Biff215

1 hour ago, Bazza said:

Congrats on Diamond!

If there is a Johnny Rockets, could he use them for milkshakes?

 

Thanks! Yes, I believe that is an option, as well as smoothies in the spa. Hard to break him from the Freestyle machine though!

First cruise as Diamond coming up. My 12 year old tells me he’s going to use his 4 vouchers on Sprite. Despite me not seeing the value, I certainly get it, but here’s my thought. What if I buy him the soda package so he gets as much Sprite as he wants without having to order it, can I then use his Diamond vouchers to get specialty coffees for my wife and I? Will he need to be with me and can I order two at a time?

Thanks in advance, just want to make sure I’m doing this right!

Anyone experience unlimited dining yet on Oasis during this Mediterranean season?  Still on the fence as we're fearful on what will be available when we board in Rome next week.

2 hours ago, Ampurp85 said:

I would book hibachi asap and try to get it refunded. There's limited space, so if this is something you really want to do, don't take any chances. Hibachi is very limited.

We have it booked. I thought about also booking unlimited dining and trying what you said. Think it might work? If it doesn’t it would cost us over $250 on top of the $1,000 package. 

3 hours ago, roybthered said:

To be honest you should not have too much trouble getting into the restaurants you want, when we board we go to one of the specialty restaurants and book all our dining for the cruise from there ( we usually go to Izumi as that is the only place you can actually book the hibachi and book every one). We have even changed thorough out the cruise going to a restaurant numerous times. 

Thanks, this is our typical experience as well, just concerned with the multiple embarkation ports. Our daughter would like hibachi on the first night for her birthday and I fear that might be a long shot waiting until we board, just based on limited capacity alone. 

Nope, unfortunately not in a suite, two balconies were expensive enough!

Might have to go with booking each separately since these are special occasions. Just really stinks to pay more for two nights than we would for three!

Just now, Ryan79 said:

As long as you are flexible on days, times and restaurant, you will be will be fine with no issues. If you have your heart set on always eating at a certain time or want a certain restaurant on a specific day…then you may run into some issues 

Thanks for the reply. Thats our concern. The first night is our daughter’s 16th birthday and the last night is our 20th anniversary. I might need to just book them individually at the higher cost, it’s just a shame to lose out on the third night that would pay for itself in the package. Tough call!

Looking at the dining packages for our Mediterranean cruise on Oasis. Concerned about getting reservations once onboard due to the double boarding days (Barcelona and Rome).

Anyone have experience with this? Should we expect to have difficulties getting reservations for the first few days? We already stress this on a sailing with one home port!

Any thoughts on Baha Bay in January?  Just like Thrill Waterpark, I'm concerned about the temperature in the winter and whether it's still worth the money.  Any insight would be appreciated!

17 minutes ago, Matt said:

Thanks for the update, Matt. Now it will be interesting to see if Royal reinstates their excursions. 

21 minutes ago, craftycruiselady said:

The nightmare is true since the construction started on the new garages a few days ago. But it also matters how many ships are in port. If you are on a 6 ship day, it will be ten times worse than a 3 ship day. I personally would be a little ticked to pay full garage price and be stuck out in a surface lot. I would get there early enough to grab a spot s someone is leaving but not so early that not enough people have left yet and you should be fine. 

Have you considered another option, uber to a hotel very close to the port with a shuttle? Will probably be cheaper but yes, you do lose a little control because you are waiting for shuttles and it is most likely cheaper? Unless you were staying really cheap or free on your two days and then maybe not.

Thanks for that info. Looks like 4 ships in port that day.

We're staying in Disney on DVC points so no need for a hotel either night.

15 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

What car company? I've done the one way with Enterprise and the price is rarely that much more expensive than a round trip.

I check Costco daily and it compares Alamo, Avis, Budget, and Enterprise.  It hasn't dropped below $300 for the two days, compared to $125 if I pick up and return at MCO.

16 minutes ago, Lucky said:

I flew into Daytona Beach (DAB) for Wonder in October. I rented a car to get from DAB to Cape Canaveral, dropped it off, they shuttled us to the port for free. We flew out of MCO, and on the way to the airport we used Go Port.

I bring this up because you do have the option of renting and taking a shuttle one way each. We used Avis in this instance.

Thanks. If you mean renting at MCO and dropping off at the port, I did mention that but it’s almost $100 more total that way. They’re really upcharging the dropping off at a different location from where you pick up, it’s almost $200 more. 

7 minutes ago, loki007 said:

I would and have chosen option #2. I have parked at terminal 1 many times and never had an issue. What time is your boarding? Get there before noon and there will be no issues parking. 

Thanks. We got 10:30 and plan to be there nice and early. I’m just hearing about long waits for parking with a huge ship like Allure doing a short cruise, plus Wonder going out of there too adding even more cars. 

Since both cost about the same, I’m just looking for convenience getting to and from the ship. 

Hi everyone, debating on what to do here. We’re flying into Orlando two days before a weekend cruise on Allure. Here are our options for transportation that would cost about the same for a family of four. 

1. Rent a car from MCO ($125) and return it there before taking Go Port shuttle roundtrip ($240). 

2. Rent a car for the entire trip ($300) and park it at Port Canaveral ($68). 

The only other option is renting a car at MCO and returning it near the port, but that ends up costing well over $400. 

I thought I was settled on option 2 since we would have the most control (no shuttles) but now I’m hearing nightmare stories about the parking situation at Terminal 1, particularly for Allure since it’s attracting more locals. 

What would you do? Thanks in advance!

7 hours ago, Hannah L said:

We just got off Allure and were on a ferry to blue lagoon that morning when half way through the ferry ride they said they had to cancel and bring us back “due to unforeseen circumstances.” We assumed they had oversold the excursion on the island as there were six ships in port, but this is so much worse…

Was Allure in Nassau on Tuesday? I thought Indy was Royal’s only ship in port that day. 

20 minutes ago, RoadtoNowhere73 said:

Hi Smokey, perhaps a rhetorical question: I wonder then, what other arrangements they've made for pending BL reservations between now and then. My rez remains active in my RC excursion queue (granted it's still a month away)

I’m willing to bet they’re taking a wait-and-see approach. How long the Bahamas holds their ferries from operating will determine when they can restart excursions. Then Royal can decide whether or not to continue to offer them. For now I’m sure they’re content holding on to everyone’s money until everything settles. Just my guess. 

1 hour ago, Xaa said:

Yep gone for mine too.  I had no plans to head back anyway.  Not that I wouldn't go back, just that there are other things I would do first.

In Nassau??? Please share, lol. We really struggle with Nassau and were considering Blue Lagoon this time. It will be interesting to see if this is simply a knee jerk reaction by Royal to temporarily pull these excursions or if it becomes permanent. Such a terrible situation for everyone involved. 

All Blue Lagoon excursions (there were 9) have now been completely removed from Cruise Planner for my January cruise on Allure. 

Noticed this morning that all nine of the Blue Lagoon excursions on Cruise Planner for our January Allure sailing are now “sold out” (none were just the other day). 

2 hours ago, tangled1010 said:

Thank you for this. I did a "trial" run with OnPoint last week and it was very easy and had my results in minutes. I liked that I could see the proctor too. Doing the "for real" test this week. I scheduled it for 1215a July 15th cause we have an early flight and I want it done before we head out.  Wondering if the date will show July 15th also since it looks like the lab they use is in TX or CA?

We had someone in our Facebook group run into this issue but it was easily fixed. Her initial report said the day before but they immediately changed it. Our proctor asked us the time where we were so I would just make sure that happens. It’s doubtful they’re even in Texas or California anyway, they work from home. Someone mentioned theirs was from the Philippines!

1 hour ago, Diane O said:

Thanks. I read on the app that it is required on the list of info needed for test results but I am seeing so much contradictory info out there. Thanks for passing this along!

As posted above it is possible to print out a second form with their CLIA number on it. With both I plus Royal’s response I feel confident that it will be fine. I’ll report back when I can. 

From Royal Customer Service:

Hey there, we prefer a CLIA number or certification number, but not all medical facilities have those numbers so if your test doesn't include one don't worry about it. - Cheyenne

39 minutes ago, Diane O said:

Great to hear that. Would you mind letting me know if the CLIA number was on your OnPoint test results? I called OnPoint and their representative said that the CLIA number is NOT on the results which is making me hesitant to use them. 

No it doesn’t. Does Royal state anywhere that CLIA # is required?

OnPoint was awesome this morning. Got 4 tests done in about 15 minutes and had the results emailed in about 30 minutes. Highly recommend for the $15/person if you already have your own tests.