sk8erguy1978

1 hour ago, groovybee said:

I don’t think they should cancel the cruise because that would be terrible for those who have travelled quite far to get here but I do think they need to do more by refunding us for more than 2 days since they are cutting an additional day in the Bahamas.

They'll refund port fees once the final itinerary is set. Honestly, I wouldn't care about missing Nassau, Bahamas. Departure at 2100 vs 1700 is around 28 or 29 hours late, also not horrible in my opinion.

However, that's easy for me to say sitting at home enjoying cocktails not in the middle of the situation.

I hope everyone sets sail tomorrow night and the cruise turns out to be awesome!

20 minutes ago, Momof4crazytocruise said:

Some of us even pay it 3 times and happily toss a few bucks extra out here and there for outstanding service 

Yes! Prior to every cruise I visit Chase and request lots of small bills ($1's and $5's).

Welcome to the forum!

No. Prepaid Gratuities provides a small tip to cabin steward, dining staff, and a few others. The 18% for the drink package is for the bar staff directly. 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/onboard-service-gratuity-expense

If you were to purchase a drink without a package, a tip would be included in the price, but as a separate line item.

Here is an example image of a drink order I "borrowed" from a quick Google Image search: (Service Charge)

We've done both. I do make copies regardless. Some at home with family, some in my little "travel packet" which has various documents needed (travel insurance, set sail pass, excursion stuff, etc).

As mentioned, I have a passport wallet too, which holds some credit cards, drivers license, US cash and/or a local currency if required so it's not a big deal to carry it off the ship.

I understood every word. I'd assume multiple subnets on the ship, but that's a guess. I'm with @Baked Alaska I highly doubt random ports will be open. 

10 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

In nearly 50 cruises with Royal Caribbean the worst thing I've encountered was a drawer with the previous occupant's underwear in it.

Hopefully they were clean . I would have gotten a chuckle out of it personally.

I have sailed Anthem 3 times (2016, 2018, 2019) and have never encountered a dirty room. In 2016 I was with a group of about 9 cabins, no issues. In 2018 I was with 5 cabins, no issues. In 2019 I was with 6 cabins, no issues. I am not sure if the cabin steward is trained to identify bed bugs, but you can always check for yourself (peace of mind). I'm not going to sit here and say there isn't a single bed bug on the ship, but I've never in 12 Royal Caribbean cruises (with two more booked) in the last 13 years have heard/read one story of an infestation.

Rest assured, I can say with 99.9% certainty your room will be completely sanitary and bug free. In regards to Lysol, some people wipe down the room, but I honestly feel it's overkill.

Don't forget, people like to leave bad reviews (some not true) but rarely jump in with a positive review. 

14 minutes ago, Nathan1260 said:

I went to my online account and linked the bookings manually however I noticed that neither stateroom is linked to use the same cruise planner and instead extras need to be booked/paid for separately for each stateroom!?

Is there a way to link the booking references to the same cruise planner so we can all book activities/dining together? 

I've booked restaurants for other reservations via the cruise planner before. After you choose "add to cart" you'll see everyone under your reservation. To add people from another reservation there will be a drop down "Add guests from another reservation" and it gives you a way to look them up. I've attached a screenshot.

Hope this helps a little. Welcome to the forum and the world of cruising. 

On 1/26/2020 at 8:15 AM, danv3 said:

Never even got one for reaching Emerald, but I wouldn't wear it.  

To be honest, I sort of chuckle at the pinnacles wearing nametags.  

I don't recall receiving Emerald pins either, just platinum and diamond. I'm sending a sternly worded email!

delete

delete

We toss them in a drawer never to be seen again. Although, I did come across our Diamond pins looking for something else the other day LOL.

1 hour ago, JLMoran said:

Totally fine, in either direction. And yes, they are indeed quite close to one another. If it's evening, I recommend getting the slices and going to the pub so you can enjoy the performer they'll have.

Or after the performance ordering a fresh pie for you and your friends... Something I didn't know was possible until reading posts here! Yum!

I've never tried to bring pizza into the pub, they probably would not stop you. You can walk out of the pub with your beer and get pizza, I've done it without issues.

No experience bringing one, but if you ask your stateroom attendant fast enough they might have a box fan for you.

The price varies each sailing so there isn't any way to know what the first package will cost, but Royal applies a 25% discount to each package. Normally the prices on-board are higher and an on-board sale isn't guaranteed. At best, the on-board buy one get one half off will be the same price as a similar sale if you pre-book. The best advice you will hear is pre-book and keep an eye out for cruise planner sales (you might even see a 30% off sale which is better than the buy one get one 1/2 off) and you can cancel and re-purchase.

If you'd like to know what the current full price is for your sailing, login to the Cruise Planner and check what the price & sale is and do some simple math.

Example: $65 at 20% off. $65 (sale price) / .80 (difference between percent and 100) = $81.25 is the full price. Take that with a grain of salt because for previous sailings I have calcuated the base price for 20%, buy one get one half off, & 30% and all had a slightly different base price. I call it Royal's Rounding.

As far as canceling on-board, not entirely sure, my guess is you would have beat the sale anyway pre-purchase, but someone will chime in with a direct answer. 

The issue you describe is really weird. I had no issue listening with play music (Google app) on my phone. I didn't download, I just listened to it streamed, but that shouldn't make a difference.

Sounds like the download somehow got corrupt. I'd delete and redownload before giving up on your favorite app.

Congratulations on being debt free! You can have a cash account but you'll have to settle before disembarking and that can be a pain. You can use the debit card as a credit card (assuming it is a debit Visa or MasterCard) but as mentioned by @Piggy it might put an unwanted hold. The credit card is the best option, but completely understand not wanting to use it.

Not an iPhone user, however, iMessages should work over WiFi without data.

Test it at home by either putting the phone in airplane mode (but turn on WiFi) or just shut off data independently. 

What kind of stateroom are you in? Maybe room service and private meal on balcony (if you're in balcony). Pre-order items as suggested by @Quilter620, we've done that a few times. Look through the restaurants menus and choose a nice specialty restaurant for a "date night" (we do that almost every cruise, especially if friends are with us to get away from them LOL). Find photographers and get lots of pictures all dressed up. Sleep in a bit, slow down a lot, and enjoy each other.

1 hour ago, xps15z said:

Ok I'm more than a year out from sailing date in May 2021. I know 95% of the rooms have to be available. What's the trick to booking a connecting room lol. It shows an option to show connected rooms when I do 2 rooms. I have 3 guest in each room. It shows the arrows for connecting rooms but doesn't allow me to book both rooms. It's either the room with the door and then 2 units down for every connecting room. Is this something I have to call and get them to give it to me (and they probably will upcharge me) or what's the deal. Anyone had success booking connected rooms online?

Just a guess, but maybe the two rooms do not fall within a similar category and cannot be selected at the same time. I'd take @steverk's advice and contact a reputable travel agent who can work the magic for you at no additional cost.

17 minutes ago, xps15z said:

I've done a refundable cruise. I've always booked max 3 months out, and the past one I booked it two weeks beforehand and scored the best price since a year out from sailing. The only reason I am doing refundable this time around is because I am booking so soon. Priceline Cruises has shown the best prices, even for the cruise we did last year. So I just want to keep my options open being so far out between cruise alerts I am getting and priceline. That way with refundable I can get my money back 100% between now and 90 days from sailing in May 2021.  I am still waiting for prices to show between 800-900 for a balcony for this silly refurbished allure. Lowest is like 1000 for interior room, which I  wouldn't mind but I think we will need that extra space with putting a crib/pack n play inside the room.

Ah, yeah that's a little different. I usually book about 12 to 18 months out.

I find the refundable fare to be about the same price (or more) than if I just make the change and pay the fee (because I'm going on A CRUISE just maybe not that one LOL). I'd cancel and re-book when it got closer and plans became 100%, however, we all know fares go up so it's a horrible gamble. 

44 minutes ago, JLMoran said:

Corrected that for you.  

 100%. Everyone has a story!

We have not been to Labadee since before this thread was created but: Zip line & Coaster. 

The Coaster gave me mini flashbacks of a time long ago, those old enough from New Jersey / New York area might remember ... The Alpine Slide at Action Park.