FionaMG

NJ will probably be included in the Short Caribbean, Los Angeles and North East release, which is not due to go on sale until week beginning February 12th. https://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Royal/Deployment/2025_2026/2025-2026_Deployment_Opening_Schedule.pdf

I'm glad it's all worked out for all of you. That was a marathon of worry and frustration!

Yes, you are correct, it would be 3 devices for you and 3 devices for your husband. You may want to check the price for 3 devices for one of you plus 2 devices for the other, in case 3+2 works out cheaper than 3+3. Also try 4+1. Whichever works out the cheapest is the way to go. Just be sure your boys understand that since they will be sharing log-in details they can each only have a single device connected at any time. With the multiple device package, if someone tries to connect one device too many one of the other devices will be kicked off.

@Xaa, check out this thread. I think that's the one you mean.

If you think you could use a bit more water and it doesn't have to be branded (or coke or beer), take a look at the cooler bags in the gifts and gear section of the cruise planner. The bags are great and the drinks in them come out pretty cheap.

This is a really good point that applies to other classes as well. I remember being on Serenade close to Christmas and they insisted on having carol singing in the Schooner Bar. Not only was it not big enough but it was also a bit of a mess because there were people there who weren't interested in the carols and just wanted to enjoy their drinks and chat, so it made participating in the carol singing very difficult. Meanwhile, there was a lovely big lounge at the front of the ship that would have been perfect but was massively underused - I think I only ever saw karaoke and ballroom dancing to recorded music listed on the Compass for that particular venue.

While I realise that this is a cause for concern in North America, it depends on the market. Here in Europe (or at least in the UK and Portugal, which are the two I have personal experience of) the system is different. The customer pays the travel agent, not the cruise line (unless they booked direct). The travel agent is billed by the cruise line for all of the relevant payments in the payment period in question (often monthly but different agencies can have different agreements). Consequently, the credit card charge is shown as being to the TA and not the cruise line. There's nothing shady about it on this side of the pond, just a different way of working.

I got a $200 discount voucher for Effy jewellery for winning the flag trivia... BUT it came with a condition... I had to spend a minimum of $600 to get the discount. Um, thanks but no thanks.

Charging for bags, whether plastic or paper, has been standard practice here in Portugal for quite some time now, so I wouldn't have batted an eyelid if this happened to me in the store on board. I always carry a reusable bag with me in my handbag wherever I go just in case I make an unexpected purchase. It's all about reducing waste and being friendly to the environment. Of course, it comes as a shock the first time you encounter it but it doesn't take long to get used to it.

You could always book it now to lock in the sale price and then think about it over the coming months. If you ultimately decide not to do it you can simply cancel for a refund.

Not all ships offer it but I was pretty pleased to get hibachi lunch on my upcoming Symphony cruise for $31.99. With Jamie's on embarkation day and hibachi on the last day, which is a sea day, I feel I've nicely dodged the two worst lunch days in the WJ.

It definitely depends on where it was booked. I know you can't reprice in the UK and you can't where I live (Portugal) either.

Agree. I could have saved a dollar on boarding day lunch but didn't think it was worth the hassle. I'll just make sure to eat an extra dollar's worth of food on the day.

Embarkation day lunch is definitely worth it. It's so much nicer than battling the crowds in the WJ.

Us too, although I have to admit DH only really gets to use it when I'm in the gym.

It's been $131.99 on my upcoming cruise forever, hasn't budged a cent. However, the UDP, which has been oscillating between two different prices also forever, dropped considerably.

So did we (note past tense). Our strategy was always "cheapest with a window". That would sometimes be an OV and sometimes a promenade view, on the ships that have them. Then two things happened... one, we hit D, which meant a decent discount on balcony cabins and, two, covid brought prices tumbling down. On the four cruises we have done since the restart, the cheapest with a window has always been a balcony cabin. Now, when I booked our upcoming cruise, that no longer held true, but when I said to DH I was reverting to booking a window cabin instead of a balcony he said no way, he wanted a window that he could open for fresh air, which obviously implies a balcony, so our past strategy has gone straight out of said open window! And in a weird twist of fate, if I were to book today instead of when I did, the cheapest with a window would indeed be a balcony cabin (except at twice the price in comparison to when we booked!)

Somebody over on CC reported getting it for $12 so, like everything else, it's ship/sailing dependent. I see it at $31 for both of my sailings.

Yes! Us too! We'll hit D+ on day 2 of our next one.

Yes, that's true but it's only DH and me. We usually just share one between us. Oh well.

Yup, called it. The price of internet on these sailings has gone back down to exactly what it was before they put it up pre-sale. I'm not surprised but it's kind of disappointing. Even just a single dollar lower would have been nice. Once again, it feels like they take us for fools. I do need to have it so I did go ahead and buy it, but not best impressed.

I was hoping for that too but it hasn't budged and tbh I can't remember it ever going down in any sales across any of the cruises I've done.

Did auto correct get you on that last word...?

Same on my upcoming Symphony and Anthem cruises. It's just so they can generously offer a bigger discount during the BF sale. I'm still holding out in the probably vain hope of it dropping below $19.99.

I got it for 11.99 but that was very early on in the sale just before the whole system crashed. When they finally got it up and running again, it had gone up to 13.99. I have not seen it anywhere near that price since. Keeping my fingers crossed for the upcoming BF sale. However, I noticed they have increased the price of internet on my next couple of sailings, I imagine in order to offer a "sale" price that will be the same as they've been selling it at for months.