BrewerJoe

Awesome, this is the first I've heard this. I'd love to hear confirmation of this feature if anyone has the info. We're cruising w/ my 2 teens on Harmony, so are hoping to use the app for chat without needing to purchase internet. Push notifications would make things a lot easier instead of having to rely on them to check the app every so often.

You've seen a 50% decrease in the minimum bids for RoyalUp? Did you receive an email when the price dropped, or did you notice the change by checking the site?

I read somewhere that the minimum bid for RoyalUp can fluctuate leading up to departure. Has anyone experienced this? Do you get a new RoyalUp email when this happens, or do you just need to keep checking in on it to see what the current minimum is?

Ah, so like many of the other things I've been trying to get smart on - it's totally unpredictable, makes little sense, and often RC's own staff doesn't understand it! Gotcha.

I will be on Harmony and the escape room showed up on the CP for me within a few days (maybe 2 or 3) of the rest of the shows becoming available for booking. The escape room is listed under Activities, while the show reservations are under Entertainment, so make sure you're looking in the right place :)

This is the first mention I've seen of a 1st time Harmony cruiser briefing. Do you know what's covered in this and/or how long it is? I've done so much research that I'm not sure they'll cover anything I don't already know, but I don't want to miss anything important!

KristiZ - Thanks! I do have the app downloaded and am pretty sure I used it to check in all 4 of us. I planned to shuffle my pass into the deck and hope for the best :) MarvinS - Thanks for sharing your experience! Happy to hear that embarkation is so painless...hopefully that will be the case for us too! We will definitely be there early - 10:15-ish.

We're sailing on Harmony out of Port Canaveral this summer and I'm printing out my SetSail passes tonight. I noticed that my wife and kids have a green 'Expedited Arrival' bar at the top of their's and I do not. Any idea why they'd have it and I wouldn't? Does it make any difference? I'm picturing myself downtrodden in a long non-moving line while they're all smiles waltzing right onto the ship!

After turning on airplane mode you will need to enable wifi. This will allow you to access voom (wifi) without allowing your phone to use any of the other mobile services that you would get charged for by your carrier (ex. AT&T, Verizon, etc.).

FYI - the Half Day Waterpark + Zipline package is available again in my Planner today. The half day pass is still not an individual option outside of the package though.

I bought the half day pass about 2 months ago for a sailing on HOS this summer. It's been missing from the Perfect Day 'menu' in my Planner for weeks now. I thought maybe RCI was trying to avoid easy price checking, so I even tried the trick of accessing it from my cruise calendar to attempt a price check. The description would display, but no pricing. If they've really discontinued this option, I wonder how they'll handle the half day passes I already purchased. (free upgrade to full day?!? ?)

I have all of us (including 12YO) signed up for the 3-meal package. Is that something that they would handle as a package, or each restaurant does their own thing? I'd save $60 if he is only $10 per meal.

I'll have a 12 year old with me in July. If I understand things correctly, he will be able to order off the adult menu, but does he need to order from the kids menu for us to get the kids price?

One thing to keep in mind: If you have a time slot preference it might be best to book it now. When I booked I only had one choice (assume the other slot was full), and now the half day option doesn't even show up in my Planner (assuming both are full).

I'm also interested in this! Many of the popular tour operators that I keep reading rave reviews on seem to operate off the east coast of Roatan, which I've read is the less desirable side due to the possibility of choppy waters? I haven't really read any comparisons of the underwater view of east vs. west. I also keep seeing that snorkeling right off the beach in West Bay is supposed to be great, but am concerned about crowds and would prefer to have a guide with us.

I purchased this for my upcoming cruise and was told that the half day timeslot is determined by the timing of your ship in port. I had an excursion booked in the morning that I had to move to an afternoon start time because the half day waterpark pass was only offered in the morning, even though I'm scheduled to be in port from 7am-5pm.

This sounds great, thanks!!!

I'll be on Harmony this summer. Does the chat feature work without purchasing Voom? Also, does it provide notifications, or do you need to open the app to notice someone contacted you? I'm looking for a way to keep in touch with a teenager, but don't really need full internet access.

Aloha, I'm looking through my Cruise Planner and am a little confused by the pricing I'm seeing for the Perfect Day at CocoCay waterpark. When I view the Perfect Day excursions without logging in (i.e. not in my Cruise Planner) the pricing is listed as $44 for a full day and $39 for a half day. I would have assumed that the prices advertised outside of the Cruise Planner are the 'list price' or on-board price of the excursion. However, when I look at the same excursions in my Cruise Planner the cost is $67 for a full day and $50 for a half day. Any idea why the Planner price would be HIGHER than the advertised price?

WannaCruise - Thanks for offering a different perspective on this! The popular option seems to be to book with a TA for the customer service they're able to provide. Reading through some posts on TA opinions, it seems that service is hit or miss depending on how well a customer jives with the TA...and in some cases is dependent on the customer having realistic expectations. Since I kind of obsess more than I probably should about travel planning, I can see myself becoming one of those with unrealistic expectations...getting frustrated waiting for emails, doing most of the price checking legwork on my own, etc. I think I'm going to book with RC for now and then transfer my booking within the 60 day transfer window. Some of the big internet vendors who offer the best perks have a limit on the number of price adjustments you can make before they start charging a small fee, so maybe I'll get lucky and get a drop or two before my time runs out. For me, I just don't think I'd get the $200+ value (in OBC/perks) out of working with a TA. While they are working through any surprise issues, I'd probably still be stressing about the outcome. And I would hate going to guest services for help with something and having them tell me I have to work through my TA while I'm on a ship with limited connectivity. Thanks for everyone's opinion on this! I really wanted to make sure I wasn't going to be walking around with a big flashing DUMMY sign for not booking through a TA. It sounds like they are a great fit for some folks, and maybe less so for others. I'm sure I'll be back with more questions soon ?

Thanks! Maybe I'll book directly through RC while I decide which TA to go with (still nothing from MEI), and then transfer the booking once I make up my mind.

Thanks! I truly appreciate the insight! If I book through one company/TA, can I then transfer the booking to another if I'm dissatisfied?

Thanks! That's what I was afraid of...I should have booked on Monday. I did request a quote from MEI and am awaiting a response. I know a TA is free to me, but when I'm comparing the standard RC $75 OBC to offers of $300 OBC by some vendors, there's a $200+ difference to my bank account in the end (assuming the OBC is something I would have spent anyway). So I'm trying to weight the risk/reward in my mind of one over the other. I'm a pretty detail oriented person and feel like a competent travel planner. I'm just not sure I would get $200 of value from a TA, unless they're able to offer something beyond the standard RC perks. I guess there would be definite value in extraordinary circumstances like a cruise being cancelled, but that has to be a fairly rare occurrence, right?

I'm in the midst of planning a cruise on Harmony OTS in July. I would have loved to book earlier, but due to a few things beyond my control I was unable to seriously start planning until now. I've been looking at cabin selection and other details and noticed that over the past 4 days or so the cabin category I'm interested in (5D) has incrementally crept up by about $400 (total for my family of 4). This has happened in chunks of $50-$100 at a time. I haven't noticed any decrease in the number of cabins available in this category. My question is - will the price float back down or are price changes usually a one-way street? The price is now getting real close to the border of what I'd be willing to pay, so am starting to get a little panicky that I may have missed my booking window. I'm also wondering what people's thoughts are on booking through one of the large internet resellers? I understand I'm not supposed to mention any by name, but there are a few that seem to offer significantly more OBC than others. I've planned lots of travel in the past, so am pretty comfortable booking excursions, etc. without help, but didn't know if I'd really be missing something important by not booking through a local TA. This is my first Royal Caribbean cruise. Thanks for your thoughts on the questions above! Places like this are invaluable for RC newbies like me!

Interesting that they would put (what are probably) crew stairs on the deck plan....maybe for parents of small children who have concerns with kids on stairs. If they are shown like this across the Oasis class ships, then I would agree that they are probably not passenger accessible, otherwise they would likely be better known. Thanks for the response!