spiralqueen

5 hours ago, Ashmai said:

Hello!

I bought a lot of my ship activities / services pretty early *blush, I was excited!* and since I keep seeing discounts being offered. For instance, the 3 dining package was 99 a person when I purchased, now it shows "Up to 50% off!" when I'm browsing the Cruise Planner. Do they credit the difference back or should I cancel and re-book at the cheaper prices?

Thanks

Others have already covered being able to cancel and rebook and @FionaMG covered looking at the bottom line which I was going to bring up, but I want to clarify that the price displayed in the cruise planner already reflects whatever percentage off they are claiming in the graphic. It isn’t some “discount applied at check out” scenario. And those percentages off sometimes involve some.....creative math on Royal’s part. Very often it’s percentage off the onboard price.  

Also don’t blush for booking things early! Honestly, it was smart IMO. You will see time and time again on here that people advocate booking early at a price you are comfortable with and checking back often for price drops. Hell, I have a Coco Cay cabana booked for May 2020 rn. I fully plan on probably dropping it depending on what happens, but I locked in a price I wouldn’t mind paying just in case anything happens. 

2 hours ago, SpeedNoodles said:

So, am I understanding this right? You have to redeem it within 14 days of booking (or repricing) a cruise, and the cruise must sail within 30 days? Who books that close in? 

It’s super obtuse wording, so I understand your confusion. When you redeem your points in the app, you get a redemption code to give to Royal. You have 14 days to use that code before it expires. This code can be used on a sailing that has been booked in the last 30 days. The cruise must sail within a year. 

@JennyB not dumb at all! Overall speeds vary by ship (with fastest speeds generally being on the newer ships), but the Voom Surf is a throttled connection to the internet by which I mean that it’s the same connection as the Surf and Stream, but they slow down your speeds. I’ve been told it’s enough to text through apps like Whatsapp or FB messenger and also to use WiFi calling. It will load webpages, just much slower and trying to stream on the connection will result in a lot of buffering just like what happens when you have a weak WiFi or cellular data signal on land. And the Surf and Stream is the unthrottled but pricier version. Which Voom is better for you is a personal question, but there is a really good article on the Internet here: 

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2017/02/07/guide-royal-caribbean-voom-wifi-internet-prices-and-tips

1 hour ago, RTripp said:

Hi, I am researching The Key as well, our HOTS June 2019 cruise has the lunch “choice” as either Jamie’s or Chops 

. FYI The 24.99 that you must buy for each member of your party, includes VOOM ( but not stream if it matters to you?).

Quick note, the Voom internet that you get per person that purchased the Key is actually the streaming version of Voom. 

19 minutes ago, brb700 said:

Last year we were booked on a 7 nighter on Allure. Were D+ but we showed up on Saturday to find out it was a Sunday departure. Had to find a room for the night.

While that's awful, I'm so so happy for you that it wasn't you guys showing up on Sunday to find it out it was a Saturday departure! 

2 hours ago, AshleyDillo said:

Sunscreen has a magical way of cleaning the print off of the SeaPass cards, too..so be careful with that!

Ahhhh THAT explains why my mom's card kept smudging and having the text run. She is extremely diligent about reapplication. 

I will let others tackle your other questions, but I recently came across this pretty comprehensive chart on tipping so I thought I would share. There’s some instances that aren’t covered here, but it tackles the things most common to traveling. I’d imagine you don’t need to know customs for a haircut or a nail salon. 

The bathroom attendant one is rarely a thing anymore so don’t stress about that one. It refers to if you are in a very, very nice restaurant or hotel who would have someone who stands there and hands out towels or small toiletries. Even then, I’ve been told you only tip if you use any of the things that they hand out. I’m in my early 30s and I’ve only seen this a handful of times. I believe it used to be more common. Honestly, when in doubt do a quick google search “do you tip X” with X being the thing you are unsure about. Like “do you tip hotel check in” (no). I’ve spent my whole life here and have done that a couple of times. Our country can be very confusing when it comes to tips!! 

@12thman I personally use IPVanish and I’ve never noticed a difference in speed between being connected and not being connected. 

I got this idea from seeing a couple bags in the airport with something similar, but this trip I’m going to try out this luggage cover that I got off amazon. It’s supposed to also double as a protective cover but I’m mainly using it to make my boring black spinner suitcase stand out. 

5 minutes ago, tapdnsr25 said:

So if it's $25/day, PER PERSON, does that mean each person gets access to Voom for one device each...or just ONE device (like per room)? 

The former. Each person gets their own. There’s even been reports of kids under 6 who don’t need to pay for the Key getting their own codes. It’s slipping my mind now who, but I know someone here mentioned that in a recent Live Blog. 

@ama537621 The screencap I posted is from the "Rewards Terms and Conditions" page. I agree that it is worded very confusingly. The only reason I knew about the 30 day thing was because I had seen people here talk about it. 

I’ve never put them on my carry on, though I would say it can’t hurt to print out extra copies of the tags in case you change your mind about why you’d like to check. 

1 hour ago, ama537621 said:

I just tried to redeem for $50 OBC and you must now use the points within 14 days of booking the cruise. I am a little disappointed but it looks like I will be able to have a lot of OBC when we book another cruise. 

Were you told that by Royal? According to MyVEGAS, while you have to use the points within 14 days of redeeming the reward, it can be used on a sailing that is within 30 days of booking. I have been told that repricing a cruise resets that clock. 

@monctonguy  you absolutely can link them up! You just need to have a FB account to link them. You can link all of the apps I named as well as the FB game to earn points into one pot. 

43 minutes ago, monctonguy said:

ok..so I finally took the jump this weekend and started playing on my phone...its the app called pop!slots.......I very quickly ran out of coins to play with..and I wasn't doing large bets nor was I doing auto spin....

 

I must be missing something here compared to all the stories I have read throughout this thread??!

There are multiple games that count toward accumulating points for this reward. I enjoy playing Pop!Slots if I want to play something while paying attention to it and listening to a podcast in the background or something, but it's not the best for getting the gold coins for rewards since you have to pop the balloons that randomly appear to get them (and it's not always gold coins in there. Sometimes it's XP and sometimes it's the in game money). I'd say you are better off playing either myKONAMI or myVEGAS for being able to set to autospin and walking away as they will automatically give you the points without you paying attention. Also I don't know how I did it, but I somehow got signed up for their mailing list and they send me free chips daily if I click a link in the email which launches in game and gives me chips. It's 1M per day for Pop slots and something like....500k for the other 2? I forget. There is also the FB version of myVegas which is good to run in the background if you have a desktop/laptop. I don't think I'll ever get enough points for a free cruise, but it's fairly easy (sort of) to get enough points for $100 OBC. And I'm talking as someone who refuses to pay any money for this game on IAPs. 

4 hours ago, KristiZ said:

For sure, especially if you're a wine novice! We've done this several times, because the wines change depending on the year/region/sommelier's personal choice. It's not pretentious at all, so don't be intimidated!

Do you remember how long it ends up being? If I decide to get it for someone as a gift can I hang out and watch without paying if I don’t drink at all? 

2 hours ago, Wilmsta said:

Suite guests don’t get access to Sun deck? I thought it was Jnr Suites that didn’t get access? 

In @Traveler‘s chart, when they say “suite” they mean a suite on a non Oasis or Quantum class ship. Since Oasis and Quantum classes have their own suite program with the Sea/Sky/Star classes, it’s broken out separately. As far as I know the private sun decks aren’t found on the other ship classes so it wouldn’t apply.  

oops! That’s what I get for not seeing that there’s a second page on this topic!!

1 minute ago, Drcollins78 said:

I loved learning about this! But, after reading through the thread, I see there are limitations and exclusions. So, would I be able to get the $100 credit if I got my cruise booked during the sale in February? I think it was the 60%off second guest promotion. Does anyone have any knowledge on this? 

As long as you are still within 30 days of booking you should be fine. No issue with combining MV OBC with normal Royal promotions. You can even combine it with OBC that comes from Royal directly. That’s how I got $150 OBC for an interior on a 7 night sailing

59 minutes ago, monctonguy said:

I cant seem to find the up to date master cruise list.....has it been moved or am I missing something?

 

I see all these ppl posting when they are cruising..but how do we find now the list?

It's still in the same spot as before. 

I'm guessing  @Lovetocruise2002's new Modly Powers of Power allow her to edit the post even though she didn't post it. 

1 minute ago, NJCruisers said:

Thanks - I did book with a TA and have prepaid my gratuities.  

You should be all set then! Disclaimer: I don't have personal experience with this, but I'm almost positive I've either read about this situation or heard it on the podcast. 

7 minutes ago, NJCruisers said:

As a newbie, can you tell me if your rates are locked in from when you booked or do they go up by sail date?  

From what I understand, your rate is locked if you choose to prepay gratuities, but not if you choose to wait until you are on board to pay. If you used a travel agent, just ask them to tack gratuities onto your invoice as you would like to prepay them. If you booked directly with Royal, I'd imagine you could call them to have them do it, but I don't have experience with that as I've always used a TA. 

17 minutes ago, ama537621 said:

Is the OBC good for anything or just the casino? 

Good for anything. It gets loaded pre-cruise so you can use it in the cruise planner if you would like. I’m personally saving it to pay for gratuities.  

@Frogfanatic yes, it definitely should be. If it's sold out, I'm not sure if they pull it from the cruise planner or just mark it as sold out. Maybe try checking back daily to see if it shows up again. Someone might cancel! Also it can't hurt to ask on board in case they held back some spots for onboard booking. 

3 minutes ago, Frogfanatic said:

I, too, am interested in this tour.  It's right up my alley.  I have heard/read that you can find the prices and availability on the Cruise Planner, but for some reason I can't find it.  Could anyone please tell me specifically it is? Thanks 

It depends on how far out your cruise is. You might not see it yet, but it will be under the "Activities" portion of "Activities and Entertainment" 

12 minutes ago, Matt said:

They are both pretty small. I'd have to say the pullman.

Thanks! One thing I forgot to note is that I am pretty short (5'2") so hopefully that helps with bed length.