Rackham

Got the invoice for payment when they reversed the $100 OBC. Called customer service, was told the wait time would be longer than the typical Disney animated film, hanged up, and then canceled all cruise planner purchases which OBC was used (including those with OBC earned from booking the cruise). Once the $50 OBC hit, gave it a resting period then repurchased only the DBP.

Right. $50 per booking. 1 booking = $50 OBC. 2 bookings = $100 OBC.

At this point, I'm halfway waiting for an apology for canceling the previous apology due to staff error with another $50 OBC included which would bring the final OBC total to where it was before it was reversed. Royal really needs to figure out what they're doing and fast.

$100 OBC was credited for one package to my account. That's since become funding for the DBP on this sailing. I wasn't planning on the DBP for this one, but with $100 of Royal underwriting, it brought it down to an acceptable level.

Anybody else considering using the $50 OBC on a bottle of Veuve Clicquot, then telling fellow passengers it was your welcome aboard bottle from the Premier Pass package? Edit: The forum keeps getting rid of the crazy face at the end of the above.

For funsies, just did a mock booking for 4 adults in two connecting rooms for a 7 night Symphony sailing next May. Only $4,201.44 for connecting oceanviews on deck 8 before gratuities.

People are willing to pay it, so Royal is going to charge it. In many ways, this reminds me of what happened with Disney theme parks and resorts starting late 90s to early 2000s. Disney found people were willing to pay much higher prices, so they kept raising and raising the rates. At least with Royal, there's only so much they can raise on the fare before people start looking to cruise with another company.

Yep. Under the old benefits, I would've received the Platinum pin on a recent Anthem sailing. Due to the change, I ordered the pin off of eBay after getting back, about $13 shipped, so I'll have the full collection eventually (or at least through Diamond Plus).

I use a combination of spreadsheets and OneNote. Different workbooks for different trips (an example pic is below, there's more to the workbook that's not shown) and another workbook as a 10,000-foot level view of my Royal Caribbean cruises booked (for tracking and estimating overall expenses and C&A level). With OneNote, I have a notebook just for cruise planning and notes. I've attached a screenshot of my cruising notebook tabs. The notebook is for keeping track of information about places, ships, and policies. I also use it to keep track of the non-financial end of my cruise trip planning. So as I make decisions about what to do and see on and off the ship, or just the possibilities, it gets added in. There's a lot of information about cruising out there, but there really isn't a good central resource document. This notebook fills that gap for me.

I imagine so, though I could also see their exec team brainstorming ways to turn this into a win for them. Without knowing Royal's costs, and with the number of customers who canceled their internet packages because "OMG! This deal!" one option for Royal is emailing out a mea culpa about this mistake, and give people the option of either receiving a refund or receiving a two device internet package and a bottle of bubbly to their stateroom on embarkation day. It'd still cost Royal money, but I also wouldn't be shocked to learn that Royal would still make a slight profit on the people who accept the alternative offer instead of a refund.

I'm with the bandit, take the hit and book both. As far as calculating when breaks are, as someone with over a decade of experience in public education at this point, my recommendation is to keep a stash of historical school calendars, then match up the calendar of the vacation you're planning with January 1st on the historical calendars. The dates might not exactly align, but usually the week's position in the month will. For example, the last time January 1st fell on a Sunday before 2023 was the 2016-2017 school year. Our break calendar for this year is exactly the same as that particular school calendar. Days where students are out, but the staff are in, can vary. However, it's almost always a safe bet booking in the slots from the historical breaks. Looking forward to 2025, the school calendar that will possibly be reused is for the 2019-2020 school year since January 1st will be Wednesday.

I'll be aboard. Splurged on the DBP for this one, since it'll be my last sailing before reaching Diamond, with the intent of trying every single cocktail that sounds interesting that I have yet to try aboard Royal. Thanks to a recent Royal mishap, going to be enjoying the DBP on Allure this summer instead.

The side of the ship where you're standing on your balcony and not holding on for dear life.

So Prima 3 & 4 will be about Freedom-class size while 5 & 6 will be slightly larger than Quantum Ultra? Will be interesting to see what's next for Royal as ships age out of the fleet. Though from what I recall, Royal has enough cabin capacity coming online over the next several years that they could retire both Vision and Radiance classes and end up with more capacity than before 2024.

I have and did reserve for an Allure sailing in August.

DIGITAL TERMS OF USE AND END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT, Section 18. Purchases, Paragraph 2 We reserve the right to refuse or cancel any order prior to delivery. Some situations that may result in your order being cancelled include system or typographical errors, inaccuracies in product or pricing information or product availability, fairness among customers where supplies are limited, or problems identified by our credit or fraud departments. We also may require additional verification or information before accepting an order. We will contact you if any portion of your order is cancelled or if additional information is required to accept your order. https://www.royalcaribbean.com/terms-and-conditions/digital-terms-of-use-and-end-user-license-agreement

It's a mistake and should say per day. The only precedent to an error of this magnitude (to my knowledge) was pricing the DBP for slightly more than a single cocktail a few years back. Royal ended up honoring that mistake, but they might not honor this one due to everything involved with it. Right now, if they do cancel, hoping they'll at least send a bottle of the listed champagne to the cabin as an apology. I'd settle for a bottle of their favorite Domaine Ste. Michelle too.

I didn't see this plot twist coming. Somebody called and asked about the sommelier wine pairing perk, and they were told it's good at every meal in the MDR and specialty dining. From:

It does, but not in the bullet points. From the description: "During your sailing, you’ll savor an exclusive food and wine pairing." I've color coded the description page for reference.

Oooh. Garlic breadsticks and cheesesticks shouldn't be too difficult with their current setup.

Since the description lists with food and there's the bullet point "Wine pairing with sommelier (two guests) - wine is complimentary," it's probably either the Chef's Table or an exclusive event in Vintages (where available) or similar. I could see this working basically as a Chef's Table GTY as a way for Royal to fill Chef's Table slots that go unsold or for them to earmark the Chef's Table one evening of the cruise for purchasers. Conversely, Royal could include "A Taste of Royal" with the wine pairing and still meet the description. Either way, it keeps getting better and better the more we dig into this.

Oh, God. This keeps getting better and better. Chef's Table alone is about the cost of the package pre-sailing.

If it does work, we need "I Royal's Interns" t-shirts.

The Veuve Clicquot, if it's a full-sized bottle, goes for $99 + 18% aboard. It's got to be a daily charge that's been incorrectly entered into their system with how much everything else included would cost separately, even during a major sale.

From comments here and elsewhere concerning Royal's ability to accurately track and award C&A points, what I've been doing is the following: Keeping a spreadsheet with the ship, sail date, reservation number, and C&A points earned that should have been earned (there's more to the workbook, but this is the relevant information if there's an issue). Retaining the Seapass for each sailing so there's physical proof of being aboard. Speaking to the Loyalty Ambassador aboard if there's anything off once aboard the ship. This policy has already corrected an issue where my C&A number was unlinked from the reservation somehow; the Loyalty Ambassador was able to quickly fix the issue aboard Anthem. She also appeared confused as apparently the number was there on the shoreside reservation, but the computer wasn't doing whatever it was supposed to with the onboard account (if I'm recalling her quick explanation correctly). And this was only my 4th time sailing with Royal. I'm also seeing what Mturk mentioned about the points. Typically the points appear with my previous sailing approximately 7 days after disembarkation, and then the C&A point total updates itself to the new balance randomly within 48 hours afterwards. So points appearing today mean the grand total points should update between today (Saturday) and Monday evening.