FionaMG

Fingers are on fire today.

Glad to have helped. I did actually read a report from someone who experienced precisely this scenario. In the end they kicked up such a stink that they managed to get the cost of their bid refunded but the nice room that they'd got from their GTY booking was gone because the system had immediately reallocated it to someone else.

People do get the chance to participate even with GTY bookings but it's better not to bid until you have your room assignment because potentially your room assignment could be better than the room you bid on and then if you win your bid you'll be downgraded and get to pay for the privilege. Just to exemplify: say you have an inside GTY and you bid on an OV. In the meantime you get assigned a balcony cabin but forget or don't have time to cancel your RU bid, which you win, and suddenly you've paid extra for an OV cabin when you had a balcony at no extra cost.

The ultra spacious ocean view with large balcony is category 1A. If I am not mistaken, there are only 8 of them in total, 6 up on deck 11, port side, forward; and two down on deck seven, one on either side, right next to the rock walls. Take a look and see if you like those locations. If you do, I would absolutely put in a bid for that category. The chances of actually winning one are slim to none but it's far less of a shot in the dark than most other Royal Up opportunities precisely because there are so few of these cabins. I would not bid on a JS if you're happy with your current cabin. It's far more pot luck and, in my opinion, not worth the additional cost for a bit of extra real estate and a chance at CK.

@JasonOasis Celebrity are also leaving a ship in Europe this winter. You might want to take a look. They are doing the Canaries and Morocco in the early part of the season and then heading to Egypt. It's hard to imagine Royal not jumping on the bandwagon given that Anthem is way better suited to this type of itinerary than the ships Celebrity and NCL are using.

There's rumour (and tentative hopefulness on this side of the pond) that's she's going to be spending the winter season in Europe.

The Odyssey cruise out of NJ was part of the test load ahead of next week's release, so it'll have been taken back down now, which is likely why you can't see it. Watch out for it and the other new releases probably sometime from Tuesday to Thursday.

Right, yes that was exactly what happened to us during check-in on our last cruise and then the times opened up about 48 hours later.

Sounds like you're checking in on the website rather than the app. The app is where you can snag check-in times first and then go back and complete the rest at leisure. Note that to check in from the app, you should use click on the head & shoulders icon and then check-in from there, rather than just clicking on the check-in icon at the bottom of the screen. All that said, there was a recurring issue a while ago where people were getting precisely the message you mention. It was literally a case of checking back and in most cases the check-in times showed up within a few days.

There's plenty to do on Voyager class. You'll still get the promenade and the ice show and a flow rider but because they're older and don't have so many bells and whistles they're often a lot cheaper than the bigger girls. We sailed on Explorer for our second cruise, way back when she was new and the biggest cruise ship out there. She seemed enormous to us then! Have fun choosing!

We don't know yet. Her itineraries beyond October 2024 have not been released yet. It's possible (some) autumn transatlantic sailings may be released next week along with the new batch of Caribbean sailings, since a lot of the ships will have to get back over the pond to do them. If you keep watching the boards, someone is bound to post when they spot them.

Sounds like you checked in online rather than using the app? It's only the app that will let you snag those times first and do the rest later. But it's great that you got the early slots you wanted.

Yes, this is exactly why I'd like them to offer a non-alcoholic version of it at a cheaper price. But I guess they'd not make as much profit on it then.

Congratulations on your new arrival! Have you tried to check for yourself on Royal's website, by doing a mock booking, if there are any other options for a 3-berth cabin on your sailing? It definitely sounds strange to me that you would be charged a change fee if you are staying on the same ship/sailing date. Unless the TA is one that charges for such changes? Some do, unfortunately. I hope you manage to get it sorted.

Also booked, although not absolutely 100% committed just yet. Really like the itinerary and having that extra night but still want to see what other southern itineraries might show up for the same time frame. December 7th is our wedding anniversary.

Me too! And also to make sure I spell their names correctly.

Yup, that's what I do too.

Hi @Stephen M and welcome to the boards. Thanks for your review. I'm glad to see you had a great cruise! Although I haven't personally experienced the new menus yet, I do agree with you that there should be a couple of "safe" items on the menu nightly. You don't even have to be a particularly picky eater, just someone who doesn't care much for "fancy" food and you're likely to run into a bit of trouble. Did you think to mention this in your post-cruise survey? I think if enough cruisers hammer home the point, perhaps Royal will do an about-turn and add the safe items back in. It wouldn't be the first time they've caved to cruiser pressure.

Never fails to make me laugh. As if anyone would answer "yes".

Hi @jd1977 and welcome to the boards. It depends to a certain extent on your ports of call. In theory, it should be: Day 1 - Welcome Aboard Day 2 (or 1st formal night) - French First Caribbean port of call - Caribbean First Mexican port of call - Mexican Day 6 (or 2nd formal night) - Royal (lobster) menu Final night - Bon Voyage Then they'll slot in either the Italian night or the British night (most likely the former. I think I read somewhere the British night is for use on cruises of 8 or more nights). If there is no Mexican port on your itinerary they'll also slot that one in somewhere on one of the "free" nights. Depending on when you're sailing, you can also check the current sailing in the app when the ship is doing the same itinerary as you. It looks like the first upcoming western itinerary is the 19th of February so once that sailing gets underway you can look it up on the app and see the menu order. Hope this helps.

Yes. I consider myself to be a fairly savvy traveller but I had no idea this was the case and would probably not have thought to check. I would have planned on bringing proof of our vax status anyway just because you never know when it might be needed so wouldn't be a problem for us, but I can definitely see some people turning up at the airport without it or even being unvaxed. Perhaps there is mention of it on the ESTA process? I will watch out for that when we apply.

It's an ongoing issue. The fix is to log in, go to your profile, delete your C&A number, re-input it and save.

One per person.

I know a couple who encountered precisely this on their first cruise as D; he's Asian and she's Afro-American.

Jamie's was discounted on mine (Anthem) but I already got lunch at that price during the BF sale. Even with the discount, dinner was still more than I was willing to pay.