twangster

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.

Keep in mind what @DunkelBierJay mentioned earlier.

@RaleighTrout - look over the July 4th holiday.

No worries, it happens. I'm guilty of it too.

Welcome to the message boards! There is a blog about drink prices here: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/royal-caribbean-drink-prices Figure five or six alcoholic drinks per day to break even. How much each of us drinks varies. Sometimes there is value in a drink package and for others not as much. See also this blog post: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2018/01/08/answers-common-royal-caribbean-unlimited-alcohol-package-questions and https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2017/10/24/8-awesome-reasons-buy-royal-caribbeans-unlimited-alcohol-package

$53 right now on Majesty in September.

Next technical dry dock is 2022 if I'm not mistaken. They are every five years. They don't always do refurbishments to guest areas in dry docks, they are really for maintenance below the water line. I'm sure they are trying to figure it out as well.

When is your cruise? July 4th will (likely) be another sale. ^ This. If you book it now and prices drop, cancel and repurchase at the lower price.

If in doubt book a refundable cruise. As it gets closer convert it to NRDB.

Putting on my "I own the cruise line for day" hat on for the moment... I made a point of booking some of the older ships this year and even planned a glass block for Empress. Why? I am speculating that there is interest in getting them out of the fleet so I want to sail them while I can. That is purely speculation on my part, I have no hard facts or inside knowledge to back that up nor can I predict a timeline for my speculation. The dilemma RCI faces is trying to find a buyer that won't turn around and offer dirt cheap Bahamas cruises impacting their strategy to Wow! the short cruise market with Mariner, Navigator, Indy and the Perfect Day at Cococay strategy. Vision class ships are like owning an older car. It's likely paid off, you don't have a monthly car payment, insurance is cheap but its not as efficient as a new car, lacks some new features and maintenance costs can start to add up. You might want to sell it off but it runs great and does its job quite handily. There is a small market for selling older used cars and they don't fetch very good prices. Throw all those factors into a bucket and if the right opportunity comes along, they would be hard pressed to keep them - in my SWAG of an opinion. Will they still be here 10 years from now? I strongly doubt it. Will they still be here 5 years from now? I doubt it. Will they still be here 2 years from now? - I just don't know.

I try to avoid hotel stays between ships, they are expensive when you add meals and such. Makes you appreciate what great value cruising is. Besides my dog is threatening divorce if I book much more.

No studios available on the weekend. Besides I've got Mariner booked in October with an aft balcony plus I've booked the RoyalCaribbeanblog.com Mariner Double Dip to Cococay Group Cruise next March. I've also got Nassau/Cococay booked on at least two other cruises, maybe a 3rd. Three Mariner cruises and half a dozen stops in Nassau/Cococay is enough.

I can't. Anything more than 10 points and I miss my glass block on Symphony. It's all about the numbers!

I looked at the sailing. Saw a deal on an inside GTY but going through the checkout process it turned into a studio inside. With a flight tacked on it wasn't worth it for just four C&A points.

I agree completely. Generally speaking Pinnacles are (mostly) older people. That's not to say there aren't younger pinnacles, but generally speaking they tend to look closer to retirement age and many of them love to wear that pin (and some do try to abuse it). Most of them are the quiet older couple just enjoying each other's company in the corner. That mid 30s entitled couple with a toddler watching cartoons on an iPad at full volume so the parents can drink in the Suite Lounge? - I may be wrong but I'm guessing they weren't pinnacles.

You can't always, but there are certain signs such as asking the concierge some very dumb question and taking 30 minutes of their time doing so that illustrates a complete lack of cruise history or applying some profiling techniques such as people in their 30s that are possibly pinnacle but unlikely. Like the guy in his early 20s looking like something that just spent 6 nights on the streets of NY on a formal night in the Suite Lounge. There is after all a dress code suggestion. I'm guessing it wasn't a pinnacle doing their best impression of a barefoot homeless person while everyone else was at least wearing long pants (and shoes).

D+ folks shouldn't be painted with your same brush. They do not after all have access to the Suite Lounge. On these same lines, do you think too that folks who use casino rates to slip into suites should be banned as well?

No truer words have been said by a self professed Oasis Class Denier. You can't possibly do everything on an Oasis class ship in one cruise and if you try you'll need a vacation after your vacation, so you might as well do a B2B.

First of all, that 12 noon boarding time is a suggested arrival time. I arrive pretty close to 10am regardless of the time on my set sail pass. On Anthem the first thing I do is visit Boleros where the Box Office is temporarily setup to make any reservations that I couldn't make online in advance. This includes entertainment but especially NorthStar and iFly. Next is specialty dining if booked in advance to update any dining packages purchased. With that complete, visit the SeaPlex to see how the bumper car line is or what time it will start on day one. While there take a photo of the SeaPlex schedule on the displays that you can use it to plan the rest of the cruise and SeaPlex schedule: On day one only in the evening they have a special show in Two70° that highlights the technology of this room. It's easy to miss so look at the cruise compass for it. It's called "Two70° Tonight" or "The Two70° Experience": https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/5068-anthem-112517-712-b2b/&do=findComment&comment=50344