Lexster

15 hours ago, MikeK said:

I totally agree but that's part of the problem.  My last cruise out of Port Canaveral,  we arrived on time and there were about 6 lines out side in the covered area by the doors that your enter to go through security check.  These lines were checking for correct paperwork, vaccine cards , covid tests etc. even though when you get in for the real check in you will have to show it again. There was a large family in from of me that finally made it to the check in and lo and behold they then started dragging out their paperwork.  They were looking in purses, backpacks, carry-ons for the paperwork.   It took at least 30 minutes for them to do something simple. Wouldn't you think they might have had that ready way ahead of time.  Like days before.  It was a major cluster watching them scream at each other.  Not trying to say we are perfect but we have all that stuff paperclipped together ready to go well in advance.  If anything they should have been looking for it while waiting in line.  It was comical and frustrating at the same time.

It's like the people who are waiting in line at a fast food place and only start looking at the menu once they reach the cashier. Why are people like this?

16 hours ago, 1st Mate said:

While I don't care, much, either way, I'll survive, I hope, I do see issues with the enforced check in times.  Here's why:

I would venture to say that a very large % of us fly in either the night before or the day before embarkation.  My point, we have to rely on someone/thing else to get us to the port on time, not early, not late.  We are relying on an entity that we can not control.  I call that "stress +".   If you show up early, you are stuck in front of the terminal like a homeless person with, at least your carry-on(s).  Arrive too late and you are left to the whim of someone/thing else, again out in front of the terminal like a homeless person.  Pre-COVID, you just showed up and went with the flow.  In fact, pre-COVID, I don't remember having a chick-in time.  If there was, I didn't pay any attention to it.  For me, and I'm sure many other elderly folks, getting to the airport, possibly parking, checking in at the airport, flying, getting your luggage at the destination airport, transferring to hotel, hoteling, transferring to the port (hoping the vehicle shows up on time), and boarding is already a stressful process.  But, worth it.  Adding a hardcore embarkation time where there wasn't one before is just an unnecessary (opinion)  added step to an already stressful process.  

On the other hand, IF ALL GOES WELL, and you show up during your check-in time window, it's smooth sailing <every pun intended>.  

But, like I said, I'm good either way.  

I do think it would be nice that if RC is going to enforce times from now on, that they have an indoor waiting area at least, but I still would prefer it this way. If you get there early, then...yeah, waiting is the next step and I'm okay with that. I would expect to wait if it were me. If you get there late, then I think there should be some sort of "late arrival" line where you can sort of get priority through the boarding process.

Must be a recent change. My sailing is May 8th. When my 45 days hit, I was able to pick a time. I'm going on the Oasis of the Seas.

I hope it stays this way. I never experienced the previous way, but I like having a time I know to be there and not having to arrive to see a sea of people ahead of me. Shorter, more manageable lines, seems to make way more sense. If someone wants an earlier check-in, then they can check-in early like I did.

1 hour ago, Cmorg86 said:

When does check-in time begin? We are about to hit the 45-day mark this Friday, 04/22/22, and I was wondering will it allow me to check-in at 12:01 AM Eastern, or is it just some random time during the day?

Mine hit at exactly 45 days and the app let me check-in at about 12:05 AM. It could probably fluctuate by a few minutes, but pretty sure it's usually available after midnight.

I have a two night dining package and it says there's a $10 surcharge for hibachi. Is that per person or just an extra $10 overall? The planner site isn't super clear.

13 hours ago, wordell1 said:

My son would rather be doing things with his friends rather than eat with us, but our rule on a cruise is that he has to eat dinner with us.  

"You'll eat with us and you'll like it!"

10 hours ago, Andy &amp; Sheryl Unwin said:

We usually have first breakfast of coffee and danish delivered to the cabin at about 0700.  We enjoy it on the balcony then scrub up and change for second breakfast in the MDR.

about an hour later, will find us in the Windjammer for a small snack and coffee.

We did this on Freedom in September, so yes the MDR is open for breakfast.  Very good it is too.

 

I am definitely not usually a breakfast person, but I'm totally going to do this. Looking forward to breakfast, second breakfast!

On 4/16/2022 at 2:06 PM, Micheleyd said:

Hello all!

I noticed that a $100 OBC showed up on my account yesterday. I just booked during the kids sail free sale with a $400 credit I had from March of 2020 due to Covid. I wondered what the credit would be for? Not that I am complaining about free money lol! 

I had that happen with my previous booking (before the pandemic hit and I had to rebook). For some reason a random $50 OBC showed up. I'm pre-Gold, so I don't get any C&A benefits. No idea where it came from and never even got to use it.

4 hours ago, anxiouscruiser said:

dumb question but is the STRAWBERRIES WITH BRUT CHAMPAGNE ST MICHELLE

a whole bottle or just two glasses. thanks. 

For the price, it BETTER be a bottle, but the listing isn't super clear.

3 hours ago, jbrinkm said:

Just off Allure and I found the Main Dining staff to be extremely accommodating. I read before the cruise that the staff were excited to meet your needs - and I admit, I scoffed a bit. I thought that they are most likely willing, but probably not "excited" to do so. Now that I'm post-cruise, I stand corrected. The staff in the dining room bent over backwards and genuinely seemed thrilled to respond to requests. They really want you to be happy. 

I was never hungry enough to order two of multiple courses, but I did order appetizers for first and second course one night, and two main dishes for first and second course a different night. But the biggest thing they did for us was to bring us cold fruit soups. I asked on the first night if there would be any cold soups available during the cruise. They went out of their way to create a cold fruit soup EVERY NIGHT for my whole family. They were almost mischievous about "surprising" us with the flavor of the soup and were so excited when we arrived in the dining room to present our soup to us. Also, the night my oldest child got really sunburned and had to leave the dining room early to go and lay down/put aloe on, the staff volunteered to pack up dessert for them. When we got back to the room, they had packed up multiple desserts on the plate, not just the one my child ordered. 

AND, our assistant waiter worked at Windjammer during the day and always recognized us and came over to say hello. On our last sea day, he saw (from WJ) my husband getting on the Zipline and videotaped him going across to show us at dinner (and then sent the video to my husband's phone). Really phenomenal service from all of them in the dining room.

Really hoping we have a similar experience. That sounds wonderful.

12 hours ago, Jayhoaps said:

So I downloaded the APP and I'm looking at the drinks the offer at the Pool Bar and I see they have cocktails such as Rum Punch, Pineapple Guava Sangria, Goombay smash etc..

Under the Refreshment package can I order those drinks without alcohol, would that be considered a mocktail?

Thanks in advance. Time. 

I have the refreshment package as well, first cruise coming up. From what I've read, you can ask for anything without alcohol, but some drinks might be pointless that way. Imagine ordering a Long Island Iced Tea without alcohol, for example. I'm very much looking forward to a virgin mudslide and daquiris, though. They also have a few original Mocktail recipes, now as well, so I'm looking forward to trying those.

2 hours ago, Matt said:

On top of what @Templecruiser said, they also had to move the waste management facility.

The sewage treatment plant was located basically where Hideaway Beach is going to go. So they had to move that to the other end of the island first before any construction could commence.

Yeah, I think I'm fine with that decision

2 hours ago, Toby said:

I am curious as well if the OP is a one and done.

Someone else recently basically made the exact same complaint a few weeks ago. Another account that signed up just to complain. It's a little fishy, to be honest unless this person starts actually engaging otherwise.

13 minutes ago, 1st Mate said:

Did you log-in to your account?  This is where you hit "View Boarding Pass" and it will take you to the page I posted above, "View Luggage Tag".  That's just one way to view/print the tag.  

Ahah! Yes, I didn't realize the tags were under there, so yes if I click View Boarding Pass, the tags are there. Thanks!

48 minutes ago, Shane D said:

Thanks everyone for the help and advice, frighteningly I can’t see most (any) of the screens/options being posted on my app or when I sign in….

So, if that's the case, if you used a Travel Agent, I'd give them a call. If you booked through Royal, you'll unfortunately need to sit in their phone system for awhile, but I'd still check to make sure. Unless, like @smokeybanditsaid, if it's a guaranteed cabin (one Royal picks on for you at a lower fare), the room may not have been assigned. If it were me, I'd still call for find out for sure.

44 minutes ago, Shane D said:

I’m lost, I can’t see this option?  I can view Set Sail Pass?  But can’t see view Boarding Pass anywhere?  I’m in the app, is there a different way to access what you are referring to?

I never had an option to print them by themselves, but if you go to the page that has the "Plan my cruise" button, you'll see a thing that says "View more details" with the arrow. If you click it, you'll see your cruise documents. It's a big PDF. Inside there if a page with your luggage tags.

41 minutes ago, CruiseGus said:

I have great success, I email 2 weeks before cruise asking for a private table.

FYI, we carry our wine into dinner with us, that not only allows us to skip the sometimes horrendously slow MDR bar service, but also use up those free bottles of wine that show up in our cabin

Who did you email for that?

16 hours ago, CruiseGus said:

I have since, seen that you are a party of 6, so most likely they will not try to seat you with another party.  Though for reference after the first few cruises of shared tables and having to wait on slow and or late people, we now always ask for and receive a private table weather a party of 2 or 4.

I also tell my waiter the first night, that we have already seen the menu and know what we want.  and we have no desire to siting the dining room more than an hour, in fact the faster the better.

Like @smokeybandit we are usually in right when they open and out always before an hour.

We have no problem catching the early shows as we get up early in the morning, so no late nights.

What is your success rate on requesting this? I would prefer to have a table with my partner, so was going to ask once we board, but I'm just curious is it's more or less likely they'll be able to accomodate.

As always, the risk with Royal Up, too, is you don't get to pick where it is. If your balcony is in a place on the ship you specific want, then you may get an undesirable new location in the Jr. Suite.

11 hours ago, Matt said:

I’ve been told they started construction in March. You were right up until then it was just sand moving 

It's amazing how much of large-scale construction is just moving dirt/sand around. They are putting in a new road near my house and for five months, all they were doing was moving dirt and flattening things.

2 hours ago, cdwise said:

I had an issue checking in our second of B2B2B cruises with my vaccine card not being accepted. Though it was for the first segment. When I called the issue tured out to be that my CDC vaccination card had a hypen in my last name while Royal which doesn't allow hypens had a space there. 4 hours on hold because someone couldn't figure out that it was the same name. I was assured that there wouldn't have been an issue at the port but that's exactly why I wanted everything validated before getting to the port.

Yeah, I'm assuming my issue was because my vaccine card has WAG for the provider and whoever approves it didn't know that it meant Walgreens.

28 minutes ago, rjac said:

There already is a beach volleyball court at South Beach. 

Oh! Cool, the reviews I've seen never mentioned it. 

1 hour ago, Brett B said:

This community has been so helpful to me in the past I like to get back whenever I can.

I am currently on Wonder of the Seas. I plan to leave a full review once I get back home, but let me know if you have any questions I could check out while still on board.  I get off Friday (April 15). I can also answer any question specific to Diamond status. 

How are the doors? Are they "broken in" yet? I heard many of the cabin doors didn't close unless you pulled/pushed them shut.

1 hour ago, Walt Golas said:

How has anyone carried this cup on board to make the Freestyle machine work?

Does anyone have a picture of the cup? I might be able to make my own holder.

Can you still get all the drinks that the machine has at any bar using your seapss?

 

THANKS

i just bought a holder that someone else here recommended. Was like ten bucks for two. A lot simpler than making one.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09H5M97D9/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1