WAAAYTOOO

The only problem with the R Bar/champagne bar is that they do not have a blender so can’t make blender drinks. It’s a great location though !

Yippee !!!! So glad everyone made it. Sorry for the game loss but at least the consolation prize is a good one !!

Epic trip ! So glad to be following along with you !!

Very nice job. Sorry it's over !!

Unexpected dry dock ? First I've heard of it ! What are they doing ?

We have the same problem. Never ever use the robes but couldn't, even if we wanted to !

I did not realize that you could use your D+ discount on a package that was purchased after the first day. That's great news. Thanks, Twangbot !!

Lorraine, if you want a cabana then I strongly recommend that you have your Concierge book it ahead of time. If you just want to hang out in the suites area, you don't have to do anything. As I said above though, I'm not even sure that area is still there ! From some of the things I've read, they have moved the cabanas from the rocky area that was not near the beach to a location right ON the beach. So I have no idea of the status of Coco Cay at all. This is definitely a good question for the Concierge. If it is in the same old location (doubtful, actually) it was pretty close to the tender disembark area and it would have been accessible with the big wheeled chairs. But if they moved the area somewhere else, I have no idea where it is, how far it is or if it is still chair accessible. I won't be going to Coco Cay until Feb. so I will have to rely on others who might go before me or just wait. As to John's question about Star Class access/perks, this is something that I am very interested to find out as we will be there 3 times on Anthem in SC. I also cannot believe that they would not give the SC SOME kind of benefit. It may just be as simple as granting eating/drinking rights to extend to the bars and restaurants on the island. This is what I strongly suspect will happen but I also cannot see them giving complimentary access to any of the paid attractions. My guess is that they haven't made any decisions about such things yet !

John, from all I have read, it looks like there will NOT be an exclusive suites area in the new Coco Cay configuration. I am interested to see how it comes out, too. The “old” Coco Cay Suites area was much smaller than the suites area at Labadee, but I liked it better, myself, for that very reason. The Coco Cay Suites area had its own bar, restrooms and buffet area and it was all very close. What was NOT close was the beach area, but that was not a problem for me as I rarely go swimming anyway. I do not know the status of the “old” suites/cabana area of Coco Cay. We’ll be going to Coco Cay twice in Feb but I don’t expect the new area to be open by then. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

The Royal Poker Tour (RPT) satellite tournaments are held on all of the RC ships during most, if not all, cruises (not sure about the "shorty" cruises). Depending upon how many entrants they get (more importantly, how much MONEY they generate from the satellites), they will either give away a free cruise and entrance into the RPT "finals" which are held every year the first or second week in December, or they will give away cash prizes if they do not earn enough entrant money to fully fund the free cruise and tournament entry. The cost of entering the satellite tournaments varies from ship-to-ship. Originally the entrance fee was always $100 plus any re-buys. A few years ago they cut the entrance fee back to $75 plus rebuys (hoping to entice more people to participate, I presume) and then on the last cruise we were on, we noted that it had gone back up to $100 so it should be either $75 or $100, I would guess. You can enter as many of the satellite tournaments you want (with a separate entrance fee, of course) and there are opportunities to rebuy up to a certain point in the satellite tournament but only 1 person will win the free cruise at the satellite finals, which are generally held the last sea night of the cruise. If they award cash in lieu of the free cruise, they will pay between 2-4 places, depending on how many entrants they had and how much money they have to distribute. If you are going on a cruise in the near future, my guess is that your satellite tournaments will be working towards the December 2019 event. They generally cut off the date for the December event a number of months before December.

I agree that the value of a cruise is extraordinary. Everything is combined in one place. No need to go anywhere else. People are feeding me, entertaining me, making my bed every morning and taking me to places I would never go, otherwise.

I guess we're one of the few that actually use this card and love it. I agree that there are other cards that offer more "cash back" rewards but IMO there are none more convenient for cruising with RCCL. Because we spend a lot of time in the casino our bill at the end of the cruise is generally around $15-20K (depending on the length of the cruise). When you get double points for $20K that is 40,000 points or $400 instant OBC for your next cruise. When you spend $5-10K purchasing the cruise and then $20K on the cruise, pretty soon you're looking at real money ! LOL. We generally generate between $200 - $500 in OBC from each cruise. The only rule with using the RCCL Visa card is you canNOT carry a balance on this card. The interest rate is WAAAY too high (not that you should ever carry a balance on ANY credit card) so as long as you can pay it all off at the end of the cruise, it's a very useful tool and the automatic OBC that can be directly redeemed online to be applied to your next cruise is very convenient. And yes...it has a very nice picture of an RCCL ship on it !

All specialty restaurants aren’t open on boarding day. There is usually just 1 of them open and it’s usually either Chops or Giovanni’s (depending upon ship class).

I believe that the cruise line holds accessible rooms back for those requiring them but at some point (probably around 90 days out), they will release accessible rooms into “general inventory” and allow anyone to book them. I am very surprised that, if you booked well in advance, there were no accessible rooms available. I do not think, however, that Royal is obliged to move someone out if an accessible room once they’ve booked it.

Yes, she told me she was going.

My guess is that Annette is on the special sailing of Symphony with Matt. It may take her a day or 2 to get back to you.

I booked Anthem in Feb 2020 b/c I was SURE that everything would be ready by then. HA ! I will be lucky if the thing is even open by then.

Yep. Time for a new Agent

To be fair, let me say that my agent will always check my fares when a new sale comes along to see if I will save any money BUT she does not (nor do I expect her to) check daily to see if there has been a random price fluctuation. It would be virtually impossible for any agent to do that. There have been many times when I have found a random fair reduction and contacted Michelle. She has always responded very promptly to let me know how the change would affect my fare. Sometimes it works out to be a real savings but more often it does not. So, if you are looking for someone to check every day to see if your fare could possibly be reduced, I think you will be sorely disappointed. No agent has the time to do that for every client and every cruise. If, on the other hand, you have an agent who is not responsive, then I say find a new one. Even travel agents have personal lives !! ...so it is possible that something in the "real world" can affect an agent's responsiveness but if it is a behavior that is repeated then it's time to find someone new. Just remember that YOU are your best advocate and NOBODY is going to care more about finding price reductions than YOU. For some people, saving a little money isn't worth the requirement to track prices every single day (sometimes more than once ?) and then there are those of us who make an obsession out of checking prices and we are a TA's worst nightmare !!

On every ship I've sailed, using the Ultimate Dining Package, the package includes lunch on boarding day. I know that there is some uncertainty out there about whether or not the package officially includes boarding day but so far, it has on all of the ones I've done. I have NOT done a 3 day cruise so it might be different for a 3 day but I really doubt it. So it sounds to me like you would be getting 1 lunch and 3 dinners, so 4 meals. That works out to $18 per meal per person, which doesn't seem like a bad price. If, for some reason, they did not allow lunch on embark day that would be the standard $24 per meal per person.

I believe that Royal has stopped offering babysitter services. There is still Adventure Ocean but babysitting in your stateroom is no more. They cited not having enough staff to reliably offer this service anymore but I suspect it is a combination of things that has ended this service.

[email protected]

Annette ?

They keep sending me these ads as well but the sailing for which it is sent is a Thanksgiving sailing that offers no dining packages. It’s quite annoying that they keep sending the discount offers for a product that doesn’t exist ! I even asked a Royal rep (had them on the phone for a different issue) and he confirmed that there are no dining packages offered on my sailing so no joy.

I'm not sure you can apply the discount pre cruise. I think it works similarly to the D+ discount...you have to do it after you board. I can't say for sure as I have never tried to use the casino Voom discount. I feel almost certain that they will NOT allow you to combine it with the D+ discount but again, no personal knowledge or experience. I have only ever used the D+ discount.