JasonL

6 hours ago, Matt said:

Ovation to Alaska 2020 booked!

Didn't think you'd be back so soon, right on!

40 minutes ago, JasonL said:

Bookings for Alaska are open, I already have a call into my TA to book the only 3 night available near me on Ovation out of Vancouver. Hope to look into the Hawaiian trips soon.

This from my TA:

Hey Jason!

Royal Caribbean said that this itinerary will be open tomorrow for Crown & Anchor members and to the rest of the world on 11-7.  It is not available to book yet, but I’ll check back tomorrow.  ☹

Bookings for Alaska are open, I already have a call into my TA to book the only 3 night available near me on Ovation out of Vancouver. Hope to look into the Hawaiian trips soon.

Although I've been cruising for 15 years, this is the first time I've been in a position to book multiple cruises a year. It's all I think about lately, and am excited for the roll out of the new schedule. Anyone else on the edge of their seat waiting for the bookings to be available? Hoping to find a few weekend sailings in 2020 out of seattle area. There aren't many short cruises up here, but I need some to help me make it through until my 7 night sailings in the much more weather desirable Caribbean! 

On 10/27/2018 at 2:50 PM, Susie said:

You cannot price match like getting a refund back after final payment date but you can get an upgrade if it is available. The upgrade is not guaranteed either. So just pay when it close to the final payment date. 

I think you can get OBC if there is a price drop, just not money back

On 8/11/2017 at 5:05 PM, hallyluhopper said:

Haha, so true. I have over 460 days until I board

A fellow Seattle cruiser, sweet. So I just had this same thought. I have 469 days until my next cruise(way too far away), but I also plan on booking a summer 2020 cruise. I wanted to pay off this one so I could then better budget for the next one as well as the airfare. I'm also way up here in Seattle area, so as you know the flight can cost as much as the cruise! The only reason not to is if you are worried about getting OBC instead of cash if there is a price drop or you change your cruise to a cheaper one. For my situation this is very unlikely to be more than a few bucks which I will easily use on board. Or do like Matt suggested and leave a few hundred bucks unpaid. 

And maybe... just maybe... having my future cruises paid in advance will make free me up to budge a last minute cruise if the right situation comes up(yes I know the math is the same, but the state of mind changes)

Just tried to do some mock bookings to compare pricing on my reserved cruises. It appears they no longer allow you to pick refundable deposits on their website. I find this very lame, but maybe I'm missing an option to change booking type? It seems like they are trying to force people to do NFDB, I don't like where this is going.

Went on a 3 night sailing on Explorer OTS this summer, all nights were listed as casual. It didn't matter though, everyone just knew to dress up on night 2. The MDR was loaded with ties and dinner dresses. 

Hey yall, I booked a family cruise on the Liberty OTS 2-9-20 and was hoping for some insight about the restrictions for height and weight requirements. More specifically the Tidal wave restrictions. Thank you so very much @Matt for your blog about this topic already, it was that posting that brought up this question. 

The Tidal wave requirements are 52" and 100 lbs. My daughters might be 18 years old before they hit 100 pounds. How strict is this rule? Can a shorter or lighter child go if accompanied by an adult? Does anyone have experience with this? My girls (13 and 9 at time of cruise) are so excited to do their 2nd cruise, especially one with water slides. 

On 9/4/2018 at 5:38 PM, Beezercatz said:

Doing the PNW out of Seattle on Explorer. Do we have to make reservations for the shows before the cruise? I don't see a place to be able to do that on my RCCL page.....

Just excited to see any post about my hometown, the PNW  We are doing the Explorer weekend shot on sept 14th, you must be doing the sept 28th pacific coast? My cruise parents are going on that one. Have fun

I know holiday sailings are expensive, but I don't get paid vacation so I factor in the cost of missing less days since i have them off anyways. It makes the math pan out better, unless you then look at the airfare . I live way up in the opposite corner of the country (WA) so my flight usually ends up being half the cost of the cruise and the math all goes out the window( or balcony door ).

My amazing wife and I sure do love cruising though, and we are happy to have found this community. When work gets stressful I just binge listen to Matt's podcasts and scavenge RCL for any changes to potential vacations.

I have no advice on this, but it makes me want to book one. I'm fairly new to this site, so forgive me if it's been done but.... Holiday cruising sounds like a great topic for a podcast episode

I am going on a weekend cruise in sept and I've been hoping to find something like that for mine. So yeah! YOLO book it

Explorer Sept 14th for a little weekend getaway to hold me over