Hagar

Another great run to maximize the value of an AFT balcony too. Doing Vision in December in one of them.
 
Location, location, location!

Another great run to maximize the value of an AFT balcony too. Doing Vision in December in one of them.
 
Location, location, location!

My largest overall $aving$ has been the solo travel discount that kicked in as D+. DW wanted to know " why you keep dragging me along on these cruises." So playing into the "how can I miss you if you don't go away" line, this has worked out well for both us?
I know it's wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea but 29 year anniversary right around the corner!
 
 

My largest overall $aving$ has been the solo travel discount that kicked in as D+. DW wanted to know " why you keep dragging me along on these cruises." So playing into the "how can I miss you if you don't go away" line, this has worked out well for both us?
I know it's wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea but 29 year anniversary right around the corner!
 
 

I'm double Pinnacle (point count, not being snooty) and just had an overbook for the JW earlier this year. A special desk rep called to see if I was interested in doing the canal for free (only had to pay taxes/fees) later this year. ALL of my monies were refunded including air penalties so no complaints. It is the only time it's happened to me but was an interesting peek behind the curtain.

I'm double Pinnacle (point count, not being snooty) and just had an overbook for the JW earlier this year. A special desk rep called to see if I was interested in doing the canal for free (only had to pay taxes/fees) later this year. ALL of my monies were refunded including air penalties so no complaints. It is the only time it's happened to me but was an interesting peek behind the curtain.

Hello - Please contact me at [email protected] or call me at 919 605 6282 so I can jump in to help you with this situation

Another great run to maximize the value of an AFT balcony too. Doing Vision in December in one of them.
 
Location, location, location!

The terminal at Cape Liberty is a good one for early arrival. AN usually does a quick turnaround even though there will still be some people out front leaving if you do arrive at 1000. Terminal does run out of chairs sometimes but they do a pretty good job overall. Once onboard it's amazing to see how jacked up the traffic gets because of the poor planning on ingress/egress (maybe Royal IT helped plan this too ;>)

One of the most asked questions I get is some form of 'how/why Royal thinks they can get away with this?'(covers any "this" you might have encountered)
 
My answer has always been "because they can." Don't jump to a conclusion yet, I say this with over one hundred cruises with Royal under my belt. I have ridden the customer service roller coaster that caused me to cut up my "Crown & Anchor" card and send it to the V.P. in charge of "C&A" (anyone recall that we were even issued cards back then?). I've tried other lines just to discover that poor service or products are an industry wide issue in mainstream cruising. So "because they can" is the plain reality that comes from full ships. My rose colored glasses broke long ago but I can also articulate many positive reasons that I still cruise with Royal. Ironically the first reason is the loyalty program I stuck with after the V.P actually responded to me so many years ago ;>)
 
 

Take it from an experienced Captain...
 
 
 

Great capitals of Europe in 1993 on the Sun Viking in an inside cabin. She even did the Kiel canal transit.
 
 

 

The world of "BOGOHOAX" can soitenly be frustrating ?
After 30 years of cruising with Royal I agree that booking when the deployment is released is the best overall route to take.  Booking later usually involves comparing other ships and/or sail dates if you are truly bargain hunting. Finding one or more that isn't selling well is key since those will have the best promotions and qualifier discounts (senior, resident, military etc.). Lastly, booking after final payment isn't as lucrative as it once was but there are some carrots "out there." Final is now due 90 days out which can help with booking reasonable air too (was just able to book a qualifier rate earlier this month for AN on 8-1 so I do know this is still effective ;>)
 
 

Affirming my infinity for the newer ships (or a Jr. suite on the older ships) since I am truly built like my namesake (the cartoon Viking)

Affirming my infinity for the newer ships (or a Jr. suite on the older ships) since I am truly built like my namesake (the cartoon Viking)

Affirming my infinity for the newer ships (or a Jr. suite on the older ships) since I am truly built like my namesake (the cartoon Viking)

Affirming my infinity for the newer ships (or a Jr. suite on the older ships) since I am truly built like my namesake (the cartoon Viking)

Affirming my infinity for the newer ships (or a Jr. suite on the older ships) since I am truly built like my namesake (the cartoon Viking)

The attendants do have help getting the cabins ready and sometimes this is their first day in that zone after a change (or even returning to ship for the start of a new contract period). But your attendant is still responsible so my tact is usually the floor supervisor since they should look into what went wrong and have the resources to make it right. 
 
 

Makes me glad I am in the twilight of my cruise travel franchise. I certainly do empathize since the "BOGOHOAX" drives us batty too. Having said that, there are ways to money at times but they have really added obstacles as we all attempt to run the gauntlet. Since so many of the posters on this board seem quite happy with the work done by their travel agency (MEI, I believe) I wouldn't run the course alone ;>)