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berkeleykel

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Everything posted by berkeleykel

  1. Gothic Quarter is a great place to stay. With one day in Barcelona I’d prioritize either Park Guell or Segrada Familia, whichever sounds more interesting to you. Check TripAdvisor for restaurants. Las Ramblas is fine but most restaurants on it will be tourist traps so never sit down without checking reviews first.
  2. There is an excursion called "Explore Florence" that gives you 3 hours of independent touring. I'd be wary of a tour that promised more time than that because of the length of the drive (I think it is like 2-3 hours each way). If it is not a Royal excursion you'd want to leave a couple of hours to spare in case of delays. I did not go to Florence because I think that much time on a bus sounds miserable even for an adult, let alone young kids. I did La Spezia instead. There are details in my blog below (we were on Wonder last year but the itinerary is the same on Symphony this year). We also did the Coliseum on our own (fast train to and from Rome and a semi-guided tour of the Coliseum with a tour guide provided by the Coliseum).
  3. Barcelona is easiest. The ports are much more accessible on the 7 night Explorer itinerary though. To see much on the Western Med itinerary would mean LONG days. Personally I don’t think cruises are the best way to see the Western Med but a great way to see Greece and the Adriatic
  4. I have not been on a holiday or free day but I wonder if they would still sell the guided tour tickets (didactic tour) for the coliseum for that date, which could help avoid the lines eta - never mind, looking at the April free Sunday just now it looks like they don't do guided tours at all on the free days. Sorry!
  5. I like just enough roll to "feel" that I'm on a ship. I don't have another Oasis class experience to compare it with, but on Wonder we kept forgetting we were on a ship at all as we hardly felt any movement.
  6. I had a midship balcony on deck 9 on Wonder and didn't hear anything.
  7. The cooler had ice and four cans of waters stocked already when we arrived. For the two complimentary drinks you can basically order anything that the Lime & Coconut can make (cocktails etc). We were also given a Lime & Coconut cocktail menu to take back to our cabana, but after your initial two drinks everything is priced as normal. Pretty sure there is no option for food. Also the description says storage is provided, but I didn't see storage except for the top of the side table that doubled as the cooler. I really would have appreciated a locker or similar.
  8. I booked a casita two days on Wonder last summer. One was a port day and it was probably a waste as there were plenty of loungers available. On the sea day we would not have had lounger if not for the casita. I booked ahead on the cruise planner, but to pick the location I had to go to one of the bars near the pool deck from 9 am on the day to reserve the specific casita. I then had to go back to the bar to check in later in the day when we came back to actually use it. Some had already been booked by 9 am and had their names written on the casitas. I assumes those were star class as I wasn’t given the option for choosing ahead and our name was never written on ours. We did have someone’s stuff on our casita when we got there on the pool day but the attendant moved it. It didn’t offer the best protection from the sun but I’d consider booking one again for a sea day especially as we don’t tend to hit the pool deck early so have less chance of finding loungers.
  9. Was it during school holidays? If you want warm weather but minimum kids, September is a good option (at least in the Med/Adriatic where it will still be hot).
  10. My son was glued to playing Super Smash Bros on the Switch in AO. I’ll see if he can think of any other games, but I can only remember that one because he became OBSESSED.
  11. Royal's reputation is Royal's problem, and they could bend the rules for everyone's personal issues if they wanted to. In the short term they'd be out of the fee income, but would it work out for them in the long-run due to increased goodwill from customers that bring in repeat business? Maybe, maybe not. My guess is they are concerned that things like this would be too easy to make up and too administratively difficult to police (by requesting proof of illness and relationship). So I'm not saying I don't understand Royal's position. But it isn't a given and Royal is making a choice to increase its revenue at the expense of some bad goodwill now and again. The OP being frustrated is also entirely understandable.
  12. For UK and EU bookings there is a significant discount you can only get by calling (some have had success chatting on the website but I haven't). GBP 43 pn. I've heard it is now for new bookings only, but not sure how recently you must have booked for it to be considered "new".
  13. You must have looked up the fare for a single person? I think the $192 is based on double occupancy. I can pull it up fine.
  14. On the Key, make sure you are comparing apples to apples. You can usually get a two-device plan cheaper than 2 one-device plans, so there is only an incremental cost to adding a second plan, whereas with the Key you are paying the full price per person. A polo shirt will fit in nicely in the dining room most nights. You may want to bring something more formal for the formal nights (polo will be a little underdressed compared to many people), but formal dress is optional and if you were in a polo you'd still be better dressed that those who will inevitably show up in t-shirts. I think it's unlikely that you'd find yourself accidentally ordering something over the drink plan amount. They are not trying to catch you off your guard. Maybe if you specified a top shelf liquor or something, but I'd imagine they would flag if it would incur an exchange charge knowing once they see your card that you are on the DBP. I loved Rhapsody and all the evening game shows and activities in the Centrum. I hope you have a great time!
  15. Watch out! After stating affirmatively two days ago I was NOT going to book this ship for the foreseeable future, I kept peeking at prices and room options just for fun...now booked for Aug 2024 in adjoining Surfside Family Suites. The 99 GBP pp deposit for UK bookings was too tempting. I'm really not thrilled with the lack of an ocean view, but for families who want Sky level suites and some separation between kids and parents without paying $20k+, this seems to be one of the best options (assuming the balconies can open so we can treat them like connecting rooms, which I think is a pretty safe assumption). Adjoining Sky junior suites would have had the benefit of being located in the suite neighbourhood, but there are so few of those and they were already sold out for the dates I could do. I think the kids at least will probably like the surfside view.
  16. Anyone have a guess as to whether Surfside Family Suites with adjacent balconies will have the ability to connect balconies?
  17. I will book when it (pretty please) comes to the Med. Not flying 8+ hours with kids for a cruise. Unless I can get a steal of a price on the Ultimate Family Townhouse at some point, which might be worth flying to Miami for. I think I have a better chance of Icon spending a summer in the Med.
  18. If you do a normal search it should come up as an option if you filter by ship. May need to sign in first.
  19. $70,000 on the US site. $99,000 sticker price before discounts applied.
  20. Priced out the Ultimate Family Townhouse for August...£56,000 for 2 adults, 2 kids
  21. Does the cruise contract actually state that the final payment deadline turns off the “48 hours from reserving” language? Not to mention that even if Royal had the better contractual argument (not clear at all to me that they do) it still would be incredibly misleading to put a 48 hour best price guarantee at check out for a booking to which it would not apply, when clearly it is being used to induce booking. @Ptrg did Royal claim you were outside the 48 hours or that the policy just didn’t apply to your booking?
  22. Is it standard for Caribbean cruises to have the early seating at 5:15/5:30? Seems crazy early to me and I have young kids!
  23. Yes it’s still going on. It’s been posted to multiple forums, there is one called Royal Caribbean Cruises UK that may be helpful if you are UK based
  24. Just to confirm I’m booked on Symphony from Barcelona next summer and I also don’t have any excursions available to book yet, so it’s not an interport specific issue. Barcelona is pretty compact with good transport and close to the cruise port so I wouldn’t worry about a lack of ship excursions and just book a private excursion or DIY.
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