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Upgraded from Ocean View Balcony to Junior suite for Sunday cruise on Allure for only $300 total. Did not expect to win but glad we did. Now if we just test negative as the wife came down with a cold this week lol. Wish others luck if you try!!

Just got the email we were upgraded to the CL a few minutes after my phone got a notification that Royal made a charge on my Amex!

have seen a lot of question about the 10 drink card on this site. So far since start up it has not been spotted yet, that has now changed. Spotted on Explorer of the Seas early on Day 5 after the Solarium pool opened. Just FYI Explorer out of San Juan is running a around 30-35% capacity on this sailing

Thank you ALL soo much for the help. I used Matts advise. reserved our drinks at $56/day/person AND TODAY, 23 days to go, it dropped to 30%off and I cancelled the order and bought for $52/day/person. And on a side note, Mary and I will be married on 2/22/22, in Cozumel MX and will be swimming with the dolphins. We had custom made Life Jackets, hers in white with a veil attached, and mine is black with Tux Tails attached to the back and a bow tie.. Should have some fantastic photos. Thank you again. John and Mary

Not a cruise planner sale, but I love when they drop the price for effectively a guaranteed ocean view balcony cabin for less than half of what it costs to choose your own cabin! I was checking to see if my cabin was cheaper, but it's actually higher now.

I ended up pretty tanned talking to Lauren while Walt did the flowrider. With the bad weather, mid talk, her flight was canceled. Luckily she didn't have to return to work until Monday. I went back to the room and packed, I knew I would be out later than the 10pm bag drop. Around a little after 6pm I went down to catch Gallery of Dreams. I had seen this on my first Mariner sailing and was excited to experience it again. As has been the constant with all the shows, it started late and the sound was horrible. The main guy couldn't carry a tune to save his life and it really took away from how amazing the lead women voices were. There was no blending of harmonies. I left halfway as it got worse as the medley of songs went on. Dinner was originally supposed to be 8:30 hibachi but I changed it because I was originally going to the production show at 9:15. The show was added after PDCC so most dinner plans were already set. Izumi on mariner is really popping for hibachi, not so much sushi. Keep in mind that their prefix menu says 1 starter, 2 mains and a dessert. With the UDP its the $35 credit, which isnt the same. I got the vegetable fried rice, chicken kaarage and shrimp tempura. Also the Japanese strawberry is my favorite drink on any ship. It's very funny, even though I start out eating alone, either someone asks me to join them or start including me in the dinner if they are next to me. I really only ate my 2 JR lunches alone. After I ordered my meal, a family doing hibachi sent for me. There were about 7, from either Brooklyn or the Bronx. It was 2 cousins, their adult children and spouses. They were themed in dress each night: they did all white, 1920 flappers, 80s and all black. We chatted about how similar our states are while the hibachi chef started making his noise. Two of the seven were celebrating birthdays and I realized I saw them at the slots tournament. The chef sang happy birthday and did his hibachi thing. My plan was to catch Adult Majority rules and karaoke as I have never seen it on a RCG ship. Hibachi was going long so at 8:50 I excused myself. Went to the bathroom and just barely found a seat. Everyone I had met was at this game show and we split off into the teams required. We got 7/9 but weren't the winners. Oddly enough it was the family who brought ther 11/12 old child, with food, to an 18 + show. Eventually they took him out but not before he heard some things. Little caveat, that show was explicit. Not just the questions but it was full of uninhibited drunks. I went to the bar to get diamond drink #3 and this guy kept telling me about his nether regions. The prize was water bottles. We stay through to karaoke....Walt was going to sing. I think they allow for maybe 12 singers each session. The first girl was pretty bad, then 2 older people got up and sang really old songs. There was a girl who sounded like Adele with a sniffle while singing Adele. She was the best. Poor Walt was nervous and a woman got up to assist him.....it put him on key. They ended up making room for Tim because it was his birthday. He sung "Baby Got Back"......also he looked just like Riff Raff. A white dude with braids and tomfoolery. I saw him several times and he always had a bud light. He made sure to let us know he was traveling with his mom and that wasn't his wife. My favorite was this super drunk guy who wanted to sing the "Thong song" but was too drunk to sign up properly. He kept running down and dancing to each song. At one point his shirt was off and being waved around. His wife had to come get him off the floor twice. After karaoke they had Latin music. So we parted ways and I head to Cafe promenade for a few slices of pizza. If you don't know, mariner doesn't has a Sorrento's. They server pizza at the Cafe. The selection had varied but it carnivore, cheese, veggies and pepperoni. The dessert were pretty basic. I went back to my room and finished packing my carry-on. All the luggage were still in the hallway closed to midnight. I selected the very last departure as my flight was after 3pm. Breakfast was a mess at 8am so I took my food back to the room to eat. With so few people disembarkation took shorter than anticipated. My luggage tag 40 was called at 8:40 and not 9am or 9:15 as requested. I was planning to leave at 8:45 anyway but a few minutes before that my room steward let himself in my room. It was weird. It took another maybe 10min to get through customs and by 9am I was waiting for my ride to the airport. I booked my flight through Air2Sea, they don't book before noon, so my flight was much later in the day. I decided to book GoPort to transfer to the airport, figuring it would kill some time. Lots of people were upset because they had been waiting since 8am and it arrived closed to 9:30. We got to the airport an hour later. I have access to lounges with my credit card so I figured I will kill the time there. Nope. I was too early and would have to access security again. I have pre check but MCO is a mess. I found a nice seat, took out my laptop and knocked this post and a few emails while I waited. I will give my final thoughts later.

To fit more people? My question is what/who is sitting there? I know I need new glasses, but I swear that is a walrus and a racoon in suits.

Being so close to the Windjammer, I assume this small shortcoming was easily remedied.

Hiya! Welcome! We are 25 days away from our long awaited family adventure on this ship and itinerary. Way back in June 2019 we decided to take our family on a cruise for a big vacation. We normally don't take large trips as a family for several reasons - budget, schedules, sports, etc. - but we have done 1 trip each to Disney World and Disneyland as well as some spouse getaways without the kiddos to Europe and Hawaii. Otherwise we stick to our local staycations to ski areas in the northeast and Jersey shore beaches. The opportunity came up to take the family on a vacation during President's week 2021, so I worked on booking it super fast. We had booked a balcony for my husband and me and the teens across the hall in an interior virtual balcony cabin. We all know what happened next. We tried to rebook twice only to be canceled, lifted and shifted, FCC, you name it. We waited two years and finally decided to try again once the restart had been going for a while and we knew we would feel comfortable with the current protocols and requirements. So I called my TA and we booked this sailing. The price was really good at the time and we got some discounts through promotions so we decided to bring the kids over to our side and got 2 connecting balcony cabins on deck 8. Researching and reading the trip reports on RCB have been fun and a great way to take a look at the ship and what it has to offer. This community is super knowledgeable! But I noticed the vast majority of them are in suite class and above, which is not our bag. If it's yours, great. Live your best life! But there isn't much from other perspectives out there. As I mention in the title, this will be a report about regular people taking a cruise. No stars, no skies, no Genies - just two good old rooms without much fanfare. No Coastal Kitchen, UDP, no Beach Club. Just some fun extras on Coco Cay and a couple beverage packages. There will much Main Dining and Windjammer food appearances, and all the shows and entertainment we can handle. So here's who we are: Me! I'm Nikki. Wife to J (aka Husband) and step-mom to SK1 and SK2. I work at a university and love all things Disney, ballet, figure skating, cooking, books, and beaches. I thrive in hot weather so I hope to catch some really warm days this week. The northeast is bitterly cold right now! This will be my second cruise with RCC and first time on a huge ship like Anthem. J (aka Husband). Dad to SK1 and SK2. Works in IT. Loves all things winter and snow sports. Very kindly allows me to drag him to hot places occasionally. This is also his second cruise with RCC and first time on a huge ship like Anthem. SK1 (step-kid 1). 16 year old girl, loves all things theatre & dance. Super extroverted, can't wait to meet other kids on this trip and be lifelong SnapChat friends. Never been on a vacation like this before. SK2 (step-kid 2). 14 year old guy, obsessed with sports. Baseball is life. Also excels at basketball and is eager to play pickup games at any time. Looking forward to eating a lot of pizza and going to the gym. Never been on a vacation like this before. Here's what we have planned: Driving from home to the port in Bayonne. I'll already be in NYC for an unrelated trip so I'll meet Husband and the kiddos there. We have a 1 p.m. checkin time. Day 2 - cruising. We will explore the ship and scope out opportunities for fun in the SeaPlex, see shows, do trivia, relax in pools and Solarium, etc. Day 3 - Port Canaveral. We are leaving Bayonne later than 3 p.m. so this pushes back our arrival time in Florida to 3 p.m. this day. Have Space Center Shuttle and free time booked through Royal. As of now they are saying the excursion will still happen but remains to be seen. If the Space Center is only open until 5 p.m. I don't see how this can still be feasible. Husband had been looking forward to this so we may have to save it for another trip. Day 4 - Coco Cay. We did splurge a little here and took advantage of Black Friday sales. We booked a Day Bed at Breezy Bay and Thrill Waterpark tickets for all 4 of us. Day 5 - Nassau. We have the Reef Snorkel excursion booked through Royal. Days 6-7 cruising. Much of a day 2 repeat here, nothing special booked except doing what we want. Day 8 - debarkation and driving home. We will be in no hurry to leave and will request the highest luggage tag numbers possible. Best way to avoid a 4 hour drive with cranky, sleep deprived teens. Other stuff: Husband and I have deluxe beverage package, kiddos have Refreshment. I ordered champagne and strawberries for our room to celebrate surviving one heck of a time these past 2 years as well as celebrate all the things we achieved personally and professionally that we had to keep low-key at home in 2020 and 2021. I also hope to book at Next Cruise a trip for my 40th birthday in summer 2023 while onboard. We are all checked in and at-home tests arrived a couple weeks ago (so glad I ordered them early!). Now all we need is to stay healthy for the next 3.5 weeks, God willing. Hope to post some other updates as we approach the final countdown later. Please feel free to comment away and give your best tips for cruising with fickle teens, husbands who don't like temperatures north of 65 degrees, and any Port Canaveral backups in case KSC won't work out. We are in port from 3pm-9 pm. Staying on the ship or getting off just long enough to connect back to data plans (because we are evil parents and only bought internet for us and no we are NOT sharing the password with teens - get off your phone!) might be all we need anyway. Thanks for reading!

I wonder if this means we have a chance at getting the Crown Loft ……. All my other bids say expired, but the CL still says pending. Right now there are only 5 CL booked and 21 are still available! We’re currently in a GS

Love reading your adventures and the brutal honesty. But this caught my eye. You're not talking about in the bathroom right?

The only issue I'm having with cruise planner today is that their new sale stinks for a certain cruise.

Q Are the RoyalUp℠ upcharges commissionable? A Yes, based on the commission percent on the booking. At this time, the only exception is for bookings that reserve under a net price code which will not earn commission on the upcharge.

Omg, you just described ME! I can tell you though that the woman behind the check-in desk at Barcelona airport practically kissed me, she was so happy to see my neatly ordered documents.

Antigen test it is! Probably will even do one the first part of February too. We have 29 people going. Trying to prevent( as much as possible) any surprises. It will be a miracle if we all get through the testing and can actually go!

I didn't get all my drinks. I would have but I was "brought" a drink while at Chops. Then I only had 1 at the ice show and left early from the comedy so I forgot. I attempted to sleep in, but ended up at the Windjammer for breakfast a little after 9am. Two ladies asked if I was eating breakfast alone. I said yes, so they invited me to join them. They were actually 3 sisters; Callie,Emily and Natalie, who took this cruise as a 40th birthday gift to Callie. They were shocked I was alone and that I remembered their names after introduction. They invited me to join them for the rest of their day. I said I would hang for a bit. I watched two of them rock climb and then do the Skypad bungee thing while I played on one of the hammocks. We then did Friends trivia, our team got 13/15, were I met Lauren and Walt. I then went to the art auction because it is funny to see people bid on not real art. I left early to the slots tournament. It was a $25 buy-in with a $20 re-up if you didn't place in the top 6. I gambled some, I shouldn't have, and watched some people fight over a machine. I saw Lauren and Walt on my way to pack and we chatted for an hour. Their names sound old but they're in their early 20s. They were super impressed with Mariner and I showed them pictures of Allure and Harmony, they made an appointment with next cruise to book a bigger ship. I packed and tried, very unsuccessfully, to reply to a couple of emails. Everyone I have talked to says they are having internet issues. Tonight is Izumi and several more shows. Oh I almost fell again. Some little boy was taking the social distancing feet mats and placing them randomly. I was engrossed in watching him do it, that I tripped over a newly but wrong placed one. Thankfully I had a table to catch me. A few more crew members tested positive, so there were a lot of self service in the Windjammer today. Hence a child being able to move things around while the parents drank bloody Mary's.

I really like this thread because it reminds me of paging someone in a grocery or department store before cell phones. "Matt, can you please come to the customer service booth, your party is waiting for you."

Last night after the show we got the announcement that after two years, the Harmony of the Seas will be the first ship back to dock at the Labadee port! We arrived around 9am and was able to disembark around 9:30am! Leaving at 5:30pm today! Beautiful area with lots of adventures to be had. Everyone, including the crew are glad to be back!

I'm afraid your travel advisor gave you incorrect information. There's no pattern at all to the drink package prices. My advice is to book as soon as you know you want the drink package to lock in the price. If the price goes down later, you can cancel and rebook the drink package with no penalty and then instantly rebook under lower price. If prices goes up, you already locked in the lower price.

If there is some sort of issue using the proctored test in another country all you have to do is go get a cheap VPN service (sometimes can be found free but I don't know how much I would trust them) or set something up so that you can VPN back to a computer sitting in the US and access the service that way. I use WindScribe for most of my stuff but I was able to get a lifetime on StackSocial for about 100 a couple years ago and others can be found there if you want to look around. Wireguard is what I would recommend for those people setting something up for themselves. Basically install the software on your home computer and make sure that ports are forwarded only for Wireguard in your router then connect up using a phone or something while not in the house (best over wifi from someplace like Walmart or somewhere else with free internet) and make sure it works before you leave out. Wireguard is literally available for everything https://www.wireguard.com/install/ and once a few things are setup it is pretty easy to deal with as there is no true "client" "server" relationship with it. For forwarding ports I suggest looking up your router on https://portforward.com/ and go through the steps.

Did you check to see if by any chance they had and suite guarantees at half the going rate?

Full disclosure, I have no experience with these proctored tests you've all been using over there but I really can't see why they wouldn't work, if all you need is an internet connection. I'm pretty sure I read an article by someone on TPG saying they'd used one and it was all good. That said, who knows what will be required at the time of your cruise. It may be the case, as it was this past summer, that European governments require cruise passengers to do a pre-disembarkation test, in which case the cruise line would have to arrange it on board. Or maybe all testing requirements will have gone away by then. Lots of European governments are in the process of starting to lift testing requirements for fully vaccinated travellers. Lets keep our fingers crossed for that last scenario. As far as your flight is concerned, there is absolutely no way that I would book a flight with just a 1 hour layover in Paris, not even a domestic connection let alone connecting to an intercontinental flight.

A couple of glasses of water or a few ice creams and he would be good to go! Did they let you try re-weighing him?

Definitely better than spending ~$16 on each cocktail!

well, it started working again. I did try three different browsers on 2 different computers. I guess the glitch was fixed!

I’m glad to read this. My wife and I were talking about this a couple days ago. We had hoped it was the case.

On the ship or floating in the sea?

Harmony did officially dock at Labadee - so it looks like it's back up and running!

Yes, that is correct. We cancelled because of Covid, and just to make sure, DH went through the pre board questionnaire & checked off yes for "exposed to positive covid patient within the last 14 days" -- as soon as he did that, he got notification on the app that he was prohibited from boarding.

Plus 18% gratuities = $93.22.

I SO agree with you on this. I was excited to try it out and then found it to be worse than Taco Bell. To me, it was the school cafeteria version of Taco Bell. Blech!

Excellent, exactly what I wanted to hear, thank you!

This is exactly what I tell people when they try to recommended anything not fiction.

If the remaining bid can't be cancelled/modified it is a strong indicator the bid was accepted. Now the fun waiting game for the bid to be finalized and charged.

Nasal Lavage (rinse). Don't use a PCR test, do an antigen. Antigen picks up live virus. Pcr will detect virus remnants

I got upgraded to GS on Freedom in December, it was wonderful! I was solo, it was way more space than I “needed” but of course it wasn’t about need. There is no suite pool deck on Freedom. Suite breakfasts were in Chops and very good! You’ll have access to the concierge services, I didn’t need anything from him but I did get an escorted departure which was great! Right past any lines and down a separate elevator, very slick. Have a great time!

Only bucket lists going forward. Will do Caribbean once a year because you just have to! Hope to cross off 2 bucket lists this year. Alaska and Holy Land/Greece. 2023 is reserved for Icon and …….. 2024 is either Norwegian Fjords or Baltics. Hubby turns 60 and 35 years of wedded bliss

The Vision sailing I’m on will go to the ABCs, then Cartagena, Puerto Limon, and Colon

Hi Everyone! I just got off a 7 night cruise on Harmony of the Seas. Being an avid cruiser and watching extensive Royal Caribbean Blog YouTube videos, I thought I was a professional but there were a few interesting things I learned on my cruise this past week. First thing, since we weren't able to book entertainment prior to the cruise I was nervous that shows would be sold out before I even had the chance to get on board. I learned that as long as you are connected to the cruise WIFI you can book the entertainment. With that being said, while we waited for our group to be called to board, we booked all of our entertainment BEFORE we even got on the ship. Second thing, if you are planning to drink beer but not purchase the alcohol package, I recommend purchasing the bucket of beer, compared to the price of regular beers, you are getting 1 beer for free! A crew member told us you could use your Crown and Anchor 50% off a beer coupon for the buckets and he let us redeem it but when we tried again later, with a different crew member, they said that was not a valid option. I forget the gentleman's' name but hey, it doesn't hurt to try. Third thing, if you are planning to do the stand up flowrider, don't wait until the end of your cruise. On my sailing, they gave newbies 2 tries per day to try and stand up longer than 1 minute. They made this rule so people #1 wouldn't be getting hurt and #2 not be wasting everyone else's time by constantly getting back in line to be struggling all day. They also told me that they do flowrider lessons to learn how to stand up. Once you achieve the longer than 1 minute ride, they give you a bracelet that lets you ride the rest of the cruise with no problem or quotas to hit. Not a tip, but a cool thing we were able to witness, in order to reduce the COVID positive percentage on the ship, they would transport our COVID positive crew off of the ships when we got to port. For example, we were initially told we wouldn't be going to St. Thomas because of our COVID numbers, then a bunch of crew were taken in tenders to Rhapsody when we were docked in St. Marteen and new crew came on, leaving us under the 1%, allowing us to go to St. Thomas, woohoo! I hope this helps anyone going on a cruise in the coming days/months/years. I would be happy to answer any questions y'all may have in regards to cruising last week.

I love mexican food so I will not be going to El Loco Fresh.

I've never seen prices drop so close to any cruise I've sailed on. Book at whatever price, you can cancel and rebook immediately *up until 2 days prior than sailing, that's when cruise planner closes down.

It can be underrated if you don't use some or all of the features of having a Genie. Some of the value of booking Star Class can be quantified by taking into account the cost of the things you would pay extra for. I tend to base it on booking a Grand Suite for the sake of making $$ comparisons. Calculate out the cost of a GS on the same ship for the same number of people and then subtract the suite daily gratuities, dining package, hibachi upcharge and beverage package from the total cost. A GS gives you the free internet. I've seen often that the delta between the SC cost and the GS isn't really that large and ultimately you will be in a nicer room and have the additional bonus of the Genie and free laundry (I don't factor this into a cost comparison as I wouldn't normally use it if I had to pay). Of course you also have to factor in the tip to the Genie since that isn't included in the daily gratuities pool. If you're celebrating something usually the Genie will recognize that with decorating the room or setting up a party, having a cake made, etc. Some Genie's pay particular attention to details and know how to cater their services to the individual. Some people are really hands on and want to be pampered and others are hands off. It is nice to not have to plan to show up to the show early to find seats, though when capacity is at 30% that wouldn't be much of an issue. Even with our 2100 passenger sailing on Harmony, folks in the Roll Call stated they weren't able to make ice skating reservations as times weren't available. I don't know if they tried to show up as a standby for the shows or if they knew they could even attempt that, though. My mother keeps opting for Star Class because she likes being pampered and enjoys the exclusivity aspect of it whereas my brother and I that often sail with her would much rather fly under the radar. However it is our inheritance so we have to suck it up to get to enjoy any of it . We did make good use of the minibar in the room. It does feel that the Star Class program has changed from its beginnings. With social media it's hard to avoid the comparison of Genies and what experiences the other passengers had and it's almost become a "what can I get" experience rather than allowing the Genies to craft an individualized experience. On the flipside, if you don't give the Genie any direction or details it makes it difficult for them to read minds and craft that experience. I'm not hearing as many stories of Genies taking it upon themselves to come up with special activities or events or experiences any more. One Star Class family turned to our Facebook Roll Call group to ask what suggestions she could make for her Genie or things she could ask for that would be special for her kids because the Genie wasn't suggesting anything outside of the Adventure Ocean or if they had done the water slides yet. Just go into it with an open mind and don't be afraid to ask for what you want. If you want to be escorted off the ship at port stops, be sure to let them know. If you want to leave the ship the final morning and walk next to your luggage, ask if that can be arranged. You want a particular seat at a restaurant or in the theater for a show, they will work their magic to make that happen the best that they can.

Set up a private wine tasting. BLoody mary and mimosia bar. We had a "drink of the day" delivered.

Oof, sorry. At this point it might be easier for him to get a J&J shot and use that card. I’m under the impression (though check with a doctor obvs) that mixing the vaxes won’t hurt him and could provide some cross immunity. And one and done of that shot counts as fully vaxed.

LOL! No such luck! $2,797/person... JS $3,702/person... JS w/ Large Balcony $5,166/person... GS w/ 1 BR ... up to $11,087/person for Owner's Loft

Nothing has been announced or hinted by Royal Caribbean

‘Diamond Plus and Pinnacle also only get you “Elite” status with Zero Captain’s Club points …… nothing will get you Elite Plus or Zenith. For both of those you have to earn your points from scratch by sailing on Celebrity.

Just got this from RCI Dear Guest, Pier construction in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic has unfortunately been delayed and as a result, we won’t be able to dock there. Instead, we’ll now visit Labadee, Haiti on Monday. Additionally, due to the distance from Haiti, we’ve pushed back our visit to Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas to Thursday, and replaced our visit to Basseterre, St. Kitts & Nevis with Nassau, Bahamas on Saturday. We’re sorry for any inconvenience caused by this change. Nonetheless, we’re excited to take you to new ports and know you’ll have an excellent time! Below, please find our revised Allure of the Seas February 19th, 2022 itinerary.

Curious what families with young children have been seeing with Adventure Ocean? Reduced capacity? Fewer hours available? Not being open at all due to exposures/quarantine? We are booked on the Symphony at the end of February with a 6 and 10 yo. Thanks.

Just got off Adv of the Seas NYE cruise. Was very frustrated with their new rules for Adv Ocean. Kids of all ages are grouped together to try to play social distance games. Spots on the floor they must stand on. Give me a break! We were allowed 2 night sessions and 1 day or morning session. Also annoyed me. Even if some of the night sessions weren’t full they wouldn’t allow us to add our kids to it. Our next cruise isn’t booked until October and I can assure you we won’t be on it unless this all goes away. We love family time during the day and then date night time at night. It just wasn’t the same. My kids who usually LOVE Adv Ocean also needed to be bribed to go there. They were miserable. Funny thing, 25 of them lined up on the kids slide at the pool with no masks on isn’t an issue at all though… Just doesn’t make any sense to me.