twangster

They can't keep all the terminal staff available for multiple shifts around the clock. Terminal staff are local contractors, not cruise line employees, in addition to customs and immigration who are government workers, all who have limits to their work day. They can't tell any of those people to work 18 hour days. To cover an extended check in window that would mean multiple shifts of each set of people doubling or tripling the cost. From forklift drivers, xray technicians, luggage handlers on land and on the ship, security, police, customs, immigration, check in counter workers and more. There are a lot of people in the terminal involved in boarding new guests onto a ship. At a certain point the local terminal people who process new guests will go home leaving a small security staff to screen existing passengers coming and going to the ship. That's relatively easy and immigration knows those guests have already been processed. The best thing to do would be to fly in day before and spend a night in the hotel. That also protects you better from delayed or canceled flights. Flying in the day of the cruise is a rookie mistake that often causes people to miss cruises. I have missed a cruise thinking I could fly in the day of the cruise and my flight was supposed to land at 9am. Never again. 1:55pm international arrival? Wow!

Consider Air2Sea. If possible a US gateway city may further reduce costs as Canadian airports have wicked taxes and fees. If you aren't too far from the border and a major US airport that can make a huge difference. A2S recently had a $500 discount on many European destination for this year. They negotiate wholesale rates and commit to seats on some airlines so it really does make sense to leverage that IF you can make it work for your situation.

Some of the early projections while it was under construction referenced 10k but as it was built out those grew to 12k to 13k. Looking back in hindsight Royal had already designed much of Icon around this time so they knew. Then Hideaway Beach was added and hints that there could be more development further adding capacity. Capacity is a number that is not precise. It's partly a tool used in the business models that became a marketing label thrown out in various Bayley speeches. In other words it's a made up number. How many people can fit in a phone booth? Answer: One. Alternate answer: Twelve drunk college students. Trick question: No such thing as phone booths anymore (mostly). Celebrity ships are much smaller than Royal's. A Celebrity ship across the pier from a Royal ship is a good thing for Royal guests.

NCL's Great Stirrup Cay doesn't have a pier. Like the old Little Stirrup Cay (a.k.a Coco Cay) was back in the day. Coco Cay's former tender harbor and dock system was removed once the pier was competed. The main pier is too exposed to attempt tendering to the pier at PDCC.

That's progress!

Platinum and Emerald are stepping stones one must progress across to reach higher levels. With any tiered loyalty program rarely can someone go directly to a higher level. The exception are status matches with another program. Generally speaking everyone progresses through the tiers of a loyalty program over the course of the act of being a returning customer. Everyone was once new to Royal. Everyone has progressed through the tiers and/or earned their way to whatever level they are. My son did not inherit my top elite status, he is progressing from zero like any new Royal guests does. He will soon make Emerald. His eyes are on the prize, Diamond. He can't get there with progressing through Gold, Platinum and Emerald. That is how the program is designed. Granted some ship godparents have been gifted Pinnacle but if you can get yourself named as a ship godparent, I'm okay with that.

If I'm not mistaken the adult beach area was added to coincide with Icon's arrival knowing that Hideaway beach would draw hundreds reducing the impact to pre-existing areas. PDCC will take two Icon class ships soon after there are two Icon class in service. That was the plan all along.

The problem with stating absolutes is that someone, somewhere, some time, will have had an experience where it was enforced. Chef's Table used to be more stringent than it is now for example. Chef's Table is supposed to be formal.

Two ships at a time maximum at the moment. The tendering capability is no longer an option. My money is on Oasis not doing a double call at PDCC 4/2 & 4/3 but there are so many possibilities such as Freedom reversing Nassau and PDCC at the last minute. One way or another, there will be only two ships at PDCC on 4/2.

A new station closer to the port was just announced last week but will take a couple of years to complete. In the future the answer is yes, currently the answer is no.

There are many types of future cruise credits and each has their own terms and conditions. I would request the actual credit certificate by email to have on hand for reference. I would also suggest tracking the application of any credits very diligently. Request a copy of your Royal Caribbean invoice before applying the credit. Request another copy of the invoice after apply a credit. Should anything occur with the booking that you intend to apply this credit towards it will be challenging to track this credit without having all the documentation surrounding it. In the case of a future price adjustment or if you ever decided to change cabin categories the manner in which they apply some of the credits makes it very easy to lose sight of them down the road. In some cases all or a portion of a credit reduces the base cruise fare. On the surface you will always appear to have the lowest cruise fare and they may not honor future price drops on that basis. However if you back out the credit only then does the lower base fare become evident. It can take some persuasion to get them to understand this. Should the future cruise be cancelled by you or Royal it can be very easy to come up short without tracking this credit diligently. Having a lot of documentation before and after can be extremely valuable down the road.

They do but Labradoozies on Labadee taste better.

Dress Your Best is exactly that. Whatever you consider to be best for your style and tastes. For some that may be casual, some business or smart casual, some resort wear, for others it's formal. It is subjective. https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/generic-onboard-dress-code Formal nights Think of our formal dress code as a night out in your best black-tie look — suits and ties, tuxedos, cocktail dresses or evening gowns are all acceptable options. There can be 1 to 4 formal nights during a sailing and is at the ship’s discretion. Our Chef’s Table dining experience also enforces a formal dress code policy. Formal dress code is rarely enforced to absolute standards such as men must wear a tie and jacket. Clear violations will probably be flagged such as a bathing suit in the MDR for dinner, but they probably won't challenge a guest in a t-shirt in the MDR especially in the Caribbean.

Suites earn twice as many points compared to interior. So you do move up the ladder faster. Generally speaking more nights equates to more dollars spent over time. Most companies prefer a recurring revenue stream compared to a one time or infrequent spend. That's is exactly what the loyalty program is accomplishing - recurring revenue across the spectrum, not just for more wealthy clients. Royal's bread and butter are the family cruisers, not the rich. There are upscale and luxury lines in the family of companies for those clients. Suites are not as profitable as you might imagine. For the same space you can generate more revenue with more people on board meaning more wallets and purses on board to spend money on board. Royal is trending to reducing suite sizes for this reason. Much better to have more ma & pa kettles on board. Royal is not a luxury line and they are not trying to capitalize on the upscale client, that is what Celebrity exists for. Suites are limited resources because that is not the bread and butter of where Royal makes the most money. It's not the target demographic. Royal is a mass market entry level cruise line. Everything they do is geared towards the masses. Titling a loyalty program towards the highest spenders tilts the program away from the masses and that is the last thing they want to do.

For Falmouth consider a ship excursion. It's not a port to venture outside the compound to do your own thing. Hopefully they'll have the cruise planner updated at some point. Royal is very slow when it comes to updating the cruise planner for itinerary changes.

Yes, one of the doors off the lounging area.

I booked the Joker's Wild July offer as a solo. I often don't cruise in July since it's blacked out for the DP340 reduced single supplement. I saw the casino offer as a means to book solo in July. The offer was explained to me this way - the casino player can get a complimentary cabin fare but they must pay for the 2nd guest's fare based on casino friend and family rates. Since I was solo I had to pay for the 2nd guests fare even though there is no 2nd guest. As opposed to free cruise offers based on points the July Joker's offer requires the 2nd guest fare be paid. Given that July is a peak month and difficult to book as a solo without paying 200% supplement I chose to pay a modest amount for my non-existent second. It came out to about half what I paid for Liberty last week which was a non-casino last minute deal. So while it's not a free cruise, it's a rate I haven't seen in a long time in a peak month when I can't normally afford to sail. Casino had to call revenue mgmt to get a GTY authorized for a solo. I haven't had a lot of success with this lately but the casino team got it approved so I'm getting some extra free play. I'm also paying port fees and taxes for one. It did not require a Book Later NextCruise booking.

I'm in. I think.

The included shore excursions are typical cruise line excursions but some people would rather do their own thing. Up until this point they effectively paid for excursions they didn't use if they arranged something private.

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Who are you and what have you done to @Lovetocruise2002?