monctonguy

I thought about booking a Celebrity cruise..and I finally did last nite! I couldn't say no to the resident rate it was offering me...so its a quick 3 day Bahamas cruise on the Equinox, but I figured that's a good way for a quick comparison and see if I would like to cruise more on Celebrity or stick with Royal! Wondering what the biggest differences I should expect after 9 cruises with Royal? Love to hear some thoughts and feedback. One of my concerns is that it would be a quiet laid back cruise on Celebrity tends to cater to an older crowd that Royal or am I wrong? Perhaps being a 3 day cruise to Nassau will make it a little more lively?

Love it!...great idea! I am just a little jealous....9.8miles from Port Canaveral.....I would be in heaven and cruising almost every weekend...lol

I am not aware of a priority lounge area anywhere for gold members. The line ups yes, but as mentioned often the line up for gold or even platinum are longer than the general ones! There will be a sheet off offers in your cabin that are pre-loaded to your seapass card and I agree, any perks are defn nice!

Doesn't hurt to keep checking and asking...right up to the check in at port or even on board with guests services...if they really are available and they cant sell them to anyone for max profits, then once on the ship perhaps they would let you switch. As for the natural night vs. an inside cabin....for the little time most people spend in their cabin I don't think its a big difference. Many people take their first cruise thinking they could never do an inside(too dark, too quiet, too small etc) but once they experience it, its not bad at all and if your like myself or anyone that I travel with..the cabin is used for sleeping and showering...so natural light or the lack thereof is really a non-issue....especially considering that 12hrs of a day there is no natural light anyways when its dark out.....window or not.

haha...I think they must.....at 81.25 per person per day...and now u HAVE to double it....that's serious coin....I am sure Canadians don't make up a big amount of their revenue but at some point its going to start hurting them....or maybe I am just one of those Canadians NOT loaded with cash....lol

yeah, I could get into detailed explanations and all the ins and outs...but I don't have the time or desire to do that right now...... Take it from someone who has been watching cruise prices and sales for 4 years and booked many cruises and had to change some at times for various reasons, it used to be real easy and cheap and benefits with booking on board and getting credit which may have been worth more than the deposit required etc.... And with my flexible vacation schedule, not to mention high air fares here in Canada, cheap last min deals when I could get a reasonably price flight to match was how I was able to take about 50% of my cruises. If you look at my list of cruises....you can see that my frequency of cruising co-insides pretty close to when Royal changed their policy. As for last min deals.....sorry, but I don't know a lot of companies that blatantly say they would rather sail/fly/book empty and keep their prices high, then lower them close to the sail date to try and fill them. I understand that obviously selling them for a higher amount is their desire, but to come out and kinda rub that in their customers faces I felt was pretty pompous and callous and very much high and mighty.

There have been posts here as well on other sites about how people were booking rooms through promo's, on board incentives etc and then cancelling them or not completing the booking..... Also, Royal changed their last min booking policy a year or so ago saying they would NOT offer last min deals or sales or incentives to book empty cabins...they would rather charge more to those that have booked and sail with empty cabins..... These are just 2 general examples.....

I often book with VTG...they get a block or group of cabins at special pricing....and don't have access to just any of the cabins for that price. I know as I have called before as well to try and change and sometimes it is not possible. You could probably pay to upgrade for whatever difference in price they are going for...maybe.

Great deal you got!!!..pays to still watch.....although with the non-refundable system now its a little more tricky. That being said...I was able to move my cruise 2 weeks earlier(same ship and ports) and save almost $500 and not have to put any extra down so I cant complain. The Jewel of the Seas on April 8th is going for around $350 for the week with an inside cabin..and if you visit some booking sites you can get some OBC with it that lowers it to around $275/person.....now that's a deal!

I would give anything to have a BOGO on my cruise and at the $45 deal posted above.... My cost is over $160/day for the 2 of us in CAD...its crazy

Ditto to the above post.... Royal has found ways to cut out many games that were being played and a way to firm up their bottom line even further.

Still nothing for my cruise..and I moved it up 2 weeks earlier to April the 8th...drink package still costs more than the cruise itself....seems kinda crazy.

I don't think you would get OBC back if they have a sale and you have pre-paid it....pretty sure Royal doesn't work that way... I would take my chances and wait till on the ship.

yes...was all over the boards here and elsewhere.....too many people playing games with bookings was the conclusion as to why they did that.

I have done the cash account thing a cpl times..never an issue...and had pre-paid for the drink package.

Private shuttle if you can afford it...nice ride, comfy and stops where you want.... If not, then only other option really is the shared shuttle service which is the cheaper option and stops at most of the hotels. If you are going the shuttle option, you may want to look at which hotels have a package deal for the hotel/shuttle

Would it not be easier to do this BEFORE boarding the ship? Once the sea pass cards or wow bands are set up under your names and with your reservation info linked to your room# and the TV and any correspondence etc to your rooms.... While I am sure it can be done once onboard(as people do upgrade etc) it would seem to me that it would be much easier for all parties involved to try and make it happen before the cruise....but perhaps Royal will not allow this?

Welcome to Canada..the land of lots of taxes and regulations and high costs...lol

There is a whole website dedicated to this with MANY hotels available in the Port Canaveral/Coco Beach area. I have no idea why it would be an issue at all. On top of that, a lot of the hotels in MCO offer shared shuttle service to the cruise ship and back to the airport as well. I am not sure if its the price that is the issue/question that the OP has or is it that they are saying they cant find anything available?

Interesting....I don't think that would have too much influence or affect the vibe on your cruise...on my cruise it was such an issue that I had to wander around almost every meal trying to find a table for example as they would sit their for hours eating and talking(as they didn't drink or do much else I guess) which of course allowed for much quicker bar service(not complaining..lol) but also made for much more less exciting and entertaining nightlife as well. At $899 per person for an inside cabin on a 4 day cruise...they must be really dedicated to pay that kinda money for this niche

Enchantment is going in nxt mth I believe from what a blogger here has said...

Easiest way I think is to google the dates and ship and see what comes up. In my case it was a religious group....probably about 1/3 of the ship...made a huge impact on the feel and vibe of the cruise to say the least. Just something to think about when booking or checking from time to time. Usually these charter dates would be set out about a year before on average I am guessing.

Been on her twice.....nice ship. Keep in mind the potential fog issue in Tampa. never had an issue with disembarkation in Tampa. What I have heard is that often this ship out of Tampa often is "chartered" for large groups which can dramatically affect your cruise. Such was the case on my second cruise on her. Pool tables where out of order as well which was disappointing. But I am looking forward to trying Jewel in April which is in the same class.....it is a nice ship for sure!

Still holding out hope for my Jewel cruise in April....first 7 day cruise I have booked so I need some savings as right now it costs as much as the cruise......

I don't even know what AUD is worth in CAD or USD, but I would never, ever pay over $10,000 for a JR suite..but then again...never ever would I pay over $4000 for a balcony...... However I realize that's not the OP's point here. As I again don't know the rules from down under. However, it seems like this has been a recent issue as others here have mentioned about trying to upgrade and it being totally unreasonable as to what Royal wanted. Now I don't know what both would have cost at the original time of booking. I understand how nice a JS must be..but if I could do 10-15 one week cruises in a interior or oceanview room for the same price as 1 cruise in a JS...I know what I would choose and they would actually make more money that way..but I guess if someone is willing to pay that, its supply and demand! On a kinda side note..I have heard that NCL allows you to bid on upgrades in areas outside of the North American market(I believe)...interesting way to fill up those empty cabins!