Katiemay0101

I waited until just before both my kids turned 18 to get them their own C&A number. I was told if they have their own number before they're 18 they only accrue the points from the cruises they took but if you wait until just before they're 18 they inherit the level you are at. I don't know if this has changed or if I had it wrong but it worked out well for us because now both kids are just shy of diamond. Happy cruising!

Kate

I made Platinum this past year and noticed I got better prices from the "sales" or through the casino (I'm Prime and get offers pretty regularly). I haven't really noticed any new perks with making platinum. Book the cruise now and if the price drops you can always reprice before the final payment is due if it drops. 

Happy Cruising!

Kate

I've used the consent form from Royal when a friend of my daughters cruised with us. I also had the parent sign a separate medical release form so that I could make immediate decisions if necessary and I carried a letter from the parent saying I had permission to leave the country with the child. We had it all notarized so that all bases were covered. Didn't end up needing any of it (thankfully) but I felt better knowing I had it. That being said, my Mom travelled outside the country with my daughter and forgot all of the permission forms and no one ever questioned her. Just got lucky I guess. 

Kate

I haven't gotten one of these but there's a Facebook group dedicated to Casino Royale that might know the answer. Hope you figure it out. 

Kate

Hi Everyone, 

I booked an ocean view GTY room through a casino offer, paying for an upgrade from an interior room. I got my royal up link today and it says on it "current stateroom interior guarantee". I hate interior rooms and would feel claustrophobic to the point where I would consider not going. Should I be concerned about the discrepancies? I don't see on my receipt where it says ocean view, it just says Stateroom: GTY, Description (blank) and stateroom obstructed: pending. I'm hoping the "pending" part means somewhere in the RC jenky computer-verse the reservation is correct and there's a room for me somewhere with at least a porthole. I'm 45 days out and have heard rumors that there's a way to see what room you've been assigned but I haven't figured out how to do this yet. Any insight would be appreciated. 

Kate

I had a similar experience twice on the same trip. We flew from the US (home) to England and the whole trip was a nightmare. We were essentially abandoned in Europe when our original flight was late getting in and we missed the connecting flight, causing my family to circle London for 2 hours because they didn't know where we were and we couldn't contact them because we were still on the plane. Then on the way home the same thing happened but we were stuck in LaGuardia. Both times A2S told me we had a better chance of getting a new flight if we booked it ourselves directly through the airline service desk at the airport. I was traveling with my 17 year old autistic son at the time and our seats ended up being separated and on the final flight I had to put him on a plane by himself and have him met by family at the other end. No help, no apologies, no accommodations, no explanations, nothing. When we did eventually get home I requested something, anything, to compensate us for them not doing what we paid them to do and was told no, sucks to be you. I hate Air2Sea and will never use them again. The supposed benefits do not outweigh the crappy job they do once they've got your money.

Still loyal to Royal though 

 

Kate

I was comped an interior room by the casino and this is my first time using a casino comp. I paid extra to upgrade to an ocean view room and I'm content with the room but I usually cruise at least a balcony and now I'm kicking myself for not paying the extra-extra to just get the balcony room. Anyway, I usually get an email for Royal Up and even when I don't I can log in and put my last name and reservation number in and it shows me the bids. This time I haven't gotten an email and when I try entering my info it says "make sure you're within 30 days" blah blah blah. I've done mock bookings and there are still plenty of rooms available on this cruise.

Do the comped rooms not have the option to Royal Up? I've looked through the search on here and can't seem to find anything on this. Thanks for any info you can give me.

Kate

I've been checking drinks and internet packages since June for a cruise I'm taking in January. Whether it says 20%, 30% or 40% off, no matter what the percentage off says the packages always end up costing the exact same amount. It's that Royal Caribbean math, a sale is never really a sale. 

Kate

We had this happen last April. There was originally 7 people going and we had booked 4 rooms. The person who could not go had a room to themselves. We moved my 17 year old son onto the reservation of the person who could not go and were allowed to keep the room. If we hadn't done this we would've lost the money for the room and would not have been allowed access to the room. 

It was not an adjoining room but was across the hall from us. We were not allowed to add a "3rd" person to the room because it was only rated for 2 but at least we didn't lose the room. I hope this helps. 

Kate

We did Norway June 2023 and I would strongly recommend booking excursions if you're not familiar with the ports/area. We did not book any for Olden and sort of wandered around lost. It was a Sunday and everything was closed. It was not our favorite because of this but it was still interesting. Stavanger was stunning and we loved every minute we were there. We're history nerds and our favorite part was seeing the different WWII sea forts that look like something out of Star Wars while you're at sea. I hope you have a great trip!

Kate

We were on Anthem in June and it was okay during the day but I swear they turned it off after 11 PM. My son was still finishing up some remote college classes and tried to do them at night because of the time difference (we cruised in Norway) and it sucked every single night after 11. We went to the service desk to ask about it and their advice was to turn the laptop off and on and reconnect but they also admitted it was bad at night for them too. Hopefully your meetings are during the day and you can still enjoy your cruise.

Kate  

I know it's not much of a jump but after a cruise in January I will be emerald level and plan to book another cruise (or 2) for 2024. Is it worth waiting to turn emerald for the supposed discount on suites or should I go ahead and book it now? 

I feel like you guys are going to tell me to go ahead and book but I wanted to hear it from the experts (you guys!)

Thanks, 

Kate

The MDR has been a bit hit or miss on the last 4 cruises for us. When we went to Mexico on Mariner in April it was just like what we've been used to. The MDR was really good, we somehow managed to find something for everyone even though there were 9 of us and the service was amazing. On Anthem in June to Norway they did a British night that would've made my very English mother cringe on the spot. The scotch eggs were anemic and we questioned if the sausage was actually sausage (no flavor and was a strange grey color), the toad-in-the-hole was just weird with the yorkshire pudding chewy/rubbery. We skipped Caribbean night, it didn't offer anything we wanted. One of the mornings we went to the MDR for breakfast and were served still frozen breakfast burritos. Fingers crossed when we get on Radiance in a few months they've worked out a few more kinks. 

When I check mine I've noticed if there's no itinerary button next to it there's usually a "sailings between xx/xx/2023 and xx/xx/2024" comment next to it. 

When I click on the button next to an offer if I close out of it I have to refresh the page before clicking on a different offer or it won't show me the itineraries attached to that offer. It also won't show me itineraries for offers that have expired. I hope this helps. 

I was on Mariner in April and Anthem in June. Both menus were almost identical and I will say there were nights where we didn't even bother going because there just wasn't anything on the menu that looked good. Traveling with a vegetarian who does not like Indian food, it was a struggle for them and due to medical issues I have to be careful with spicy foods but the food at Cafe @ 270 was really good and when they were open we ate there. We wished they would stay open for dinner but guess you can't have everything. 

Word of caution, yes, it will protect you if RC changes the cruise date. What they don't do is help you when you miss a connecting flight because your original flight ran late, or when you're standing in the airport and your flight gets cancelled. I flew to Heathrow with my son in June. Out of the 5 flights (round trip), 4 of them were either late or cancelled. When I called Air2Sea asking for help I was told to stand in line at the airport service desk and do it myself (not those words but you get my drift). I was offered no help, no advice and twice I opted to have them call me back and never received a call-back. So yeah, you get the protection of being able to move your flight but nothing else from their supposed emergency team. Oh, and to add to the headache, when you request a refund from the airline for anything that goes wrong (cancelled flight, delays, lost luggage) the refund then filters back through Air2Sea, extending the time it takes to receive the money back. It was a nightmare and I will never use Air2Sea again because I still can't figure out what good they are. I realize air travel is not what it used to be but when you use a program that says they will help and they essentially abandon you in a foreign country it doesn't exactly leave a good impression. 

Kate

I booked a November cruise to Nassau and have had the same issue with the app. I was told it was a glitch and they're working on it and if possible to make any pre-cruise purchases (drink package, excursions) online instead of on the app. I've been told it will definitely be fixed before the cruise date. Fingers crossed and happy cruising!

Kate

We just got off Anthem and I used the $35 all you can stuff into the bag option. It seemed a little odd to me that they don't include pants/jeans on the list of approved items you can put in there but it was still well worth it to have all of our undies, pajamas, t-shirts and socks clean before going home. Enjoy your BTB! I'm jealous and hope to be able to do it someday. 

Just got back from a 7 day on Anthem to Norway. The cruise itself was absolutely wonderful! Staff was amazing, ports were stunning, food was meh but we didn't starve.

I used Air2Sea to book my flights, scheduled to fly out 2 days before the cruise because I've heard the horror stories and knew to give myself time. Out of 5 flights total (going and coming home) 4 were missed or cancelled. Zero notification from Air2Sea and their supposed emergency team said they were having high call volumes and if I wanted them to call me back they would. Give them my phone number each time and never received a phone call back. We paid extra to upgrade seats and because of the missed flights we did not receive them. Airline says to contact Air2Sea (yeah, right) Air2Sea said it's the airlines responsibility. Everyone is passing the buck. So moving forward we will never use them again. They're absolutely useless and seriously are pointless in their existence other than taking your money and becoming a hinderance to getting refunds, changing flights or trying to track down luggage (a whole other issue I won't get into). Useless prats!

I got the drink package that included the coffees and now I am completely spoiled. I tried just about every flavor they had. By the end of my 5 day cruise I was vibrating from all of the caffeine...... and I'll be doing it again in a few weeks

Just got off Mariner and I asked a few crew what they would like if someone were to bring small gifts. Cash was best, goes without saying, but just about every single person I asked said something from my hometown, toiletries (hypoallergenic), or weirdly, refrigerator magnets from the different places we stopped. Not sure why on the last one, I can only guess it was because they knew I would bring them anything they asked for and they didn't want to say anything to expensive. Hope this helps,

Kate

My son broke up with his partner last week, we leave in 10 days. He was able to find a friend and we just swapped out the names. No extra fee because everything was already paid for. We were even able to keep the drink package. Maybe your brother can find a buddy or if you guys have a family member that he wouldn't mind sharing a room with, you could add them and then you're not out the money. 

Good luck and happy cruising!

Kate

Hey Everyone! I have 28 days until my family, friends and I get to step on board and relax! The group going includes my son who was originally going to share a room with his partner. Of course they had a giant blow up this past weekend and have broken up and now I'm wondering if we could swap out the original person with my sons best friend. Is it to late to change the person going. To add to the info, I paid for the tickets for them to go and other than not wanting to lose out on that money, I'd really like my son to have a great time. Since his sister is bringing her boyfriend and I have 3 adult friends going I worry he will be bored hanging with a group of 50 year old women who will most likely be embarrassing to an 18 year old guy. 

So my question is, how close to sailing can you swap out a passenger? Thanks everyone!

Kate

Hi All, 

As a graduation gift my son chose to cruise around Norway and he and I will be going June 16th on Anthem for 7 days our of Southampton and we're very excited!

Here's the issue. My son has mobility limitations and some days he can walk but not for long periods of time and on other days he uses a cane, walker, or wheelchair. The majority of excursions through RC are pretty much hiking up the side of a glacier for 2 hours and then hiking back down. This is obviously not an option for us. What he would really like to do, and the reason he chose this trip is to tour museums, look at architecture, people watch, do some shopping and eating. 

Can any of you recommend a private tour company or even a personal driver type company? The personal driver appeals to us more because then we could go at our own pace and he wouldn't feel pressured to rush, which would cause a "wheelchair" day the next day. 

Thanks for any info you could give me! I appreciate you all. 

Kate

Hi Happy Cruisers!

7 of us (3 adults, 4 teens) are going out of Port Canaveral the day after Easter. We will be driving down on Easter Sunday and will have to find a place to stay for the night so my question is where would you guys stay? We'll have to get 2 or 3 rooms and will need a shuttle to the ship or be close enough to drive into parking the day of. 

I appreciate any advice you can give me. - Kate