pcur

On 10/16/2023 at 12:39 PM, firefly333 said:

So I told my TA to add it as a b2b. He might have said he had to do a little tap dancing to make it work with group rates because of it being listed as a holiday. 

 

See here it is on rcl, then the next page where you put in the code, it took it, says applied. Then the new lower prices.. 

 

Why I say don't take everything as written in stone. 

 

Agree.  My TA told me a few days ago if Royal's booking system won't calculate the DP340 rate, he calls to see if it can be manually applied.  

I just checked my Cruise Planner a few minutes ago for a cruise I'm taking this Sunday.  It was booked with a TA, and Tlbecker1 is correct above.  Even with a TA, the "You don't have a balance due" statement still shows for my cruise.  That is verification the balance was paid.

However, even though you know you're paid in full, I would not use that TA again who is sloppy with the financial documentation.  

On 3/2/2024 at 11:26 PM, psberg said:

This is a pretty simple solution, which consists of telling the travel insurer that I have two primaries and have elected to file with the travel insurer first and representing that I will not file a claim with my primary health insurer, which happens to be Medicare, unless the travel insurer shorts me on the claim.

 

Edited to add: This is a response to NorthStateCruiser.

In most insurance claims processing, the insured does not make this decision.  It doesn't matter which one you want to pay, it's usually the insurer following insurance laws from your US state of residency.  Plus, if they are set up to secondary, they ask for other insurance you have on the application.  Many travel insurance policies don't allow any deviation from their primary/secondary liability for payment.  You have to shop for a travel policy that does allow for them to be primary.

Standalone Medicare doesn't pay outside the US.  However, Senior Advantage/Medicare combined coverage can cover.  I live in CA and have Kaiser Sr Advantage with Medicare, and it pays for everything anywhere in the world, but copays and deductibles are applied.  The travel insurance, as secondary, would cover the copays and deductibles the primary (Kaiser in my case) doesn't pay.

21 hours ago, notscb said:

I'm surprised that you're not considering leaving Royal.

 

I'm often a solo cruiser and found a post-covid 4 night cruise on Freedom for $326 for an oceanview room at the front of the ship. Fast forward to the exact same cruise a year later and its nearly $750.

 

Royal isn't trying to cater to the solo cruise market, and there's a certain weekend cruiser who built his channel on Royal as a solo cruiser who also has had to change his model because RCL has been getting so expensive for solo cruisers.

 

I've been cruising on Carnival since my first Royal cruise- and even though I still try to go for Royal and price it out, they just aren't doing enough to earn my business over their competitors (price wise).

21 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

 

I have no interest in breaking down the dollar value of various perks.

I have too many money saving perks to give up to leave Royal.  I've previously priced cruises with Princess, HAL, and NCL, and the solo rates were much higher for the cruise I was booking at the time with Royal.  That's because of the DP340 discount code for solo cruisers.  Even though I may have found a few less expensive on other lines, giving up the points on Royal to make 340 points back then wasn't worth the savings on a single cruise or two.

I did take the time to price out what I'm saving with my Crown and Anchor perks, aside from the DP340 discount, and it's $156/ day.  6 drinks with gratuity, wifi, a wash and fold laundry bag.

That savings per day is almost equal to my average cost per day for the cruise.  Actually not surprising why I stay with Royal.

I am deeeeeeelighted to have the Quantum in SP!!  I just booked a 6 night Mexico today for October 2025.

If enough people ask for Hawaii, they might add it to their itineraries.  They aren't going to do that from the get-go, however.  They have to make sure it's gonna make money for them.

I've sailed on the Navi a lot since she came to SP, and the Quantum's itineraries do give more choices.  

The one thing my TA and I noticed was RCCL was stingy with discounts, or they haven't got things completely set up for booking yet.  He will have to call and get my solo discount manually handled, plus there are no group bookings available to him yet.  I'm OK with all of it, because the rate I got is a good one, and I've got 20 months for the group rates to kick in.

On 3/1/2024 at 3:00 PM, taznremmy said:

Look at Princess.

Princess and HAL have great Hawaii and South Pacific itineraries. 

Because many travel insurance carriers consider themselves secondary IF you already have coverage that will cover you.  Many primary carriers do not cover their policy holders outside the country of residency.  The EOB is to confirm what was denied or paid by your home country's coverage.  Even if they denied everything, the travel insurance company then knows they pay primary.  It's usually clearly stated in terms and conditions of coverage.

I had a friend call me up about a year ago to ask about travel insurance.  (She knew I had worked in the health insurance industry at one time.) I told her the first thing you do is see what you already have: country of residency coverage, credit card benefits, etc. THEN, go buy travel insurance to cover the rest.

She found out her primary (government) coverage covered her outside the US. 

I don't need any medical coverage from travel insurance, for instance, because my Senior Advantage Plan pays outside the US.

Absolutely NOT thinking of leaving RCCL.  I'm a solo cruiser now, so my rule of thumb about pricing is if the price is close to a hotel room, the rest of what I get is cherries on top my cruise sundae.

I went back 2 years and figured my price per night all the way from then to October 2025:  $168 / night sailing solo. Mostly Virtual Balcony or inside cabins, but there's also OV, JS, and Balcony cabins in there, too.

Ships from Grandeur all the way up in size to Quantum.  

Food included, Coastal Kitchen on ship's with it; Chops or Coastal Kitchen for breakfast every day; free wine, sparkling water, cheese, and fruit in my cabin; 6 drinks a day, free wifi, free bag of laundry each cruise, priority boarding, lounge access 24/7 with appetizers in the evening.

Transportation Southampton to LHR this coming April for half what it would cost me independently as a single.

So, I think I'll stay.

On 2/28/2024 at 6:43 AM, Biker19 said:

Go to a dining venue.

I agree, and I go to lunch at one of specialty restaurants that is open on embarkation day.  Give them my list for my UDP reservations for the cruise, tip them, and have a nice lunch away from the WJ.  

1 minute ago, HappyTexan44 said:

One thing that didn't occur to me until just now.   We only got a few inches in the ice bucket every day.    It wasn't a problem since I just moved the stuff that really needed to stay cold to the medicine fridge.  But, without it, that would have been annoying.  

Yes, the ship we were on at the time of the Frozen Insulin event, did not have medical fridges to provide.

2 hours ago, Mum2Mercury said:

PCUR, that looks like a worthwhile purchase.  

It really is.  With insulin, we didn't want to depend on a melting ice bucket. 

That's why we asked our cabin steward to put the supply in the housekeeping refrigerator, and he must have had an ESL problem, and delivered it back to us frozen!  The ship's doctor had a FIT, and told me he would add this incident to Housekeeping's training. He gave us two bottles he had in the medical center, and had a pharmacy in Cozumel deliver us 4 more literally minutes after the ship docked the next day.

We then had to pay full price for the rest in Key West and get reimbursed over $1,000 by our health insurance when we got home.  

8 hours ago, Scottdalfonso said:

The food is fine, people want convenience and cool experiences.... 

You and I will not agree on this one.  I just got through with 45 days on the Vision and Anthem. The food was still a problem on the Vision (exactly a year after I sailed when the menu changes occured), and the Anthem was much better quality.  I did notice the variety in the Windjammer had been reduced on the Anthem, too.

Even if your reservations are linked, show up with the cabin numbers, anyway.  Go to the specialty restaurant on the first day that is open for lunch, and ask them to make all your reservations for the cruise.  As mentioned above, have the cruise days and times listed with the cabin numbers.  Give the list to the person at the podium (a tip would be nice, too), and go have lunch there.  By the time you're finished, all your reservations will be done.

Be flexible with the times: e.g. 5:30 - 6:30pm.  

All specialty restaurants have large tables, so being there on embarkation day when the lunch restaurant first opens not only gives you the opportunity to get your reservations done, but also you get to have a great lunch away from the really crowded and noisy Windjammer.

Sometimes Smokey's sarcasm cup overflows.....

To answer your question:  I think the only way to find out is to fake-book a specialty restaurant after you've purchased the Unlimited Dining Package, and see what your payment options are.  I just did this for one of my cruises, and it's still asking for immediate payment.  So, they haven't updated the Cruise Planner with the ability to book and use the UDiningP to "pay" for the reservation.

After a disastrous experience with housekeeping freezing my husband's insulin, we started bringing our own: $99

I suggest bringing several external power banks.  I just bought one of these and I love it: $20

And a car-to-USB adaptor ($7), since the mini-fridge includes a car adapter.

All of the above is from Amazon, and $127 for peace of mind flying or driving to/from and on the ship, with no iffy fridges from the ship.

When my husband passed, I gave all of this to someone on the Disabled Cruisers board here on CC. Seems someone had just posted her brother was in the hospital with a diabetes crises, but was being released, and they didn't know what to do about his medication on their cruise.  Sometimes life includes serendipity...............

I also was blown away by Up in the Air, and We Will Rock You and Mama Mia are my other two favorites.

13 hours ago, PG_Cruiser said:

Reposting this to compare

 

 

So he took out the Baileys and replaced it with Cointreau and Amaretto.  Didn't the Cointreau change the flavor profile? (I'll try to make one later lol)

 

The Cointreau added just a slight orange note to the drink, but I think orange and chocolate pair well, anyway.  My introduction to chocolate martinis years ago was with no Baileys.  One of the best I've had was made with chocolate vodka.

By the way, Royel's is made with vanilla vodka, not house vodka.

The turnaround process is dependent on the ship being cleared, so it can be quick, or if there are stragglers from the previous cruise, it can be slow.

Depending on the terminal, you may have seating while you wait for Customs to clear the ship, or you may have to stand.  Almost all of my b2b's have had seating.

I always have something to read for turnaround morning, since you can sit in the gathering lounge for a while, and then again in the terminal.  The gathering lounge will have self-serve coffee, juice, water, and pastries for everyone.

Just follow the directions on the information sheet delivered to your cabin, and you'll be fine.

If you cannot navigate stairs well, tell the crew staff, and you can go with the "elevator" group.  You all end up in the same place at about the same time, anyway.

I just got off the Anthem, and the bar waiter in the Concierge Lounge modified a chocolate martini for me.  I have problems ingesting the "cream" alcohols. He gave me the recipe at the end of the cruise.  I call it Royel's (yes, that's his name) Chocolate Martini:

1.5 oz vanilla vodka

.5 oz Creme de Cacao

.5 oz Cointreau

small amount of Amaretto

Line inside the martini glass with chocolate syrup (I prefer small amount)

Shake well and pour into martini glass

I was on the Liberty last November and loved the ship.  No complaints.

I was on the Vision for 21 days last month (January), and I will not sail on the Vision again.  The ship, and my cabin, has maintenance issues.  The joke around the ship was the two inside elevators that you must take to get up to Deck 11 are scary.  They indicate going up, then go down, and vice-versa.  You get on and empty elevator and it won't register the floor you want, and goes to some other floor.  The elevator doors are almost impossible to re-open if they are closing.  

It's like those elevators have their own agenda.

The food was meh, in my opinion.

And the over-crowding in the Crown Lounge was outrageous, while the Concierge Lounge was near empty almost all the time.

On 2/14/2024 at 12:10 AM, happy cruzer said:

Regarding booking the reservation online ahead of time and then getting a refund because you have UDP -  has anyone ever had an issue getting the refund?  How and when do you get it?  Is there anything in writing that you can use to help get the refund.

 

Would really like to reserve the lunches ahead of time.  Thanks

I tell them at the podium when I check in.  Since I have the Unlimited Dining Pkg in these situations, I've never had a problem.  They want me to come back again!

I would suggest getting all your pre-cruise ressies straightened out the first day.

They take care of it by the time I finish my meal.

I've read posts about passengers having issues, but not recently, and I never had a problem.

I just got back from b2b's on two ships.  My inflatable mattress pad absolutely made sleeping VERY comfy.  Coming home I just deflated and folded it flat to fit the bottom of my suitcase. The rolled up bag took up too much suitcase real estate with its dimensions.

40 minutes ago, cruiseguy1016 said:

I hate to turn this into a tipping thread but here goes. We (myself included) need to be tipping more than $1. If drinks now cost $14, then a $1 tip is less than 10%.

The bar staff in the Lounges for upper levels of C&A members are happy to get ANY tips.  Many, many passengers don't tip at all for their drinks, because they are "free".  I have cruising friends that didn't use to tip, either, until they silently watched as I tipped for every single one of my free drinks.  They got the message.

On 1/9/2024 at 12:47 PM, cruiseboy89130 said:

I'm guessing you tapped your card on Anthem also and forgot about it....

Can't see how it would work without a card....

You are correct, and apologies for the incorrect information.  I wear my seapass on a slip-in lanyard, and my memory was it was not IN the machine.  I forgot that it's a tap registration for your seapass account.

Don't know if this has been passed along, but if one is planning on cashing out all obc (non-refundable and refundable), wait until the second day if your TA's refunds are credited then.  Mine are, so I want all the obc showing a negative balance in my onboard account.  Then, I play my free money and cash out all my obc by transferring it as a room charge.  BUT, IF YOU DO THIS OBC CASH-OUT, YOU ARE BLOCKED FROM DOING ANY FURTHER MONEY TRANSFERS TO YOUR ONBOARD ACOUNT FOR THE REST OF THE CRUISE.  New money in the machine is fine, but no room charges.  This has been true on both the Vision and the Anthem since the beginning of January 2024.

On 1/12/2024 at 2:56 PM, cruisinfanatic said:

There was only one and had nothing to do with your dismissed at the time "idea"

We agree to disagree..............