AlohaLivin

It truly is amazing how much these prices having been jumping around recently. Sale, no sale, or during the same sale 🫤 We have a Casino comp 5 day in a balcony cabin that we added on to our existing 9 day in a suite during December recently and so I have been checking the key prices for the shorter add on. The price  has jumped around from 29.00 to 26.99 to 2299 and back in 2 weeks time. I have also noticed random jumping around on a lot of the excursion prices for the second leg (more so than normal). If you’re like me and like to hang on to your money, it definitely pays to check pricing on excursions and the extras pretty often ✌

44 minutes ago, Vacation Crazy said:

We just booked this cruise as a casino comp.  This will be our first time to New Orleans.  My husband and I are looking forward to it!

Glad you will be joining in  

It seems to me that comments about people being somehow uneducated or undereducated because they are not familiar with two dollar bills are overly critical. Their lack of knowledge regarding these bills has nothing to do with education and everything to do with whether they’ve come across something that is extremely rare.  The bottom line is that a $2 bill is rare and thus a lot of people are not familiar with them… therefore a lot of people are not going to want them… thus it’s more of a hindrance to the people receiving one and probably should be avoided. 

3 hours ago, Jailman said:

On my last sailing on Odyssey while I was sitting around the pool I ordered a drink and when the server brought it, I gave him a $2 bill as a tip.  He looked at it and told me it was "funny money" and gave it back to me.  I tried to tell him it was real but he insisted it was not.  Anyway, it was no tip for him.  Has anyone else ran into this problem?

I have read many cruise board threads on this issue over the years. There are apparently some  cruisers who love the $2 bills for easier tipping, but in my reading the vast majority of crewmembers do not like them as they have a difficult time converting those bills. I’m sure there are a number of reasons for this, not the least of which is that many individuals have never heard of them. I  am a 60 yo US citizen and I may have seen two of these $2 bills ever; those outside the US likely would not consider these bills legitimate money as they are rarely used. IMHO there is no sense in creating bigger problems for the crew with the $2 bills if one’s’ purpose is to show appreciation by tip when giving them two $1 bills is really just as easy. Definitely not worth whatever ego boost people may get by “standing out” as @FSUFAN indicated some travelers do.

Like @Neesawe usually get our door magnets from various Etsy vendors. We have a few different ones at this point.  We have both of the ones below (one is ready for our Holiday 2023 B2B already). These are photos of the shop’s samples as I didn’t have photos of ours. Be creative, have fun!
 

The short story is that all of these ships are fine, I can’t imagine being disappointed in any of them. Choose the date and the itinerary that you prefer and go with that.

It is better for us since vouchers are available for D, D*, and Pins as it is not as crowded as it once was. For us it’s a quiet place to take a break, especially when it is close to venues like the casino, or a comfy place to grab a quick coffee/latte. Location does matter. It is also a great place to meet other cruise addicts! 

17 hours ago, LocoWaldo said:

My wife and I will be there.  It's our first cruise and our 20th wedding anniversary.  We are so excited to finally get our first big trip away in almost 2 decades.   

Wow, that is quite a lag time! I hope this will be a memorable anniversary for you! My mother always said to me “don’t wait, do it now” so hopefully this will be the first of many “big trips”!

FYI they usually already put extra cushioning on the beds in suites on all the ships, it isn’t necessary to request it (at least for the 8 years or so we have sailed with RCCL).

They do make it unnecessarily restrictive in my opinion - never made sense to me how they developed these ridiculous  criteria unless the point was few people are able to actually use the rewards.

4 hours ago, RichCruise7 said:

Anyone??

@Brandisresponded also

10 hours ago, Morganno said:

at what level do you get them? 

Platinum and up 

12 hours ago, barjpoe said:

Does anyone know if Royal has started the M&M back up. OR  maybe never?

Hi you two, hope you are doing well! . I hope they bring them back, but the ones they did have for various cruising groups (I only have attended ones set up for CC roll calls in the past and have no idea if there were other such meet ups for other large cruise groups). Those meet and mingles have not come back on any ship since the restart (although RCCL does have various meet ups for limited groups such as vets, solo, lgbtq+, and others, those differ from the meet and mingles). I thought they were really good, and I hope they’ll bring them back, but for now the various roll calls on multiple sites (FB, CC, RCB) just try to set up their own meet and mingles to at least compensate to some degree (when there are enough participants in the roll calls to warrant one).

The best excursion that we ever had was one through https://www.thenativechoice.com in Costa Maya. At the time it was billed as a cultural experience (dinner with a Mayan family) plus the Chacchoben ruins, but that exact one no longer exists. A lot of their staff are current and former educators. It was just wonderful and I would highly recommend any tour that they offer. There is currently one called “Mayan Family + Seven Color Lagoon Tour” and also “Chacchoben Ruins Tour.”

We also love Jaime’s Blue Reef in Costa Maya since we have now done a lot of the tours because we’ve been to Costa Maya so much. It is in a more rural part of Mexico, but not very far from the port. It is a small, all-inclusive with super friendly staff (shout out to Digby). But, you do need a reservation. http://www.jaimesbluereef.com  (Royal Caribbean blog also recently posted its own review of Jaime’s).

In Cozumel, we have done Mr. Sanchos many times and can *no longer* recommend it. The food and drinks are now more like fast food, it is too crowded, and the service is fair to poor. Nachi Cocom is highly rated and what we have reserved for an upcoming West Carib cruise. 
 

We prefer Mexico to many of the Caribbean islands, I think you’ll enjoy it!

11 hours ago, Psycho and Barb said:

I’m sorry, but if we ever earn Pinnacle…I’m wearing that dang tag!  Think about what it takes to earn that honor…We would wear it with pride.   Just bring honest 

One can only hope that by the time any of us get there those name tags have evolved beyond the “hotel check-in staff” styling!

On 9/29/2022 at 9:09 AM, steverk said:

I've spent my kids inheritance and a bunch of time on a cruise ship!"

 They earned it, they should definitely spend it.  Their kids may well be making far more money than they ever did (unless they are in the top .00000001% of course). We love our kids and there will be plenty for them no doubt, but there is no goal for that other than to have comfortable and happy twilight years that we worked hard for over 50 years to have  

7 hours ago, mac66 said:

So is it more snooty to wear them, or to look down on somebody who does? 

 

It seems like there are very few people who look down on people who do, at least in this forum based on the responses.

15 minutes ago, roiemike said:

On a recent cruise we witnessed a couple who were pinnacle wearing their pins, they made comments about how other cruisers did not know what they were doing and the whole week we saw them with their pins on everywhere they went.  I think sometimes if you have to wear a pin for importance you have lost the reason to cruise.  Being Diamond almost diamond plus does not make me better than a first time cruiser it just makes me better acclimated to the ship so I can move around easier.  I believe pins and other awards are for those who feel the need to show off.  When I cruise I just want to relax.  I will never forget that couple as when we left the ship they were on our shuttle bus to the Park n Go and were still making comments about how new cruisers just did not know what they were doing.  Bad Look for them but it takes all kinds in this world.  

They are definitely some people like that. The first cruise that we ever took on Royal after we had been cruising Norwegian we met a couple in the coastal kitchen day 1 of the cruise. We saw them a number of times after that and over that week the wife must have said “Diamond Plus” 10 million times (and we definitely knew every possible benefit that came with being a diamond plus before the week was done because she mentioned them all a few times).

Next tier for us would be pinnacle - hubby says he would never wear the pin, but then that is maybe 5 years off so all is hypothetical. There should be something creative to do with these though. Hubby just sticks his on the strap of his lariat (although it really is not noticeable). Anyone have any ideas?

18 hours ago, sleepy425 said:

Anyone else's app have this listed as a 5 day out of Texas?  Online says the right thing, but my husband got very confused when he logged in and saw a 5 night cruise out of Texas - poor guy assumed I booked another random cruise

I just checked again to be sure, but our app shows it correctly as being now Adventure out of Port Canaveral. With other app issues, people often find it useful to delete the Royal app and reinstall it. Hopefully that will fix the problem!

1 hour ago, smokeybandit said:

I don't believe it costs any money to get the enhanced license.

I would think you are correct for all or most states. It did not cost us anything extra, it was part of the license when we last renewed in GA.

1 hour ago, markinct said:

PanPacific in Vancouver

We have stayed there before our Alaska cruise in 2018, a splurge indeed. But we also stayed in a 2 BR suite at the Landis afterwards for a week and it was amazing (and ideally located for that very walkable city!)

We most  often stay at the Hilton Hampton Inn at Blue Lagoon since they are so friendly and there is a free airport shuttle (plus it is only 10pp for the shuttle to the port). Their Brickell property is also very nice (although pricier and further from the port). But for our post Thanksgiving B2B this year we have lost our minds and have booked an oceanview room at the InterContinental Miami (since we will fly in this time 2 days prior and wanted something a bit nicer for the longer stay). 

5 hours ago, Nona said:

Are coupons needed for the suite lounge? Can suite guests eat breakfast  in one of the specialty restaurants.  We will be on the radiance of the seas.

The suites lounge on radiance doesn’t have a separate bar (as do the ships with a coastal kitchen). They usually have a small temp bar set up for happy hour beginning at 4:30 or 5 pm (but for a much briefer time you find on the larger ships where you can get a Coke, wine, or beer most all day). Often the suites guests have  breakfast in Chops, but I have heard that some ships use the Italian restaurant instead. We like the MDR, but honestly it is nice having a smaller, quieter venue like Chops for a breakfast hide away

2 hours ago, 14Terry said:

We received them on our recent cruise on the Explorer. 

Also, regarding Diamond Plus members having access to the Concierge Lounge, please see the  update (dated 3/4/22) on the RC website. As of 3/15/22 Diamond Plus members do have access to the Concierge Lounge. Some ships have Suite Lounges and currently Diamond Plus members don't have access to those (unless they're in a suite).

On the RC homepage click on the 3 bars on the top left of the page (to the left of the RC LOGO), then click "Crown & Anchor Society", then click "View Member Benefits updates", then scroll down to "Suite & Concierge Lounges". I hope this helps.

On our recent Explorer cruises in May, we were in the Concierge Lounge prior to dinner, every evening. Happy cruising everyone!

True - at least until it goes into the upcoming dry dock. The concierge in August stated that the concierge lounge (now basically a claustrophobic interior closet) would be moved to the same upper deck where the Diamond lounge and Dizzy’s are now located in the spot where Izumi is currently. It seems that all the concierge lounges will eventually be replaced by suite lounges (which is okay since the Diamond lounges usually are very similar in offerings at least for the basics).

10 hours ago, Blur said:

I don't think OP understood the robes are not free to keep.  They will definitely charge you if you try to take those home.  Same like the pool towels.

Well yes of course they would, I think they are around $80 each. As would be the case with a cruise ship or hotel of any kind. But honestly I assumed that I was misunderstanding what the OP was sad about because I could not really imagine someone thinking they were free. Thus I asked for some clarification.