JohnK6404

Called again just now... another $36 saved with this cybersale... chipping away at that airfare to Ft. Lauderdale from LI, NY... also saved $69 a couple of days ago when the new promo (30/30) took effect... $93 saved with base rate reduction while the last promo was still in effect (50/50..) too... definitely pays to book early and closely monitor the sales! Fare down a total of $198 (just 2 of us) since I booked this past March 19th and we thought that price was awesome! Every bit helps! Thanks!!! :)

I also agree 100%! It's ridiculous to charge a la carte/full pricing for any specialty restaurant when the cruise fare already includes the cost of you MDR meal. A small upcharge is fine with me, but a la carte pricing?

Just wanted to thank you all for the heads up! RC is so easy to deal with when making adjustments prior to paying that final balance (took less than 10 minutes including the wait time)... this is the second adjustment in the last couple of weeks (first was $93 drop in last promo price from time of booking) for our 2016 cruise on Allure (9/18/16 sailing). It all adds up (not huge, but we'll take it!)... called tonight and got the new promo rate for our superior ocean view (balcony) room which dropped it another $69 (total $162)... will help with the airfare from up here in NY! Thanks again! :D

Very true... if this becomes popular it may be harder to make reservations...

Not at this point... we probably look to go to specialty dining 2-3 times per cruise (for 7 or 10 night cruises)... we like the MDR.

Final update and resolution... Verizon rewards CS was great! I mailed the certificates back to them and they fully refunded my purchase price plus S&H and the Verizon rewards points used for this transaction. Looks like they took the GC off of their rewards site... maybe they will provide a more detailed explanation when they put it back up... lesson learned... time to pay off more of the cruise the "old fashioned" way!

Yes, my thread was specific to the RC gift certificates offered by Verizon Wireless as part of their rewards program (eg. pay $90 and some rewards points for a $100 GC). Those can only be used at the time of booking while making the reservation directly through RC (no agents) using the telephone number listed on the GC. Since I initiated the request for reimbursement, they have taken the GC off their rewards website (maybe just a coincidence). I think the "regular" gift certificates sold directly by RC can only be used toward your cruise balance before the sail date... I agree that OBC or cash for your purposes is probably the easiest and best way to go. Have a great time!

I agree with WAAAYTOOO... some people like to complain and you may not know the true intent or source (also you know what they say... people by nature are more likely to speak out to complain than they are to compliment). The main dining room food and service is excellent... you are generally served by the same waitstaff team each evening and they get to know your preferences. Even the casino dealers and staff are very friendly... it's not a typical casino atmosphere where they cannot offer any advice/suggestions if asked, etc... You will be hooked after the cruise... that cruise (although our 3rd overall) led to the booking of RC cruises this year (Liberty of the Seas) and next year (Allure of the Seas)!

Hello! I can only speak from my experience on the ship prior to the refurb/upgrade back in October 2013 (7-night cruise... Cape Liberty, NJ to Bermuda)... Back then, the captain was Henrik Loy... the cruise was enjoyable with absolutely no issues... food, service and entertainment was excellent in our opinion (went with my wife, mother-in-law, and my wife's aunt and uncle). Yes, especially pre-refurb as an older and smaller class of ship, it could have used some cosmetic upgrading/updating, but we knew this going in and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves (we also chose a balcony stateroom). I believe they have added more dining and entertainment choices and really spruced up the ship... back in 2013, the only specialty dining choice was Portofino (which we enjoyed!). I'm sure there are more experienced forum members that can answer your other questions... I hope you have a spectacular time! :) - John

Thanks all! Very easy... took only 10 minutes since I booked online (shhh... called while I was at work!)... that little adjustment will help with the airfare! They adjusted the rate and immediately sent me the revised booking confirmation pdf doc (adjustment of course is immediately visible online too).

I'll give them a call to see... it's "only" $93, but it all adds up! :)

Just an update... I received a call and an e-mail today from Verizon Rewards CS apologizing for the confusion and requesting that I return the gift certificates with some sort of tracking for a full refund. I'm happy with the resolution and I've learned a lesson to really scrutinize these rewards cards/certificates! These could only be applied while making a NEW reservation through the RC reservation telephone number provided on the certificate... NOT on any existing reservation(s) or any made via travel agent...

Thank you for all of your responses! I'll have to wait until the dust settles with my RC gift certificate nightmare before I look into any adjustments on my 9/18/16 Allure cruise... I may have to cancel and re-book in order to use the GC's... thankfully, that cruise is next year and I haven't ordered anything beyond the deposit, etc., to date.

Hi Matt! I agree... always read the fine print. The Verizon Rewards site was very limited in detail (funny, they have taken the RC $100 Gift "Card" option down for now it appears... normally they leave it up and just state "Sold Out" if not in stock). Nothing on their site led me to believe there were such restrictions... I even called RC CS before placing the order with Verizon to make sure I did not have to jump through hoops. They must have been half listening and assumed I was referring to GC purchased directly from them. Nowhere does it state limitations like only new bookings or quantity limitations even on these gift certificates... it actually states on the back of the gift certificate underlined and in bold, "Travel agents, agencies or any other travel intermediary service cannot be used in conjunction with this certificate." It also states, "Certificates must be redeemed directly through Royal Caribbean International for the U.S dollar value shown on the face of the certificate. Certificates can be used in multiples and can be used to supplement cash payment or credit card." Hopefully, Verizon will refund my money if they cannot work something out with RC... lesson learned... all to try to save a little... I wanted to use these to pay a chunk of my remaining balance for the 10/22/15 Liberty cruise... Here's a question for you! If I'm stuck with these certificates and need to make a new reservation in order to use them, how does the RC cancellation process work for an existing reservation? I'm assuming I can simply cancel online and at some point I will be credited the amount/deposit paid to date (I'm referring to my 9/18/16 Allure cruise) back to the credit card I used to make the reservation. I guess I would just start over and make sure these certificates would be accepted at the time of the new booking... thanks for your input in advance! - John (and Christine!)

Don't buy any of these through Verizon rewards until I have some sort of resolution... I called Verizon and after a couple of attempts (no one seems to know how these work at either Verizon or RC), they looked into it further and explained to me that you can only use these gift certificates while booking a new reservation?!?!? This was never explained to me when I called Verizon and RC BEFORE I ordered them and it is not clearly stated on the certificate itself... I booked my upcoming OCT 2015 cruise last MAY and I have my SEPT 2016 cruise booked already (both online w/ RC)... If that is true, I would have to cancel the 2016 reservation and re-book I guess. Just hope the rate will be the same! Verizon Smart Rewards opened up a ticket and will get back to me... they either need to figure out a way that I can apply these to my remaining/existing cruise balance, or let me return them for a full refund ($900+ !)... so frustrating!

I'll give Verizon a call just in case they have any advice... doubtful, but it can't hurt! I can't believe how confused RC CS was... and I called the line created for gift certificate redemption (800-722-5970), etc... I've seen elsewhere that other major corporations also offer these certificates through their rewards programs... you would think they would be able to answer me confidently. I even called twice to make sure I was not just speaking to a new employee. This is the site RC set up for their gift certificate redemption: https://www.royalcaribbeancertificates.com/redeem.aspx? I'll definitely mail them with tracking... and I think I'll scan the certificates just in case!

I just purchased $1,000 worth of $100 Royal Caribbean gift certificates at a 10% discount through my Verizon Wireless rewards points. I received them via UPS today. I called Royal Caribbean and they explained since they are not directly from them and do not have the required authorization code for online redemption, they will have to be mailed in... there are mailing addresses (Express and Regular mail) on the back of each certificate... it's RC's accounting department in Miami. Has anyone else redeemed this type of gift certificate before? Thanks in advance!

Just curious, how receptive is Royal Caribbean regarding cruise fare adjustments? Do they adjust your balance? Give you on board credit? When is it worth calling them? $100+? How often will they make adjustments when the fare goes down? Looks like the rate for our 9/18/16 Allure cruise went down a little (less than $100 in total... not a big deal)... just curious... we wouldn't want to cancel/re-book if possible since we selected a nice ocean balcony room on one of the "bump-outs" with the slightly larger/deeper balcony. Thanks in advance!

Yes, with the soda package in the MDR, once you show them the seapass, they continue to bring out refills...

We were able to book Portofino on Liberty of the Seas for our 10/22/15 cruise last week... also made a Chops Grille reservation too... very surprised that they opened up dining 6+ months ahead of the cruise! I had always thought the general guideline was 2-3 months ahead of time...

Yes, with the traditional dining in the MDR (unless it has changed recently), you can schedule your My Time dining times online for each night... we even linked the reservations with relatives that were on the same cruise so we sat together every night. We also always had the same great waitstaff team each time regardless of the fact that our My Time dining reservations varied from night to night (Jevy and Nestor on Explorer). Here's a video someone made of Nestor our assistant waiter (not the same cruise)... some of you may recognize him!

Liberty of the Seas this OCT 22nd (2015) and then Allure of the Seas next SEPT 18th (2016)... praying for nice weather!

Hello! My name is John (obviously!) and my wife is Christine. We live in New York (Long Island). Over the last few years, we have really started to catch the cruise bug (the healthy one)! We have only sailed on Disney and RC and have never had anything less than an amazing experience each time. Our first cruise was on our honeymoon back in 2004 (Disney Wonder / from Port Canaveral). Since then, we've been on the Majesty of the Seas (from Miami, corporate recognition event in 2010) and the Explorer of the Seas in 2013 (from Cape Liberty, NJ). Our next cruise will be also out of Cape Liberty on the Liberty of the Seas in OCT 2015 and we've just booked a cruise on Allure of the Seas (FL) for SEPT 2016. We're holding off on the Anthem until the prices come in line with the other ships! Also, an Alaskan cruise tour is on the wish list / bucket list!

Thanks! Once the online period opens up for scheduling dining I'll give them a call to see if they know. I figured one of the last evenings (probably the 9th night) would be the night... we are at sea the last 3 evenings.

Oh, I see... Anthem will be replacing Quantum out of Cape Liberty... Quantum leaving mid 2015...