karl_nj

D, D+ and Pinnacle on Royal will all match to Elite on Celebrity (which roughly equivalent to Diamond on Royal, but with different benefits) Also, Elite, Elite Plus, and Zenith on Celebrity all match to Diamond on Royal.

On Celebrity Edge, the answer is no. I would assume the same for Icon of the Seas.

All excellent points, I've also had trouble making "deluxe bev package math" work. We like to have wine with dinner, and I've found that I enjoy some of the cheaper bottles they have onboard. A bottle of their Chilean Sauvignon Blanc is $37. There are 5 glasses of wine in a bottle, so that comes to $7.40 a glass. Using $14/drink as a baseline doesn't really work there. Even if you go a bit more expensive, maybe to the Robert Mondavi Merlot, where they charge $12/glass. That is only $45/bottle, which is $9 a glass when you buy "in bulk"

Oh, nice. Having the MDR open for lunch on embarkation day was always one of my favorite parts about sailing on NCL.

Perhaps in the future, instead of scrapping Vision class ships, maybe they can just repurpose them as a tender for Icon class ships...

Well, not Tampa.

Still, you need to be careful, as there are times of the year when school is out and you may not expect it. There are different school schedules in different states, regions and types of schools. It doesn't come down to just not sailing in July. Spring break schedules take up a lot of weeks March/April, summer break starts and ends at various times from May to September, some schools are year round and have longer breaks throughout the year, there are random weeks that some schools are off ("jersey week", "yeshiva week", all of presidents day week off, etc.)

My in-laws used to love NCL. That is until they changed to 'freestyle dining', among other changes they weren't that happy about. Now they sail other lines.

Icon has 9% more guests then Wonder at max capacity, but is also 6% larger then Wonder. So I wouldn't expect the ship to be much more crowded than Oasis class ships. But yes if you can't deal with Oasis class crowds, Icon probably isn't your ship.

All good points. In addition, some ships have a deck 13, and others don't. And the height of a 'deck' isn't necessary the same when you compare different ships. The high of each deck can be different even on the same ship (e.g. passenger cabin only decks often have lower ceiling heights. same thing for the deck holding the kids club on Disney Dream/Fantasy.) The distance between decks can also differ. It's the same reason "number of floors" in a building on land isn't really a good way to compare buildings. Distance between floors on a residential high rise building is going to be less than an office building, especially once you factor in raised floors and/or dropped ceilings. Different numbers of mechanical floors are going to pop up in between occupied floors at different rates between buildings, etc.

I'm not even sure they need to be 'linked' per se. I've had times where I have two cabins, a double (priced as "group space" that the travel agency has) and a triple (priced at the prevailing RCL rate.) Apparently, you can't "link" group and non-group space, but i've been able to 'add' the reservation to my online account and do check in/cruise planner/etc.

You have to know their booking numbers and a passenger DOB and last name. Then you can add in the booking and you should be able to do check-in and cruise planner, etc.

That agency probably doesn't want to deal with the additional steps involved. If you want to use the Amex Plat Cruise Privileges program, you need to find a new travel agent that is willing to do the extra steps. Untrue. I have used my non-amex travel agent to book cruises and get the Amex Plat benefits. That is the key. It seems like many of the Royal Carribean promos don't combine with the Amex program, so it never seems to work out for me. I've had better luck using it (with the same travel agent) for my cruises on Cunard.

Yes, but not every drink costs $14, so one may calculate the "break even" based on a $14 drink, that might not be reality if someone is paying a la carte. Have beer prices also gone up $1? What is the price for a more "boring"/"off menu" drink, like a G&T now? Has that also gone up? If not, it makes the "math" even more murky.

I don't think CBP in the US after the cruise is going to be the issue, they know the requirements—it's basically the main part of their job. If there is going to be an issue, it will be the contract job port worker who is handling check in at the port. One of their many jobs is to make sure that nobody gets on that ship that is going to have any issues with immigration at any of the ports the ship is visiting, or any issues with getting back into the country. If there are issues, these countries are likely going to make Royal Carribean pay large fines, or even say that the ship is not permitted to dock. If this happens, that person who let them on the ship is going to get into trouble. So yes, I'd bring some printouts and such with me, just in case. Based on Murphy's law, if you have it, you won't need it. I guess if you want to be super safe, double check with St Maarten that the less then 6-month passport validity will be OK. It is possible that it would *not* be OK if she needed a visa, but she doesn't need a visa because she has the US one. I doubt they will care anyway, since she is traveling via cruise ship. The 6-month validity is more of an insurance policy for the country you are visiting, to make sure that you will be able to get *back* to where you came from in case something happens, and you aren't able to leave when you are supposed to. The ship is going to leave that afternoon.

According to Wikipedia, the US visa should cover St Maarten: Visa requirements for Indian citizens - Wikipedia Sint Maarten Visa required[331] Visa not required if holding a valid multiple-entry visa issued by Canada or US. Visa not required if holding a multiple-entry short-stay Schengen visa, an authorization for temporary stay for a Schengen country, or a residence permit for a Schengen country. So... I'm thinking she will probably be OK with less than 6 month passport validity? But I do agree that this has the potential to cause some confusion at the port.

I'm assuming she will be OK to get back into the US, since CBP let her come in the first place. This is because India is on the list of countries that the US doesn't require 6-month passport validity: Six-Month Passport Validity Update (cbp.gov). St. Thomas is part of the US, so that should be fine. I think the issue might be St Maarten—does she need a visa for St Maarten if she arrives by cruise ship, or only if she flies there? If she needs a visa, I guess it will depend on what St Maarten requires—6-month extra validity, or not.

I guess they need to figure out how to make the drink package look worthwhile, since that has gone up too.

I really only had one major issue; we boarded early, so we were able to book all of our shows "in person" on the promenade once we got onboard. Everything before Barcelona went into the system immediately (I assume they held back some slots for those of us boarding in Rome). The only "post Barcelona" show we asked for was in the comedy club. Since they couldn't book us yet, they wrote down our request on a piece of paper and they said they would book us once it opened. Not sure what happened, but we mentioned it offhand to the Diamond Lounge concierge and he told us to come back and check with him to make sure it was handled correctly. Turns out he was right, we were not booked for it yet, and he quickly got us added. I'm really happy I checked, as otherwise we would have showed up that day and been turned away!

Luckily, I had no issues with photos on our cruise; was able to find all of them both pre and post Barcelona. Also had no issues with dining. We had traditional dining; seemed like our entire section were people that embarked in Rome. We didn't try doing any specialty dining on this cruise (other than some onion rings at Playmakers). My teenage daughter was also bummed about new friends leaving halfway thought the cruise.

We took the port shuttle bus that dropped us off at the cruise terminal that is closest to the Columbus monument, and then just walked around. The Virgin Voyages ship was docked there that day.

Yeah, you just get the 'extended' in-person version of the 'new' muster drill. I assume it's similar to what happens if you don't do it on the app. It didn't take that much longer. We were directed to a nearby lounge one we boarded, and they went over the usual things, and then we were handed over to another crew member who took us to our 'real' muster station and let us go. After that we went back to the royal promenade and found someone to help us book our shows.

Yeah, I totally agree that royal *should* classify them as obstructed, but they don't. I think the takeaway here is avoid much of Deck 7, as you will likely pay exactly the same as you would for a higher deck, but have more of an obstruction. At least on Anthem.

I don't disagree that there are obstructed balconies on Deck 7. I disagree that "the vast majority of deck 6 & 7 balcony cabins are obstructed." There are eleven Category "E" balconies on deck 7. Eleven is not the "vast majority" Most balconies are Deck 7 are classified as unobstructed. The "vast majority" of balconies on deck 7 are classified as unobstructed. The "vast majority" of balconies on Deck 6 are indeed classified as obstructed, however.

I'm not sure I entirely agree. Most of Deck 7 on Anthem is "officially" listed as unobstructed (4D/3D/2D/1D), there are only a few listed as obstructed (2E/1E) (I count 11): https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruise-ships/anthem-of-the-seas/deck-plans/2142/07 Most of Deck 7 balconies are in the same price category as Deck 8/9/10/11/12 (4D/3D/2D/1D)