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Going through Boston on 8/20. We are on the 9 night Odyssey that leaves on 8/25. So a few days in Rome pre-cruise. There was a crazy good price on Delta One this week that I grabbed immediately. I've been checking daily for 3 or 4 weeks now to lock in the airfare. Edit to add we get off on 9/3. We will take good care of her for you. Sailing in a JS that we booked at the Next Cruise desk in December 2022.

Thanks for this timely post. I just booked my airfare for our Odyssey sailing out of Rome this coming August. Due to the price of my Delta One tickets, I picked the insurance option. The cost to insure just that trip is more than a yearly plan, and the Emergency Transportation coverage was only $50,000. Everything else is almost identical to what you posted above and I have started to review it on the Allianz site. I'm still in my cancel window on that add on so I'll be signing up for a yearly plan instead once I verify my thinking is correct. It makes a lot more sense with 2 weeks in Europe and the upcoming Bella 2 and 2.5 cruises already booked.

Book the JS if you are good with the price. I feel the Diamond benefit is worth the chase based on how close you are. I have my own chase on now for D+. It involves a JS for a 9 night Greek Isles later this year. Then a 7 and 4 day in 2025. After that, the points won't matter unless the program gets revamped. Your math is correct. If you book the 7 night in a JS, you get the points you need. It is a meaningful tier to achieve.

Agree, not a myth. I've used it twice in the past 18 months or so. Perhaps their algorithms know I will use it and now exclude me from the offers. 🙂 Never on my Delta AMEX. But twice on my Blue account. Edit to add only one was the 25,000 bonus points offer. One coming out of Covid was something like spend $1500, get $500 back. I may be off on the exact numbers. But that one was a great deal.

My boys always got a good value out of the Refreshment package. Mocktails, Freestyle Machines and Red Bull. Black Friday pricing is usually the best for that package always. Although not as great this year on my upcoming cruises.

Just booked the Sushi and Saki lunch for my Odyssey cruise in January. Your review sold me. I’ve done the sushi making class and ate a few meals in Izumi on Odyssey in Feb 2022. Hope my experience is half as nice as yours was.

Some food pics from Quantum. Three nights I was brought multiple entrees at the same time. I only ordered a second one on lobster night. Not sure why I got special treatment. It was our 30th Anniversary. But I think it has more to do with the limited number of top tier on the cruise. We are Diamond and got a free backstage tour of the show area on the last sea day.

Makes me wonder if this is by ship/staff. On Quantum in June, I ordered the NY Strip in addition to the Lobster. My wait staff brought both at the same time. In fact, several nights they brought me an extra entree without even asking! Maybe because that cruise only had 250 Diamond, D+ and Pinnacle members total. I agree the lobster tail entree should be a minimum of 2. They are tiny.

I have asked for Patron Reposado and Grey Goose on my Diamond drinks without issue. I've always asked for an upper call when they make it and have never been charged. You should be good. Last cruise was Quantum in June for reference.

Great pics. Congrats on your 40th. My wife and I just did our 30th on Quantum at the end of June. I'm ready to go back again. Loved the ship and loved the cruise.

I've also done both on the same cruise. The only way I choose Labadee over Coco Cay would be time of year. The water can be rather cold at Coco Cay Jan/Feb. So in that situation Labadee may be the better option. Labadee also has the better zipline, the dragon coaster, and feels more remote. But for actual beach and food, Coco Cay by a mile.

So whatever was going on my week has gotten worse. We also heard on day 1 that it would be closed all week. I even heard one person say "a guest last week broke the glass and that is why it is closed". At least, that is what they said they were told.

I was on the June 26th sailing. The North Star was hit or miss all week. It was not running on embarkation day. But it was up during the week as well as the morning of Dawes Glacier. I finally managed a complimentary reservation for 2:00 pm the last day. I go up to find someone sitting at the desk saying it was closed and would not reopen this cruise. It was not weather related. So the truth is probably somewhere in the middle. A lingering issue that causes them to shut it down for reasons only known to the tech team.

If you can go a few days early, you can join Bella 2.5 on Utopia. 2/10-14/25.

I just got off Quantum this past Monday. The ship and service were top notch. Our dining room staff was some of the best I've had since the restart. Great bar staff at Pool Bar and Schooner. Kate at Cafe 270 was an amazing barista. All were personable and I enjoyed spending time with them. The only issue we encountered was the North Star was having issues throughout the week. When we finally got a reservation for the last day, we went up to find it was closed again and would not re-open. Now, on this cruise there were less than 250 Diamond, D+ and Pinnacle. In fact, over 3000 had no C&A status. So bad reviews may be people expecting something the product isn't. It was my first Alaska cruise so the experience was new for me as well. But the ship and staff were some of the best. You should have nothing to worry about.

Like @Tree_skier said, I seem to recall opening around 2:00 or 3:00 on Port days. It was also open on embarkation day around 11:30 in Feb. 2022. I was on a B2B that month so went directly there to hang out for a few hours while everyone else piled on for week 2. Never needed a reservation for anything.

Yes. Pretty much. I think I booked an interior last week of August on Indy last year for $229. And that was only because I picked my own room! I would do that in a New York minute again this year if it was available. For my Alaska trip on Quantum next week, it is absolutely insane the price increase on that since I booked it last March. More than double per person! Royal may actually blackball me for the price of all my upcoming booked cruises! 🙂

This exactly. When I book a cruise, I pretty much know what I'm getting in to. If I don't like the price, I will skip booking it. In over 10 years of booking cruises, I think I have only called for an adjustment one time. And that was moving it from refundable to non-refundable to save some money just before final payment. But by that point, I knew 100% I was going. So that didn't matter. In today's pricing environment, I understand the frustration if this has been your historical pattern for cruising. I get it. I was looking for a bargain to get 3 cabins for a 4 day out of Canaveral late Summer/early Fall like I did last year. But I laugh every time I look at current rates. Not happening at this time. So in this case I will pass. But for everything I have booked right now, it would take a miracle to get a lower price.

I can't help you with a JS on Oasis, but I was in a Central Park balcony in December. I didn't see an outlet close by so I asked our room steward for an extension cord. He said "no need" and pulled the bed out revealing an outlet directly behind the bed.

I'll be on Quantum in 11 days with my CPAP machine. I'll check to see if there is an outlet on both sides and report back.

My only disappointment with this change is for the Next Cruise deposit. I have two JS booked over the next 18 months. Of course those were already non-refundable because of the NC booking so that doesn't change. Like others here, I have every intention of taking every cruise I book. But I'm more willing to lose $200 versus $500 plus if I can't go. And I don't like the idea of the interest free loan for what may be over a year away. They got a lot of that from be during the big C! Truth be told the only reason I booked these upcoming as JS was to get the double points to get me to D+. After that, I'm fine with standard balcony cabins going forward. Now, if the benefits increase, lets talk further.

You got that right! End of August last year I got a promenade view room for $229 a person for that 4 night. I was hoping to get something close to that this summer. I keep checking but like the price you show, nothing is even close to something I am willing to pay.

Strangely, I got a residency discount for Ohio on Independence last August. Shocked me. It was a dirt cheap cruise and we were also the only ship in Coco Cay that day. I wish they would put some of those up for this summer. Price is almost 3 times what I paid last year at the moment.

Can't help others with this thread. I tried to hit Diamond before my youngest turned 18. But covid had other ideas and our 6 night on Independence in 2021 was cancelled. But with the lift/shift to Odyssey in 2022 at least they got double points on that one while my wife and I moved on to Diamond in our JS. Both of my boys are now just 15 nights away from Diamond. All actual points they have earned. We took them on their first cruise in 2010 and they are hooked. So much so they now want to take their girlfriends on a cruise. So the loyalty does work. Agree with others it should not reset like airlines. I've held a Delta status since 2009. I do work hard to keep that. But vacations are not the same and they can't follow that model.

That one hurts. Should have tried harder to make it work. Only one ever visit for me to Augusta. Maybe I will hit the lottery again some day.