WAAAYTOOO

1 hour ago, Karannk said:

Today marks 30 days. I am impatiently awaiting our genie assignment email. Looks like Andres and Romina are the current genies on Anthem. I guess there’s a good chance that they’ll be the genies onboard in 1 month’s time? Getting excited! 

1 hour ago, twangster said:

Labadee has 500 full time employees.  Some of those are residents of the local village, some live in the compound.  Our jetski guide in 2017 for example was european but lived in the compound.  Oasis class ships deliver provisions for the full time employee residents.  They are their supply chain.  CocoCay has adopted that model now that they have a pier.  

These are Royal Caribbean employees ?

I think a lot will depend on whether Royal is planning on having a full time residence at Labadee, as they did with CC.  I don’t see them investing a great deal of money in permanent facilities (i.e., “restaurants”) unless there are Royal personnel in residence to maintain (and guard) them.

1.  Yes, there will be live tables where you can play a Texas Hold ‘Em.  While I have not yet sailed on Symphony, my guess is that there will be 2 such poker tables.  They usually run a $2/$5 cash game which has a horrendous 10% rake (max of $15 per hand).  There will also be poker tournaments throughout the cruise.

2.  Royal Caribbean casinos are cash only so ultimately all gambling will be in cash.  Tracking (for rating and points purposes) at the live tables is a voodoo dance that nobody quite understands. Tracking on slots is much more straight forward and quantifiable.  

3.  Until you have achieved at least Prime level in the Royal Caribbean casino players club (called Club Royale), it will cost you 5% to get cash from your area Pass card at the casino.  So you will have to decide whether it is to your advantage to carry cash with you or pay the 5% overhead.
 

50 minutes ago, Bailey said:

I should have stated that I want to make multiple specialty restaurant reservations when on the Ultimate Dining Plan with the manager of one specialty venue.  Btw, what’s MDR?

Yes.  No worries. You can make all of your specialty dining reservations at one time with one stop at any of the specialty restaurants. 

Sorry you have to leave. I know this feeling well.  Have a fun stay in NYC and a safe trip home.  Thank you for sharing this wonderful trip with us.

Yes. The only thing you cannot do is make specialty restaurant reservations from the MDR or any of the other complimentary restaurants.  

Welcome to the blog, joe !

Wow !  It’s a Christmas miracle !

Welcome to the Blog Lpi

YIPPEE !!!  Have a GREAT time.

If there is any way, other than calling Royal directly or having your agent check for you, I don't know about it.

I do know that, even if your suite class is sold out, there can be price drops...but I know no way of directly checking without involving someone from Royal Caribbean to verify it.

I would suggest that you go for the iFly and North Star reservations first, as those are much more limited than the food venues.  Honestly, I have no idea where you go to do that.  Our Genie made all of our reservations.  Perhaps the Excursions Desk ?

You can make your dining reservations at any of the specialty restaurants or at the specialty restaurant kiosk that will, most likely, be located somewhere on the Esplanade.  The gangway is on Deck 4 (I'm pretty sure).

That is exactly the same letter we got on Oasis a few weeks ago.  Good luck !!

I agree with you about the hot dogs at the doghouse.  We were very surprised (in a good way) at how good they were.  The location SUCKS on Anthem but the food is surprisingly good there.

10 minutes ago, Jax said:

It has been great all week. It’s felt like we have been at home using ours as we have never had anyone in there with us. I usually go in about 9 - 9:30 am and Lindsay goes in a bit earlier. I didn’t know what to expect but it has been great! 

Were you allowed to use the thermal suite multiple times without a charge ?   That’s interesting if you were.  Usually it is only once, complimentary.  Originally, SC got unlimited TS access but shortly after the program began, they cut it back to once.

No, there won't be any Flowrider on a Radiance class ship.

I'll be interested to hear how things go in the thermal suite.  Being the last sea day and raining, it is likely to be very busy.  Wonder if being SC will make any difference for you.

Congratulations on the UPS.  I am watching carefully.  Very interested in seeing real-time pix of this suite and seeing how you feel about being all the way forward.  Fingers crossed for your upgrade for the second leg.  They have had quite a turnover in Genies on Oasis.  It's only been 3 weeks since we disembarked and I think most of the Genies have changed !!  Ignore your husband's blabbering.  Mine is the same way.  Best just to tune them out.

Kristi, I am going to steal your "metric crap-ton".  That is the funniest thing I've read all week !!

That thing in the middle with all of those red peppers !  Holy crap-ton !

Very bad news, I’m afraid. The FCC is accurate, according to Michelle.  I am disappointed beyond imagination. She provided calculation details but it makes no sense to me.  I really wish they had not offered any FCC at all.  It makes Royal seem so shady to me. It’s as if they are saying to me - “We want to restore your confidence in us by completely destroying your confidence in us”. I’m honestly sick to my stomach about it.  I’m sure you’ll have better luck as you won’t be dealing with Casino chicanery but I caution you to temper your expectations. Bottom line - your cruise fare is NOT what you pay for the cruise !  It is some voodoo made-up value that pull out of their as*es.

Interesting. Since the Genie was restocking the drinks, that sort of confirms that he (the Genie) procured those drinks on his own.  Normally there is a bar attendant who takes care of the drinks.  Since Royal only has Coke products, I think your Genie got those Pepsi’s for you.  Great service on his part.

Welcome, Joey !

Welcome to the Blog !

Yes, the ClubRoyaleOffers.com website is very limited.  It does a very GOOD job of detailing your offers and a very BAD job of providing any useful information about the offers.

I recommend that you do NOT hit the “redeem” button (although I will fully admit that I have no idea what would happen if you did).  Call Club Royale (866-213-3116) and have them help you.  I did this last week for an offer I saw on the website and they sent me the list of the applicable cruises to which that offer applied.  It’s best to have the information you need first and then decide if the offer is something you’re interested in, or not.

On 12/12/2019 at 10:33 AM, WAAAYTOOO said:

The FCC is based on the base fare only.  IOW, the taxes, fees, gratuities etc do not count towards the FCC.  I don't think the fact that it is a casino comp factors in at all....from what I understand it it based wholly on the cruise fare that you paid.  Since our cruise fare was $6255.70, I would expect our FCC to be $1251.14 but our TA told us to expect in the neighborhood of $1100 so there must be some factor included (or excluded, in this case) that I am missing.  We all know how Royal uses "fuzzy math" and it looks like this is no exception.  I know from reading others' accounts, most people are consistently disappointed that their FCC is lower than they expected.  I'll join that group, I guess.

Here's a bit of good news though....we found out that we will be able to combine this FCC with ANOTHER casino comp upgrade.  I'm using a free casino comp certificate (which I am upgrading) for a sailing on Liberty next September (Labor Day) and I will be able to apply this FCC to that casino comp upgrade.  So, you can combine a casino comp upgrade with an FCC which is great news.   As Twangster has explained to us a couple of times, the FCC can only be used to pay for base fare.  We cannot use it to cover taxes, fees, gratuities, etc.   Coincidentally, the FCC will almost exactly cover the cost of the upgraded fare, so this one will be almost "FREE".

Update on the 20% FCC.  I will preface my story by saying that this is not yet final.  My TA is questioning the results but I will just say....boy, was I ever mistaken with my estimate of what our FCC would be !  In my previous post I had estimated that our FCC would be between $1100-$1200 based on the cruise fare of $6255.70.  Imagine my surprise when the FCC arrived on Tuesday in the amount of $464 - $232 each.  I was stunned, to say the least.  As I said, Michelle is looking into it today for me.  As I no doubt mentioned elsewhere in this thread, this cruise was an upgraded casino comp. It started as an interior room and I paid a casino discounted upgrade to Star Class, which, in the end, totaled $6255.70 before any taxes or port fees.   I feel sure that this is factoring into the unbelievably low FCC somehow.  I will withhold any further speculation about how the FCC was calculated until I hear back from Michelle. Just know that I am enormously disappointed at the moment.  I almost wish that the Genie hadn’t even offered the FCC. I neither asked for it nor expected it.  More, once I hear back from Guest Relations.