RachelLevena

I have the pleasure of boarding Brilliance in 11 days (but who's counting). Does anyone have a listing/photo of wines that may have recently been offered by the glass in Vintages? I know I missed my chance to ask Matt when he was on last week. Also on a related note, is it possible to order wine at dinner in the main dining room and if so is there a general place I might preview the selections? Thank you in advance for any assistance/information.

Hello Matt, thank you so much for sharing. Your blog has been an amazing source of information in my planning process and this review is helping with the cruise anticipation. If you have the opportunity, please let me know the time you passed under the Sunshine bridge. I'm on Brilliance in about 18 days and we are slated for a 4pm departure, I don't want to miss the bridge and I'm concerned our dinner time might conflict with that experience.

It is offered on the March 4th sailing (I bought it at $19.99 per person). I'm not totally sure it was worth it, but I needed internet to check back in on the tiny humans and the much better half and figured a fancy lunch on embarkation and a peaceful breakfast to close out my vacation on debarkation might be nice. I'm secretly hoping that Royal may add in an extra benefit or two as some of the features are not applicable on Brilliance but I still think I'll be happy with choice even if it stays as is.

I'm a regular spam checker and thought I was crazy when I booked my cruise and didn't receive an invoice for remaining charges. I received a confirmation email but it didn't state remaining amount due. As a new cruiser with no experience, I thought that I just had to log in and make payments (I didn't book through a travel agent, in the future I might consider using one). It wasn't until I started reading this blog that I realized I could call in and check price reductions...first time I called and they repriced my cruise, I get an email with a pdf and actually broke down all charges by passenger. I'm sure there is a reason Royal doesn't send the invoice (they probably want you to call so they can attempt to up-sell, common marketing technique "foot in the door") but I found it terribly inconvenient and it somewhat bothered me. It seems common courtesy to provide your customers with an invoice upon confirmation of booking. I also think it would be useful if they sent the cruise contract with the confirmation of booking rather than as final cruise documents. I looked back at my first confirmation email and it has my reservation number, the amount I paid for the deposit, and the amount of on board credit. Not that I think everyone would read the document, but it should would go a long way toward Royal having their legal rear ends covered. My first posting on this site was on a related thread.

@tiny260, no my initial was bid around black friday, it may have been the day that Royal announced the program Nov 28th. This was the actual email stating my bid was accepted. It followed with a receipt that my card had been charged and my cruise planner now shows my new cabin number. I've been checking daily and doing mock bookings just to see what might be remaining and gave up hope of the chance of an upgrade yesterday as all higher cabin types for which I bid showed as booked (I think Royal says unavailable?). Low and behold at 2pm today received the notice of upgrade. For anyone keeping an eye on their inbox, the acceptance email comes from [email protected] and you will get two additional emails from [email protected] with your reservation information included (3 total emails from royal).

I received my offer today for Brilliance of the Seas March 4 Western Caribbean. We went from an ocean view on deck three to a 1D balcony on deck 9 for 100 per person. I'm a first time cruiser and don't really plan on the ability to cruise often to build points so C&A status isn't something I'm chasing. For this trip I'm traveling with my best friend, I won't have better half and tiny humans in tow so many of the decisions I've made have been to purchase items at their lowest and make it as nice as a vacation as it can be within the budget I set forth because I'm paying for 1 (or 2 if I'm covering it as a gift) rather than 4. Even if I love this trip, as a family we wouldn't be able to justify cruising once a year much less multiple times a year so options like Royal Up and The Key allow me to have a wonderful vacation with my friend and enjoy amenities that would normally be out of my reach. I'm probably the target market Royal has chosen for these programs and I am very excited for my long overdue break!

I used to be the sort of person that traveled with 5 or 6 books and would probably finish at least 3 of them on vacation. E-readers have made a massive difference on not only how I pack, but how much I spend on books. I am more willing to try a new author as I tend to spend less on the book, and if I really like it I can buy it in a very nice hardback edition to keep with my collection (best of both worlds save money and still support the paper book industry). While I'm new to cruising, I'm not new to travel, even if you love the feel of turning the pages of a good book like me, you will appreciate the flexibility that having an electronic option can provide.

It is showing as a relaxation area again for me (March 2019) but getting selection not available for the couple and individual pass. Hoping they will still have passes when we board if it doesn't come up before then.

For me I think I might possibly end up breaking even at at $59 per day but I also drink mixed drinks, wine, coffee, soda, juice etc (my doctor loves reminding me that its all bad for me). My friend sailing with me sticks mostly to beer, no soda, no coffee and I think it would be very difficult for her to break even on bottled water and beer alone factoring in two port days. I feel strange asking my friend to pay for a refreshment package while I buy a deluxe knowing that it wouldn't be worth it for her. Also we would be breaking even on consumer prices, knowing that there is usually around a 40% markup (I'm not complaining about it, just acknowledging that it costs me a bit more for that drink than it takes royal to store it and make it, they have lights to keep on and employees to pay). While I appreciate everyone's suggestions to buy now in case it goes up and you can always repurchase later if the price goes down, it really isn't at a price that I'm comfortable with at the moment. If it gets to a place where I feel like I'm actually saving a bit AND allowing Royal to make a profit I'll happily purchase the deluxe, if not I'll just purchase drinks individually and be a little more conscious about the cost of the beverages I'm ordering and skip lattes and go with free coffee. I'm sure if Royal finds that they have over priced and not selling as many packages as they would like they will adjust pricing but I doubt that they will have a problem (I'm probably a little to frugal for my own good).

Also getting the "Something Went Wrong" page, but I am still able to log into cruise planner. No discount on VOOM though, showing as $15.99 per day for Brilliance March 2019. Currently I'm just hoping for Black Friday deals for deluxe beverage and VOOM.

Very interesting that we seem to all have different experiences. I do have an online account through royal, I set one up to do the booking, just not a crown and anchor number yet. Online on my account page there is just a blank space where my C&A number will be after my cruise. It looks like some did receive a break down when booking through Royal (and I did book through Royal directly) where as I did not. It does just seem like the trick is to call and request an invoice after each online payment. I'll still do the payment online rather than reading a CC number out loud over a call, now I know I need to add the step to call and request the receipt. Personally I'm not sure I find this to be a good business practice but I'll have to see if I enjoy the experience enough to continue business with/through Royal and/or hope that the functionality and transparency increases. I don't live anywhere near a cruise port so I'm not sure that I will have the ability to become a frequent cruiser until I retire (which is fairly far off for me) but for the time being I'm excited enough for this new experience that has been a dream of mine so I'm willing to put up with the inconvenience for the joy of the experience. I'm not sure I would feel that way if I had multiple cruises on going and had to call frequently.

I personally didn't have to sit on hold when I called maybe I've just been lucky and calling outside of peak times, but the facebook conversation information provided is misinformed. I made the deposit at booking and two payments afterward and only received a confirmation email after paying the deposit at booking. I was going on looking at the total and sending myself an email with my remaining total normally not receiving a confirmation after an online payment would make me nervous but the amount was going down by my payment amounts so I wasn't in full on worried mode. When I called to ask another question I sheepishly asked if there was anyway to breakdown the cost per cruiser and the representative sent it to my email (which they had on file and was correct). I also check my spam daily and I haven't had any emails from Royal in it. I think from now on each time I make a payment I will call and ask for them to email an updated invoice. I don't have an official crown and anchor number yet as this is my first cruise. I am curious as to whether or not others have been receiving invoices/receipts after online payments (or am I the only crazy who doesn't use a travel agent?).

As a new cruiser I found this very frustrating. I am cruising with a friend in March of 2019 for my first cruise and it has made it terribly inconvenient to break down costs. I thought it was odd when we booked our cruise in March and they sent a confirmation email with out any sort of invoice at all. It has also made it tricky to figure out if the price of our cabin has increased or decreased (which is probably a goal they have in hiding the invoice). I've considered switching our cruise to an agent so that they can deal with the hassle of checking for discounts, but my friend and I enjoy being able to make payments directly through Royal and seeing that we live almost 10 hours apart working through the website in theory should make planning our girls week easier, not more difficult. As an introverted adult computer science student who works in the public in a customer service related job, I really do try to avoid telephone calls when I'm not at work. On the positive side, I guess I should be happy that there is a company that encourages human interaction and provides jobs for the folks in the call center.