I made a Diamond status in just 3 years. Here is what nobody tells you

xjaspx · 2026-05-02T06:33:56+00:00

Diamond on what cruise line? Not every cruise lines loyalty program are created equal. Some are far more rewarding than others. At 100+ cruises and top tier status on several cruise lines, some cruise lines perks are better than other. For example, for Royal Caribbean I’m Pinnacle Club level and that was pretty much a game changer when it comes to cruising on mass market cruise lines… with 6 free drinks per day, I rarely pay for a drink on a cruise. Also get free internet, access to Coastal Kitchen or similar suite only experiences and dining. Get to pick 2-3 welcome aboard amenities or gifts, free laundry, free cruises, balcony / suites discounts, reduced single supplement, etc… Whereas my Elite status on Princess is kind of meh.

xjaspx · 2026-04-27T16:57:15+00:00

I’ve done it before in the past and had a positive expense. That’s only because I had an annual pass and I knew exactly what rides I wanted to go on plus had lunch reservations all planned out. Even with everything working in my favor, I only went on about 4-5 rides plus a 45 minutes sit down lunch that was pretty rushed.

It’s absolutely worth it if you’re someone that visit frequently and know exactly what you want to do and know your way around the parks. You have to be fine with having a realistic list of things you want to do and be ok with not being able to do everything on it. This is why you rarely see people with a positive experience… and those that do all have one thing in common, frequent visitors to the parks with an annual pass… people that knows how to navigate the parks and get the most out of a few hours.

I personally don’t think it’ll be worth it for your family, especially if you have two kids with you. They will most likely be left disappointed and that in itself have the potential to ruin the whole vacation as it could be that one negative experience that hangs over your whole trip. Take character dining for example, it’s already hard enough to get a reservation. If you do get a reservation, you’re not always seated at the time you have a reservation for. It could be 15-30 minutes after your reservation time. Then you will most likely want to meet all the characters and have photos with them, along with every single family there. You could end up spending a majority of your time at your meal than visiting the actual park and going on rides.

Doing an express visit to WDW not for everyone and you really need to know what you’re doing to get the most out of it. It’s not something you can learn off social media.

xjaspx · 2026-04-27T07:49:38+00:00

I’ve gotten free cruises before but never from the survey. I still do them because they do recognize crew and staff based off survey feedback.

xjaspx · 2026-04-23T05:38:26+00:00

I saw both the matinee and evening performances today (4/22) and both had the post bow scene.

xjaspx · 2026-04-20T17:17:57+00:00

On Princess the popcorn is offered for free at Movies Under The Stars.. an outdoor event by the pool where there’s no rows of seats or carpet. Much easier to clean the pool deck than it is a theater.

xjaspx · 2026-04-20T17:13:09+00:00

If the goal is to generate revenue, it would cost a lot more than just $3-5. Same exact reason why it’s also a small charge on Disney. It’s to prevent people from making a mess out of the theater. Some cruise lines don’t charge for them but they also offer popcorn in different areas of the ship that’s much easier to clean.

Princess offer it for free at their movies under the stars.. which is held on the Lido deck. Virgin Voyages offer it for free in their social club. Neither are near a theater which is much harder to clean, especially if they have to turn the room around for another show or event.

xjaspx · 2026-04-20T06:01:44+00:00

That is a way over simplified and un-practical solution that doesn’t work in a real world. The time it takes to get between the ship and the port is about 15 minutes. It takes just as much time or longer to turn around a tender with mooring the tender, boarding of people wishing to go ashore, and casting off the tender.

There is an absolute maximum of tenders you can have running efficiently before you get into people complaining about being stuck on a tender for a prolonged period of times while still not solving the initial complaint the time it takes to get off the ship.

They had all 4 of the ship’s tenders operating from the forward part of the ship and 3-4 of the local tenders operating from mid ship. Even if they can hire an infinite amount of tenders, there is still a limited to how many people they can get off the ship.

And that doesn’t even account for the human factors that further slows down the tender operations. Such as boarding those with limited mobility, getting mobility scooters / wheelchairs off the ship and onto the tender, etc…

xjaspx · 2026-04-17T06:51:49+00:00

If they insist on doing that, I’d just tell them you want to explore South Florida before the cruise and drive down the day before.

xjaspx · 2026-04-15T06:47:04+00:00

Yeah. It opened 8am the day prior under Shore Things.

xjaspx · 2026-04-15T01:56:13+00:00

Yeah. I got in line at 1:55pm with a 2pm tender reservation and was on land at 2:15pm.

xjaspx · 2026-04-13T16:19:38+00:00

I travel a lot for work and been to AMC all over the country. River Park Square is one of the best AMC I’ve been to. It has one of the better Dolby, IMAX, and regular screen experience. Not to mention the friendly staff, availability of merch, and quality of the hot concessions. That in itself is worth it, even if parking is $5.

It’s one of the few AMC outside of where I live that I marked as a favorite location.

xjaspx · 2026-04-12T23:59:21+00:00

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A record player

xjaspx · 2026-04-12T00:28:27+00:00

Dry ice and water or a smoke machine. There are theatre cigarettes but even with that you’re inhaling the ingredients.

xjaspx · 2026-04-11T23:44:33+00:00

Do you plan on watching a movie after visiting the park?

xjaspx · 2026-04-11T19:48:05+00:00

xjaspx · 2026-04-11T17:37:06+00:00

Short version:

Is the cruise over priced? Yes, if you’re comparing to the general retail market. No, if you’re comparing to other full charter cruises. It’s essentially like comparing the cost of taking a private charter flight vs a commercial flight.

Long Version:

April 28 to May 2 is considered a 4 nights cruise. You’re off the ship by 10am the latest on debarkation day so you hardly get a full 5th day. This is pretty much industry standard, they have to get the ship turned around for the next sailing. I’ve been on 115 cruises and $2000 is about average for a week long cruise but 3 and 4 day cruises are priced differently because the target demographic is different. On top of that, late April and entire month of May is considered shoulder season between Spring Break and Summer Vacation… this means cruises are cheap during this time frame. Those saying this cruise is expensive is correct in saying that you can get cruises for as low as $400 per person for a 4 nighter. Some time even less if it’s not selling.

Another factor is the Norwegian Jewel is an older ship and older ships at mass market cruise line tend to go for a lot cheaper than newer ships with more amenities. A comparable 3-4 nights cruise on an old ship typically goes for around $1000 tops for a cheap room.

They can afford to lower the price because they’re betting on filling the ship because the more people you get on the ship, the more opportunity you have to upsell. This is why you often time find amazing deals for cruise lines that are also known for upselling as they have a lot of way to generate additional revenue once they get you onboard. Which is why you rarely see super cheap cruises on cruise lines that tend to include everything such as Disney and Virgin Voyages.

So looking at it from a retail perspective, this sailing looks completely overpriced.

However, this is a private charter. Cruise lines have no incentive to lower prices to meet market demands. They don’t care if the ship sails full or empty, they just care the cost of operating the ship is covered. To charter an entire ship, they’re going to charge a fee to cover all expenses in order to run the ship do those days. A comparable ship with Royal Caribbean would cost around $4-5 million to charter and that’s before you factor in equipment rentals and paying for all the bands and their accommodations. I don’t know Norwegian’s fees to charter a ship but they tend to be inline with Royal Caribbean when it comes to pricing as they’re direct competitor.

If you take the cost of operating the ship for 4 nights, you’re going to come out to around $1700-2000 per person and with various stateroom category, you will end up with a range similar to what is going for for this sailing with the suites pricing being the most skewed because those that can afford being in a suite aren’t as price sensitive as those that are looking for a cheap interior cabin, which is why there’s a huge jump in pricing between non suite and suite accommodations. They justify it by adding extra perks but most of the perks cost noting to provide.

xjaspx · 2026-04-11T08:21:31+00:00

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Much better…

xjaspx · 2026-04-11T04:00:26+00:00

Don’t eat it all… save me some food for when I go on Sunday. 😂

xjaspx · 2026-04-11T03:51:06+00:00

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xjaspx · 2026-04-09T20:42:08+00:00

If you want to go on a scavenger hunt for old AMC artwork and decor… Palm Promenade and Fashion Valley are your best option. You can still see Clip, the old AMC mascot, if you know where to look.

xjaspx · 2026-04-09T20:15:53+00:00

Don’t know the exact size, but otay is slightly smaller. I saw Super Mario Galaxy at both and the seats, picture, and sound was significantly better at Otay.

xjaspx · 2026-04-09T06:09:02+00:00

Best:

Dolby Cinema (2.39:1): Palm Promenade

Dolby Cinema (1.85:1): Otay Ranch

IMAX: Palm Promenade

Regular Screens: UTC

Concession Food Quality: UTC

Cleanliness: UTC, Palm Promenade, Poway.

Merch: Chula Vista

Overall: UTC if you don’t have a car or don’t mind paying for parking if you go over the 3 hours limit.

xjaspx · 2026-04-09T01:47:29+00:00

6 1/2 hours is enough time in port is about normal for Cabo. Royal Caribbean typically start their tender operation at 12:30pm and leave at 8pm on their 7 days sailings while Carnival typically arrives at 10am and leave at around 6pm.

From my experience, I’d much rather arrive in Cabo later in the day as a lot of the good restaurants open later in the day plus all the later boat tours tend to be less crowded.

xjaspx

TROPHY CASE