WAAAYTOOO

19 minutes ago, CanHardlyWait said:

So was wondering if after day 2 I feel like I've done that and maybe want to cancel day 6, what would happen? Too late? Refund? OBC? Discuss...........

You should be able to cancel your day bed reservation onboard as long as it is at least 24 (I think) hours in advance.  You will receive refundable Onboard Credit for the refund.  The advanced notification might be 48 hours….i can’t recall exactly but it looks like you would have ample time to cancel between days 2 and 6.

Boy, what a difference in this cruise and the last 2.  Waaay more folks in the Crown Lounge on this leg.  Dan and I had to sit out in the VC area while I drink my coffee.  It’s a zoo inside.  Same thing with breakfast this morning in Giovanni’s.  Waaay more people in there and the service was very slow.  On the past 2 cruises we were in and out in no time.

The TTE will be this morning at 10:00 (which is typical rather than the 5PM nonsense of the past 2 cruises) and then the Cheers lunch at noon.

Our Loyalty gifts are still dicked up.  They brought our water but we’re still missing my Cokes and our Chandon.  What a PITA.  The LA doesn’t go to her desk until 4:00 today so I guess it’ll have to wait until then.  I’m sure she’s tied up with the TTE and Cheers stuff this morning.

Seas are nice and smooth, thank goodness.  Our new dwelling location can suffer greatly with ocean motion so I’m grateful that it’s calm.

We have been on 80+ cruises with Royal Caribbean and we have never ever gone to a L&M game OR a Quest.  Just not something we enjoy.

Hmm…I am not sure as I don’t consume these things.   I know that there is coffee and tea available in the various lounges and of course at the Cafe Promenade but I don’t know of anywhere else, I’m sorry.  I will do some sleuthing….but I think the WJ is really the only place for these drinks.

Hey, guys !  Good to see you back.

Dinner was very good.  I had the garlicky shrimp and Dan had the seafood linguine.  I was surprised that he chose the pasta dish as we had both eaten pasta for lunch at the B2B luncheon and Dan is not much of a pasta guy.  But he did, and he said it was very good. I absolutely love their olive bread and you could tell that it had just come out of the oven.  Oh, Lordy !

We both won a bit in the casino.  We broke even on Dancing Drums and then played a bit of UTH and both cashed out ahead.  I suppose my purple drawers we “red enough” to bring me a little luck !  

Sea day tomorrow.  We’re on our way to Puerto Plata, DR where we will be snorkeling with the sea lions and the sharks !

26 minutes ago, Ampurp85 said:

I wonder what the account issues were. Does the panoramic room say it fits 4? I think I stayed in one on Mariner and I found it small and noisy.

I hope you continue to have good luck in the casino.

I think this room does sleep additional guests….it seems like the couch would fold out although I haven’t tried it to see.

I think you might be right about the noise….i have already heard a few grumblings in the hallway.  One thing I will say about the PV room, it was QUIET !

We’ve stayed in this cabin category before and while the location is not my favorite, I do like the space and the view.  This particular room is located on the port side and has a totally unobstructed view and of course, has the floor-to-ceiling windows.  Some of the cabins in this category look out over the bow and IMO the view is much diminished by views of the ship’s structure and hardware such as antennae and comm towers, etc.

Dan has gone for his daily sauna (which is now VERY convenient). I took a bit of a nap but it was really more of a “rest”.  I never actually fell asleep. I’m not used to all the light !  

Back onboard for the last leg.  This is a 9 night cruise with the exact same itinerary as leg #1, 2 weeks ago.

TAD was kind of a mess although it didn’t really impact us much.  More of a problem for new cruisers boarding and, of course, for the crew.

Apparently, the number of folks with “Account issues” was enormous, which caused a 2+ hour delay in boarding of new guests.  When I passed by GS ~8AM, the line stretched all the way to the entrance of the MDR.  I should have sensed, then, that this was going to cause issues.  Apparently, it did.

Finally, some time around 11:45, they began the B2B parade.  Everything went smoothly once we got started and the B2B luncheon, which was supposed to start at 11:30, got underway at around noon.  Presumably, general boarding began shortly after that.

As was the case with leg #1, our Loyalty gifts were incorrect.  On leg #1, we got a bottle of St Michelle “champagne” rather than the Chandon “champagne” that we have chosen. On this leg, the champagne was again wrong, as well as missing Cokes and missing water.  We strolled down to the Loyalty Ambassadors desk and she, I’m sure, will rectify everything.

We had to change cabins on this leg and we are now in a panoramic OV cabin on deck 12.  These are the “newer” rooms created when they downsized the spa.  It’s much bigger than our Promenade View dungeon and the sunshine and view are an extremely welcome change.  I’m not as fond of the location of this new room but I’m glad to be here.

We’re pulling away from the dock right now (4:45) so the last adventure has begun !  Dinner tonite at Giovanni’s (first of our BOGOs) at 7:00.

For the past 4-5 cruises I haven’t even been able to get the Health Questionnaire to pull up.  I’ve just started ignoring it.  Sometimes they ask me at check-in but most of the time they don’t bother either.  Utter waste of time. 

Packed a little but will pack the majority in the morning.  Shouldn’t take more than 15 minutes.  Pretty uneventful night.  Dinner was in the MDR; Italian night.  Dan got some kind of lamb curry dish and I got the chicken parm (who’s surprised ?).  Actually, it was the best chicken parm I have ever eaten on Royal !  Maybe I was just super hungry but I thought it was really excellent.  Having -0- Italian genes, maybe I’m just easy to please.  Purists probably laugh at me.

So leg #3 starts tomorrow.  Day 15 of 24.

We barely darkened the door of the casino.  We both played some Ultimate for maybe 30 minutes and then both cashed out slightly ahead.  I’m still down about $400 for this leg but I’m pretty sure Dan is either up or even.  The slots were not particularly friendly on this leg.  We played some pigs yesterday and we thought for sure we would get our pig to “pop” but he never did.  He was quite the porker though…so fat his feet wouldn’t even touch the ground.   IYKYK.

3 hours ago, Ampurp85 said:

@WAAAYTOOO When you change rooms on a b2B you put luggage tags on the bags? I was only going to print the first set but if this is the case TIA for the info. 

We do but I’m not sure you have to.  The room attendant knows what your new room number is so it’s probably not truly necessary…but yes, we do.

37 minutes ago, JustMeJoe said:

Us too, but just across the hall.  Not going to complain because Mrs. JustMe hit it nicely in the casino last night!  Got her (guess that's really us) back in the green, and she got a comp offer delivered to the cabin today.  WooHoo!

YIPPEE !!!  I got a $$ off offer but that's basically useless unless we have a real comp offer to put with it, but we don't as Dan has barely been in the casino on this leg.  We know better than to chase an offer on a short cruise.  I'm really glad to hear that M got a good one !

I saw you at breakfast but didn't want to interrupt !

27 minutes ago, JustMeJoe said:

I had thought you said you booked that EX but didn't see it in your signature block, so I didn't think much about it.  We are on that 3-20 and 3-30 for the B2B so we will meet you there as well!

GREAT news !!!

So here I go...."telling" on myself.  Sheesh...

I made the rookiest of rookie mistakes.  I double-booked (overlap) cruises !  I still can't believe I made such a stupid, rookie mistake but I sure did !

When I booked our annual tier casino cruises yesterday, I booked the 9th and the 16th of March B2B on SY.  All was well until I realized that we had JUST booked a 10 night EX cruise (an instant casino comp from leg #1 of this trio) for 3-20-25.  That means that I would still be ON SY when it was time to board EX.  OMG, the panic !  I felt like I was going to be sick.  I had JUST spent HOURS on the phone with Club Royale to get these 2 bookings (plus fix another comp that had gotten totally FUBAR, but that's another story....) made and now I had to go BACK and move the March 16th to March 2nd.  I was fully prepared to have to pay a $200 fee to move this cruise but it had to be done....moving the EX cruise was not an option since there was no other 10 night cruise in the casino offer to choose from.

I got BACK on the phone with Club Royale and honestly, it could not have gone more smoothly.  No change fee, she simply changed the sail date and that was that. I didn't deserve such an easy fix to a TOTALLY avoidable blunder on my part. The only problem was that there was a very small upharge for upgrading from the interior offer to the XB, Ocean View Guarantee for this sailing. For this particular cruise, the XB was slightly more than the 4V (which is the way it usually is.....I just got super lucky with my original bookings) but I gladly paid it to have my mistake behind me.  In retrospect (this is not an excuse....just an explanation) this pricing upcharge is the reason that I originally chose the 9th and 16th instead of the 2nd and the 9th.  The fact that I was already booked on EX never entered my pea brain.  Anyway....crisis rectified.  We are still on B2B on SY but slightly earlier than we were, originally.

UGH

Morning #5....last day of leg #2.  Sea day.

Our SL Concierge (Gigi) disembarked yesterday in Jamaica for vacation and Vanessa, who was in the CL has moved down to the SL on deck 9.  The other CL Concierge (I'm ashamed to say that I have not yet learned her name) is now in charge of the CL.

I was able to give the new CL Concierge (I promise I will get her name and remember it before I disembark in 10 days !) a list of the specialty dining for next cruise.  We have 2 BOGO (which I will use on nights 1 and 2 just to make things easier) and then a 3 night package to cover the nights that we do not care for, in the MDR - namely, USA, French and Caribbean.  Then we will have 4 nights in the MDR.  It's nice to have this taken care of before TAD and now I won't have to mess with it when we get back onboard, tomorrow.  Since there is a complimentary B2B lunch on TAD, I had no need to purchase a specialty lunch for either of our TAD's.  I only purchased a specialty lunch on our very first embarkation day.

We met Mrs. @JustMeJoe yesterday.  SOOO glad to have them on board next week.  We will definitely make some plans to spend some quality time together.

Not much (anything ?) planned for today.  Dan is going to the sauna and I am pecking away on the computer in the computer lounge.  Dinner tonite is the MDR.  No idea what the menu is.  It will be surprise !

Of course, we have to change cabins for the last leg (BOOOOOO) which means we have to pack tonite or first thing in the AM. Dan has already put the new luggage tags on the luggage.  We will be able to leave whatever is hanging in the closet and only pack the "loose" items.  Our current cabin attendant (Rozel....who has been wonderful for 2 weeks !!!) will move everything to our new home waaay up on deck 12 all the way forward.  We have a Panoramic Ocean View for leg #3.  We've had this category of cabin before and we like it.  Yes, there is more motion all the way forward, but it really doesn't bother us.  It will be nice to see the sun and the ocean again from our room !  Being in the Promenade View interior for the past 2 weeks, we never know what time it is or whether or not we have docked, etc.

Our itinerary for next cruise is exactly the same as the 9 day cruise that we just completed.  We have 1 excursion, which will be in Puerto Plata, DR.  We are swimming and snorkeling with the sea lions and the sharks !  YIKES !

The passenger dynamic is undoubtedly going to change again on leg #3 as we already know (from being kicked out of the SL) that there will be many more upper tiers on this next leg and presumably, fewer children.  Just for the record, we had 32 Pinns onboard on Leg #1 and 16 onboard for this leg (#2).  I will let you know how many are on #3 once I find out.

Well, it’s finally happened.  We are disinvited to the Concierge/Suites Lounge on leg #3.

27 minutes ago, Connie360 said:

Why do they put Icon on the list if not eligible? Most of page 3.
This is the list of NOT available, unlike this list of cruises out the door that looks like this
Actually I like this better! 

AGREE !  They made it SO confusing by not making it clear that the list they cite is a list of EXCLUDED sailings.  If I had not already read about it here, I would have totally believed that the cited list was a list to choose from, NOT a list of what was excluded.  Leave it to Royal Caribbean to make a simple thing SO confusing !

I didn't expect our certs to show up until this afternoon (according to the release schedule) but they both showed up early this morning.

I spent ALL morning on the phone (we are in Falmouth and I used the ship's phone to call) BUT we ended up with some great results.  I was able to book both Dan's and my Prime comp cruises for B2B SY sailings (Miami) and we were able to get XB (ocean view balcony guarantee) for -0- upgrade as the XB category for our cruises was lower than the 4V interior room on both of our cruises !!!  We are on 3-9-25 and 3-16-25.

I am not a huge fan of ANY kind of GTY but in this case, it will be worth it, no matter where our OV balcony is. Yes, we will have to change rooms but we saved probably $1000 by opting for the XB over a chance to choose our cabin.  ANY balcony will beat ANY interior !

So be sure to check and see if the cost of an upgraded category is actually less than the interior fare, which is most likely what your offer is based on, if you are Prime.

Happy Birthday, Alicia !!!!

Actually, Royal Caribbean DID have excursion reviews and ratings but they removed those a few years ago.  Shame really.  I liked being able to look at prior remarks and ratings of the various excursions.

Day 3 was pretty slow.  Woke up at 9:27 so missed our breakfast for the first time on this trip.  Had to go to you-know-where and was NOT happy about it.  On EX, they use Chops as overflow seating for the WJ so that’s where we sat.  I just got some fruit and a bowl of grits.  Happy to get in and out quickly.  it was a zoo.

I did my usual morning routine - up to the CL for a cappuccino, then down to the computer lounge, which is right around the corner from our room on Deck 8.  Rozel always cleans our room while we are on our morning walk-about but she got a late start today since we totally dicked up her schedule by sleeping in.  I’m sure she was cursing us but still all smiles when we saw her in the hallway.  I don’t deserve such good service.

Today is a sea day; on our way to Falmouth.  Since it’s the first (of 2) sea day, it is the traditional day for the Top Tier event.  For some completely unknown reason, EX has the TTE at 5:00 !  What a lame time to do it !  Early diners have dinner at 5:00.  We totally missed the TTE on the first leg but went today.  I’m guessing there were maybe 20 people there ?  It was embarrassing, TBH.  They usually have the TTE on the first sea day at 10:30, followed immediately by the TT (Cheers with an officer) luncheon.  That makes SO much more sense than doing it like they did it here.  Of course, no luncheon on this shorty 5 night cruise so I really just DO NOT understand doing the TTE at 5:00.

We visited both the CL and the SL during Happy Hour today - first time on this trip.  The CL was D.E.D.  The SL was much busier, which surprised me.  I thought it would be reversed.  Shows how much I know…. I took some pix but, as you all know by now, must wait for the pix to populate on my iPad.  Gigi, the Suites Concierge, is leaving tomorrow in Jamaica for vacation.  Not sure who will be taking her place.  

No casino today or tonite.  I won a little at Ultimate last night but are being lazy today and staying in.  Kinda nice, actually. We went to the ice show last night.  We always enjoy the ice show no matter which ship it is.

Sorry…nothing really interesting to report - oh wait !  I met @JustMeJoe last night !  That was very cool.  Looking forward to chatting more since we also have the next cruise together. 

Are you talking about a 1BR ATS or a 2 BR ATS ?

If it’s a 1 BR ATS then I definitely recommend the Owners Suite.  The only redeeming quality of the 1 BR ATS is the aft view.  Otherwise, the OS is superior in every way.

If you’re talking about a 2 BR ATS then you’re talking Star Class and that’s a whole ‘nuther thing.  If that’s the case, I would recommend the ATS.  The only real negative of 2BR ATS is the long walk but it’s worth it - at least once.  The second BR of the ATS is really no more than an interior room so just be aware of that.  For kids it’s fine but for a second adult couple it’s really deficient compared to the master BR.

2 hours ago, billdauterive said:

You can use offer code 24Tier3 if you want to go ahead and see the full exclusion list.  http://clubroyaleoffers.com/CertificateOfferCodeLookUp.asp

 

Summary:

No Icon at all (even Feb/March)

No Christmas sailings

No New Years sailings

No Thanksgiving sailings

A lot of Summer exclusions

A few very random exclusions (like 1 Oasis and Odyssey in Sept)

Thanks, Bill.  This is very very helpful.  Made my “wish” list much shorter !

Yes.  Funnel cake.  

So things really did pick up at Hideaway after my last post. By the time we left the place was packed.  The music finally got to me….and I tagged out.

Will I go back ?  Probably not.  There is very little at Hideaway that I could not get elsewhere on the island for -0- $$.

1. Hideaway pool is heated.  I liked that…but I was still chilly when I got out of the water.

2.  Dan said the choice of alcohol was better at Hideaway.  E.g, he likes Grey Goose for his Bloody Mary and he said he couldn’t get that on the “regular” side.  I have no idea since I’ve never had a [alcohol] drink at PDCC

3.  Padded chairs and couches.  I don’t recall seeing that outside of the Beach Club.  Maybe they are somewhere that I haven’t seen.

4.  No kids

Other than these few things, the “regular “ side and Hideaway are the same (to me).

We each had a crispy chicken/mozz sticks sandwich and I had 1/2 of a fried dough ball with powdered sugar on it (can’t think of what it’s called).  Pretty tasty.