VillainsGin

Their marketing was extremely deceptive and I basically folded in on the "infinite" balcony as well since my definition of infinite was so much better than what they really had in stored for me. Now I know to never book anything with infinite in the name and stick with traditional balconies/suites. I understand some people like this category but personally for me it feels more limited than a traditional balcony. It would have been nice if they did not withhold this information until most of us booked it. Going to mess with royal up bid to see if I can find something perhaps more to our desired preference.

wouldn't you agree they may overlooked a major design flaw if that was the case. you get all the cons but none of the pros of a traditional balcony cabin simply adding a tri-fold door/wall they could have solved the entire dilemma without ruining the concept they wanted to achieve. With the traditional balcony theres a door separating your cabin and the balcony so you can enjoy the heat outside then come back into a chilled cabin afterwards but with this concept it'll be extremely uncomfortable to open the balcony ever. the marketing sold me on an infinite view few years ago way before they released their animated tour of the cabins then i realized i should have just booked a traditional balcony instead for Icon OTS

I've been scouring all over the internet for any definitive sources that answers my questions but to no avail. Hoping some fellow cruisers know anymore more than I do regarding the infinite ocean view balcony rooms. Question: Does the infinite view balcony rooms have some sort of partition/divider/door to separate the cabin and the balcony area to maintain the air conditioning? I've seen countless of videos and pictures either showing no separation between balcony/cabin or curtains/folding doors. I figured with all the money, time and resource put into Icon OTS they would include some sort of partition so you can open the balcony window freely without jeopardizing your air conditioned room. Caribbean is known to get quite warm and humid and without any way to separate your balcony window from the cabin it would immediately heat up the cabin and perhaps cause mold due to moisture or condensation between cold and hot air. This could constantly deter you from enjoying the balcony if you're aware opening it would cause your cabin to use considerable energy to cool down the cabin again.

Much appreciated for putting me at ease! I've flown countless of times but have never encountered this situation before so it's good to know everything is fine. I will eventually call the airline when I have time to find out their reason for labeling the map and the ticket like this for curiosity sake and report back if anything is different! Thank you @USCG Teacher @Carlos A.

Hello! Noticed a small detail that has caused some confusion. I have not contacted the airline directly yet and was hoping someone would know before I navigate their phone maze. Below is a picture of the seating map with circles labeled 1/2 on 17A/17B showing the seats we chose BUT the booking information shows 17A/17C. Does anyone know if this is nothing to worry about or if this is something I should bring to the airlines attention? Last thing I would want is to find out last minute something was not right and miss or be delayed for the flight.

Definitely will heed your advice and be ready at the debarkation point at 5:30 am and pray for the ship to be cleared as early as possible. Working on seeing if I can possibly change to a more timely flight, this flight was originally suppose to be 12:30pm but the airline updated it so 9:30am.

Thank you so much for all the detail information regarding all of this! Having me luggage free when I board the ship is exactly what i was hoping for. So when rooms are ready would I just go to the MDR to pick up my luggage or will they deliver the luggage for me from MDR to my cabin? Someone told me even with the key you might have to personally drop off your luggage yourself at MDR to check in your bags rather than having the tags show they key and them moving it to MDR for you? I will have to reschedule my departure flight back home to possible a later time to be safe then!

I have questions regarding the benefits of "The Key" for a 7 night western caribbean cruise on Icon of the Seas below. Questions: Do I need to still make an appointment time for embarkation or can I just show up as early as the ship allows customers to be boarded with no problem? 2. Will I be able to drop off my luggage immediately into my stateroom with the key or do I still have to wait for them rooms to be ready? 3. Can I disembark as early as the ship allows without waiting in a line AND what is the earliest disembarkation time if I have a flight to catch same day at 9:30am? (is this enough time to catch my flight. These questions are all based on me having "The Key'. Thank you ahead of time!

here i am stuck in the box when RC removes clothesline, meanwhile mscldad outside the box. completely forget about bringing in outside accessories for cabin hacks

I was on Navigator OTS few weeks ago in balcony stateroom, can confirm there is still a clothesline in there. I wonder where we can hang our damp articles of clothing if they start removed the line from the cabins. If i remembered correctly they strongly discouraged cruisers from leaving it on the balcony to dry.

This has happened to be before and I tried opening the website on chrome as incognito and it worked. Since we're helping you troubleshoot might as well give that a try to see if it helps.

There definitely was a clothesline on harmony and symphony OTS when I was there few years back. It was located inside the shower stall BUT it may have been a bit confusing because the line is already extended across the shower stall most of the time. I did not find any lines stretched across in my shower until i realized there was a round device shaped like a bell attached to the side wall of the shower. There is a little bulb you can pull on and it actually is the clothesline coiled up in the device. Then you just drag it directly across to the other device which acts like a hook.

Has anyone ever booked specifically during hurricane season? I personally would sometimes try to time hurricanes to increase my chances of staying on the boat longer LOL Cruise ships have invested billions of dollars into ship durability/safety when it comes to lifeboats, stabilization technology, quality of build etc. that I have never ever worried about being in a storm. Past experience: I forget which ship I was on but it was through royal caribbean. We were returning to MIA port it was the day before disembarkation when the storm changed course and came between us and the port. Captain had no choice but to sail further out into the ocean to wait out the storm occurring at MIA port. We stayed out there for almost 3 additional days! To me that was such a treat because it extended our vacation and there were no additional charges. Although we did have to re-book our roundtrip tickets which was not a big problem at all!

so every time your flight changes the airline app will just automatically update your digital ticket or do you have to print that out for reference?

on most of my cruises i was also offered discounts when purchasing alcohol or food items individually outside a package. It seems arbitrary to when and how much they offer discounts for BUT it's initially a very common and generic discount all across the board regardless of package or status. If you check out their apps and website when looking to buy excursions or packages there is always some sort of deal going on. Similar to e-mail blasters spamming discounts in bold shiny letters as a marketing strategy to encourage customers to buy more.

@Zacharius speaking on booking through Air2Sea, how does the loyalty points with flying through specific airlines work in this case? I know booking directly gives you travel points when you can use to redeem for rewards with airline but if you book through a 3rd party are you still rewards airline points?

I was leaning a bit towards the nonstop option as I pondered more about it. It makes sense to go with ONT if both airports required stops. I think nonstop helps decreases your chances of problems, with less moving parts. I've decided to suck it up and uber to LAX to save myself the drive and self parking? Actually how is the self parking in LAX? do they have a indoor parking structure to protect my vehicle from the elements?

That is absolutely true, glad someone knew ONT only did connecting flights to MIA! I was weighing the stress and the absolutely chaos that is LAX and thought it was not worth it compared to the quiet spacious ONT. I definitely would love to avoid connecting flights and fly straight from LAX to MIA with no connecting/stops. This is actually something I am still on the fence whether to choose ONT with stops or LAX no stop and weighing the options. What do you think personally when going from ONT or LAX to MIA?

I recently needed $2 bills for a themed event and it was extremely difficult to even get from the bank. They had limited amount of $2 bills and some didn't have any at all. I had to visit almost 4-5 banks to get 100x$2 bills. I'm not sure if its similar to a shortage or they just don't print that many of those specific bills, this happened a month ago in california area.

when things change from your original booking is there anything you have to do on your end or do you just download the newest booking confirmation/ticket?

This is absolutely right! which we can get into manufactured spending when your 5% is waived. I was assuming they were working on achieving prime for comp'd cruises so I included the 5% charge of their total charge. When you get prime waiving the 5% charge is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT for manufactured spending if you want to get into making accumulating credit card points in the direct messages!

I personally tip on top of prepaid gratuity and it makes a HUGE difference especially for my needs! Although their service is already amazing and friendly they do go out of their way for you more than most if you tip a few dollars. I bring a few hundred dollars in 1's and 5's for tipping and port shopping. Examples of when tipping made a huge difference: When I'm gambling at the casino and the runner makes his way around the tables to take drink orders, I always start of the initial tip with $5 and the rest of the night every time I get my drinks I give $1. the drink runner would come to me first and check on my drink to see where i'm at and would ask if i'm doing good before moving on, even if I didn't notice him or was busy gambling. This was important to me because I do forget to order more drinks when I get caught up gambling. When I'm in the pool or hot tub and I definitely start off the initial first order with a $5 tip which is EXTREMELY convenient. The runner would ALWAYS swing by frequently to make sure I have a drink or would keep tabs on when I would need one. This is really important because it saves me the hassle and time of getting out of the hot tub or pool potentially losing my spot and walking over the the bars on deck! [also its cold coming out the pool/hot tub] When I meet my cabin attendant on day 1 I initially give him $10 and he goes above and beyond his above and beyond. He takes effort in remembering our names and if he doesn't know he will look on his roster of the assigned area and greet us by name every time. Puts extra gifts when we come back along with tower animals and small treats like cookies/fruits. I even had a bucket of ice in the cooler and never requested it. He noticed I used the cruise soap bar a lot so he had 2 extra bars by the sink. Took note I sit on the balcony a lot so he deep cleaned the chairs and tables, etc. These are just some of the example but there a lot more!

@Pattycruise@Traveling Mike I live in California, just in case the location matters for travel insurance. By chance do you know if Allianz and AIG has an average cost when it comes to complete coverage? Do I also need to be a frequent cruiser to make it worth have travel insurance? Do I need an annual policy if I only cruise 6-8 times a year give or take depending on the year? Has there been any problems where travel insurance actually helped and how fast are they able to help resolve problems as they arise. I'm picturing a scenario where my flight was canceled or heavily delay, what would they do to make it right? Sorry for the bombardment of questions, appreciate and many thanks in advance!

Although I'm not the biggest gambler out there nor do I have the bankrolls of a lot of cruisers, I do manage to get prime within a 3-night sailing consistently every time it expires. Prime personally for me has been a mystery on how points accumulate since I play tables exclusively and have never been given a real answer to how points are generated through tables. I know they always say to play slots because there is a confirmed point structure that is made public for everyone. That's mainly because their slot machine odds are much higher than ANY land casino favoring heavier on the house. The most points I've ever gotten was 22,000 I WAS SO CLOSE TO SIGNATURE and this was purely on tables with their arbitrary point system. Some things I naturally picked up to maximize my point yield below: I always charge a large initial sum of chip to my seapass card which will notify the pitboss to verify. While the pit boss is there they will usually also see your initial 1st bet before the move elsewhere. This is important because they do not check until an hour later or longer, so I would always place a larger than normal minimum bet so they input it into their system. Then I would go back to betting bare minimum. Through the entire session/night I would pay attention to the pitboss, they always do a walkaround every 1hour or so to update everyone's current bets and checking to see if they're still gambling or left. So when I know they're making their rounds I would increase my bet above average again. I always charge more chips on my seapass card than I actually intend to play with because it seems to help contribute to my points, I always have leftover that I put back into my account after I return home. There is a 5% charge when you charge to your seapass card so ideally I'm trying to at least win 5% to break even. If I'm running low on cash or on a tighter budget I would play tables that requires a lot more time per deal/hand because I believe the time spent also contributes to your points. So I would find roulette tables, usually the slowest game they have due to the host having to clear all chips on the board, payout winners, drop the ball and wait for it to land on a #. I also sometimes skip a hand or two to increase my playtime. Some of the small things I do, hopefully it helps and if anyone wants to chime in with more insight that'd be amazing for me as well!

OHH gotcha you were referring if you booked through Air2Sea. So I guess i'll start booking this weekend when I have more time for round trip flights directly with airline! Since my sailing isn't until early march 2024, that should be early enough.