twangster

Bottled water is unlimited.  Go to any bar and ask for a bottle of water anytime.

Welcome to the message boards.

Royal will sometimes re-categorize cabins trying to develop more consistency across the fleet.  That's hard to do with old ships and new ships, small ships and large ships, but they are moving to something a little more unified.  A J3 Junior Suite is different than a J4 junior Suite and used to be called one thing on this ship and something different on another ship.  Now J3 is more consistent.  Consistency helps travel agents who are constantly jumping between ships all day long.  

4 hours ago, Angela R said:

It's helpful they changed the age to 14, but at the same time it's still stupid because their onboard Teen program begins at age 12.   So my 13 year old can basically run around the ship with his new found buds all day and night (until 1am) and do whatever he wants with no problem, but I can't buy him a solo ticket for the water park..... makes no sense but whatever.....he doesn't want to hang out with his mom either way so he's still running around the island on his own, they just won't be getting any extra money out of it.   Won't be long before they lower it to 12 I'm sure.  

They've matched Disney's water park policy.  A ship and a water park are different.

Likely some legal reasoning behind the decision as well.    

44 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Waaaytooo can be anything.  Waaaytooo slow or waaaytooo fat or waaaytooo full.  It applies to a loft of situations I find myself in !

Or simply Waaaytooo nice as we know from here on these boards...

I've been wondering about that.  No word yet.  

Hardly a place to be sailing a number of foreign nationals through at the moment.  First Cuba now this.    

16 minutes ago, SuZQ329 said:

it says the ship leaves at 7. What is the latest we can be back on?  We are eloping while in Port Canaveral and just want to make sure we don’t miss the boat!!  

Wow, how exciting!

If your stop in PC is scheduled to leave PC at 7pm I would recommend making plans to be back on board a minimum of 60-90 minutes before that time.  All aboard might by 6:30pm but that is a hard be back on board at 6:30pm, not a taxi is approaching the terminal at 6:30pm.  If a taxi is late, has a flat tire, it's raining, roads are plugged by a car accident, etc. you never want to plan to arrive back at the exact moment of all aboard time.  Give yourself a buffer to account for the unexpected.  

My first time I was picked up at my Newark airport hotel at 10:04am and dropped off at 10:26am.  $20.76

The next time I was picked up at 9:48am and dropped off at 10:21am.  $15.87

(Lyft emails me the details that I keep for historical purposes like this)

In both cases I had to wait a few minutes for my ride to show up and in both cases the terminal wasn't too busy yet but the general seating area was pretty full already.

Next time I'll confirm the ride around 9:20am assuming I'll be picked up by around 9:30am and I'll be at the terminal hopefully closer to 10am.  

On 8/6/2019 at 6:04 AM, adidassler said:

This is excellent. I was under the impression that an additional 18% would be charged to my on board account to be settled on departure if I bought the drink package, but reading this it's included?

43 minutes ago, tiny260 said:

Want to make sure you understand the 18%, if you buy the drink package through the cruise planner, for easy calculations, lets say for $50 per day, times a 7 day cruise equals $350, plus 18% gratuity $63, so when you check out of the cruise planner the total would be $413, assuming 2 adults in the room a total of $826.

As @tiny260 indicates, it's added during the check out process, either on the ship or in the cruise planner.

There is no escaping the 18% gratuity.  If you buy your drinks on board one at a time, 18% is added to each drink.  If you buy a drink package in the cruise planner, 18% is added to the package price.    If you buy a drink package on board, 18% is added to the package price.

One way or another, you are going to pay the 18%.

Rather than going straight to the top of the company and spamming his inbox, the Crown and Anchor Society can also be used to questions,, concerns, compliments or complaints that don't warrant involving the CEO.  I try to save that email address for when I really need it.

crownandanchor@rccl.com

Also, double check your spam folder or junk email folder.  Perhaps both the original email and response were swallowed by your email program.  

The self serve beer tap is included in the DX but it's Heineken only.

Funny thing - on Saturday I swiped my card (no DX) and it didn't work.  It looked like it charged my card but no beer.   I swiped it again and it worked.  I feared I would be charged twice for one beer but the bartenders on Empress were generous with my 3 happy hour drinks so I figured if Royal "got one back" that was just the world righting itself so I let it go.   I was never charged for that beer on my statement.  

1 minute ago, Fairlynew said:

I sail in 4 days!!!!  I did not receive an email from the concierge, but my traveling companion did.  She forwarded it to me (I am in charge of planning).  I emailed yesterday morning with our desired times for dinner reservations and got no response.  Is this normal?  Should I be concerned?  We are in a GS on Harmony.  Jeremias and Mohamed are the concierges.

Keep in mind they are on a ship serving current guests.  Sometimes they are off ship at a place like Labadee away from computers all day.  Give it through the end of day and see if they respond.

2 minutes ago, Fairlynew said:

I hope you don't expect a lot of sympathy from those of who cruise less frequently  

I'm taking one for Team RCBlog, at least I could get some Symphony.  (I mean sympathy)

UDP can usually be boiled down to a price per person per day.  Pricing varies depending on the ship, how new or if it's been AMPED.

The range is typically $20 to $29 per person per day.

The newest ships will be at the high end of the range, like $29.

Older ships that have fewer specialty dining venues and no Playmakers will be on the lower end of the range, like $20 or $22.

Navigator that has been AMPED and has Playmakers and Hooked is often in the middle of this range, I see it for $23 or $24 depending on cruise length.

Last year around Thanksgiving the UDP dropped to $16 per person per day.  So it does go on sale, just not very often.  

Like most things in the Cruise Planner, demand or sales trends can impact the price you see for your sail date.  A guest on the same ship a week later might see a different price.

$175 for 7 nights is $25 per person per day.  For Oasis or Allure before AMP that's average.  For Oasis or Allure after AMP that's a good price and it will likely rise to $29 at some point although absent of a Hooked venue perhaps not.

Check often for price drops but once sales reach a threshold they will stop offering the UDP for a particular cruise date.  So if interested buy it and watch for price drops because once it's withdrawn it rarely appears again for that cruise date.

19 minutes ago, KathyC said:

We spent 30 days at sea over a 12 month period; by the last cruise we were sooooo done with all the food, and barely ate in the MDR at all. 

Try 108 days at sea in 2018 with 128 days at sea booked in 2019.  

49 minutes ago, RatedPG said:

How far is the airport from the NOLA port?

Uber receipt for me showa 15.72 miles, 15 mins.

$33.85

Suites do have a separate area in the terminal to check in and wait for boarding.  Look for the signs or ask anyone.

Cape Liberty is easy.  I'd suggest getting there shortly after 10am if you don't mind waiting for the ship to board.

Sky Class includes access to Coastal Kitchen, a special restaurant for Suites and Pinnacles members.  There are many of us that are #TeamCK and love eating there.  it's a lot nicer than the main dining room. 

There is also a suite sun deck for Sky and Star Class suites.  Your SeaPass card will be coded to open the door to the suite sun deck. 

Most Suite Concierge will send you an email a few days before your cruise.  You can reply and request reservations for Coastal Kitchen or visit there soon after boarding and make Coastal Kitchen reservations for the whole cruise, they will book up for popular times.

6 minutes ago, Ala_Paul said:

I'm going to be interested to see the Coco Beach Club cabanas and what they go for, since they'll include entrance to the area. But if these prices are any indication, they're going to be a lot more than originally advertised and well outside my range

For the overwater cabanas up to twice what people are seeing other cabanas go for at the moment.  The ones on land will be more affordable.  

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9 minutes ago, ashonthesea said:

I know what you think of Chops, but could you talk about why you prefer the Windjammer over MDR? Is it food quality, or just the wasting solo aspect? Thanks!

When I'm solo I don't always feel like going through the full service sit down dinner service.  Don't get me wrong, the wait staff are friendly to solo guests, it's just too much sometimes.  I'm cruising a lot so spending so many nights in a dining room loses its appeal compared to when I cruised once or twice a year.

I generally like MDR food so it isn't taste, it's just easier to pop into the WJ and do a quick recon to see what's interesting.  Then I can build a salad, add some protein or a combo of a couple different proteins and be done in 20 minutes.  Then I can check out the early show or late show, find other activities going on, wander around outside seeking a sunset or do all of the above. 

It allows me much greater flexibility.  

53 minutes ago, Ogalthorpe Haywood said:

As longs as they keep finding suckers to pay it they will keep charging it, me I’ll stick with the free lounger and pop for the rented umbrella at $15. 

Umbrellas are free now.  They are all over the place.

2 hours ago, Anguillandelight said:

Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge. I'm sure this will help many people. How crazy does RC think we are to pre book something for that much money that may or may not be built!!??

Royal is very motivated. 

When Royal has a bunch of money that has been put down for day after day, ship after ship visit, they are highly motivated not to lose that revenue.   

If a hurricane or tropical storm hits that may slow them down and they might have to refund some purchases.  That's out of their control.  Barring that, they opened Perfect Day on time in May and I doubt they'll slip on Coco Beach Club or South Beach.

49 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:

Do you get still get double points in a regular cabin if there wasn't a solo supplement?

Did on Empress 

But I asked C&A by email before booking Empress and Majesty when they didn't have the solo supplement in the wake of Cuba changes.

49 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

I track all the suite prices for my sailings.  I did a mock booking using a suite that is currently available.  I go with the theory that if most of the suites dropped in price, then mine likely followed suit even though I cannot view it.  This has not failed me yet...

How bot like.  :) 

11 minutes ago, melmar02 said:

I just wouldn't want our brand new, paid for towels to 'walk away' while we are in the pool. 

Towel clips.  I think thieves are less likely to want to spend time messing with clips versus a quick grab and dash towel sneak.

Basically too many other solo guests were faster to book the studio cabins when they were cheaper.

All cabin types are subject to supply and demand pricing. 

Cruise ships cabins are not a fixed price.  They adjust over time based on how well each type of cabin is booking.  

I often see ocean view cheaper than interior.  How?  Because the interior have been selling well and reach a threshold where they increase in price based on demand.  Eventually as people book the now cheaper ocean view cabins they reach their threshold and their prices catch up and exceed interior cabins.  

The same holds true for balconies, especially on Quantum class since those ships have more double occupancy balcony cabins than any other type of cabin.

I've often booked Anthem solo in a regular balcony because that is the cheapest category.  Rather than getting stuck on why one type of cabin is more than another, I simply book the cheapest one I can for the type of cabin I want.

These ships have very few studio cabins, just a handful so they are hot commodities and sell fast.  When they do the prices goes up.  As regular balcony cabin begin to sell better eventually they will once again exceed studio cabins.

Airlines do it too.  The price you paid is different from what the person in front of you paid and different from what the person behind you paid.  Cruise cabins work the same way.

I look at it this way - you can get a regular balcony cabin cheaper PLUS you get double C&A points for being solo in a regular cabin (no double solo points in studio cabins).