NS8VN

9 minutes ago, LindaN said:

 I feel very attacked.

For someone replying to your theory with their experience in why it is probably not the case?  Really?

Giving your luggage to a porter is less risky than checking it on to an airplane.  Since there will only be one ship at the specific terminal there is virtually zero chance of it finding its way on to another ship, as opposed to it ending up on the wrong plane at an airport with dozens of flights leaving every hour.  While being able to speak the local language is never a bad thing porters are just putting the luggage on the carts and pointing you towards the check-in area.

That said, there are some standard tips: important medication and anything you need for the rest of the day in your carry-on.  Errors happen but those are typically of the "luggage ended up at the wrong room so will be a couple hours late" variety.  I second Twangster on the luggage tag holders, they will hold up to most anything your luggage might endure.

Welcome to the forum and I hope you enjoy your cruise!

I'm personally in team "passport on ship, other ID in port".  There are ways to contact RCCL's port agent and have them leave your passport with the port authority if something happens and you are going to miss the ship.  It might seem to go against my firm "don't cruise without a passport" stance, but given the possibility of being mugged at any location (also a low chance, all things considered) I would rather not be carrying my passport around.

There should be little to no reason to carry it on Coco Cay, it is RCCL's private island.  On Nassau, it's just personal opinion.  The truth is that thousands of people visit that island every day and many don't even have a passport and get back on the ship in time with no issues whatsoever.  The odds of missing the ship, if you are being proactive and staying aware of the time, are low.  The odds of missing the ship and having no way of contacting the port agent in this day of cell phones is almost zero.  I personally consider the odds of taking the passport on land and having it stolen/damaged/lost to be considerably higher.

So anyway, whatever you do with it I hope you have a good cruise.  Welcome to the forum!

The actions taken are not troll-like to me.  The OP logged in a few hours after posting and saw many of the responses.  Most likely they were hoping to see a mob ready to take it to Royal over this situation.  When they saw the pitchforks pointed in a much different direction there were 3 options to make: 1, admit emotions were (understandably) at play and maybe they were not entirely right in their assessment of the situation, 2, double down and start arguing, or 3, disappear.

Trolls would pick #2 and keep the fun going.  Most people pick #3.  Then the thread dies, unless someone decides to dredge it up.  Why anybody would want their question attached to this kind of topic instead of just starting their own is beyond me.

People get it confused all the time, it's not the Jones Act (Merchant Marine Act of 1920), it is the PVSA (Passenger Vessel Services Act of 1886) that prohibits foreign flagged ships from doing closed-loop voyages that do not visit a foreign port.  While the Jones Act might get some waiver to increase commerce, it is unlikely the PVSA would fall under that as there is nothing to really gain by loosening it.

We can blame the Cleveland administration all we want, but RCCL is completely capable of flagging a ship in the US to do Hawaiian cruises.  They choose not to pay the associated taxes and hire and pay the people they would be required to with a US flagged ship.  I'm not saying they are wrong to not want to do that, I really like the international crew on most cruise ships, but they are just as capable of doing it as NCL is.  NCL just chose to do it, neither RCCL nor anybody else has at this time.

Welcome to the forum!

Named it after the Command Module of Apollo 13, huh?  Nice.

If you like a quieter beach area, easy access to an uncrowded bar, and a private place to call your own then they are worth it.  My wife and I never would have considered getting one but our friends did and invited us to share it with them.  We will almost certainly get one the next time we visit.

Welcome to the forum and enjoy your cruise!

Welcome to the forum!

If you are sailing this month then it is unlikely you will see any big discounts on the package.  I'm not familiar with the exchange rate but if that seems like a reasonable price then lock it in.

Correct, you cannot share your drink package.  This means that any drink gotten with your seapass card with the package must be for you.  You will only be allowed to get one drink at a time on the package and if you are caught sharing drinks gotten with the package it can be revoked for the remainder of your cruise without refund.

You can, however, pay for drinks for others.  Just let the bartender know which ones you wish to purchase and they will run those separately.  If the other people in your group also have a package you can take their seapasses to the bar and order drinks for everyone.

This is assuming you mean non-alcoholic drinks on the Refreshment package.  If you are ordering alcoholic drinks and don't have the Deluxe package then you pay for those regardless so you can order and give them to whomever you want.

Enjoy your cruise!

Welcome to the forum!

The online gift options you are looking at are the only options to have a bottle of liquor in your room on the ship.  You cannot take any liquor on board and while there will be plenty of liquor available to purchase in the stores onboard those bottles will be stored until the end of your cruise.

2 minutes ago, runeash said:

So the magical day they are advertising here Coco Cay . How much of this real or can be be enjoyed

Your question has a chronological component that is missing.

Today: none of it

In a few months: probably some of it

In a few years: all of it and more

1 hour ago, Janyth said:

I did not take out trip insurance as there was not plan on anyone getting sick.

That has got to be the most hilarious thing I have read today.  As if people buy insurance planning on using it.

"Gee, I didn't buy life insurance because I didn't plan on dying soon."

"Gee, I didn't get car insurance because I didn't plan on crashing it."

"Gee, I didn't get homeowner insurance because I didn't plan on that tornado hitting."

I love how people think that their excuse should exclude them from the rules and how horribly shameful it is that they are treated exactly like everyone else.  To the point of joining a forum just to complain.  Nope, family member being diagnosed does NOT make a difference.  Nope, your fixed income does NOT make a difference.  This is a sad situation, but one that was preventable.  Your failure to prevent the financial loss is nobody's fault but your own.

Best of luck to your family member, I do sincerely hope for a happy outcome there.

They make flash drives with USB and micro-USB/USB-C/Apple connectors so you can plug them straight in to your phone and move photos straight to there.  Would probably be your easiest option with the least question marks.

Nope.  When ships overnight in Bermuda you can come and go as you please day and night, like a normal hotel.

Welcome to the forum!

If you are staying on-site at Disney you can even do the above but take Disney's Magic Express back to the airport.  Just give them a flight number for a domestic flight leaving 3 hours after the time you want to arrive at the airport and you have a complementary bus ride to MCO.

I only have a single reference point, but our pours were plenty generous on Indy this past November with the package.  We would watch them mixing for someone without the package and then ours and didn't notice any difference.  I don't think it really matters much to the bartender (they aren't buying the liquor after all) and although we usually tipped an extra dollar with each order I didn't notice bartenders who didn't know us going any lighter than the ones who knew us.

Nope, you are not locked in to the higher price.  You can cancel your current package and rebook it at the new price.  Keep in mind that this will refund the original purchase on to the credit card it was ordered with and could take a couple days to process.

RCCL is very good about these things, most all Cruise Planner purchases are fully refundable up to 3 days before your cruise.  That's why the standard recommendation here is to purchase things right away to protect against price increases (when you book 18 months in advance like some of us, that is a real concern) and then keep an eye out for sales.

Welcome to the forum and enjoy your cruise!

As all related posts have been removed, this post is no longer relevant.

46 minutes ago, KathyC said:

On Adventure last May they wanted to charge us a corkage fee for bringing a bottle with a screw top into the MDR.  I showed the Asst Waiter that it was a screw top, and no cork, and he said he still had to charge.  I unscrewed the top, poured my own wine. LOL  From there on out, we poured our own glasses and brought them with us. 

Seriously?  Corkage fee does not literally mean "fee for removing a cork", it's the fee restaurants charge for allowing you to bring your own wine in to their establishments.  This is pretty standard, if you tried that argument in any restaurant on land they would have laughed you right out of the place.

Just now, yzfmik said:

I can purchase all the first phase things (water park, balloon, etc) for my May ‘19 sailing so I’m betting they are confident on the dates for that.  

People have been able to book those things for quite a while.  It is in no way indicative of RCCL's confidence in something being open, all they have to do is refund the money if things aren't open.

Gotta say, I was definitely getting an "only getting one side of a very 2-sided story" vibe from the first post, and the tone of that reply sure solidified those thoughts.

I doubt this is worth pursuing further, but I guess follow the advice above.

35 minutes ago, RMC said:

Anthem of the Seas-Jan. 26-Feb. 3. Is there a chance that the ship won't be able to stop here?

There is always a chance of missing any stop on a cruise, with those stops being replaced with other stops or sea days.  Weather is the most frequent reason for a missed stop and it is much more of an issue for tendered ports than ones with docks.  Royal estimates that about 10% of stops to Coco Cay are cancelled currently, once the pier opens that number should drop to 1-2% (based on how often DCL has to skip Castaway Cay).

TL;DR Yes, there is a small, but not insignificant chance you will miss Coco Cay.

Welcome to the forums!

Officially, yes.  I have heard from some parents traveling with their children but not the child's other parent that they sometimes take proof that the other parent is aware of the trip/has no custody/deceased as border agents sometimes get suspicious.  This has been much more an issue for Canadian land crossings (apparently taking your child to Canada is a popular way to get around custody requirements) but I do know people who insist on always having that information with them any time they leave the country with their child.

Probably not a big deal on this itinerary (doubt many people attempt to flee the country via a Caribbean cruise), but if getting such documentation will be easy for her then it won't hurt to have it.

Where are you hearing so much about them?  On this and a few other forums I have almost exclusively heard of complementary upgrades as a result of the original room being unavailable for one reason or another.  (An aside, to upgrade a room means to get a better room.  The cost, or lack of additional cost, is not a part of the definition.)  I have heard of many people getting better rooms at really good rates, but very very few who have gotten randomly selected to be upgraded at no cost.

Much like Disney World, it seems that things that used to be random bits of (as they are referred to there) "pixie dust" have become well known thanks to forums and social media.  As such people started asking, and in more than a few cases demanding, these formerly nice bonuses bestowed by kind customer service individuals.  So companies put a stop to it across the board.  Given that instead they can sell the rooms for a premium, they probably wondered why they were giving them away in the first place.

I put the charger in my carry on for both air travel and boarding the ship.  I have never had a problem, if a baggage screener doesn't know what a USB charger and cables look like then it must be their first day on the job.  Waiting for a flight and first arriving in a stateroom are times where I want to top off the charge, so putting them in my checked bag is a no-go for me.

I probably have the same Anker as Steven, possibly internally identical as that DigiPower.  Had zero questions coming on board two weeks ago and left it on our desk all week to no comments by the room steward.  Only questions we got was someone we were sitting by at FLL who was charging her phone with her wall wart and hadn't seen a multiport charger before.

With the few power outlets in a room these things are a great buy.  What sold me on this specifically is that my HTC supports Quick Charge 3.0.  I plug a nearly dead phone in to that port, take a shower, and come back to a 70% full battery.