Shari3

While I was 100% content just a moment ago, now I feel like my life is less until I too get Express Boarding.

I just had this last week on Liberty
 

I just had this last week on Liberty
 

Pro Tip: Security onboard will not tolerate arguing, raised voice couples. ANY passenger that picks up their stateroom phone and calls security to report their concern from what they thought they heard walking down a hallway or from the room next door....I guarantee you are going to see an intervention--in force.
Another Pro Tip: Being in Florida you are in the epicenter of bitterness, anger, frustration, and remorseful feelings. I think you should cut bait on your planned cruise vacation and modify your trip by just hanging out in Florida for the week. You'll meet a lot of sympathetic new friends. In the end I'll think the both of you will call it a win. The cruise will just be another time you were ripped off and taken advantage of.
 
 

You can cancel the auto gratuities if that's how you want to roll.
A few other ways, if your desire is to have Royal go out of business or reverse their cutbacks would be:
Don't book any cruises with them at all Book only with Refundable Deposit and cancel if the changes don't suit you Wait and experience the impact of the perceived cutbacks on your actual sailing and utilize the post cruise survey to express your feelings about your sailing. Nobody loves cutbacks.  If they ever get to a point of impacting me to a degree that I would pull back the gratuities because of it, I'll just opt for the first bullet above. 

It depends what you are seeking. 
The travel agencies that offer the most discounts tend to take that out of the commision paid by Royal so you can end up with travel agents that have very little skin in the game.  Often these agents have no time to spend servicing your booking so expect little service.  Maybe you want to change cabins or upgrade.  No money in the booking for an agent to invest their time doing that, so they might not. 
Some of these companies manipulate the system and you'll find you need to make payments to Royal and to the agency for the cruise. That's a big red flag.  If the cruise goes off as planned you've done great, if anything happens you'll find yourself cheated out of FCC and having a difficult time getting refunds or credits.
If you are okay with a reduced level of service that's great.  On the other hand if it's the service that you are seeking then consider your approach.
There is no free lunch in the travel agency world.  The old adage "If it seems too good to be true it probably is" remains valid.   
 

Haha, you received the infamous note. It must be effective crowd control because they continue to use it. If there’s ever a time to defy the rules or bend them a bit, it’s for the good of a family vacation. Hit “delete” and continue to the destination.

Also Playmakers is a cheap option as well

I really think that the IT people at RC just use a dart board and decide what the price for an excursion or drink package will be !
At the start of their shift the lucky one gets to throw the dart for each of the package prices that they will change.  It's really taking some of the fun out of planning because I think we put forth our money with trust and RC looks at their balance sheet after the last couple of years and thinks "they want to cruise so bad let's see if they are willing to pay X for this package".

Sorry I don't have the answer to your question but I know you can reach out to MEI and request a different agent. In fact, I bet you anything that a MEI agent will see this post and reach out to you. 

The problem I have with this is less service (1x daily service) for more money (increased gratuities).

I just searched the cruise and there looks to be plenty of availability, so I would say it's a glitch or Royal was just looking at inventory. 

That happened to my Quantum cruise: 1st it completely disappeared for a couple of days, then it was back on the list but if you clicked on it it came up blank, then it was finally back another couple days later.
I just checked on cruisemapper.com and all of those weeks do show up, none indicating a charter - at this point. Fingers crossed that it's just another Royal IT glitch and it will show up again for you like mine did.

Sleep on the beach.  Hunt some seagulls for breakfast.

It was on a 5N cruise.  It's an on board benefit that doesn't change with cruise length.

Yeah my wife waits up until midnight to get us the earliest check in time. She puts forth the effort as anyone else can. So it is fair if you are motivated

Send an email to [email protected] two weeks before your cruise. Tell them your sailing date and ship, reservation number and your request. I have always gotten a return email confirming within a few days. 

Exactly what I just did!

Exactly what I just did!

@Jack Blaze  @twangster @RCIfan1912 I’m on the Anthem now. So far….internet has been pretty good. Streaming HD Netflix and Prime without any issues.
I spoke with the Internet Manager and he said Starlink is not yet fully operational. Even though Speedtest shows Starlink as the service.
They started experimenting with the service after the installation last week. He explained my experience two weeks ago of the service being very sporadic was due to frequent outages while they were working on it. Many passengers on that cruise had their internet purchase partially refunded.
They tried a test period this past week with the crew areas and it went very well.
They are still installing additional equipment throughout the ship and upgrading their entire system. He believes the full rollout will be sometime next week. Hopefully they can avoid many interruptions in the service until then. I’m here next week too, so I’ll wait and see.🤞

A number of years ago there were beverage waiters in the MDR.  They are long gone.  Now the regular servers have to handle food and beverage.  The overall cut in the number of servers, in general, adds to the problem.  The root cause of all of the problems related to slower MDR dining time is the lack of service staff. Cutting the menu and reducing the options diners have is attempting to address the symptom and not the root cause.

Shari3 might be right on scheduling lunch once get onboard.  We weren't able to on our cruise until we got to the Club.  I    would check right away when you board on the first day of the cruise.

Unless this has changed since August, you can absolutely make your reservations in advance.  There was a letter in our cabin with our shore excursion information on day 1 with the extension to call to set up our lunch reservation.  I would suggest calling sooner rather than later if you want to eat during the more popular time slots.

Every time I have been there they don’t keep track of how many towels you use.  There is a small hut where you can go and get however many you like. You should definitely schedule your lunch reservation the first day of your cruise to get a good time. There will be information in your cabin on the number to call. 

I feel like this is one of those call again and ask a different agent until you get the answer you like.