monctonguy

Just booked Independance for Jan11/2016 sailing..first time on this class of ship..looking forward to it!

I have done EOS a few times and doing her again in 3 weeks..lol Always a sail away buffet and dance party when leaving Nassau. Havent experienced this on my 2 other cruises on different ships that I can remember.

As a solo traveler, balcony rooms are out of the question. As nice as it would be, not worth it. It would come down to taking a trip or staying home. Cost is about 4x what I pay for an inside cabin. I spend NO time in my room at all(not because of the size), but because of my drink package..lol. Would i like to book a balcony room sometime? Sure...will i ever at the prices RCI charges solo travellers? Probably never.....

If its coco cay, would have to be a RCI excursion. So should be able to book it from the RCI website on your cruise planner. If not, as soon as you get onboard look into it.

I am pretty sure its 11-1 the couple times I have been there. And yes, before you know it, it starts to pack up and its over. If you are arriving at 10am..I would let the kids play and explore for the hour, then get some lunch and book your stuff for the afternoon.

There is lots of info on the CC site. Most drinks are still included with the package. The people that will notice the difference are those who do not purchase the package. If those drinks were included before, they sould still be included now.

Ketel One is as well...thats what they make the "frozen lemondae" drink with....or you can ask them to use that in any other drink as well of course.

Well they are offering that promo right now, but you have to call to get the deal. Doesn't help us solo travellers at all. We miss out on any breaks. As for servers complaining about not making enough because of drink packages. While they maybe getting another 3% now on them, I have a feeling they are going to lose more than that on the single drinks people aren't going to be buying and tipping on.

Wow..thats quite a jump....not many people are going to pay close to $15 a drink.... I am still not sure what their strategy is here to be honest!

Sorry to hear that happend. I would hope and expect there is some compensation to say the least as a result. To lose 3 whole days really isnt fair. Some may have had flights booked etc and now there is going to be extra expenses. The least they could have done, was give you another 8 day cruise.

Well I am disapointed in what I have seen lately with RC. Between drink pricing, tips going up, their BOGO sales which aren't really sales at all, it has tempted me to start considering the competiton. I will be on my 6th cruise with them in just over 2 years....but something will have to change for the better if they want to keep my business.

It's crazy if true, and it seems that it is from all the chatter about it. I cant imagine those on a long cruise, what the cost would be. More than the cost of the cruise if this keeps up! It will also make people start to compare more the costs of cruising with other companies. And if they end up "forcing" more people to buy the package, then really they are probably encouraging people to drink more, which doesnt help royals bottom line so where it the logic behind this?

Just booked a cruise again on Enchantment...April 20th. Prob my last cruise on her as she is leaving PC next year for Miami!

I am looking forward to Oasis being at PC, as that is normally where I cruise out of. Losing EOS is a bit of a downer, as I don't think ROS will be as nice, but I guess a change is good.

Has anyone else checked out the new website change? Imho, it is way too busy, slow,and they try to cram way too much stuff into it. It's a sensory overload when trying to find anything on it. I know the old website had its issues, but in my experience when most people visit travel sites, they want a quick and easy quote, which is defn not the case now with the site. I have been on it for about an hour now, still haven't figured out to get a real quote in Canadian dollars yet either.

I have done 4 cruises there, only made it twice to coco cay. Most recent cruise was November, it was missed.

So their website doesnt even list the promo., nor support it??...what kinda deal is that...how would people even know about it?? really? and $1300 per person for a drink package free??...something is defn missing and not sounding right here....... RCI needs to get their stuff together....

Yes..thats the page I have visited many times..no mention of drink package on that page..just BOGO and OBC.....I have then proceeded to do dummy bookings and nothing..

I have yet to be able to find this deal on their website.....I have seen the ne BOGO, but nowhere does it mention drink packages...I have done ALOT of dummy bookings to try and find it..... Anyone have any luck or tips with this phantom deal?!

Agreed, book now. Nothing to lose. If price goes down, you get the better deal. If the final payment date rolls around and you cant confirm then, just cancel. Nothing lost.

I doubt they really read them or pay attention to the comments to be honest, if they are like most big corporations out there.

So they removed the "grat" from the base price which resulted in a slightly higher cost once it was added back on. Now they raised the "grat" by 3%.....so essentially 2 rate increases on the drink packages in the past couple months? Am I correct? And yet in the UK, they are thowing that in for free?....so like $1000 freebie for UK cruise customers, but not North American. Am i missing somthing here??

I found one for $160, plus taxes and fees....return, from airport to port and port to airport with a stop along the way if you want.....pays to do lots of reserach for sure. And in my previous post, I meant I would consider a private car, not a shared shuttle for 4 people obviously.

There are lots of shuttle services, both shared and private with a wide range of prices. I have done both. You need rides both ways I am assuming so make sure you do a good comparison of all your options. While most people seem to say that renting a car is the cheapest(even after gas, tolls, insurance, parking??) I would consider a shared shuttle. I would be more worried about timing and cost of getting your rental car or a rental car for your return trip. You could prob do a private SUV for $80ish each way...door to door, no waiting, no driving as an example...

I certainly wouldnt recomend this to anyone as a way to "save" on not getting the package, or as a way to try and save on the cruise. Glad it worked out for you...but being charged for a few drinks a day, plus leaving $15-20 in tips at each bar does add up. And no guarantee that it will work every day. And if after a couple days they stopped doing it, or if the bartenders got caught, would not be good for you or them. So while it is a great story/experience....i wouldn't count on it or rely on it happening....count yourselves lucky....most people would end up paying for each drink or the package.