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billdauterive

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Everything posted by billdauterive

  1. I haven't seen $5 min on any ship in about 2 years. It's definitely $10 right now on Voyager so definitely not a fleet-wide trial at the moment.
  2. Agreed that if you're just concerned with points then table games are not the way to go because it is so variable. However, I just can't bring myself to push a button to ask a machine if I win several thousand times...
  3. Upgrade? No. Downgrade? Yes, several times (I just get balcony offers and not JS though). But you can keep calling in later to see if that original category ever opens back up. I've done that before where I initially booked a lower category room just to get on the ship/sail date and then the original higher category became available later. The rep should be able to just switch you to the original category at no charge (YMMV).
  4. From my understanding even upgraded bookings would work. She said they just take the total amount paid, regardless of which line item the money is associated with (taxes or upgrades), and apply it to the new offer code.
  5. Valid point. I didn't specifically ask about after final payment but I suspect you're correct.
  6. I just learned something today I thought I'd pass along in case someone else doesn't know. Previously whenever I would find a better casino offer I wanted to use instead of an existing comp sailing, I would always book the new offer and then cancel the existing sailing in the same call. I thought you could only modify an existing sailing with a new offer code if it was the same ship and sail date. Today the casino rep told me the better way is to just apply the new offer code to the existing reservation number regardless. She said it works for all situations like different sail dates, ships, ports, cabin categories, etc. Then they just apply what you've already paid on the existing booking to the new offer and refund any overage or take payment for just the difference. Doing it this way you don't have to pay the taxes/fees for a new offer upfront and then wait for the full refund from the canceled old offer for 7-14 business days.
  7. Are you calling the club royale prime number? I don't think I've ever waited more than 5 mins since I made prime and started using that number. In fact the vast majority of the time there is no wait. I usually call late afternoons (in fact I just booked another offer today about an hour ago after a less than 1 min wait).
  8. Good advice as well. I'll do this when the offer is just a gty and I don't have a strong urge to try and upgrade, but I still like to call in when the offer allows me to pick my room (or I'm really curious about upgrade prices).
  9. This was exactly my experience with the bogo offer when I tried to get around it by booking solo once too. I was quoted full casino fare for the non-existent person, but taxes/port fees for 1. You do make a good argument for their usefulness as a solo cruiser during a high demand time though.
  10. Wow, that's the first time I've ever heard of anyone getting a double comp on one of those offers. I'll usually ask about one of those offers if I'm already calling in to redeem another just to see the extra amount to compare to full fare and have a good laugh.
  11. I'm Prime with 13k+. I was on pace for Signature earlier this casino year, but I'm fairly certain they changed the formula for points on craps. The last 2 cruises I've been on I only earned about half as many points as I would have in the past. I even verified they had my avg bet and time at table correct so a formula change is the only thing I can come up with.
  12. Yes, Explorer is the same as the rest of the fleet for craps. $10 min, 1x odds. $25+, 2x odds. $50+ 3x/4x/5x odds. I only play roulette a little but it's definitely a double zero (American) wheel.
  13. Pretty similar to me. Those comp plus buy 1 are beyond worthless. You can usually get the 2 full price fare through your agent for cheaper than the 1 comp + casino rate.
  14. I've only received the cheap wine once, which happened to be the first time I really played on board. I've never received anything else since even though I've earned a lot more points and/or lost a lot more on individual sailings.
  15. The free picture (per person) is a very underrated perk. I forgot about it my first couple of times but now it's a nice little souvenir to remember each cruise or port individually. Now I have pictures taken at every opportunity and then just pick the best 1 or 2 to download free on the last night.
  16. I was on this exact same cruise as @Matt and agree with most everything he says. I know he doesn't specifically call out Sydney, but it's a good indication of what to expect from a fall New England cruise. Let's just say I enjoyed it so much, I booked it again this year (minus the Bar Harbor stop of course ) https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2023/10/30/first-new-england-cruise-what-surprised-me
  17. The area around the port is really walk-able and very little vehicle traffic so I wouldn't be too hung up on making exact plans but be open to calling an audible as far as eating establishments go. All the little house museums near the port are interesting and don't take up much time but give a good insight into the history of the area. There are several pubs that are nice and one we went to had a fiddle player playing traditional Scottish music which was really cool. There's also a nice little cidery close by. Basically I was very surprised at how much I liked this port. It's a great one to not really have a set plan but just kind of wander around until you find something that seems interesting to do/see/eat. We were supposed to do a tour of Fort Louisborg, but it was cancelled last minute, hence our need to just wander around that day. In fact, besides Bar Harbor, I think this was my favorite port stop.
  18. Keep us up to date how this goes. I'm curious about it too, especially since you're going to try and apply it to a cruise that will almost definitely be on a blackout date since it's over Christmas.
  19. Good point. No need to worry too much about the private destinations, they won't leave without you there (but not for a reason you're going to like...)
  20. And ALWAYS double check what the ship time is before getting off the ship. I always check the time in the app as well to make sure they sync. I've heard too many stories of people almost or actually missing the boat because they were on local time and not ship time.
  21. Ditto. On non-RCL excursions I always plan to be back at the port 2 hours before and onboard 1 hour before.
  22. Just to be clear, it's comps only. I believe dollars off or applied to a current booking doesn't count against the inventory (but I definitely could be wrong)
  23. I don't think that matters. The casino only has a certain amount of cabin inventory available to them. So the ship can be almost empty but if the casino inventory has already been taken then you won't be able to book it on a casino comp. i.e. booking a room on an non-comp fare in hopes to "save" a cabin for yourself to book a casino comp later won't work, it's 2 different buckets of inventory.
  24. I don't know about the zipline, but I don't think the coaster reservation time matters. I personally had the all day pass so the time definitely didn't matter, but other people with single rides checking in at the same time as me weren't asked about reservation times as far as I could tell. Now that doesn't mean it wasn't actually checked, I just didn't notice it if it was.
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