WAAAYTOOO

It's all about competition. On a cruise ship there isn't any. In Las Vegas or anywhere else where there are casinos, they have lots of competition from other casinos so they have to be competitive. On a cruise ship, you are a captive audience. It's true that the craps tables only have single odds. That sucks for craps players. Some of the BJ tables only pay 3:2 on a BJ (I think the high minimum tables pay 2:1). If you're on a cruise ship and you want to play craps, what do you do ? You either take their shi**y single odds or you don't play !

Agree with Tiny. Have them send you a new confirmation. They should have done that anyway. ALWAYS get a confirmation showing payments or added features.

For 5 people I think the 2 BR ATS would be a great option. 2 more adults ? Hmmm....probably not unless your in-laws are willing to have kids sleeping over their heads. The second bedroom is not large. There is plenty of storage space. That would not be a problem, but the sleeping arrangements would be awkward. Of course, your in-laws might be more comfortable on the fold-out bed in the LR than in the small second bedroom, but that presents problems too. The living space is huge. It's the sleeping arrangements that would concern me. Just an observation. The ATS on Deck 8 is WAAAY bigger than the one on Deck 9. I have not been inside of one on Deck 10 but I would expect it to be even smaller than Deck 9. If you are going to try and get 7 people in 1 of these suites I would not even consider it unless it is ATS A1 on Deck 8. I like Tiny's idea of having the balcony room adjoining the ATS but then you have the problem of one set of adults not being Star Class and there are serious issues with that if everyone wants to stay together for meals and entertainment AND boarding and disembarking. What is the chance of getting your inlaws an adjoining balcony to your Family balcony ?

This is what I have been hearing about on that "other" site. Waiting lists for upgrades. Hopefully this won't happen to you, Suzanne, but the comments I have been reading say that very few people are actually getting calls to upgrade. I will keep my fingers crossed for you, too !

Absolutely ! Take it quickly !

I have read a number of other posts where folks are being offered to be placed on a list for a possible upgrade. I wonder if this is the same thing I've read about. I think it's a new thing.

I'm going to LOVE this ! :)

Stephanie pretty much laid it out above - at least, as much as we know. In the good old days, it used to take 2100 points to get VIP status but with the new program (which has taken at least 4 years to be implemented and still isn't done !) I really have no idea how it's going to work. According to literature that came out a number of months ago, the number of points required to have the waived convenience fee is now Tier 2 (they are calling it "Prime"). That level is 2500 - 24,999 points but that is an accumulated points value over a given period of time (that is also a hot mess). But it seems like they are indicating that you must attain Tier 2 to be able to qualify for the "sticker". I suspect that this what the host/hostess will tell you. If you can accumulate 2500 points in 1 sailing - great ! ....or you can accumulate 2500 points over a time period, which, in the future I think, will be 1 year. You can probably find this chart as Matt posted it when this information can out. I have no idea how to successfully search the blog so I'm no help to you with finding it. As Stephanie said, I think the 1000 points that everyone is repeating, is a minimum value that you must attain on EVERY cruise (after you are already a member) in order to requalify for the sticker on the next cruise.

We'll be on the next week ! June 30 for a 4th of July cruise.

Wow, I hadn't heard of that before. Sounds complicated !

We sailed on Allure over Thanksgiving last year and Giovanni's was open on embark day. We will be on next month, again. I would think that they would LOVE for you to use your booking perk for lunch. I'm sure it would save them money as the lunch menu is somewhat smaller than the dinner menu. I think it is a GOOD idea though. I may do this myself ! I don't have the CP perk but lunch at Giovanni's on boarding day sounds really good. The last couple of times we have gone to Sabor but I have been consistently disappointed in Sabor on the O class. I really am NOT a fan of Jaimie's so maybe we will go and enjoy Giovanni's. Great idea !

LOL. That's tooo funny. At least mine ARE chronological by sail date. I was able to FINALLY get to my Set Sail page to print out the Set Sail passes...but I had to reboot in order to get to the luggage tags. I had to go through the "Already Booked" link that Twangster noted. If I sign in to my account first, there is no getting to the set sail or luggage tags links. Improvements, but still very lame.

I LOVE the port at Baltimore. I completely agree - so close to so many population areas - including mine ! The PROBLEM with Baltimore is....where do you go ? We have gone to Bermuda sooooo many times now. I love cruising so I don't mind going to Bermuda over and over....and over and over again. But unless you have at least 9 days to cruise, you cannot get anywhere else. Once we're retired, if we are still in the Metro DC area (which I pray we are NOT !) then I will take FULL advantage of the longer trips on Grandeur (or whichever ship is here) but until then, I guess it will continue to be Bermuda. We do have a Christmas/New Year's cruise booked for this year and it will be our first out of Baltimore (12 nights). Looking forward to that one ! ...and one day we will take the New England cruise too. We are primarily winter cruisers so the options out of Baltimore are very limited this time of year.

This is great information ! Thanks

I thought about that too !

In fact, none of the radiance class (except for Brilliance) or Vision class are on there. Maybe it's the category of refurb that they've listed. Some are major dry docks and some are minor refurbs.

I used to do this...book out as far in the future as possible, but now with the suites being all non-refundable, I can no longer do that. Also, changes in the rules for casino prices have forced me to make more short-term plans. We'll have to see if it works out or not. I know it has definitely caused me to cut back on the number of cruises I take.

Welcome to the blog ! Sorry to hear this. It's unfortunate, given that it is ALL Royal's fault. This website monstrosity is unpardonable. I would be irritated, too. There's no way to predict when a sale might pop up. Just keep looking.

No, I don't think there will be a phone number that would be associated with the ship. Just do your best. If you know, before you leave in the morning, that you are going to miss your dining reservation, call and cancel before you leave. But if you think you will make it back in time but just don't....well, they will wait 15 minutes and then give your table to someone who is waiting. It's a courtesy but sometimes missing your reservation just can't be helped. Do your best and enjoy the ability to be spontaneous !

Bummer. You will be getting off as we're getting on.

My guess is the answer to whether you can give your daughter a drink on either your package or your Diamond coupon is "no".

This sounds very ominous. Not in a good way....

If you wait until you're onboard, the most popular Barefoot cabanas will definitely be gone. If you don't care which one you get this might work. I don't see them allowing you to do this without paying the price difference though

I fear this is the true answer

On Allure last Thanksgiving we were in a "hump" balcony on 8. I loved being on Deck 8. We were also on 8 when we had our first 2 BR ATS. 8 is great because of its proximity to Central Park. I will not, however, stay in one of the hump balconies again. While the extra deep balcony was lovely, it is a LONG walk to get to those hump balconies. Because the hump balconies are located "behind" restaurant row, you must go either all the way forward or all the way aft to get to the hallways and then walk all the way back to the hump area. I have the same aversion to the ATS now. If you don't mind walking, they are great rooms but for me. No thanks.