Reigert2008

3 hours ago, Rick LaTouch said:

I’m sure this has been asked a thousand times, but….

generally speaking, how early should you be back to the ship before the posted sail time?  I don’t have any “all aboard” times for my cruise yet and am trying to independently plan shore excursions.  Thank you,  RL

The ship port times should be listed on your booking receipt from Royal near the bottom where it lists your ports.  but also for general times that the ship is in port, you can use a site like CruiseMapper.com, search for your ship, find your itinerary and then use the times listed (they are LOCAL port times) and plan to be back at least 30 minutes prior.  Also note, that you will need to be on SHIP time and not all cruises change time with the time zones, Ship time is the mot important time there is and the time in the Royal app is always ship time.   If you're looking for something to do, it could be easier to book it through Royal and not have to worry about it.  

Good Luck!

https://www.cruisemapper.com/

I didn't see a post created for this sailing and I wanted to share the Cruise Compasses with @Matt and anyone else who may ever want them.  

Thanks. 

Explorer_CC_9N_EasternCaribbean_02232024.pdf Explorer_CC_9N_EasternCaribbean_02242024.pdf Explorer_CC_9N_EasternCaribbean_02252024.pdf Explorer_CC_9N_EasternCaribbean_02262024.pdf Explorer_CC_9N_EasternCaribbean_02272024.pdf Explorer_CC_9N_EasternCaribbean_02282024.pdf Explorer_CC_9N_EasternCaribbean_02292024.pdf Explorer_CC_9N_EasternCaribbean_03012024.pdf Explorer_CC_9N_EasternCaribbean_03022024.pdf

5 hours ago, Lexster said:

The mindset that causes the back-ups to begin with

Exactly. Everyone has the opportunity to get an early time and I really wish Royal would enforce times at all ports and be consistent.  If more people had to queue outside and wait for their time, maybe people would start showing up at the assigned time and the whole process could be smooth for everyone all the time.

Of course, I’m a rule follower and will arrive during my window, but  I’ve also been able to get early times by being online when they open the check in window.

Happy Cruising!

2 hours ago, CrimsonCruiser said:

Next year we're planning a cruise with some first timers who (obviously) don't have a C&A status. When I do the mock bookings to see what prices out best for us all, I've noticed an up to $300 difference between the rooms because of our status discount. BUT...I've also noticed, in my laziness, that Royal let's me put my info on both rooms (C&A number included).

Is this glitch happening or can I put my name on two rooms, get the C&A discount, then switch the name to the correct passenger after booking?

 

And before anyone tries to attack me  - I'm not trying to skirt or break or bend any rules. I'm asking if this is a thing I can do because the royal booking site hasn't balked at me essentially living in 2 rooms and I've never booked more than one room before. I don't know if this is a hidden perk of my status.

I would certainly work with a good travel advisor in this case.  They may be able to get a group rate or something that may be cheaper for the other party (or even your party).  

Good luck!

On 6/25/2023 at 6:11 AM, TexanTwoStep said:

Awesome, thanks for the recommendations!  We were planning on this to be a beach-heavy trip since we're stopping at Labadee and Coco Cay.  I just didn't know if there were any "must dos" at any of these ports

On 6/21/2023 at 1:30 PM, Xaa said:

Labadee is a beach day.  The activities, if you're interested in coaster, zip lines etc are fun.  I like to head over to Columbus Cove and relax.  You can take the ferry over if you don't want to make the walk, but you do need to walk back.

Puerto Plata, I'll be hitting for the first time later this year, we've booked a snorkeling boat but also considered a horseback riding excursion. (both outside of Royal).  If you check Viator, the popular ones seem to be around the Damajagua falls

just checking in to see if either of you had any further information about the port area in Puerto Plata? We don’t generally do excursions and was wondering if the port area was walkable and if they had some shops to buy postcards and maybe a tshirt.  We will have my in-laws with us this time and we will probably pop off the ship long enough to look around and then get back on to enjoy the ship. It’ll be their first time on a Voyager class ship after cruising on Oasis class ships several times and one 4N on Freedom class.

thanks

5 minutes ago, Pattycruise said:

I've had a few saiings where they changed me to My time-from early seating-without notice

This had happed to us on the Liberty out of Texas In 2022  and on Wonder out of Florida in 2023.  It was so annoying. On Liberty they never really got it straight and the solution was for us to go to the My Time room at the same time each day and then had to wait for the previous party to finish, even though the staff had us a reservation.  On Wonder, they got us a temp table the first night and then a perm table the rest of the cruise.

both ways were annoying,  the my time room is too busy and you have tables being cleaned while you are still dining and the staff never get into a rhythm.

on Wonder, the first night our server didn’t really care about us since we were not on his list for the week,but once we got moved to our table it was much better.

I wish they would do something to not let people who have a traditional spot (early, late) make specialty reservations.  In my opinion, if you’re not going to be in the traditional times every night, then you should move to the my time and not take up a space that you’re not going to use.  It would free up the spaces for people who are not doing specialty dining and make it easier for us to dine at the times we want and not get bumped. It would also allow the wait staff to have full tables each evening and maximize their tips.

53 minutes ago, cruisefam86 said:

My son’s passport expires 10 days after we return. Will he be able to board with it for a western Caribbean itinerary or do I need to take his birth certificate?

Multiple thoughts on this.

1. Contact your travel agent or Royal for the official answer.

2. If your cruise is far enough out, maybe you can renew the passport before you leave.  Depended on your location it could be done in 1 day.

3.  Is the son a US citizen? Is the cruise a closed loop cruise leaving from the US?  If so you may be able to use a government issued ID and an accepted birth certificate (can’t remember the exact term) to board.

You’re going to need to check the details with your travel agent or Royal on exactly the type of birth certificate you can use.  While I agree that the people on this board (including myself) are top notch and knowledgeable, the only answer that counts is the one from Royal, which your travel agent can assist in getting.

good luck!

2 hours ago, PastorW said:

Did some searching. It didn’t see a sneer. Family of 7 cruising out of FLL in November and need a hotel that offers an airport shuttle. A cruise shuttle would be helpful too. An Uber with my kids age isn’t an option and don’t want to rent a car for just one day. Any one know of a hotel that offers shuttles from the airport?

 

thanks!

We like the AC Hotel which is practically across the street for the airport.  They have a free airport shuttle and in an area where you can walk to some shopping and dining.   We’ve stayed there twice already when cruising from Miami and will do it again next year.

https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/fllac-ac-hotel-fort-lauderdale-airport/overview/

its basically in Dana Pointe and it’s a neat area to kill some time in.  If your adventurous, you can walk further to another shopping area.

https://www.daniapointe.com

Saw this and figured people her may want to know.

https://www.cruisehive.com/celebrity-cruises-changes-shore-tour-cancellation-policy/117756

9 minutes ago, cruisefam86 said:

Starting to get worried. This is why I usually like to be in control of my own stuff. Every other time I have email with anything/make a payment he has responded with in a few hours. Today is our final payment date. I emailed him at 9:50am and still no response. So I called. Voicemail over and over saying he’s either on the other line or out of the office. How do I make my payment around my travel agent so my trip won’t be canceled?

Sorry you are going through this.  I wouldn't write off travel agents as a whole because of it.  A good travel agent will have a backup person if they are out of the office and generally contact you several days before final payment to arrange for payment.  I would recommend that you call the agency directly and have someone at the agency assist in getting your payment taken care of.  

Remember, travel agents can do much more than just book and take payments.  They can also offer invaluable advice and suggestions when needed.  They also are critical should there be a major issue, much like the pandemic.  

If this is a "one off" you may be fine, but if you have had other issues, I would recommend that you start looking for another agency to represent your interests.  You've probably seen it on here before, but many of us use MEI-Travel and i have nothing but good experiences with our agent.  

Good Luck!

I wonder why there is no discount on the coffee beverage once you hit Diamond. Since I use my vouchers on the coffee beverages, it would be nice to get the discount once you are out of vouchers.  I drink a lot of coffee and use my vouchers on iced decaf americanos.  It woudl be nice if there were cold cups and ice in the Crown Lounge to make my own

Did anyone get the Cruise Compasses from this cruise? I messed up and didn't download them the first two days and then just gave up. 


Thanks. 

I was looking at the ticket booklet for our upcoming cruise and thought it looked small.  Looking back to our first cruise in 2017, the ticket booklet seems to have decreased from about 25 pages to 13 pages.  Has anyone else noticed this?  I still print mine out, so i have it when we board.  

Happy Cruising!

Yeah, I think you are kinda “stuck”, but this is a great example of how you can’t “do everything” on the cruise. It’s a balancing act of prioritizing what are the “must do’s” and the “want to do’s”.

good luck!

We are coming up in for a couple of days at Disney World before heading out on our cruise.  Does anyone have any suggestions for car service / limo companies that would be an option to get us from Disney World to Port Canaveral?  For personal reasons, we won’t use Uber/Lyft for this long of a ride, so we are looking for other options.  Thanks in advance.

On 10/5/2023 at 9:01 AM, Crown&AnchorEsq said:

But I do like to keep pumping up my points so we can get to D+ some day

This was our thought.  We’re a family of two and love Royal, but have looked into some celebrity sailings as options.  We’ve never done a Celebrity since we wanted to wait until we hit Diamond, so we wouldn’t “waste a cruise” and take longer to hit Diamond.  For us the drink vouchers are a game changer.  Now that we’re Diamond, we’re more open to trying a Celebrity since Diamond+ doesn’t do too much for us.  
 

if the programs were “merged” then we’d earn points regardless and we may bounce around a bit.  

i’m a rewards club fanatic and stick to where I get the best benefits (for us) and try to not do things that don’t earn my rewards

Now I want to know what they are planning to put into the bag!

Good day!  I saw this article about how cruisers on a Carnival ship have to hand over thier passports to the cruise line so customs can check them out.  In the article, Carnival says this is not abnormal, but I've never seen anyone here mention it before.  We have never cruised from outside the US (yet) but are looking at doing a European based cruise in 2025 and wanted to ask here if there ae any itineraries that this practice tends to happen more on or if it's all of them.  For me, I don't like for my passport to be out of my sight, so this does make me a little uneasy, but I guess that's life   I'm more than happy to wait in a line to have customs check me out with my passport to ensure that that i never lose control of my documents. 

Article -- https://www.cruisehive.com/carnival-cruise-line-addresses-issue-of-handing-over-passports/113932

Thanks so much! 

48 minutes ago, tonyfsu21 said:

I think they could put a bandaid on the situation by adding another daily drink voucher for D and D+. Problem solved. 

Agreed, the extra voucher really wouldn't cost them anything.  We never use all of our vouchers in a day.  I'd like for the vouchers to be for the whole cruise and not expire each day, since you'll have some days where you don't use them all and other days where you may need extra. For a 7N sailing, Diamond would get 28 vouchers to use, which means we would probably stop buying the soda package.  Once we turned Diamond, we went from the Refreshment package to the soda package, so we could still get our "fancy drinks" for the shows and around the pool and not waste a voucher on a soda.  We also like the Powerade and sparkling water options in the Freestyle machines

59 minutes ago, RCIfan1912 said:

I wish I could cruise enough and in suites to get to that level

I think this is part of the overall problem, not @RCIfan1912 in particular, but the earning rates.  We all know the "loopholes" to get those extra points, which was all fun and games when we earned them, but now we're hitting the limits.  I'm all for getting what we've earned, but maybe Royal should change it so that you only get 1 point per night as the standard rate and not do the doubles for single cruisers, gaining a suite, etc...  They could then offer up double points promotions when they need to fill the ship and it could be done on a ship by ship, sailing by sailing basis.  

13 hours ago, bretts173 said:

More and more cruisers aging and getting to Diamond level than ever before. Something has to give. You can't just add additional space that the general cruising public can't access, there is already enough exclusive area. Happy if they just keep a small room with a coffee machine and the concierge.

I agree.  I've only been on 2-3 cruises since turning Diamond and I don't understand the "Allure"  of hanging out in the Diamond Lounge.  I pop in a few times during the day to get coffee, but that's it.  There are far better places to hang out on the ship.  If they did something to allow unlimited espresso coffee at the coffee shop, or gave us a few extra daily vouchers, I'd never even go by the lounge.  We have a sailing next year on the Explorer and the lounge is in such an inconvenient place, I may not even make it there for coffee. 

And as for limiting access from 5-8 PM, that's dinner and show time for most people, so I wonder how many people are turned away for "only" being diamond.  

Saw this in my planner for a Wonder of the Seas cruise and thought it was too pricey for wha it is.  Glad to see I’m not the only one!

we try and go to the early open sessions and just hit the ball around. We’re not trying to compete!

You’d think for that price you would get a paddle to keep.  Maybe not a RCI one, but something more than a hat.  We bought ourselves a pretty nice set of paddles for $20.

I know this is an older thread,  but as a non drinker, I love a good mocktail.  Thankfully, Royal has added some to the menu and they are great.  Since I’ve never really drank alcohol, my issue is that I don’t know what’s normally in a drink and if it’s worth making it without the alcohol. Sometimes the non-alcoholic version ends up just being juice.  also sometimes there are multiple names for a drink.  So, I’m always on the lookout for more options and combos that could be cool.  The other day at lunch I stumbled on this menu, so figured I’d share.  
 

6 hours ago, Karensue said:

The soft drink (coca cola) package is on sale for $9.99 a day.  How much is a single coke? Is it worth purchasing?

you can check the prices for your sailing in the app.  I looked at one of my upcoming cruises for reference, the Wonder of the Seas, Casino Bar

sodas are $3.50 each plus 18% for a total of $4.13 each

If the soda package is $9.99 a day plus 18% making it $11.79 a day

you’d need 2.85 sodas a day to break even, so really 3 a day. 
 

The thing to remember is that there are no refills when you don’t have a package, each soda is an individual purchase. So at dinner, each time they bring you a glass it would be a separate charge (by rule).  
 

its also important not not think of it as each day, but an overall view of your cruise.  You may get 0 sodas one day,  but 6 the next day. It works on Perfect Day and maybe you’ll drink several just on the island.  
 

if your ship has Freestyle machines, they also include Powerade and sparkling water options.

we used to get the Refreshment package, but since becoming Diamond,we get the soda package to offset our vouchers and it’s been a good option. We don’t drink alcohol so we use the vouchers for milkshakes, fancy coffee, and bottled water, but then can grab a soda when we get pizza, hot dogs, or any other food that pairs well

If you drink coffee or want bottled water, look into the refreshment package.  If you’re committed to the soda package and can get the refreshment package at the right price it can be a deal!

 

we've gotten the soda package between $7.99 and $10.99 on various sailings.

good luck

In this case, Using a good travel advisor would have made this much easier as they would have been able to switch the rooms and ensure the correct room was changed.  I don’t think much can be done at this point , but wanted give you hope that not being on the same deck will not affect your cruise enjoyment.  I understand the desire to be close to other travelers, but we book inside GTY cabins for the cost savings, even when traveling with others and we’ve always had a great time.  We just pick a time and place to meet and go.

have a great time.