nate91

Okay, I feel less crazy now. It's very frustrating to see the low prices and not being able to book them, and essentially being told I'm crazy by RC, who obviously did not have the lower prices on their end. The cruises that have these lower prices change, and sometime all of them revert to the higher prices, so I'm all kinds of confused haha!

It comes and goes throughout the day. As of this moment, I am back to normal prices. But this has been happening since Friday and I'm not sure why.

Saw a thread with a similar title, but it was talking about something different.

I have been tracking prices for Icon and Star on the RC website, since I would love to go on a cruise on one of them, but they are significantly out of my price range. Well, I found some great rates for them on the RC website, from in the $900s per person, to $1200s per person for a balcony cabin. However, when I actually click to book, the prices jump back up to around $2000/person, eg the normal price. I called RC about this, and they claimed not to be able to see the prices I am seeing, but I am seeing them. I have tested this on five different computers, in different windows and browsers, etc. The prices will come and go, but they are there, and the one consistent thing is that as soon as I get to the "You're feeling adventurous!" page, the price jumps back up. I have attached screenshots of one example. Am I crazy? Can anyone else see these lower rates? And more importantly, is there any way to book these lower rates?

I just started researching this. Also cruising Royal Caribbean, but in December. There is an adults only shore excusion called La Casa en La Playa, which is the exact translation of the house on the beach. However, according to everything I can find on the internet (see this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBZh8HCx-O0&t=44s), this excursion is exclusive only to Carnival Cruise lines. So we are trying to figure out if it is the same place as in the video and if it is worth it.

They just raised them last fall. Feels excessive.

Just saw the Beautiful Dream on Ovation of the Seas. After reading this thread, it sounds like the show is identical to The Gift. Anyone know why this is?

Thank you for all the great feedback everyone! I think I will book future cruises through MEI!

Hi,

I have been booking cruises through Costco for a while. While I love the Costco Cash Card I get, I hate having to wait on hold anytime I call Costco, and then waiting for them to wait on hold for RC before I can get an answer. I also hate being unable to use RoyalUp. I recently booked a cruise directly through RCI, and I loved just being able to call someone and have them adjust a price in less than ten minutes! My question is with MEI, which I know a lot of people around here use, is there any sort of perk/kickback similar to the Costco Cash card (though obviously not Costco related)? Also, can I use RoyalUp if booked through MEI? Any other differences between MEI and Costco, such as how long are the hold times usually? Thanks!

So back to the topic at hand, I received the on board credit, (after a strange error where I lost my pricing and all onboard credit for my cruise, price went up by over $1000 after final payment and told me to make ANOTHER final payment, but that's another story and is all cleared up now after a few calls). After receiving the onboard credit, I cancelled the Premier Pass (which I purchased with onboard credit), after seeing someone else got an immediate onboard credit refund. Got a confirmation email of cancellation which said I originally paid $88.99 and would receive a refund of $0.00. Not encouraging. Waited a day. OBC had not increased. Called travel agent (Costco). They got in touch with Royal and said it would be fixed and updated within 24 hours. It has been over four days and no fix yet. I have made four calls to RC in the last week on this cruise and am pretty frustrated at this point.

So that's my story! Anyone else have better luck?

So I already got the $50 onboard credit, so seeing that others had cancelled their package, I cancelled mine...and the $88 in onboard credit has not returned. Bleh! What a mess!

What a classy way to handle this! Great job, RCI!

6 hours ago, MaryCS62 said:

@nate91- sorry, for some reason quoting your post isn't working for me, so I hope you see this.  When you mention your wife's restrictions, how exactly did they handle them? There are no longer gluten free options specifically listed, so did they just address them on the fly, or did she have to do the "choose the night before" to see what they could do? Traveling w/ DD in August, and gluten free is a must - dairy free is nice, but can be handled with lactaid tablets for the most part.  

No worries! Royal has always been excellent at this. For the MDR, they would allow her to order the night before, and they will make her a modified version of ANYTHING on the menu, modified to meet her specific allergies. We get to know the head waiter as he comes out during our meal each night and brings the next night's menu for her to peruse, she gets a sneak peak which she loves. They also would bring out gluten free bread with balsamic and olive oil each night for her. If we have specialty dining booked, we will typically visit the restaurant the day before to let them know about the allergies and usually they will handle on the fly. Buffet is pretty simple as most things are obviously safe and unsafe, we eat pretty clean at the buffet but you can always ask the staff about allergens. 

I had the new menus on Symphony this past week. I think they're actually a big improvement. Overall, there is a lot more selection on each menu that is not the classics, and it seems that each former classic appears at least three-four times per week on the new menus. Lot of new dishes and new selections, and they handle food allergies just as well as before (my wife is gluten free, dairy free, and soy free). Time to complete dinner was around 90 minutes or so each night, sometimes 75, sometimes 105. Felt reasonable always. We were at a two-top so service for four or six may take longer, but our wait staff was also serving two tables of six and they seemed to mirror our course timings throughout the week. 

Overall I love having more options! I always had more choices than I could order that sounded good each night, and even the classics that I love (escargot) I was still able to have them as many times as I would have them with the old menus. Definitely a welcome change. Also food quality was great!

Yep, no access for me either. I can access the watchlist by URL, but can't add any cruises to it. Great feature, if it ends up working!

It was supposed to. I was on one of the last pre-pandemic sailings on Explorer, she was supposed to get AMPd AND have the maintenance done right after my Feb cruise. I suppose both those things were cancelled?

I remember that during the pandemic Royal allowed certain cruise lines to use the technology, including NCL and some others. Disney wasn't one of them, so maybe that would have something to do with it.

Honestly, I'm totally cool with it, was just curious. Just booked a Boardwalk View balcony toward the back of Allure for next summer and was excited for the view of no slides. Also I LOVE Sabor and the Avocado Margarita, so I'm perfectly happy to have an unredone ship. That article just made me wonder!

Looking for updates on this. I found an article from a not-so-great source (https://highseascruising.com/royal-caribbeans-royal-amplified/#Allure_of_the_Seas) stating that Allure should be Amped first half of 2023. But she has cruises scheduled for the entire of 2023 from Galveston, seems silly to sail her to Europe (assuming that's where it would take place) and back cancelling all those cruises. Anyone have any updates?

Haha just took a test yesterday for our 10/31 cruise! First COVID test ever! Excited to finally be back to cruising, I had hoped Royal would drop the testing like everyone else by now...but I'm going to laugh when that happens on Halloween!  Just very psyched to return to the sea!

Royal is the last major cruise line to require anyone to test (aside from long cruises or destination based requirements). Hoping they follow suit soon!

Word of Advice, if you are planning on taking an Uber or Lyft, stay in Houston, not in Galveston. I stayed in Galveston the night before a cruise in 2019, LOVED my stay there, had a great time, but when the morning came, NO Ubers or Lyfts would come for me. Every time they would cancel; I had at least 10-12 cancelled rides that morning. Ended up having to walk the 2 miles to the port with all luggage. Turns out that all the drivers know that most people getting off the ship are going to Houston, drivers would rather take the long 30+ minute trip from port to Houston than a short 5-10 minute trip from Galveston Airbnb/hotel to cruise port. If you do stay in Galveston, stay walking distance from port.

Hello,

Trying to use RoyalUp for our 10/31 Navigator cruise, and I keep getting the error message "Please ensure your sailing is within the next 30 days
Please ensure there are no errors in the information you entered"

I know for a fact all the information is right, and October 31st is 26 days away. Anyone know what to do? If it changes anything, I booked through Costco Travel.

One of the water features is a large waterfall, I know that.

I have the same, I click the 'Show Setsail pass' button and nothing happens. I called RC and they said it should correct 30 days before cruise and if it does not then to call them back, but they seemed unsure.

Good info! I had no idea that the stateroom attendants would move your stuff, I thought I would have to pack everything up and move cabins myself.