BrianB

That’s actually a good point!

Mine loaded last week and I already used it. Even though it indicated they would be available to use after today.

For me…on the Anthem, Oasis and Wonder, I had great food and variety in the MDRs. But, I also get the three meal package every cruise. On the Anthem, I absolutely love Jaime Oliver’s. I also love Chops Grill. On the Oasis and Wonder, I’ll do Giovanni’s, Chops and 150 Central Park (veal medallions!). The specialty restaurants are not just for the great food, but the ambiance and the great service. Purchasing the specialty restaurants separately are always more expensive then the usual $109 for three. The only issue I have is I can not make reservations pre-Cruise. I have to wait until I’m onboard and then I go right to the nearest restaurant host desk to make all my reservations. It is a personal preference if you wish to spend more to have a ‘special’ meal…or just eat all your meals in MDR. Oh, and I believe the drinks package covers your drinks in the specialty restaurants…as long as they don’t go over the individual drink price limit, in which case you’ll just pay the difference.

I have a South Beach bed rented for my May 1st cruise. I usually always try to get a Coco Beach Club pass because I love the lunch menu. Inside the club, there are a few beach beds available by the pool, but they are always taken…and away from the beach. But recently I have been doing beach beds at Breezy Bay on Chill Island. They are so much more comfortable than the loungers. The first time, the bed location was assigned and it was in the second row. I’m glad I got that over the first row…I prefer the increased perception of privacy as there are not people constantly passing right in front of me on the beach, and some people think the two loungers in front of the bed are open and have to be told they can’t use them. Last week, the beds were ‘first come, first served’ and I knew I didn’t have to rush because I would pick the second row again. Got there late, and there were still a couple available in the first row. I like the Breezy Bay beds because there is a restroom, a bar and a snack shack very close by…steps away. Plus, the servers are pretty much making the rounds most of the time. I’ll see how I like the South Beach beds this time. Always up for trying something new!

I’ve never waited more that a half hour for the call to be answered. I put my phone on speaker and listen to the annoying recorded commercial over and over…and over. Any longer than that and I hang up and call again. Doesn’t seem like it should work…losing my place in line…but usually I get a quicker answer when I do it. When I finally do get through, the first thing I do is I make sure I give the agent my call back number in case we get disconnected. That’s happened only once…and the agent did call me back. I have repriced cruises where I had already paid in full but it was right before final payment due date. They have always refunded my credit card the difference. If it is after final payment due date, then it’s OBC. Even bookings where I had FCCs applied. I never had to deal with a reprice where the entire amount paid was an FCC. There was always additional amounts paid and that’s where they made the refund/OBC from.

Curious why would a solo in a suite be that much less? Solos in a suite still have to pay double occupancy. Just taxes and port fees are for one person. And a solo in an inside also has to pay double occupancy.

That really makes me wonder. If I have already uploaded my card, and it was approved, that means it’s in their system. I don’t see why they can’t just attach it to my C&A number and have it follow all of my future reservations, instead of just the current booking number. I know there are ports that require showing the card to enter some businesses, but that should not mean I can be turned away at boarding if I don’t have the card. Bringing it to show at those places should be on me. Not having the physical card should not be a reason to deny boarding if I have shown the card for my last sixteen cruises. In the event new rules are put in place and boosters are required, then I should have to produce the updated card or have it uploaded again.

After lots of cruises, I’ve discovered the most important thing for me. I love the planning, scheduling and all the frenetic little details as I count down to the cruise and wish time would pass quicker. But….on boarding day, as I walk onto the ship, I do my best to will time to slow down. I try to take in as much of the sights and sounds and people watch as I can. I don’t let the frenetic activity and planning continue. I know when I need to be somewhere…dining, shows, excursions…but I don’t let my future plans cause me to ignore where I am right now. Even if I decide to skip something planned because I’m happy where I am, I’ll do it. I don’t want to be that person who has nearly every moment planned and anxiously scurries from place to place without taking the time to just stop and enjoy. I have friends who tell me they do that because they want to cram everything they can into their long-awaited vacation, but they end up stressed out, always looking at their watch. Getting very little sleep as they try to do virtually everything listed on the Cruise Compass. Sorry, not for me. Enjoy the time leading up to your cruise, even if it is stressful and anxious…but don’t forget to enjoy your cruise!

I have uploaded my vax card multiple times for most of my recent cruises. They still want to see the card at check in. There have also been times where I uploaded the card, and at the port they still took a photo of it. I don’t know what would happen if I didn’t have the card and told them I uploaded a photo on the app. I always brought the card. Maybe someone has an experience where the uploaded photo was sufficient.

When I tried to apply it to a cruise where I had already booked a CLS, the agent told me there were no interior rooms available. So I had the option of applying the $200 benefit…or finding another eligible cruise with interiors available. Luckily, as it is a b2b, the next cruise had interiors available and I received the full benefit of an interior applied to my booked CLS. I checked by doing a mock booking of an interior room with all of my eligible discounts applied (C&A, NJ resident, senior geezer, etc) and the price was similar to the amount applied. **also, both of these cruises had been re-priced at least twice…most recently about three weeks ago, so the current pricing was pretty close.

I received my concierge email on April 18 for my May 1 sailing on the Oasis. I responded with my dinner reservations and Nadia answered the next day. But usually I received the email a few days before…so this was not typical.

Just to clear up what I posted earlier….when I said no inside rooms were available, that means inside rooms held by the casino to be used as complimentary rooms. They place a hold on a certain amount of rooms in all categories and then release the holds as the cruise gets closer. Sorry, forgot to add that.

This made me nervous ….I just checked my confirmations and they show the original final payment due date. Whew!

I had booked these cruises myself months ago with all of the usual options….my C&A number, senior citizen, NJ resident, first responder….and received the discounted price at the time. I then re-priced each at least twice over the months as sales came out and the prices dropped. Being solo, the best is when the 30% off each guest is offered. Even with the lowest price to date, the casino rate on the inside room…along with the upgrade to the CLS…was still much lower. It pretty much resulted in the value of me getting interior room being subtracted from the total.

No. The bookings were made by me, online. Not casino rates. Yes. They were from casino play. At the Clubroyaleoffers.com site, they listed the offers along with their redemption codes. There were links next to each offer to redeem, but I didn’t try clicking them…I just called.

No. It just lowered my balance due. The due date remained the same.

…and the turtles. Don’t forget the turtles!

Yes. In the first instance, the cruise had to be listed on the eligible dates. I had already booked a cruise for September on the Oasis out of Port Liberty (actually two of them…b2b). On one there were no inside rooms available so I couldn’t use the benefit of a free inside. But, the second cruise had insides available, so I got the full value of an inside applied to my existing CLS reservation. I tried using a $200 off certificate on a cruise next month, but was unable because it was past final payment. So I just used it on another booked cruise in October.

www.clubroyaleoffers.com I entered my last name and C&A number and it listed my current offers, eligible sail dates and offer expiration dates. I called this morning and after the usual long wait (PLEASE change the recorded commercial!) I was connected with a very patient, helpful agent. He checked my eligible, booked cruises…only those not yet past final payment date were eligible…and found which ones had interior staterooms available. I had already booked CLS on the Oasis and wanted to apply the value of the interior room to my booking. I could only do it if there were interior rooms open. I was able to apply the full value of the interior to one booking and that dropped my final payment. I applied another interior room to a different booking (offers can not be combined) and that, too, dropped my final payment. I then applied two $200 off certificates to two additional bookings. The most important advice is make sure you have at least two hours to invest being on the phone. Speaker phones are great!

Done!

Done!

I don’t know why. I thought maybe it was only on the older Cruise Planner. So I did it again just now. This time on the new planner. See the photo. I booked a beach club pass in November for this cruise. I just booked another one now. Both in my name. Amex sent me the text that the charge went through. Now I’ll go back and cancel the one I just purchased.

I do it quite often when I see a price change. I always purchase the same item before I cancel my original purchase. I do it for the beach club pass, beach beds, dining…. When I saw others saying it’s impossible to do that, I thought maybe it was because I was doing it only on the older Cruise Planner system. So, I just tried it now on the new Cruise Planner. I purchased another Coco Beach Club pass. See the photo. My original purchase was made in November. I just made another purchase today. Same item…beach club pass. Amex sent me the text notification that the charge went through. Now I’ll go back and cancel the purchase I just made.

Easy procedure. I get a letter in my cabin usually mid-cruise with a QR code. Scanning it will open the page where I register for my complimentary Covid antigen test. Info includes name, email, cabin number and passport number. Once registered, it will generate a QR code that I save and use that when I enter for the test. But don’t worry…even if you can’t register due to a WiFi or phone glitch, they’ll do it when you show up for your test. So far, for me…tests were given in conference rooms and dining rooms…early on the last full day of the cruise. In and out in minutes. Results are emailed back to me within a few hours. No need to print them out as I didn’t need to show it during turnaround day. They already knew I was negative. I’ve done this procedure on the Anthem and the Wonder. I don’t know if it’s different elsewhere…or if protocols will change. Just keep checking the website. Enjoy your back-to-back!