WAAAYTOOO

So what costs constitue your potential savings ? Beverage and specialty dining packages ? The descriptions of what are included (re: beverage and ding packages) are rather vague. Do they include full (ultimate) beverage packages for all adults and will the specialty dining package include unlimited visits to all specialty restaurants for everyone ? Kinda hard to quantify the savings if we don't really know yet how much of each of these benefits are going to be included. Time to book the next one ? OF COURSE !

While not as large as a Jr suite on one of the "big" ships, it looks larger than a standard balcony. From what I understand they aren't planning on having any balcony rooms other than suites so I am guessing that it will remain a Jr suite. Hopefully they will upgrade the furniture !

So you just logged in and suddenly you were booked in a strange room ? Did you have at least have a message in the "message" tab ? I have never EVER had anything under the message tab ! It kinda seems as if RCI was hoping you wouldn't notice that they had upgraded you ! Lol

Ugh...I hope they're able to find you a nice balcony (or better !) amidships. I guess Dan and I are both fortunate. Neither of us gets seasick...even in the worst seas. There's nothing nicer than that call from Royal with an upgrade. I'm very sorry that you can't take advantage of it. Maybe someone else will want the cabin they offered you and will give up their midship balcony.

Yep...once you book airfare, you're committed. I booked mine to Miami for Empress today. I have cancelled Liberty for August.

I can sympathize. I had a hard decision to make. I had already booked the Liberty in August (and of course, I am going on the Blog group cruise on the Allure in Feb) and I also have a Christmas and New Year's 2016/2017 cruise booked on the Navigator so something had to give. We chatted about whether to keep the Liberty Owner's Suite or the Empress Owner's Suite and there just wasn't really anything to think about in the end. The Empress worked out to $153.90 PP/PD and the Liberty would have been $254.57 PP/PD. Obviously, Liberty is a much newer and much larger ship but the Empress will be a new experience. Both had virtually the same itinerary (Liberty went to Roatan in addition to Costa Maya and Cozumel...but I never get off the ship in Roatan...long story) so aside from 2 more days on the ship - which is ALWAYS a good thing - the Empress is just too good a deal to pass up. Airfare to Houston and to Miami were almost identical. Besides...south Texas in August ? What was I thinking ?! Merry Christmas everyone !

Absolutely beautiful ! Looks so warm and homey.

I was able to get an even BETTER price on my April 11 sailing on Empress. For reasons which elude me, the base price of the cruise went up slightly but the C&A discounts went up an additional $66 so now instead of a 58% savings, it's up to 62%. It just keeps gettin' better and better ! empress discount 2.pdf

Correct. The Solarium Grill transforms (nicely !) into the Samba at night only.

Don't I wish....

:)

was having trouble doing a quote so had to start over. see below

Wow ! I just called and booked a 5 day to Cozumel and Costa Maya in an aft Owner's Suite on the Empress for April 2016. They had special Crown & Anchor pricing which came out to 58% off. This beats the heck out of the Club Royale discount (usually 43%) that I usually get. The good news is that the C&A discounts are available to everyone [who is a C&A member] so everyone should be able to take advantage of a nice price. I'm D+ so not sure every C&A level will be the same % off but I suspect that the pricing is pretty nice for all C&A levels. When you can book an OS for less than $2000 (including taxes, port fees and gratuities !) you're doing pretty good ! ...even if it is only 5 nights ! I can't remember whether the VOOM is going to be complimentary on this ship or not. Too many new, old ships to keep up ! empress discount.pdf

All of them are beautiful. If you are a SCUBA diver, Baonaire is Mecca. Curaçao is my favorite Caribbean island. They all have a heavy Dutch influence so the architecture is very quaint. No pushy vendors. Warm and friendly residents. Laid back and easy-going.

Yes, they have always given a bigger balcony discount if the reservation is more than 6 Mos out.

Yep, it's pretty hard to go back once you've started the Suite life !

Nice to have you with us, James !

Full suites also get: Priority access to tenders for ports where tenders are required Ability to order room service from the full dining room menu (not limited to the limited (sorry for the double use) room service menu) Priority debark from the ship as well as special express line at customs Complimentary Luggage Valet service for airports/airlines that offer this service Access to a number of ship tours including galley tour, bridge tour and entertainment venue tour Special reserved seating section for theater shows, aquatheater shows and ice skating seating (for ships that have these, of course) Full time access to the Coastal Kitchen (Q & O class ships). JR Suites will have access to the CK for dinners only beginning in May 2016. For ships that do not have a CK, full suites guests can have breakfast in Chops from a full service menu. This service seems to vary depending on ship but there will be a special place for Suites guests to eat breakfast on every ship. The ship's concierge will contact you between 10 and 7 days before your cruise (email) to introduce him/herself to you and arrange for any special needs you might have, including rental of the cabanas in Labadee or CocoCay if your itinerary includes those ports. Any reservations that you make at this time are charged to your Seapass account; you do not have to prepay them. They claim you have a number of pillow choices to choose from but I have never been offered this perk nor asked for it. The suites have sound systems in them although twice my sound system has not worked so this is somewhat hit-and-miss; they usually have upgraded lighting switches/systems with slides that allow you to vary the lighting intensity Both JR and full suites have a full bathtub, not just the shower.

Nope...you're not the only one. Once I am off the ship I am done. No interest in going back over old Compasses or menus. When I first started cruising I used to bring them back home with me but that quickly became a nuisance with nowhere to store them so I stopped.

Not sure that booking something ahead of time would even help. I had a similar situation a few years back and made a reservation for a van (traveling with a large group). The van never showed up and we ended up having to take a number of taxis in the end ! I got a refund on the van fee but it was very frustrating and the group I was with said "NEVER AGAIN" ! I recommend just hailing a taxi. There will be PLENTY of them and the airport is a very short ride from PE.

For those of you who may still be interested in coming along on the Royal Caribbean Blog cruise (Feb 21, 2016) on the Allure of the Seas, I noticed yesterday that they have 13 Junior Suites still unsold on this cruise ! Because of that, I assume, they have offered the Junior Suite Guarantee category for this cruise. It is rather rare for RCI to offer the Junior Suite Guarantee category. The Guarantee rooms are offered at a total discount of $300 off the normal price for Junior Suites. The Guarantee category allows RCI to assign you a room anywhere on the ship within the room category so you could end up in any of the Junior Suites...but you'd still be in a Junior Suite and you would save $300 ! Double points !!!

I recommend that if you are close to moving up to the next level, go ahead and book the cruise (or cruises) that would push you over. Then, if they move the goal posts on you (which happened to me when I was about to make Diamond), you have a strong case for asking them to grandfather you in. The last time they made the big shuffle, I had all of the cruises booked that would have resulted in me being Diamond and they were very gracious about bestowing Diamond to me when I finished the last of 3 cruises that would have pushed me up. They know that when they change the rules on you, they end up with very unhappy loyal customers so they will do whatever they can to make it right....at least, they did in my case a few years ago. While I have heard LOTS of rumors, I have heard nothing official from RCI about making changes to the C&A levels.

Actually, I have found that waiting almost never produces a reduction. I have friends that swear that airfares are cheapest 60 days before the cruise but I have never found that to be the case. The airfares that I booked for the Blog group tour in July have steadily climbed since I booked. Presently, they are more than $300 more than I paid in July. I would feel terrible if I advised you to jump on it and then the prices went down...but honestly, I have never been the beneficiary of a lower airfare price by waiting. It has always just cost me more.