ChessE4

My son just got back from the Baltic and used the Royal App with his VOOM package. Now Internet access was spotty at times.

If you are parking at the port, keep in mind it can fill up. If you are parking at an off-port facility, check out their shuttle schedule. For example, hotels might have a fixed schedule you'd want to synchronize with your check-in time.

We input our information 45 days out and about 30 days out we checked again and got the confirmation.

My son just got back from the Baltic and reports that Tallin is the easiest walk from the ship on that itinerary. He and his wife had a good time without an excursion.

I've heard that the cabanas can sell out quickly, or become very overpriced. We find that Coco Cay is a stop that doesn't really require an excursion. One can snorkel off the beach, enjoy the pool, etc. Families can try the Thrill Park, but we just enjoy Chill Island.

We sailed the Harmony in September 2019 just after a hurricane - like the day after a near-hit. We found the oceans calm and the water clear. Worst weather we've had on a cruise was not a hurricane, just a spring storm that the Oasis sailed through.

We won't drive more than about 600 miles or so (e.g., from North Carolina to Orlando but not Miami). We will fly to Australia or Papeete for a special cruise, such as when our son did a semester abroad at Wollongong. For Europe, I prefer at least 10 nights to justify the expense, as noted above, but we are trying an eight-night cruise this October with a couple of days in Barcelona tacked on to get over jet lag.

#2 - The $100 at the website (MyCruises) is probably your promotional OBC from Royal, but I can't tell its origin from your question. #1 - By the time you take your next cruise, the price of your desired (booked) cruise may have increased. In other words, if you can get a good price now, you might consider booking it now. The one time we used Next Cruise, it was for a new booking. I do not know their policy for canceling and re-booking.

On our Caribbean cruises the price has been around $8.99/day for soda package, but I noticed on our October Med cruise it was listed as $9.99/day. PS. Surf, stream, and internet listed today at $24.19/day for our trip.

The bundle is always cheaper. On our upcoming cruise, the "bundled price" was about $2 more per day than the ala carte prices for beverage package and VOOM.

I actually like inside cabins because I can sleep off "jet lag" much faster. My wife prefers ocean view. We opt for the balcony only when it isn't much more than ocean view (booking 18-24 months in advance seems to bring the price down). That said, the extra space in a balcony room is nice if you have a family of 3 or 4. So for me, the worst advice would be "only select X room". All types of rooms have their place. Now that we are getting older, I am wishing we had taken more cruises when we were younger; I guess I saved too much for retirement!

We went to Pisa instead, but I vaguely recall a tour like "Florence at your leisure" if you just want transportation.

Simply taking a shuttle to the beach could be fun. We did that when we sailed out of Baltimore. There is also a dinosaur museum/gift shop in Coco Beach, near Ron Jon's.

We asked about employment contracts/schedules for senior officers once -- how long did they really spend away from families, etc.

Years ago, I asked a travel agent how far in advance I should book a cruise. I was told it didn't really matter, but 6 months was probably good. I have since learned to book early, when deployment schedules are announced.

I think the question was whether a copy, not the original, would be accepted if laminated. I haven't heard anyone state they laminated a copy and still got through check-in.

Haven't done that excursion, but normally excursion operators sell their own pictures to make money (the operator is a 3rd party even when the excursion is booked through Royal). Royal photographers take pictures as you get off the ship, etc.

What happened to us is that Royal automatically cancelled our excursions when they cancelled our February cruise, and we had to rebook everything for the replacement trip. It did take 2-3 weeks for the refund, and there were errors in the amounts. So keep track of the $$ you spent on the original trip. For us, when the credits came back the amounts were sometimes odd, which is why you need to track totals. I eventually called Royal customer service, and they fixed everything. (We had a TA on these trips, and she advised us to call Royal to fix the refund. She didn't have visibility into our Career Planner purchases.)

When my son's flights got re-arranged by the carrier last week, he was able to call Air2Sea on day of travel and get a new connecting flight. Have you been able to reach Air2Sea by phone?

On exiting the ship, yes, Royal excursion groups usually disembark first to catch their transportation. The rest follow, perhaps 30 minutes later. There are people who use 3rd party excursions all the time. One needs to research the provider. One can walk some ports easily, get a cab or bus, catch the train (e.g., Civitavecchia to Rome), and so on. On an all-day excursion, we prefer Royal; one never knows when there will be a traffic jam on the way home. On half-day excursions, you have a lot of leeway. You might read other posts on this topic, and Matt has a video which discusses excursion pros and cons. Have a great cruise!

You can't make your selections online anymore (just email preferences about receiving marketing notices). I would try Crown and Anchor Society first. In the US, 800-526-9723.

Sometimes the gratuities are increased (for inflation), but if you prepay, you avoid the increase. (This happened to us only once and we saved $1 per person per day). This is more likely to occur when you book over a year in advance. The issue I have with prepaying is that my travel insurance premium can increase when all of the various costs are aggregated. In the end, it is a matter of preference. We generally prepay just to get it paid off before we cruise, but I can see why folks don't. I like the idea of applying OBC you might accrue to pay gratuities by allowing the default daily charges when you are on the ship.

The sale prices yesterday for our June cruise are still high. The DBP was about $76, so $65 sounds good if you are inclined to buy it. Soda and VOOM prices looked "normal" to me even though Royal sent us an email they were starting our Memorial Day sale "early".

My son just used them here in the US the day of his flight to Europe, no problems. He will need to test again from the ship in Europe when he disembarks next week, but he purchased VOOM to facilitate the transaction. We will be testing ourselves in Barcelona later this fall as we intend to arrive early, like you. The fall back plan would be local test sites. You can Google now if you want to identify alternate test sites. PS. I would do it before you go to the port, perhaps the day before?!

Bought some. Thinking long term. It's only my son's inheritance I am spending at this point.....