AspiringCruisePlanner

this must be investigated further. I think you may be on to something. My guess is you could pay the full price of the associated liquor (rum, tequila, gin, etc) that you want with your mocktail, which run about $8 each based on the liquor prices in Matt's blog post here. You'd probably end up with some unhappy and confused bartenders trying to order drinks this way as well. But I guess nothing is stopping you from ordering the two separately and mixing them yourself Cruiser: "I'd like to order a Pina Colada mocktail and a shot of rum. Oh, and can you mix the rum in the mocktail, please?"

@dswallow where are you getting these charts from? Just curious because I'm a data lover.

I have another question regarding this sailing. With 13 of us sailing together, how difficult would it be to reserve a table for all 13 of us at either CK or at the specialty dining restaurants? I'm thinking that dinner would be the common time that all of us would get together each day to enjoy our time together. Also, would it be possible for all of us to have a dinner together in our royal loft suite? I'm thinking we could use the indoor and outdoor dining tables

I use Chrome's "Desktop Site" checkbox to access more detailed profile options for this board. Looks like Apple's Safari has the same type of option that should work as well (see below). Otherwise, attempting to create a new topic or reply to a post will bring you through prompts to create an account.

PSA on that Key Master game the OP mentioned winning $800 on. That game is actually very predictable in its payout. It's probably the game I'd be the most likely to play on the ship. Here's why: The payout is based on number of plays since last prize redemption rather than skill or random chance for each play. The game is set up to allow, not guarantee, a win every X number of plays. It's described as the "payout rate" in the manual. The operator is able to set this payout rate between 1 and 9999 credits (plays) for each of the three rows of prizes. For example, if the top row's payout rate is set to 1000 credits, the machine will not allow a player to win until it has collected at least 1000 credits since the last prize redemption for that row OR since the game was last reset by the operator. How does this game prevent a player from winning until that payout amount has been met? In the instance of a perfect or near perfect play (key is lined up square with key hole or nearly below it), instead of pushing the key towards the keyhole right at the moment the player releases the "lift" button, the game will continue raising the key between 0.4 to 4 mm (adjustable by the operator) so that the top of the key hits the top of the keyhole and no prize is won. The game will continue to add this deviation until the payout rate has been met, but once it has been met for that row, the deviation will not happen until a prize has been claimed. With this being said there is a way to tell whether the machine has met the payout rate for each row, but you do have to play the game to find out (or watch others try). If the key is consistently hitting the top part of the keyhole, it's likely the payout rate has not been met and the game is adding height after release of the button. However, if the key just nearly intersects the bottom of the keyhole, that is the red flag that the row has met the payout rate. Even when the machine has met the payout rate for the row it is still difficult to thread the needle but at least it's no longer impossible. There is some skill involved at this point, but the knowledge that the game is ready to pay out is worth the extra plays. You might spend $10 to get it to line up just right. Another thing to remember is that the payout rate is counted and accumulated for each row of prizes. It sounds like the RC machines are set up with groups of $10s on the first row, $20s on the second, and $50s on the third. It's likely RC sets the payout rate for each row proportional to the total amount of money to win, so the bottom row containing the $10s is likely to be "ready" more often than the $50s row. I played this Keymaster game on a Celebrity cruise in the casino before I knew how this all worked. Looking forward to my next RC cruise so I can use this knowledge. Try to keep this on the down low if you're trying to win at this game on the cruise. You'll have a better shot at being the one to snag the prize when the machine is ready. Here's the link to the manual for reference: https://primetimeamusements.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Keymaster-Manual.pdf The payout rate and "compulsory upper deviation" are described on page 7.

Seems pretty lame that you'd have to pay an additional fee for their messaging service on top of the internet package. I get it that other wifi type messaging services can be used with the wifi, it just seems odd they wouldn't include messaging with their internet package. Another side question. I read somewhere that there was a way to message your genie while on the ship (star class cabins) but I can't remember what messaging service they use. Can someone jog my memory?

A follow up question would be whether you have to pay the $1.99 per person per day fee if you've purchased the internet package. @Matt do you know?

@Jim D, thanks for sharing your experience. You said it yourself in your first post that the crew on the ship are the stars and make the cruises great. You'd still have a great time on the cruise IMO. This incident was clearly unacceptable in the management's eyes and you've already got the process started for an evaluation of this employee's standing at the company. If I were you, I'd take it as an accomplishment that YOU were the person to bring this employee's unprofessionalism to the management's attention. Depending on whether you're a foodie or a wine enthusiast, you should ask for a dining or drink package If they say no, then no harm no foul. If I were in the management's position, I would value the feedback that you provided much more than the cost of either of those.

Hi @skyking Congrats on your deal. Wonder of the Seas shows up in the list of Royal Suite Class ships. https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/is-royal-suite-class-available-fleet-wide And the 2 bedroom aquatheater suite is included as a room type for the Star class. So a royal genie would be included. https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/what-rooms-are-included-in-the-royal-suite-class You can always call royal to be 100% sure. Should be a great time on a brand new ship! Have fun!

Hi everyone, thought I would share some details about our upcoming family vacation that we just booked. I used several tips from posters on this board, so I thought I'd share my gratitude with you all. WHO: We have a group of 13 from my immediate family. 5 Adult couples and 3 kids (1, 9, and 10). The only people who've been on a cruise before are my parents and my wife and me, so it should be an exciting experience for everyone. WHAT: We booked two staterooms to hold the 13 of us. We booked one of the spacious Aquatheater suites (A1) category and the Royal Loft Suite! Both staterooms give everyone Star class amenities. The bedroom configuration between the two stateroom works out perfectly for us. We have two private balconies that people can hang out at. One at the back of the ship facing the Aquatheater and one at the top...with a hot tub. WHEN: July 31, 2022. Our most likely time of year that we could have booked this trip would be in the Summer. We have two school age kids, a teacher, and a resident doctor. Trying to plan around any other time would just not have worked for all of us. And we did not want to leave anyone behind, because we've been planning on going on a cruise together for years. WHERE: 6 Night Western Caribbean itinerary out of Fort Lauderdale. We were originally looking at an Eastern or Southern Caribbean itinerary, but I'm sure we'll have plenty of excursion options with this itinerary that everyone can find something to do. WHY: We've been looking at doing a family cruise vacation for years now, and just hadn't had a good opportunity to book one. We had one booked this last December with another cruise line that got canceled due to COVID. HOW: We booked with Grace from MEI Travel based on recommendations that I received from my first post on this board. Super knowledgeable, friendly, and courteous booking experience with her. Very different from the experiences I've had with my Cruises.com booking. I feel like I have a cruise travel agent for life now! A couple of things worth mentioning. We probably wouldn't have booked such lavish stateroom classes if the price weren't so low. I didn't believe it when I did the math for our booking, but we secured these two rooms for the 13 of us for $2k/pp! For my wife and my honeymoon, we paid that same price for a regular balcony stateroom in mid June. Pretty nuts, but I think the fact that the Allure was rescheduled to the Caribbean for this next Summer forced Royal to offer lower prices to fill the ship in a shorter period of time than their normal deployment schedule. For those people who pour over data and trends to find the best priced cruise you can, take a look at cruiseplum.com. It has the most amount of data and tools than any other search tool I've seen on the internet. It even shows historical prices per cabin category. You can even filter your search to Star class only. Definitely was useful when searching for the perfect cruise for the price. Another pro tip that @Lovetocruise2002 mentioned in previous posts that was applicable to our cruise was to only include 3 people per stateroom on the original booking. This locks in pricing for any additional guests at the 3rd guest's rate. This also reduced the non-refundable deposit that we had to pay dramatically ($1500 vs $3250). We will still have to pay the deposits and cruise fares for people later when we add people on, but doing this reduces the total amount of money we have tied up in non-refundable deposits in the event we have to cancel our booking. The only risk with doing this strategy is that if the cruise is at max capacity, no more people can be added to staterooms. We plan on adding the additional people 4 months in advance and checking with our TA occasionally. One question that I have is whether anyone has had any experiences with people from the same group having two different genies? Would the genies coordinate between each other if we wanted to reserve dinner or a show together? Are we only able to be helped by our own genie? Let me know if you've had any experience with this. Also, we'll be bringing a 1 year old on the cruise. Can anyone shed some light on what sort of sleeping arrangement works best for them on a cruise? Bringing a pack & play? Sleeping in bed with Mom and Dad? Everyone's looking forward the trip as we'll have lifelong memories to make.

Read your previous post. Very smart idea that makes total sense. A little more manual in nature, but spreadsheets are in my nature Thanks for the advice. I've read good things about MEI travel on this blog. I think I'll give them a call.

Thanks everyone! 2k might be a little optimistic, I can concur. @Lovetocruise2002 for the price adjustment, would it only be possible for a TA to do that price adjustment without being able to see the current pricing with all rooms sold out? Or is there some way to see this? I know the likelihood of a price reduction for the type we're looking at is low, but it would be nice to know just in case? Also, I've never worked with a TA before. Are there extra fees with booking through a TA or is their pay entirely commission based? Might be a dumb question, but I'm not afraid to say I'm a newbie to this.

Hi everyone! Fist time poster here. Looking for some insight for a cruise we plan on booking for Summer 2023. From the sounds of it, Royal usually releases the remaining of the Summer cruises mid to late November. Any idea of the exact week for the 7 night Caribbean cruise itineraries? Also, wondering about pricing trends for the 2BR Aquatheater Suite (A1 & A2) cabin type. We have 13 people (includes 3 kids and 5 adult couples) in our party and are planning on booking two suites; one on top of each other. We're looking to book them for late June or early August 2023 based on how busy everyone is ATM. We're planning on booking the rooms right when the itinerary becomes available, probably on the Allure because it seems to have the lowest pricing. Would $2000/pp seem like a reasonable guess for this room type, group size, ship, itinerary, and booking time? What have you paid for this room before? And have any you booked this right away? Also, how have you been able to get a price match on this type of stateroom with such little availability? For example, when the other A1 stateroom books up, is the price adjustment no longer possible? Thanks in advance for everyone's input. Looking forward to hearing everyone's previous experience with this room type which I've read only good things about! -Eric