jupiter03

It does happen, especially during Black Friday sales. I've found that the regular prices are usually higher than compared to 3rd party excursions, but right now, several are on sale to be cheaper when they are 30-40% off the regular price. Last year I got some a really good deal on a beach excursion (think $38 vs $70 regular price), Then they changed the excursion time to from 9 am to 12 pm, which was super annoying. I was considering cancelling it to something else, but anything else I wanted to do cost so much more that I just kept the original.

Thanks for the notice! Looks like lots of dining sales on my cruise planner. This reminds me that I purchased an izumi lunch during last year's BF sales and after eating there, they presented my husband with the check and he filled it out with tip and everything like normal, but afterwards, I had this epiphany that they had already charged me a gratuity when I prepurchased it, so we effectively paid double gratuities. I also recall that they itemized the prices of the items we ordered so that the suggested tip was super high. Is there a way around this for next cruise? I don't want to seem cheap and not tip them when I have already pre-paid the gratuity. Unless the "gratuity" the cruise planner charges you for isn't really a gratuity but some sort of tax/fee. Anybody else have this happen?

I've stayed in both 11128 and 11528 on Allure. I didn't hear any noise. In fact, this was one of the quietest cabins I've ever been in. I think because it is in the very front of the ship, very few people will venture this far. Pros: the cabins are huge. There is a very nice and huge walk in closet. These rooms have two windows, so lots of natural light. Cons: the couch was so far away from the TV that you couldn't really watch it, not that we watch much TV on a cruise. No full length mirrors (which I've always had on other cabins, even lowly inside ones). Very long walk to the back of the ship for dinner/boardwalk/windjammer. I would totally sail in this cabin again if the price wasn't so high. If you have any other questions, let me know.

@Jax Thanks for the great pictures of Paradise beach. I booked a pool daybed, but your posts have me second guessing this. When you say it was loud, was that because of loud music playing or just loud people? Did you find #14 to be quieter? (less music? less crowded?) I was worried about 14 being right next to the path between the pool and the beach, but your pics looks really appealing.

I emailed [email protected] on Dec 12 with all my info and got the automated response, but have not heard anything back yet. It's never taken this long before. Would it be a bad idea to resubmit using the link too? My cruise isn't for a few more months, so I suppose I should be more patient. Anybody else with recent results from requesting this?

Well, looks like they released some Caribbean bookings for 2026. I noticed that Harmony only has three itineraries for March 2026 - a 7-day cruise, an 8-day cruise and then a transatlantic. March seems awfully early for transatlantic, isn't it? Does this mean no spring break cruises for RCCL for Galveston then? I wonder what they are replacing Harmony with?

OK, it looks like they let me book a reservation for 2 and a reservation for 1, so maybe they can seat us near each other or let us get it take out so we can eat it somewhere else. I'll ask Sharla if she has any insights. Thanks for all your help!

I'm trying to book izumi sushi, not the hibachi.

I wanted to take advantage of the izumi sales in the cruise planner and when I select a reservation for 3, it says there are no reservations (We're stuffed! Reservations are not currently available). But when I select 2 people, suddenly there are plenty of time slots. I've never been to izumi before and wonder if they only have tables for 2? It seems unlikely that there are only 2 seaters left for all the reservation times. Are there any workarounds for this? Do I need to call?

Thanks for the heads up. I was able to get a 4-device internet plan for my Harmony cruise for $300. I was going to get the 3 device plan for $280, but for another $20, that 4th device will come in handy when somebody inadvertently kicks someone else off when switching devices and forgetting to logout. These are the cheapest prices I've seen for a long time. For the people complaining about having to watch the cruise planner for sales, I'd rather have sales then no sales. I have a cruise booked on another line that never has cruise planner sales and their add ons never get this cheap.

I've never prepaid gratuities before, but with this new change, looks like it would be a smart move. When I call my TA to prepay gratuities, do I pay right now with my credit card or does it get added to the final payment balance? If I pay right now, is it refundable in case I cancel the cruise later? I was going through my old paperwork to see how much gratuities have increased since I started cruising. I could only find folio receipts as far back as 2014, when grats were $12pp. I'm guessing any older cruises were using the old envelope method, when you had to prepare cash in separate envelopes for your waiters/room steward. Or I just lost those receipts. I can't remember when the change was made to add gratuities to onboard accounts.

Yes, this is what I do every year for spring break. After incorrectly guessing when spring break will be 2 years in a row (it's either the 2nd or 3rd week of March in TX), I now book both weeks as a refundable fare and when school calendars come out a year or so later, I cancel the unneeded week. My school district has no consistent pattern as far as I can tell and I've tracked back 10+ years of calendars. However, Royal Caribbean always seems to know when Spring Break is, as the correct week has always turned out to be the more expensive week. Since they are booked refundable, the deposit usually comes back on my credit card a few weeks later.

It's possible all the cruises have reached maximum capacity. Cruise ships have been selling out and rooms for 3 sell out pretty fast. I'm always checking for price drops and I've found that for my last two cruises, no rooms for 3 were found several months before sailing. My spring break 2024 cruise is already sold out for rooms for 3+ except for suite class.

I've been on Allure twice this year and had a fantastic time both times. They were both very crowded ships, but we tried not to do anything at peak times to avoid crowds. We found the service great. We had early fixed dining and our waiters were fantastic and routinely had us out in 45-50 min each night. We don't like to dilly dally and one night I think we set a new record, getting in and out in about 30 min. Food came out hot, picture perfect, tasty enough for me. Some nights the menu had so many things, I got multiple apps and entrees. Some nights didn't suit my taste, but I always found something good to eat. I also hit the Windjammer every morning for breakfast and lunch. Yes, it can be crowded around peak times, so adjust your timing if that's important. We'd always try to hit the Windjammer for a late night snack at 8:55pm right before they closed and it was pretty empty then. Central Park looked a ton better in June than it did in March. The arborists are doing a fantastic job filling everything in. It was very picturesque. I saw every show and they were all great, except for Blue Planet (that one seemed a hot mess and hard to follow). Almost all the shows required reservations and I showed up ~30 min before the show and was always able to find a good seat. Our room attendant cleaned our room when we were at dinner every night. Once a day cleaning is fine with me, except for all the plates/cups/trash that builds up. I wish there were a place to drop off these items, so my tiny table/counters weren't cluttered. I found the ship in good condition and it looked less tired than Liberty OTS did. It was nice overlooking the boardwalk without the big purple slide to block views, like you see on newer Oasis-class ships. Don't worry about all the bad reviews. No cruise is perfect, so some things might go wrong, but not everything will go wrong. As long as you don't let it 'ruin' your cruise, you should have a great time. Ex. Embarkation/Debarkation on my March cruise was a nightmare due to power/internet issues. Whereas my June cruise, we pretty much walked right on at 10:30 (we had an 11am checkin) and walked right off (did self debarkation and walked off at 7:30am).

Just got back Sunday. I reserved the north lot (not premium). I thought I would be able to enter the north lot through the left entrance (red X), but that was blocked. They routed me all around as I've indicated with the red line. There were uncovered spots open below the covered spots, but they routed me to the left after scanning my code, so I'm not sure if those were all premium parking spots. We were able to still get a great spot and it was a very short walk. Note, you can't walk straight through the covered parking spots to the ship, as there is a fence blocking you. There are two crosswalks to get from the parking to the building, which I've indicated in blue. There were porters available near the crosswalk, so I didn't have to drag the heavy luggage very far.