GregD

This is from their website

Final payment of the balance must be received at Royal Caribbean's offices at least 75 days prior to the sailing date for 1 - 4 night cruise vacations and 90 days prior to the sailing date for 5-night or longer cruise vacations. The payment schedule for groups is different from that of individuals. You will usually have access to your cruise documents 30 days prior to your sailing as long as your reservation is finalized. 

looks like you will be cutting it close. 

49 minutes ago, adidassler said:

Not sure if this is the correct place to ask, but I've got a chill island cabana booked for october 20th, do they provide towels at the cabana, or should i take some from the ship?

 

Gracias!

You check them out at the ship and bring them with you.

1 hour ago, bytheslice said:

The last time I parked in the garage, about 3-4 years ago, payment was made at the end of the cruise. From what I have heard/read online, that is still when payment is made, not prior to boarding the ship. You get the parking ticket when you enter the garage and validate/pay after disembarking. 

Sorry, thats what I meant, you pay when you leave the garrage at the end of the cruise.

I dont see why not. You pay for your parking at a machine prior to leaving. I dont think the garage has specific hours, so you should be fine.

7 hours ago, Darrell said:

Does the cabana cost include passes for the slides etc, or have you got to buy them too?

The slides are included only if you buy the Thrill Water park cabana.

That is correct. When you put it in the cart on the cruise planner, select one guest. When you arrive on your ship, you will have two access codes.

Check out https://www.boddentours.com/ they have fully customizable excursions that you can do, and the prices are really affordable. We will be using them when we visit Roatan in February. We are doing the "best of roatan private tour" with upgrades to go to a sloth/monkey sanctuary, horseback riding on the beach, and then Sol Y Mar beach club. all for $95pp

Ive done that drive and its not terrible. I wouldnt stress about the 11am time if you run into traffic. Remember the time on the boarding pass is a suggestion. You just have to be there at least 2 hours before departure. That being said, the earlier the better so that you can beat the crowds etc and start your vacation sooner. Have a great cruise!

For extra fun @JLMoran has created a fun little ditty you can sing to help you pass the time

im currently at

34 days till we go on the cruise

34 days till we go

Sun goes down and comes back around

33 days till we go on the cruise

While I didn't do this, I saw other passengers ordering whole pizzas when I was last on Anthem. Give it a shot, the worst they can say is no. I would think you would have your best luck at getting a custom pizza if they arent very busy, who knows YMMV.

I've been snorkeling twice at Coco Cay and have not encountered any jellyfish or rays. I have seen planty of other fish and sea turtles, which was neat. I dont think you will need to worry about either of them and can have a great time in the water.

On 8/18/2019 at 5:35 AM, Tim B. said:

This is very interesting topic as I thought I was the only one (of course I knew that wasn't the case) looking at these high prices and wondering if driving to Miami may be the answer. It is 14 1/2 hours from my house and that is doable just not as convenient. My cruise is March 8, 2020 out of Miami on Oasis of the Seas. I have a wide-range to look at from D.C. area airports to Richmond Virginia, and even my local airport, Charlottesville, VA. The flights that are within decent price range have me going on all over the place to include LaGuardia, and Philadelphia to go south to Miami. In March old-man weather can generate all kinds of weather that can stop you; but, normally going south first helps. Well, so far driving is starting to look better and better every day.  We shall see

If you are thinking of driving, you might want to look at the Amtrak Auto train. It leaves out of Lorton and arrives just outside Orlando. We did this option in February when we spent a week in Orlando for break. I was easy, the kids thought it was quite the adventure.  Basically the train departs at 4pm, and you wake up in Flarida. The train brings your car with you as well so you dont have to worry about a rental. When we looked at flights for February, even with booking the Family Suite on the train which is the most expensive, it was 1/2 the cost of flights, and we didnt have to worry about renting a car as well.

4 hours ago, Matt said:

I'm curious how that works as well in terms of if they are using price to manage crowds.

I'll be there September 25th, I'll be on Navigator, Grandeur will be there as well for a port load of 6281. Cabana prices went sky high shortly after they opened. Water park prices have been above the $50 mark for most of the time. I'm curious what the prices were for the people on Grandeur. 

I will report back on how the crowd management was with a higher load than an oasis class ship, assuming I can drag my coco loco medicated self out of my chill island cabana (thankfully booked before the price went nuts).

I have the RC card. It does not offer any interest free financing options. What it does offer is 1pt per dollar for regular purchases. 2pts for purchases on Royal Caribbean. You can redeem points for OBC, cruises, companion fares etc. for OBC it’s 5000 pts for $50 in OBC.

There are so many things you can do at coco cay that won’t cost you a thing.  My suggestion is to check out some of the articles that @Matt has created. They provide a ton of information and can be found on the main page under the heading perfect day at coco cay. 
 

For the cliff notes, you can get off the ship and wander the island (free). There are loungers with umbrellas everywhere (free). While in the loungers you can enjoy the beach views and swim(free) You can check out the Oasis lagoon pool (free) If you want you can buy your own snorkel mask etc at Target/Walmart etc and enjoy snorkeling and seeing tons of fish, turtles etc at your leisure, these also can be rented on the island for not a lot of money. The buffet food on the island is included in your cruise fare, and if you have a beverage package that works on the island as well as your internet package if you buy it. The long and short of it is that you can have a Perfect Day at Coco Cay ( see what I did there) and not have to open your wallet at all if you don’t want to. 
 

Other note, if the water park does interest you, keep looking in the cruise planner, I have seen the cost for the water park much lower than that.

1v sleeps up to four guests, whereas 2v sleeps only 2.

You need to make sure you have your set sail pass, and attach the luggage tags to your bags, which are the last page of the edocs. The other pages are for your information.

Check out https://www.boddentours.com/ for stuff to do in Roatan. We will be using them on our upcoming LOS cruise. We have a private tour with a trip to an animal park where we can hug a sloth, then horseback riding, and then beach trip all for $95pp for the whole day.  They have whole customizable itineraries that you can do, so you can decide how much or little you want to do. There is no need to pay up front. THey prefer US dollars in cash upon arrival. Reviews for them are all positive. Its easy to reserve what you want. Its all done through email, and they answer very promptly. Their communication has been great. 

While I have not sailed on that ship, or room location, I have sailed in rooms near elevators before and you should be fine. While it doesnt look like it on the deck plans, the elevator banks are in their own lobby, and you actually have to go through a door, and down the hall to get to your stateroom. The noise level should be pretty low. 

When you are this far out, that is common. As your date gets closer, more and more will start showing up.

24 minutes ago, Birdman325 said:

I would get it for both of them but would I also have to get the package? 

I have also been reading some posts where people have been saying that some of these drink packages are only “worth it” depending on the number of sea days. I had though that if you bought (for example) the soda package they could use it while on the ship and also while on a shore excursion at Coco Cay (although presumably not at Atlantis) ? 

 

If you call Royal, you should be able to get the soda package for the kids without you purchasing one yourself.

As far as sea days and "worth it" etc. You just have to decide how much you plan to drink etc and come up with your own value proposition. For instance, take myself. I always get the Ultimate Drink Package, and this is why. I purchase early and get it at $46-49 PD, which means the break even point is 4-5  alcoholic drinks in a day(at $12 per drink, which is what the package allows). How I then break it down further is in the morning, I usually get a specialty latte etc, and this is the same on sea and port days.  Sea days, I will easily go through those 5-6 cocktails without a problem. Port days, if you are going to coco cay, it works there so i break even. On other port days, I will still break even, with my coffee in the morning, a couple of bottles of water to take off the ship to have in port, then usually a pre-dinner drink when I arrive back on the ship. Being Italian, its easy for my to go through 3 glasses of wine during dinner, then another drink at a post dinner show, etc etc. Typically every cruise I end up ahead. 

This is the mental math you need to do to decide what you should purchase. For most people the packages are worth it. For the kids that are going, I bet you will get your moneys worth with the soda package.

33 minutes ago, Cruise Newbie said:

Hello - 

Ship: Navigator of the Seas 

Me and my wife is going on our first cruise together for her birthday. Due to scheduling restrictions from our jobs and the babysitter's schedule we have no choice but to fly in on the day of Departure.

We are flying direct from DTW (6:40am) into FLL (9:40am)  and taking ground Transportation (Uber or Lyft) to the Miami port Terminal A.

Any tips on making the travel as smooth as possible? I know we are taking a risk but we want to make sure we are prepared as much as possible.

 

Thanks in Advance.

Welcome to the boards! I’ll be on the same cruise with my family. I would agree with other suggestions, travel insurance, make sure your documents are ready etc. assuming no travel hiccups you should have enough time.

Glad I got mine when I did. They are $800 in the cruise planner now for my September cruise.

In my experience, booking while on board doesn’t really get you a discount on the cruise, it just gets you a reduced deposit.

5 minutes ago, MichFish30 said:

Going on a 10 Day cruise on Radiance of the Seas in Septemeber.    So far no mention of Mystery Dinner - - - - - when does it typically show up?

It just showed up in my cruise planner for my cruise on Liberty in February. I would say that if it has not showed up in your cruise planner at this point, there won’t be one.