ultimate_ed

The testing requirement will end effective September 19.  I can practically GUARANTEE it!
 
P.S. I board Harmony of the Seas Sept. 18. 🙄

Royal's preferred berths are at Crown Bay.  There are two there. 
If those are both occupied then Royal can overflow to Havensight if there is space.

Royal will use Crown Bay in St. Thomas. 

I will let you know 2 weeks from today. I will be going inside the new terminal. Wife has a hook up. 🤠👍

There are no longer time slots or reservations for Adventure Ocean. Things are back to normal in AO without any of the things posted in this thread 7 months ago

November or December
https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2021/12/01/royal-caribbean-releases-new-2023-alaska-cruises-book
https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2020/11/10/royal-caribbean-releases-new-alaska-2022-cruises-book
https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2019/11/06/royal-caribbean-releases-2021-alaska-hawaii-transpacific-sailings

I track the price of selected cruises on a spreadsheet. Sometimes the price is indeed lower, by a small amount, but not 30%, more like 10% max. 
Cruise prices are probably more dependent on the amount of bookings made, the spot price of fuel, the number of COVID cases, the time of year, the amount of time before sailing, and more factors than an actual sale price. Supply and demand and all that.

The best sale finding strategy is to have a shopaholic like my wife.  She spends about the first hour or two of every day going through Royal's site, Amazon, Best Buy, JCP, et al.  I don't think we ever paid the original booking price for a cruise yet, because of her.  So, I don't mind making my mind up, spontaneously, and purchasing a cruise, sale or not (it's really just the deposit anyway).  I know she will eventually find at least one lower price for that cruise, usually several times.  Both my daughters and their husbands work hard and don't really have time for that kind of shopping so my wife does it for them.  

Fully agree on this.  Royal has been famous (for years) for creative ways to spin the sales, create excitement, and end up with around the same deal.  It is amazing how they can increase a base fare and then increase the discount to end up the same.  They also lower the base fare and decrease the discounts.  They will reduce discounts and offer OBC.  In the end all of these things equal about the same.  When it first started I was so surprised they could actually get away with the old increase price and discount with heavy marketing on "Sale".      Always worth checking though 🙂
 
Still love cruising and especially cruising Royal!

This just in from CNBC. FCC approves SpaceX Starlink service to vehicles, boats, planes (cnbc.com)

Yes, it's a real casino that has a lot of money that is no longer mine!

When you made the purchase in the cruise planner you prepaid your gratuities for the drink package.  When you get a drink they may hand you a receipt and you can choose to add an additional tip, but you are not obligated to do so.  While we get the refreshment package, we do not tip on each drink, but since we tend to frequent the same locations you get to know the bartenders and at the end of the trip we may tip extra for great service.  For me, it’s mostly the cafe promenade since I drink far too much coffee.
 
also, note that gratuities for the cruise (~$14 a day per person?) are different than the tips on the drink package.

I too lost OBC when repricing once and had used it to buy CP items.
I received an email telling me I owed money on the items in question and that I had X number of days (can't remember how many as it was a while ago) to pay the balance if I wanted to keep the items and that if I didn't pay by then they would be cancelled.

I lost my $50 OBC when mine was repriced yesterday. I already had used it but RC pulled it from the OBC I had gotten from my FCC's. I can't answer the rest of your specific questions but I 'm sure someone else will 🙂
 

1) Nothing happens to those purchases
 
2) It all depends on the source of the OBC. NextCruise OBC typically sticks. But other promotional OBC could be lost. So always factor that into the new price.

That's the key - it's hard to drink only beer or hard liquor drinks every day to make it "pay off".  Taking advantage of the other benefits (I enjoyed the fresh squeezed orange juice with breakfast) it the way to go....and I'm pretty sure Matt mentions that in one or all of those videos.
The other advantage (for me anyway) with the drink package is that it encourages me to try new drinks.  If I get something and don't like it, I don't have to feel obligated to finish it because I laid out cash in a bar.  It's a good opportunity to explore.

Gosh, I've never even seen Cats but now it's my least favorite!

It's not a fraud, or a scam. You received what you bought for a price you agreed to. Be mad at yourself if you want, its not like a quick Google search would have given you pricing online. Not mention that the information was available in this very thread.
I don't think Royal is exactly secretive about trying to make additional revenue.
I can get a bottle of Heineken for $4 at plenty of bars near.my house, and a whole case for $27.99 at Costco. It's $8 on the ship. I still buy it and I'm not being ripped off because they tell me that before I order.

Invicta is the scam, cheap Chinese watches they put a huge MSRP on but are on sale 100% of the time, in other words no one pays MSRP for their garbage. Same with MVTM, they don't have sales but its just cheap 15 dollar Chinese watches they sell for 150+. 

My December sailing is about $1000 more then when I booked it three weeks ago, so there's that.

My December sailing is about $1000 more then when I booked it three weeks ago, so there's that.

Just be aware that the chat isn't included in VOOM, so if you're expecting to use it to communicate with your daughter, then at least you or your wife also need to purchase the chat.

Been on board this week. Heard there was around 5400 on board. Absolutely no complaints for this cruise. The crew have been fantastic and all meals in main dining and and one night in Hooked were great. 
Shows were Hiro,Flight,1977,Randy Cabral and two comedians. 
With that said this ship is back!

You can upload pictures. My mom texted me a picture of hers, and I was able to save it to my photos and add it to the app.

Yes you do!  Make sure you bring your card and Covid test…Keep them handy cause you have to show everybody and their brother before you get on the ship