renech

Chill Island Cabanas are not shown as available for our cruise. I'm really hoping they've held a few back for booking on-board. 

We just booked http://islandtimebahamas.com/ for our upcoming Nassau stop. The reviews are good and we like a mix of boat and beach time. 

We did this once. It was easy to find the bus and the ride was fine, but we waited at least 30 min or so before they took off. And it was HOT in that bus. Perhaps it was just a slow time, but there were only about 6 people when they finally decided to go. I was close to getting out and just taking a cab. I don't fault them for wanting the trip to be worth their time, but keep this in mind if you are there during a slow season. 

1 hour ago, tgibson13 said:

Which Cabanas are you looking at? I booked a Chill Island beach Cabana ans from what I have seen they are directly on the beach and have their own water section roped off from the rest of the beach.

The only ones I have offered for my booking are the Oasis Lagoon Cabanas. 

Thanks for the updated photos Hawk308!  Did you get a look at the cabanas by any chance? I'm debating booking them, but not sure if I'd prefer to be on the actual beach. 

22 hours ago, caripoo said:

I would do both if you could.....We just choose to see as much as we can on each trip...before and after

I wish we could! We're traveling with a family group of 6 though, and some schedules just don't allow for more time away. 

21 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

 

The idea of flying to Paris and taking a train forgets the French National Sport [= strikes ].  

 

I hadn't thought about the possibility of a train strike. Yikes!  Very good point. Thank you.

9 hours ago, Coral said:

I would always fly in 2 days early. I have also experienced major delays going due to storms,  and luggage delays, etc... It is an awful way to start a vacation especially if you don't fly in early. Though, staying after for the cruise sounds wonderful also.

You know, I almost always go in a day early for Caribbean cruises, not sure why we thought we could pull off a day-of arrival in Amsterdam!  Thanks. 

5 hours ago, Roz said:

Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Amsterdam....can you tell I like Amsterdam? 

 

I visited there for the first time in November, and was blown away.  My TA put together a pre-cruise pkg. for me, and I was on the go constantly.  It's a very easy city to get around in, English is spoken everywhere, and it's like no other city I've visited.  

Sounds convincing enough for me. 🙂 I've always wanted to visit Amsterdam, but just debating if Lucerne would be the better or the two. I think Amsterdam makes more sense though. Thanks!

4 hours ago, Not a Georgia Peach said:

In October we did Viking Basel to Amsterdam with a 2 day pre-cruise in Lucerne.  It was our first time in the city and it was phenomenal.  The only drawback is the enormous cost of everything in Switzerland.  We had a day and a half in Amsterdam at the end and although there are lots of things to see in Amsterdam the bicycles are becoming a major problem.  The riders have no concern about pedestrians.  The two cities are totally different and it really depends on what type of thing you want to do.  Several  people who did Basel wished they had done Lucerne.

I think we've decided on Amsterdam. I will be sure to warn the others about dodging the bicycles!  Thank you for the input. 🙂

Our group of 6 are going on our first river cruise next November, from Amsterdam to Basel on Viking. We initially thought we'd fly into Paris 2 days early then take a train to Amsterdam the day of embarkment.  The more I think about that the more I think with such a short time, I'd rather spend either 2 days pre-cruise in Amsterdam or 2 days post-cruise in Basel or Lucerne. 

I'd love some input from anyone who's been to both (or all 3) on which one they preferred and why. None of us have been to any of them, so it's all new for us. 

Thank you!

Thank you so much for sharing all this info about the new and improved Mariner! My SIL and her family are on next week's sailing (their 1st cruise!), and I'll be checking it out later in July with my daughter.

Noticing the Quest (now called "Crazy Quest?") is at midnight on the last night. Maybe I just don't remember but it isn't usually scheduled that late is it?

It took a day after I reset my username/password before the past cruises showed up.

Thanks, that's what I was hoping.

Now to reset the rest of the family accounts!

I'll be optimistic and hope that once they get all the login bugs sorted, this new site will hopefully be less buggy than the last.

(I know, I know... you can stop laughing now).;p

So I just heard about the new website and all the issues. Like everyone else, I tried to login, only to get the blue screen of death.

After skimming some of this thread, I requested the password reset and was finally able to get in to a different screen where I had to re-enter my basic info.

My points total and status are showing correctly in the right upper corner of the dashboard, but there's nothing listed under past cruises.

I'm assuming (hoping) they just haven't loaded all that old information with the new logins yet. As long as my totals and status are correct, am I okay in assuming it's just a waiting game now and I don't need to worry about the old cruises being listed at this point?

The ZS70 came out about a month ago so the price will probably start coming down more. The only downside is that they bumped the sensor up to 18mp so it will suffer a little in lower light performance compared to the ZS50, but still a nice little camera with faster shutter and double the focus points

 

 

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I actually wanted the ZS70, but it's still not available anywhere that I can see. We're leaving soon for Alaska, so no time to wait for it. At least with Costco, I can always return or trade-in if we aren't totally satisfied with the ZS60.

Good to hear!

 

Just got the new Costco ad - the ZS60 is on sale for $299

 

 

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I saw this too and was thrilled! I almost bought one from Target, for a LOT more $.

Costco had a ton of the ZS60's in stock.

Do you what status equals what rank at Hyatt? What is your husbands status?

Here is the C&A/M-Life chart: https://secure.royalcaribbean.com/content/shared_assets/pdf/16048689_RCI_Casino_CAS_Benefits_Chart_HR-1.pdf

Here is the M-Life /Hyattchart: https://world.hyatt.com/content/gp/en/rewards/other-partnerships.html

Thanks for the heads up.

You're welcome. :)

I get so much helpful information here, I thought it would be good to add this.

I don't see anything recent about this here so I thought I'd post an update from my recent experience with this.

Hyatt has recently changed their member program tiers so I wasn't sure if the M-Life status match would still work, but yay, it does.

So, your C&A status will give you an M-Life status, which you can then opt-in (via their website) to have matched to Hyatt.

My D+ got me Hyatt Explorist status, which isn't the highest (not that I expected that) but it's better than what I had.

Hope this helps our anyone else who cares about hotel status perks!

Hello! We will be cruising June 23-30 to Ketchikan, Icy Strait, Juneau and Skagway. The ONLY way I was able to get my hubby to go on this cruise is by luring him with halibut fishing, as he is a die hard angler. I've been doing some research and have come up with only this so far-

 

Skagway is not the best for fishing

Halibut requires more time so I need to pick the town that offers me the longest port duration (Juneau)

Booking directly with charter seems much more affordable

 

Anyone have any words of wisdom? Anyone have first hand experience with any specify charter they would recommend?

 

Thank you SO much!

We haven't done it yet, but are booked with tokriver.com in ISP in a few months. I also made inquiries with gamecreekguides.com - and they were very responsive as well. Read the tripadvisor reviews, they are are incredibly helpful.

There is a wall there and I cannot remember anyone reporting issues with noise on deck 8 due to Central Park venues on the other side of that wall.

Thanks again, Bob. I always appreciate how helpful you are to everyone on this board. :)

Thanks for the advice clarea, KiwiGal, and molly! There is a center hump on Deck 8 that I'm going to hold. It's right behind Park Cafe though, but hoping that's separated enough that it won't be a problem.

I've been on Oasis and Allure, but as an aft fan, we've always stayed in an aft Boardwalk Balcony on deck 10 or 11.

Now, I'm trying to help my son set up a Mediterranean cruise as a delayed honeymoon and would love some input on which deck for an OV Balcony cabin.

They're debating between the Rhapsody (for the itinerary) and the Symphony. Rhapsody is already being held with a great wraparound aft cabin. Symphony is just so tempting since they do like that class and it's shiny new. :)

I'd appreciate hearing any pros and cons to the different decks on Oasis class for OV balcony cabins. Will probably try for a larger balcony one on or near the humps if available. They are Diamond, but with the club down on Deck 4, booking near there isn't a factor.

Any input greatly appreciated!

Can I get some quick input about Vision class (Rhapsody, in particular) corner aft cabins?

What are the differences/advantages of the JS corner on deck 8 vs the D1 on deck 7?

I've stayed in both on other ships but not his class. I've read that the JS does not have the walk-in closet, but yes to the tub. I'm sure it's a bit bigger, but are those about the only differences?

Do you call the regular planners or crown and anchor?

 

 

Cindy

I'm sure she called a line for TA's but I would call C&A.

My TA just called and booked Rhapsody and got the aft corner cabin that I wanted. 😊

Not sure if they're all on the site yet but definitely CALL if you know what you want now.

When I used Chrome, I get a page that says Reservations are down for maintenance until 8am EST.

When I use Firefox, it shows me the European itineraries (the partial list that are loaded right now).

Good times.

RC website says it's down until 8am EST now.