TheOtherMe
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Post by TheOtherMe on Oct 26, 2022 13:12:04 GMT -5
Do you fly to the British Isles and get on the ship there? I have never cruised so I don't know how this works. Yes, we'll fly to London and then fly home from Oslo. This cruise has 12 ports of call. Oh, and TheOtherMe , it includes Liverpool. There is a statue of the Beatles at the dock I have never seen.
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CCL
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Post by CCL on Nov 15, 2022 13:08:51 GMT -5
Did anyone else buy the cruise stocks? I'm up about 45% so far. Not bad for 2.5 weeks. I would have bought more, but didn't have much cash at the time. Of course, may drop like a rock tomorrow.
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Post by minnesotapaintlady on Nov 15, 2022 14:04:18 GMT -5
Did anyone else buy the cruise stocks? I'm up about 45% so far. Not bad for 2.5 weeks. I would have bought more, but didn't have much cash at the time. Of course, may drop like a rock tomorrow. No. Kind of kicking myself a little though. I didn't have any cash and didn't want to sell IRA funds while down to buy individual stocks, but forgot I had 4K just hanging out in my HSA Bank account. I set up a transfer of that to Fidelity last week, but it will probably take another week to be available. Not sure if I'll buy anything with that or not or just stick it in FZROX with the rest of it. I've never had much luck gambling on individual stocks.
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finnime
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Post by finnime on Nov 17, 2022 10:32:23 GMT -5
Today I'm going to complete payment in full to Viking. It's a bit unnerving. I've never spent close to this much on a vacation, especially not in one fell swoop. DH, DS and I did go to Finland for a week about 16 years ago, and that cost, but not close to this much.
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Post by minnesotapaintlady on Nov 17, 2022 11:16:53 GMT -5
My first (and so far only) cruise I had the same feeling. I had never spent more than half that on a vacation and most of those vacations were twice as long and I spent as I went, not paid in one lump.
I'm thinking I'm going to pay this one over time just because I have a 0% offer, but it will probably drive me nuts making payments and I'll pay it off early...
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Post by minnesotapaintlady on Nov 17, 2022 23:15:42 GMT -5
Super annoyed. I just spent an hour mostly on hold with RC because their Black Friday sale came out with "Kids Sail Free". I did a mock up booking of my cruise and it came to $230 cheaper, so I figure I call and easily get it repriced since they guarantee they will do that. So, after waiting 15 minutes or so on hold, the lady tried to do it, then said she can't because we have flights attached to the cruise, so we have to go through Air to Sea. Fine. Waiting again and finally get someone. She tells me they have to temporarily pull the flights while someone from the cruiseline updates the pricing and she'll have to get a three way call going. So, back to waiting again. Finally she gets back to me and said the cruise line told me that booking today is actually $600 MORE than what I had. I was so stressed out at this point that I was going to lose my cheap flights that I'm sharing with 10 other family members that I didn't argue and ended the call.
But, I have a printed line by line of each and I'm sure I'm right and they missed that one guest was a kid. Just not sure I want to go through that again though. My aunt is going to though, she's paying for 4 kids, so it might be a big difference for her.
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CCL
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Post by CCL on Nov 18, 2022 0:34:23 GMT -5
So they're saying if you make changes to get the kids sail free offer, the price of the flights increases by over $800? That's annoying. You'd think they could just refund you the difference on the cruise without changing anything else.
Did you get free drinks and/or other freebies with the original booking? If so, maybe they are charging for those.
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Post by minnesotapaintlady on Nov 18, 2022 8:20:31 GMT -5
No, the flights didn't change, the Air to Sea people just pulled the flights from the booking for a few minutes so the cruise people could make the changes to the cruise then put them back on. She was saying the cruise was $600 more alone. She's wrong, I know it. Just not sure I want to call back and deal with all that for $230. I didn't get free anything before. I have the price breakdown of each cruise, the one I'm on and the one I rebooked in the same type stateroom 2 doors down and it's less. Everything is listed on each. Pre-paid gratuities, taxes... I would think they could just refund the difference in cost too. I assumed that's what they would do, but apparently they do a complete rebooking at the new rate.
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wvugurl26
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Post by wvugurl26 on Nov 18, 2022 8:26:52 GMT -5
When I was booked last year on RC, I had only put down a deposit. When they had sales, I just got a new price and my balance owed went down. I did book via a travel agent though. I don't normally but it was for my cousin's wedding and she set it up. And I paid for my own flights.
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Post by minnesotapaintlady on Nov 18, 2022 9:21:36 GMT -5
I think normally that's how they do it, but when you book flights at the same time through them it complicates things. I don't want to lose the flights though, we got round trip to Seattle for $350/each, and nothing is close to that anymore.
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bookkeeper
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Post by bookkeeper on Nov 18, 2022 13:54:30 GMT -5
DH and I spent some money a few years back on a Mediterranean cruise through Greece and Italy. We also spent 3 nights in Rome before the cruise. It was so awesome because the travel agent who we booked through was on the trip and acted as our ring leader. She had a large family and many of the 50 people in the group were her cousins. We saw so much history and laughed so much at the people we were with, that I would label it our best vacation ever.
Then, a year and a half later, my husband was involved in a serious car crash. He was hospitalized for a month, and had a long recovery. I myself had a hip replacement since then and both of us wish we had the mobility we had back on that cruise.
My point is that as we age, these trips get harder to do. I encourage people to travel throughout their lives, rather than wait until retirement to start.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Nov 18, 2022 14:26:46 GMT -5
Last night at SLAP, one of the women we were with was complaining because she wanted to go on a cruise in Jan and there was nothing available. Earlier this year, right after we got off the river cruise, I tried to get another group together because the one we went on last spring was so much fun. My efforts fell flat, so we just planned our own vacations. Now she knows why 8 was moving so fast to schedule something.
I did feel somewhat vindicated when another couple who is going to Belize decided to fly to Ambergris Cay rather than taking the speedboat. We took the boat, and it was 3 hours of un air conditioned humanity packed onto a boat for 3 hours on not very comfortable seats. The flight is only 15 min and not that much more.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Nov 18, 2022 14:29:18 GMT -5
Today I'm going to complete payment in full to Viking. It's a bit unnerving. I've never spent close to this much on a vacation, especially not in one fell swoop. DH, DS and I did go to Finland for a week about 16 years ago, and that cost, but not close to this much. I get it. The phone call I made to pay the balance of the world cruise in May was like this.
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Post by minnesotapaintlady on Nov 18, 2022 14:40:37 GMT -5
Well, apparently my aunt called and got one of her rooms discounted by about $200 without all the flight drama , but the other two she has with only one kid each in them did not go down in price. I can't totally compare to her though because I bought at a different time and have a balcony room and hers aren't. I reran it again and it's still saying $5168 room only where as I booked at $5397 So...at lunch I decided to call again but it said it would be a 3 hour wait, so I gave up. I think the sale is running at least until Black Friday. How much do I want to put up with for a couple hundred.
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CCL
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Post by CCL on Nov 18, 2022 16:27:40 GMT -5
Any chance you could email them?
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Post by minnesotapaintlady on Nov 18, 2022 16:35:53 GMT -5
I wish. I couldn't find an email. Just a form where you can enter messages and I've never had much luck doing that with other places. I want to have an email where I can paste my screen shots in showing the price difference.
I mean, it's not like they wouldn't get the money out of me anyhow, if I get $230 taken off I'll just get both the kids drink packages since they're 40% off right now.
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Post by minnesotapaintlady on Nov 18, 2022 22:48:45 GMT -5
FINALLY got through to someone that knew what they were doing after 4 HOURS on hold tonight. It didn't knock off quite as much as I had hoped, but $206. That covers getting one kid a drink package anyhow.
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finnime
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Post by finnime on Nov 19, 2022 5:38:45 GMT -5
Glad you got the discount, MPL. $200 for 4 hours is fair. Not good, but fair.
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Post by minnesotapaintlady on Nov 19, 2022 9:36:45 GMT -5
Well, I really just continued on my normal Friday night, had dinner, did chores, watched a movie...all while having the phone on speaker waiting for someone to come on going "Hello. Hello? Anybody there?" 🤣
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daisylu
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Post by daisylu on Nov 19, 2022 9:50:22 GMT -5
Well, I really just continued on my normal Friday night, had dinner, did chores, watched a movie...all while having the phone on speaker waiting for someone to come on going "Hello. Hello? Anybody there?" 🤣 I do this ALL the time!
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Post by minnesotapaintlady on Nov 25, 2022 19:17:27 GMT -5
Well, that $200 is long gone already. Bought full drink packages for the kids and wifi and a soda package for me. $470. I'll have $250 in on board credit from the credit card. I can't imagine I'll spend more than that.
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finnime
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Post by finnime on Nov 28, 2022 5:55:46 GMT -5
at the cost of drinks, minnesotapaintlady. Good you did get the $200. I do like how Viking includes everything in their (high) cost. We'll pay separately and extra for spa services, but that's about it. We don't really drink liquor often, so the wine at meals will cover us. Plus with the excursions included, we're set I hope. I don't know how much to budget extra, for things we might want to buy. I'm thinking $1000 for both of us. Oh, we'll need to pay for gratuities. Forgot that.
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Post by minnesotapaintlady on Nov 28, 2022 8:30:27 GMT -5
at the cost of drinks, minnesotapaintlady . Good you did get the $200. I do like how Viking includes everything in their (high) cost. We'll pay separately and extra for spa services, but that's about it. We don't really drink liquor often, so the wine at meals will cover us. Plus with the excursions included, we're set I hope. I don't know how much to budget extra, for things we might want to buy. I'm thinking $1000 for both of us. Oh, we'll need to pay for gratuities. Forgot that. Well, $100 of it was the WiFi. I think the kids packages were $140 each and then 18% gratuity was tacked on. The soda package was like $50 for the week. I could have gotten away with not getting drink packages for the kids since there are free options and my oldest typically only drinks water, but I know he likes fancy teas and would enjoy the mocktails, but he would refuse to get anything that had a charge if it wasn't included. Carrot will drink his weight in everything. Specialty coffees, soda, tea, mocktails...he'll get my money's worth.
I figure if the alcohol drinks are $15/each I can still get 2 a day with the onboard credit and I have 23 family members coming many of whom are getting alcohol packages. They could slip me one every now and then too.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Nov 28, 2022 13:42:29 GMT -5
at the cost of drinks, minnesotapaintlady . Good you did get the $200. I do like how Viking includes everything in their (high) cost. We'll pay separately and extra for spa services, but that's about it. We don't really drink liquor often, so the wine at meals will cover us. Plus with the excursions included, we're set I hope. I don't know how much to budget extra, for things we might want to buy. I'm thinking $1000 for both of us. Oh, we'll need to pay for gratuities. Forgot that. As a head’s up, we do not buy the liquor package on Viking. Prices on drinks are very reasonable, and we have never had a bill that was more than a couple hundred $$. For excursions, we chose a combination of the included and not included and will spring for something if we really want to see it. I want to say on a 15 day cruise, we will spend about $1000 for this. Many times, Viking will set up a shuttle that runs into town and you can roam on your own. We have done this too. Gratuities is the biggie, it’s $15/person/day (someone on one of Viking’s fb groups said it has gone up to $20/day….haven’t verified).
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justme
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Post by justme on Nov 30, 2022 1:40:56 GMT -5
at the cost of drinks, minnesotapaintlady . Good you did get the $200. I do like how Viking includes everything in their (high) cost. We'll pay separately and extra for spa services, but that's about it. We don't really drink liquor often, so the wine at meals will cover us. Plus with the excursions included, we're set I hope. I don't know how much to budget extra, for things we might want to buy. I'm thinking $1000 for both of us. Oh, we'll need to pay for gratuities. Forgot that. Well, $100 of it was the WiFi. I think the kids packages were $140 each and then 18% gratuity was tacked on. The soda package was like $50 for the week. I could have gotten away with not getting drink packages for the kids since there are free options and my oldest typically only drinks water, but I know he likes fancy teas and would enjoy the mocktails, but he would refuse to get anything that had a charge if it wasn't included. Carrot will drink his weight in everything. Specialty coffees, soda, tea, mocktails...he'll get my money's worth.
I figure if the alcohol drinks are $15/each I can still get 2 a day with the onboard credit and I have 23 family members coming many of whom are getting alcohol packages. They could slip me one every now and then too.
Most of their cocktails top out at $14 plus 20%. So $16.80. If you're OK with one liquor and a mixer it'll be cheaper. But just as a btw all the cruise lines have become much more "pour the exact measure" after covid. I went from getting buzzed quite easily on a cruise ship, to being 10 drinks or more deep on royal wondering how I'm not even tipsy. Their listed cocktails are stronger though. The lavender daiquiri at schooner bar is delicious and will definitely hit the spot. I'll ask for vodka to make it a martini on my not rum days.
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Post by minnesotapaintlady on Nov 30, 2022 9:24:19 GMT -5
Well, $100 of it was the WiFi. I think the kids packages were $140 each and then 18% gratuity was tacked on. The soda package was like $50 for the week. I could have gotten away with not getting drink packages for the kids since there are free options and my oldest typically only drinks water, but I know he likes fancy teas and would enjoy the mocktails, but he would refuse to get anything that had a charge if it wasn't included. Carrot will drink his weight in everything. Specialty coffees, soda, tea, mocktails...he'll get my money's worth.
I figure if the alcohol drinks are $15/each I can still get 2 a day with the onboard credit and I have 23 family members coming many of whom are getting alcohol packages. They could slip me one every now and then too.
Most of their cocktails top out at $14 plus 20%. So $16.80. If you're OK with one liquor and a mixer it'll be cheaper. But just as a btw all the cruise lines have become much more "pour the exact measure" after covid. I went from getting buzzed quite easily on a cruise ship, to being 10 drinks or more deep on royal wondering how I'm not even tipsy. Their listed cocktails are stronger though. The lavender daiquiri at schooner bar is delicious and will definitely hit the spot. I'll ask for vodka to make it a martini on my not rum days. Not worried about it a whole lot. I currently have a drink once or twice a month...if that...so two in a day will be a lot. I'll keep watching the sales, but Black Friday was only 25% off, so $80/day with gratuities (really $93 since the cruise is technically only 6 days with leaving at night the first day). I'm more annoyed I'll have to drink Diet Coke instead of Pepsi for a week.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 30, 2022 16:27:46 GMT -5
The Alaska group tour we're going to do in June include 6 days on NCL Spirit. In reading the brochure, I noticed that the $$ includes one water package per stateroom and "all meals while onboard with unlimited beverage package (exclusions apply)" which I'm thinking means unlimited beverages might only be with meals, or something like that. I will get clarification on that. The water package is a good deal for us because I gulp water like crazy. The alcohol package may or may not be as DH is a one drink max guy.
It also says "Norwegian reserves the right to charge a fuel supplement without prior notice should the closing price of West Texas Intermediate fuel increase above $65/USD per barrel on the NYMEX.......The fuel supplement charge will not exceed $10/USD per passenger per day" which would be $120 total for us.
Brochure also says "included 250 minutes per cabin WiFi package in a balcony category or higher"
Downside is that payment is cash or check only, no CC so I can't earn any points on my $12-$14,000
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 30, 2022 18:21:25 GMT -5
Downside is that payment is cash or check only, no CC so I can't earn any points on my $12-$14,000 WOW. I would not be happy with that. Do they have a credit card of their that they accept? Overseas Adventure Travel, which I use a lot, offers a discount for paying in advance up to a certain point but you can't use a credit card. The 3% cash back from my Costco card is worth more to me. I guess the trick in these plans is choosing one that includes most of what you want in the price and not too much of what you won't use. We're all different.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 30, 2022 19:41:48 GMT -5
Downside is that payment is cash or check only, no CC so I can't earn any points on my $12-$14,000 WOW. I would not be happy with that. Do they have a credit card of their that they accept? Overseas Adventure Travel, which I use a lot, offers a discount for paying in advance up to a certain point but you can't use a credit card. The 3% cash back from my Costco card is worth more to me. I guess the trick in these plans is choosing one that includes most of what you want in the price and not too much of what you won't use. We're all different. Nope. This is through our local bank's travel club and the rules are always cash or check which is okay but this is the priciest one we've done so far. I have to add that EVERYTHING else is included- airfare, transportation to and from airports, tips, shore trips etc. There are a few lunches or dinners on our own.
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finnime
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Post by finnime on Dec 1, 2022 12:38:26 GMT -5
So you've decided to take the cruise, too, soupandstew? That's wonderful! Those wifi minutes are per day, right? Not per cruise?
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