GKMCruising

22 minutes ago, KristiZ said:

We often just roll with the regular gratuities for dining and stateroom attendant. We will, however, look for exceptional service in some other areas and tip those folks. For example, we’re giving the lady who nearly always took our room service order this cruise $20 because she was always so personable. Plus in the GS the room service fee is waived so they don’t make money on us unless we tip.  We also tip on the free Diamond drinks, since they still have to do the work. It is always appreciated!

But whatever you’re feeling in the moment!

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who tends to just stay with the standard tip unless there's something exceptional to recognize. 

For instance, we gave an extra tip to James in Sorrento's on Ovation last month because he went above and beyond in his interactions with us. When my wife and I were on our honeymoon, we gave $40 to one of the photogs who knew our names and that we were on our honeymoon, so she'd make sure to do tons of different poses and backgrounds throughout the week with us so we had a *ton* of good options to choose from with photos afterwards.

3 minutes ago, PG Cruiser said:

I don't even want to attempt to "reprice" my UDP on the Oasis.  It is so in-demand I'm afraid I might end up losing it.  It took me weeks of checking several times a day before I finally snagged it for $217.00 ($31 per night)

Can you rebuy and *then* cancel the more expensive one?

6 minutes ago, FionaMG said:

I got some decent prices for excursions for my sailing on Odyssey next May and I also booked the All Access Tour, not something I'd normally be willing to pay for but, well it's Odyssey, isn't it, and at $95 it was lower than I've seen before either on this sailing or on my last cruise on Harmony. Hopefully it'll be worth it for the brand new hi-tech ship.

Huh, I didn't think they were running those right now. Didn't see it offered on Wonder for March, at least.

I'm with @Matt - crew likely won't say anything, but the guests are going to be judging you.

I always do nice jeans or khakis with a button down shirt or polo at a minimum any time I'm going anywhere besides Windjammer for dinner.

Then again, I'm also one of those people who prefers to "dress up" when flying, as well - I refuse to be the guy in pajama pants and a t-shirt, regardless of *how* early my flight is.

If you ever need a benchmark for how rough the seas are - rank it on a scale of 1 to 5.

One - smooth sailing

Two - a little choppy

Three - "Oh look, they put out the seasick bags!"

Four - The pools look like the below pictures...

Five - "Are we sure he steered around that hurricane?"

2 minutes ago, PG Cruiser said:

I advised him to ask for a CDC card from work.  He texted me a while ago that the Mayo Clinic gave him one.  I don't see any signatures/initials on the card, just a patient number, vaccine lot numbers and "Mayo Clinic" on the "Healthcare Professional or Clinic Site" column.  Could that be a problem?  I've been seeing some discussions on another thread about signatures and stickers.

Nah, that should be fine. Some places are using stickers, others have it all handwritten. And let's face it, doctor handwriting is terrible, so I doubt they're too worried about much outside of the batch # and injection dates.

19 minutes ago, Montana21 said:

The only difference from yesterday’s prices is the banner at the top that announce the “deals” and few cococay passes are 10 off

Eh, depends. The 100 photo package on my sailing is like $40 off, and the UDP dropped back under $200.

But yeah, largely terrible.

3 minutes ago, CJS2766 said:

I assume we could get refunds if it ends up being a rainy day.

Don't assume anything. Check the fine print, some excursions are rain or shine, no refunds for poor weather.

4 minutes ago, Jill said:

Our May Alaska has yet to be included in a sale. Anyone ever see sales on their Alaska cruises? 

We did for our Ovation last month, but never anything really phenomenal as far as I can remember.

People have been saying that even minors get the drink vouchers.

5 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

You need to have them fix it.  Always be sure your nextrcuise OBC stays (and FCC for that matter) when you reprice.

Cool, thanks for the clarification. I'll give them a call tonight then and get it added back.

Let me mildly hijack the thread for a second - I had NextCruise OBC that got lost when I did a reprice. Should this have happened, or was that a goof on Royal's part that I need to have them fix?

I'd guess that guarantee rooms are sold about like airline tickets - they likely oversell based on percentages of how many people cancel, upgrade, no show, etc. 

But, as @twangstersaid, none of us *really* know how they work, just that they exist as an option to buy until they don't anymore, just like any other stateroom category.

4 minutes ago, Jill said:

Likely. Last “good” sale was February 

What made it so much better than the one that was running in September? I seem to have deleted whatever emails came through then, despite the fact that I have every *other* RCCL marketing email ever. I'm terrible at keeping my inbox clean.

30 minutes ago, Jill said:

Last sale before my Symphony! Momma needs a cabana baby!  

Busted image, it looks like.

EDIT: Nevermind, my phone was being dumb. It finally opened properly.

6 minutes ago, fireclan said:

Yesterday via email I received the code: SAILOASIS for $50 off on Oasis cruises departing May-June 2022. I assume new bookings, but didn't read that far into it. It was combinable with other offers, though.

Oasis class, or just Oasis of the Seas?

10 minutes ago, Jim D said:

So I want to be able to understand what you are saying.  In the main dining room the UDP does not work there.  You cant order a glass of wine or a cocktail and have the UDP cover it.  I know it only covers drinks up to $13 - but  does that exclude the main dining room?  I am a little confused  sorry if I sound naïve this is the first time on RCL and the first time I have an UDP on any cruise line.  Thanks! 

You're getting the drinks package and the dining package confused. The drink package would, in fact, work in the MDR, as far as I'm aware. The upcharge items he's talking about are the "upgraded" filet and lobster available nightly for an extra cost.

3 minutes ago, PG Cruiser said:

This!  Plus the UDP effect

You make a good point. Given that I'm trying the UDP for the first time on Wonder, I'm definitely gonna need the extra steps.

35 minutes ago, Sharla said:

That room is a forward cabin- way up at the front! Seems neat, just not aft.

Yeah... clearly I was tired when I initially posted this. 

4 minutes ago, twangster said:

In the name of science I've moved to 8518 on a January Symphony sailing.  It's always interesting to try the cabins that are different and a few extra steps will help burn of the WJ effect.  

I like deck 8 for easy access to Central Park.  

We typically do deck 8 on Oasis class as well. We have one for our trip on Harmony in September, and we initially had one on Wonder, but when we moved weeks to do the inaugural there weren't any inside rooms left on 8.

1 hour ago, twangster said:

Hope it works out for you folks down under.

Up here there seems to be communication with the government that isn't made public.  Since before our restart there has been communication behind the scenes that is kept quiet but that the cruise lines have used to make their plans.  I suspect the same may be occuring in other regions.  The cruises line keep quiet about it but they seem to be interacting with governments more than we all know about.

I think you're right - my guess is that no one wants to get people's hopes up prematurely or cause any confusion if things change, so they wait until 99% of the kinks have been ironed out to make any sort of official announcement.

3 hours ago, S0nny said:

@GKMCruising ... did you post the room number...? Either way... sign me up for any room without an arrow! 

2 hours ago, Neesa said:

This^^^^^ I tend to like staying aft, I like the longer walk to the cabin, also the hallway is usually super quiet but un like others the connecting door has been quite noisy any time I had one, I stay away from "arrows" at all costs. Others say they are not a problem, maybe I am just "lucky" to have always been assigned Loudest Family Ever with Screaming Baby next door, so as long as there is no arrow should be good, but I also like the aft views, I know no view but nice and dark. Not sure about the vibrations but on 9 probably not much of an issue.

What Cabin # ?

Whoops, I did forget that, didn't I? It's one of the true corner rooms, 9116.

So I didn't particularly care what room I got when I booked on Wonder, all I cared about was that it was an inside cabin and that it wasn't right beside the elevators. I happened to look at exactly what room they put me in tonight, and I realized it's kind of an unusual one - an aft (edit: nope, forward) inside cabin on deck 9. Anyone ever sail in one of these before? Based on the deck map it looks like it might have a fairly unique layout based on location.

EDIT: Whoops, I forgot to actually put which cabin. It's one of the true corner rooms, #9116.

EDIT #2: I'm dumb, y'all. That's forward, not aft. Clearly I haven't been sailing enough lately.

14 minutes ago, twangster said:

I'd like to log in and save my C&A number and my qualifiers like age and state once per session. 

I don't like having to re-enter the same info over and over when pricing different cruises and dates.   

This. So much this. I don't understand why it doesn't save these. Heck, it tells me on the main page that it sees I'm a Georgia resident and may be eligible for special rates... and then still makes me enter my state on every booking check. Same thing for C&A number - if I'm logged in, it should already have that number easily available to check bookings with, I shouldn't need to type it again.

3 minutes ago, SuperStarian said:

I am loving this thread!

 

Here’s my flex!

In September, I paid $1,818.08 for two ($909.04 per person) on Odyssey.

In August, I received $475 OBC. This made the price $1,343.08 for two ($671.54 per person).

This month, I received a $878 credit to the original form of payment. This makes the current price $465.08 ($232.54 per person).

To date, I have received $1,353 ($676.50 per person) in price drops. This is a 74.4% savings from my original price. I can book another cruise with that! Unfortunately, my job does not understand the unlimited vacation policy!

How on Earth did you manage this witchcraft?

4 minutes ago, jack_c4321 said:

I'm sorry, but after this pandemic ends, I never want to hear the phrase FCC ever again.  

You've clearly never dealt with hurricane season.