Pilot53

On 9/20/2022 at 5:28 PM, KarmaCruisers said:

On a recent 3-day carnival I earned like 3500 points (all slots) and got a free balcony bounce-back.

$17,500 coin-in with a 10% house edge…$1750 expected loss for a balcony cabin for two..not a bad deal at that rate.

Where did you get 10%.  More like 15 to 20.  They are set as low as they can and still let you play a while.  For VP single line, you have to bet 10 coins. Just got off of 16 days on Emerald.  I was offered free cruises with $600 free play.

1 minute ago, LACruiser88 said:

I forgot to mention as far as supply issues, they ran out of small water bottles last week.  Now they only have the 1.5L bottles and are not charging extra for them (only the small bottles are included in the Plus Pkg).

I asked about that before we hit Hawaii.  I was told by one of the hotel officers that they could not get enough of them when they supplied the ship.  He said there would be other shortages also.  Supply issues.  Also asked if they could resupply in HI.  He said that they could not get small bottles there either, and other items missing.  The pizza was made with wheat flour.  It was not bad, either.

23 minutes ago, LACruiser88 said:

Yes, the ship has run out of white flour!  🤔

 

Last night in the MDR they were serving the bread and butter (not on the tables), no salt or pepper on the tables.

 

This morning at the IC coffee bar, you could not access the sweetners or cup lids.

 

So, there is "something" going around.  The crew are not wearing masks so my guess would be Noro?

I would agree with you on Noro.  But there are a couple cases of Covid.  It also could be some type of flu.  We were in the theater last week and the woman in from of us was hacking it up pretty bad for a while, no mask.  We saw her the next night in Sabatinis. We were a table away, and she was still hacking it up.  The rest of her group were not wearing masks or anything, so maybe she has some type of lung problems.  We moved our table to another area of the restaurant.  The food was good there, same for the steak house.

1 hour ago, mikjr said:

Ooops!!   I just wanted to correct my comment.  I said CARIBE…. We’re on BAJA!!   We normally get a cabin on Caribe, but not this time.  

We are on Caribe also. In the 400's.  Have not seen any quarantined cabins.  Hope I do not see any. We were on an elevator yesterday, and people on it were saying that someone in their group had Covid.  I had a bad upset stomach on Sunday and Monday (coming out of both ends, LOL), but feel much better today.  Do not know if that was Norovirus or not.  Not a good thing to get that at the end of the cruise.  Getting off the ship would be almost impossible with that.  I do not see any more cleaning or wiping down of anything.  Been using sanitizer since getting on the boat.  The 4 of us in our group are now wearing masks, which does not help that much, but feels better, LOL.  Hopefully they get this contained so it does not end up affecting most everyone.

2 to 3 hour wait.  Computers down.  Not fun.

3 hours ago, CruiseSter1ing said:

Be careful with your WiFi calling plan, depending on the Repeater, your carrier might treat it was an International call, even though YOU are on a US plan, calling to a US number.  This info is buried deep on the Carriers websites.  At least it was for Verizon.  You might want to check on using WhatsApp or Facetime audio for calls.

I just checked with Vorizon. No charge for WIFI calls to the US.  I hope its not dead slow.  I just need to log into my office computer.  I hope that I can do that.  I will do it late at night when the overall usage is less.  Thanks for the info!

On 5/24/2023 at 11:14 AM, CoW mAn said:

My friend tried everything and nothing worked until he found this, fixed him up in under 2 minutes without medication

 

 

I have actually used something like that, and the darn things work.  Was on the Oasis a few years ago in the Caribbean.  Got really rough one night mid cruise.  Was wearing that the whole time.  Felt the motion, but did not translate to nausea.  

We are taking the 7/6 cruise to HI.  How is the WIFI and connectivity?  Will have to work remotely, and log into my system.

Have they moved to the Starlink system, I think its called?

Does WIFI calling and messaging work well on the ship?  It's 6 days of no cell service.  A first for me in a long time.

10 hours ago, scottca075 said:

 

The horror, the horror......

Funny.  I’m on the July 6th to HI.  I am 6’2”. And have big shoulders.  Sounds like showers will be challenging. I have no hair, so not worried about washing it.  As long as I get my coffee in the morning, I’m good.  I hope the food is at least OK.  I will never know how good the sound systems are, mostly deaf.  To loud, turn off the hearing aids.  Guess the point is, gonna make the best of 16 days away with my family.  Not gonna sweat this stuff.  

1 minute ago, SargassoPirate said:

I still see people walking around outside or alone in their car wearing a mask.  I always wonder what the science behind their decision is.

 

She Who Must Be Obeyed said it could be for warmth during the winter months, but when it's 80 degrees.

 

 

When I go to Vegas or if I am somewhere where there is a lot of smoking, I wear a mask.  It does help, and kills some of the smell.  From what I have heard, the casinos on Princess ships have smoking areas, but it spreads out all over.  The masks will help.  

How weird will it look if I wear rubber gloves all the time?  LOL

Going on a 16 day cruise to HI.  Gonna bring masks for tight spaces.  I have had 3 shots and Covid once (was no fun).  I had the flu a few months ago that was way worse than Covid.  My wife, while being exposed to a few with covid, never got it.  I am hoping that the ship does not get hit with any of those viruses.  The NORO virus scares me the most.  

I have learned that most people are inconsiderate and selfish, and do not care if they infect someone else.  Going out into crowded spaces, no matter what you have, cold, flu, or whatever, is inconsiderate and selfish.  But its gonna happen.

I take it that you can use cash in both the machines and table games?  I do not like to gamble on credit cards.  Only bring what I am willing to lose.

Last year, the Oasis new year cruise, we had a table of 10. My brother, and the 2 wives. We sat down to eat, and 6 women, all in their 30's sat at the table. They were friends Baltimore, and they were all recently divorced. They were so funny discussing their divorced husbands, how they were treated, other personal habits, etc. The 4 of us could not stop laughing. This went on for all 7 nights. They never had more than one drink apiece at each dinner. On the 4th night, one of them was obviously drunk and the others were helping her to the table. As she came up to the table, she must have passed out or tripped, as she fell and her head just missed the table and landed in my sister in law's lap. Before they rest of them could lift her up, she threw up in my sister in laws lap. What a mess. The rest of them helped her up, my sister in law was just about hosed down by a couple of the wait staff. She went and changed clothes and came back. We ended up just laughing about it. The drunk one was escorted somewhere else by one of her friends, who came back, and the 9 of us left had a fun dinner. Listening to those ladies was probably the funniest thing we had ever been involved in.

Other than that cruise, all the other cruises were with big family groups that took up 2 or 3 tables.

We were on Oasis for the New Years cruise. On the way from Nasau to St Thomas, it was very windy. Sometimes 50kt across the deck (30 kt headwinds and 20 kts cruise into it). The deck lounges were sliding all over from the wind. You could feel some motion, but nothing bad. There were about 8 foot seas. The pools were sloshing a little. There was a danger of wind burn more than sunburn.

On the way back from ST. Martin, it was much nicer. You could not tell that you were on a ship if you could not see the water. I did the ship tour thing on the last day at sea, and you could not even tell you were on a ship. Could have been any building with a mechanical control room.

A few years ago, on Radiance OTS, we went to Mexico from Los Angeles, and that was much rougher. We were moving all over in the currents and seas.

None of it bothered me, and I am very sensitive to motion.

Guess he is still my friend! Glad they were able to save 2. I am on the Oasis now.

Now not sure the friend on the ship is not pulling a fast one on me. Not a funny topic. I will pay more if I heat anything else. Now think it's a prank on me.

Just heard all passengers accounted for. They are still searching the water with search lights and life boats. They are checking to see if any crew are missing now. Ship was on its way to Aruba.

Just heard from a friend, man overboard on Coral Princess. Any one else hear anything?

This new years will be my third time on Oasis, full ship. There are 10 of us. We leave the ship when in port. During sea days, we never had a problem with lines, except possible the Windjammer for lunch, as mentioned in the other posts. We have made all our show and food reservations for the entire cruise already. At night, the 2 parks are not that bad. As for the elevators, I have been in the Radiance class, and the Carnival Breeze, also (will not do that again) and the elevators were busy at dinner start times, and after shows. Other than that, there was really no problem. We found that after dinner, a walk up or down the stairs was not a bad thing, and gives you a little excercise.

I have bad knees and would rather take the elevator, but the stairs were fine.

If you stress out thinking you will be crowded out, you will not have a good time. Go with the flow, relax, drink, enjoy the trip. Sometimes the people watching is more fun than anythign else.

Lastly, in all of our cruises, we have never had to deal with obnoxious or nasty people. Everyone we met was friendly and respectful. Guess we were lucky.

I will be on Oasis in December over new years. The last time I was on Oasis (year and half ago) the slots were OK. I hit a royal flush, and a few other good hands, and some good slot hits, all playing dollars. Since the ship has been retrofitted, did they change the casino on the Oasis? Anyone know?

I called Club Royal about 4 weeks ago and booked the Oasis for the New Years cruise. I get $1100 in cash and got casino rate, which is about, including insurance, for 3 of us, $1800 less than what I can get on the website. I looked at JR suites, but it is almost 5K per person, and not really worth it. I just want the large balcony anyway, as I sometimes sleep out there.

We just made reservations through Club Royal for the Oasis New Years cruise, then had it transfered to our normal TA. I play slots and VP. This will be our third Oasis trip. I get free drinks in the casino any time I want. I also get over $1K cash when I show up. The room rates were much lower than the site or my TA could get. I have an ocean large balcony with 3 people and the cost is less than 2 people and includes taxes, gratuities, and insurance. I am not sure what changes there will be next year. I am a 7 Stars at Caesars, and I wish I could transfer that over. On NCL, I get free everything.

I have been on the Oasis twice now. First time one could not feel the ship move at all. The second time there was mostly 3 to 5 foot seas, but very windy. We could feel the ship moving a lot, in every direction. Watching the show in the main theater, you could feel the ship moving up, tilting right, and then coming down. There were people leaving the show. The wind can move the ship around sometimes more than the sea. The ship is a great big wall that the wind pushes. They cannot put the ship into the wind unless the course is into the wind. Also, the hurricane can rough up the ocean for a week or two, depending on its speed out of the area. The hurricane can be 150 miles away, but still affect the seas.

I should get lucky enough to win something big enough to require a W2G. I have never gotten that lucky in 5 cruises. However, I have seen on RCI and Carnival that when you win under 10K, they give you a paper receipt and you collect at the cage. They did not issue any W2G's. I do not know what they do now, or how they handle it.

We will be on the Dec 26th/15 cruise on Oasis. It will be full. I booked a couple of days ago, and there were only 3 D1's available. I got one of them.

I just went on the site to see if the price came down. There are no D1's or any balconies that will hold more than 2 cruiser available, acording to the website. 6000 people all in one place. It will be crowded.