twangster

With respect, that is International man of mystery...

Excellent question and not provocative or worthy of starting a fight at all. Here is a blog post from @Matt who runs this site. He lives in the Orlando area and has children. He doesn't work for any cruise line. https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2014/12/22/first-time-cruisers-comparing-royal-caribbean-disney-cruise-line Here is a more recent podcast he did on this exact topic: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/podcast/episode-50-royal-caribbean-versus-disney-cruise-line I've cruised Disney years ago when my kids were younger. Sadly Disney prices have skyrocketed. Royal is very family oriented and has a lot to offer kids of all ages. There is no question that DCL provides a great cruise experience and if you have lots of money it will provide a great experience. At what point though is a fabulous cruise on a family oriented cruise line at a much lower price simply better value? Calling @Lovetocruise2002 who has sailed DCL more recently than me. Lastly here is another blog reader's perspective: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/5312-disney-dcl-royal-caribbean-rci-comparisonreview/&tab=comments#comment-53333

Be aware that satellite coverage in Alaska will result in a much different Voom experience compared to the Caribbean. Alaska is so far North that satellites over the equator have a harder time reaching Alaska. There will be times where there is no internet access. I'll be on Radiance this coming Friday. Which ship are you on?

Is that Grandeur? What's it doing over there? ?

Maybe they realized that $19.99 isn't 50% off where as $18.99 is actually 50% off.

I had a drink package on Anthem and never used the Bionic bar. I did use it once on Harmony. Once was enough. Bring back the Champagne Bar!

Welcome to the message boards! As others have said, the wifi package isn't an app you load onto a device, it's a login that provides a connection to the internet. Phone or tablet doesn't matter, depending what you plan to do with it or what you are most comfortable with. There is an app that depending on the ship can provide information for your cruise. I find that works best on my phone but it's free and can be loaded on phone or tablet. The app does not require a wifi package to work, but it only works on select ships at the moment. The app is written for phone but can be loaded on a tablet.

It's your money, spend it how ever you like. Symphony costs more. You are paying for those new features. If that 'floats your boat ship' then go for it. I'm hoping they don't add Abyss to Oasis or Allure. It ruins a big perk of Boardwalk balconies - the aft view. Water slides would be nice. Bionic bar is a waste of space for a gimmick. I've got a Symphony TA booking and I've got the Oasis TA booked. Both in Boardwalk balconies. I'm looking forward to Oasis more for the views. It's also $1k cheaper and 2 nights longer. I'm sure I'll love Symphony as much or more than I love Harmony but dollar for dollar Oasis and Allure are better value. Time will tell if they drop Harmony rates now that she isn't the newest ship.

Yes and I do it all the time. One caveat though - they don't want you filling your bottle or cup directly from drink dispensing stations. This is to avoid your germs from transferring to the equipment that would then be passed to other guests. Instead you are supposed to use one of their glasses provided and use that to fill your cup or bottle. This is a Health Department guideline, just like using a new plate for each visit to a buffet. PS - I have a bunch of TSA friendly 2oz shampoo bottles I fly with. I fill one with dish soap to wash my bottle daily.

There are C&A deals and then there is C&A discounts for balcony cabins for qualifying members. To be honest I think that C&A deals used to be better in years past before there was a new sale or promo every other week like there is now. These days it seems a new sale is offered nearly every week and often those sales are better than what is offered as a C&A 'deal'. That being said, you shop C&A deals, from the website choose Discover Cruising, then Crown and Anchor Society. Scroll all the way to Membership Sneak Preview, Exclusive Rates. This will launch the search engine for C&A deals. Another method to search for C&A rates is from the main 'Plan A Cruise', 'Search for a Cruise' search engine. From here click the More Filters link and if you are platinum or higher by applying your C&A number it will automatically include any C&A rates or discounts for cruises as you search. The other way to do it, so that you can see with and without C&A rates is go through the motions of booking a cruise but at the page where you enter the number of guests click the "See if you qualify for exclusive rates" Clicking this will popup a new section where you can enter your C&A number This method works on a cruise by cruise basis where the 'More Filters' method above tends to be applied and remembered as you review different cruises unless you reset the search completely.

Here is an example of C&A balcony discounts for a 16 night Panama Canal cruise. First is normal 'street' pricing: With Diamond C&A discount However it varies by cruise, it is not a fixed amount. On a typically 7 night Caribbean cruise it's often more like $50-75 per person or $100-$150 total savings (for two).

The C&A balcony discount applies to balconies and suites. Interior and Ocean View are not eligible. Sometimes the C&A balcony discount is meaningful and sometimes a general sale or promo is better. It all depends. The C&A balcony discount gets better as you progress up through the C&A levels. At Platinum or Emerald it might only be ~$35 to $50 per person, but heck that's $70 to $100 savings and better than nothing. At Diamond this grows to $65 to $150 per person savings. A lot depends on where and when you cruise. A benefit of using a good travel agent is that they be able to compare various rates available and help you choose the best rate. The rate you see on the website before and after applying your C&A balcony discount may not be the best rate that a travel agent can pull out of the system. On a comparative basis I do find Royal's C&A program to be better than other cruise lines. Diamond is a significant milestone and where the balcony discount really started to show it's value for me. Not on very sailing and a lot depends how and when you cruise but generally speaking I sail in balcony cabins more now because of it. I'm fine in an interior cabin but if a balcony is the same price or very close with the C&A discount why not have a balcony? If you are the kind of cruisers that shops bargains and off-peak deals the C&A balcony discount may not be all that, all the time. If you only sail in Interior or Ocean View cabins the C&A discount doesn't apply.

Bungalows are on the other side of the Clamshells, a little further away up the beach. Cabanas are closer to the snorkel beach but not right at it. This map is from 2017. They have made some subtle changes so ignore their legend. I've added the general area where each is located. There are areas of shade on the general beach from palm trees but these will be popular and occupy quickly. I've never tried to rent an umbrella.

Great first scope! I invited followers so hopefully your audience will increase. PS - Don't be afraid to say hi, mention the ship, itinerary, etc.

That's a bear wearing an RCMP uniform, shocked at a mid-day twangster sighting. Of course Sabrina if you didn't refuse to cruise to Alaska you too could take pictures of bears...

You should be able to tap into the middle of the screen close to the top and type

Time to fess up. This was all a big hoax. It was @Matt's idea, just for you.

Most ships have both, but they use the same SSID. It's up to your device to pick one, which typically means you end up on 2.4GHz. Only Harmony has implemented a form of 'band select' that I can determine, but to be honest I haven't put a lot of effort into checking every ship I've sailed. The cabins are metal with a metal door. 5 GHz doesn't penetrate as well as 2.4 GHz. On most ships each plan is capped to ~4 Mbps down and 2Mbps up. There will likely be someone who points out that once in while you may do better on this ship or that ship but by and large this is the speed cap imposed in the platform. Once in a while you end up on an AP that isn't enforcing this properly and you luck out and get more throughput but don't count on it. Freedom, Quantium and Oasis class all use O3b satellites where latency will be 200-300ms typically. So far all other ships use legacy satellites and latency will be 600-700ms typically.

Geez, that never happens.

No savings on my close in sailings either (August/September). October bookings through some in January saw some sale prices. My holiday cruise last year was never eligible for any sales, not even black Friday. Seems like they are bound and determined to keep everything about holiday bookings at full price.

It's Royal, so nothing clear. What the verbiage in the terms and conditions clearly states is that the deposit is nonrefundable. To me that implies that within 30 days you can makes change to ship or sail date fee-free, but you if cancel you will lose your deposit since it remains nonrefundable. It is possible that converting a non-suite booking from one ship booked at Next as NRDB to another ship as refundable, if that is generally an allowed practice, might slip through the cracks and get around the nonrefundable deposit, as it may have with @Matt. However it isn't clear this is a viable hole and i suspect it would be plugged pretty quickly it it became commonly used. Since suites, GS and above, can never be refundable, there is never a method to cancel a suite without losing the deposit, even if booked at NextCruise. A suite booking MIGHT be changeable in sail date or ship within 30 days fee-free, or there might be other terms and conditions applied to suite bookings. My NextCruise booking above was a regular balcony cabin.

In the case of suite you can't switch to refundable.

I've been extensively for several days. But I use incognito mode always.

Taxes are higher on NCL. Cruise on Sky to Nassau and Great Stirrup Key. Base fare $259 pp, 4 nights, taxes are $262 Same week. Cruise Mariner to Nassau and CocoCay. Base fare $248 pp, 4 nights, taxes are $166 Same week. Cruise Enchantment to Nassau and CocoCay. Base fare $ 267, 4 nights, taxes are $166. Great Stirrup Key is literally right beside CocoCay. Perhaps that free drink package on Sky isn't so free.

What was the service charge on that?