USFFrank

Be still my heart. The refreshment package for my next cruise finally went down from $30.00 - $33.00 a day to $24.00 a day. Extremely doubtful that it will get any lower. So, I cancelled and re-booked. Once upon a time, not too long ago I had gotten it for $16.00 a day.

The real question is, should I hold my breath in the hopes of the refreshment package for my next cruise going below $29,99 a day during the "black Friday" sale.

And yes I already bought it at that price. I got it for about $18.00 a day during my last cruise.

Whenever I'm on a Freedom or Voyager Class ship I will always get a promenade view room. Noise really wasn't much of an issue for any party's on the promenade are usually over by 11:00PM.  I also look at the deck plans and make sure the cabin I choose is not located above or near one of the bars. And if I'm in my cabin and don't want either anyone in the cabins across from me or anyone standing on the promenade to look in I simply close 1 or both curtains. That last rule also applies to neighborhood view balconies on Oasis class ships.

I used this place in 2019. Good rates, free shuttle. It's in a casino parking lot.

https://parkbytheports.com/

I've never tried this (at least I don't remember), but if one wants to be adventuress, try pulling the "cooler" out and see if there's an adjustment dial somewhere.

If this is so important to them then why don't they just take the dam chair back to their cabins. When they want to go out on deck they could simply plop it down wherever they want to. If it's in the same place they got it from just move back any unoccupied chairs that were moved in order to fill in the space made when they initially took the chair

Now if this person has gone this far to create a special "this is my chair sign" for just 1 cruise, one would think they would also have the courtesy of making additional smaller plaques with the time of day (I'll be nice and say in 15 minute increments) on them (be sure to say either AM or PM). Those could be attached to the bottom of the sign. Left chair at 9:45 AM for example.

Yea I know, that would be asking too much.

13 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

Could be a fruit plate or mini dessert plate or cheese plate.

I get them in my cabin too, but I gotta laugh at this. Somehow I really don't think a Royal Caribbean chef is actually choosing what goes onto the plate.

13 hours ago, CruiseGus said:

Still not as beneficial as say the Carnival gift cards that  can be purchased from AARP or Alstaite at a 10% discount and then be used to pay for cruise or for onboard purchases 

 I've used the AARP Carnival gift cards before. They're just regular gift cards and I've had no issues redeeming them. In fact, I gotta get more of them for my next Carnival cruise.

 Now the gift cards from AARP for Royal Caribbean are NOT the same as the ones purchased thru Royal. Those are rather difficult to redeem. I've used them before and had allot of trouble redeeming them on my last cruise (my travel agent was able to fix the issue. It came down to the day before we set sail). I know those ones are 10% off when available, but I'm not going thru what I had to go through again.

4 hours ago, heysi1968 said:

I often read on here that people have "been to Nassau a dozen times and they don't even bother to get off the ship"...... but at some point they must have found something to do in Nassau. So can I get a list of things to actually do? I know its a small city and that after a few visits....it gets a bit boring.....but there has to be something that someone that has never been there before should do when they visit. So come on folks.....tell me what you remember doing that was fun....at least once.

Have you been to Nassau before? If not take one of the excursions either thru Royal or a third party excursion site that goes around the island and stops at various places. We've been to Nassau quite a few times, so whenever a cruise takes us there, we just opt for a day pass at an all inclusive resort.

It's sad that the former CFO who is now the CEO has done what people were saying he would do when he took over. Any yes I know Royal has a debt to pay.

It's funny how the other cruise lines haven't really gone in that direction. They may have raised their prices too, but not like Royal. 

At this rate they might as well merge with Disney and call it "Disney / Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines". 

I say all of this with a heavy heart. If you look at my signature, even though I may not have cruised as much as some of you on this board, the vast majority of my cruises have been with Royal Caribbean. I got married on Freedom of the Seas. 

I'm now in diamond status and have 2 cruises booked with Royal that are significantly more money if I were to book them now than when I booked them this past February.

I was looking at a cruise for early December, 2025 and although there are only a few out there available now, I chose to book the Carnival Mardi Gras. I weighed the pros and cons of booking that vs. Icon of the Seas and I like my decision. Not only is Mardi Gras one of their newest and largest ships, during it's 4 stop itinerary it will be visiting 3 places I have never been to. The biggest decision was in the price. In booking the same type of interior cabin that week (I checked other weeks as well) Icon of the Seas was more than double what I'm paying for on Mardi Gras.

If this were a Royal Up bid win you may not know which cabin you'll be staying in until embarkation day.  However, in your case you may be able to contact Royal (or your travel agent) to see which cabin they're putting you in.

On my Navigator of the Seas cruise in 2018 they had to cancel Aruba because of the weather. The captain actually made a video with him showing a map of Aruba and explaining why they couldn't dock due to the expected high winds the next day. We were substituted Nassau instead. While it was a true bummer, there was nothing we could do. 

I'm sure all of you remember what it was like at Coco Cay before the pier was put in and all the ships had to tender their passengers in.

It's best to either report this to security or just walk away. As much as I'd like to say something to them and/or the parents, I don't want to deal with any repercussions. Dammed if you do, dammed if you don't.

4 hours ago, Atlantix2000 said:

The vast majority of the time when a train hits a person/car/truck, the train is not at fault.  Perhaps Brightline should invest in some educational advertising on the local radio/tv stations though?

Why should they do that when it's not the trains fault? You can't fix stupid.

Oh great, now I'm not so looking foward to my cruise on Mariner of the Seas this January. Especially with what you described as the most negative thing. I don't have the patience for that kind of behavior. That kind of behavior belongs on the Carnival 3 day booze cruises. I'm not going to cancel, but someone at Royal really needs to step up and enforce the rules. Enough of the no no bad bad. People know dam well what they can and cannot do on a ship. But they also know it's only illegal if they get caught.

Couldn't help but notice as I'm scrolling thru these reply's an ad for "cheap Carnival cruises" with a picture of the whale tail. I'm thinking of clicking on it 

Every ship in every class of ship is unique and different in it's own way. Just because Allure of the Seas didn't get it's royal amplification yet doesn't necessarily make it the worst Oasis class ship. I would be happy to sail on her, or any ship for that matter.

47 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

You'd be surprised

Perhaps. I guess it would have to actually happen to me in order for me to decide on it. But in my situation I would be traveling from Florida to Alaska. I think with all the planning (flights and hotels) already in place, and considering the Alaska cruise season is almost over, I wouldn't want to have to wait until next year to go again. Thank you for your kind offer Royal, but I'm going on this cruise. Now being a Florida resident who is within a 3.5 hour drive from the 4 ports Royal sails from, if this offer were to be presented to me on a cruise from here, I might consider that offer.

Maybe it does have something to do with the Radiance cancellings. Some people may have travel plans to Alaska that they cannot cancel as easily as others. I don't forsee too many people taking advantage of this offer unless they are locals.

18 hours ago, JimLed007 said:

So, just curious, but would a weather band radio work on a transatlantic cruise ship?

Like on land they would only work as far as the signal will go. Other countries may not use those frequencies.

More than likely this is just a house band that stays on the ship. I think the best thing you could do is try to get a hold of someone in Royal's entertainment department. Tell them your sailing and see if they could help you out.

Perhaps you could ask at guest services if you could use a computer just to check in on your airlines website.

5 hours ago, RCIfan1912 said:

It's the twilight zone, no day of the week! 

And if it is the Twilight Zone, better get out of that elevator quick, or else you'll become a permanent resident.