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It was a glitch! Somehow the computer reverted to the non promotional price. Spoke to a wonderful woman in customer service named Stacey. She was able to get me an even lower fare! Wonderful customer service, and I can't wait until our January cruise! Thank you to all of you for your help! I will have to come back to this forum since you are all so nice!

Day 1 - Embarkation day Usually this day is simple although tense, we wake up eat quick breakfast and take a shuttle/taxi to the port around 10:30 AM . This time its different as the check in to the boast will be only at 5 to 7 PM while the sail hour is midnight (not sure why it still called 10 days cruise … where is the missing a day ? to the finders I promise reward) So we had to find out how to spend the full day before going to the port, to add to the complexity today we also had Hon Kong cycling competition which brought to many road blocks , we found out that the start/finish point of the race is just across from our hotel. To reduce the risk of finding taxi that will take us to the port I reserved a car from the hotel guessing they will have better chance to know how to avoid the road blocks and the extra traffic associate with it, so yes I paid twice what I would pay for the taxi but at least I knew its safer. The good thing was that the hotel let us keep the room until 3 PM . We went again to the same place to eat breakfast, after all you don’t replace a wining horse or a wining sandwich. We watch the bicycle race for a while, preparing our self for the cycling tour we booked in Vietnam which his almost the same then went to take our free drinks at the hotel lobby waiting for our car (watching the race was quite an effort and was enough practice for today).. Once it was the time to go; the hotel send someone with our suitcase as we had to bypass the road block by claiming a bridge and navigate via a street or two to get to our car. The ride to the port was very fast around 15 minutes so it was around 5:15 when we arrived , we gave our suitcase outside ,until now it was like any boarding day, yap until that time … We got to the hall where we saw tons of people seating and waiting for something, there were many lines but we figured out that the biggest line was for the photo copy machine , you see , RC asked people to bring a photo copy of their first passport page , many I guess or did not read it or don’t have a printer at home … The priority check in lines was reverse for Platinum and up (while in Europe and US they have queues for gold also) which was not that bad as the regular line took us less than 5 minutes and hey after this cruise we will become platinum, well we are newbies J We did the check in and got a number for boarding, that actually explain what where all the people doing in the hall, while in many other places you do the check in and then you go via security to the waiting hall here you did the check in and waited for your number to be called to the security. I guess they don’t have place for people to wait after the security.. They started to call all the suites and down to Platinum members to approach the security for boarding around 5:45 PM . We were called around 7 PM , if I just knew it was the first line … The good thing was that the crew tried to maintain the order meaning they really checked the numbers that people had and removed them from the line if their numbers were not called yet, I liked that system. After the security line which went quite fast we got to the immigration line that took another 20 minutes, once we passed that I was relived, finally time to get on board , but no , just another line , this time it was a line to give the passport and a the passport copy , apparently on this route the ship is holding everyone passport as part of issuing visas to Vietnam (remember my previous post of running to the Embassy, well as I suspect it was not required , hey at least I did some walking).. This line was another 15 to 20 minutes and then finally we got to the board. We were boarded at the fourth deck which was a surprise for me as until now we all the time boarded to the royal promenade At least there was one good thing which was the fact that our room was already ready has the ship arrived empty from China the bad thing was that we were missing the major things which usually should be already at room like the shore excursions tickets and the internet code. I went down to the Guest service to fix those issues and to check what happened to our first night done right which the guest service suggested that they will book me whatever restaurant I want. We decide to try Giovanni Table which was excellent, I will just say that for the entry we took the filet (both of us) and it was one of the best filet that I was ever eaten, very tender and taste full. From the restaurant we went directly to the muster drill that was conducted at 10:30. Tomorrow sea day

I don't think any of us were saying the cruises would not happen, they will, but depending on where you live flying to San Juan can be an all day event, with any delays you could miss the boat, so OK, you fly in the day before right, well you have to stay someplace and the last I heard a small percentage of the island has power, so what are the odds you find a hotel that has space and that has power, etc. etc. You will probably be alright, but it is a lot of challenges.

Spotted a Norwegian brochure for Symphony of the Seas. Much of the information is known already, but it does include info on some new restaurants that appear to be coming to Symphony of the Seas. Sugar Beach, which is described in Norwegian as "children's paradise will be on board" El Loco Fresh, Mexican restuarnt Hooked, seafood restaurant

I recommend that you ask the Comcierge about a bridge tour as soon as you board. That does 2 things : 1) it lets the Concierge know he/she has a guest who is interested in a bridge tour and 2) he or she will let you know right away whether it’s possible and about when (what day) it’s likely to happen. while bridge tours are less common than they once were, they will still try and accommodate you if at all possible. Can’t hurt to ask !

BB, Not so much getting screwed, just have to know the rules. Points on the RC credit card will start to expire 5 years after they are accumulated (through purchases), but I do not know what the attrition rate is. So, if you cruise every couple of years and convert your RC credit card points to on board credit, no problem. I have a brother in law who got me into cruising in 2006. I told him about the RC credit card in 2007, he got one and now has over 200,000 points on the card....and losses some every month....and complains like hell! So I told him the answer is simple, go on a cruise with us and use your points....my wife and I would appreciate drink packages greatly!

There is one "catch", you have to redeem the points you accumulate on your RC credit card and the "catch" is fairly easy. Here's the link:https://www.managerewardsonline.com/RMSapp/Ctl/entry?pid=grprwd&mc=RCCL. It will take one credit card cycle (30 days) for the points to show up in your account and you do not want to have any on board credit posted greater than 180 days from your cruise date. If you do, they will expire. As I understand it, when you order/buy something (drink package) and you go to check out you will have an option to pay by credit card or use on board credit. Also, any on board credit you receive from a 3rd party (travel agent promotion) will not show up until 2-3 days after you have embarked on your cruise. Perhaps someone else can chime in here if I'm incorrect on this and correct me if I'm wrong.

FABULOUS!!!! Thank you ellcee!!!

Good it all worked out, but would have been better has it not happened in the first place.

I think what you are missing is when you use wi-fi you are not calling internationally, you are calling thru the web,

Graduated from Boston University. I love doing the cruise on Grandeur and Explorer. Some of my friends met me at the pier. Love Boston!!!!!

Recall though that people like us are the educated cruise minority, the majority of people (and Royal's target market) have never cruised and don't know better. This is just part of their ongoing realization that churning through a never ending stream of first time cruisers is vastly more profitable than catering to those of us that are savvy enough to know not to buy the pictures, how to work the system to wait for the sales and the discounts, that are comfortable booking private excursions instead of through the ship, etc.

I am really hoping for a black Friday/cyber Monday sale...if we are buying 2 drink P kgs, it would really be nice if I could save 11 bucks a day! Jane

No deals for me (March/April Eastern Caribbean). But if folks on February cruises are seeing some deals, gives me hope that next month (maybe Thanksgiving weekend?), my ship will finally come in. See what I did there?

Well, now that I won't be buying the package, which means they are out two packages, and I'll be buying my drinks as I go and therefore will be much more mindful of the $$ I'm spending, they actually will be losing out. If there was a decent discount for both of us, I might consider it. At least now I'll be able to share whatever drink I get with my wife and not feel like the po-po are watching and waiting.