spiralqueen

1 hour ago, PRebecca said:

Mine went from $37.99 yesterday to $29 today for our sailing on Allure November 2020; hoping it gets to $25 (wow $19.99!!) to purchase; mine planner also says ONLINE ONLY

Ohhh thanks for the heads up on this! I had purchased at $38 for my May 2020 Harmony sailing but with the full intentions of cancelling it if it never dropped. I saved $168 and got the lower $30 price which is the high end of what I'm willing to pay. I also hope it goes down more but I can rationalize $30. $38 is just absurd though. 

Damn, luckily my fares aren’t released until the next batch but looking at flights to MCO there’s a TON of completely sold out flights no matter the fare. Out of curiosity, what time on the day listed are the fares normally released?

2 hours ago, RatedPG said:

That’s exactly what I do.  I call it a “Water Run” where I round up all the bars onboard for a water stash.

Same! That's why I bring a backpack even if I'm just going to the pool. Toss those waters in there to bring back to the room and add to my stash. Great for at night or on port days. 

On 9/16/2019 at 2:34 AM, emsff02 said:

I am taking YOLO up a notch

Ohh I like the layout of this. Which app is this? 

When we went to CK on Allure we had different servers almost every night because it just depended on where they had room to seat us that night. What we did is figured out how much we would normally tip 1 person who had excellent service on a 7 night and divided that by the number of times we ate there. On day 7, I swung by guest services in the afternoon to grab some extra tip envelopes and we used those to distribute the tips on the last night. There were a couple of people who we didn’t immediately see, so we left those tips with the host (who also got a tip because he went out of his way to help us get reservations for the rest of the nights as a JS without us asking and genuinely improved our cruise experience). To make it easier on the last night, I had a note in my phone where we wrote down the server’s name for each night and little notes about them which also doubled to make complimenting them in the survey easier. 

1 minute ago, Yo2slick said:

I had plenty of Kraken in my lava flows last month.  

Lol I initially misread that as you had plenty of lava flow in your kraken. 

1 minute ago, Yo2slick said:

Its per person but keep in mind that anything you buy will have an 18% gratuity charge added to it.  So its really 116.82 per person.  

The gratuity charge is not added on to the dining package if you buy it ahead of time in the cruise planner. I just double checked my confirmation email to make sure I wasn't making that up. 

3 hours ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

This is why I am a bad influence.

Lol Sabrina you remind me of my friends I know I can text going “hi, here is a big purchase I just made. Help me justify this and reassure me this was an excellent life choice” These friends are well aware of their roles and exactly why they got that text. 

1 hour ago, bookit said:

whats Kraken?

 

Kraken is a really nice, smooth spiced rum that is popular around these parts. Especially tasty in tropical frozen beverages. Best enjoyed at sea! 

1 hour ago, fonemanbob said:

AT&T has a $10.00 a day plan when you are in a foreign country.  We are going to New England and Canada Thursday and signed up for that plan.  We are grandfathered under their old plan. Their   newer plans cover Mexico and Canada.  

Just a quick note about this $10/day plan. Most people who have older AT&T plans can use this, but if you have a really old grandfathered plan, you might not be eligible. I found that out the hard way when I tried to get that set up for a trip we were taking and found out that we could only use the $60 for 30 days international plan. My family has a super old grandfathered plan that has unthrottled unlimited data. 

17 hours ago, PatsFanBrian said:

I wonder if there will be more interest in Cats with the movie coming out later this year.  BTW, if you want to get creeped out, watch the trailer.  Looks more like something out of Dr Moreau's Island.

I’m a huge fan of the Cats trailer set to the music from that movie Us. SUPER creepy. 

I have sailed both Allure and Enchantment and as much as I adored Allure and how many things there were to do, one thing I found was that I enjoyed much less live music than I did on Enchantment. I mean, there were options a plenty to listen to it on Allure, but in my mind I wanted to see the bigger shows I couldn't see on smaller ships. I'm really looking forward to my Grandeur cruise where we can enjoy music in the centrum and Schooner bar without feeling that FOMO. 

2 hours ago, RCIfan1912 said:

This idea that it is wrong to think about Coco Cay or worry about a vacation is wrong. Its ok to worry about Coco Cay and your vacation in my opinion. Unless you are saying boy I hope everything gets destroyed but spares Coco Cay for my vacation, that would be wrong. People on cruise critic which can be a TOXIC message board at times are screaming at people that they shouldn't worry about Coco Cay and a vacation. I don't agree with that. I don't think anyone here is saying I hope everyone's lives are ruined so I can have a nice vacation. 

Agreed. I think there’s nothing wrong with a reminder of the devastation that families and communities are suffering from right now, but it’s also possible to be concerned about multiple things at the same time. Worrying and wondering about vacation plans isn’t mutually exclusive from being concerned about the effect this storm has on people both in the United States and abroad. I appreciate that for the most part this board is keeping things positive and not jumping at throats as much as CC. Who needs that much negativity??? Too stressful.   

3 hours ago, Britney said:

We purchased the Key for our upcoming sail on Allure. However, we’ve received only generalized information from Royal - nothing regarding boarding times. After we completed Checkin online, our online Royal cruise planner tells us to arrive at 1:30 pm.  This must not take into account our Key benefits, correct?

We’d love your advice as to what time is the earliest we should arrive to port in order to board as early as possible to maximize our key benefits for our 7 Night Eastern Caribbean Cruise out of Fort Lauderdale? Thank you!

When you board with the Key in FLL, make sure you use the right entrance so that you can also benefit from expedited security that the key allows. There will be an entrance past the main entrance that is for suites and also has a sign for Key guests too. Once you get through security, there will be some windows or people standing around with iPads. Just tell them you have the key and they can send you to the right person to get checked in and on your way to the waiting area. It’s pretty well labeled where you go.

If I recall correctly, the key seating area was just beyond the suite area (sectioned off area with awnings) and there was a blue sign with a white key on it directing you. You will wait there until they start boarding the ship. The order will be back to back cruisers (unannounced....you just see some people get off for a few minutes and then return on) suites/pinnacles, and then Key. 

Besides the delay in reopening the island from repairing the damage to existing structures, I wonder what kind of delay this will inevitably have on the progress of their South Beach/Coco Beach Club construction. 

I am very sorry for those who had their vacations cut short by this. Silver lining is that due to the port, it’s likely that most people drove in vs flights. At least Royal is making it right with the 100% refund plus 100% FCC. Hopefully with this being a smaller ship than the Oasis class ones it will be much easier to repair it since there are more options for location. I’m selfishly happy that they are at least knowing about this and fixing it now, decently far in advance of my Nov sailing. 

10 hours ago, VinceC said:

Link is not working.  Anyone else having trouble?

Yep, website seems to be broken currently. I hope it comes back soon since it has great info!

8 hours ago, monctonguy said:

No..I do it all the time...I usually have about 2-3 bookings on the go for the same dates...sometimes with the same site.  I have already re-booked hotels 6 times for my Nov cruise and am still watching and looking.

 

 

Agreed! I’m a huge huge fan of booking a bunch of refundable hotel options. I currently have like 3 different hotels booked for May in 2 different cities. It’s sailing out of Port Canaveral so I have a Coco Beach option for if we come in a day early, a Coco Beach option for if we come in 2 days early, and an Orlando option if we have a later flight. I just make sure to put all the cancellation deadlines in my calendar so I don’t get screwed by forgetting about a reservation. 

I really hope this doesn't end up being true. Especially since a major part of our decision to upgrade from an interior to a JS for our Jan 2021 Anthem sailing is for CK access. Well, no use getting upset about it in advance. It's just a rumor for now and that is how I will treat it. 

A lot of people will (correctly) say that the filet is excellent and a must try. But one I don’t see mentioned as much is the rib eye. If you are a fan of steak, I’m telling you. Try the rib eye. So. Good. 

3 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Not sure why Allure is all over the place with their rotation.  People lately have been posting Night 4 for the filet, and yours was 7.  Best bet to make sure you don't miss anything is to ask for the suite concierge to send you the menus ahead of time.  That is what we have been doing.  Then we plan around that.  

Well it wouldn't be Royal if it wasn't predictably unpredictable! 

20 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

 

Not sure why but Allure runs their CK menu on a different rotation compared to the rest of the fleet.  Filet is night 1 but Allure does it Night 4.

@BB1 When I was on Allure in May of this year, CK had filet on night 7. I agree that the filet is incredible, but I would be remiss to not also rave about the rib eye. It was melt in your mouth and incredibly flavorful. I think that was maybe night 2 or 3? I have a liveblog in my signature where I talk about Allure CK for dinner 5/7 nights. 

Ohhh thanks for the heads up! I snagged the 3 device plan for $24 per day for my May Harmony sailing. I didn’t think Harmony would have Internet prices that went down to the price I got on Grandeur. Definitely want to lock in that price in case the Key never comes down in price. 

4 hours ago, SPS said:

As someone who has had a Sea Day Brunch on Grandeur of the Seas, I'd love to help. (It was spectacular, by the way.)

Unlimited Lobster & Filet Mignon brunch. Also included eggs benedict & nearly all the breakfast foods you could imagine along with Mimosas, Peach or Strawberry Champagne Bellini's, & Bloody Marys for $30 per person.

Ohhhhhh this sounds very relevant to my brunch loving mom's interests. We are going on Grandeur in November and I'll have to keep an eye out for this! Where did you see this advertised? 

2 hours ago, raahc said:

Our next sailing is Harmony and I recall reading it from the Harmony forums.  Perhaps I just read it wrong.  Thank you!

 

 

There are a couple of items that have an upcharge associated with them. Perhaps that is what they were referring to? But it's similar to how it is in the MDR and the extra cost items are clearly marked.