CruisingKitty

+1
Doing everything I can to keep my mouth shut...........

Me too!

While I guess it CAN be done, we have never asked for it to be done.  I am too picky about my stuff and I would not be comfortable with anyone else unpacking for me....that's just me.
If you are in a loft suite you need to make SURE that the Genie knows you want your bags taken upstairs.  If you don't say anything to them your bags will be left downstairs.  No bueno.

Anyone else read this, shake their head, and say "wow" out loud?

Got confirmation from Sunil (our royal genie in October 12 sailing) it can be arranged. We are going to have them unpack for us while we get massages! 

There is a level of cabin where people unpack for you??? I want to travel like the 1%.....

Good Afternoon RCB folks,
 
I am writing at Matt's request to let you know about how my wife and I are going on a free(yes, you read that correctly, free) cruise this March 25th out of Ft. Lauderdale on the Independence of the Seas. 
 
A little background here: I have been "playing" the MyVegas games on mobile and desktops for years. My wife and I usually use the rewards to add weekends to our annual trip to Las Vegas and a free weekend to Biloxi, MS yearly. But, last year RCCL became a sponsor and added discounts for cruises that were meh. This year they added free cabins on select sailings. My wife is a teacher so her vacation time is set in stone. Well as luck would have it, the stars aligned and we secured a reward for a free trip and $250 shipboard credit. The process as stated in the purchase seems straight forward, but, I will document the process for those that come after us.
 
Have a wonderful week
 
Russ Stringer
MAJ (Ret.), US Army

Here today. 2nd day they are open. It's amazing.
 
I'll post more pics here later.

Feel like 2020 sialings are automatically higher. Last year we got 46 on symphony, this year our sailing on harmony hasnt went below 61. 

There is just no way of telling when they are going to throw a new "sale" out there.  It seems as if Federal Holidays are a good excuse to do it...but nobody really knows.

The going price for every one of the cruises I currently have booked is $55 per person per day.  Last week most of them were $51.  So it sort of appears that the $55 is the normal price with $51 being the “sale” price.  I think the days of $4X.00 are gone.

Good point. I will just make it part of my workday to check. ?

This is helpful. Thanks. I am good with something in the 50s.  Do they have 'sales' around president's day? I will just check in daily. 

I guess we were very lucky, got the water park for our Feb Mariner cruise for $24.99 each over Black Friday.  

Yup, Royal Caribbean is definitely testing how far the price can go before people really stop booking it.

Anyone else find that pricing is just going up and up at CoCO Cay?  As an example, the waterpark tickets on Anthem is $150 CAD.  Seriously???  We probably hit a record (not one you want to get).  I guess my Harmony cruise is a deal at $131 CAD.
We're fortunate that we booked awhile ago for Anthem and Mariner, but we won't be getting the waterpark going forward (not yet booked on Harmony - we will enjoy the pool and beach that day).
And then, never mind about the cabanas at $2660 CAD for the floating one.

Exactly! I'm totally worried about our luggage being lost in transit on the flight since we're going from Los Angeles to Barcelona via a layover in Paris. Made sure there is plenty of time between flights but I'm seriously considering investing in luggage trackers. I've traveled internationally before but always with my parents who are very seasoned travelers. 
Thank you all for the feedback! I've gathered that rooms typically open around 1:00pm, do we know when I should typically expect luggage to arrive before I have a panic attack that something happened to it? I know it seems silly but I can think of nothing worse than a seven day cruise in a foreign country without a change of clothes 
Also purchased the recommended luggage tags from Amazon! 
 

Do be sure to tip the porters, though -- I've read tales of people who didn't tip their porter and discovered their luggage mysteriously vanished from the face of the earth! Not just missing from the ship; missing from the port when they returned!
Tips don't have to be massive, just a dollar or two per bag (adjusted for exchange rate to the Euro since you'll be in Spain).

Be more concerned about pick pocketing between your arrive point and the boat ?

Welcome to the message boards!
I sailed from Barcelona on Symphony (sister to Oasis) this past October.  I documented my arrival into the port and the cruise ship terminal in this blog post:
https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/9684-symphony-ots-live-transatlantic-oct-28-2018-coming-to-america/&do=findComment&comment=89238
In the 3rd picture you can see the luggage drop area which is the blue carts near the building in the distance.  With my Royal Caribbean luggage tags affixed to my bag I simply hand the luggage to a porter with a small tip and enter the building to go through security and check in.  Here is that picture:

With many cruises under my belt I've never had a problem with luggage.  
The large ships like Oasis span two terminals.  You can actually check in at either terminal.  
I use reusable luggage tag holders from Amazon.  In the rain like on this day, they keep everything dry and safe and great simplify attaching luggage tags to your luggage.  For $7 they are great:
https://www.amazon.com/Cruise-Luggage-Holder-Seal-Steel/dp/B01E4SQNLS/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1550101443&sr=8-2-spons&keywords=royal+luggage+tags&psc=1

Everyone needs to download the Royal Caribbean app to their smartphone.  Once you're on the ship they just connect to the ship's wifi and the chat will be available through the app.  It allows you to send messages to other passengers onboard the ship.  You have to know the passenger's legal first and last names to find them to add them to your list of chat users.
There's a pretty good explanation of how it works here:  https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2019/04/10/royal-caribbean-adds-group-chat-feature-app
Sometimes the app isn't great about letting you know there are waiting messages, so you'll have to open up the app and check it every once in a while.  But it's a good option on Harmony and Allure if you have people who aren't opting to purchase the VOOM online internet package.
 

Couple more pics

Most take cash only but there is a Royal shop there and by the water park that uses the sea pass card.

Yes. Beach Club entrance had a check point for the entire area, then the docks for the overwater cabanas had someone standing there all day. Multiple cabana k too, they all knew us after an hour or so.
 
Some of my guests didnt come until later in the day. I let the people at beach club entrance know they were going to be late. They walked them up when they arrived. 

Here are the menus