AshleyDillo

You just schedule and plan your meals and excursions as you want. If you decide you want to participate in what the group is doing then you can cancel something you already scheduled. Unless I really want to do something, I just wait until I see what the group excursions are going to be before I plan anything. I haven't actually participated in an official group excursion yet with a group cruise as both of the ones available were at ports where I had other things I really wanted to do. They did rent three beach bungalows at CocoCay for the first leg of the Mariner group cruise and it was fun to chill out there as people came and went. For onboard activities, they have to work with Royal to set up things on the ship, so they can't release all of the activities until everything is firmed up. If you don't pick MTD when you book then they tend to group all of the group cruisers together for dining in the MDR also..so you could end up sitting near and sharing tables with the group cruisers for dinners. Alaska is an AMAZING time..I'm actually going back June 5, 2020 out of Seattle on Ovation.

I would just tell the TA your intentions of getting the package and that you would prefer OBC. If they can't do that for some reason, then buy the package and have 4 specialty meals in total.

And it keeeeeeps on dropping, Billy! I feel like this is timing the stock market at this point ?

This site is sponsored by MEI Travel: https://mei-travel.com/ A lot of folks here have used them (myself included) and have had a great experience. They will handle dealing with the cruise line so you don't have to sit on the phone and they work with you to find what will work best. I hate getting on the phone and my MEI agent corresponds with me via email and text I feel like she never sleeps sometimes ? There's zero obligation in contacting several TAs to find one that will work best for YOU..feel free to shop around!

I would contact MEI and get set up with some pricing quotes for what you are interested in..create a rapport with an agent and make sure that it feels like a good fit. You're under no obligations to book anything. Then at least you have a frame of reference for what pricing is. Just remember that pricing constantly changes. If you see a good deal you may want to just book with MEI -- do it refundable if possible in case you end up changing your mind about cruising out of San Juan. You can always switch to non-refundable once you get back from your cruise if you do decide to go with it. If you don't book before you sail, check the pricing again right before you cruise so you know what you should be seeing for pricing. You also can price things out onboard using the ship's wifi. It allows you to connect to Royal's website even without an internet package. Then you can book onboard with NextCruise and have your MEI agent transfer the booking when you get home. Check http://www.royalonboardsales.com/ for the current NextCruise offers before you sail. Some of the biggest benefits of using NextCruise are limited to non-refundable bookings for certain sailings..but my experience has been even booking onboard for a refundable rate with no reduced deposit, a 7-day sailing netted $76 of OBC we wouldn't have gotten otherwise. I monitor pricing enough that I wouldn't sleep on a super good deal over waiting for my upcoming cruise to use NextCruise..I would definitely book refundable if I wasn't completely committed, knowing that I could double-book on my cruise at NextCruise and then cancel the original booking.

Where's @mpoole3 on this one??!?! SELL, SELL, SELL! ?

Group Cruises are great because you can enjoy your own cruise experience within your family and decide to participate or not with the schedule group activities. Typically they will have a meet up the night before the cruise in the debarkation city..and often locals will show up and hang out even if they aren't cruising. Sometimes are able to organize a group hotel available which makes it convenient and then there's a possibility of an organized shuttle to the port. Part of the perks of being with the group is that they will schedule things such as cocktail parties where we get to be "those people" and go past the sign that says RESERVED FOR PRIVATE EVENT. Usually there's a group excursion opportunity as well. On the Thanksgiving Symphony cruise last year we got to participate in the podcast recording down in the conference center. Roller skating sessions, ice skating sessions, bumper cars are all things I've seen. @Matt also tries to organize something exclusive for the Insiders (https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/support) to participate in. But I think the impromptu events tend to be just as much part of the fun. They set up a chat group so folks can connect with each other during the cruise. There was a fun bar crawl and a cabin crawl that was organized on the Symphony, impromptu laser tag session on Mariner. And I always knew I could turn up to the pub at night and run into someone from the group. I've found the group rates ended up being better since they got locked in so early and it's refundable til the 90-days out mark. Plus you get to meet @AnnetteJackson from MEI travel and she is a blast to hang out with!

If you do win, you can call Royal to get them to update your cruise documents so you can reprint the new SetSail passes and luggage tags. However if you win and don't have time to do that, all of that can be taken care of when you board. They can look you up by name and they will also write out luggage tags on the spot.

This site is sponsored by MEI Travel: https://mei-travel.com/ A lot of folks here have used them (myself included) and have had a great experience. They will handle dealing with the cruise line so you don't have to sit on the phone and they work with you to find what will work best. I hate getting on the phone and my MEI agent corresponds with me via email and text I feel like she never sleeps sometimes ? There's zero obligation in contacting several TAs to find one that will work best for YOU..feel free to shop around!

Pick from hundreds of no-fee ATMs!!! ?

I got mine for my NYE cruise sometime before 110 days out..that was when I first noticed it had been assigned.

Bar Harbor is a tender port that Anthem calls at. They contracted with a local operation that used boats that probably held a good 300 people or so. It seemed to go pretty smoothly from what I remember.

Thank you for the excellent view of what's on the "other side" of the Royal family!

No clue where I got that assumption from..sorry!

Echoing what @Fairlynew said..Pasanggrahan is located at the closest end of the beach to the port. So it's nearly the first one you would come to if you walked up that way. However this stretch of beach has tons of little resorts that will sell you chairs and umbrellas at a cheaper price that you can negotiate down. You can also opt to take the water taxi ($8per person I believe) which goes from the port to the center of this beach near the Hard Rock if you look at a map..then you can walk either left or right up the beach until you find where your family would like to roost for the day. You just have to decide if everything that comes with that $45/pp is worth it to you when you can have the same experience DIY a little bit further up. I've heard good things about Holland House and Lizzy's Beach Bar as places to hang on the beach for the day if you want other places to research. The one time I went and did the beach we just got off the water taxi and took a quick right and walked right down and into the water. Didn't rent a chair or umbrella..along the boardwalk there's places that sell drinks left and right.

They didn't bother to update that part of the deck plans. Are you as shocked and surprised as I am? I also think Leaf & Bean Pub is an interesting name for a bar ?

They aren't doing an indoor pool on Odyssey..so there is more open deck space. Not so much a "cold weather" ship compared to the other Q-class ships. It's almost like they intentionally designed her to move away from that cold-weather label.

Waterslides and Hooked or indoor skydiving and Bumper Cars? Odyssey and Symphony are almost more alike than different with this new iteration of Q-Ultra.

Royal is a mass market cruiseline. They're not really catering to the "finer" things. None of the major lines really are. For a luxury cruise experience you have to go with a luxury cruise line. Even if you stay in the upper level suites on a Royal ship, if you're expecting a lot of luxury you will be disappointed. If you price out a luxury line and cringe at the prices, you may want to give Royal's sister, Celebrity a try. They tend to come off as a little more upscale, but don't set your expectations too high. They're still a mass market cruiseline.

And this is why I will wait until last minute next year to book a Thanksgiving cruise..insane. I know there's probably no chance to luck into this for next year (especially considering this is a price for a SOLO) but still..might as well since I have the travel flexibility and can drive to the port. e!

Funny they still call it a holiday cruise then!

They will take a known food allergy very seriously but it is one of those things where you need to make sure that you ask. They do wonders at modifying dishes and menus to accompany all kinds of special dining needs.

Can Ephesus handle a big ship? Kinda like the thought of Odyssey going back to the general vicinity its namesake. Open pool deck, so doesn't have to be a cold weather ship this time around!

Typically more children. This will be a Thanksgiving cruise so they will have a turkey dinner entree option in the main dining room on Thursday. They might try to charge more for specialty restaurants on Thanksgiving also and sometimes they won't honor dining packages if they're doing a special meal in that specialty restaurant. Typically they will start setting up Christmas decorations after Thanksgiving. Other than that, it's cruising as usual! Air travel can be pretty busy and pricey during this time as well, so be prepared for sticker shock there if you haven't priced out Thanksgiving airfare recently.

Nope. Sometimes one person in a traveling party will get it while others don't. It really doesn't take much time to check in if you have to do it at the port. They just make sure everything is filled out and that your name matches your ID, and take a photo if they don't like the one already in the system and you are done.