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Ive been on Grandeur and Voyager (so far) and both had either a production or comedy show every night. It's just odd to me that there isn't a production or comedy show the first night. I'm cool with it, just found it different than what I'm used to.

Well at least our team won , people came prepared, all the things I brought was not in use

This portion of the show they added in early March and is actually very awesome! IMG_1205.mov

As of 3 weeks ago, the seats are still awful. Show was good. They don’t dive from as high as oasis class. What I don’t like about the current aqua shows is that it’s become more dance than dive. Still love the goofy aqua show on Harmony.

We had infinite balconies going for $30 with Royal up on icon

We sat in the top row close to hooked and that was the only row I noticed with cushions (but that was March). Hopefully this issue has been resolved.

I'd love to do THAT itinerary!

Robot battles on the ship?!

If you specifically booked an OCEANVIEW BALCONY GTY, that means you will be assigned an OV. You cannot be assigned a Central Park or Boardwalk Balcony. Those are not OV, those are considered NEIGHBORHOOD balconies and are less expensive. Once you are assigned your OV, you can request to switch to any other OV in the exact same category. Different OV's have different sub-categories. 1D, 2D, 3D, 4D, etc. So if you get a 3D, you can only switch to another available 3D. Hope that clears things up.

Meanwhile tonight on Harmony out of Galveston they were bringing 2nd and 3rd helpings of Lobster without them being ordered . (According to my notably trustworthy parents).

Here are a few pics of the shop. It's the last night of the cruise so it was a bit busy.

So funny. This must be over 30 years old. My wife got it sailing as a kid with her parents.

I wonder if the "revenge travel crowd" is starting to slow down a bit. I'm thinking as a business Royal has $$ milestones to meet, maybe the spend factor once onboard is starting to slow. Icon pricing is pulling her weight I'm sure, but what about the other ships? I'm thinking this is just a refreshed promo to separate more money from the consumer. This is not a negative statement mind you, Royal is ultimately in business to provide an enjoyable vacation but also to make a profit. So I'm thinking they are just trying to stimulate more "spend" with inviting offers such as this. I agree with someone else here that they are missing the boat (pun intended) with Royal Branded Merch! It's so sleepy and ho hum at this point. Most times I'm looking for something, I don't know what but almost every time there is nothing interesting. For example I would purchase a quality beach towel from every ship if it had the ships name on it. So I say come on Royal, think outside the box!

I still see an OS on a mock booking.

It looks like those two OS staterooms have sold. I dont see them while making a mock booking. There is still time for the Royal Up Gods to shine down upon me.

Ultimately, this is a one and done drive by.

Since you’re not at final payment, you could still cancel your booking, get a full refund, then rebook at the lower guarantee rate. However, you know that right now your guarantee turned into a 3D balcony. If you rebook your guarantee may turn into a different (likely lower) class of balcony but that may not matter to you.

But the taxes are listed right there next to the sticker price.

Ditto.

I don't see why this would be bad at all. Imagine a family of 4. Royal very openly advertises 50% off second passenger and kids sail free. The "sticker" price is $300 pp. This will assumes the first adult would pay $400 and the second one $200 because of the 50% off. Which means that the cruise should be $600 for the whole family. Great deal (yes. I know cabins for 4 cost different than cabins for 2. Let's keep it simple). But the reality is that different - because Royal doesn't put the port fees and taxes on the sticker price. Those are also in the small lettering of of the KSF promo. If PF&T are 100 per passenger. Then the $600 cruise you thought you had is actually $1000. That's almost 100% more. With the new pricing, royal would have to say that each passenger is $400 - or $800 total. Not much to do about the KSF thing unless you read the small lettering, but the initial shock should be less.

Definitely interested to hear your opinion. Agree about Nachi being peaceful but the mixed drinks and food being just ok to sub-par. We've only ever done Nachi but are considering Paradise beach on our next visit just to try something new, even though we really enjoy the peacefulness more than anything.

I just want to rant a bit. I am usually really prepared. I asked the casino host first night if a particular sailing was on the sold out list. She said no. I called casino royale today and it "technically " isn't because all that is available is JS at 4500pt threshold or for a $4k upgrade fee. I purposely played to the point threshold for that sailing. I would have played for the extra 200pts to have more options. Now my mother, who wanted me to earn her a cert but hasn't thanked me, refuses to sail alone so I wasted my money.

Just to reiterate, I would always call if possible to get it sorted out right then and there for any offers you really want. Plus if you call you can choose the room you want, or ask about additional freeplay if you're ok in a guarantee, or ask about upgrade prices. You can also downgrade if possible just to secure a room on the ship/sail date if all the current offers for your category are booked. I have used the online redeem a few times for offers I wasn't excited about but just wanted as a fallback plan in case there wasn't a better offer in the future, and didn't want to spend 30 mins or more on the phone. The amount of time varies from when you'll hear back (if at all). Anywhere from 1-5 days is my usual experience (except one time that was over 2 weeks!) I'll usually see the booking under the "Courtesy Holds" tab on my sign in page long before any invoice hits my email. You will need to pay the balance online within 48 hours though or the booking goes poof. I also always call every few weeks to ask about upgrade prices for all my booked sailings. You'd be surprised how often and how widely the prices can fluctuate and I have yet to find a rhyme or reason that makes sense.

Sorry but ultimately this is someone looking for something for nothing. This has nothing to do with one individuals health issues. Life happens. That's what insurance is for. And for the rest a $100pp change fee is more than fare. Do I get free health care or car repairs because something bad happened to me? No. That's why you have insurance. If everyone who didn't have insurance got what they wanted by crying about problems, we would be where? If personal medical issues were a get out of cruise free card, the company's would go bankrupt. I'm sick of people who cry "problem" and don't have insurance. The rest of us don't get our money back when all goes well. It's an expense. It's no fun. However, it is a good idea. Congratulations you each saved about $75 bucks on a cheap policy.

IMO - it's worth booking with an agent just for the fact that if you have any request, question, concern...you can just shoot them a text or email and not have to listen to Pompeii on loop for 10 minutes.