Uncwmark

We booked Utopia on the day they opened her for reservations and will be sailing on her in early August. No specialty dining options have been made available yet in the cruise planner. None. When you click on the "dining" tab you get a message stating "Amazing Experiences Coming Soon" I find this odd because we have two other cruises (one on Icon and the other on Wonder) occurring later in 2024 and 2025 that DO have dining options available to pre-book in CP. I assumed they held off on pre-booking for specialty dining because, perhaps, there is a new option/concept they haven't announced yet for Utopia (perhaps it's the ability to pre-book individual restaurants for multi-evening dining packages?). Still, it does seem strange to be within six months of sailing and not have the ability to pre-book dining!

OP specifically mentioned staying a suite and having access to suite lounge... so, no... not relevant if staying in a Jr. Suite, but that wasn't the premise of the post...

If you're diamond or higher and staying in a suite, it will never make FINANCIAL sense to purchase the DBP unless you regularly (over course of length of cruise) drink more than 15+ beverages a day. Period. Now, as mentioned above, if you prefer to look at it purely from a convenience standpoint, then... to each his/her own... but RCCL says "THANK YOU!!!"

Or... you could pre-purchase the refreshment package online through the cruise planner for your spouse.... then call and purchase the drink package for yourself only (this has to be done via phone call), and then cancel your spouse's refreshment package through the cruise planner. Works every time... (or so I hear )

It appears it was an RCL shore excursion... (at least that's what OP indicated in their initial post). Agree... one minute grace period not long enough given there was some ambiguity as to when you were supposed to return. If I was one of the stranded passengers I'd be furious!

Well, we're probably part of the "problem" here... we "won" a Royal Up from a JS to Crown Loft Suite back when Royal Up first started in 2018/2019... we enjoyed the CLS so much that we now exclusively book a Sky Class suite. We're a younger family with (hopefully) many years of travel left -- so, whether or not that played a role in us "winning" that original Royal Up bid or not, who knows... but, I do know that it's very unlikely we would be sailing in sky class if we had not won that original RU bid.

And, again, it's not a revenue driver for the cruise line. It's a deterrent.

Our last Disney cruise (this past May) in a slightly larger ocean view balcony cabin, cost more than what we paid for a CLS on both Symphony (2019) and Harmony (2022).... the entry level concierge class ("suite") cabins on Disney, which really aren't much bigger than a jr. suite on RCCL, are typically priced at $4 - $5k per person based on double occupancy for a 7 day cruise (so $8-$10k for a couple). We haven't done concierge class on Disney, but we enjoy the sky suite class on RCCL and am fine with the tradeoff of paying for popcorn (we've never done it)! Again, this isn't a revenue driver for RCCL... it's to discourage waste (and cleanup by their staff). I hate "nickel and diming", but in this case I think it makes sense!

This is 100% why they charge for popcorn, according to F&B manager. And, for what it's worth, Disney charges for popcorn too unless you're in a suite (which, as you may know, is not cheap!!)

There's also a DL flight into ATL at 12:54pm.... if you're already at the airport, you might be able to get rebooked onto that flight and at least get down to ATL earlier (and avoid risk of missing connecting MCO flight). Seems like there are a lot of ATL-MCO flights so unsure why they rebooked y'all so late in the day?

Well, the good news is that FlightAware shows your inbound Delta jet is now coming from San Diego and that flight has already left and is showing an on-time arrival into DTW @ 2:34pm. Hopefully they're able to turn the flight a little quicker than expected and get you off a little earlier? Wishing you safe travels! Sorry for the stress!

Uhh.... ok? Presumptuous much? Didn't realize folks cruising on 7-day cruises were higher-quality passengers? The cruising world is changing... evolve or die... I suspect RCCL will be laughing all the way to the bank... with much higher daily rates and on board spend...

Booked late August, B2B, in sky jr. suite... mentioned in other thread, but was shocked that when I booked (8am today) the price difference between a sky jr. suite and regular jr. suite (without sky suite benefits) was only $20 per person (for 4 of us). That's a no-brainer. Just looked again and, three hours later, there are no longer any sky jr. suites available for booking for our sail dates...

Booked B2B in August in Jr. Sky Suite... surprised that cost of Jr. Sky Suite was only $20 more per person than regular jr. suite that doesn't come with Sky Suite benefits. Free wi-fi, Coastal Kitchen access, suite deck access (with free alcohol drinks), priority embarkation and debarkation, etc. seems like it would be priced way more than $20 more per person. I'll take it!

Never heard of the guy, but nice video. My biggest takeaway is there will be at least one short sailing prior to inaugural sailing… I know they normally do a few shake down cruises and/or travel agent previews before inaugural, but wonder if there will be any short sailings made available to public?

Follow the $$$.... Utopia to Port Canaveral, 4-night inaugural sailing expected to occur on July 15, 2024. Brilliant business move by RCL. Folks will pay and yields will be incredible...

Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury... may I introduce Exhibit A... directly from RCCL's website: Coco Cay FAQ "How is CocoCay pronounced? CocoCay is pronounced Coco-Key." [Bottom of page 1] The defense rests... jury deliberations take two seconds.... How is this even debatable? RCCL Corporate has answered the questions for us... it's Coco KEY.

You sound like a blast to be around…. Hope you enjoy Odyssey (I can’t wait to hear how awful that ship and passengers are )

That Symphony itinerary is awful... one stop from FLL to Barcelona and it's in Malaga.. and ship begins journey on March 9th so weather will be cool. There appear to be a ton of open cabins and I would suspect there may be some even better deals the closer you get to sail date (March 9th)

This isn't related to the sphere/pearl referenced in this thread -- this is, in fact, the dome at the front of the ship (two different features). Believe we'll all have more clarity, hopefully, tomorrow...

Per RCCL's latest earnings release: "Starting Aug. 8, testing will be required for unvaccinated guests on all voyages and for vaccinated guests only on voyages that are six nights or longer. " https://finance.yahoo.com/news/royal-caribbean-group-reports-second-120000818.html Hey - it's a start!!

You do a great job with this site, @Matt and I appreciate your explanation. I get it and, unfortunately, the ambulance chaser may ultimate be right regarding outcome of today’s hearing. We’ll see?

I’m disappointed @Matt elected to use this blog’s Twitter account to retweet ANYTHING from this ambulance chaser. Why give him a bigger platform?

Which is exactly why I didn't promote it on a public board...

The loophole I discovered doesn't cost you (or any fellow cruiser) to see the price of your drink package increase as I don't use for unintended purposes. Would you agree that there are many viable and justifiable reasons why one person in a cabin would like to purchase the drink package and another wouldn't (like, perhaps, a medical condition that prevents a spouse from drinking alcohol)? I'm not taking advantage of the loophole to extort 'free' drinks from RCCL; merely finding a way around what I (and the OP) find to be an unfair policy. I'd be willing to bet that if you found yourself in a similar position to OP and me, you'd feel the same way. For what it's worth, the reason I didn't post the 'loophole' publicly was, to your point, because I'm aware some might use it to take advantage and "share" a drink package.