Constantino

On 5/9/2019 at 8:54 AM, Hutcherl said:

Going on Harmony next month.  Purchased it a $52.  Booked this cruise in 2017 and I have only seen two prices- $52 and $56.  Monitored closely since booking

Harmony in September has been 49 or 52.

On the bright side, refreshment package is at $20, which is a pretty good deal IMO.  $10 a day over the refreshment package.  worth it for the bottled water and a mocktail or 2 per day.

If some rum appears in my shampoo bottle and finds its way into that mocktail... so sorry!

4 hours ago, marti314 said:

I find that if 2.00+ has been added to a price of a drink as automatic gratuity thats quite a tip for a single drink.  Especially a beer where they pop the cap off and you pay 1.60 gratuity for it.  Yes yes yes you can say but it goes to the stock folks and the cleaners etc....

I have to agree, if I roll up to the little cart outside the theater for a heineken, I have a hard time justifying a >18% tip.  Not to be that person, but theres no chance for a tip to benefit me in this situation.  he cant overfill my beer, he cant follow up with me for the next one.

If I order a daquiri in the solarium from a person walking around, that is a bit different.

do roommates have to check into the cruise at the same time?  

otherwise, if they let you on, how can they know he wont check in later?  and if he didnt... are they gonna come drag you off the ship?

cruising in September, there was a half day pass available for ~$39-42 I think.  Now it only shows full day for $52.

given that we were only there 8-4, half day was perfect for lazy sleepers...  perhaps too perfect so they yanked it?

is it gone from other cruises too?

1 hour ago, fonemanbob said:

We bring 2 bottles of wine and buy wine every cruise.  Like Todd W stated nothing worse than getting a bottle of nasty tasting wine.  Then again they do let you taste it before pouring a glass. That works out very well.   I cover the cork screw with a piece of lead so the x ray machine won`t detect it.   Works every time.  Did I just say that. Silly me. Too much vino I guess.

I dont think RCL cares if thats your concern.  checked bags on the airline dont care either.  if your carrying it on a plane, then yeah, it would present an issue.

7 minutes ago, twangster said:

Simply visit guest services and request an extra key.  They will have to carry two keys, one to present at a bar to order a drink or when leaving the ship and one to open the door to the 'other' cabin but Royal doesn't care where you sleep.  

If two single people meet and spend the rest of the cruise in what ever cabin, Royal doesn't know or care.  

I wonder how closely bartenders look at the pictures.  it seems almost as if you have the gender and skin color, youre probably getting served.

12 minutes ago, twangster said:

Conversely if one adult doesn't drink and the other does, splitting the adults between cabins means that one adult can buy the deluxe drink package without forcing the other adult to buy a package since they are in different cabins.

You can't share drinks from one drink package but in many cases one adult simply doesn't drink so this strategy works out better for them.

another use case... RCL hoses single occupancy with 90+% of the cost of dual occupancy, but gives no such break for 3rd and 4th occupants... so if you do have a single occupant in your group, stick an extra kid in their room and you'll save a chunk.

and yeah, splitting kids up into different rooms to isolate drinking adults also serves.

With newer ships having bracelets, its a good excuse to have 2 keys also.

On 1/22/2019 at 1:52 PM, WAAAYTOOO said:

Yes, you have to be a dedicated gambler BUT it does pay off...if you early the free certificates and are rated at least at the Prime level (a free cruise every year that you are eligible).

As Traveler said, it's pretty straight forward for slots player but a little more difficult to quantify for table players (like we are).  You just put your butt in a chair at a table and stay there for hours on end.  Pretty easy !  LOL

and hope they correctly identify your average bet and number of hands played.  I know they use a light sensor with a chip to count craps, but in my time at the table, there were definitely instances where they forgot to do it.  sometimes they would flip it a few times to make up for the time they missed, sometimes not.

15 minutes ago, hsweat22 said:

I haven't received an email so I may call in.  I enjoy playing blackjack...usually hit the casino 3 times a month or so when on land.  I hold decent status with them, but only taking one or two cruises a year it seems it will be difficult to accumulate many points.  I wouldn't necessarily gamble for the free drinks/cruise but those are just added perks and if its something I can hit, i may play a little more than I normally would have.

thats fair, but yeah, someone else did the math, I think they said its like $5 to get 1 point in slots, need 2,500points for Prime.  So you have to wager $12,500 in slots to get prime (supposedly).  If you take the 10% house edge on such a wager, you would expect to lose $1,250 to make Prime.

The points per dollar varies with the game most likely, so something like black jack or craps with a lower house edge would require a larger wager per point.  Ultimately, the calculation is going to be based on how much you are statistically expected to lose for a given wager.

my email just showed up a few hours ago, from a single cruise I took last October.  They scanned my card in the casino, so I assume thats how I got enrolled.  

shoes and formal night are the burden.  Theres no good way to make a suit jacket and leather dress shoes NOT eat up space.

just remember, no one else is keeping track of what you've previously worn.  1 formal outfit, 1 or 2 casual outfits, 2 swim outfits, 3 shoes (dress, athletic, sandal)

7 minutes ago, JerseyJoe said:

Does anything really need to be done? Is there a reason they need to know who is in which room if it's not exactly how you booked it?

it can be useful to put drinkers in the same room, if say it was 2 couples and only 1 of each couple wants the drink package, put those 2 in a room and they can get the drink package.

if you pour it yourself (generally in your room) theres no fee, they have glasses, or bring your own if you prefer.

sometimes... theres something a bit more deliberate in those wine bottles... that might mix well with an inexpensive soda package...

6 minutes ago, hsweat22 said:

How can I join Club Royale? This wont be my first RCCL cruise but the first one I plan to gamble on.  Do I just need to go speak with the host the first night?  I only play table games, mostly blackjack, and if they still have 3:2 tables those will be the ones I play.

 

From what it looks like, my current schedule kinda limits my ability to accrue points for the year.  We are sailing Dec 2019 and April 2020, and from what I can tell, it will be two different "casino years". 

It looks like it may be hard playing table games to get from Choice to Prime unless I bring a very large bankroll.

 

you're automatically enrolled it seems.  I never did anything, but received my email today saying Im "choice".

You have to gamble a pretty good amount to hit Prime, you can be confident that it would be less expensive to buy the deluxe beverage package, pay the 5% (or gamble with cash), AND buy an interior stateroom than to just gamble to make it to that tier.  Unless you take A LOT of cruises (where the alcohol cost could add up)

On 3/22/2018 at 1:17 PM, AGSLC5 said:

just wanted to comment on the blackjack part... You want blackjack to pay 3:2.. its 6:5 that you don't want.. The new rule on the ships for blackjack which I know for a fact because the pit bosses told me this Rule came into effect this past summer is if you are playing at a blackjack table and the minimum bet is less than $25 a hand the odds are shit 6:5. $25 and over a hand is the good 3:2. I usually bet anywhere between $25-$100 a hand based on how its going so for me it doesn't matter. Plus I personally won't sit at a table with a minimum of less than $25 a hand because I only like to play with other blackjack players who know what they are doing. Newbies and people who don't know the game don't tend to follow the "Rules" and it upsets me so I stick with a more seasoned crowd. 

never quite got this. I understand the "rules" of blackjack, but statistically... wouldnt that person that hits or doesnt hit when they arent or are "supposed" to have an equal chance of taking or leaving the card you do or dont want?  

Obviously gamblers fallacy and all that, you only remember when they screw you, but statisticlly arent they just as likely to help you, assuming the next card has equal probability of being good or bad for you, and 1 card does not significantly change that probability.

maybe its obvious, but you can just pay with cash in the casino.  I only allow a few hundred per trip for gambling, so not too concerned with security of my cash, I guess if your a high roller bringing several thousand, you might prefer an electronic option.

I just swapped room occupants between 2 rooms.  

RCL was happy to do it, but realized I booked through expedia so they sent me to them

Expedia was also happy to do it, took maybe 15min on the phone.  There were a few rules though... at least 1 person from the original booking had to remain in the original room (cannot completely swap rooms).  And there *could* be repricing.  In our case, they either waived the repricing or there was none (I suspect they waived it).  So it didnt cost a dime, swapped 2 people between 2 rooms, easy peasy, showed up in cruise compass within a minute.

They also asked about bedding preference at the same time.

10 hours ago, DublinFC said:

Hmm the perfect day seems a bit pricey

I guess I was naively thinking the island was "all inclusive".  but yeah, this is a lot, kind of parking you on an island with little to do but spend money.

I guess it is often an incremental stop, so on other cruises, it would just be a cruise day.

Question is in the title, but to clarify, we want to be able to select dining reservations and purchase drinks, wifi, ect.  Will all of that stuff link up with RCCL even if we buy through Expedia?  Doesnt seem to be asking for our RCCL account info, so was not sure how it would make the connection.

As best I can tell, expedia and RCCL are the same price for the cruise, but Expedia has an additional $200 OBC for cruises over 2k and $300 for over 3k.  Thats pretty significant...