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Orange Crush

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Everything posted by Orange Crush

  1. I book with Costco all the time and I have gotten a similar error message before. I think it's just a timing issue with the system when the booking is very new. Ask your friends to wait until the booking is at least a day old, and then try the cruise planner again. It should let them pre-book whatever they want and they DON'T have to pay the full cruise balance in advance.
  2. Hi all, We're heading out tomorrow for our little 3-day trip on the Mariner and I splurged and got us the Unlimited Dining Package. I'm hearing conflicting reports on whether the Ultimate Dining Package benefit can be used at the Bamboo Room for the small plates they offer. What are the experiences of the folks here? Is it typically accepted without question, totally excluded, or have you had to go up and challenge the charges after the fact?
  3. Be adventurous! Having an unlimited drink package is a great opportunity to try something off the wall you're not sure you'll like. Look at all the house specials in the various venues on the ship, they all have unique cocktails that fit their themes. Prime example, I had always wanted to try a Negroni. I finally did and learned that I definitely do not like Negronis.
  4. Ain't that the truth! Peak breakfast is the only time I've tried to pop by, took one look at the line snaking from the entrance down several flights of stairs and just noped the heck out of there. It's fine if you go early (7am) or late (10:30ish), but it gets crazy busy in the 8am-10am prime time. Embarkation day can be a bit crazy, particularly later in the afternoon, but if you get there by noon you'll be fine. Beware of roller bags. All other times, it's been busy to varying degrees but it's never taken us more than a few minutes to get a table or have to dodge elbows to get to a food station. Breakfast is like Mad Max.
  5. Yikes! For that price, I'd go back to smuggling liquor onboard
  6. Not true. An iPhone will route all calls and SMS texting entirely over a wifi network if the plan and phone company support it. Access to a cellular signal is not needed. It is strongly recommended putting a phone in airplane mode, and then enabling wi-fi so that the cellular radios are turned off and there's no chance of accidentally connecting to the ship's very expensive cell tower. The recipient does not need to have an iPhone or use a different app, as these will go through as regular calls and texts.
  7. The impact of Dorian had me wondering--if you're on a cruise that gets extended due to inclement weather re-routes (say a 5 night becomes a 7 night) what happens to per-day package purchases (i.e. Drink Package, Voom, Ultimate Dining, etc.) for those additional days? Do you have to pay for the extra days or do they move everyone to ala-carte once the pre-purchased timeframe expires? Or do they just give you the package benefits for the extra days? Likewise, what happens if the cruise gets shortened do to a weather situation?
  8. So what you're really saying is we all just need to drink more? 😝
  9. I feel like Royal's doing too much nickel and diming for the base fares they're charging. I'm looking at options for an Alaska trip next year and I'm seeing quite a few sailings where Celebrity, which is allegedly the "premium brand" is pretty close to a comparable Royal itinerary's base price but includes perks like a drink package and better OBC. Royal's may be a couple hundred dollars cheaper here and there, but after all the packages, Celeb's often less expensive overall.
  10. I think it's pretty obvious who is right and who is wrong. If the grandfather set the baby on a railing on a balcony or an open area on one of the upper decks, same thing would have happened. If the window had been closed and the baby fell into the window, it's likely the pane would've held the weight but not guaranteed. A screen probably wouldn't have. And the baby still could've been severely injured or killed. Their Today Show performance disgusted me. I don't think this is anything more than trying to gin up public outrage against Royal Caribbean and pushing them to settle to shut them up. It isn't about protecting other children, it isn't about restitution for Royal Caribbean's negligence, it's about taking advantage of self-inflicted tragedy to blame somebody else for their own stupidity and get a big check in the process.
  11. Nah, people on social media seldom understand anything. Period. It should be "Baseless Gut Reaction Book." It's a tragedy and I can't even fathom what the family must be experiencing, but I don't see how it's anybody but the grandfather's fault. You don't put a baby on a railing in any situation, ever. A hard fall from just a few feet can be fatal. How many "do not sit or climb on railing" signs have they got on the ship? Do they need to add "especially babies!"? Whether he thought the window was opened or closed shouldn't figure in to it in the slightest. Setting aside that it's blatantly obvious when the windows are open, what possess someone to think setting a baby on a precarious surface to bang on glass is a sensible thing to do?
  12. I've never known any pills to help. The only thing that has consistently worked for me is "pacing & spacing." A bottle of water after every cocktail or glass of a wine before ordering the next one. Bottled water is included in the drink package! Make heavy use of that. Take frequent breaks, go find snacks. I stockpile extra waters for the room too.
  13. I have it on good authority that they've upgraded all of their backend systems to MS-DOS 6.22. This will allow up to five guests to be logged in to their cruise planners simultaneously without the website crashing!
  14. I've been curious about X for a while, I'll probably book a short one in the not too distant future to see for ourselves how it compares to Royal. "More mature/Less kiddie" sounds like it could be appealing, but we've never felt like a Royal ship was overrun by children or catering to families in a way that took anything away from our experience. Although, I am curious how people feel the food, service & entertainment compares between the two lines.
  15. I'm curious if people who already bought half-day passes will still get kicked out when their time's up or the park staff will just let them be.
  16. I've never had an issue doing it on embarkation day. My first stop once I get aboard is always the dining room to find my table so I don't need to be shown during the dinner rush and can just go directly to my table. I've always been able to get it changed at the hostess stand if it's not to my liking.
  17. They're technically supposed to charge for the floater shot, the package only officially covers single-shot drinks, but in my experience they rarely do. Be nice to your bartenders! 😉
  18. You can come and go with sealed water bottles, but they may give you a hard time bringing an opened water bottle back. That's the oldest trick in the book for smuggling alcohol. They will probably insist on inspecting it and might make you throw it away. They'll let you. I do it all the time. You don't even need to dine in, I've ordered from the hostess stand and brought plates back to my room. I can't not have cheese plates stashed in the room fridge at all times. 😎
  19. I noticed the fine print on the Unlimited Dining Package says you can use it for specialty restaurant lunches on sea days, but what happens on a short trip with no sea days? Are the specialty restaurants just not open for lunch or are they just ineligible for the package benefit on port days?
  20. I asked about additional entrees at 150 on the Allure last March and my waitress said I could get a second entree, but that they'd only bring out one at time. I ended up being too full at the end to want a second entree so I didn't actually order one, but they did tell me I was allowed to. That said, I've heard online that others have been told no, so your mileage may vary depending on the ship and your server. Also, we pretty much always get a cheese plate to start and we didn't think 150 offered one at first. Turns out it was on the dessert menu which they don't bring until the end. But we asked about it early on and the waitress brought us one.
  21. I forgot a toothbrush once and had to go buy one from the convenience store aboard. I don't remember exactly what it cost me, but it was the most basic toothbrush imaginable and cost something absurd like $10 Also, baby wipes are a good idea even if you do not have a baby. To put it delicately, the ships don't have the greatest toilet paper, since the primary goal is to avoid clogging the pipes. Just remember that wipes go in the trash and must NEVER be flushed, even the ones that claim to be flushable.
  22. For my October 2019 3-day cruise on the Mariner: Deluxe Beverage Package showing $52, haven't seen it budge lower yet for this sailing Ulitmate Dining Package at $76/person. Oddly, Chops + 1 is showing up for $65. Seems crazy that anyone would pay that vs. $11 more for the UDP. The Key is $24.99, I nabbed it a couple months ago for $19.99 All day Thrill Waterpark Pass at $32.99; also got this a few months ago for $30 No savings this time around for me, but I know that drink package will drop one of these days!
  23. It's usually a no for me, but if I can get a Jr. Suite for less than $100/day over a regular balcony then I'll think about it. They're usually close to double price though, but I've stumbled upon a great deal once or twice.
  24. I keep going back and checking, but mine hasn't budged from $52. It's gone higher a few times, but never drops below $52. I'm still about 150 days away, and I know I can do better dagnammit!
  25. Mind you, this is a 3-day trip, so it's about $25.33 per person per day. Still a great deal though. I think the previous "ultimate" package was around $85 per person last time I saw it, even though the system wouldn't let me book it at the time. I'm good w/ paying less for more. 😎
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