WAAAYTOOO

1 hour ago, emsff02 said:

Funny story to add here, because its one of those situations where all you can do is just laugh.  So of course, we had that LOOOOOONNG travel day home. We arrived back to Albany at around midnight. We collected our luggage and headed to the car only to discover that something got left on and of course..................we had a dead battery......The three of us adults just looked at each other and laughed. The kids thought we lost our minds. Thankfully, a phone call later to the fleet company (Heather has a fleet car for work that we get to use for personal use as well) a tow company is dispatched and we eventually made it home. Now I'm wishing for those ship laundry machines as I slowly make my way through that mountain.

What a gut kikka !  I guess it was the perfect way to end an already stressful travel day.  UGH

41 minutes ago, timm804 said:

Are any of the onboard activities (ship tour, Escape Room, etc) included in SC or maybe is the reservation process a little more flexible if we decided on something last minute or wanted to change?

Yes !!  All of the above !!  Cupcake decorating, sushi making also included.  Ship tours include bridge, galley and entertainment venue.  It is NOT the All Access Tour but it is good enough for $0$.  You can enjoy the Chef's Table, but they will charge you $25 per adult for the upgraded wine.  I know how stupid that sounds when you can get any almost wine any time you want it with SC, but them's the rules.  We had not done the Chef's Table in a number of years, but last Feb when we did our B2B SC cruises on Anthem, we did CT on the first cruise and really had a great time.  You will almost always meet some interesting people, and we did.  We asked them back to the Suite for a little mini-party (called the Genie and let her know what we wanted delivered) and it was really fun.

1 hour ago, beccaball said:

I just want to say, I am a fellow "keto-er" myself, been at it for almost a year and I am going to actually not eat Keto on vacation..... call it majorly carb cycling, LOL.....

I want to splurge and have drinks, bread, and sweets..... I know I'll gain some,...but I can jump back on the bandwagon when I am back,

 

Life is meant to live a little.....so I am going to thoroughly enjoy my cruise

 

Is it bad that I've already read the menus and picked out my meals? I am so excited lol

I think that's awesome.  Enjoy yourself.

So glad you got your door decoration back !!  So smart to tell Security.  I don't know that I would have thought to do that.

Note to self:  No stealing door signs.  They WILL catch you and throw you overboard !

Mine is self-explanatory.  Tendencies toward excess...'nuff said.

I really responded to let you know, Rebecca, that I have a similar situation with my "real' name.  My name is Ramona...but I have never used that name.  I have been Raye since I was a child.  I was named for my father's brother (Raymond...called Ray...so Raye) and my father's mother (Mona).  BUT I wanted to say...I love the name Polly.  I laugh when I say that to you, b/c everyone ALWAYS says..."Oh, I just LOVE the name Ramona".  I usually execute an eyeroll and I expect you are doing the same, now.  

21 minutes ago, Barbara T said:

We did the Gumbalimba Park in Rotan.  Was AMAZING!  We got to interact with macaws and monkeys.  We stayed behind to swim as it wasn't advertised in the booking but we brought our stuff anyone.  Had the beach to ourselves practically.  There was a guide who took us out to the reef for snorkling just for tips.  It was by far the best place we've snorkled so far!  Would 1000 percent do it again!  Saw sea turtles, eel, octopus, tons of fish.  Wish we had taken our guides card to share!

 

Was this a Royal excursion or one you did on your own ?

12 minutes ago, D_Hubb said:

Hi there - my son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter (infant) are booked in an interior cabin for our upcoming family cruise. The final payment was made last week. I noticed today that an Ocean View Balcony Guarantee is now about $75 cheaper than their interior room that was paid for last week. Is it possible to move them into this room category after final payment? I am not worried about the $75 being refunded, as it is well worth the cabin upgrade. Just curious if Royal would allow the move....

Thanks in advance everyone!

 

GOOD NEWS !  Yes !  Assuming you booked under North American rules, you can get the upgrade for $0 but, as you noted, you will not get any money back.

If you booked with an Agent, call ASAP and have them take care of this for you.  If you booked directly with Royal, call them.  This will NOT be done for you automatically.  You will have to act.

Great catch, BTW !!

Just now, AmaliaLopez said:

Wanderer, have any of your documents been uploaded to your Royal Caribbean account?  We are 61 days out.  They are usually uploaded by now.

As a general rule, Cruise docs are available 49 days (7 weeks) prior to sailing but not before.  Sometimes it’s a day or 2 later, but never earlier.

3 minutes ago, whitsmom said:

Oh I will "ouch too hard!" and then they get it right!  I make sure before they start that I want a light touch.  Only once did I have to call them out for being to rough.

I’m going to do this next time !  Thanks for the pep talk.

All of my “panic” dreams are about not being able to get where I’m going.  No matter how hard I try I just can’t get there....or can’t complete whatever task I am trying to do.  I’m sure there’s some deeply suppressed mommy/daddy issues somewhere....

19 minutes ago, whitsmom said:

We do the couples massage (usually Swedish) with a lighter pressure for me and Hubby gets deeper pressure.

You must have better luck than I do (LOL).  I’ve tried asking for the light pressure massage but by the end they are trying to break the bones in my back again...so I’ve just given up.  I just can’t handle the brutality of the deep tissue deal.  It really hurts and never helps.

We always purchase the Unlimited Dining Package.  It does have one problem, however.  It’s too good.  I know this will shock some, as I have been such a UDP proponent for such a long time.  The problem with purchasing the UDP is that you feel compelled (b/c you paid for it !) to eat EVERY lunch and dinner in a specialty restaurant.  Trust me when I say....that is just too much food.  When I am home I almost never eat lunch. I’m just not hungry during the middle of the day.  But when we’re on a cruise, I force myself to eat and then eat again b/c I paid for it.  Cover your ears, Royal Caribbean, b/c I don’t want you to hear this, but I secretly wish that the UDP included only embarkation lunch and all dinners.  I would then be free to either skip lunch entirely or just grab a snack somewhere without feeling like I was cheating myself.  The only lunch that I really love, is embarkation day b/c it is such a wonderful way to start the cruise.  After that, not so much.  I might even, God forbid, go to the Windjammer !  Our next Cruise is going to be Majesty, which has no specialty restaurants.  Depending on how that experiment goes, I may decide to change our habit of always buying the UDP.

I agree with Kris10May and Twangster.  I used to pay many hundreds of dollars for a piece of luggage and even the best I had (Travel Pro with lifetime warranties) were constantly being repaired.  ....and like AshleyDillo, it was quite a long drive for me to the closest Travel Pro repair shop (not 4 hours, but still, a nuisance).  As I replace my bags now, I just buy something I like, realizing that it will not last.  I have the same philosophy with cookware, BTW.

I think the snake is a better guess than I had. I thought it was a cake with a candle.  Looking at, what would be it’s head, I change my vote to snake.

1 hour ago, BenM said:

This is awesome! If we were to find a better deal while on the sailing next month, could we just re book at that rate, or does it have to be an online only situation?

The Next Cruise folks cannot touch a booking that has already been made BUT there’s nothing to stop you from going to see Next Cruise and have them research whatever cruise you already booked.  If the deal is better than what you have, you could book with NC and then cancel your original booking.  Just be sure you book a refundable deposit the first time.

We are sailing on Majesty out of New Orleans in May.

Waiting is almost always a mistake. Booking as early as possible will generally net the best price PLUS you will have time to reprice if a better price comes along.

1 hour ago, RCIDreamer96 said:

What I am saying is that I had to have my passport with me, this is what I was told when I was boarding the ship in the bahamas- they took our SeaPass and our passport, and then gave it back to us. I can't speak for anyone else's experience, but this is what they did for us. @twangster has this ever happened to you? 

Are you saying that you embarked in Nassau ?  If so, then yes, you would have to have your passport.  If you are saying that you just reboarded the ship after getting off for the day, then no.  No passport is required. 

Recently it seems to me that the bookings that I have, that are more than 90 days in the future, are seeing very few price reductions on Cruise Planner items.  Only when my cruises get within 90-100 days do the "sales" seem to benefit me.  I think it will just be a waiting game if your cruise is 300 days away.  You can certainly abide by the rule that we all use here - go ahead and purchase now and reprice when the price drops.  The only downside to doing that is that it allows Royal to keep your money for a long time.

12 minutes ago, NicoAr1984 said:

Hi guys... a couple days ago I called my travel agency as I received several emails from RCCL with great (new) offers for balcony rooms in my sailing on Oasis March29. I asked the travel agent if I could upgrade with that new rate - as i made my resevations several months ago- but he told me i could ‘t do so as it was a different “promo code” than the one i used for my reservations...

is there any other way to do so? Because i’m really looking forward for an upgrade and my local travel agent won’t give me any solution or cheap fare to do so

Perhaps your agent was telling you that if you reprice your booking (any repricing is essentially a cancellation and rebooking) you would lose your original booking promotions.  That is true.  But if you still want to upgrade and don't care about losing whatever original booking promotions you had, your agent should be able to do that for you.  This is true for North American booking rules.  Other locations have different booking rules.

32 minutes ago, Kathleen said:

Thank you. Very helpful as always.

You are very welcome !!

1 hour ago, JennyJenny said:

I have heard a rumour that on some cruise ships, they will have people that will dance with you in the evenings if you wish and don't have anyone to dance with but I have to wonder if that's only on ritzy lines with rich widows etc.

Azamara has this feature, but I have never heard of it on any of the Royal ships.

8 minutes ago, Kathleen said:

Phone and hair appliances.

Phones are almost always dual voltage so you will be able to use the Euro adapter for these devices.  Curling irons are sometimes dual voltage but hair dryers almost never are.  If you plug MOST American hair dryers into a Euro converter and it is NOT dual voltage, it will burn up your device.  Just be sure that your devices will be compatible with a converter.

Make sure that your device (hair dryer or whatever) is compatible with the voltage. 

Yes, they will stock the fridge with beer, water, soda, juice, snacks but everything will cost $$ even if you have the Deluxe Beverage Package.  They will not bring liquor to your cabin.  The fridge will be empty when you arrive but the room attendant can get you a menu from which to order drinks that you want.