JessyCruises

25 minutes ago, StanleyandGus said:

No, you remember correctly! I think that the audience participation was a Covid casualty.

 Yes they used to bring up several members of the audience to be background actors in the scene.  I have been selected a few times. There was always one they picked that was actually a plant and was one of the stunt performers. 

2 hours ago, StanleyandGus said:

Are you renting your points? We own at the Boardwalk- we skipped several years, and went back last year. We were considering selling, but had such a good time that we’re not going to! Besides, our adult kids like us having it.

 

Anyhow, back to laurieal’s review!

Yes I have been renting them out.  My son is 22 so once he starts having kids I am hoping I will start using them again:). We did stay at AKV one night last year when we had a night between a S2S

2 hours ago, laurieal said:

 

I was actually going to ask about the renting of points. 
 

Do either of you have a site to recommend for renting? My friends and I made a quick stop in Animal Kingdom Lodge yesterday and it sparked a conversation about DVC resorts and which ones we’d like to stay in one day as part of a split stay. 

Most people use FB groups now to rent their points.  There are several groups out there.  That is what I always use to rent mine. If you choose to do that instead of David’s it would normally be cheaper, just be sure to vet the owner (ask for references, search the Orange County comptroller site for proof of deed, make sure they use a contract, etc).  Most people on the sites are honest 🙂
 

sorry Laurie 🙂

2 minutes ago, laurieal said:

Alright, people. A plan has been formed. 
 

 

 

 

Glad to hear!! Enjoy the rest of your Disney trip!! We are DVC members but haven’t been to a park since 2015.  I miss it!

11 hours ago, laurieal said:

Hello, fellow Canadian! My mother’s side of the family is from New Brunswick, but I have yet to visit. If you have an internet package, don’t hesitate to chime in with thoughts and opinions along the way! 
 

That is quite the detour! I would have thought there would be some options via Toronto. How long will it take you to get home?

Our home airport sucks and basically only has Air Canada (we live in Saint John). We had some WestJet credits left from some Covid cancellations.  Apparently there are no WestJet flights that connect through Toronto or Montreal to Atlantic Canada anymore so Calgary it is!  At the time we booked, I think this was the cheapest flight anyway.  Originally our flight was Barcelona-Calgary-Halifax but of course they changed the flights so to avoid an overnight in Calgary we are now Barcelona-Calgary-Edmonton-Halifax.  We leave Barcelona at 2:25pm local and get to Halifax at 6:01AM the next day so I think it’s about 21 hours with about 16 of those in the air.

We will have wifi.  I am actually going to be working remotely full time for the crossing.  All those time changes should be a fun.  We are frequent cruisers but this is actually our first TA. I am excited!!

I am a fellow Canadian that will be joining you onboard the TA! I am looking forward to reading your live and meeting you onboard!  I love your writing style so far.

I live in New Brunswick and I am travelling with my husband and my sister,  Hubby and I are also staying onboard for the May 5th sailing. We are flying down to Fort Lauderdale on Saturday on AirTransat out of Halifax and flying home on the 12th from Barcelona on Westjet. Flight travel to Atlantic Canada is so bizarre -  we have to fly from Barcelona to Calgary before we fly back to the East Coast 🤣

On 3/10/2024 at 11:04 AM, OCSC Mike said:

Seeing late sale prices for cabanas on my 3/17 Wonder sailing. Another “Diamond & Above” sale.

I am sailing 3/17 on anthem and the overwater cabana was showing $908 for the Diamond sale

On our 3/17 Anthem sailing, the Thrill Waterpark cabanas are only $278 on sale from $399.

Yes, I heard about it today while watching a La Lido Loca video.  I feel bad for the family obviously, but it seems ridiculous to sue RCL for an accident on an excursion that was not booked through them.

Have a great cruise!!  I am looking forward to following along.  We board on the 3rd for two weeks & cannot wait!!

Not a fan of "Star".  I like Myth, Saga, Aura...

Just now, TYMAN said:

Free drinks have been really nice. 😂 Those and the D+ ones keep us smiling all week. 

Yes definitely the best part of being Prime or above!  We have not had the drink package in years because of D+ & the casino 🙂

1 minute ago, TYMAN said:

You have to play a lot. We each got 6500 points which equates to balcony or JS plus $750 free play. Probably 125 cruises to choose from between Nov ‘23 through September’24. 

 Gotta love Club Royale 🙂

3 hours ago, TYMAN said:

Gio’s had the best Filet this week, plus we love the extra crispy pizza. Found out we had to order it that way to get the Char. Anyway, cancelled Hooked for lunch tomorrow

 and will head to Izumi Sushi. 
 

On another note, still need to find Dee. 😁

 

ps….also got my first hand pay. Thanks RCCL! All three of us played enough to get each one of us a balcony and free play on the AOS next April. Yay! 

Love that game!!

17 hours ago, TravelBluebird said:

The Carbonara was another story.  Too salty//cheesy for me.  Hard to get that dish right.

I was not a fan of the carbonara either. The Fettucine Alfredo was AMAZING on the odyssey.  If you go back, maybe give that a try?

I am on the 10/15 sailing as well. Looking forward to it!!

20 hours ago, TravelBluebird said:

 

WHAT was the producer and director thinking??

 

The concept of VOICES is that the entire show would be acapella—a sort of Pentatonix thing writ large.  I LOVE me some acapella Pentatonix!  IF Royal had produced a group of beat-boxers off to the side live-singing the “instruments” parts, this show would have been spectacular!

 

But they didn’t do that. Instead, they decided to pre-record a bunch of people singing and beat-boxing, and you got an endless supply of GIANT peoples faces up on the screen, completely distracting you from the performers on stage.  Think 1984 (the book) and Big Brother. Think infamous Apple commercial from 1984.  Throw in lots of crazy virtue-signaling odd images like the giant image of a very old Indain man and a homeless man and quotes from Gandhi and Mother Teresa, and you have the hot mess that is VOICES.

YES!!  We felt the exact same way.  Such a waste of what could have been a great show...

13 hours ago, MaddyandMax said:

Your home is beautiful. Was just sitting in the Wind Jammer enjoying the view. It’s amazing how close to you the port is! 
 

Doing the Best of St Martin your at 10am. Really hoping to see the caves when the tide is out. Fingers crossed!  I’m not sure what time we’ll be here as we have a few things to do on the tour. 

You were probably staring right at my building if you were in the WJ 🤣

2 hours ago, TravelBluebird said:

Hmm…found a Latin Fiesta dance party at 10:15.   May do that if I don’t check out the casino!

 

Still haven’t managed to get a paper copy of the Cruise Compass BUT that link that @OCSC Mike gave me for the PDF version is fantastic on my iPad!  So much more informative than the app.

 

 

Even if you don't plan to hang out in the casino tonight, swing by and check your card for free play tonight.  It will probably be only $2 but you might get lucky 🙂. I think it disappears after night 2.  You tap your card on any slot machine and the passcode is your month & year of birth.

I find sometimes I never get it.  If you have not and would like a copy, you can email royalguestrelations@rccl.com.

12 minutes ago, TravelBluebird said:

 

 

@JessyCruises Thank you!  Two weeks—B2B?  

 

WiFi is sometimes blazing (like right now) or very hard to use (last night after the Welcome Party; on CocoCay).  So still spotty BUT mostly working. When its working well I can stream videos no problem!

 

No casino comp; I get great casino offers from Carnival, but this is my first Wonder one. I might have asked to see if they could match status, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to be in the casino a ton for my first Royal trip.

Yes we are on a B2B on Wonder then have a night on land then board Allure on 10/30 for a 4 night.  We are from Atlantic Canada so we like to clump our cruises together to save on travel costs.

I hope you enjoy Royal as much as we do!  I have sailed Carnival a few times, but not for several years.  Once we reach Pinnacle on RCL we are probably going to branch out and try a few different lines that have given us casino offers.  Seems to be a waste of points for us to do it before 🙂

Looking forward to your live!  We will be on the wonder for 2 weeks later this month.  How are you finding the wifi?  We had nothing but issues with it in March and are hoping they have fixed it.

Are you booked through a casino comp of some kind?  If so, you might have drinks covered in the casino.

I cruised on Explorer in June and enjoyed it.  I would not hesitate to cruise on her again.

1 hour ago, MaddyandMax said:

Your home is beautiful. Was just sitting in the Wind Jammer enjoying the view. It’s amazing how close to you the port is! 
 

Doing the Best of St Martin your at 10am. Really hoping to see the caves when the tide is out. Fingers crossed!  I’m not sure what time we’ll be here as we have a few things to do on the tour. 

Yes it is great, but I wish it was an embarkation port and not just a port of call.  It would be awesome to roll my luggage across the street and board a ship!  I don’t think we have the infrastructure for that (ie parking etc), but maybe one day!! 

I have been to the caves several times- they are really cool.  High tide is not until almost 3pm so I think you should be good.  I think they try to do the tours at the right time. 

3 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

IIRC, both pairs had booked their trip through the same Dutch travel agency, but it wasn't clear whether this was the fault of the travelers or the travel agency. I suspect that some European TA's may have never heard of our Sydney and simply booked it without realizing that they had the wrong one. 

yikes!

10 minutes ago, Fouremco said:

Back in 2002, when we still lived in Halifax, there was a young British couple that was devastated when they arrived in Sydney, Nova Scotia, instead of in Australia. A few years later, a Dutch grandfather and his grandson did the same thing.

 

And a couple of years before COVID, either Celebrity or Holland America had a photo of the Sydney opera house accompanying a write up on Sydney, NS, for a Canada/New England cruise. SMH.

Wow!!  I cannot even imagine!! If it was their travel agent that booked it, they might want to reconsider their profession lol