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Wow! While it is fair to criticize Royal, please don't blame Costa Maya and Roatan. Each port can offer amazing experiences. Cruisers see poverty wherever they travel, even in the US. Post Covid we've all had to adjust our travel expectations. Give Royal your feedback, both positive and negative. We've  all had at least one disappointing trip. PS. Agree with you on the spa....

47 minutes ago, Mark Cordle said:

My family recently booked a cruise with Royal Caribbean international to the Greek isles. We put a large deposit on the vacation and invested a lot of time planning what we thought was going to be the trip of a lifetime. So after making payments on the cruise we had to contact Royal Caribbean to make a slight change to our booking, nothing major, but upon contacting them we learned that they Chartered our ship to a private individual and that our cruise had been cancelled. The problem is they didn’t contact us to let us know, in fact they contacted my wife to send the remaining balance for the cruise even after it was cancelled. At this time we asked for our money back and had to fight with them to do that. We finally received a full refund and I actually emailed the CEO of Royal, but I don’t expect to hear back from him.

What a frustrating experience! We have had 2 cruises cancelled in 19 years, so it isn't a frequent event. I think the CEO's staff will reply. Because we use a travel Agent, we've easily rebooked, although we were disappointed at missing our preferred itinerary. Whatever you choose to do in the future, know that you aren't alone. We all have a mix of good and not so good cruising experiences.

16 hours ago, Nanab4 said:

I have points that I want to use for onboard credit, does choosing shared or individual make a difference in who can use how much?  Also, how long before the cruise can I/must I redeem the points to use on the upcoming cruise? 

Thanks!

We have been told about 2 weeks before cruise is enough time for redemption processing. We redeem our Royal points earlier to use in Cruise Planner. On board, if single credit card applies to both occupants, it doesn't really matter if OBC is shared or not because it is applied to total room charges. I choose shared so it seems like my wife has $ to spend, but that is just psychological. How obc is initially broken out in portfolio depends on which Seapass is used for purchase. But in the end my CC applies to all room charges, so it is moot. If a guest has nonrefundable promotional OBC, guest will want to use own Seapass to spend it. That is the one exception we've encountered.

We found on sister ship, Vision, that music started later, about our early dinner seating. So the main activity is getting to the pool or solarium when everyone's ashore.

Great service.  I lost my card Day 1 and they replaced it!

6 hours ago, Reigert2008 said:

You should certainly do your homework to make sure your TA and you are a good fit.  I had A TA with AAA for many years who booked all Disney World trips,  four Disney cruises, and three Royal Caribbean cruises.  She was nice and great to work with, but at the time AAA had a policy of not  repricing and you paid AAA who then paid Royal.  So, we switched to a different agency that a family friend was a TA for.  She was great but once again the agency had some weird policies and then dropped the ball during COVID.  I was already shopping for a new agent when COVID happened, and was randomly matched with an agent from MEI and it’s been a great experience. 
 

In case you don’t know, MEI can book way more than cruises!  We’ve used our MEI agent for six cruises, a trip to Disneyland, and an Adventures By Disney trip. 
 

Could we get some OBC for using another agency? Maybe, but we tend to book inside cabins so the OBC wouldn’t add up to much, plus we don’t spend anything once on the ship, since we pre-pay for everything in the cruise planner and sometimes the OBC isn’t available in the planner.   For us, the benefits of using MEI are priceless.

 

If you’re interested in working with MEI, do like I did and request a quote using the form on RoyalCaribbeanBlog.com

 

*If anyone cares, I still have AAA for the discounts, triptiks, guide books, and roadside assistance. . A lot of it is digital now,but I’ve been a member for 25+ years and don’t plan on leaving

 

Good Luck!

We use AAA agent and pay the cruise line, not AAA. So the policy you mentioned has changed or didn't apply to MD and NC. If we switch to MEI it will be because our TA is slow to answer emails. She gets back to us with good recommendations, but never gives us the interim reply that she is working on it.

8 hours ago, Christiancowgirl said:

Good Afternoon,

We are traveling on the Mariner of the Seas in July, does anyone know the aprox lenght of the ship.    My husband doesn't believe the ship will be very big.    Plus I'm trying to figure out if I will be able to do all the walking or if I need to bring my mobility scooter.    I'm very anxious.

It is larger than the "small" Vision Class.  It has a promenade.  You can break up the walking by sitting at a cafe or bar.  Look at where your stateroom is located on the deck plans and see how it compares to the venues you'd like to visit and the elevators.  We had a great time on Mariner in June 2022.  I found it much easier to get around on the Mariner than on the Harmony.

20 hours ago, Katw said:

Hi guys, I'm doing the online check in today, and I tried to link several different credit/debit cards onto my profile, but every time it says "make sure the card information is correct or try using a different card." My 100% sure that the info are all correct. Does anyone know what's going on here? Thanks.

 

This has happened before. You can add CC at the port. You can also call.

21 hours ago, Ryan79 said:

Not true at all! It was offered on my Dec 2022 Harmony sailing. I thought about this one very hard and it was the travel length disclosure that was in the excursion description that made me choose something else. 

Was that from Cozumel or Costa Maya?

16 hours ago, Benneth said:

Chacchoben just made its way into my cruise planner and that's why I am asking. Looks like a nice place to visit with some beautiful Mayan ruins and rich history. In your opinion, which of the three excursion sites are most worth visiting? So far, Chacchoben is the only one that has popped up in my cruise planner.

Do it. Several pyramids, nice walk, monkey sightings, gift shop and snack bar. Been there twice.

On 5/4/2023 at 10:57 AM, BMW Hoosier said:

You know I just don't get why people make a thing about this. If I visited the same restaurant night after night, I wouldn't think anything of having a different table or waiter. 

Yes, but you aren't  thinking of bonding, of making friends. The reason we cruise is to avoid isolation and have fun with others. We aren't seeking anonymity. At home, eating out is different; we are just avoiding cooking!

39 minutes ago, KevinJ said:

They do seem to be catching up with their backlog. I got my Oasis block last week, only took 8 months. It's the new style and looks quite nice.

Just got ours yesterday, 11 months late. Not as elegant but still attractive. I kind of like postcards, but the color does alter your display options, as noted.

We enjoyed Pompei in Naples but next time will visit Capri. Saw Pisa once and that is enough. Next time it's  Florence from La Spezia. July in Italy is hot, so plan on drinking lots of water. Rome is a long day, but you can see multiple sites on a walking tour. We skipped the Vatican due to crowds. But what you do depends on interests and energy levels. We alternate longer and shorter excursions to avoid fatigue.

9 hours ago, CDW said:

I’m a second time cruiser with RC. I’m set to sail May 15 with a health check in time of 12:30. I didn’t realize until too late in the game that I could reserve this check in time weeks in advance (hence the late reservation). I’d love to get our health check done earlier so we can board earlier in the day. Can I just show up earlier in hopes they can fit me in? Or are they pretty strict on the reserved times?

Thank you!

We have arrived 30 min early and boarded, but we had priority as junior suite or Diamond. But I think your time is good because you wait less to get into your room.

8 hours ago, Cactus527 said:

Can you do Air2Sea through your TA?

We have our TA book Air2Sea for us. TA gets commission on our overseas cruise and doesn't do much on air after booking. We haven't needed to call A2S yet. Value of TA is in getting a good reservation. We book pre-cruise hotel so it's good to have TA connect all parts of the trip. 

Since no one answered, our experience is that you will find there are shopping excursions, food/wine excursions, local historical site tours, walking tours, and a few adventure excursions like riding a bike, etc.  Some French ports have casino/Monaco excursions.  Our Southampton cruise was to the Canary Islands, so we did Spain rather than France on the way.  If you can't find what you want by searching Royal by port and digging around for excursions, try looking at Viator for your ports of call.  That will give you an idea.  

We used Goport last time but reports are that if you arrive PC 10ish you are OK. Not all ships use the same terminal so capacity varies. Not sure which terminal Allure will use but you can look it up. If you are flying in day before or driving in, you can get a hotel package that includes parking. Others will offer more details.

Have phone will travel.

For closed loop cruises departing from the US, you don't need a passport for the cruise itself.  But you need a passport to fly home in an emergency.  So most veteran cruisers get the passport book as the card's value is more as a 2nd ID rather than as the principal travel document.  And you need to be sensitive to the rules of the ports you visit.  I have never attempted to cruise without my passport.

Echo other posts. Trouble with MTD is that reservations aren't always honored and walkins can take your table. Our best MTD service was later, about 8 PM. Restaurant had thinned out by then so we had the same wait staff.

Thanks for the tip. We are doing FP with another line that is known for overcharging excursions. We will use 3rd parties but will heed your warning.

My wife used app for both of us, so I concur. Then it's just a matter of scanning Seapass.

16 hours ago, Dave26 said:

do you recall if there was a place to put your stuff while touring the ruins? we are doing this in august and will obviously want different things for the ruins vs the beach but don't really want to carry a big bag around too much

In December our bus driver said it was ok to leave stuff on bus, but I would take valuables  in a fanny pack. Leave towel bag . I don't  remember lockers. I carried a back pack with water and bug spray.

To echo the other posts, we used Air2Sea in booking round trip to Barcelona with arrival two days in advance.

1 hour ago, HillaryG said:

Anyone with the royal credit card remember how long it took to get approved. I'm coming up on a week since I submitted my information and haven't heard anything. The website just says under review.  I have a final payment coming up next week and I was hoping to use it. 

We got provisional approval on the ship, and it took less than an hour.  You might want to call the B of A credit card customer service line.