WAAAYTOOO

Yes she did ! ;)

So, as of today, June 1, 2015, "gone" is the old Buy One Get One Half Off (BOGOHO) and "here" is the new 30% discount promo. I know that Matt let us know this was coming...but it's here now !! It is my understanding that this is a June promo so presumably it will end on 30 June. I recommend that you look at the current prices of the cruises online and compare them to what you may have paid when you booked. Chances are, the fare has gone DOWN relative to what you paid, originally. The BOGOHO was essentially at 25% discount...the new promo is pretty much a straight 30% across-the-board discount. Good news - your Crown and Anchor discount is combinable with the 30% off promo ! That means, 30% off plus your C&A discount. That does NOT apply to a Club Royale discount, unfortunately. This is one of those situations where you have to be FAST to capture your fare reduction, if there is one. Often the cruise line will bump the base fare up to counteract any new discount that they are implementing. As of right this very moment, the cruise rates (for cruises that I have investigated anyway...I certainly cannot say that they are ALL the same) are the same as they were yesterday but that may not be the case for long. There are some cruises (2 of which I was booked on - on the Harmony) which are included in this 30% discount promo that were not originally discounted at ALL (except for my C&A balcony discount)...so for those cruises, this new promo was a huge windfall. I saved over $2500 on the 2 Harmony cruises I was booked on. I don't know how many other cruises are being discounted for the first time with this promo, but I suspect there are more. If you are booked WAY out or if you are booked on a brand new ship that did not previously have any discount applied, check them out ! They may be discounted now. If you booked your cruise yourself, call RCI. If you are booked through a TA, have them look into this for you. Do not let time elapse, however. My experience is that the base fares of your cruises is likely to increase and whatever is 30% today may not be the same savings tomorrow !

In case you haven't yet checked, the prices on the Feb 21 cruise are actually DOWN today...so what was a good price yesterday is even BETTER today. Even with the increase in gratuities the net fare is still reduced. So for any of you who are on the blog cruise, be sure to have the TA check and see if you can realize a reduction in price with the new discount. It definitely saved all of my group money.

Awesome ! Good luck !

You're welcome, Stephanie. Hopefully you will get there in time. One thing I was thinking....I don't think Club Royale is going to be able to make this change for you since you are booked through a TA. I think Michelle is going to have to makes this change for you.

Stephanie I paid $3822 ($1911 each) and b/c I booked on April 15 I paid no taxes or port fees. With prepaid gratuities it ended up being $4021.50. I think that's right...very close if not exact. So, if you have paid $3100 already it's less than $1K to upgrade to a GS ! If you are going to do this do it immediately b/c the last of the new GS discussed above is still available (14730 I think)...at least it was when I checked earlier today. Both the room and the deck are bigger than the other GS on the Allure. Considering all of the amenities that come with the GS I think it's a no-brainer for the difference in price...plus you're back with the Aqua Suites ! Good luck !

I know for certain that they are going up that much. This link takes you to the A4 category (which, by the way, is the SMALLEST of the new Aqua Suites and the only ones that you can book with just 2 people) for the Christmas, 2016 cruise on the Allure. This is how I found out about the change. The price for 14330 for this cruise (which is a 10 night cruise) is $14,527.38. http://www.royalcaribbean.com/booking/setCategory.do?stateroomCategoryChoice=Aquatheater+Suite+w%2fBalcony~~A4~~D~~A6~~A7598274~~false Now I realize that Christmas week is second only to New Year's week in high prices for a cruise...and that this is a 10 day vs 7 day cruise...but it's still almost 3X the amount that this same exact room is costing in Feb. 2016. The Christmas cruise on the Oasis (8 nights) for this same A4 room is $13,592.44 http://www.royalcaribbean.com/booking/setCategory.do?stateroomCategoryChoice=Aquatheater+Suite+w%2FBalcony~~A4~~D~~A6~~A7598274~~false You are absolutely correct, bdchili...these rooms are MUCH smaller than the other Aqua Suites categories AND they are only 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom. How can they possibly justify requiring 4 people to book the new A3 rooms (decks 11 and 12) and require 4 people in a 1 BR, 1BA stateroom ? It seems like very bad planning to me. I completely understand that they are much larger than the other Grand Suites on the ship and that the balconies on these rooms are HUGE compared to the other Grand Suites. IMO they should reclassify them as a different category of GS and charge a little more for them than they do for the standard GS but to reclassify them as AS seems dubious, to me.

I did the Mystery Dinner Theatre a number of years ago. I believe it was on either the Liberty or the Freedom - can't remember for sure. I enjoyed it. My husband thought it was lame. I love dinner theater so I thoroughly enjoyed it. I am certain that I will NEVER get my husband to do it again. :) So, that's kind of a mixed review. The Mystery Dinner Theater will only occur once during your 7 day cruise so if you decide to do it, make sure that you know what night it will be and that you don't make conflicting reservations for dinner or for other entertainment options. The food is average for that kind of thing. It is not the greatest meal I ever ate on a RCI cruise but it's better than the average dinner theater meal.

Marianne, first of all, CONGRATULATIONS ! I have to say, you have picked the best possible honeymoon, IMO. The Oasis is SOOOO awesome. I do not know what your budget is, so this recommendation may not be practical for you, but my FAVE place to stay prior to a cruise out of FLL is the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood. I absolutely love their rooms and being right upstairs from the casino floor is so convenient. There are LOTS of things to do at the Hard Rock Hollywood (NOT true for the Hard Rock Tampa property). I just love it there. We are staying there the day/night before the group cruise on the Allure in Feb. 2016 with a whole group of friends. Upsides: Awesome property, lots to do, beautiful accommodations Downsides: Expensive ($400+ a night usually), no shuttle to/from the airport or the port, I suspect they would charge you to leave your car parked there if they even allowed you to do that at all. So, I'm not sure this is a practical option if you are driving. We never have a car b/c we have to fly in so we don't have that problem to worry about. It's a fairly cheap cab fare to the port from the hotel so we just grab a cab and go. Good luck, Congratulations and enjoy your honeymoon on the Oasis !

Location, location, location. That's all this is about...

Small, small world... :)

Ugh. I know exactly what you are going through. I had the same thing happen to me a number of years ago. Fortunately for me, the Agent that had the booking very generously transferred the booking from her control to Royal Caribbean's control and that ended the blockade. You used to have to have letters and forms that went back and forth and it was all very tedious. Nowadays you can do the booking transfer online but if you have a TA that is unwilling to release the booking I'm not sure what you can do ! We do have a very knowledgeable and helpful TA on this site and I certainly hope she has some advice/suggestions on how to get the booking released. Of course, by now the drop dead date for making any changes to your July 2015 booking has probably already passed anyway...so I'm not sure that releasing the booking at this point would even help you but CERTAINLY from now on you should make SURE that when you do any kind of booking - on board or otherwise, that you make sure that it is NOT designated to the control of anyone but yourselves !

Head's up, everyone who is interested in booking one of the 6 newly added Grand Suites in the Aqua Theater area of the Oasis and Allure. These are the 6 new Grand Suites that were added to both of these ships during their most recent drydocks (this is where the "hidden balconies" were before renovation). The stateroom numbers are 11330, 11730, 12330, 12730, 14330 and 14730. These very LARGE Grand Suites are going to be redesignated as Aqua Theater Suites. The Allure will change these rooms from GS to AS June 5, 2016. The Oasis will make the change May 7, 2016. The 4 biggest ones (11330, 11730, 12330 and 12730) are going to be category A3 which require a minimum of 4 persons to book. The smaller ones (14330 and 41730) will be a new designation A4 and will be available to general inventory, which means that you can book with just 2 people. I found this out ONLY because I was planning on booking one of these Grand Suites for my Christmas 2016 cruise only to find that they will be designated as Aqua Suites by then. The Club Royale agent and I backtracked and determined that the change-over from GS to A3/A4 will occur in May and June of next year. So....if you want to take advantage of booking any of these 6 rooms while they are still Grand Suites, I suggest you do so very soon. Word WILL get out that their availability as GS is limited and they will all be gone - poof ! Needless to say, the price on these rooms skyrockets once they go from being GS to A3/A4. The room that will cost just over $5K on Feb. 21 will be upwards of $15K once it is redesignated. Of course, they are doing NOTHING to enhance these rooms at all...they are just taking advantage of the fact that they are bigger than all of the other GS on the boat and know that they can charge 3 times what they are currently getting for them. Typical, right ? Of course, they aren't telling ANYone about this...even the RC sales agents didn't know about it. We all found out together. So slimy.

Yeah, be safe. Things are pretty dicey down there. I have some friends named Hince in Texas. I know it's a big state... :) Retired Army...previously lived in Woodbridge, Virginia ???? I love the Navigator. We sailed on her last year and had one of the inside rooms with virtual balcony. It was awesome !

I'm jealous. Wish I was going next week. What ship ?

Traditionally the formal nights are nights 2 and 6 but sometimes they will adjust to coincide with a sea day. The southern Carrib cruises are port-intense and don't usually have many sea days so they will likely stick with nights 2 and 6. Ya never know though.

You are SOOO welcome. I love doing this kind of thing.

Wish I could answer your question but I am only D+. Have a LONG way to go to get to Pinnacle. If you are there, or nearly there - congratulations !

Sorry...forgot to answer your question about the craps tables. If my memory serves me well, there are 2 craps tables - 1 in the smoking section which is open most of the time whenever the tables open (usually noon on sea days) and then there is another one located in the nonsmoking section which usually only opens in the evenings around 8PM. Not all of the ships have 2 craps tables....there are 2 generally just on the bigger ships. Don't know about Q class since I haven't been on one.

The table minimums for most games is $5. These minimums do not go up which is lovely. There are certain tables that have higher minimums (there is a $10 min blackjack table, a $50 min. blackjack table a $6 min. blackjack table) for the high rollers...which are few and far between. On the ships with a live dealer, the ships always try and make the no limit poker a $2/$5 minimum but they will take it down to $1/$3 if nobody wants to play for $2/$5 (that is just a trick to try and get a higher rake for the house). Most people are now aware that if you just refuse to play $2/$5 they will reduce the blinds down to $1/$3. Unfortunately, the Allure and Oasis still have their electronic poker machines and they have set blinds ($2/$5) so if you want to play poker on the Oasis or the Allure you're going to be playing for $2/$5. I haven't been on the Allure in a while so I don't know who the casino hostess or the casino managers are on that ship these days. As a rule, the big ships have very good hostesses and managers and their programs are usually well managed. I'm looking forward to the casino on the Allure in Feb !

Wow...this is getting to be quite a list ! Thanks, Matt

It's fairly common for balconies but less common for suites. I don't think they offer the suite guarantee very often...probably just when the suite sales are lagging...which isn't usually the case. I was very surprised to learn (when I first started cruising) that the very FIRST rooms to sell out on a cruise ship are the expensive ones (suites) followed by the least expensive (inside). Those in the middle (balcony and outside) usually last the longest. I just did a search to see if I could find any suite guarantees and I found one on the very first try. Grandeur, w/o 21 - 29 November. HOWEVER, the price was NOT comparable to a D1 (confirmed balcony). The JS was $2999 and the D1 was $2484. So the Suite guarantee is out there...it's just not nearly as common as a balcony guarantee...and if you can find one that is equivalent in price to a confirmed balcony - snatch it up !

There's winter and then there's WINTER so the month is pretty important. We cruise every Christmas and even in San Juan it can be coolish. Was it warm enough to go into the pool in San Juan Christmas week ? Yes. Was I comfortable staying there for a long period of time ? No. I'm pretty wimpy so unless it is REALLY warm I am probably not going to get wet. Sitting by the pool, walking on the beach...you bet. Swimming ? Nah. We were on the Freedom May 3 - 10 and both my husband and I thought it was too cool at Coco Cay to get into the water. There were a few brave souls who were out there swimming but not many. The Bahamas is definitely NOT far enough south to provide "beach weather" during the winter, IMO. The islands in the southern Caribbean are pretty much warm, year round so you're definitely going to get the best results there if you are cruising in the winter if you are looking for swimming weather. Then, there is the inverse of that. It is BLISTERING hot in the southern Caribbean during the summer months so when is the best time ? A matter of personal preference. From May - late September you have to worry about storms. Jan - March it can be very cold. That leaves what...April, October, November and December ? LOL. Truly, there is NO bad time to cruise. I have cruised every month of the year except maybe October. Each month has its own upsides and downsides....mostly upsides. Since I'm not much of a sun worshipper I usually couldn't care less about the weather. If you're looking just to get away from the doldrums of winter to a warm place, anywhere from Florida down will do and even the WORST day on a cruise ship beats your best day at work so how can you go wrong ??

Yeah ! Forgot about the double points. Good addition

The "guarantee" rooms are, as you suggest, rooms that they keep in reserve for some period of time and, if they are not sold, they will assign them to those who have "guarantee" bookings. They are generally not the most preferred locations - often at the very front or the very rear (but not the fantail) of the ship b/c these are the rooms that are often left unsold until the very end. It's just the Cruise line's way of discounting the unsold rooms without really discounting them. Whether or not you make the switch from confirmed balcony to suite guarantee is entirely a matter of how important your room location is to you. Personally, I would always prefer even a bad suite (location) to an average balcony any time, but that's just me. If your confirmed balcony is exactly where you want to be then I would stick with it. If your balcony is just an average balcony somewhere on the outside and you don't really care where you end up, I would say the suite guarantee makes sense. Of course, all suites are not located one floor below the pool. Depending upon which ship you are on, the suites are generally scattered in various places and on numerous decks, throughout the ship. As a general rule, rooms on the higher decks are considered more desirable (although I often wonder why) and so, many suites are on the higher decks, just below the pool deck or just below the Windjammer. I can tell you from experience that staterooms of ANY type, located just below the pool deck or just below the Windjammer can be VERY noisy with people dragging chairs to and fro. You will not know where your "guarantee" room is until close to sailing when the Cruise line begins allocating the unsold rooms. Not only are the guarantee rooms a function of whatever rooms remain unsold, but there is also an element of shuffling that results from stateroom upgrades that generally involve the D+ and Pinnacle members of C&A. If, for some strange reason, there is a very desirable location that either remains unsold or is the result of a last-minute cancellation, that room will probably be offered to a D+ or Pinnacle C&A member as a complementary upgrade and (if the upgrade is accepted), the "old" stateroom, vacated by the C&A member, then becomes an unsold orphan. I know this to be the case b/c I have been the beneficiary of such an upgrade. There is one good thing about the suite guarantee and that is, there is really only 1 variety of suite that is in play with the guarantee and that is the Junior Suite (trust me, they will not assign you a Grand Suite or above with a guarantee room !). One Junior Suite is pretty much the same as the next Junior Suite with some very minor exceptions and obviously, the room location. The Balcony Guarantee, on the other hand, has (depending upon the ship class) a large number of variants so a balcony guarantee is a much dicier gamble than a suite guarantee. What's the worst that can happen if you opt for the Suite Guarantee ? You will end up with a Junior Suite somewhere on the ship. I don't think that's much of a gamble at all....especially if it is no more money than a confirmed balcony !