Ampurp85

1. I bring a reusable water bottle on every cruise. You will be able to get water in the Windjammer buffet (WJ), 270cafe, and any bar. Since you have the deluxe package, you can get 2 bottles of water each time you are out and stock your room. 

2. Everyone can eat breakfast, but the WJ closes at 8/8:30am and the dining room is about the same. 

3. If the watch is on a data plan, I would advise not to bring it. Cellular at sea is expensive as H#$! The only way any sort of free Wi-Fi is used is through the app on devices in airplane mode.

4. The website is pretty straight forward in that minors cannot be booked alone. If you spoke with a rep or had a TA they would have booked you in any manner. But you are correct that the rooms will only be unlocked by the person on the room's card. On embarkation day you can have guest services remedy this but swapping out the names. Your TA or a CSR cannot do this because at least one original person must stay on the reservation.

5. I think tipping is and should be personal but if you would like some anecdotal advice to help with planning. On the smaller scale I would plan to bring $20/day pp for tipping. Which would be about $560 in your case. That should cover anything you would like to give extra. 

JS on Harmony do not get voom included. In most cases a JS is nothing but a glorified balcony when it comes to perks. Everyone in the room must purchase the Key.  So, if they get the Key, it might be worth it for things like reserved show seating, priority embarkation/disembarkation, the lunch, and voom. They will have the possibility of dining at CK if the demographics allow. 

3 hours ago, SplashOfWater said:

FYI...The letter C lists are for the 6+ nt cruises. Use the letter A for the 3-5 nt lists...2404A06 in your example.

Thanks, just to clarify your post to others. The C is put in when you are sailing 6+ nights and the A when its shorter than that. 

That is a long day in St Thomas. But congrats on the Royal flush, I have no idea how to play video poker, but dancing drums is the only game my brother "knows" how to play in the casiner. You are also right; I can get two dancing drums all the time and 3 or more rarely but the sound of them keeps you hooked. 

1 minute ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Dan just downloaded the comp sheets from the casino (EX 4-5-24). Surprisingly, the 2500 level list has disappeared.  It jumps from 2000 to 3000 points.  Seems a bit shady since the 2500 point threshold for making Prime was previously a logical goal. The lower-level comps have always been weak but they’re really bad now.  Nothing much at all until 2-3000.

If anybody wants to see them let me know and I will try and upload them. I’m terrible at this stuff but I’ll give it a go…

I thought I was going crazy. Since last Oct, I haven't seen the 2500pts, it just goes from 2k-3k. 

I found the trick for looking up the comp sheets on the website. You just go to "Certificate Offer code Look up" and it is year, month, the letter C and level. So 2404C06, should be 1500pt level of cruises. 

15 minutes ago, Debstr66 said:

Hi Everyone!

Forgive me if this has been asked and answered (I searched first...). My second cruise as a Diamond member is coming up in a couple weeks. I notice my Luggage Tags say "Gold Member" shouldn't it be Diamond? Does it matter?

Cheers! 

While it doesn't matter, as long as your setsail/seapass says Diamond you are good, I have found the tags revert to the lowest level in the room.  I am D+ but if my mother stays in the room, the tags say "platinum."

On 4/2/2024 at 3:37 PM, Smokey79 said:

Word from the crew said it was going to be converted to playmakers. 

Considering it shares space with the Solarium, I highly doubt that. I believe they will remove the Samba grill and possibly replace Sabor on the Boardwalk with Playmakers. 

The only place with an actual stand alone bar is Wonderland, which you can pop in without a reservation and drink. The Cheshire cosmo is my favorite. I am unsure if Symphony has Giovanni's wine bar but that would be your only other option with the DX package. The other specialty restaurants don't have a stand alone bar, so you would have to dine in to get any other special drinks.

Last year I was on hold for 4hrs trying to use my prime certificate......and I was on a ship.

I was told you can also do this with a rep or TA.

I can tell you the issue with overcrowded Crown Lounges.....people bring their traveling party. It's not that it's too many. I made D+ on my Freedom sailing last April and on every cruise I have been on since then the lounge is always packed for happy hour.  But on each sailing it was a large handful of non-diamond/+ guest in the lounge. I know this because of people watch and quite a few mentioned that if they left they wouldn't be able to get back in. It's the same way that on certain ships non-suite guest take from suite guest on the suite decks. They are thirsty for the pre-dinner snacks. I saw some people lined up on Allure before they even finished putting the snacks out.

I always forget about Explorer and that she is voyager class. I keep ignoring her and Jewel, even though they both have some different itineraries from the whole Nassau/PDCC rigmarole. The 1st and 3rd cruise are 9N cruises? and the middle is 5N? 

I also downgrade my OV casino comps. I don't necessarily care about being on a low deck I just hate OV rooms. I wasn't a fan of the OV panoramic on Mariner, I think it was because it was so front of the ship. 

I too have heard whispers of the removal of triangle hashbrowns. My concern is if they are removing hashbrowns in general or just replacing the shape .

Those "brunch" items were prevalent during my Wonder and Allure sailing in Jan/Feb. I thought it was just left over items they didn't want to toss until I also saw them on Allure. 

2 hours ago, jbrinkm said:

Those look identical to Symphony's - although I don't remember having the old style drying line. I was looking for somewhere to drip dry and ended up using the metal hooks under the water controls. He talks about the banging of the door but that wasn't something that stood out to me at all. 

I noticed that on Symphony also. I was worried because I'd been hearing complaints about warm ships a few weeks ago but our sailing tended towards cold, common spaces and the room. 

When I was on Wonder that banging from the shower door was annoying. I also had to turn the AC to warmer because it was too cold even for me. I think in these warmer sailing months things get warmer.

I was on Odyssey in Nov of 2022 the first sailing after the end of the Med season. She was very low on the totem pole for me as far as Royal's ships go. My major dislikes were the layout, the Esplanade, and lack of decent shows. This was still during the restart so a lot of the specialty restaurants and such left a lot to be desired as well; we could never get service at Playmakers. I didn't have a problem with the elevators. I had more of a problem that if you didn't go a certain way, you wouldn't be able to access your room. I actually decided Quantum class was a one and done and that I wouldn't sail that class of ship again. After that I have sailed a lot of more classes and ships. So, I begin to look on Odyssey with more grace. I am sailing Quantum to Alaska in Sept. I wouldn't call this class a dud, more so an outlier. 

I posted in the casino thread, when the cert should be issued........and I have to say the luck will be limited. I was able to book a Wonder sailing last year before they took away the option. It looks like the certs will be released in batches. If the casino does allow for Icon to be booked, those who get their certs first will likely snatch up the available options. If you are prime with less than 5000pts, I cannot see it being an option. 

6 hours ago, DB Cooper said:

Right now the price on a 3-night package is only about 20 bucks less than booking the three most expensive restaurants ala carte. I'm hoping for a sale. I should have booked on black Friday.

In my experience the 3night package never really goes on sale like the UDP. Are you also factoring in the gratuity for the 3 restaurants a la carte?

I was checking an offer and noticed this. 

It gives everyone an idea of when the prime certificates are being released. Also, the points have reset.

It looks like the new offers say for new reservations only. 

17 minutes ago, Rackham said:

I'm imaging the prices going up on the packages has to do with the potential for pre-bookings starting sometime this year. There's less need to give a substantial discount over booking individual reservations if Royal's switching the dining packages from something akin to a GTY for restaurants to a "You pick" setup. Though with how many new cruisers Royal attracts, I bet they were fielding multiple complaints each sailing from people not realizing the packages were to ensure restaurant traffic by selling tables which would otherwise go unoccupied.

Does anyone know how it worked on Wonder when it was being tested? I'm curious to know if after purchasing a package if restaurant reservations in the app/website didn't happen with the normal steps, but there was no charge for the reservation at checkout?

I was on Wonder in Jan with the UDP. The option to prebook wasn't available like they said it would be. I can't actually recall if anyone was able to prebook. 

Website is down. I check-in today and was hoping not to have any issues. 

It is not a hard and fast rule, more than likely the points will reset on the 1st Friday in April which will be the 5th. Friday is a popular day for when points post in both CR and C&A. The offer will become available usually around 2wks after that. Last year it was the 20th of April. The reps can't help you without an available offer. 

The offer is good for any 7n or less cruise that sails within the calendar year......in this case probably the earliest of May 2024 to March 31st of 2025. Excluding ships that haven't been in service for more than a year and some summer/holidays. 

Wait why was Alaska avoiding you.

Also 9000 points is a lot, so definitely a degenerate.

11 hours ago, CanHardlyWait said:

But excursions get cancelled. The explanation is probably not enough people booked it. The explanation wouldn't help you get to the airport anyway. I get it then becomes a chore to figure out transportation. However, the original poster made finding back up transportation sound boarder line impossible. And as anyone around here knows from Port Canaveral to Orlando is easy with multiple options. Even last minute. I kind of read it as being put in a difficult situation transportation wise. And I still don't think it is. Inconvenient/Disappointing maybe, at best.

While this is true, it can be very frustrating to find out last minute. Plus, in most cases this is often a much more cost-effective option. The sole focus seems to be that there are many transportation options. Not that the OP prebooked this and has a later flight and planned to do this to kill the time. It could be impossible to find a way back if the OP can't afford the cost of a last-minute rental car.