spiralqueen

Not surprising. It’s hard to justify $32 a day whereas $25 is pushing it but reasonable on the OA/QA class ships. $20 is the number I would book without hesitation on larger ships. And this is coming from someone well versed in logic leaps to justify purchases in my head.

Yeah I think it's a pretty good deal at $19.99 - especially on Oasis or Quantum class ships. But $32 a day is just silly IMO. $25 a day (prior "normal price") I was able to justify to myself. But not that new price. I'm very happy I was able to snag it before the price increase.

So I officially have all my entertainment booked for my May Allure sailing as well as great prices on my excursions, drink packages, and The Key. Backup MTD reservations are done in case I can’t get into Coastal Kitchen one of the nights. I’m trying to figure out if there will be any additional activities released closer to the sailing that I would need to stalk the CP for or if I should move on to price stalking for my next cruise. The activities currently listed are private flowrider sessions, guac class, cupcake class, sushi class, wine tasting, all access tour, and bottomless brunch. Can anyone with a closer Allure sailing peek at their CP and let me know if I have the complete list at this point? Thanks in advance!

I'd love to hear your thoughts on The Key on a Vision class ship when you get back. I have it for Allure in May and I have a feeling it will be an excellent value. I'm a bit more unsure about the use of getting it for our November Grandeur sailing though.

I believe I’ve seen on here before that you can ask to be put on a waitlist for your preferred dining time if it turns out that it was that traditional was full. Also welcome to the boards!

I’ll let others tackle the first part of your question though I’m pretty sure the answer is you aren’t missing anything. But as to why you are seeing conflicting information about CAS, it’s because I believe Royal Caribbean changed the way they do it semi recently. It used to be that you could sign up for it before your first cruise and get a “pre-gold” status, but now they have it that everyone is automatically enrolled and there’s no place on their website to sign up beforehand. If you really wanted to, I suspect you could email the crown and anchor email and ask to sign up, but that’s unnecessary IMO. From their FAQ (https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/crown-anchor-society-loyalty-program-enrollment) “If you are a new guest, there is no need to sign up for Crown & Anchor Society. You will be automatically enrolled after you complete your first sailing with Royal Caribbean International (applies to US Residents). Membership benefits begin after you have completed at least one Royal Caribbean International cruise. “

Still double points in JS if you booked it at the regular rate and didn't get it through an upgrade.

For people who have recently gone on Allure or are about to, how far out did entertainment open for you? I’m 94 days out and wondering if 90 is truly the magic trigger point for entertainment the people in the FB rollcall seem to think it is.

Well look what I found! I'd say your odds are good of it being on your trip too. Just keep an eye on the cruise planner as it gets closer.

I can’t remember how far out the excursions became available for me, but I do remember that not all of them were released at once. I have a St Thomas stop on Allure in May so I can check my cruise planner to see if I see the excursion you are looking for. It’s not a guarantee it will be the same for your sailing, but it’s prob a pretty safe bet. Do you remember what it was called/what it did?

I’ll shamelessly piggyback on this topic and ask about a scenario of my own. If I have 3 people booked with a refundable rate in an interior room, can I cancel the 3rd person later on and still keep the original rate for the remaining 2 people? Or would it reprice it for us?

I got one back in November and while my family loved it and appreciated the quieter beach, delivered lunch & cooler full of water, I found it didn't provide as much shade as my pale, pale self was hoping for. I don't regret getting one at all, but I think we are going with a cabana next time. It has curtains that close, but since there's no place to anchor them except the posts, they tend to blow in your face if it's windy. But 100000% beats a beach chair! Also make sure to go to the excursion desk when you board and ask to choose which one you want. I thought the best one was the front row on the end closest to the bar since it only has a beach bed on one other side so it seemed more private. This is a pic from November.

@RBRSKI if it makes you feel any better, I’d imagine it can be chalked up more to just human error than them trying to cheat you on purpose. Roulette has a decent amount to keep track of from a dealer perspective payout wise which isn’t an excuse, but they make mistakes sometimes. This past November I actually had a case where I was playing the 12s on the outside (the 1st 12, 2nd 12, 3rd 12 spots) and my bet won but the dealer didn’t notice. I had to quickly stop him from clearing the chips after paying out the other winners to point out that mine won too. He looked embarrassed and apologized while giving me my chips. No harm done, but it goes to show you need to pay attention! It’s just a shame that it happened when you weren’t sure what the payouts should be so that you could correct them.

To be fair, a lot of women’s clothing has nonexistent or non functional pockets. It’s a crime. And then if you were to ask me how much CRAP I have in my purse??? Weeeell, how much time do you have?? ?

I have no idea about anything that can be done now, but just to check, are you sure you put it in the right spot? It sounds like they paid out as if it was split between 3 numbers. $450 would be if it was where the red X is and if it was where the white X is, it would get you roughly the payout you are saying you received.

Have a great time everyone!

Thank you for the heads up on this! I had heard from others that there was conflicting information between the CP description and what happened on board so I'm glad they updated the information to provide clarity. Maybe this will cutback on disappointment for some. It's nice that they now have 2 different venue choices, though I think I will still stick with Chops.

@Firefly Welcome Katrina!

I did this back in November and plan to do it for all my future cruises after reading how important calling out great service by name is on the survey. I found that keeping a running list in the notes section of my phone worked beautifully to help me remember names and what I wanted to say throughout the cruise. I ended up just copy and pasting that into the “comments” section of the survey when it came in.

@RTripp Ohhh thanks for the info! That's great to know about the locking storage. I love that!

Welcome! The people here are really friendly and helpful. I have yet to have someone be snarky because of a silly question of mine. Very refreshing! ? Also don't forget about the podcast for even MORE cruising goodness!

Quick clarification here. It's the soda package and not the refreshment package that runs about that cost and just comes with the tumbler. The refreshment package is about $26 full price and $18-20 on sale per day. In addition to soda that package includes mocktails and specialty coffees and teas and it's likely overkill for an 8 y/o. I'm sure this is what you meant, but I wanted to avoid confusion.

I'm sorry to hear about your husband, but I'm glad he recovered enough for you guys to travel while you can! My 2019 vacation plans are May 12-19, 2019: Allure of the Seas Eastern itinerary (with family) September 2019: Likely some time down in my work's company shore house in NJ (with friends) November 23-30, 2019: Grandeur of the Seas Bahamas & Coco Cay itinerary (with family) And likely some long weekends in NYC throughout the year to visit my brother.

It's odd, I see the Key up for sale on my Thanksgiving cruise on Grandeur. I wonder if it's coming later this year? Though I will say, I don't see how much value one would get out of it on a ship like Grandeur. And I say this as someone who readily booked it immediately when it was offered for my Allure sailing. The Key just strikes me as something that is a better value on either shorter sailings or sailings on Oasis/Quantum class ships.

It is listed under “internet and more”.