sofietucker

Fixed times. You are very less likely to be seated with others at an "off" time than the fixed seatings. You will very likely be seated at the same table each night, unless you request an change. They use algorithms to put folks together who have commonalities: age range, country/preferred language, etc. In the dark ages, they used to ask for occupation, religion, and level of education and factor in those too... Guessing that yes, solo cruisers will be seated together when possible,

Just do review your policy; they offer a bunch of different plans...

Just guessing, but that $23.88 may be a port-fee refund for the missed port, NOT a missed-port refund. We also once got the port fee back from the ship when Key West was cancelled due to waves*--but NOT for their private island the next day, which was also too rough to visit. I guess that port doesn't incur fees. We got missed-port refunds for both "sea days" from ins. company. We got the Azamara port fee refunded for Volos when they rerouted to Cesme. Insurance refunded for that missed port as well, even though we did go to a different port that day. *Which has happened on our last 3 attempts to visit. If I were a gambler, lol...

Yep. On the Edge in 2021... But not on the Silhouette in AQ last month. Will see what happens in a couple of weeks.

No calculations. It's a flat missed-port rate in their policy. Someone in another forum once implied that we were greedy. But hey, it's included in their policy, which we paid for--and while missing Key West isn't a heartbreaker, some of the European ones are pretty special. St Malo? May not ever get back. And hey, if we didn't get, in terms of the itinerary, what we paid for, heck yeah we'll file a claim.

The notices from the ship that they canceled the port: screenshots or printed notices in the daily, etc. To be clear, this is with our travel insurance company. The most the ship ever compensates is the port fees.

We have missed many ports over the years, and our Allianz insurance has paid us, in every instance, $100pp, for each missed port. Most recently in Sept 2023, when we missed Volos, Greece.

Well, we're close to Elite Plus but have never done a B2B. Stay in Sky suites. We get all kinds of wine, flowers, and stuff like a fancy wine tumbler with coral etched on it, a fancy coaster, special leather-covered stainless-steel water bottles, lanyards, masks, etc.

They started pestering us to reserve events for this last time (we leave in 3 weeks) about 2 months out. If you have a TA, they can put in your preferred/reserved dining time. But you don't *have* to have reservations, which is why it's called anytime... The advantage is if you are planning to always attend the early--or late--show, you can align it with your dinner times and not worry about having to wait. The "most popular" time for reservations is 7:30, on any ship or land restaurant, btw. If that's when you want to eat, you might go ahead stalk them... You can also switch from anytime to the regular scheduled early (5-5:30pm) seating, and attend the late show, or late (8-8:30) seating and go to the early show, If those times work for you and you like consistency. BUT keep an eye on sailaway times in the ports and your excursions. You might not always be back on board in time to make it to a 5pm dinner, sometimes... Another thought: is there a special event that will cause you to want to dine at a different time? Check the daily schedules for parties, shows, celebrations...

We've bought rugs from that Kusadasi store, Caravanserai (amazing deals if you play the game nicely); have both carried them onboard (smaller) and have them shipped. The rug guys also visited us from DC. No problems. I've found wonderful saffron in both Istanbul--that got delayed and opened--and Greece (safe). We once brought jars of foie gras from Paris home in our suitcases (undeclared) that survived. Chocolates, sausages, and Dutch cheeses? Fine. If I collect a few tiny seashells or bits of wood--or a pumice pebble from Pompeii, which they highly encourage!--I don't declare. Our worst experience was with an antique Delft tray which I'd bought from our canal-house landlord in Amsterdam. Wrapped it in bubble wrap and clothes in my suitcase. Didn't declare. Bags delayed at JFK when we had to retrieve them, nearly missed our connection... When we got home, that tray had been smashed in such a way that only a hard, pointed blow could have done it. That is, not dropped. And no note that TSA had inspected the bag. GRRR!!! I did all the claim paperwork, took photos, submitted "comparable value" photos and identification of provenance, attached the airline's bag tag, etc. They did compensate me for the comparable value but I wasn't expecting it. Now we joke about evil JFK (have many stories in support)...

Most memorable cruise involving kids--since we often cruise on lines (HAL, Azamara, Oceania) or seasons (school year) which tend to be child free, lol--was in the Med once, in Sept. On the Brilliance, before RCI got all fancy with slides, etc. Our MDR table for 8 was all English-speakers: from Ireland, England, Bermuda and the US. The folks from Sheffield had brought their 10-yr-old grandson along, for educational purposes, one of the very few kids onboard*. "His Lordship" was a delight! Well behaved, literate but not precocious, enthusiastic pleasant but not rowdy... He was willing to try new foods but "had" to have ice cream every meal, lol. *For contrast was the family with 2 girls, whose father, when the maitre 'd initially attempted to seat them at our table, cried "But we don't KNOW those people!" We'd all dodged a bullet, according to His Lordship's reports on their shenanigans and spoilage...

We spent a week in Vegas when I was 11, sibs were 8 and 6. We lived at the pool all day (mommy and daddy slept); had great dinners; went to shows every night--with Shirley Temples as our 3-drink minimum--and got the autographs of Danny Kaye, Red Skelton, etc. Fabulous!

2. No. Choose the bigger discount. (I *think*, based on our experiences, that the discounts don't combine.) 3. You'll be able to reserve it--and know when it is!--as the time gets closer. The app is your friend...

Yep. Ultimately, I agree with Taylor Swift (while not a Swifty myself): "Trash takes itself out." They'll get theirs one way or another.

One reason I make a point to call out our great attendants by name in the post-cruise surveys, to help counter the folks like your neighbor

And re: Virgin: we docked next to them in Rhodes last fall, mingled in port, went on a private tour with some pax. Overwhelmingly in their 30s +/-, big time party vibe, folks shared with us that there are regular pajama parties on board...

We actually were cancelled for going to Volos due to severe ruinous flooding at that time... Went to Cesme (Turkey) instead. But we had PLANNED to visit the small-but-nice Volos archaeological museum and then go to the highly recommended beach, literally a couple of blocks away. We had originally tried to do a ship's excursion that went to a town (Makritsnya?) and then the beach--but that was cancelled on us TWICE. The other itinerary that went to that town would have put us in a coach for hours... I'm sure Volos will have bounced back by the time you go. PS--I found organic Greek saffron threads for 5 euro (a box of 4 envelopes) in Kalambaka. Astonishing.

Ditto. We had to ask what fish it was, lol.

We stay in Sky suites. Always find we can get room service dinner from Luminae. We get the Luminae burger on sea days. Our butler (or his colleague) makes our breakfast himself when we order it.

Probably first-timers who have an inflated idea of having "servants." I always remember how Queen Elizabeth took Megan Markle aside and explained "that's not how we speak to our staff." Folks show who they are...

Two other points: 1. School year schedule: folks with kids--even if they don't bring them along--and those in college incl. grad school--as well as teachers!--are going to be sailing May-August and during the holidays. We were on the Silhouette Jan 2-11. and there were a bunch of younger people. 2. Quality of activities on board can guide the action. We are hard-core music and dance people and will stick with the bands all night if they're good. Ditto disco. On our cruise, it was actually pretty bad. We almost always left the live bands after a set--as did most other folks. DJs were making poor music choices (not danceable, rap, etc.), ditto for the THREE silent disco events. The same for most of the pool music! A shame. But YMMV, depending on the talent on board. PS--we are 70 but folks think we're in our 50s, just young at heart.

The Persian Garden on Silhouette has in total: a 5-bed heated-lounger room, a steam room and a sauna, plus 2 open (mixed gender) showers. So no fancy salt rooms, etc. as on the Edge-class ships. Re: AQ, my comments from another thread, mentioning MDR but not the other specialties: We were in AQ on the Silly in January--usually get a suite, where you can choose to eat in Blu (reservations) along with Luminae, but they were all sold out and we liked the location. Well, nope. The spa amenities were useless: the spa concierge is just the regular one; we already get a better discount with loyalty status; we don't take classes, free or paid; and the stateroom "spa amenities" we reserved were laughable--no room at all to lay out a yoga mat, use bands or weights. Plus no fancy water (discontinued). Plus the room won't be any bigger than veranda or concierge, balcony quite small--and right under the noise of furniture being dragged about. BUT! The location makes it easy to avoid taking the elevator as everything's just a deck up... And re: the seafood in Blu, that was kind of a bust for us. The lump crab in the Crab Martini was mashed, tasted like tuna, and mixed with cucumber, not avocado as described. Saw mussels on the menu once, and octopus once. No clams (or as they spelled it in Venice, clambs)--but they had spaghetti vongole in the Lido. And mussels up there in the Lido a few times--and scallop ceviche, and tuna crudo, etc., in coconut shells... But they did have fish on the Blu menu every night. Shrimp and scallops occasionally (just as in the MDR, you can get shrimp cocktail every night--where they also have lobster on chic/formal night). It is less hectic and better service than MDR, though. All that being said: Sushi on 5 is good if you like sushi and hotpots. Service was very slow (the officers eat there a lot, lol). Didn't eat in these restaurants on this cruise but on many others: Tuscan Grille is great but A LOT of food (they were pushers, lol). Murano yummy French. Little Petit Chef is fine but a super limited menu and really about the show--and your meal's pace is strictly controlled by that. Check their menu to see if that's what you want to eat, lol.

There were 2 evening chic in January on a 9-night in the Caribbean. A bunch of folks were dressed to the nines--glitz and sparkle and even a couple of tuxes. Also camo pants and grunge. (And some odd couples, where one was dressy and the other super casual...)

We've done a bunch of snorkels on GC, but never on our preferred boat, a cat (including next month's, which photos show a motorized snorkel boat). It's not really a "day sail" type of island--maybe due to the currents, etc.?

Yep, it was quite a young wine! We had high hopes and drank it anyway, lol. Pretty plush with "healthy tannins," as I recall... Brought our aerator to the table to oxygenate it asap. (Mixed case, don't remember the chateau. At that time, Total Wine was heroically carrying 3-4 vintages each from quite a few vineyards, old & new worlds. Even had the lamented Marquis Phillips wines in multiple vintages--they later morphed into Molly Dooker).