drowelf

All the lines do these during the SA Summer Season and no month is really better than another as far as the weather goes. What does count through is what the critters are doing at those times of the years. I don't have the details off hand, but whale migrations, penguin mating, seals etc. are the things to try and schedule for. Weather is going to be what you get. It can always get bad at any time. For example when we did Santiago to BA in 2015 we had excellent weather crossing the Drake Passage both ways. Talking to the crew on they said that the cruise from BA to Santiago was quite different, with 30 feet seas in the Drake Passage both ways. So be prepared for the worst weather and be pleasantly surprised when it does not appear.

Thanks a bunch, I did not get the email for PUP, but I did the survey

I text in Airplane mode all the time on my S20+. Once connected to the Wifi I can text all day long. I'll have to check my settings, but I don't think I've ever had to explicitly enable WiFi Calling to do texts. As long as I'm connected to the ship (or airplane) AP and have Internet access, texts come in just fine.

I have issues with getting my ownership verification and used the in-app message feature to contact them. Yeah!!!

You can always give some fictitious information for those data point. And you don't have to give it access to your brokerage account. I printed off the relevant copy of my recent statement, did the normal black out process that I would do for sending into CCL/RCL and uploaded a picture of that to the app. After a couple of days (and a message to poke them) I got the email on verification and then went back into the app and claimed my perk. Not the best system. But why anyone would give this app access to your brokerage account is beyond me. Thats also one of the key items that adds a new step to the old process. Once your verified, you have to go and claim your perk. So Step 1 - Get verified, Step 2 - Claim Perk (OBC). On the Claim Perk action it asks for the booking number so that it can determine how much OBC you get.

I actually miss the daily papers. As soon as we boarded I would go to the front desk and ask that all the English Language versions be delivered to my cabin each day. Then I would have some reading for trips to the facilities. I remember one cruise when it was a bumper crop of papers as I would get US, UK, Canadian and Australian versions. The first 3 would come in the morning and the Australian would be with the nightly delivery of the of the daily program on the bed.

We started out with 100 shares of CCL and RCL in the DW's IRA-SEP account over 20 years ago. Paid in the low single digits for the CCL and somewhere in low $20's for the RCL. Since then we have sold and rebought many times over the years. Sold high and bought low, depending on when and how many cruises we had scheduled. But again its only 100 shares which is such a small percentage of our total portfolio, that I don't sweat it when its down. I've recouped several times its value in OBC over the past 20 years and since our cruising is about to accelerate over the next 5 years, we will get even more ROI from our measly 100 shares. If it was not for the OBC I would not even invest in the 100 shares, as with the debt load the lines have right now, its probably going to be a long time before dividends come back and profits are going to have to be really high to pay off the short term debt they took on to survive Covid.

Always on a cruise ship, which is why I spend the majority of my money at the Craps/Blackjack Tables. Might play a slot or two if they one of the machines that I just enjoy the game (like Lucky Lemmings). Thanks to everyone. Have to stock up on AUD during our pre-cruise time in Sydney, unless I can get cash via the Casino with any surcharges.

And when everyone rushes to that side of the ship, it noticeably tips in that direction. 😁 and if the crew joins you could be in danger of rolling over.

Something I've never encountered, as our Folio has always been USD. We have a 2025 New Zealand Cruise, where my booking states that the on-board folio will be in AUD. I don't have an issue with this, as I figure it must be an Australian regulation of some kind, since even on our European cruises the on-board folio has always been USD. But I do have a question as to what currency the casino will require? Will I need AUD for the table games or will they still be running on USD? What about the slot machines, which my DW prefers.

While its an unpleasant thought, stuff happens and its best to be prepared, both for you and your spouse and whoever has to take care of things in the event you both suffer an accident. Ditto for us. I have the trip details and the "Just in Case" letter which gives all the basic information on on our wishes and financial information and contacts. This is either mailed or hand delivered to my SIL/BIL before we depart. Part of the standard instructions is that the sealed "Just In Case" letter be shredded when we return. As we also have a small business, it has our CPA, client contacts and info on outstanding bills/invoices. Its more of a concise summary, as it also has information on the pointers to where to find the detailed information. This really import stuff is in a small fire safe and the remainder in a 2 file cabinets, the locations of which are detailed in the "JIC" letter.

You have any experience here, with this? I'm not sure I understand your comment. We are going to be one-half of the connecting rooms, so what would a family that likes them have to do with this, as the occupants of the other room are unknown to us. Or are you telling me that I should give up the room just so a family that want connecting rooms can book it?

We've booked a mini-suite on the Royal Princess (Aloha Deck) and just realized that it is connecting room. Does anyone have experience with one of these rooms. How much noise comes through the connecting door and does having the door mean you have less closet or other space that would be there if the door was not.

Ditto on that. I would not even book a tour without a guarantee of at least 90% of the cost back. I can understand compensating them a little for the inconvenience of a ship missing a port as that can be a major impact to the financials of tour providers in the small ports and even the bigger ones. Just think of all the tours that got canceled in Egypt and Israel this year because many lines have ditched those ports for the foreseeable future. When I was in discussion with an operator in Egypt and had questions about why my refund was taking so long, I was told that they had to issue push almost 10,000 refunds through their payment processor, which really overloaded that service.

If its s small amount (< 100pp) I'll just cover it and collect it on cruise. If its more than that I'll generally try and collect most of the payment prior to the cruise, either via Venmo, Zelle, Paypal or even a check in the mail. Lots of private tours I've been on have also been pay (other than a deposit) the day of the tour at the port, so no money has to be collected before hand.

It looks like my poke with an email got them off the dime as I received an email today that stated my "Your proof of share ownership has been processed. Please go to the Stockperks app to explore and redeem your perks." So now I can proceed to claim the benefit. No I did not, as my proof of ownership had not been approved so that was not an option. Actually when I did go back into the app and tried to select it, it told me that ownership had not been verified so please try again after I received the approval email. I did step one, but could not proceed to step 2 since it was not approved. Was it not clear from my post that I was still awaiting approval?

I uploaded my modified statement on the 15th and still awaiting StockPerks to complete the validation. Anyone else had it take this long? The email I received after the upload said I would receive further communication in 2 business days. Well its been more than 2 so far.

Does anyone know if I can register the stock perks account to me or does it have to be in the stockholders name? Both the RCL and CCL shares are in my DW's IRA-SEP Account. We did this because while I'm never going to take a RCL/CCL cruise without her, she sometimes takes girlfriend cruises without me. So decades ago when we purchased the stock, we had it stashed in her IRA-SEP. Since I have access to both mine and her account, I would simply print out the relevant page from her statement, black out the relevant portions and then fax it in with the cover letter. If I have to start doing this from her phone, its going to be a pain.

Are these really routers or just access points. I can't see the reason to put a router in each room, that not how wireless networks work. You would want either Access Points or Extenders in various locations, but unless each room is its own network (sub-net), you would not need routers.

Layers are the key, along with your outermost layer being waterproof. Another valuable extra is the dry chemical hand warmers. On a Holland Cruise many years ago, we spent over 7 hours out on deck watching the views and wildlife. We each had a couple of the hand warmers in jacket pockets and was able to stick our hands in occasionally to get them warmer. I also stuffed a couple in the bottom of my shoes to help keep the feet warm. What with undershirt, shirt, sweater, vest, jacket, long johns and jeans, my core was always comfy outside, it was the extremities (feet, hands) that got cold at times, especially the camera hand, as I could not wear thick gloves, as I had to hold and operate both my camera and phone at times.

The room layout picture they showed in the MoveUp offer does not look like a shower to me. Its more tub like, as it does not show a shower door. Here is a clip from it.

Can anyone answer a simple question about the Ultra Deluxe Concierge Cabins on the Infinity? I know the normal Concierge Cabins are shower only in the Bathrooms. The deck plans seem to indicate that the UC might have a tub/shower. Can anyone comment? Thanks

Just got this answer from my TA direct from Viking. Called was told you can bring whatever water or soda you would like onboard.

No problems with ships water, but as this is our first time on Viking, I believe free soft drinks are only available with meals as I read things. I don't drink alcohol, so I like a soda or two in the evenings or during day at non-meal times. The DW likes to have some bottled water to take off the ship with us on ShoreEx and possibly store in the fridge (or balcony for this colder trip). Does Viking just give out bottles of water for free at any time? Is soda available any time for no cost? As I said, first time on Viking River and I could not find any definitive answers on-line. So I thought I'd ask.

I've search the internet and poured over the cruise contract and can not find any reference to the policy on Viking River Cruises about bring water and/or soda on-board at boarding. Does anyone have the answer to this question? What is their policy? I'm also going to have my TA call them and ask. TIA