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karl_nj

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Everything posted by karl_nj

  1. I guess one way to compare if the kids sail free is "working" is to put the ages of the kids as 13. You should then get the "full price", as kids sail free is only for 12 and under.
  2. The per-person cost for a room for 2 people is usually lower than the per-person cost for a room for 3/4 people. So you can't really compare the per-person price for a double with the price for a triple/quad. I usually book one double and one triple, so I run into this all the time.
  3. The app does not recognize that you are on the ship. Right now, whever you are, you can fire up the app and pick any ship in the fleet and see the daily schedule, the menus, etc. You will be able to do that. But you can't book anything, or see your account balance, or anything like that. Basically, the app doesn't think you are on the ship. so it's very limited.
  4. Your other option would be to keep the bottom bed split and go with something like:
  5. I don't think so. However, once my wife and I had one drink left, so I swung by the trellis bar and asked for two unopened beers. Put them in the cooler in our room and we drank them on the balcony a few days later.
  6. I kinda enjoyed the wine tasting more than I expected. Especially since I already had the premium drink package. I didn't know about the 20% off a bottle of wine, that would be pretty useful if I ever book the non-AI rate.
  7. Yeah, you'll be fine. You don't need to book "The Key" or go crazy with specialty dining. Some things have changed, but you are here and you'll get a few new tips and tricks (like making sure you install the app and book the shows once you get onboard), and things will be great. I do miss Portofinos on Explorer though. And the drink prices are kinda crazy now, just prepare yourself.
  8. The FAQ is likely from before you could buy them dining packages. If you are paying for your child at time of dining, i think it is going to be a YMWV situation. On Oasis last year my wife and I had a 3 night dining package. We did not buy a package for our 12 year old, because she was only interested in Chops. She ordered off the adult menu, and was charged the adult price. Same thing at the steakhouse on Celebrity Edge, except none of us had a package nor did we book ahead of time.
  9. I tend to get stressed out about this kinda of thing too, but I think your best bet is to just book the dining package as a child for your daughter and not worry about it. They will likely just give her the adult menu anyway. If not, have her order from the adult menu. Basically, just play dumb. In the unlikely event that they push her towards the children's menu, just mention that has been no issue with your daughter ordering from the adult menu in the main dining room, so you don't understand why this is a problem now. To be honest, I don't think the wait staff is going to care. They just want you to be happy and for you to give them a "10" on the survey. Making your daughter sad isn't going to keep you happy and certainly won't make you want to rate them a "10". If you feel a little guilty about it, do what an American would do—add a little extra tip at the end to partly make up for the "deal" you just got. If I'm totally wrong and you do need to talk to the customer service folks onboard to "upgrade", I think you have a very good argument to just pay the difference between the price you paid for your daughter, and the price you paid. Bring a copy of the email receipt. But I doubt things will get that far.
  10. Great comparison, thanks for sharing. I wonder if Carnival feels they don't need a great buffet option, since they have Guy's Burger, Pig & Anchor, and Blue Iguana. Price wise, where both sailings fairly equivalent?
  11. I liked the infinite veranda on Edge, but I also really like an obscure cabin category that the newer DCL ships have (Dream/Fantasy and now Wish): The pink colored ones don't have a balcony, just a giant picture window, whereas the ones above and below have balconies. Some of them have an extra murphy bed so allow 5 to sleep in the cabin, but I just like the extra space. You get a nice comfortable chair, and you can sit and gaze at the ocean while still being well air conditioned. Very nice in August. But with the infinite veranda, you can still open the window when you want, to check the air temp, listen to the ocean, etc.
  12. It's an oceanview cabin with a floor to ceiling window. There is a button the wall, and if you hold it you can slowly lower the top half of the window.
  13. yeah that is interesting... i read mixed reviews on them on the celebrity boards on cruise critic. some people really hate them. I liked it when i sailed on Edge, but it is certainly different then a "real" balcony.
  14. I think the ceiling of $12/$13 has been around for a while, but more of the drinks are hitting that price point. Many of the drinks advertised in the front of the menu were $13, but in the "fine print" there were slightly cheaper drinks. A painkiller used to be $9.50, and was just listed in a boring area near the bottom of the Boleros menu. Now it's at $13 with the rest of the drinks. They are using pussers rum now, not sure if they did a few years ago.
  15. I don't think anyone actually pays the list price for the drink package on NCL though. A lesser one is usually "included", but you have to pay the 20% gratuity as an extra fee. I assume you can also pay the difference in order to upgrade to a better package, like on Celebrity. So the "real" cost of the base drink package on NCL is probably more like 20% of $99 (e.g. $20/day), and I guess you can upgrade for an extra $39+20%/day.
  16. I figure you are half joking, but Princess has never really been big on sailing out of the east coast during the summer. It's one of the reasons I haven't sailed on that line yet, still being stuck to sailing on the school break calendar. In past years, I don't think Celebrity has sailed out of Florida in the summer either, but with some COVID related redeployments I know they have been recently. That is one of the reasons I went on Edge summer of 2021; figured it was too good of an opportunity to pass up!
  17. Well, in an 'emergency' it's possible to fly within the United States without any ID at all, real or otherwise. It just takes much longer, as TSA has to "manually" verify your identity. I think I'm just annoyed/bitter because in NJ it's pretty much impossible to get a Real ID. They kept on postponing when they would start issuing them, so there is a huge backlog and it's pretty much impossible to get an appointment. I'm not sure what is going on with the DMV over here, but it's ridiculous. Last year my license was up for renewal, but there were 0 appointments available to get a Real ID, so I had to just get a "regular" one. Perhaps I'll be able to get one in 4 years, or whenever my license is up for renewal again. I'll just have to remember to use my passport, passport card, or global entry card for flights until then.
  18. Everything I've heard/read has said you actually have to sail to get the points. Just like for hotel and airline programs. If this wasn't the case, people would search for last minute cruise bargains and book them with no intention of sailing, if they needed a few points to move up a level or something.
  19. My best example, unfortunately, is on Celebrity (not Royal Caribbean) and it was a while ago. My daughter was 4 years old and only wanted pasta with red sauce on that trip. At the time, pasta wasn't on the kids menu. There was a rotating pasta on the adult menu, but the sauce varied. But our wait staff said this was no problem, they were always able to find her some red sauce for her pasta, no matter what was on the menu. The odd thing was, on the "off menu" nights, the pasta would come with the rest of our dinner, and then the red sauce would come a minute or two later. Eventually towards the end of the cruise, the wait staff confessed. On days where my daughters preferred pasta sauce was not available in the MDR, the assistant waiter would drop everything and run up to the buffet restaurant and grab some red sauce from the pasta station up at the oceanview cafe!
  20. Yeah... I was thinking the same thing. I get it that would make things more complicated, but I can certainly think of ways to get around some of the issues that might come up. I also don't understand why royal hasn't gone back to allowing you to pre-book shows online before the cruise, now that covid is less of a thing. Is it never going to come back?
  21. My understanding is that Concierge Lounges are slowly going away as the ships are updated, and being replaced with Suite Lounges, and this due to the fact that Diamond+ C&A members are/were permitted into the Concierge Lounge. So it's a way to basically remove the perk w/o actually taking the perk away.
  22. On Wonder the DL has the 'virtual balcony' type TV's to show you what is going on outside
  23. Yes, it's true that Royal almost always sells things in the cruise planner at a discount. Generally, the sales are not as 'time limited' as they make it seem. There is always another sale around the corner. As mentioned by others, if there is something you know you are going to buy, you should by it. Then you should check from time to time to see if the price went down, and you can cancel and buy again. Royal does the same thing when selling cruises... the sales get 'extended', and then they come out with a slightly different sale. Sometimes these differences can have an impact for 'corner cases' (solo passengers or putting a 3rd/4th passenger in a room, or sailing with a child age 12 or younger) but generally they all even out and there isn't that much change from day to day.
  24. The offer applies to bookings made September 1, 2022 – September 6, 2022 and applies to select sailings departing September 7, 2022 – July 31, 2023. It's just too early for any sales to go into effect for you. Hopefully there will be some good sales available for your sailing in November.
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