HeWhoWaits

12 hours ago, craftycruiselady said:

There is a starbucks

The pinkest Starbucks I have ever encountered.

10 minutes ago, tjcruisers said:

Unless it's a pretty significant itinerary change, I wouldn't hold my breath

And by significant, it usually means a change in the number of nights or the origination/return port.

3 hours ago, CruzOnBye said:

Are they offering an option to change ships/itineraries instead without penalty, or are they just rerouting you guys to new ports with no option to make change? Just curious. Two years ago we had an itinerary change with Odyssey and they sent an email stating we could change ships/itineraries with no issue if we weren't happy with the updated itinerary, but in our situation they cut us from 7 nights to 6 nights and we lost Labadee port.

The change from 7 nights to 6 nights is enough to trigger options like that. Changing a port of call while maintaining the rest of the details typically is not.

2 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

Margaritaville (though the MC there got annoying).

You'll hear them from the ship

Celebrity Captain's Club and Royal Caribbean Crown & Anchor are two completely separate programs. You will not get any C&A credit for the sailing.

MyTime now means "make a reservation" and "if you want a particular time you better make that reservation the day that reservations open."

2 hours ago, PG Cruiser said:

Here is an (older) recipe for Coco Loco found online:

0.75 oz dark rum
0.75 oz coconut rum
0.5 oz cream of coconut
0.5 oz papaya juice
0.5 oz orange juice
0.5 oz pineapple juice
0.25 oz grenadine

Coco Loco and Labadoozie using old recipe - worth getting one.

Coco Loco and Labadoozie using a premix and one kind of rum - not worth wasting my voucher.

5 minutes ago, CruiseGus said:

They are negotiated at a lower rate, letting the consolidators sell them for less than the publicly listed fares for the same flight

Our experience has been that the price we are quoted by Air2Sea matches the lowest price we can see via the airlines' websites or sites like Expedia and Travelocity. If Air2Sea is getting a better price than that from the airlines, Air2Sea is making the difference as a profit.

When we still flew in on departure day, the Air2Sea guarantee to get us to the ship was worthwhile. Now that we travel in at least one day early, there is no need to go that route unless we want to hold off on paying for the airfare until we make final payment on the cruise.

25 minutes ago, Bowen said:

Is the raptor center walkable from the shuttle stop, like within 10-15 minutes?

I'm not familiar with where the shuttle stops are (when we were in Sitka we took tenders that dropped off right in town), but the Raptor Center is less than 1/2 mile from the Sitka National Historical Park.

1 hour ago, smokeybandit said:

It shouldn't matter the payment date timeline. If the airline changes your flight more than a couple hours, typically you can change it to any other flight that day for free

Important to note - this is between you and the airline. Air2Sea has no say in the matter.

45 minutes ago, Someone_else said:

Going to the ABCs islands on Grandeur OFT in November...

In your opinion, would they replace with another port? If so, where, most likely? Don't really want a sea day. 

We had a ABC itinerary that had to replace Bonaire with another stop. Grand Cayman was the replacement, so that's another possible replacement for Labadee if ships still aren't going there on your scheduled trip.

2 hours ago, Someone_else said:

modify their booking system

About this, you're not wrong. Royal could make many enhancements to the booking system. Many have been discussed on these forums, including easier access to determine a stateroom's configuration during booking.

1 hour ago, Someone_else said:

You are missing the point here. 

I said I was not after a free upgrade. I would be totally and truely happy with an interior room IF it met the safety standards for my family. 

 

Please read what my concerns really are before posting.

No other posters are missing the point. You had an interior cabin, it had Pullmans which according to you didn't meet your needs, you think Royal should have done something to improve your situation. The rest of us are just pointing out why your expectation is misguided.

10 minutes ago, Someone_else said:

I respect the responses.

They don't work.

(age/weight/height restrictions). 

Then pay for a stateroom that DOES work for your situation or don't cruise, but don't blame Royal Caribbean for your family dynamic (ages) and physical characteristics (height/weight).

Your opinion - better choices for families with young children and large adults should be available at lower prices. Reality - what's available is what's available.

3 minutes ago, CanHardlyWait said:

Technically they did offer you are cabin that accommodates your party. Beds for children and Pullmans for adults. 

Exactly my point - if you want an interior cabin for lower cost, parental convenience doesn't have to be a "thing." We did what worked for us. The OP believes that Royal should provide other options at low cost.

I disagree that there is no way to identify staterooms with a sofa bed. Deck plans show which rooms have a convertable sofa vs. Pullmans. Do your homework before booking. Is it quick and easy during the booking process? No. Is it impossible to get the information in advance? Also no.

I would also note that the implications that Royal should not allow a room with Pullmans to be booked with children younger than "permitted" to use a Pullman or that Royal is not "accomodating a family with young children" because of the existence of Pullmans as the lower cost option are both invalid. If you want the cheaper stateroom, the children can use the regular beds and the parents can use the Pullmans. We did exactly this when our youngest child was seven but very small - regular beds were Mom and youngest, Pullmans were Dad and older child.

2 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

Good. I'd worry you'd get a couple skimpy 1 ounce pours and not even net a single full glass.

FTR - the various tastings available for purchase are definitely worth the cost, especially if you buy them in advance.

The most unusual tasting was the "Bourbon and Bacon" tasting - it was interesting to hear the others at the tasting conversing about bourbons the way I'm able to speak about wine. 

1 hour ago, smokeybandit said:

Is the wine tasting even worth it? 

Four decent sized, reasonably high quality pours for free? Absolutely. The sommelier leading the one I attended did an excellent job explaining and helping those in attendance understand the aroma wheel (an underappreciated aspect of enjoying wine).

It also didn't hurt that I was at a table set for six that only had four people so I got extra. 

49 minutes ago, JBC said:

They really should figure out how to relocate the smoking section to a less prime spot,

Like nowhere near the pool, perhaps?

14 hours ago, Va4fam said:

Do some of the "elite" benefits have a cost?  Captains club wine tasting?  Backstage tour?  Sneak Peek of Wonder at Eden?

First timers on Celebrity...2 cruises booked next year.

 

I don't know for certain about the others, but the Captains Club wine tasting was no charge (reservation still required, though).

8 minutes ago, SpeedNoodles said:

GROUP CRUISE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe Matt should look into chartering one.

Looks like Apple Maps isn't nearly as up-to-date as Google Maps Earth View.

1 hour ago, smokeybandit said:

So why not go reserve a windjammer table for the day, too?

Or get an early boarding time, go straight to WJ, find a table you like, and reserve the space for the duration of the cruise.

1 hour ago, loki007 said:

sleep in and wander up an noon

If I wanted chairs by the pool (I never do), I would be one of those available to snag them as soon as the early morning deck cleaning is done. I'm up by 6:00 a.m. every day (earlier if it starts getting light out before that). As I said, if you were using the chair all morning, the staff would know that and not treat you like the "drop their stuff just to reserve a chair" types.

4 minutes ago, loki007 said:

i'll be the naysayer on this policy. If I choose to get up and head to the pool deck at 9:00 to get some seats i should be able to go to lunch for an hour and come back to my stuff. Maybe the right solution is to sell reserved chairs on the cruise planner. Then I can buy them and leave them empty all day if i want. 

If you're dropping stuff off at 9:00 and not using the chairs until after lunch, that's far more than an hour (chair hog). If you're using the chairs from 9:00 until you leave for lunch, that's a different story and the staff monitoring the chairs (as well as other passengers) would have seen you there throughout the morning (NOT a chair hog).