AshleyDillo

You can get anything as long as it doesn't have alcohol with the Refreshment package. That means you can have all the fruity mixers you want. The only true limit is what the bar has on hand. A bonus with the refreshment package is that if the ship has a Vitality cafe, the fresh juices and smoothies are included. Also if there is a Bionic Bar, there are non-alcoholic drinks available so you can also participate with no charge in using it.

There are quite a number of people that book cruises that don't do ANY planning ahead of time. So the ship has a lot of reservation times available when you board. All of the dining packages require you to wait until you get on the ship to book your dining times as that is the trade-off for the lower price. As long as you are flexible and take care of the dining reservations immediately when you get on board you shouldn't have an issue getting into the dining. Go to either Giovannis or Chops in Central Park as soon as you get onboard Harmony and make your reservation for that evening. Even if you aren't going to eat at that particular restaurant they can make the reservation for you at any of the specialty restaurants. Usually they're a lot less busy than the reservations kiosk on the Promenade.

Actually it's an insurance company that underwrites the travel policy. Royal effectively acts as the agent and sells you the policy but it is underwritten by Arch Insurance Company.

They just upped the drink packages across the board, so the lower prices that folks have experienced in the past may not be obtainable. If you are comfortable paying the price that it is currently, just go ahead and book it to lock in the price. It's simply to cancel and repurchase if the price drops. I will say that my Allure sailing next weekend is at $55 right now. Before the overall price increases it hadn't been more than $52 a day and had gotten as low as $49.

You have to hit up the WJ first for the best photos before the food has been disturbed by the masses!

I'm thinking it's just Quantum's five-year drydock. It's not on the AMPed list: http://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Royal/RoyalAmplified/18061322_RoyalAmplified_Trade_Flyer.pdf

I just saw a cheat sheet from the current Mariner sailing where it was 30% for D+ and 40% for Pinnacle..those were the only discounts. Of course Royal mathed wrong and the numbers didn't actually make sense 😂 But the daily full price on this 4-day sailing was $82 plus 18%!

I have seen them on ships large and small. I've seen welcome and goodbye cakes (last evening of the cruise).

In Denali we did the Husky Homestead Tour and the Rafting Float. Talkeetna was the Jetboat Adventure (can't remember if we did the Devil's Canyon one or the shorter one) and my father did the Fixed Wing Flightseeing McKinley Flyer with Glacier Landing. I enjoyed all of the excursions that we did, although the rafting in Denali was very, very cold. My favorite was the Husky Homestead Tour (cuz puppies!) but I enjoyed the included Chena riverboat tour in Fairbanks a lot...and the Jetboat Adventure was a lot more fun than I had even expected. I know my dad loved the rafting trip and the flightseeing and walking on the glacier that he did..pretty good for 72 years old. Some little tidbits that are helpful to know ahead of time: In Fairbanks you will be staying at Sophie Station which has a kitchenette. It's right next to a Safeway (grocery store) and an easy walk to Fred Meyers (Walmart on steroids). They will have a shuttle from the hotel that takes you to the Fred Meyers and to downtown Fairbanks. The Denali hotel has a restaurant on site but they also have a shuttle to the strip with restaurants and the shops. The hotel is at the top of a windy road, so not the easiest thing to walk if you want to leave the hotel in your free time, so take advantage of the shuttle. The included Denali park tour is on a school style bus. It does include a box lunch but you may want to pick up additional snacks. The Talkeetna hotel has a shuttle into town. This was my favorite hotel on the land tour as it was like being in a beautiful lodge and there are huge picture windows that face McKinley. Even with taking the optional excursions you should have enough downtime to get into the towns and explore the local offerings. They have you put your luggage outside of your rooms in the morning and they take it to the bus. The bus stays with you for the entire trip -- your driver will move the bus to the next stop when you are on the train. The train car will have the seating upstairs with the dining car below. Not everyone can eat at once, so they will take parties down to eat in small batches. The food is a tad pricey but was really good for being on a train.. and they had reindeer sausage! They will also have a bartender in the upstairs seating area. The train did have outlets at all the seats for charging devices. Everything is paid using credit cards on the train. The Denali tour is really the only time that a meal (box lunch) is included for the entire landtour. This is where it differs greatly from the cruise portion. It's always my favorite trip to relive over and over again 🙂

If you have ANY questions, feel free to let me know. @CGTLH and I did the nearly exact opposite itinerary in 2014..same hotels, etc. so we can answer lots of little questions you might have. Not sure we have the excursion guide still..I know I don't..but he might have it somewhere.

You will get the excursions list/guide on the land portion of the cruise. They will have the list of what's available and descriptions and you sign up for them with your "specialist" who are basically your tour guide that does the land tour with you. All of the "optional" things mentioned in each daily description are considered excursions too. It's completely different from booking excursions on the cruise..you don't really get to book them in advance or really have enough time to research.

I am assuming you mean the Deluxe Beverage Package... and if so yes, you can but you need to call Royal to book it.

Cancel the RCL transfer and do it on your own as @Baked Alaska stated. This is what we did You will get into Seward much earlier than the chartered train.

I am on this sailing as well for the same solo supplement reason. I wouldn't expect that we will get our entertainment too far ahead of the sailing because they are likely starting fresh and have to build the entertainment schedule and activities from the ground-up rather than recycle old entertainment templates. The new BBQ place almost looks like it is going to have the same structure as Playmakers, so ala carte without needing reservations so it may never show up. I saw Sabor is gone as well but the guacamole making class still lives on.

True..the $35 is really for the ala carte places like Izumi and Playmakers, though. The rest of the specialty restaurants are cover charges and with the UDP you either need reservations or they have to have the seating available. Hibachi seating is so limited and they can't stagger the dining times as easily since they want to serve full tables at once and the tables hold 10-12 people (can't remember exactly).