AshleyDillo

Did you try pricing out with the casino what it would cost to just pay to directly upgrade your cabin? I believe @WAAAYTOOO does this all the time and gets into Star Class suites this way. I believe only being in a balcony room may limit what you can RoyalUp bid into. If you were to pay for an upgrade to a junior or grand suite, it may open up the bidding for the Star Class suites which would come with the drink/dining package that you want. You may just be better off paying out of pocket for both of these relative to the costs of upgrading when all things are considered. IMO depending on when you are trying to cruise, if you book when the itineraries first drop you may be able to snag a Star Class room close to this price range for 2 people easily.

The cruiseline will deny you boarding in this case and refund you, so insurance doesn't need to cover that part, though.

Looks like they took advantage during lunch once already. Maybe a dinner take as well?

For me the only emotion is trying to figure out when to buy-in on this dip ? The market has been at all-time highs for quite some time now!

I believe the travel notification that Royal has sent out states that if you are denied boarding you will get a refund. https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruise-ships/itinerary-updates

If Royal cancels your cruise, it doesn't matter the reason that they do so. That's considered a cancellation by a common carrier and insurance will cover it. They won't double indemnify you, meaning that if Royal gives you money back they won't pay out as well, but anything you booked that was non-refundable that you don't receive some compensation for should be covered per the terms of the insurance policy. Basically you can't decide to cancel the cruise because you're worried about a pandemic and expect the insurance to pay for the decision that you made if the policy excludes pandemics. @DDemuth has the right idea to stick it out and wait and see what decisions Royal makes. You just have to think through what a cancellation would mean for you as far as the other components of your trip (getting to/from the embarkation/debarkation ports, etc.) and have an idea or plans in place for an alternate vacation if the cruise gets scrapped last minute even. It's not ideal for anyone involved, even the cruiseline, but everyone has to make the best decisions they can for themselves and their families.

I'm not sure where you're getting the "a la carte" dishes idea from. Most of the specialty dining restaurants have a single cover charge that will cover you ordering one entree and then as many apps, sides, desserts as you want. You won't even see prices on the menu. Chops does have a seafood tower which is an extra charge that would not be covered. Izumi Hibachi charges an additional $10 if you want to use one of your dining credits to dine there. You can only get the hibachi meal when using the dining credit. If you order any of the extra items (sushi, apps) you will pay the menu charge price on top of that $10. Izumi sushi, should you decide to use your credit there, you can order up to $35 worth of menu priced food with your credit.

There's no Diamond discount for purchasing the drink package onboard. You are better off purchasing it in advance through the Cruise Planner if you truly want it or just paying per drink during the day and taking advantage of the Diamond Happy Hour and Diamond lounge drinks in the evening. You could also consider splitting the difference with the refreshment package which gives you everything but the alcohol and you can pay for a shot or two to add to your drinks during the day and then indulge during Happy Hour.

Not at the port, but the airport does have shuttles. I've personally used Alamo/Enterprise/National which has a combined shuttle bus from the port to the airport. You do have to have proof of a reservation to gain access to the shuttle from the port. However you can easily make rental reservations online through without any type of pre-payment or penalties for cancellation. It's about a 15 minute shuttle ride to the airport to pick up the vehicle.

They really aren't much like what you've experienced in NYC as far as clubs. You have to consider that the range of ages on a cruise, so you'll be sharing the dance floor with 18 year olds up through 80 year olds. It can be hopping at times but at other times it's rather subdued. Make sure to catch the Silent Disco when it's offered because that's a fun experience to walk into. You don't hear any music whatsoever but folks are singing along and dancing and wearing headphones. The clubs will stay open until 1:30ish or so. You need to pay attention because they do have the club nights at different venues. Sometimes it will be held in Studio B (ice skating rink) and other times it will be in Blaze (comedy club). One shot per SeaPass card per order. No time limit required between orders but you can't order with an unfinished drink in your hand. You can totally order the shot and then give up your card again to order another round when they deliver the first one if you take the shot right away. Really depends on how busy the bar is. This goes for all venues where you can order drinks, not just the clubs. The majority of the drinks are covered under the drink package, and I know for sure the ones you named will be. They put the popular drinks right at about the $12 or $13 price point. You can even call a better brand of rum or tequila for your drink and it will be covered. I suggest asking for a Kraken Colada! It's really when you venture into ordering wine where you'll find it to be priced outside of the package limits. If you didn't pay for gratuities in advance it will be charged daily to your onboard account. If you want to use the tip envelopes to tip beyond the $14.50 per day service charge you are more than welcome to. You should be able to go into your cruise planner now and make some reservations. Otherwise download the app and once you connect to the ship's wifi on boarding day you can use the app to make reservations. The BBQ is pretty good for being cruise ship BBQ. The portion sizes are HUGE and you get a lot of food for the price. It's $7.99 for lunch and around $13.99/$14.99 for dinner which includes sides and dessert. A single meal can easily feed 2 people there. Playmakers is good bar food and it comes out hot and fresh. It's very reasonably priced as a standalone eatery. In particular I enjoyed the wings (they are lightly breaded), the buffalo crunch roll (think buffalo chicken in an egg roll), and the poke nachos (ahi tuna on wonton chips). Just relax and enjoy your trip. There's absolutely no wrong way to cruise! Everyone has a different experience and gets different things. You've picked a great ship to start with as there's so much to do and experience on Oasis!

I have found on the Oasis class ships that the 5pm hour and 9pm hour dining times were always easy to get. If you have any wait to board and are sitting in the terminal you can even see if you can pick up the ship's wifi. You could use the app if you are on the ship's wifi an make your reservations right there as you wait to board even! If you show up right as the aquatheater show begins and don't mind standing you can typically snag a vantage point in the back. The very top of the aquatheater is a counter height row with chairs along it and you can stand behind that row of seating and catch the show. You can also try the sides of deck 6 or jump up the stairs to deck 7 and catch it from that perspective as well. Gives you a different point of view to catch the show. My last Oasis sailing I walked up during the show and caught bits of it on various nights during the sailing this way.

Mine's just a hybrid of my first name and armadillo. I don't even remember how the armadillo became my "animal" but I just say it's because it has a hard outershell and a furry belly and go with it. ?

Not a problem on Anthem. They have the host stand outside of the door in Coastal Kitchen.

Awesome! I got excited for a sec there but then I realized this was one of our glitch DX sailings! ?

I did Star Class for my first Oasis-class ship experience. Consider me ruined forever on that class ?

You should be able to get milk any time of day. They should have it readily available in the main dining room, Windjammer, Park Cafe, and Cafe Promenade. If you don't see it, ask and they can get some for you, both chocolate and regular milk. Juices are typically only available at breakfast but they have flavored waters and iced tea available at other times. The CocaCola Freestyle machines will only work with the souvenir cup that comes with any of the drink packages. When not using the drink machines you can order soda at any drink/eating venue and pay with your SeaPass card. There isn't any way to have access to the Freestyle machines without a souvenir cup and you can only get a cup by purchasing a package. After the 18% gratuity you are looking to pay nearly $4 for a soda, $5.50 for a milkshake, $6 for a smoothie. If you can catch a good price on the refreshment package that might be a nice treat for your teenager as he will have access to all the non-alcoholic drinks onboard including the frozen drinks, smoothies, and milkshakes. Plus he will get the souvenir cup for the Freestyle machine. The coffee card is sharable. It will allow you to get specialty coffee at Cafe Promenade and Park Cafe but it can't be used at the Starbucks kiosk. You can bring Starbucks gift cards to use at the kiosk, though!

Not sure about the coffee machine in JS on Vision, but they do NOT have a Coastal Kitchen. Coastal Kitchen is only on Quantum and Oasis class ships.

They're a little tougher than port employees for sure!

I just bought a Samsomsite set and it broke the first use. Found out that the warranty requires you to either take it to a Samsonite dealer/shop which there isn't one closer than a 4 hour drive for me. Or I have to ship it to them on my own dime to determine if it's a warranty fix. Fortunately I purchased from Costco which has an excellent return policy. Just be aware of what it actually takes to take advantage of a warranty repair if you aren't located in a major metro area!

This is the way that you would do it. You may also consider purchasing ahead of time through https://www.royalcaribbean.com/royalgifts/wine-liquor and you may be able to have a bottle delivered to your stateroom. Make sure you read the sizes of the bottles closely as they are very small and pricey.

I recall seeing pretzel twisted breads in Windjammer for lunch on the Oasis..so there may be hope. Not sure where else they have soft pretzels on the ship!

This this this. They don't make the actual plan documents available prior to purchasing the travel insurance. However you typically have a "look" period once you've paid for the policy where you can actually review the entire trip insurance contract and see if it fits your needs. Basically once you get those docs walk through a mock claim scenario where you would imagine insurance would kick in. Try to find which type of a claim you have and what the claim trigger is and see if that's covered. Most people truly don't understand how travel insurance works. Even CFAR isn't a catch all..typically it isn't even a full reimbursement of any expenses that you lose out on; it may only be 50% to 75%. These riders tend to be pricey, so it may not be worth it when you consider you are out the cost of the insurance if you cancel as well. I travel enough that I took out a yearly policy with Allianz that cost less than $500 a year for just me. Looking over what are covered reasons for cancelling a trip within the policy I don't feel the need to purchase per trip additional insurance. The couple hundred I would pay for CFAR for a trip relative to the costs of most of my trips doesn't make it worthwhile for me. If I was making trips in the $10K+ price range it may be a different story.

Here are links to the Facebook groups for the next 2 official RCLBlog group cruises: Brillance of the Seas - October 11-18, 2020 Anthem of the Seas - July 16-24, 2021 Not the official group FB, but some of us are in this one: Harmony of the Seas - November 21-28, 2021

The a/c can be set to super chilly. But there's no moving air and some folks need that to sleep comfortably which is why a fan helps.

I believe the Pinnacles board via the Suite Lounge, so they wouldn't be called for general boarding. Usually they will have a make-up show and move all the reservations to that show automatically. Now it may conflict with other things that you have planned, but most of the time they try to make an extra show happen.