cobra614

They just upped the drink packages across the board, so the lower prices that folks have experienced in the past may not be obtainable.  If you are comfortable paying the price that it is currently, just go ahead and book it to lock in the price.  It's simply to cancel and repurchase if the price drops.
I will say that my Allure sailing next weekend is at $55 right now.  Before the overall price increases it hadn't been more than $52 a day and had gotten as low as $49.

First off, my past cruise was our first cruise,  so we just brought cash.
Now that I have researched it, I see that you can "download"  credits onto a slot machine and it will be debited to your sea pass account.
 
What my question is, does your credit card treat that like a regular charge, or a cash advance, with the highercash advance  rate. As opposed to just a regular purchase?

I already posted my past experience on Symphony above.  That being said, my next booked cruise is on Harmony next May,  the DBP right now is $65pp. I can't justify locking in that price which is including gratuities is over $1070. We also made prime in the casino which means our drinks are free for the both of us, but in the casino only 
 
Now I do like the freedom that the DBP allowed us, at this point I can't justify that price. I paid just over $800 instead of $1070 for the same thing. So I will keep checking the cruise planner for a sale. I keep seeing mention of a black Friday sale. Holding out for that.
Worst case scenario,  drinks for the wifey and I are free in the casino,  and pay as you go elsewhere. 

If you know for sure you want it, go ahead and buy it.  If the price drops you can just cancel and rebuy.  That's what I did, originally bought it for 52 or 55, can't remember which,  then when it dropped I called and rebought it. 

See Matt's post above. 

Hi @bburke!
I agree 100% with @SpeedNoodles ... we purchased the Key (along with our friends) back in May on Allure and absolutely loved it at $19.99/day!
If you want the VOOM package anyway and you can get the Key in that price range, then the decision is much easier since all of the nice perks are effectively less than $10-$15/day. My wife and I are not booking suites any time soon ? and are only Platinum in Crown & Anchor so it's the only way to enjoy these perks. You're going to get opinions for and against, but it all depends on how you value the perks.

I've purchased The Key twice - I like it, but I would not pay more than $24.99 for it, and prefer $19.99, which is what I've paid both times.  At $37? Newp.

My first cruise ever was on Symphony,  I bought the deluxe beverage package for 49pp, saw it go as low as 47pp for that sailing. This was for July 27th thru August 3rd.

I booked our first cruise ever for this past July last December,  watched the cruise planner almost every day and bought the key for $19.99 and the deluxe beverage package for $49 plus gratuities on Symphony.  I just booked a May 2020 cruise today on harmony today (thanks Stehpanie from MEI) and the key is $37.99 and the deluxe beverage package is $65 before gratuities.  No way I'll pay those prices, so I will be stalking the cruise planner for sure.

I booked our first cruise ever for this past July last December,  watched the cruise planner almost every day and bought the key for $19.99 and the deluxe beverage package for $49 plus gratuities on Symphony.  I just booked a May 2020 cruise today on harmony today (thanks Stehpanie from MEI) and the key is $37.99 and the deluxe beverage package is $65 before gratuities.  No way I'll pay those prices, so I will be stalking the cruise planner for sure.

Welcome to the message boards. Feel free to ask any questions you may have. Drinks served at the bars around the pools, hot tubs, etc are served in plastic "glasses" not cups. Inside bars serve in glassware. I have never seen any cheap liquor on board ant of the ships we have cruised on. There are many quality brands from which to choose. The unlimited drink package pays for drinks that costs up to $13.00, so if you order a special drink that costs $15.00 you pay the difference ($2.00) with your sea pass card. 

I think most of the prices being shown are near full price. Royal just came off that week long planner sale at the start of August so not many people are getting the low rates right now. For example my October Mariner 4 night went up from $49 during the sale to $65 now. They didn't jack up the regular price this week. It is just not being discounted. 
If your sailing is still far out keep looking for the price to drop again. It likely will. 

That doesn't explain the price spike a number of us have seen for our upcoming late 2019 or 2020 sailings. I'm really hoping these current calculated on-board prices of ~$81/night are just a glitch and not anything permanent going forward.
Curious to know, do you have any similar articles about package price increases before that one from last year? Might give an idea of how often they've bumped the on-board price in the past and whether this might be a real, permanent bump.

Stephanie has helped us with our last 4 cruises on RCCL. She has saved us each time and is so easy to deal with. Our latest booking last week for January was great and she took care of the reservations through Casino Royale. It is so much easier letting her do this plus gave us some OBC.

I filled out the contact form on this website and have been communicating with Stephanie from MEI. She has been helpful. Now I just have to decide on which cabin we want. Either a OVB or a JS. We just had a JS on our very first cruse on Symphony a little over a week ago and we want to take advantage of our casino royal offers. $1250.00 off combined between both!

I filled out the contact form on this website and have been communicating with Stephanie from MEI. She has been helpful. Now I just have to decide on which cabin we want. Either a OVB or a JS. We just had a JS on our very first cruse on Symphony a little over a week ago and we want to take advantage of our casino royal offers. $1250.00 off combined between both!

You cannot combine casino discounts.  If you are starting off with a "free" cruise (whether it comes in the form of a certificate, an email offer, a snail mail offer or your free annual Prime level cruise) you cannot add anything more to it - so you cannot combine a certificate and a free cruise offer.
What you CAN do, however, is upgrade a free offer (no certificate needed).  So if you are awarded a cruise for an inside room (or use your annual Prime free cruise), you can upgrade that offer to any level of stateroom that you want - all the way up to Star Class (assuming it is available, of course).  You will just pay the upgrade fee.  I have found that the upgrade fee is very reasonable.  As a general rule, you will end up paying about 40% of the already discounted price.  So if you are looking at a Grand Suite that is BOGO30 and the net price on that suite (after deducting the 30% off) is $5K, you can expect to pay $2K for that upgrade.  I'm totally making up those numbers, but you will generally end up paying 40% of the net, already discounted price.
There is only one way (that I know of) to combine casino discounts and that is if you and your spouse BOTH receive a certificate on a cruise, you CAN combine those certificates towards a new booking but the value of those certificates will be subtracted from the retail price of the cruise so it's rarely as valuable as a "free" cruise certificate that is upgraded.  That is why we just toss all of our "$$ off" certificates into the garbage.  They are basically useless.  Now, the offers for free cruises ?  That's a different matter...
AND if you upgrade to a JS or higher, you will still get the double C&A points !

Buy the Voom multi device plan for as many devices as you will want to be connected at the same time, it doesn't matter what cabin your daughter stays in. 
You'll want to activate airplane mode then connect to the ship wifi.  If you have never used wifi calling on your cell phone at home make sure to set it up and test it at home before sailing.
Most US post-paid cell plans include wifi calling, not all pre-paid services do.  It depends on your cell phone company.  If in doubt talk to your cell company now, well before sailing. 
You can test wifi calling and wifi texting at home before sailing assuming you have wifi at home.  Turn on airplane mode, connect to your home wifi.  Try making a call.  Try sending a text to your daughter.  That is pretty much how a paid Voom plan will work once on the ship.  If it doesn't work at home, it won't work on the ship with Voom.  By testing it now you have time to troubleshoot any issues you have.

Yes, that's correct.

I've only sailed Freedom and Anthem so far, both had $5 table minimum for craps. As @Traveler noted, unless you bet at least $25 a throw you'll only get crappy single odds. When you get to $25 a throw then you get 2x odds.
Side note: Celebrity has apparently started offering 3x/4x/5x odds on craps when you reach the required minimum bet, which is a heck of a lot better. (although you can blow through your bankroll a heck of a lot faster, too!)

craps is also the same but if you play less than 25 $ the odds are lousy 1:1 ...  pinging @JLMoran who researched the RCL crap tables 

Usually the 10$ blackjack tables will be 6:5 blackjack. If you make the move to 15 those are almost always 3:2. The house edge on 3:2 is about .50% and at 6:5 is 2% so make the jump. 

Usually you will find a 10 and 15 $ blackjack tables in Symphony during the evening , during sea days you can find special morning session with table minimum that will be lower  (I think 5 $ for few hours) . Slot machine you will fine many Penny machines , some 5 cent , very few dollar and above. just take into consideration that many time if you want to play the penny machines and cover all the lines it will cost between 10 cent to 1 $.
Enjoy your cruise.

I found Pappy van Winkle in St. Martans  for $900. If I had hit at the casino that bottle would be mine. Alas, it's not mine.

Correct! I have done everything possible and I still get snubbed for Royal Up! I just take matters into my own hands and upgrade myself when the price is right ?