WAAAYTOOO

You are most welcome, @happy cruisers 2. The fact that at least some of your purchases are less expensive is a welcome byproduct of this situation , I’m sure. Having to rebook everything is a total PITA….but it is what it is. Hopefully rebooking won’t cost you any more $$ and perhaps it may even save you some, in the end.

I agree with @Ampurp85. As far as I am aware, Royal has never ever re-booked anyone's excursions/CP purchases when a cruise has been cancelled - even when it is cancelled by Royal. I feel fairly confident that all excursions, dining, drinks, etc will have to be rebooked at the prevailing rates. I'm not saying I think that this is fair, I just believe it to be the case....good or bad. I'm not sure that the best plan is "waiting". If it were me, I would rebook everything NOW while there is still some semblance of a sale going on....and then if by some stroke of magic the CP purchases are restored (or if a cheaper price happens to pop up later), then you can always cancel the ones that you make now.

Now this would truly suck ! Wonder how that lottery went !

I think this is the key, TBH. Certainly we have things that we only take on cruises....but the trick is to have those items that you do NOT want to forget, pre-packed and ready to go. Things like charging cables and associated hardware, water shoes, chair clips, and so many other things....all saved together somewhere so that you can't forget them. I mention the charging cables specifically b/c that seems to be one thing that can totally ruin a cruise for us if they are forgotten. That's why I have exactly what I want and need permanently packed so that I cannot forget them. They never leave the suitcase. So, I have duplicates of all of those cords b/c the ones for the house stay at the house and the ones that go on trips, stay in the suitcases. There are lots of things for which I have duplicates so that I don't have to think about what goes and what stays...they just stay packed and ready.

I don't think Enchantment ever had a Sky Pad but even if she does/did, that particular experience has been removed from all Royal Caribbean ships which had it due to an accident and subsequent law suit. So no Royal Caribbean ship has any bungee trampoline experiences anymore.

@tonyfsu21, I couldn't agree more about the Thanksgiving meal. A number of years ago we were on NAV and that horrific meal was what initiated our self-imposed ban from the MDR for MANY years. It sounds like the meal hasn't improved any over the years. That meal was, by far, the most unappealing and disgusting meal we have ever had on a ship. I guess we just know to stay away from holiday meals in the MDR....which we have successfully done now for many years.

We are on when you get off.

IMO the new shorter itins on the new, big ships are all about maximizing $$ as @OCSC Mike said. I think it is a way of ensuring that there will be 2 ships at PDCC EVERY day. By rotating the departure/turnaround days to include all weekdays, in addition to weekends, they can have more ships at PDCC during the week. I also think that, with parking at a premium, they are better able to rotate the parking crowds in and out. It’s all logistics for profit ! They are testing the upper limits. We’ll see how long it takes to reach the breaking point !

Update ! This trick works exactly the OPPOSITE way for Quantum class ships (apparently). So the “good” orientation is the stateroom with the double arrow pointing to the left and the “bad” orientation is with the double arrow pointing to the right ! I never realized this but a TA that I trust and admire pointed this out not long ago. I cannot personally confirm this but I trust my source. I trust everyone is totally confused now.

12-8-23 - Freedom 12-11-23 - Freedom 12-22-23 - Adventure 12-30-23 - Adventure

Te only paper that you actually need are the luggage tags. You will also need you Set Sail Pass(es) but those don’t have to be paper. You can present them electronically if you want to. I always print mine out but you don’t have to. You can save them to your electronic wallet and present them for boarding. You do not need anything else from your “cruise docs”. The only thing I ever use from the cruise docs is the physical street address/location of the port terminal for use with my GPS.

We are on Indy now. We have been able (3 separate sailings) to use one of our BOGO on either night #1 or 2 and then use the other one later in the week (we usually choose last night). The trick is to let your server know, when you use your first BOGO, that you will be using your other BOGO later in the week and they will go ahead and charge you ahead of time right then for you second BOGO. From what I understand, the [electronic] “coupon” for BOGO is only available on your rez for the first 2 nights so that means that your meals have to be paid for on nights 1 or 2….but when you actually consume the meal is immaterial as long as you’ve already paid by day 2. As others have mentioned, some ships are far stricter with this rule than others. We’ve only had 1 instance (Wonder) where they insisted that we had to consume both meals on days 1 and 2. Other ships seem to be much more accommodating. We love this perk ! It work soooo well in conjunction with a 3 night package. Yields almost a UDP.

The Chops lunch is very good and the only bargain on Royal Caribbean anywhere !

So not only did you get an upgrade but it will be a brand new room ! SCORE

^^This^^

YES ! You're going to get it !

@AndrewJL, you are an awesome Uncle. Your niece is very, very lucky to have you ! The cruise is going to be awesome, Radiance is a beautiful ship and your itinerary is perfect. As luck would have it, you couldn't have chosen a better itin (IMO) for simply getting off the ship, wondering around and having a great time withOUT spending a bunch of extra $$. Since this is the first cruise for both of you, you will find yourselves so busy you will soon realize that you don't need any kind of drink package or excursions. Just enjoy ! Just make sure that you both have the proper documentation for boarding and the rest will take care of itself. The only thing that will stop you from getting on the ship is not having proper documentation. If you have different last names, make sure that you have authorization from her parents to take her out of the country. Even if your last names ARE the same then it is probably wise to have that authorization anyway. Once you are on the ship you will have a wonderful time. Enjoy it and let us know how it all goes !

Absolutely ! I do it on every cruise.

So it sounds like there is some priority disembarkation. That’s good news.

While we have never stayed in a CP view, we have stayed in a CP balcony and as @asquared17 said, it is very nice to have natural light. I believe that @AshleyDillo has stayed in a CO view.

Plumpy on the left or plumpy on the right ? Plumpy on the right won't even look at whoever is taking the picture. At least plumpy on the left is looking at the photographer !

Very surprised to hear this. A huge shortcoming, IMO. With all of the other nice suites/Retreat amenities, not having expedited disembarkation seems like a real head scratcher. Let us know how it goes in reality.

Ahhhh. Gotcha.

Sorry if you showed the MDR Thanksgiving night menu and I missed it…..but the MDR isn’t offering a traditional Thanksgiving meal option ?

I assume this cruise is this year - as in, next month ? If so, I would be hesitant to cancel and rebook online as the UDP could be close to selling out and you cannot purchase the UDP as long as you still have the 3 night purchased…meaning, it will not allow you to have 2 dining packages at the same time. I would hate for you to cancel the 3 night package just to find that the UDP had suddenly sold out. It’s unlikely to happen but I wouldn’t take the chance. I would call and have someone help you with this dining plan shuffle. A bit of a hassle but at least you won’t be caught with NO dining plan.