Royal should issue every customer 1 pool towel for the week to help save the environment! Would also solve the chair hog problem as people would be guarding it with their life!
Would prevent the huge rush to stock up on pool towels in the rooms to make up for the changes to room service. Expect to see trash and empty dishes etc in the hallways more frequently, especially around rooms that have 3 or more folks trying to be comfortable in such small spaces.
Cruise lines should have self-service ice machines like hotels. That would save the attendants a lot of time. Just have an ice bucket in the room. Even super expensive hotels have that!
Also, change the gratuity to a service charge that can’t be removed!
Some of this is sarcasm btw.
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Looking at JS on Voyager. Am not getting an option to choose refundable fare on the last page. However, when I look at cancellation policy below the quote, it acts like the default is refundable. Very strange and I don’t trust it! Same when I redo with a balcony room.
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1 hour ago, drjohn4 said:
The winds and storms of a hurricane are usually only a significant factor if they are near where your flight takes off or lands. Normal jet stream winds are hurricane force and planes fly in them at cruising altitude all the time. A hurricane along your route would at worse cause a minor delay if they have to fly around some particularly large thunderstorms that are a part of the hurricane. I flew over one once and didn't even notice. The captain did come out to make an announcement to all the passengers before we left to reassure everyone that it was not a problem.
Perfect! Thanks! Anything can happen with the airlines these days…but I feel a bit reassured. Funny thing…my hubby is a retired operator who flew in fighters for years out of England and Alaska. We have facebook friends who are retired military who went to the airlines! Never entered my mind to just ask one of them. Granted, I hadn’t had my coffee yet this morning when I decided to ask! Just keeping my fingers crossed at this point!
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55 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:
Before I posted, I had been monitoring the current flight from FCO - JFK today as well as over the past few days. Todays route is significantly farther north than previous days. My concern was that it looked like the current storms (Earl and Danielle) would be so far north across the entire Atlantic by Saturday, that the airlines were going to run out of space North of the storms. I’m probably wrong to be concerned at all (frequently am), but figured I’d ask. I know we have some airline pilots on here. I’m aware that flights will occasionally fly above a storm if it’s low enough, but that’s not preferred over the ocean as there aren’t a lot of exit strategies if there are problems. Because JFK is on the Northeast coast, it doesn’t give the airlines as much leeway as if the airport was further west. Appreciate all who responded!
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4 minutes ago, mo&fran said:
The routes from North America to Europe follow the great circle route, which is the shortest route on a globe. For example, go to web site Flightradar24 , spool out till you see the Atlantic ocean from America to Europe , and will see the tracks of the flights.
It is best viewed in the evening, the majority of east bound flights are over night flights so they will be landing in the morning of the next day.
Flightradar24 is a great site! Thank you!
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I’m supposed to be flying JFK-Rome this weekend for a cruise and a little concerned about the current Hurricane paths. While they won’t be impacting land, they will be pretty far north in the Atlantic by Saturday night. Does anyone have any experience traveling over the Atlantic in those conditions? Do the airlines cancel? Fly above? Fly over? I tried googling and it seems articles are mostly concerned with hurricanes that are going to impact airports and not mid-ocean conditions. Of course, we have to be ready for a cancellation, but I’d like a little reassurance that that might not happen if any pilots out there want to chime in!
I understand trip insurance etc. and my concern is not financial. Was more interested in what airlines are likely to do. I’m more concerned about all the various tours/train tickets etc. i have scheduled the first day or two I’m in Italy. Will not have enough days on the ground to reschedule some of them. Thanks.
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My son and I had a casita in March during our spring break cruise. The ship was full, so finding chairs on the pool deck would have been a challenge otherwise. I thought it was a good value for the cost, if you think about it as a “shore excursion” onboard. It comes with 2 bar drinks, 4 bottles of water, an ice cooler, towels, USB ports and a bit of shade. We had the last casita towards the back of the ship on the same side as the upper level hot tub. I liked that the ship superstructure in that area throws a bit more shade over the casita during either the morning or afternoon depending on which direction the ship is going that day. The actual roof of the casita doesn’t provide a lot of shade unless the sun is directly overhead. It does provide some though. It’s also close to the windjammer and rear stairwell for going down to the pool deck. Servers also stopped by to take drink orders fairly regularly.
We’re going back on Odyssey out of Rome on 19 September and have reserved casitas for both sea days.
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I have zero symptoms and a faint line on a practice test. I need a formal test to get a refund. If I can’t generate a positive result tomorrow on 2 different tests tomorrow, I’m going to assume the practice test today was mistaken. I’m fine not going on this cruise if that’s how it works out. Have a Greek isles cruise next month and that’s the important one.
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18 minutes ago, Husky1987 said:
Everything I've heard, they will accept a positive proctored test.
As with everything Royal, YMMV with whomever answers the phone...when I cancelled a cruise in February due to testing positive, I never had to give any proof at all to process my refund.
Been on 5 cruises since last November. Haven’t left my house in 3 weeks except for a couple quick trips to the grocery store. Said yes to a tubing trip this past weekend. All outside with lots of distance between everyone on the water. We even drove separately! Now I’m testing positive. Hubby and son are negative. Completely baffled. 2 boosters and have never tested positive before! Ugh! Formal emed test tomorrow. So far just “practice” test. Will take another practice test in the morning and than take the formal proctored test in order to send to Royal if needed.
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We may have an issue here!! Or will they require a positive PCR test?
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Just watched a video of enchantment. Reminded me vaguely of this hotel I stayed at in the Pocono Mts once upon a time that had orangish shag carpeting on the floors/walls. Very retro vibe for sure! Hubby is game to try it if the itinerary stays the same.
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I get that the wash and fold bags of laundry are all washed together in hot and suitable for tshirts, etc….ie.nothing nice goes in the bag. If we send our individual items such as skirts and washable blouses to be laundered…does Royal use something other than hot water. Going on an extended land-based trip in Italy before the cruise and may not have time in the few days before the cruise starts to get to a laundromat. Planning to travel very light, so won’t have a lot of backup clothes. Don’t care about the cost….just want to know I can get stuff done properly on the ship. We’ll hand wash what we can, but some things need a tumble in a dryer on low to avoid wrinkles. Backup plan is just to look like slobs and get rid of the photo package (joking/not joking!).
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Grandeur has a Park Cafe. They have nice breakfast options usually. Not fancy, but not as hectic as the Windjammer.
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So did they go back to priority seating location vs early access (implemented during Covid) or is it both now? I’m not a fan of the reserved seating locations in some venues, but do like early access. I’m probably in the minority saying that!
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22 hours ago, molly361 said:
I agree I have opened lots of cards over the years for the $100-$200 bonus. I confess to being a churner and my credit score is always over 800. Some of them are on to me now darn it😇 Can't tell you how many B of A cards I had many years ago. Buy a pack of gum and get $100 win win
The primary reason we only open cards with high value bonuses is the 5/24 rule that Chase uses. If you’ve opened up 5 credit cards of any type within 24 months, you are ineligible to receive another chase card regardless of your credit rating etc. This is something to be aware of if you start playing the game, because Chase often has some pretty great incentives to apply for one of their cards. Being an authorized user on someone else’s account also counts towards that 5/24 penalty so hubby and I don’t generally get additional cards.
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1 hour ago, KayRaeRae said:
Huge into the points game, mostly via Chase products. I’m at 5/24 (for those in the know), so I have to wait a bit before trying for new SUBs (sign-up bonuses).
I haven’t paid for a flight in years, and have around a month of free hotel stays accrued.
That’s how my hubby talked me into playing the game. He was 5/24 and a great deal came up. Now we sorta manage between the two of us who applies for the cards. We carry zero balances on our cards….just pay everything like our cell phones etc. routinely with them.
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1 hour ago, exm said:
We have a similar setup. I have the following credit cards:
- Sapphire Reserve for travel, including cruises
- Amex Gold for restaurant and grocery stores
- Delta Gold for free checked bags on Delta
- Freedom unlimited for everything else
This gives me the following:
- I can move points between the Chase cards and use the Reserve to book flights (which I most of the time use my points for). Usually I book on Delta, and:
- The Delta Gold gives me free checked bags among other perks.
- The Amex Gold has 4% cash back on above categories, and I can transfer those points to Delta. Sometimes I use them for upgrades, or I book tickets directly.
- The Reserve gives me airport lounge access
- Amex also has GREAT offers, sometimes on RC
Thank you for the nice clear input!! You’re obviously more involved with the nitty gritty than I am! We will definitely look into the Delta Gold/Amex Gold perks! We don’t normally book delta from where we live, but it is an option. I have AMEX platinum card. Got 125K points just for signing up (a pretty rare offer) and then max’d out the 10x points on groceries/gas for 6 months….so lots of AMEX points we haven’t even touched. We haven’t really used the platinum card much since then and are considering downgrading to a card with no fees. With elderly parents we want to help/support (they cruise a lot with us—last cruise Harmony in Jan!) and hubby still working, we have a bit of time before we can fully enjoy the retired lifestyle and take advantage of the best travel deals. Thanks again!
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Passport Renewal
in Ask a Cruise Question
Posted
We’re going on icon in the spring so had to get hubby’s passport renewed. Sent it off on 6 Nov, arrived in Philadelphia on 9 Nov, received the new passport today! We were shocked! I expected at least 10-12 weeks based on the website projections!