twangster

Twins? One works for RCI and one works for Celebrity? Mama must be proud. The website is back up... sort of. Clicking on the Edge link yields this: i would have liked to sail Edge before they eliminated her.

Well maybe I won't be booking Celebrity soon, because... I can't. As someone who routinely works overnight because that is when most companies do work on their IT infrastructure, it's pretty bad when a website isn't available in the middle of the day.

Just be aware they sometime reverse to do maintenance like painting the hull or lowering life boats to run them. There are no guarantees which side will be against the pier.

Maybe I should start sailing Celebrity more and blogging. Lookout! Edge here I come...

Entertainment reservations are used on Oasis and Quantum class only. On the mega ships the guests count far exceeds the capacity of the venues by a significant factor so reservations are used to manage the crowds. On all other classes this isn't an issue so it's first come, first seated. On Indy they did hand out tickets for the ice shows but that is the only non-OA/QU class use of tickets/reservations I've seen.

I'd love to see RCI adopt Celebrity's pick 2 or pick 4 marketing campaigns. Hopefully with merging the two websites towards a common feel they don't Royalize the packages on Celebrity.

They have tweaked the layout on Symphony. Wonder if they'll update the suite sun deck on Oasis in her upcoming dry dock.

As far as cancel and repurchase I do that all the time. In the cruise planner at the top is "Order History". From you can cancel anything you previously purchased. April is a good bit off. I have a number of cruises booked and over Black Friday few of them dropped in price (drink package that is). Follow @Matt on twitter or facebook as he usually posts when ever sales are happening.

I think the folks who set the drink packages prices have been testing the drink packages at work. There is no consistency across the fleet or even for a particular ship. I'm not sure if they have some sort of automated revenue management script that adjusts pricing on a per cruise basis based on sales or if someone is drunk or high on something and willy nilly adjusting prices. I expect a sale July 4th, then Labor Day. Possibly some surprise sales in between.

Check out @tiny260 ! Nice round numbers 500/1000. Congrats on 1,000 posts

Indy looks great. Look forward to trying her again now with all the changes.

Yes, straight to Asia is my understanding and I suspect it will stay there.

Quantum when in China has made the Solarium suite only. Spectrum will supposedly take that up a notch with separate elevators for suites and more space dedicated to suites much like MSC has done on SeaSide.

Yep, looks identical to Royal. I had to reset my password and it didn't know my security questions properly but I was able to reset and eventually log in.

Deck Four - where the photo shop used to be.

They have but you gotta know the senior executives of Pullmantur are building a case for new ships, not hand-me-downs.

I'm sure the costs vary and this is probably a little dated (limited mention of Symphony). It does provide some insight into the revenue model for each ship in a very loose way. Off peak they are willing to take an OA class out of the rotation for $6.5M-ish (plus gratuity). That wouldn't represent the revenue floor for a typical OA class ship in service but it gives you an idea of the numbers involved.

Mariner and Navigator are different.

I'm not saying you haven't drop some coin, but so have Pinnacles over their years of loyalty. It is the same which is why RCI has the policy that they do - both of you are allowed in the Suite Lounge. Diamond Plus are not as they haven't earned it. If its that important to you maybe it's time to try MSC since they have a wall separating suite guests from non-suite guests.

Its the same. Casino rates mean you are not paying full suite rates. Besides the casino operation is a 3rd party. RCI just gets a cut. The quickest path to Pinnacleness would be 50 cruises solo with an average 7 night duration. Cruise as a couple and it's a hundred cruises. A few times a year there are cheaper inside cabins but if you only sail during those times it would take 30-40 years to gain Pinnacleness. In the real world the typical pinnacle has spent in excess of $100k each and many of them drop money in the casino too and on shore excursions and dining and beverages and so on. They don't get free drinks like casino people do. Cheating you way into a suite lounge through the casino or earning it through years of money spent directly to Royal (not the casino operator) is the same thing.

I've seen that with water bottles but not for adults drinks for exactly the reason you stated. Their portion of the tip pool is decided by how many drinks they serve. Otherwise there is little to motivate them to provide good, quick service.

I've brought an unused chip enabled cup that came with a beverage package and used it on another ship. You do need to make sure the next ship has the freestyle drink machines, not all do. I never tried to use it at a bar though. Some people raise the ethical question about doing so. I figure if I never used the benefit I paid for then using it at a later date is okay. I've never read the terms and conditions to see if that is really the case. This is something you need to decide for yourself.

The official line is around 90 days. I've often seen stuff available at 150 days or more but 90 days seems to be the suggested time frame.

I saw this posted in a FB group. Good FAQ section: http://www.royalcaribbeanincentives.com/general-cruise-faqs/ The site appears to be geared around event planning, such as hosting an event on a ship or even chartering the entire ship. Decent fleet guide with downloadable PDFs. : http://www.royalcaribbeanincentives.com/ships/ Have you ever wonder how much it costs to charter an entire ship? I have. Interesting. Anyone have $11M surplus cash to charter Oasis for a week? If so you and 6,000 of your closest friends can sail in style.

They swipe your Seapass card like a credit card swipe or on ships with RFID technology they hold your card against the card reader. Quantum class and the Harmony/Symphony have RFID technology. II's all coded in the billing system. The DX letters on your card or sticker in some cases just lets the bartender know to make sure the billing system correctly figures out you have a package.