Airmiles Armchair Chatter

[hdrolfe]

I love cruising but kiddo hasn't enjoyed it much the past two so I guess I will be able to go again when he is older and can be left home alone. We have been to places I couldn't afford to go spend a week, and the food and water are safe on board, so I don't worry if we can drink the water or anything. It is cheaper than the same amount of time at Disney, since meals are included on board a ship I can afford to feed my son lol, he eats a lot! But the cabins are smaller than a hotel room, and it can get crowded. I have learned I don't care for the biggest ships, I prefer a bit smaller. But I will go again, and certainly when I retire.

 

[dancin Disney style]

Don't say that. I'm just trying out my first cruise in 30 years. I'll see if we like that type of holiday and decide after if we will be continuing. There are a few places I want to go that are best done on a cruise ship. I hope it will work for us.

I was never overly interested in cruising. I figured that eventually we would go on one, just for something different. My mom thinks that there is no other way to travel....but not in the way that sounds. She has been on at least 12 cruises but clearly has very little understanding of how things work. I really became aware of this in the last two years since I have done lots of research on cruises. She went a few times with a friend who has done 25+ cruises and then she decided that she didn't want to go with that friend anymore. Then she started taking my oldest DD but only because if you go solo you still pay for two people. DD has told me that she basically takes care of everything after the booking is made, and that is done with a travel agent.

After DH and I cruised last year we talked about it and he really didn't like it. He prefers to go to an all inclusive and sit on the beach. I think though that with us going to see DD doing her work drastically changes the experience. We were totally on her timetable. She would tell us we had to be here at 2pm and there at 5pm etc. If we wanted to have dinner with her we had to take the late seating, which is not a time we would ever choose. In the ports DD wanted to be off the ship so we got off with her and her friends. They mainly just want to go and get food that is not ship food. Then I got really sick half way through and my cruise sort of ended at that point. I feel like I need a do over. This time around DD has a different role so I'm hoping that it will allow us more time during the day to do what we want.

 

[tinkerone]

I'm not saying cruising isn't great, it is! You can visit many different places you normally wouldn't book for a land vacation. That is what got us hooked.

All I was saying is that your cruise for 7 nights will run you at least $1000 CAD per person (season and cabin type will affect the cost). Then you pay another $300 (or more) so per person for grats, and you still haven't drank anything outside of the buffet freebies (not only referring to alcohol, that could be pop as well). Add your pre-cruise hotel and maybe post-cruise hotel and your flights and you are already up to $5000 for two people.

We would use points for flights so that takes it down $1500-$2000, but I just can't justify the cost anymore. Highway robbery.

Royal and NCL you can book in CDN. Carnival is in US.

We will probably try it again once we retire and are more flexible. Right now, we are enjoying the all inclusive / resort life. Happy sailing!

Gratuities are not normally that much unless you are speaking about a family maybe. On DCL it's $14.50 per person per day, so $101.50 for a seven night cruise. I will say that when we are at an all inclusive we easily spend that in tips for a week.
Not trying to convince anyone it's a cheap vacation but for us it is often a more interesting vacation. We still do all inclusive stays, got one coming up in November and then again in Jan, but we also still cruise, got one coming up in Feb. The all inclusive in Jan. is costing more than the cruise on DCL in Feb. and DCL is not cheap.
I'd love to get back to RCCL in the near future but they have gotten out of hand in costs as well. Seems there are no 'cheap' vacations anymore.

 

[dancin Disney style]

We spend minimum $200USD on tips at an all inclusive. When we have butler service that’s an additional $75-100.

From what I’ve seen DCL is on the lower end of gratuities though. I think I generally all cruise lines are pretty equal in cost once you add in the extras. That goes for companies and ships that are of comparable quality.

 

[Silvermist999]

We have never cruised before and would love to try it one day. Maybe a shorter one for the first to see if we like it.

Thanks for the heads up on the Dollarama offer coming up! We were so busy helping our youngest move in to his university residence this weekend (first year!) that I totally forgot about the Shell offer.

 

[Silvermist999]

Question about the Terms. Is "during" (opt in during the offer period) new. Does that mean we should wait until the 30th to opt in or will opting in now work also? Thoughts.

I just went to the Dollarama offer. It’s card linked and I was able to opt in!

 

[kimbert]

Online and in the app (for me), the dollarama offer is still only able to be "saved" to my offers by clicking the heart. It's not an "opt-in" button yet. When I click the heart it specfically pops up as "saved".
So I believe we will have to click a second time on the 30th...

I had some errands Saturday (the global pet foods offer being 1 of them) and I thought... do I get my second Dollarama shop now, while I'm out? Or wait until the end of the month. I figured I'd be more likely to forget ans wait to shop on Sunday (being Sept. 1st) and miss out on the bonus mastercard points for shopping twice. SO.... I bought myself a few things + Disney GC, and now... I have to do it again on the 30th/31st!! Ha ha, oh well. Maybe I'll need something other than a GC by then!

 

[dancin Disney style]

Uggg….while sitting waiting for the dog to be groomed I come across the receipt from Global over the weekend. My items must have been on sale. The total was $19.23….I bought two items that were $10.99 each . Messed up again

 

[hdrolfe]

Our cat KitKat, my son's cat really, is not looking good. Taking her to the vet in an hour and not sure she will be coming home again. She took a real downturn and is having trouble standing now. She has had these bouts of not eating for years but this time she has just lost a lot of weight in only a couple days, and she hasn't even been throwing up like she usually would. My son still thinks she will be given a shot or something but I am not sure on that. She is only 9 but has been to the vet for stomach trouble many times. Not feeling hopeful, poor sweety.

 

[ottawamom]

Uggg….while sitting waiting for the dog to be groomed I come across the receipt from Global over the weekend. My items must have been on sale. The total was $19.23….I bought two items that were $10.99 each . Messed up again

I found most of the things I was interested in were 19.99. None of those were going to work. I picked up one of the 19.99 items and other small treat.

 

[Aladora]

Our cat KitKat, my son's cat really, is not looking good. Taking her to the vet in an hour and not sure she will be coming home again. She took a real downturn and is having trouble standing now. She has had these bouts of not eating for years but this time she has just lost a lot of weight in only a couple days, and she hasn't even been throwing up like she usually would. My son still thinks she will be given a shot or something but I am not sure on that. She is only 9 but has been to the vet for stomach trouble many times. Not feeling hopeful, poor sweety.

Oh no! We are dealing with something similar with one of our cockatiels. Renny has been having trouble with one of her feet and we just picked her up from our bird hotel where she was for the weekend and she seems as though she can’t climb anymore. We moved her food, water, and perch to the bottom of her cage but we leave for Ottawa Wednesday morning and the vet is not working tomorrow. We will have to leave our son to take care of her until we get home Monday and I really hope she is okay until then.

 

[hdrolfe]

The vet was very kind, she said it could be lymphoma, and Kit was obviously distressed and in pain. She said that if I hadn't made the decision myself she would have tried to push me to it, and it was the right call. Poor sweetheart was suffering. It is very weird to be home without her now. She was only 9 and Jackson's best friend. Not sure how the dynamics will change here, it's so strange my old man Snickers is still going at almost 18, every time I think his time is close he rallies and is back to himself. Have to say, that cost a lot more than I was expecting, but I guess the last time we went through this was 12 years ago so I didn't really have a comparison. She liked to steal my work chair

 

[bababear_50]

So so sorry Heather.
Healing hugs being sent your way.

Hugs Mel

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

So sorry @hdrolfe. We just went through it a month ago with our last of the 3 Musketeers. I hope your son understands it was the best for Kit.

 

[dancin Disney style]

So sorry to hear about the kitty. I've been through it too. It's really hard to make that decision and even harder when you go home.

 

[bababear_50]

Hugs
Mel

 

[ottawamom]

So very sorry to hear about you much loved cat Heather. You did the right thing for her.

 

[Pumpkin1172]

She was only 9 and Jackson's best friend.

Heather, I'm so sorry for your loss. I'll be sending you and your son many, many tight hugs. That is the hardest decision to make. May all the memories you have with her bring you some comfort while your heart adjust to having one less fur baby in your home.

 

[Debbie]

Condolences to you and your boy on the loss of your sweet kitty, Heather. It's hard to reconcile at home. You still expect to see and hear them, you turn and you think you do see them. Hugs to you and Jackson.

 

[hdrolfe]

Thanks everyone, last night was odd since she didn't come sleep with me, but Olaf (the guy in my profile pic) came up and snuggled all night! Normally he'd try and chase her out of my room so he was super happy to have me all to himself. Kiddo is still quite upset and asking about getting a new cat, I'm trying to have some patience with it, we still have 3 other cats and one of them is almost 18 so I expect we'll be going through this again sooner than later, but of course he's older so it's a little more expected I guess? Any way! Thanks for all the comfort.

Now I am waiting for some AM bonuses to post, the 200 for that flash offer recently and the 250 for 3 online shops but I suspect those won't post for awhile still. Also Global petfood from the weekend, and I'll need to remember to go to Dollarama this weekend. I'm thinking of saving for flights, the Canadian deals that are going to be posted in two weeks or so could lead to a long weekend away. I'd be happy with two or three days at the parks I might even be happy with just two or three days in Florida come January / winter lol. We'll see. But my AM are low so I need some good deals!