fieldsofclover

Thanks for the free money, friends! 💸 Another thing I wouldn't have known about without you all.

The problem for me is I don't have anyone I'm close to who already has a local/regional TA they like, and expending a lot of energy on cold-calling/finding one online and rolling the dice over and over isn't something I want to spend time on... I would be more stressed about the trial-and-error situation than the potential money saved/spent. If referrals were allowed here on CC, I would have probably tried a few out a long time ago, but it's against TOS so no leads to go on here.

Argh, finally! 😅

This has probably been done to death, and I know there's no "right" answer, just what's right for an individual person... but for those of you who work with a PCC, or tried it but maybe went back to doing your own thing, I'd be grateful for your input. I've never worked with a travel agent and always booked everything direct - I don't mind getting into the details of things, and too much handholding from someone else makes me nervous (I suppose I have control issues 😅). I'm nowhere near retirement age but now I'm in a position to start cruising more over the next few years, so I figured that now might be a good time to establish a relationship with a PCC... if I'd be booking direct anyway, I'm assuming the cost would be the same but the PCC will get a commission out of it. Since I'm eyeing the promo that ends today I was also checking the options on a certain west-coast-warehouse-club TA, but I called the PCC I've been receiving emails from (we haven't actually worked together yet) and left them a voice mail, and they returned my voice mail maybe 20 minutes later! I'm pleasantly surprised, they offered to extend the promo an extra day in case we couldn't connect right away, etc. I'm realistic about the fact that any PCC is an agent of the company and not an advocate on my behalf the way an outside TA would be, etc. but since I would probably just be booking direct anyway I don't feel like I'm losing any TA-style advantage or service I would be getting otherwise. Anything huge I'm overlooking? Things I can ask them for/about that I wouldn't know otherwise?

OP definitely doesn’t live in a Comcast service area 🤔 Thankfully everything I’ve encountered in the cruise industry has been forgettable by comparison.

Location, location, location. (Just down the hall from the spa, and a long hike from the Neptune Lounge)

I’m on the same sailing. I wasn’t able to book any drinks/HIA packages while booking… I think I remember something saying that your cruise had to be a minimum of 7 nights for those.

I’ve been wondering this too. Itching to get Pacific coastal 2023 on the books 😅

The first part (“fully vaccinated”) is a little vague because it’s trying to describe both the Moderna/Pfizer types that are a 2-shot sequence, and the kinds like J&J that are complete with only one shot. The enhanced protocols move the goalposts by requiring people to be “up to date” as well. …But that’s the price of admission for Canadian cruising right now, so that’s fine.

Good morning all! (still a few minutes of morning left here 🌅) So many nice photos posted already- I grew up in Michigan with Canadian great-grandparents, and while I’m not an Anglophile per se I have a certain affection for the whole process underway. Also got inspired by @dfish’s recipe post and now I’m in the kitchen making sardine bucatini for lunch 🐟

This really nails it, I think.

Thank you! & Happy Friday Eve 🌅

For a 7-night cruise, that would be a max of 7 points earned through onboard spending. If they grant 1 point for every $300 spent… 7 x $300 = $2100 of onboard spending. So if you spent $3000, you wouldn’t earn 10 points, you’d still get 7. I suppose that’s not bad from a pure loyalty perspective, though - keeps folks from just splashing out on one or two trips and essentially buying their way into higher tiers without accruing much actual sailing time. 🤔

.

What kind of excursion(s) are you planning to do?

Wow, that’s a weird hill for them to die on 😄

Exactly 🙂

Yes, then you just keep the two cards together. And ArriveCAN has room to upload two photos, so they’re ready for this at least.

The digital ones are ok, but I bring my physical one anyway because I keep it tucked in my passport case. I use one of those 3x4” plastic card sleeves from Amazon to keep it from getting too beat up. My husband has one of the older cards that’s a little larger, so he uses a clear plastic passport sleeve for his.

A good rule of thumb for weather layers is to dress with three: ▫️ base (in this case, your normal short- or long-sleeve t-shirt) ◽️ warmth (like a long-sleeve fleece, or a wool sweater) ◻️ wind/water protection (like a rain jacket, a poncho, something with Gore-Tex if you own it already) Ideally, you only need to pack one of the last item, because it doesn’t matter if it gets wet… you just hang it to dry in your cabin and it’s good enough the next day. It’s good to have two or three middle layers, so that if one gets wet/sweaty it can have a day or two to dry out or go through the laundry service (and it’s best not to put fleece in the dryer if you can avoid it). I try to have my base/mid layers be similar colors, so they can all go in the same load of laundry if need be. If you don’t want to send laundry at all, then try to pack 1 waterproof layer, 3 warm layers, and 8-9 base layer shirts (since if you’re going on more active excursions, you will definitely want to change when you get back on the ship).

Don’t worry, soon you’ll know the different hold musics by heart 🎶 More seriously though, I called the main number several different times last week and usually waited about 10-15 minutes (including the time the recording said my estimated wait time was “less than five minutes”). Once it was 25 minutes, but then I was escalated to several different people and no one accidentally disconnected me along the way so I still counted it as a win. Being the day after the Labor Day sale it might be a wait, but everyone I’ve talked to recently has been really nice. Put the phone on speaker and do something else while you wait, they’ll pick up eventually.

I think it’s because you’ll be going into a “congregate setting”?

Hey, doctor’s orders! There has to be some upside to medical-diet life 🧁

Sounds like taking personal responsibility to me. Not expecting other people to change their behavior, just taking care of your own situation. /salute

Depends on the circumstances - what sailing, how well it’s selling, what type of room/fare category you booked, etc. I think the soonest I’ve personally ever had one assigned was at about 40 days out, but only because I called to add a third person to my reservation and they had to pin down the room to complete the change.