AlohaLivin

I would be too. Every cruise we’ve been on it’s always been 11 to 11 for the basics, mixed drinks in the evening.

With my mother now gone for 2 years, the holidays feel quite different. We actually were in this suite on Adventure two weeks after we lost her (for Thanksgiving) and it was a not a great deal of fun for me needless to say. I think this time is going to be FAR better and with friends onboard it will be even nicer. Some of our favorite people, old and new, will be on board. I don’t want wish time away, but I’m really looking forward to these two cruises!

Looks like we will be taking over the front of the ship! Should we call and warn them???

Yep, def refundable. To semi quote @twangster, it will be refundable until RCCL realizes it’s a full suite And you are correct on the price difference being about 400pp which on a holiday sailing with the added benefits is pretty good (even if not oasis class) and with that view it is surely worth it (we used the bunk bed area for suitcase and the occasional extra bed for DH when there’s a snoring situation ). The closets and vanity storage areas are the same size as an OH and that view is gorgeous! And we will be neighbors! Tracy and David will be around the corner (they are very nice, laid back). It will be such a good time with new and old cruising friends (especially nice since we have lost all our mutual sailings these last years).

That is what our TA said too, he’s been onboard Symphony these last two sailings. It’s a very long play anyway, and there’s so much more to do on the ship. But it is unfortunate that people who cruise very little to miss out. We will be there in a month, so we shall see where it stands then. I know they need to get their money’s worth all these things, but I’m ready for some new shows

YAY!!!! ! I agree, this is so far into the figure that we have to assume there will be very different circumstances. You could always get the panoramic suite next to ours, it is 1900 vs 1500+ (I know it was available on 12/30). Eric likes it, it has the spaceship bathroom but it is near to so much and that view is fabulous (And we usually sail with some huge decks, but we’re hardly putting a foot on them). Refundable is always good when possible (on the panoramic suite it’s actually refundable, even though it’s now a full suite, I don’t know if that fell through the cracks or what). Fingers crossed, all of them

I guess I am a blend. Thankfully we are all different or only 10% of necessary tasks in the world would get done!

We almost didn’t, we have rescue kitties and it is a long time to be gone (mention the cost of the pet sitting per day at 2 visits each day). But it reduces days off from work since 1/3 or more we would already have been off and we don’t do it often - that is the excuse I’m telling myself. But sometimes reality HAS to factor in - like work. I totally get it, but the Christmas one is 8 days, so you will be on the longest leg!

Oh please do!!!! That would be great to finally meet you. There will be so many nice folks onboard (and I will be there too ). You can help me figure out how I’m going to decorate the panoramic suite for Christmas!

Welcome! The rates were good over all, although the fabulous rates were on Balconies (We usually sails in a suite because I haven’t figured out how to pack in a way that will fit in the balcony closets, my bad ). We had seen this one the night before we booked it as a “maybe.” Then a cruise friend of ours actually messaged us about it and said that some mutual cruise friends had messaged her from onboard about the balcony prices and all of them would be onboard. We didn’t need more convincing! We will be on for Christmas and the 6 day b2b days for the New Year. I think it will be super interesting to see the ship decorated. We did sail on thanksgiving once, but there was really no decor at that point.

We just added this as a B2B with Voyager’s Christmas cruise. We are lucky to have several cruise friends that will be on us with these sailings, but new friends will make it even more enjoyable! It is more than 1.5 years from now, but nothing wrong with having half a dozen cruises booked, right? “Lynn” and Eric

Hiya! Fancy meeting you here @jabbeewk We have cruised a lot, but never as Christmas. I think this will be a great cruise

The wording regarding redemptions for obc is so obtuse God himself may not be sure of the criteria. From what I read, you have to claim it pretty quickly after booking a cruise and then on top of that the cruise has to be within a specific period of time (often closer in than when I book cruises - I booked 2 in the last few days for Dec 2023, to understanding none of the onboard credits would even apply that far out). If someone has a version that makes sense, versus the “stoned lawyer” version online, please post it!

I kind of liked the @Flowriderversion; “trampoline ball thing with the 3D goggles” should be the new name

Never made sense to me either - we use Chase Sapphire for travel points and travel insurance and the Delta Amex Gold for some travel perks (like a free first bag). Nothing much beats the Chase travel cards IMHO

I did have them check my email just to get sure. Apparently she sent it if Half to be invested by somebody who may or may not care. Keep hope alive!!!

It’s almost like when they made it a full suite they neglected to throw it into the nonrefundable, which is fine with me since all other full suites are not. We were in it for my husband’s 60th BD the Nov before the shutdown and decided to get it for Christmas 2023. The only real downside is the small bathroom with the bullet shower, tall people don’t do well in those things Otherwise we quite enjoyed the view!

I can totally understand that. What is the saying… that RCCl is predictably unpredictable?

I did contact them, they are looking into it. But as a scientist by training, I look for patterns and had wondered if having outstanding FCC was the variable that was at play. Made sense to just ask (small n, even so) We shall see!

I will definitely call and ask. But I didn’t get offers so much as my status was higher than Choice - so I would not have certificates. I will call and hopefully can figure this out.

I booked a Dec 2023 cruise through an RCCL rep last night and he assured me that our full suite deposit is fully refundable until the date of final payment (I normally don’t care so much but this one was more than a year and a half from now so I wanted to be sure). It is confusing that he would tell us that if suites never have a refundable deposit At least a FCC is an option Addendum - we have a Panoramic Family Suite (VP) for Dec 2023 and luckily the deposit is refundable although it was changed to a full suite 2.5 or so years back. Whew!

Thanks! I have considered that the FCC that we have left is some part of the reason that we suddenly have no offers. Not much else makes any sense.

@Traveler @loki007 @WAYNO if you could please let me know whether or not you had FCC left at those points, I am trying to determine if that is effecting the offers. And maybe what level of play yoy have been doing since the restart. Thanks

Hello fellow RCCL cruisers The year before the shutdown we received at least 2 emails offering us free cruises via the casino based on moderate, but consistent, use of the casino (mostly video poker). At the time, I was surprised to get those offers since my use was not what I would have considered high. I would assume I am at a Choice level in Club Royale. But since the restart, we have received no offers at all (even since our S2S cruises in November where I spent more in the casino per cruise than I had during past cruises). At first I assumed that with so much FCC out there, the offers stopped because of a supply and demand issue. However, others have been receiving these offers recently and so that cannot be the problem. My new working hypothesis is that Royal is not sending them to us because we have FCC remaining. Has anyone received an offer (not directly a result of status, such a free cruise directly earned) since the restart that *does* have FCC remaining? We didn’t get to use the free offers prior to the shutdown as we already had paid cruises left to take and not enough free time available, I was hoping that we could in 2022. Thanks for sharing your experience!

Hi Barbara and Joe, hope that you are both doing well No idea when they might be doing that, but I thought it was strange that it was pretty much completely emptied out on the Symphony and Allure in November.