Reigert2008

On 7/7/2025 at 1:30 PM, Btcruiser said:

We have never done any spa services but were wondering if you should always book in advance or if you can get discounts if you wait to do it on board? Thinking if maybe they are slower they may throw an enticing number at you on a port day. 

Well, I guess I'm going to disagree with everyone and say to book it ahead of time.  My wife has started getting a massage on embarkation day and we have found that the pre-cruise sale price has beaten what was offered once we were onboard (even factoring in Diamond discounts/offers) and by booking ahead of time she has a time slot saved for her.  Of course, she is just doing a "standard" massage, so your experience may vary.  

Maybe you could book ahead of time, then if the price is better on board, cancel it for the OBC then use the OBC to pay for the service?  Not sure if this would work or not, but maybe someone else does. 

Good Luck!

@Pattycruise I'm in favor of this change, since we have had excursion tickets not make it to our cabin on multiple occasions and it's a hassle to track them down and ensure that no one else uses the ticket.  But I also understand and will miss the tickets (much like the Old Fast Pass Tickets at Disney).

While I don't get internet on the ship, I do use the Royal App so finding the meeting spot and such should be easy and for cruisers like @Jolly Ogre I would suspect that cruisers can go to the excursions desk and get a list of thier scheduled activities.  I'm getting really close to ditching the phone completely, since in reality I use it mostly to look at dinner menus (during breakfast of course!) and to check out which bar(s) have the drink I'm looking for before trekking across the ship  

Good Luck!

On 7/9/2025 at 12:30 PM, Dustin said:

My family and I are traveling on the Star of the Seas on 11/2 which happens to be when DST changes.  I thought we had a good idea of what time it would be in St Thomas and St Marten but I am trying to book shore excursions and some vendors are stating I need to account for DST and ship time while others are stating the ship time will be their local time.  Does anyone have input on this or better yet could you tell me what time it would be in St Thomas if we arrive at 1300 ship time and in St Marten if we arrive 0800 ship time?

Like @tjcruisers said, it's kinda up to the captain on whether or not ship time changes with DST (or at all really) and can be really confusing.  The time in the Royal Caribbean app is always ship time and the time to live by, but I understand it doesn't help with planning.  Some things you can do for research would be:

1.  Look at previous cruise compasses for prevoous sailings and see if/when the time changed

2.  Look  in the app during the time frame and see if/when the time changes (if your cruise is far enough out)

Good Luck

8 hours ago, Biff215 said:

First cruise as Diamond coming up. My 12 year old tells me he’s going to use his 4 vouchers on Sprite. Despite me not seeing the value, I certainly get it, but here’s my thought. What if I buy him the soda package so he gets as much Sprite as he wants without having to order it, can I then use his Diamond vouchers to get specialty coffees for my wife and I? Will he need to be with me and can I order two at a time?

Thanks in advance, just want to make sure I’m doing this right!

Hello and congrats on Diamond!  My wife and I are Diamond as well and we had the same dilemma.  Since we are not "drinkers" we had always purchased the Refreshment package on our cruises.  Once we made it to Diamond, we dropped down toe the soda package and then use our vouchers for the various non-alcoholic drinks on the ship.  With the newly expanded "zero proof" menu the vouchers are are great way to try out the menu.  

Things to remember:

There are no refills on soda with the vouchers, so each soda is a voucher

With the Freestyle machine, the kid will have vastly more choices than at the bars

I would highly recommend getting them the soda package since they will probably go through more than 4 sodas in a day and if you get the price right it would be a better value.  

Vouchers are "sharable" so if you have his card, you can order whatever you like (i guess his card "could" be limited to non-alcoholic if they are under drinking age, so you may need to figure that out, I have no children, so haven't thought about that until typing this.).  

Good Luck!

It has been a little off all week.  For me it was showing Cruise Planner items priced in CAD and not USD, so that was weird.  I logged out and back in and it figured itself out.

1 hour ago, RCIfan1912 said:

Thanks, I am gravitating to Costco travel because it's sort of on your own and having a travel agent. I can go on an make payments when I have some extra money easily. The 300 dollar Costco card helps too. That's pretty nice. I don't see a down side. I know they don't participate in the Royal up thing but my fascination with that is kinda over. Mixed results for us but don't see us really using it again. 

Another perspective that may be helpful is if anyone had to deal with cruise cancellations while going through Costco.  I’m thinking cancellations like COVID, emergency maintenance, longer than expected drydocks,etc..  Luckily I’ve not had to deal with those other than COVID, but my previous agency was not good during that and led me to finally make the jump to MEI.  
 

while hopefully nothing like COVID happens again, those types of cancellations not under the cruisers control would really show the merits of the travel agency.  
 

personally, I prefer having the TA specifically so I don’t have to do the leg work if an issue arises and it gives me peace of mind. 
 

I’ve looked at Costco for short trips and getaways, but not sure I’d rely on them for a “larger” trip.

4 hours ago, packercruising said:

Strange question, but will the ship provide an incontinence pad for the bed?

I do not see it on the special needs form, but you can always call the special needs department to clarify.  There is also a section on the form for "other accommodations" where you could put it in.  If I were you, I would complete the form and and then reach out to the department.  Good luck.

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/resources/guest-special-needs

Fun fact: Puerto Rico does NOT do the Fall Back/Spring Forward, so make sure your devices update correctly once you arrive on the island!

https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/puerto-rico/san-juan

For example, it is now 1:07 PM "EST - eastern time", but 2:07 PM "AST - Atlantic Standard Time"

The last time we went to Puerto Rico, we fly in on the weekend of "fall back" on the Saturday and I was so paranoid that my phone would mess it up and we'd miss our scheduled Lyft for Sunday 

1 hour ago, NotPayinExtra said:

I'm packing a lot of nice/pricey clothes for the evening on my next cruise. If my garment bag (Check in luggage) happens to get lost, I need $1k to cover clothing. Any recommendations on insurance policies for large lost luggage pay out? Thanks. 

I’d certainly check your credit card(s) that you used. Most Visa cards these days have a lot of benefits that people overlook.

Personally, I wouldn’t take any clothes that would be considered “pricey”.  If you get a spill, the laundry facilities may not be able to clean it properly. We’ve had a few things cleaned over the years and the results are ok, but not great.

good luck

It’ll be interesting to see if anything happens with cruises since the FAA has now banned flights from going there for 30 days.

https://apnews.com/article/haiti-violence-gangs-airport-90dc8d26bc58eb9b214385ac10f315a2

I I’ve been to Labadeee several times and have always felt safe during the visit, but no one wants to be on the first cruise that has an issue.  Much like these flights that were shot at.  Luckily nothing catastrophic occurred.  I think it’s reasonable for people to ask questions about these things especially when new events occur.

14 hours ago, Cactus527 said:

It's finally working on my end, so it must have sorted itself out. Hope it's working for you now too, @Kelseylovestocruise.

Same here, it never downloaded for me yesterday, but this morning it was fine!

52 minutes ago, LTR said:

After this forum the podcast is the thing I like most within the RCB family! The ship tours on YouTube are 3rd!

I know!  I was excited when I woke to the notification in my app that a new episode was available.

@Matt,

     I'm sure you're extremely busy and maybe i missed something, but it looks like the most recent Podcast episode is from October 23rd.  I had recently switched to a app and thought I had forgotten to add the show, but its there.  Hopefully the podcast is still ongoing and just on a break.  

Thanks in advance

11 hours ago, gi333 said:

Hi everyone 

I would like to have some feedbacks on the liberty ship? 
we are looking at bermuda 5 days from cape liberty as the price is not bad for us for 2 adults and 2 children 10 and 6.

bermuda i read about horseshoe beach and crystal caves.

How much are burgers hotdog sandwiches at horseshoe beach?

 

thank you 

Bermuda is great, but I don't have any information about the beaches and caves. 

I really just wanted to make sure you were aware that Liberty does NOT have the Freestyle machines on the ship (which is lame), so your soda options would be limited to whatever the bars carry.   We use the Freestyle machines to get Powerade and sparking water, so Liberty threw us for a loop when we sailed on her in the past.  

She's a great ship, just the non-existence of the Freestyle machines was weird.

Good luck. 

On 10/28/2024 at 9:03 PM, CruiseGus said:

For info their share of the tip pool (drink gratuities, package or individual,  as on slip) is dependent on the number of drinks they ring up.

I've always wondered about this.  If this is truly the case, why to they sometimes not swipe my card when getting a drink that is included in the soda/refreshment package? We still paid a gratuity when making the purchase, so I've always thought it was odd when they just look at my card and then give me the drink.  

My biggest irk with them not swiping is that it doesn't show up in my account, so I lose track of the "purchases" and then cannot ever tell if my package was "worth it".  Not a big deal, but as we've moved to Diamond and dropped down to the soda package, I'd like to have real proof of how many sodas from the bar that we really get.  We are getting really close to dropping the soda package on a future cruise, but  we've been able to get the package a a good enough price that we've not ventured down that path, yet.

43 minutes ago, Nathan adams said:

We have a GTY stateroom. When do they actually assign the room number usually. 

Thank you

Serenade jan 3rd. 

The assignment can come at anytime and there is not really a schedule.  We’ve  Had assignments made days after booking all the way up to a week before the cruise.  If you still don’t have the assignment when your cruise documents / boarding pass become available then you can add your set sail passes to your Apple Wallet and the last digits of the barcode are your room number,but it could still change (although we’ve never had it happen).

good luck!
 

If you cruise with the same people, like I do with my in-laws, you can do what we do.  Each year around Christmas, we all line up and I get a good high quality image (with my phone) that I save and use for the check in photos.  Then I have it available when I do the 1 AM check ins .  So far, we've not had to retake pictures at the port, so it seems like our process works.  

I treat it like a passport photo, but do allow people to wear thier glasses

On 10/10/2024 at 10:05 AM, smokeybandit said:

Another Coco Cay doesn't move the needle for me one bit. But I'm sure I'm in the minority there.

While I think this is a huge benefit for Texas based cruisers, I think it will entice cruisers like us who hood not like western Caribbean itineraries.  Sometimes we’re limited on options due to timing and we get “stuck” with a less than ideal western route since it’s cheaper and we’re cheapskates  this will add a good port stop,for us when we end up out that way.

but I agree most people won’t pick cruises solely based on PDMX.

This will open up our options to do more Western Caribbean cruises.  We're not really beach people, but do enjoy PDCC and the ports in Mexico are not our favorites.  We like to get off the ship and wander the town, but don't feel safe enough in the Mexican ports. 

Honestly, we stay on the ship at PDCC and then wander off to grab lunch and then get back on the ship. We'd probably do the same at PDMX as well.  

Just saw this article.  While I understand the need for this to occur, it seems like it would have been easier to just delay all boarding.  I also suspect some stressed out cruisers if they did not see the notice.

https://www.cruisehive.com/royal-caribbean-ship-to-split-embarkation-leave-pier-briefly/146731

4 hours ago, Tulsa Rob said:

We are cruising out of San Juan April 13, 2025, on the Rhapsody of the seas and will be arriving early for a few days to experience San Juan and the surrounding area. Has anyone ever rented scooters to travel old San Juan, San Juan and the surrounding areas? If so, would you recommend it? Who did you use? any recommendations are greatly appreciated. Thank you 

Just wanted to share, since we were shocked when we did our cruise out of San Juan. 

There are multiple piers in San Juan.  There is one in "old San Juan" where ships visit as part of a different cruise and are there for the day and then there is the Pan American Pier on the other side from old San Juan where ships embark/disembark.  We had been to San Juan before and assumed we would embark/disembark in Old San Juan, but were surprised.  

We loved Old San Juan and wandered around on foot for the days we were there pre/post cruise.  It seems like scooters may be problematic on the cobblestone streets of Old San Juan.

Good Luck!

As a non-smoker, I'm always shocked when I see the prices of cigarettes.  Way back in the olden days (late 80's),  I used to go into the convenience store to buy the packs of Marlboro "reds" in the box for my dad (when they still allowed children to do that).  It was a whopping $1.25 per pack!

Lucky for me, I'm allergic to tobacco, so never developed the habit.  It's ironic being born and raised in KY, but being allergic to tobacco AND KY Bluegrass, add in the ragweed allergy and the state really doesn't want me to be here

Seeing reports on Reddit that Royal is changing some itineraries this week due to Hurricane Milton, the one that stood out to me was that Symphony of the Seas will be stopping at Labadee and skipping Port Canaveral, Perfect Day, and Nassau.  

Of course, it's the internet and Reddit, so who knows how much truth is in the matter.  

Still have not seen a press release about returning to Labadee, but the travel updates on the Royal Caribbean page now say there are no travel updates.  Maybe we are headed back to Labadee!

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/notices/travel-updates

19 hours ago, Matt said:

Interesting data. I think the math, especially for the Deluxe Beverage Package, gets messy when people start mixing in drinks that don't max out the value provided with a package.  For example, ordering a $8 beer instead of $14 cocktail.  Or a bottle of water.

I agree with @Matt, the data gets messy when the price mix gets involved.  You could certainly do it after the cruise when you knew all the drinks you purchased and the prices to see if you "broke even".  We are not drinkers, but for a while we were doing the Refreshment Package for both of us, since we could get it at a reasonable price and didn't want surprises at the end.  Now that we moved to Diamond, we dropped do the soda package since we've been getting it for $8.99 a day.  

Our math on the package is more about can we break even over the course of the cruise and not by the day.  For example, on embarkation day, we may each drink 2 sodas so that day we "lose money" on the package.  However on Day 2 we may each drink 6 sodas therefore "making profit".  

Using our method and sample pricing for an upcomming cruise

Soda Package -- $8.99 per day plus 18%,  6 N Cruise, Price of soda -- $3.50 plus 18% ($4.13)

Package purchase with tip -- $63.65

# of sodas at $4.13 to break even -- 15.411 (so 16)

average of 2.66 sodas per day to break even, so 3 a day makes us profitable

If anyone cares, we use our Diamond vouchers for mocktails, Johnny Rockets shakes, bottles of sparkling water for the room, and maybe an occasional alcoholic drink to try (like the PB&J old fashioned at Mason Jar).  

This will be our 3rd cruise since turning diamond and we are seriously considering dropping the soda package completely at some point, but the math makes it hard to do, especially since we had $50 OBC that we used to make the purchase, so in reality one package was basically free

We don't do many excursions so using the OBC on the drink package makes sense for us. 

As a non-drinker, I have a hard time wrapping my head around the prices that people pay for the DBP.  Doing some quick math for our upcoming cruise, it would cost us $1104.34 for us to get the DBP, our cruse was only $1619.84. It would be a tough sell for us to get the DBP knowing that we could almost pay for another cruise.