WAAAYTOOO

5 minutes ago, PhuckPhacha said:

Booked passes for April 2021 this AM. Cabanas are just a beach...er...bridge too far.

This is precisely what I did.  I want to be able to go to the Club, swim in the pool and eat some lobster but I have learned from experience that the cabanas are a waste of money for us.  We just take naps there.  So I feel like entrance into the club at $64.99 PP was a pretty good deal.  The "floating" cabanas (I guess they have renamed them from "Over-the-water" to "floating") for us are $1499 (Anthem, Feb. 2020). For the 2 of us to take a nap that is just waaaytooo much.  I am, however, interested to see what the Club is like.

It's been a really long time since I've boarded later than 11:00 but I would suspect that the busiest embarkation would be between noon and 2PM.  Just guessing.

I think 2:30 on embarkation day would be great assuming you aren't doing anything special (parties, etc.) for embarkation.  You will be fortunate enough to have already settled into your suite and unpacked.  Ask your Genie if he/she can do anything about getting you a discount.  Unlikely, but worth asking !

I did a massage on boarding day once (can't remember if we were Star Class on that one or not...fuzzy memory) and it turned out to be a great experience.

What an awesome vacation.  Your children are very fortunate to have such cool and fun parents.  Well done.

Today I got an offer to bid on a Royal up for our December 1 Oasis cruise.  There is only 1 suite higher than what we have - the Royal Suite and it's been sold for months.  I don't expect to get it but I did put a minimum bid on it.

Interesting that I never got a Royal Up offer on the first half of my S2S - the Nov. 25 Brilliance Thanksgiving cruise.  That's the only cruise that I have booked that I did not at least get an offer to bid.

Not drinks prices....but this is what is showing on my cruise planner for my upcoming Grandeur (12 Oct) cruise for internet.

Who would pay $27.29 for a 2-device package when you could buy 2, 1 device packages for $25.98 ?

They have not mailed cruise docs/luggage tags in many years.  The only way that you will get these documents in the mail is to either (1) pay (I think it's $35...or it used to be, anyway) or (2) your travel agent may offer this service.  Royal does not mail out luggage tags anymore.

25 minutes ago, jk13292000 said:

Maybe a silly question...

Do you think they would make up the sofa bed as 2 beds?  So they are not sharing sheets and blanket.

If it’s a true sofa bed I don’t think there’s any way to make into 2 separate sleeping surfaces.  If it’s one of the trundle beds they are 2 separate mattresses so it’s not a problem

Sounds like good reading weather.  At least you have a good book

I don't bother with it anymore.  The last 2 times they have re-taken our photos anyway...so I don't even bother now.  It takes maybe 5 more seconds each to check in.

Slightly off topic but while perusing the excursions site for my upcoming Oasis cruise (going to Labadee, not Coco Cay), I saw this

It's the first time I've ever seen a "sold out" banner on any excursion.  I think this is GREAT (assuming it's true).  At least you don't have to guess about whether there's a cabana available or not.  They're still showing over-the-water cabanas available to apparently all of the beach cabanas are gone.  I hope this is something they will continue to do when an excursion is actually, truly sold out.  

No, if it says sofa bed, then it has a sofa that makes into a bed or is sometimes a trundle bed.  If you're looking for "bunk beds" it will either say bunk beds (which generally means bunk beds in a separate room or alcove) or pullman beds which means that they either pull down from the ceiling or the wall(s).

If it says sofa bed it is not a bunk bed.

Often (but not always) lobster is eliminated from the menu on cruise of less than 7 days.  The other frequent casualty of the shorter cruises is lamb shank.

49 minutes ago, twangster said:

 

 

Yikes !  There's a demon lurking in [bird of] paradise !!!

Twangster, did you have to go through Customs when you disembarked ?

1 hour ago, wstephensi said:

We always stay at the Residence Inn and Suites Cape Canaveral.  Many rooms/suites large enough for family of 4, good complimentary breakfast, port transportation and parking packages, close to Hertz, gas station, fast food, and a mile or less from the terminal.

+1 for this.

I just booked the Marriott Biscayne Bay for points this afternoon (35,000). I know for sure that they do NOT have any shuttles at all.  In fact, every downtown Miami Marriott hotel that I checked does not offer any shuttles (including the Ritz, the W and the Courtyard).  My guess is that none of them do.  You might have better luck with airport properties or even some between the airport and the beach.

The majority of the downtown Miami hotels are either 35,000 or 50,000 points.

I don’t care about a shuttle to the port b/c they normally do not leave early enough for me but I would have loved a shuttle from the airport.  No joy.

Wow.  What a surprise. I just received the Genie questionnaire for our 1 Dec Oasis Cruise.  I guess this confirms the 60 day/2 months “rule” for first contact.  I’m all excited now !  Yippee !!

That's cuttin' it pretty close but FLL/PE is one of the few places that you could do this.

2 minutes ago, emsff02 said:

We had a Chill Island cabana last week. We had #8. In our cruise planner we saw prices all over the place as well. A suggestion for the people who do find a cabana at a lower price than their original booking, I had the same thing. FIRST attempt to book the new cabana, but use a different member of your party to book it. Our chill island cabana was first booked in my name at $425, then I saw the price drop to $325, so I snagged one with my wife as the guest using it, then went and cancelled mine. This way you dont lose out on one!

 

So SMAAAAAT

1 minute ago, Zacharius said:

Interesting. I live on the road, I book about 500,000 miles worth of travel per year for myself and colleagues. Much of that is domestic US, and we're always comparing prices. I almost never see instances of two one-ways being more than a roundtrip (for example, AA1234 ORD-DFW and AA4321 DFW-ORD are priced the same whether booked as a roundtrip or two one-ways). 

My how things have changed.  Back in my travel agency days (WAAAAAYYYY back.  We used Official Airline Guides - BOOKS !!) it was always cheaper to book RT and 1Way.  The airline industry is nothing like it was back then though.

24 minutes ago, FloridaCruiseGirl1210 said:

tastes like chicken. 

I read this super-fast and I first thought it said "tastes like children".

I got quite a laugh at myself over that one.

YIPPEE !!!!

This is all very hypothetical since there are no over nights at CC at this time but I could imagine a nighttime party with live music near the pool or beach,  night swimming (always fun), eating at the various restaurants.  I would think there would be a lot they could do at night.  They could even bring special bands along to give concerts at night.

Agree that old Cruise Compasses will give you a good idea of what the showtimes are likely to be but unfortunately there is no way to know ahead of time exactly what your entertainment acts will be or what time they are going to begin.  Royal (and all cruise lines, I'm guessing) book their entertainment rather last minute....or at least it seems that way as there are so very often last minute changes to the entertainment lineup.

When you get within 2 weeks of your cruise you can email web_reservations@rccl.com and they will give you the entertainment information that they have.  Just include the ship and sail date in your email and they will give you what they have BUT there is a very real chance that there will be some last minute changes to that lineup.  It's the best you can do though.  It's better than nothing !!