recogneyes

On 5/15/2025 at 3:29 PM, dustfsu said:

Dang, that is a bummer, I’m sure they will get another good player in there.  Hopefully Kevin Philip takes his place. Saw him on the Symphony, he was so good. On the Quantum I had Carlo and he was really good too.

That's been our experience as well - most are very talented.  Stephen is just very unique the way he adds percussion to his performance .... he does so with his feet.  Just adds to the overall performance.  He's also very good at interacting with the crowd.  You can find him on instagram at stephenburkemusic and he usually posts what ship he is going to be on.  Enjoy your vacation on Utopia.  

On 5/13/2025 at 4:05 PM, dustfsu said:

Does anyone know how long the guitarist in the pubs stay on board? Or if anyone is going on the Utopia soon can ask when Stephen Burke will be getting off? I saw some of his videos on YouTube and he is good and hope he is still on there for the July 14th sailing.  Thanks

We have cruised many times with Stephen as the pub performer - he is fantastic!  He will be heading to Quantum starting July 7th so you're going to miss him by just a little bit.  Hopefully you can catch him another time.

17 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

I was bored and watching videos of interiors and found one of a regular interior (4V) that showed something I hadn't seen before. The floor to ceiling mirror next to the bathroom swings open and has 5-6 shelves behind it (one has the safe). Add that to 4 baskets under part of the usual closets with the hanger bars and I don't think there's any reason for us to get the Interior Plus since we don't place much/any value on the walk-in closet and vanity area. Thanks again for the input.

Now that sounds like a much better design!

50 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

Thanks for the feedback. There doesn't seem to be any more drawer/shelf/basket in the standard interiors but at least I'll be paying as little as possible. We'll make do with hanging more stuff (we always ask for extra hangers anyway b/c I'm weird and hang almost everything; my wife gets most of the drawers). She also uses packing cubes so maybe she'll follow your lead. We'll figure it out. I was leaning towards a standard interior from the start... Icon/Star is expensive enough to begin with.

That sounds like a good plan - these rooms are not worth upgrading to IMO, unless the location is better based on what is left for a particular sailing.  There is room to stack packing cubes below the clothes that hang so you should be able to manage with what there is to work with.

5 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

My SIL’s family is going on Icon Saturday. I’ll likely book Star for 2026-2027 but my TA has plenty of group space available so we’re waiting for their cabin review. They have 2 Interior Plus’. The interiors are smaller on Icon & look lacking in drawer storage but I’m not sure the walk-in closet & vanity that Plus have would really be worth the small price increase. Looked like more bar/hanger space but still lacking in drawers & my wife is low maintenance enough that the rest isn’t necessary. Caves have always been fine with us…she just usually uses the drawers. I’m sure we’ll be fine either way.

We were on the December 14th Icon sailing in an Interior Plus cabin.  There are no drawers at all.  It is the worst cabin we've been in as far as storage.  There is no storage at all in the main cabin area.  Then you go behind the wall that the TV is on and you have a vanity with one drawer and then an area with hangers and a few shelves that are actually baskets.  We have packing cubes so we just stacked them but I wouldn't pay anything extra for this room.  The bathroom was nice and the shower was good but beyond that I would not recommend this room.

4 hours ago, Foxwell said:

Hi Everyone, 

We booked our cruise through an agent, we booked 3 cabins, all the same balcony room type. Our agent put in a request for our rooms to be together (apparently). 

We got 'guaranteed rooms' which did not have allocated room numbers. The sailing is in 4 months and we have just been given cabins much earlier than expected, all spread out over the ship. 

We are all Diamond members. What is the best way to contact Royal to request our rooms to be either on the same deck or next to each other? Is this even possible? Our agent said she has tried but we feel like this was a dead end...

Thanks!
 

You could do a mock booking on royal's website and if the category of stateroom you have been assigned is still available, look to see if any cabins are near each other.  If you happen to find 3 that work for you, you could contact your TA and ask them to make this request to royal on your behalf.  Perhaps you only need to change 2 of the 3 if you can find 2 near the third that is assigned.  Specifically sate that this should not result in any increased costs as you are staying within the same category.  

On 11/8/2024 at 9:53 AM, Pattycruise said:

Currently on Explorer and they have not yet notified us of the travel allowance they’ll be giving people who need to change their flights since we are arriving to Miami 3 days late,  if they aren’t booked via air 2 sea. I know it’s typically $200 for domestic travel and $400 for international travel.

 The questions arises-if this is the case and you have in fact experienced this how do you get this? .
 When do you get this?-timeframe for reimbursement from Royal
 What do you need to submit to get this?
 Any other helpful info in regards to your personal experience.

 Conjecture is not welcomed at this point. Real personal experience needed so I can help fellow passengers.  This poor old couple is ready to book using extremely high points on their airlines account and id like to give them some good info about perhaps laying out the $ and getting that reimbursement.
 

in addition to that
 Has anyone experienced this AND had travel insurance?
If so, what steps did you take? I can’t imagine being reimbursed twice. Does Royal give you that $200 and then you make the claim for the balance? Anything else we should be aware of?

 Any experienced input would be appreciated, thank you!!

 

We were in this situation last year.  We left Honolulu and arrived back in Vancouver but due to a medical evacuation on the ship we arrived later in the day.  The value of reimbursement you stated above is what we were offered as well.  We did not have Air 2 Sea flights so we just made our changes directly with the airline and then submitted our receipts to the email address provided on the form.  I will say it was a bit of a long process.  Lots of back and forth in which I honestly felt could lead to some people just giving up.  Each time someone responds, it's different from the last person so that it is a bit frustrating.  While we could have incurred much higher costs by staying in a hotel (they offered that as part of reimbursement) we opted to fly home that same night which was cheaper than getting a hotel but we were still out of pocket from what Royal was willing to reimburse.  It took about 3 weeks for our refund which I'm pretty sure went right to our visa.  Royal was very particular about $$ amounts so I would be cautious about using points - that was part of our issue in that we used some Visa points and Royal did not compute that value.  When sending everything in for reimbursement, they wanted everything in PDF form so start off with that and clear explanation and hopefully they will process without many back and forths. We could have tried to claim the rest through our insurance but we didn't bother.  Good luck and safe travels home.

17 hours ago, Va4fam said:

Thanks @recogneyes, @ChessE4, and @WAAAYTOOO.   Where did they perform...theater, aqua theater, music hall?

In the next 6 months, we are booked on Harmony, Oasis, Wonder, and Utopia.  We've seen WANTED, and NO QUARTER.  Maybe we will get lucky and catch one soon.

 

Two nights in the music hall and one night in the theatre on Utopia.  I hope you get a chance to see a great band on at least one of your sailings

20 hours ago, Va4fam said:

Anyone been on a cruise this year with an actual Tribute band (not a Royal Band)? If so, what band and ship?

Or have they completely done away with them?

On Utopia in August we were treated to DSB - Journey tribute band and they were amazing.  The lead singer is outstanding and the whole band was just so talented.  

1 hour ago, Alan123 said:

Good morning, 

Why is it only US Citizens can reprice cruises before final payment is made?

I am a UK Citizen.

 

Regards 

Alan

I don't think this is a US citizen situation, I believe it is to do with where the cruise was booked from.  If you are based in the UK and book with a travel agent in the UK or through Royal's UK website then re pricing is not allowed.  Perhaps the way around it is to book with a US travel agent.

1 hour ago, gi333 said:

Hi everyone 

We are interested in booking adventure of the seas aug 16 2025 out of orlando . The itinerary is very interesting with stops at coco cay and labadee.

We have been on oasis of the seas in 2023 out of cape liberty and it was fantastic.

I know you can’t compare both but wanted to have opinions ?

traveling with children 6 and 10

food activities shows?

Also, in 2023 we booked in January for a cruise in august.

Should I track price and wait? I remember last year Black Friday deals weren’t so great.

thank you

 

There is no real advantage on waiting as prices will likely increase not decrease.  You can book and still track prices and if  you see a lower price, contact Royal and have it repriced.  One other suggestion is to work with a travel agent to find a group rate.  Usually these are cheaper and deposits are refundable.  We find Harr Travel to have terrific great rates as well as great service and many on this blog recommend MEI Travel.  Have fun planning your cruise.

18 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

The DBP for a repositioning cruise we are on in Sept 2025 (Radiance, Vancouver to San Diego, 8 days) was selling for $56.99 PP/PD right after I booked it; it has now risen to just over $60 PP/PD.  It’s the only DBP I have seen in the “50’s” in a very long time.

That is a terrific repositioning cruise. Thank you for referring to it - we are going to keep this sailing in mind.

On 9/15/2024 at 2:05 PM, Dani Marie said:

I was wondering if anyone knew if the Royal Caribbean gift shop on either Utopia of the Seas or Icon of the Seas have dog items like dog collars or dog toys? Thanks!! 

In August, on Utopia, we saw dog collars and toys in the gift shop.  We hadn't seen those on other ships prior.

We have avoided rooms under windjammer for that exact reason.   We've learned to be very picky about selecting our cabins.  The effort in advance can save a lot of grief after.  I'm glad they were able to move you - with ships sailing at capacity these days that isn't always possible.  Enjoy the rest of your cruise.

On 8/27/2024 at 11:06 PM, Natalya said:

I'm debating on splurging to get my hair done for formal night and I wondering what others thought of it. I'm never had my hair done before and I almost never style my hair.

I book a hair appointment on most cruises.  It's a nice treat for sure.  Sometimes there is a savings in booking ahead in cruise planner.  Whether you book ahead or onboard, you will be charged an 18% gratuity on top of the price (like every other purchase).  The salon can get busier on formal nights so another advantage of booking ahead is getting the time you want.  One thing to be ready for is they will try to upsell you to purchase their products while in the salon.  I just politely decline as I don't need them and would rarely have weight allowance in my luggage to bring them back anyway.  Enjoy your first cruise - Harmony is a great ship.

On 8/9/2024 at 9:59 AM, Married2Grumpy said:

For those just returning, is there still lobster in the Windjammer on embarkation day or was it just for the inaugural sailings?

I can confirm it was offered on the August 5th sailing - only on embarkation day from what we saw.

One other thought is depending on age of your family members, you could also consider 3 rooms with 2 assigned to each room.  It can actually be cheaper this way especially if the TA has any group rates available.  Plus there's the benefit of a third bathroom.

3 hours ago, SplashOfWater said:

Entertainment for the Friday, Aug 2 cruise just opened today. Keep checking.

Amazing - I was able to book ours for next week.  It must have opened today as well.  Thank you!!

17 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Holy cow.  We're sailing on 9-13 and 9-16 so I guess we won't get any entertainment either.  This just SUCKS !  It's like they weren't really ready for Utopia to start sailing !

We board on Monday and still unable to book entertainment.  I guess everyone will be doing the mad dash to book once we are on ships wifi.

23 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

That's a good hypothesis....and actually sounds like it might be accurate.

Is there a way to make the reservation for 4 people for now ?  I have no idea if you can even do that since I've never even thought about it.

It would be expensive up front but you could cancel the 2 "phantom" people once onboard for OBC.

I dunno.  Maybe you couldn't even do that since you wouldn't have a cabin number or names to input for the initial rezzie.

You read my mind lol - that was my thought and usually there are more of us travelling and I could try that.  As you stated, I don't have another reservation number to link for dining so that makes us unable to book more people.  Thank you for the suggestion though.

28 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:

Make it be your first stop when you get onboard. I would think as sailings get further out from the first sailing there will be less people "in the know" onboard and you can grab one.

That's our plan - we will head straight there and hope for the best.  I will report back afterwards for any insight they can provide onboard about future bookings.

16 hours ago, AshleyDillo said:

When we booked it was only bookable through the website or by calling. We saw it on the app but no reserve button was there.  Rumors are they only made it available for bookings 30 days out so far.  It was also only $74.99 so they could still be working finalizing things with it. Onboard they're saying they have another version in the works they hope to start up in the next couple of months too.

Thank you.  I have tried numerous times on the website (it shows it at $74.99) but doesn't allow bookings.  I've called a few times and they just say it will only available to book on board.  We sail in less than 2 weeks. I've asked if it's because there are only 2 of us on the reservation but am told that has nothing to do with it. So, I guess we see what happens once we board. 

10 hours ago, Lisapizza said:

When I called Royal customer service they said Royal Railway won’t be available to book online. They said you have to book on the cruise. I hope this isn’t true

I was told the same thing - which I know isn't true. It won't let me book online either - just says "we are stuffed" 

19 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

Coconut shrimp you say?

They were good. Bigger & crispier than I’d expect from an AI beach resort. I liked the mango sauce or whatever it was too.

I’ve had 4 mahi tacos so I’m sure the sandwich is good. I tend to avoid rolls so I have more room to try other things.

Wife really liked the pizza. Thin & crispy (well done) is her preference.

It was supposed to be plain with pineapple but they stuck the pineapple on a margherita so she ditched the tomatoes.

Virgin banana daiquiri with chocolate syrup coming for her next. That’s her type of big kid drink. If Royal had banana mix I might have a few less vouchers per day.

Glad you tried.l..and enjoyed the coconut shrimp.  Always our favourite when we visit PB.  

19 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

More mahi tacos but with soft corn tortillas this time.

Coconut shrimp for me and a pizza for my wife coming next. I’m on a seafood kick if you couldn’t tell.

They have the best coconut shrimp!  Try the mahi mahi sandwich if you still have some room.