MandyMooToo

If you all have iPhones you can iMessage with the internet package. If you don’t all have iPhones then download WhatsApp and you can send texts back and forth with the internet package. Our oldest son has an android and we all have iPhones so we use WhatsApp.

This is something I agree with. When we cruise we can fly in, cruise for 7 days, hotel one night before, drink package, internet (yes we use internet and don't "unplug" while on vacation---because we want to, that's why😁), pay tips, etc. and still come out cheaper than an AI in Jamaica (our favorite resort location). We have an AI trip in March 2023, the room (just an ocean view, nothing fancy), is over $4500. Flights are almost $2000. Typical cruise with all added amenities is about $3000 for us, total. Obviously we book inside, balcony or maybe a JS if it is a good price, but an equivalent...ish room. The AIs are nice but the food there is mass produced, they aren't getting all the top shelf liquors either and staffing is not up to par. We have been twice this year to an AI and one cruise so far, another cruise next month which will be our third since restart. I realize many have done way more cruises than us since restart but we found that there was not a huge service difference, at least not enough to hamper our cruises. Same with the AI trips. That being said, OP had a crappy cruise and that sucks, no matter how good my/our experiences have been.

Ahh, but this is exactly what happens in many restaurants. I waited tables for years in college and my mother managed restaurants for more than 30 years. Many, many establishments make servers tip a percentage to the house to be distributed to the bussers, hostesses and bar tenders. So really you have no way of knowing where your restaurant tips go either. Once I worked as a server in a Japanese steakhouse. We were forced to tip out 15% to the chef/cook and a smaller portion to the hostess. Funny thing about it is the chef/cook was the owner of the restaurant so not only did he get all the money from food sales he also got 15% of his server's pay. Tipping of the chef/cook by servers in Japanese steakhouses is or was common then but the owner?! Total jerk. I was young and dumb, ha ha.

As does my husband, the comment was just meant to be an amusing response to the poster who brought up shorts in the MDR.

Only on B2B cruises can you wear shorts in the MDR, that's what my super amazing TA said at least (my mom is my TA) 🤣 I kid, I kid...

True. Your post was one of many that ticked me off. People come here to chat, do research and ask for advice and oftentimes they get spanked for it. Really the only thing in my comment that was specific to your prior post was the "leg work" portion. I do apologize for sounding like an @ss though, just irritated at the crappy responses this lady is getting when she just wants to have a family cruise!

Really? So many judgmental posts here. Do you know for certain that grandmother is doing all the legwork? He could be doing as much work to figure this out as she is. It is very possible grandmother came on here just asking for advice to help, it does not mean the 22 yr old is doing nothing. It must be awesome to have made it through life never losing anything important or having the need to get help from an elder in your family, when you are rightfully panicking over your screw up, or raising perfect children that don't screw up or ask for help...

Actually my son is 26 years old, his passport was issued at age 17 and it is still valid until next year. Childhood photo or not, the government still considers it valid.

I really doubt we will know much more before the August 1st update. Just my opinion...

I am in Tennessee also and had to renew in person due to my age/new photo 🤫recently. They printed mine at the DMV but when I renewed online before it was mailed. Of course, I was doing the Real ID this time around too so that may have made a difference.

Did you expect anything less?? 🤣

Go to the Royal website and read the whole thing. I think (think) it said something about still having more vaccinated than nonvaccinated or something along those lines. So I would take that to mean no major change there from what exceptions are being allowed now, or at least not opening it up to many unvaccinated yet. But that is just my guess.

Last fall we sailed the week of my husband's birthday. I preordered the birthday decorations and they were hanging in the cabin when we were given access that afternoon. He loved it and even kept the decorations and brought them home! We had reservations for dinner at Chops on his actual birthday and I told them ahead of time. When we were finished they brought him a nice dessert with "Happy Birthday Steve" drizzled on the plate and a lit candle and sang for him. He was loving it all!!

Who specifically did you email? My son and daughter-in-law have been trying to get their double points since the beginning of the year. They have called over and over and been given different stories each time (today they were told the points had not been awarded because the cruise was complimentary, it was not) but at the end of all the calls they say the points will be awarded, weeks later they are not. We received our double points for the same cruise with no issue and have one more double points cruise booked for September that should actually give us double, double points since we are in a JS...guess we will see if it happens!

I would go with Royal. Two reasons, 1. I have read many reports of Royal flying people home, even privately sometimes, and paying for hotels and giving food vouchers while in quarantine and I have not seen that from Carnival. 2. We have sailed both lines and enjoy Royal much more so especially with a difference of only $200 I would pick Royal.

We applied in February 2020😑Of course everything shut down and we were not given an interview for 10 months. I expect that was solely covid related so your experience will likely be better.

I have in fact taken a marketing class and I am aware of what you are saying but calling people “gullible” for purchasing something that is a benefit is a bit rude. You can’t say something rude and refer to it as your viewpoint expecting it to be accepted without ire. I’m certain the packages benefit the business or they wouldn’t have them. But they make money on individual drinks also and we have seen that we benefit from a package.

You do you. We buy the package because we usually come out better than if we didn't. How do I know? We have sailed without the package of course. I like my specialty coffe in the morning and my husband likes his fresh squeezed juice. After a few drinks by the pool, Hendricks gin or Patron Silver, we have nearly met the daily cost and I will have a prosecco or glass of wine at dinner too. Of course the bottled water between alcoholic bevs and a Coke Zero or two...not being gullible at all.

The $77.99pp was before the gratuities. The total, grats included, for our 5 night cruise on Mariner in September is $814.00.

Very true 😝

We just purchased it at $77.99pp in US dollars, so around $109 AUD I think, and that was a "sale" price.

This. We would pay up to about $100pp but no more than that. It was enjoyable for us and we have it booked again for our September cruise because we got a good price but it is about $169pp right now I think and we would not pay that price.

We typically cruise RCCL but got a crazy good deal on a Carnival cruise and took it recently. Carnival does the same thing in regards to ordering. We did tell our waiter one night that we wanted to wait on dessert and it was not a problem. As an aside, the one thing I liked better about Carnival for MTD was the app check in. When you wanted to eat you opened the app and checked in. It gave you an estimate of the wait time and then notified you when your table was ready, giving you ten minutes to arrive in the MDR. You could then signal that you were on your way and your table number was displayed in the app. Very efficient.

I think it is an issue for people that are say, 2 in a party and they book a cabin that specifies it is for 3 or 4, etc. In that case you could be moved to cabin (supposed to be same category/equal value) for the amount of people actually on the reservation. But, just because you are moved to an equal value/same category doesn't mean you will like the placement.

Me too. I am part of multiple cruise groups on F page but none of those are allowed to promote TAs either. Oh well, the search continues!