spiralqueen

1 hour ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Definitely have a look then.  It's the same menu.  They just rotate it on different nights.  So for example, Night 1 menu on most ships is Night 4 on Allure.  Not sure why they do that?

Actually on my sailing, the normal night 1 menu (filet) was night 7. It was a VERY odd order. It was actually to the point where I thought the app had the menus wrong at first because I had heard of filet being either night 1 or 4 but never 7. It turned out that the app shockingly had the correct menus for the entire week. @12thman

4 hours ago, Mr. Candyman said:

I would have been fighting that charge since Mexico should be within AT&T's coverage area.  On other cruises, I was always anxious to get to Mexico so I could check my voicemails, emails, etc . 

It is included for the newer plans. We are on a grandfathered early plan that gives us unthrottled unlimited data. If my brother didn’t regularly use 30+ GB a month we would be able to switch to a newer plan and get those North American roaming benefits. We also unfortunately can’t use the $10 a day passport. We need to buy the $60 30 day one. The good news is that US territories like PR and St Thomas ARE included so that’s something at least. 

4 hours ago, OrlandoDad said:

As much as I would like to disconnect from the world on our upcoming cruise, it is just not an option with work obligations, possible need to communicate with dog/house sitter,  etc.

We are an iPhone family with AT&T service, traveling on Allure, for what it's worth.

Based on my research here and my understanding, it seems as simple as:

Purchase VOOM for three devices.  Put devices in Airplane mode.  Connect to VOOM once on board.

Then, we would be able to text each other ("Get to your cabin, Miss 15 year old teenager!", etc.), send and receive texts from those not on the ship, make and receive phone calls through WiFi calling and send and receive e-mails as normal.  

Easy as that?  Am I missing something or under the wrong impression?  No need to contact or purchase an "international" plan from AT&T?

Thanks!

Exactly. And IMO I wouldn’t bother using the messaging through the app if you all are getting Voom and you all have iPhones since it’s MUCH easier to just text as you normally do through iMessaging and not worry about the app possibly not sending you a notification about new messages. I had an AT&T iPhone connected to Voom with WiFi calling enabled and was able to email, text (other iPhones) and call (anyone) like normal as long as I was connected to WiFi. 

I have AT&T and wouldn’t even think about using their cruise ship plan. I found the best combination was getting Voom and making sure I had turned on WiFi calling before I left. I tested that it was working by putting my phone in airplane mode while at home connected to my WiFi there and calling someone. The only issue you might run into is getting texts that are sent as SMS. If you have an iPhone and are texting someone else with an iPhone it works just fine since iMessaging (the blue bubbles) uses data, but when I wanted to text my dad who has an android on the ship I used WhatsApp. Other WiFi messaging services like FB messaging would have also worked just fine. 

To give you an idea of how little data 200mb is, my mom accidentally racked up 78mb of data in about 6 minutes when she was trying to download the American Airlines app in a Mexican airport. That was a fun frantic call to AT&T to avoid a $150+ surcharge. 

1 hour ago, Metphan714 said:

I just returned from a vacation(not a cruise ) and I lost my wallet in the MCO airport so I was hoping that with all of the cruise travelers here someone might have some advice

I contacted the airport and left Emails, VM's, and even tweets to MO airport lost and found and so far no luck. I'm hoping that once the weekend is over I might hear rom someone - has this happened to anyone before and were you able to get in touch with someone that helped to get your lost item back??

I have put locks on all of my CC so far but im hoping I can get the wallet back so I don't need to get new everything

 

thanks 

 

Do you know where you might have left it? If it was possibly at security, I would make sure to include which checkpoint you were at when speaking to them (or leaving a VM). It’s not MCO, but the experience I have with airport lost and found is a laptop left at TSA security at PHL and it ended up that those checkpoints had a separate lost and found than the airport. When the CEO I work for told me where he left his laptop I had the fun task of chasing it down at the airport and I ended up meeting someone at the actual checkpoint rather than their main lost and found office. Shockingly, we were able to find and recover it so there may still be hope. 

1 hour ago, Mr. Candyman said:

In the Allure situation lots of TA's and passengers weren't notified by Royal; myself and my TA included.  Like you said, if not for the forums many of us would still be in the dark so we can hold that one against the TA's.  I got lucky and discovered a good TA but glad you found one as well with Michelle.    

Oh wow, I didn’t realize that the TAs were kept in the dark too! I mean she was annoying to deal with for other reasons and always made me feel like I was inconveniencing her if I asked her to check on a price adjustment for me so I’m happy either way to have switched to Michelle, but I will erase one of the mental strikes I have against that old TA. 

24 minutes ago, toodle68 said:

Anthem was delayed on the 5/18 cruise and we met a couple who used some TA and had no idea the departure was delayed. I got a call, text, email and email from Michelle. 

To be honest, I have never seen the need for a TA and not used one since the early 90's.. but I did switch my bookings to Michelle last year and it has been nice to be able to email someone with questions and get a response quickly.

I’m very happy that I switched to Michelle for my future bookings. For my Allure May sailing the only reason I knew about the St Thomas to San Juan itinerary change was because of message boards and roll calls. I don’t always get Royal emails reliably and I never heard a peep from my online mass market TA that I used for that cruise. Old TA was good about giving us a ton of OBC, but you really saw then how much them giving you a chunk of their commission back impacts service and communication. 

No purely wine packages available, but you are able to bring on 2 750mL bottles of wine per stateroom and you can order wine by the glass as well and pay for it a la carte. For the wine you bring on the ship, you are welcome to bring a glass of that around the ship with you. There are no restrictions about only consuming it in your stateroom. 

As a NB: welcome to the forums! Quick friendly note going forward - you will probably get more responses if you make your subject something descriptive rather than your name. Something like “Wine Packages?” Or “Wine without beverage package”

3 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Awesome!  That's what happened March 2018 as well.  You know what that means???  Two opportunities for CK Pork Belly and Filet!!!!!

And two opportunities for that rib eye on my 11 night sailing! EEEEEEEEEEE 

9 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

 

While you all know that I am #TeamCK all the way, the CK experience on Anthem is quite different from OA class.  It's missing the stunning views and the floor to ceiling windows.  It makes a difference in the dining experience.  Still amazing but...you know...I am an OA class girl. 

This is actually why I am interested in gathering experiences from others. When I was looking at the pictures of the venue online I was shocked at how seemingly dark and enclosed it is compared to OA class. I'm sure the food will be the same great quality with fantastic service but my goodness those windows. So airy! I'm cheered by you mentioning that it's generally easier to get reservations on Quantum class ships due to the placement of the SL. 

49 minutes ago, TheHobbys said:

Yeah, the room should be almost identical to the one we stayed in on or oasis cruise. You could always reschedule your cruise to our date. Lol

Lol besides the point of it being much more expensive due to being post-Memorial Day, we specifically booked a Western Caribbean because I couldn't go any longer without trying out Maya Chan for myself. I was the crazy person emailing them close to 500 days in advance to reserve our spot. 

7 minutes ago, TheHobbys said:

@spiralqueen we are in 10730 which is the A2-Aqua Theater Suite with Lg. Balcony 2 Bedroom May 30, 2020 Eastern Perfect day cruise

Oh drat! I'm on the May 10th one. I thought it would be too good to be true if we were on the same sailing. And while I'm looking forward to trying out our room category (Ultra Spacious OV balcony with only 3 people) your room you have will be STUNNING. 

I'm looking forward to following along for this! SC liveblogs are always so much fun to live vicariously through and I'm especially interested in your CK experience on Anthem since we just upgraded to a JS for our Jan 2021 sailing. Also I see from your signature that you will be on Harmony in May 2020. Which sailing? 

24 minutes ago, Andrew72681 said:

During my visits there it was a mixed bag of dealers mostly unfortunately featuring less than enthusiastic personalities.

I was also less than impressed with the dealers in the casino when I was on Allure. It was so bad I actually mentioned it in my after cruise survey. I could deal with less than enthusiastic personalities, but they annoyed me because they didn’t seem to care if other players were breaking the rules. I actually got into a mini confrontation with another player when they tried to take my (winning) bet off the roulette table which would have been avoided if the dealer called them out on touching the chips before the marker was off the table. 

It depends on which type of cruise you are looking for. Here is the schedule for most of the common cruises for the 2020-April 2021. Likely similar timing this year. 

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2018/10/09/royal-caribbean-announces-2020-2021-deployment-opening-schedule-dates

I went and snagged the 3 device internet package for $23.99 a day $8 a day per person? Worth it! And also pulled the trigger on the CocoCay thrill waterpark pass for myself since it's $32 for the day on my Nov. Grandeur sailing and I'm willing to pay that to check it out. It helps that I know I won't be able to get it that cheap on my May Harmony sailing so this is the time to buy it. 

Omfg I again petition for a drooling post reaction emoji. That looks so delicious! I will need to stay away from ships with a Playmakers because I can see it doing serious damage to my wallet. 

I have heard great things about the Embassy Suites on 17th Street, but if you are looking for a slightly more affordable option in the same area, I recommend the Holiday Inn Express Cruise/Airport which is only a couple of doors down from it. Still highly walkable but was much less expensive when I priced it. You can see pictures here: 

I actually had that exact same itinerary for my sailing so you may find it helpful to read through my liveblog I linked to. Assuming you are sailing on Allure, I also sent Matt my cruise compasses if you want to have an idea as to what activities will be available to you. 

2 hours ago, wjohnson7391 said:

yeah a bit much, i might rather get the drink package and play mini golf.

If you use that drink package enough you can convince yourself it's the same thing! 

9 minutes ago, MarvinS said:

While on St. Kitts, I highly recommend Thenford Grey Tours.

Our group of 6 we were traveling with all did their "Grand Tour", and had a fabulous time.  You get an excellent tour and overview of the island, along with some beach time.  Thenford Grey, himself, did our tour, and he was an absolute walking encyclopedia of information on the island.  He was the most polite tour guide I've ever had, and would describe him as the perfect gentleman.

I also highly recommend the Thenford Grey tour. I recently did it about a week ago and recapped it here. First post is the beginning and covered finding the tour and the bus and the second post is once the tour started. Very image heavy. 

Prices pulled from my recent sailing on Allure (liveblog in signature)

Virgin frozen drinks (like pina coladas): $7

Specialty coffees (including lattes): $4-5 

Fresh squeezed OJ: $5

Smoothies (if you are on a ship that makes them): $8.25

Water: ???? prob $2. Unknown because the bartenders never bothered to key it into the POS once they saw you have a beverage package. 

1 minute ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I thought it is clubroyaleoffers.com but I just tried that address and got nothing.  I must be doing something wrong.

Testing it out, it seems like one of the few websites left that require you to type in the www. before the website in order to work properly. RCI IT keeps up their stellar rep! 

13 minutes ago, tonyfsu21 said:

Anyone know the website for checking your active club royale offers?

https://www.clubroyaleoffers.com/

I know you can definitely use OBC to pay for spa services and I don’t see why it would be any different for tipping there. Just as a heads up though, I am almost positive that they automatically add 18% gratuity to the service, so make sure to double check on that to ensure you don’t end up double tipping. 

And yes, the “from” price typically refers to prices for slots either at very inconvenient times or for times during port days. 

20 minutes ago, JLMoran said:

Specifically, on Anthem you can reserve:

• The Gift
• We Will Rock You
• Spectra's Cabaret
• Ripcord by iFly
• North Star

All the other shows and activities, including SeaPlex activities like bumper cars and trapeze class, are first-come first-served.

No headliner or comedian reservations? Thank you for this list by the way!