craig403

You can use OBC in the casino BUT if you are not a qualifying member of the casino VIP program (Club Royale) you will have to pay a 5% "convenience fee" to get it.  I have not sailed on Celebrity so I have no insight into how their program works.  Each passenger is permitted to take a maximum of $5K per day (on their seapass card) at the casino.  This is, of course, dependent upon whether or not your credit card limit would allow that.  
How much you have to gamble is a very difficult question to answer.  Here is information that I got earlier this year while on the Grandeur:
400 points - $100 off next cruise
800 points - $200 off your next cruise
1200 points - $300 off your next cruise
1600 points - $400 off your next cruise
2000 points - $500 off your next cruise
2400 points - Complimentary inside stateroom for 2
3600 points - Complimentary ocean view stateroom for 2
4800 points - Complimentary balcony stateroom for 2
These "rewards" are given to the players in the form of a certificate.  So when you hear the word voucher, they/we are talking about these certificates.
You next question will, undoubtedly, be....how do you accumulate points ?  1 point is earned for every $5 that you play in regular slots.  For video poker, it is 1 point for every $10 that you wager.  For tables (which is what Dan and I play) it is far less straightforward.  The formula has to do with the amount of your average wager and the length of time that you play.
I have heard (and I do believe this) that the points amounts for free cruises (listed above) is different (higher) on the big ships.  The reason that I think this is true is b/c we ALWAYS play the same games, make the same wagers and spend the same amount of time in a ship's casino, regardless of which ship it is.  Our rewards on the O class ships is ALWAYS much less than it is on the smaller ships.  There are a couple of theories about why this is happening but I believe (no facts to back this up, just conjecture) that on the bigger ships you have less "face time" with the casino manager (often I never even meet the casino manager on the big ships), casino host/ess and pit bosses.  On the smaller ships, we very often become quite friendly with the management, and I believe that, for that reason, we are generally treated better.  Fair or not, I think that's true.
There have been MANY recent changes in the Club Royale program; most are not favorable to the players but the one change that IS favorable to the players is the fact that you no longer have to actually join the "Club".  You are automatically put into the Club these days just by inserting your seapass card into a slot machine or have it scanned at the table.   So, the good news is, you may well be a member already and not even know it !  Whether you have played enough to qualify for any of the "perks" or not, you will have to find out yourself by calling Club Royale (888-561-2234).  But my advise to ANYone who has played in a Casino Royale in the past year is to call and find out !  What can it hurt ?  You may WELL be entitled to some of the perks (waiving the 5% convenience fee, free drinks, casino rates, etc.) and not even know it.  The ONLY thing that is consistent is that they will NOT tell you if you don't ask.  I was totally stunned the first time I called CR and asked them if I qualified for any cruise rate discounts.  It turned out that I DID and would NEVER have known about it if I had not called to ask.  That was many years ago and the discounts were WAY better then than they are now but no telling how many cruises I paid full price for when I could have gotten a nearly  50% discount and never had a clue !  Call, call, call.  All you need is your Crown & Anchor number.  They track everything through your C&A number these days.
A couple of clarifications about accumulating points.  1) $5 per point does NOT mean that you must LOSE $5 for it to count.  The amount of points is based on throughput so you can "play" money that you have won and it counts the same as when you shove $100 into the machine.  So do you have to put $10K in to a slot machine in order to accumulate 2K points ?  Not unless you are VERY unlucky, in which case you should be somewhere ELSE besides the casino.  2)  The casino does NOT care whether you win or lose.  All they track is throughput.  I know....you will hear people say that you must LOSE a certain amount of money before you get any freebies, but that's just not true.  A casino is a numbers operation, which shouldn't surprise anyone.  They know that if you wager $1000 and win $5000, eventually you will wager $5000 and lose $5000.  They are patient.  They know the numbers are in their favor (and trust me, they ARE).
My advice to anyone who ever asks is...play what you are comfortable playing and then either ask the host or call Club Royale and find out if it is enough.  If it is, cool.  If not, you will have to decide whether a few free drinks and a little discount on your next cruise is worth stepping your game up.  NEVER wager more than you can afford to lose !
Good luck !
 

+1 for not trusting EITHER the deck plans OR the CS reps.  I read a horror story not too long about about a family that was told that they had connecting rooms but when they got to their rooms they weren't.  It caused a lot of problems since they had special needs children who needed constant contact.  It was a real problem.  The CS rep is just going to repeat whatever they see on the deck plans.  Rarely do they have any special insight.  They just have whatever information they have....and that's what they're going to repeat back to you.
I also agree that you cannot trust photographs published by the cruiseline.  As @craig403 said, these photos often have NO resemblance to what you room really looks like.
So what can you trust ?
You're doing the right thing.  Ask someone who has been in those rooms to know for sure.  If you trust your TA then you can go with his/her word on it.
Are you aware that 6536 is an obstructed view balcony ?  This is not a really big issue but according to the information in Cruisedeckplans.com, this room has lifeboats directly below it so you will not have a clear view down to the ocean.  It should not affect your view straight out off your balcony but it most likely will cause you NOT to be able to see the ocean looking straight down from your balcony,  if that is an issue.  Again,  according to Cruisedeckplans.com 6539 has a sofa bed but the notations for these rooms on this website say nothing at all about pullman beds in either of these rooms.  So you already have conflicting information. 
Another thing, both of these rooms are connecting rooms, meaning that there will be a door connecting the room to another room adjacent to it.  Connecting rooms have 2 potential problems.  1) They CAN be noisy (although I will say that I have never found this to be a problem myself, some complain about the noise coming through the connecting door.)  2) because there is a door on the "long" wall, you will find that you often have a small love seat or even just a chair on that wall vs having a full length couch.  This is b/c the length of the wall is interrupted by the fact that the door is there.  I'm guessing here, but if there is a sofa bed in 6539, I'll bet it is a single bed rather than a double bed.  I don't see how they would get a full sized sofa bed into that inside room with a connecting door.  There's just not room.
As long as I'm passing on information from Cruisedeckplans.com, let me say that the notation on category K (6539) does say that it sleeps 4 so I could be very wrong about the sofa bed.  Maybe it IS a 2 person bed. Using this same source, it say that the balcony room (6536, which is a D8) is not one of the designations that sleeps 3 or 4 so I would be very leery that this room sleeps 4.
If I were you I would keep doing exactly what you're doing and keep looking for someone who has been in these rooms recently and knows for sure.  If you decide to trust your TA on this one I would press for more information and bring up the issues that I have mentioned above.  You will need to have those questions answered.
Good luck !!
 
 

OK, so I called up Royal and my package is all purchased. However, I definitely have to say that my experience mirrored @twangster's.
I got a nice rep on the phone, and I made sure to explain right away that my wife had a note on her reservation that she is unable to drink due to medical reasons; because of that, I was calling to purchase the Deluxe Package for just myself. The rep confirmed he saw the note and put me on hold while he spoke with his supervisor. After he came back on the call, I was told that the "exception" they would make for me was that I could buy the Deluxe Package for myself, but I would also have to buy the Refreshment Package for my wife at the same time.
Now, in my particular case, I was OK with this. My wife actually did want me to get the Refreshment Package for her, since she expects to be getting a fair number of specialty coffees, fresh juices, and bottled waters. I would have preferred to buy her package next month when I was on another new billing cycle, but the cost of the Refreshment Package (after gratuities) is a little over half what the discounted Deluxe Package costs and I felt I could swing the extra on the card this month.
So, it does seem that the standard line you should expect from any CSR at Royal, even after speaking to a supervisor, is that you'll need to buy the Refreshment Package for the person requesting the exception. Maybe for most of you, this will be OK, but if it's not I would definitely make a point of bookmarking Matt's blog post that has the email screen shot. Then when you're on the phone with Royal, have that screen shot ready to read back to them and make them talk with their supervisor again and again until you have the specific purchase you need.

I'm pretty bad myself. I'm a routine lover so it comes as part of my morning routine. I have a problem but I also don't care - it's not hurting anyone.

There,,,There.  Everything will be just fine.  You're among friends here.  This is your safe space. 
Use wine and/or Jack and Coke to calm the symptoms.   

There,,,There.  Everything will be just fine.  You're among friends here.  This is your safe space. 
Use wine and/or Jack and Coke to calm the symptoms.   

My name is Emerson, and I'm a Cruise Pplannerolic.
I've just realised I have a problem. I find myself checking the cruise planner 2 to 3 times a day pretty much from the time I book my cruise. The symptoms seem to get a lot worse 6 months out and come 3 months out... well, someone please take my keyboard from me.
Am I alone? Do others suffer from this crippling condition? Is there any cure or should I just embrace my disease? 
If Royal Carribean comes out with an app that allows me to check cruise planner I may need to check myself into a treatment centre!
 
 
 

The part that really concerns me is medical evacuation from the ship or foreign country.  I've heard costs in the $25,000.00 range.   Even hospitalization in a foreign country could be very complicated and costly.  
I told my wife if I needed that, just push me overboard. She said "ok, don't have a problem with that".  I don't sleep well at night...
 

The part that really concerns me is medical evacuation from the ship or foreign country.  I've heard costs in the $25,000.00 range.   Even hospitalization in a foreign country could be very complicated and costly.  
I told my wife if I needed that, just push me overboard. She said "ok, don't have a problem with that".  I don't sleep well at night...
 

I had bought the insurance offered by Royal (via my TA, seems to be what they use by default). But on closer inspection, this does not cover pre-existing medical conditions and I realized it also doesn't cover the flight portion of any cruise. So going to be canceling that for the Eastern Caribbean trip I have scheduled in March and will see what I can find on tripinsurance.com. Just get the multiple quotes, and then search through for the ones that explicitly cover cruise, airfare, pre-existing medical conditions, Acts of God, etc. Too many oddball circumstances with me and my family to take any policy that offers less.
Only complaint I have with tripinsurance.com is that you have to specify the total dollar amount of your trip up front. How am I supposed to know that before actually booking the flights? My TA said she won't be buying the plane tix until January or February, so I guess I hold off buying the trip insurance until final payment date on the cruise and just SWAG the total cost based on currently published ticket rates?

The part that really concerns me is medical evacuation from the ship or foreign country.  I've heard costs in the $25,000.00 range.   Even hospitalization in a foreign country could be very complicated and costly.  
I told my wife if I needed that, just push me overboard. She said "ok, don't have a problem with that".  I don't sleep well at night...
 

Ha!  So, don't drink the local water and never rent a scooter.
Also, the ships have medical facilities on board that can handle most emergencies.  Did you know if someone dies on a cruise, they will keep the body in the "morgue" on board until the ship gets back to the main port?  Actually had a client die on a cruise once.  They were in Europe.

I go through USAA but you have to be a member. I've heard of many use Insuremytrip.com but I haven't used them (I think I priced it out and USAA had slightly better rates). I also used the cruise line insurance and found it is more expensive for us than other sites. The one thing is for it to cover pre-existing medical reasons the plan needs to be purchased within 30 days of deposit. We are traveling with my MIL on our next trip so really wanted to make sure of this as it wasn't something I ever thought of before for us. Trip insurance shouldn't be thought of as  only cruise insurance but also consider it for all-inclusive vacations and other expensive trips where there is upfront costs. 
OP, sorry to have this happen to you. I really hope that in the next month you can make some progress on your insurance and house where you feel comfortable enough to go and get away from it all.
 

The part that really concerns me is medical evacuation from the ship or foreign country.  I've heard costs in the $25,000.00 range.   Even hospitalization in a foreign country could be very complicated and costly.  
I told my wife if I needed that, just push me overboard. She said "ok, don't have a problem with that".  I don't sleep well at night...
 

I hate to extend this topic but I must comment.  My wife has had hip replacement and needs a soft mattress otherwise she gets cranky the next day.  And yes, we have an air mattress we take and we have also taken a memory foam topper with us.  Most likely will take it again.  I've been married too long to argue about luggage space.  You remember the saying "If the wife ain't happy, then nobody is happy".  Consider it self preservation.  Don't tell her I said this.  I'm scared of her....   

I hate to extend this topic but I must comment.  My wife has had hip replacement and needs a soft mattress otherwise she gets cranky the next day.  And yes, we have an air mattress we take and we have also taken a memory foam topper with us.  Most likely will take it again.  I've been married too long to argue about luggage space.  You remember the saying "If the wife ain't happy, then nobody is happy".  Consider it self preservation.  Don't tell her I said this.  I'm scared of her....   

I'm sure I am in the minority here but I usually LOSE weight on a cruise b/c the food I eat is so much better for me than the junk I usually eat at home.
While I probably eat more often on a cruise than I do at home, I definitely eat BETTER when I am on a cruise.
Not to worry about me wasting away.  I put it back on in RECORD time when I get home !

I hate to extend this topic but I must comment.  My wife has had hip replacement and needs a soft mattress otherwise she gets cranky the next day.  And yes, we have an air mattress we take and we have also taken a memory foam topper with us.  Most likely will take it again.  I've been married too long to argue about luggage space.  You remember the saying "If the wife ain't happy, then nobody is happy".  Consider it self preservation.  Don't tell her I said this.  I'm scared of her....   

I hate to extend this topic but I must comment.  My wife has had hip replacement and needs a soft mattress otherwise she gets cranky the next day.  And yes, we have an air mattress we take and we have also taken a memory foam topper with us.  Most likely will take it again.  I've been married too long to argue about luggage space.  You remember the saying "If the wife ain't happy, then nobody is happy".  Consider it self preservation.  Don't tell her I said this.  I'm scared of her....   

Something we all need to know
If you want to keep that healthy glow
Remind your friends, in courteous terms,
Let's spread the words and not the germs.
Wash your hands
It's the right thing to do
It's easier when
You only have two.
Wash your hands
Keep them clean
Oh yeah, hey, hey,
Wash your hands.
But if you find you're not feeling well
Like too many trips around the carousel
Call the doctor, that's what you do
The doctor'll take good care of you
And you'll feel better too
Wash your hands and make your mother proud
And maybe you can join the popular crowd
Wash your hands, like fifty times a day
Oh yeah, hey, hey, wash your hands.
Wash your hands.
Wash your hands.
 
 

Yes, the Royal guarantee does work.  Couple years ago we purchased air through Choice Air and transfers through Royal.  We were to leave DFW on the same day of the cruise with a connecting flight at ORD.  Lightening storm hit DFW and we were delayed so that we would miss our connecting flight.  We called Royal and they got us on a direct flight which would get us there later than the last transfer to the port.  They arranged for a special bus waiting for us to transfer.  As it turned out we were not the only ones on that bus.  Yes, we were amazed at the quick response.  These days we have more time so we go in the day before.  

Pfft. Change the wedding date..  Nothing gets in the way of a cruise. 

Scheduled to leave YYZ at 930am. Scheduled to arrive at FLL at 1215pm.
 
At about noon we are cleared for approach. Then we go into a holding pattern for an hour due to t-storms in Fort Lauderdale. After an hour of left turns we are almost out of fuel. We have to land at MCO for jet fuel and to wait out the storm.
 
We landed safely but by the time our bags were off the carousel it was 4pm.  If we were flying in the day of departure we would have missed the ship!

I have often thought that buffets were counter productive to hand sanitizer when people go in to lunch.  When I'm serving my plate I think of all the people that have already touched that serving spoon.  I bring my own sanitizer for after I sit down to eat.  Yep,,I'm a germophobe.  I don't even like to touch the chair to pull it out and don't even get me started on menu's.    
This got off topic.  Sorry.  

lol ? I had to share that with the wife, she thanks you! ? NOT! ?