WAAAYTOOO

This is the rule....however, with all things Royal CAribbean, there are sometimes exceptions. I have transferred a couple of bookings to MEI well after the 60 day mark. I don't do it routinely as they make nearly all of my reservations these days but back when I was doing my own bookings through the casino I would sometimes transfer them a ways afterwards. Michelle was always able to snag them over even when they exceeded the 60 day mark. Best not to push this one but it can be done.

Never heard this one before !

One reason you may not want to pay in full is that once a cruise is paid in full it CANNOT be transferred to a TA. A number of years ago one one of the RCBlog Group cruises, we had a group of 21 people. One of our group had booked the cruise themselves directly through Royal and paid for their cruise in its entirety. When it came time to start planning Blog group activities they were not able to participate in some of them b/c they had not booked through MEI and since their cruise was fully paid, they could not transfer the booking over to MEI. I always keep a small balance due until right around final payment date. The only exception to this are the free cruises we get through Club Royale. There is a "rule" that those cruises have to be paid in full at the time of booking, so in that particular case, you have no choice...but for all other "normal" cruises, we hold back just a bit until it's time to pay it off.

Thank you so much for this information, Kat. Dan is a pilot from waaaay back so we're going to do this when we go to Nassau in Feb. I NEVER would have even thought about looking for this kind of experience.

Congratulations ! I love these triumph stories. So glad to have you as a member of our family

No such thing as too much room ! Just kidding. We had the OS on our last Liberty sailing and I have to tell you....that is a SWEET suite ! ...I agree with you and Pooch though...I don't think I would have paid $600 more for it on a night 5.

Beforehand. I wrote to back to him (MJ) once he had contacted us and told him where and when we wanted to eat and he had it all reserved before we got on board. As a matter of fact, he actually re-arranged some of the dates we had requested due to misinformation that I provided to him ! It has been our experience that lamb shank is almost always served on night 6 and sometimes on night 7 so we told him we wanted the lamb shank delivered to our suite whenever it was being served. He wrote back and told us that lamb shank night was night 4 for our cruise (never EVER seen it served that early in the cruise) and so he rearranged our schedule so that we had lamb shank in our suite on night 4 and whatever we had scheduled for night 4 (can't remember what it was, now), he swapped for night 6. We only went physically into the MDR 1 night that week and that was on lobster night. Every other night we either had specialty dining or dinner in our suite. It was really very nice.

I had looked into this a while back and I seem to recall seeing photographs of what looked to be a very narrow, very deep hole. It seemed to have a rickety-ass wooden ladder as the only visible means to get down. Am I thinking of something else ?

We did the same thing on our Liberty cruise last month. The Suites Concierge made all of our dining reservations (we did not have the ultimate but a 5 day plan). Everything went very smoothly.

Where will Navigator be ? I am on her 18 November for Thanksgiving.

The beauty of MTD is that you can eat whenever you want or not at all. If you make a reservation for a certain time and then find that, for whatever reason, you are not going to be able to make it, it is a matter of courtesy to call and let them know so that they don't hold your table just to have it sit vacant. ...or you can just show up with no reservation at all ! ...of course, there could be a short wait while they get a table for you but it's never very long. We always do MTD and have always enjoyed it.

I doubt they even noticed. As many have noted here and elsewhere, Royal's new target are millenials with children. With all of the issues that Royal has created for itself with so many upper tier cruisers (overcrowded lounges, etc.), I'm sure they aren't biting nails and wringing hands about losing those of us who have put so much time and money into their coffers. One less D+ to whine about not being allowed into the suites lounge (not that the sweet Twangbot would ever do that).

Can you swim with the turtles at the Turtle Farm ? We went a couple of years ago (great place to visit, BTW) but I don't remember being able to swim. Maybe I just missed it.

Thanks for the information. I will contact them in the next few weeks. It sounds like a hoot. Regarding your unfortunate experience with the oozing shower....I don't think I have heard of a very bad situation handled any more poorly (on the part of the cruiseline) than yours. I don't know why, but the oft-spoken proclamation, "This is going to hurt me more than it hurts you" comes to mind (cancelling 10 cruises <shudder>). I certainly hope that you get a remedy even closely equivalent to what you sacrificed. Their reaction and behaviors were completely unacceptable. Sorry you had to suffer for them. I have never sailed on Enchantment - something that I have regretted....right up until today. Now, not sure I will bother.

I guess I must have missed Kat's review as this is the first time I've heard about it. Since Dan is an old Marine Corps jet pilot I think he might enjoy this !! I never get off the ship in Nassau anymore but this might be something we both would enjoy (I've never "flown" with him !). Do you mind if I ask how much it cost ? We'll be in Nassau (twice in a B2B) in Feb. on Anthem. I will put this on our itin !!

You're in very good hands with either Michelle at MEI

Same with the price of the DDP on my upcoming Grandeur cruise. It had fluctuated from $45 during "non-sales" and $42 when they put it on sale. It has stayed at $42.

I agree. There seems to be an unclosed loop here somewhere. Good thing you called

Be thankful that they are allowing the second person to purchase only the refreshment package. The actual policy is that if 1 person purchases the deluxe drink package then all persons in the cabin 21 years of age or more must also purchase the deluxe drink package.

Grandeur offers hot rocks

UGH.

I have only had this experience when we had a large party. Didn't realize they would do it for couples ! Very nice...if you are really, really hungry !

I believe the OP's question was whether or not you could still see the ocean if you are in one of the rooms where the bed is near the closets (and the couch is closest to the sliding doors). The answer is, "yes" you can still see the ocean but not nearly as well. Also, IMO the staterooms that have this configuration are more likely to experience traffic bottleneck issues. Since the bed, which is the longest piece of furniture in the room, is located almost immediately after you enter the room, your choke point is there, near the stateroom door. With the bed located further away, near the balcony, your chances of having as traffic choke point are diminished. That's just my experience. Others may have a different experience. I have never been in a balcony room on Harmony but I don't think the closets are in the way of the view. I definitely prefer the bed near the balcony for those 2 reasons : (1) the traffic flow seems to be less restrictive and (2) you can see the ocean better from the bed when it is near the balcony. To determine whether your cabin will have the bed near the balcony or near the closets, go to the nearest set of connecting rooms. "Stand" in the hallway. The connecting room on "right" is the "right" (bed by the balcony) configuration. Move toward your room, alternating, "right", "wrong" and what you end up with when you reach your room is the configuration of your room. MAKE SURE YOU ARE FACING THE CONNECTING ROOMS FROM THE HALLWAY before you determine which cabin is "right" and which one is "wrong". If you start counting from the ocean orientation you will have it exactly wrong.

Twangbot, did you have a one-way car rental ? If so, that's an incredibly good price !

I don’t even know how to check A2S prices anymore since they hosed up the website. Where do you A2S prices now ?