twangster

The UK website has a PDF that outlines Next terms and conditions. While that doesn't mean the same applies in the US it's the only documented Next terms and conditions I could find and some of it applies since a UK resident could be on a US sailing and visit the Next desk. https://www.royalcaribbean.co.uk/assets/pdf/discover-cruise-holidays/next-cruise/NextCruise-UK-ROI-Terms-Conditions-Website-LA.pdf UK RESIDENT GUESTS - NEW ONBOARD T&Cs AS OF 1 November 2018 ALL ONBOARD BOOKINGS ARE SUBJECT TO THE ROYAL CARIBBEAN U.K. BOOKING TERMS INCLUDING THE NON REFUNDABLE DEPOSIT POLICY, CHANGE, AMENDMENT AND CANCELLATION FEES SAVE INSOFAR AS THEY ARE VARIED AS BELOW. ALL ONBOARD BOOKINGS BENEFITTING FROM U.S. PROMOTION BENEFITS ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE FEES AS SET OUT BELOW. 1. NEXTCRUISE DOLLARS OFF AND OBC PROMOTION: (1) Guests who make an onboard booking with U.S. promotion benefits are eligible for our NextCruise dollars off promotion or Future Onboard Credit (up to $600 per stateroom depending on length of voyage and type of stateroom or suite). Guests who make an onboard booking with U.K. promotion benefits are eligible for a Future Onboard Credit (up to $600 per stateroom depending on length of voyage and type of stateroom.). 2. CHANGING A U.S. PROMOTION BOOKING: Within 30 days of making a booking onboard, a change to the ship or sail date will not incur any change fee. Changes to ship and sail date made after that 30-day period has expired shall be subject to a change fee equivalent to $100 USD per person to be applied at the prevailing conversion rate in GBP. For any other type of change, different change and amendment fees may be applicable in accordance with the terms of the UK booking conditions. Please note that for all changes, where other services have been subsequently added to your onboard booking in addition to your cruise e.g. flights or land based hotels, any changes to those aspects of your booking may result in cancellation and rebook charges. Any deposit payment made at the time of booking shall always remain non – refundable where any change is made. See the booking conditions at www.royalcaribbean.co.uk for full details. 3. Be advised that for any other change type, they shall be subject to change amendment fees as set out in the U.K. booking conditions available at www.royalcaribbean.co.uk. Deposits paid onboard shall always remain non - refundable where any such change is made. 4. CHANGING A U.K. PROMOTION BOOKING: In the event of a change to the booking, different change and amendment fees may be applicable in accordance with the terms of the UK booking. However for changes to ship and sale date up to 57 days prior to the sailing date, change fees will be waived. For any other type of change, different change and amendment fees may be applicable in accordance with the terms of the UK booking conditions. Please note that for all changes, where other services have been added to your onboard booking in addition to your cruise e.g. flights or land based hotels, any changes to those aspects of your booking may result in cancellation and rebook charges. Any deposit payment made at the time of booking shall always remain non–refundable where any change is made. See the booking conditions at www.royalcaribbean.co.uk for full details. 5. FOR ALL NEXTCRUISE BOOKINGS: If you decide to change your booking onshore, the onboard benefits obtained onboard will still apply as per the original booking made onboard, but changes to the price of the booking will be charged at the U.K. prevailing rate as of the date of the change. 6. CANCELLATION: See www.royalcaribbean.co.uk for applicable cancellation terms. 7. FOR ALL GUESTS, a NextCruise Booking may be combined with certain group booking but may result in possible loss of your promotional offer and/or Onboard Credit offer. 8. FOR MORE INFORMATION: Visit your Cruise Sales Team onboard for full Terms and Conditions, visit www.royalcaribbean.co.uk or speak to your travel agent.

@JohnK6404 is correct. No Wow bands on Radiance class ships. Newer ships only.

So what was happening is that people would book a cruise with zero intention of sailing it. A place holder. Fast forward to final payment due date and they would transfer it to another ship a year or more away. Fast forward to final payment due date and they would transfer it to another ship a year or more away. Finally 5 years later they would cruise. The other problem with hundreds of people cancelling right before final payment was due is that they suddenly had a surplus of inventory showing up 3 months before sailing. That isn't a lot of time to sell out a ship so they had to drop prices to sell the ship. The intent of the extra OBC was not to encourage people to cruise five years later but encourage people to return soon. It ended up hurting more than helping because it was being used in a manner that wasn't intended. With people booking suites in this manner it hurt even more because expensive suites are even harder to sell with just 3 months to do it. Next is a part of the Crown and Society team. It is a loyalty program. They were leaving a lot of money on the table. Royal is a business first and always. They have shareholders to answer to. Solution: Change the policy. Encourage people to commit and only book with an intention of actually sailing. This create less booking volatility and that translates into higher revenue since they avoid the surplus inventory flooding the market closer to sailing. At the same time it's grown more competitive. So many ships. They have to offer promos every few weeks now. Back in the day there was maybe one or two a year. Margins are thinner, less fat to throw away at things like loyalty OBC. With the need to keep fares low in a competitive market there isn't money to throw at loyalty rewards like Next OBC.

The 25% off is based on starting with the on board pricing, not the last sale price from last week or last month. It's confusing because they never sell it at the on board price in the cruise planner so you never see the "regular" non-sale price until you go on board. We all want the BOGO to apply to the last sale price we saw but it doesn't work that way.

Indeed! Happy cruising!

The email I got to confirm my combo purchase broke it out as if I bought them separately: $21 for a full day waterpark pass. $44 for the zip line, The Labadee zip line was almost twice that. Not bad. DAY 3 Perfect Day Cococay, Bahamas Zipline G 01:30 PM Total Cost: 44.00 USD Thrill Waterpark Full Day Pass G 07:30 AM Total Cost: 21.00 USD

Different sailings get different promos. Pricing is relative to on board pricing which also varies. Short cruises cost more than longer cruises. Unless you are Diamond Plus or higher it is always cheaper to buy it before sailing. If you buy it now and the price does drop again you can refund the purchase and buy it again at the lower price. If you are happy with the price now, buy it since it might go up and never come back down. If other people buy it and sales are good they will increase rates on a cruise by cruise basis.

Lobster is included but it's Caribbean lobster, not New England lobster. No lobster on Europe based sailings.

The only caveat I'd add would be an international arrival that arrives at the same time as a 747 from China. In that case you can spend some time standing in immigration queues.

Yes. No vest, just a rash guard I wear diving. Dropped my towel on a chair and walked into the water. I have snorkel fins that are small and easier to pack. I wouldn't use them to scuba dive but they are great for snorkeling. The general area is shared with swimmers. There are rafts they can swim out to. Swimmers don't need vests. I think there may be some insurance requirement that if they rent snorkel gear the vest has to be included. If you don't rent their gear, no vest required.

This current sale is weird. I've had some excursions drop $1, other's $3, another $13.37 while other excursion went up $3 or $6.50 or $18.99. There is no rhyme or reason to the sale prices, increases or decreases. Just weird amounts like someone's algorithm didn't work quite right.

And they can continue to do so, illegally. US carrier's like JetBlue, Southwest, Delta, etc. will stop offering a direct route. There is nothing stopping a ship flagged in the Bahamas from sailing to Cuba but absent of 2,000 law breaking US citizens they likely would not fill the ship. I have two passports. I have family that has and continues to visit Cuba. They'll be thrilled with the new restrictions. When restrictions were loosened up they all feared American tourists would kill Cuba's uniqueness and turn it into just another Caribbean tourist trap. Now that fear will be cast aside and many countries from all over the world can continue being tourists in Cuba without the American tourist invasion. Law breaking US citizens can fly on their planes with them just like they did before. Lying to US customs and immigration can have consequences though.

Renouncing US citizenship and moving to another country just to visit Cuba seems rather extreme. Unless you plan to renounce your US citizenship having citizenship in another country doesn't help you. As long as you are a US citizen these restrictions apply to you regardless how you get there or what other countries you claim to be a citizen of. If you fly to Canada and take a flight to Cuba it's not the Canadian's airline job to recognize you are a US citizen and stop you from flying. Cuba won't care when you arrive in Cuba, this isn't their restriction. However when you arrive back in the US and they ask what countries have you visited... now you have a problem.

That is exactly what this "excursion" is - rental of equipment while you swim on your own. It is not guided. I don't think they rent individual items like just flippers. I bring my own gear and snorkel on my own.

There is nothing wrong with small ship cruising especially if you got a good deal. I'm sailing 16 nights on Enchantment's smaller sister later this year. I know the ship and don't expect a brand new ship with zip lines and bumper cars. So as long as you have the right expectations you can have a great cruise. If you have watched other Youtube videos showing bumper cars and ice skating rinks and expect to find them on these older ships you may be disappointed.

Key varies from $19.99 to $37.99 on my booked cruises. Same terms and conditions.

Lobster appeared in January on Indy for 6 nights. Cruise compasses for Indy may help pin point the formal night based on itinerary: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/cruise-compass?ship=276

For historical reference pick a date you might book at Next and note the rates for the specific cabin types you are looking for. Every couple of weeks run the prices again, refundable and NRD. Keep a record of it all. When you book at Next look back and compare to what it could have been if you booked a refundable cruise today, 7 months prior to Next.

What benefits did the Key provide on Anthem? Exclusive access to activities for example. Flowrider, rock climbing wall. How about bumper cars, North Star or iFly?

That is correct. Deluxe drink package only. Rules on sharing drinks with any level of package remain the same.

On board for this cruise, looking forward to this unique itinerary and Ovation's first sailing to Alaska.

It will be listed as an excursion in the cruise planner before sailing or you can walk up and rent on the island.

Not losing the OBC is the part that is unpredictable. In the distant past this was common place but also part of the behavior that they seek to discontinue. I have no direct experience with using the 30 day change rule. My concern lies in knowing they seek to discourage booking changes and that retaining Next OBC while making changes is not an official policy you can find written anywhere.

Only if you are on board the day that new cruises are made available on the public website. Next can book them one day before they appear publicly. The catch is they don’t announce it. If you know on that coming Tuesday they are opening 2021 Europe cruises then visiting Next on Monday would be prudent. The trick is learning that Tuesday is the day they will be added. Most of us learn that they have added more future availability after it happens.

If you book non-refundable deposit (NRD) to get lower cruise fare and maximum Next OBC you will be assessed a $100 fee per person to change ship or sail date. You do get 30 days to make changes without fees with a Next booking. Assuming they are offering the reduced $100 deposit you effectively lose your deposit. If you book refundable at Next you may see virtually all Next OBC disappear (compared to NRD) and the base fare will increase by hundreds. What you describe, making a Next booking and then adjusting dates or ship later to retain Next OBC is exactly what they are trying to avoid. Consequently they have made changes like making refundable fares unattractive with little or no OBC and adding the NRD $100 fee which effectively negates the Next OBC.