twangster

I've often wondered if the storied 3 day rule is an actual law or just cruise line speak. You can walk into an airport and buy a ticket the day of a flight so why does US law require cruise lines to provide 3 days and no accommodation for day of cruise purchases? For example, you miss the ship in Mexico but have your passport with you. You don't have to wait 3 days before flying home. Along the same lines, you can walk into an airport and fly to the UK or Canada or Jamaica that day with a passport and a credit card. If anything you would think they would be more worried about day of flight airline travel compared to day of cruise ship travel.

If you have ever sailed with Royal before you do get Crown and Anchor discounts towards on-board Voom purchases (but not advance cruise planner Voom purchases).

* Prices are per person unless otherwise noted and shown in USD

Welcome to the message boards! I suspect that Royal is simply catering based on demand. On a ship they can't possibly have every possible beverage on board. If there was more demand they would likely carry more. Feel free to email them and let them know your thoughts. If other's are doing the same and requesting more NA then they will likely respond by carrying more. Post cruise mention it in the survey you will get after the cruise is over.

If you are set on specific restaurants and times booking individual before provides a guarantee of venue and time.

Did you have the drink package on this cruise? ? Just kidding...

I use a travel agent for my booking so they handle that for me. The detailed itinerary can be seen in the cruise planner, My Calendar, view Full Calendar. That will show arrival and departure times in each port.

The BOGO is a good way to experiment with specialty dining. It has to be used on day 1 and day 2, you can't push reservations later into the sailing. It's offered because the specialty dining venues tend not to be very busy on the first two nights so this is there way to get people to visit these restaurants. Navigator has a decent amount of specialty restaurants so the BOGO can be a good approach. Some smaller ships don't have as many restaurants and the BOGO is less appealing on those ships.

I would imagine the only people who get 'stuck' are those who leave it to the last minute and try to change at the actual dining time. Upon boarding simply visit any specialty restaurant and deal with it as soon as you board. That's what everyone else is doing. If you wait until dinner time to make changes the non-procrastinators have likely obtained the popular venues and dining times. Be aware that not all dining venues are included in BOGO. Izumi Hibachi for example is not. You won't be able to eat there. Some people who didn't read the terms and conditions may consider this getting stuck at venues they don't want but only because they didn't read the terms and conditions.

Just visit guest services on board and explain what you would like to do.

At Labadee they store some things there. The OA class ships are used to 'stock' certain consumables including food for the 500 full time employees. This was explained to us on during an all access tour on Harmony. Once CocoCay has a pier and begins accepting OA class, I suspect the same will occur. OA class will bring supplies that are stocked on the island while the buffet lunch will still come from the ship du jour.

Odd, I see people stopped from leaving often. They have to go inside and deal with it. I suppose a lawyer would argue you can't illegally detain someone for ever, but if you stiff them I'd imagine they could engage the local police much like a store would for a shoplifter, but I'm not a lawyer.

This is a hotly debated item. There is no actual dress code. They have published "recommendations" and some people become highly agitated when other guests do not follow the recommendations. See this blog post: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2018/01/01/everything-you-need-know-about-formal-night-royal-caribbean-cruise For actual menu items, if you go through some live blogs you will often see menu pictures for each night. Here is a live blog from Liberty in February. I tried to include MDR menu most nights:

While ship can't send you a bill, they can deny you from disembarking until you pay your on-board account in full. Credit card or not doesn't change the fact that you must settle your on-board account.

For the record TX isn't the only state where local laws cause some variations in drink handling. NY and AL also do, others possibly. When cruising Carnival with the drink package in 2013 through 2015 they would charge local taxes while in US ports. I boarded in Fort Lauderdale and with the drink package each drink was $0.87 to $1.30 in taxes. Guests are charged this. Once we reached 12 miles no charge per drink using their Cheers! drink package. Day 2 in Key West the tax charges returned. That night after leaving port and for remainder of cruise no taxes charged in non US ports. When I took my 1st RC cruise I was expecting those same tax charges but RC eats them, or buries them into the cost of the drink package. No doubt they have to account for them and submit them to each state though. It's really a PITA for the cruise lines to track each city/state/country local regulations for each port but that is exactly what they must do. Imagine if they kept the on-board store open while in port - it would be subject to local regulations too. Another TX tax to be aware of - if you buy duty free booze upon returning to Galveston you have to pay the TABC taxes on each bottle. TX resident or not, you pay. They are setup right after US Customs and if you decalre a bottle of duty free booze you will be directed to visit the TABC tax collectors. It's a few bucks per bottle but everyone pays even if you are flying out of Houston hours after arriving back into Galveston. Search for "TABC Tax Collection form" and you will see the charges for each bottle: $4.25 on a 1.75l bottle, $3.75 on a 1l bottle, etc. $3.50 on a 24 of beer, $3.75 on a bottle of wine, $15 on a carton of cigarettes. Duty free they may be, but that is a federal rule and does not make them TX tax free. For this reason I do not buy duty free booze when cruising out of Galveston.

All because a helium balloon ride didn't open on time? Cococay will be open, a particular excursion such as the water park may slip. They've already provided a schedule when they estimate each attraction becoming available but if those slip you'll still visit Cococay. You'll still have the beach that you have today.

Texas as a state doesn't approve every beer, wine or liquor made. Amstel Light beer for example is not approved by TABC so it can't be served while in TX waters. Diamond happy hour normally includes Amstel Light. Not on day 1 for cruises leaving from Galveston. Any liquor served has to be served from a bottle which has the TX tax paid and it carries a sticker to prove that TX tax has been paid. Rather than paying the TX tax on every single bottle on board, they have a small selection, one vodka, one rum, one gin, etc that is paid up for TX tax. Within the 12 mile territorial limit any drink has to be made from one of those bottles. So a vodka and cranberry will be a specific brand while other vodkas remain locked up until 12 miles out. Once past the 12 mile limit and sailing in international water the TX bottles go away, waiting to be pulled back out at the start of the next cruise and the normal bar fully opens. Carnival handles it differently. They avoid drink packages until day 2. On day 1 all drinks are paid on demand from TX tagged bottles.

At the moment it looks like only South FL will sail to Cuba in 2019. Majesty out of Port Everglades and Empress from Miami.

The app is a work in progress. On ships that were app enabled in the past it wasn't 'all that' (Serenade in March) . I found the paper cruise compass to be much more detailed and informative. It's been several months since, new features have been added and I have several app-enabled ships booked in the coming months including Mariner and Enchantment in September. The app does not require a paid Voom plan (internet access).

Consistent with my Indy approach I've booked Navigator right before her AMPING. This way I'll have an excuse to return soon again afterwards and compare.

I think CocoCay has seemed smaller because there is little to do there other than beach. With things like zip lines, water slides and the coaster, plus more distinct areas such as Columbus Cove, Labadee feels bigger. I'm really looking forward to the Perfect Day expansion so there is more than just beach. Fresh water pools, swim up bars, water park and more food options are all appealing. I've never been a huge fan of the buffet lunch on either but now with better restaurants CocoCay may very well win the battle over Labadee.

Worst case - they have to refund an excursion. I heaven't looked far into the future to se if two Vision class ships has been scheduled on the same day. Likely will need to wait until the 2020 schedule is rolled out.

$107 is better than $0. I'll take that any day.

Those white tubes are what I've been getting lately as D+.

I emailed her and pointed out her inaccuracies. She updated the article, changed the headline, removed the references to Carnival having the largest ship in Galveston and that Vista is Carnival's largest ship. Someone has to fact check the Chron...