Marc

Are you sure about that? I thought the PVSA restricted travel between two US ports, embarking passengers at one and disembarking passengers at another (i.e., a repositioning cruise). For those cruises, a foreign-flagged ship must visit a distant foreign port, most often including one of the ABC islands. (One-way travel between Puerto Rico and any other US port are also currently permitted by explicit exemption in the PVSA.) Round-trip cruises are fine and may stop at any foreign port (note, not "distant"). Also, cruises to nowhere should be fine, but as I recall, there was some sort of taxation or immigration issue regarding the crew that caused those to go away. Also, if you're on a cruise that doesn't go to a foreign country, you would not be entitled to the $800/1600 personal allowance for duty-free purchases. (I think the default allowance is just $50 or $100.)

No, that's different. When you get a certificate immediately after your casino play based on the points you earned on that sailing, you have to book it within 30 days and you can use it on one of the ~40-50 cruises listed on the back, or on any cruise sailing within the next year for its trade-in value. What you got is a promotional mailing that Casino Royale sends out frequently to its members. The offers vary by historical level of play.

Hey @Richard Huntington! Fancy meeting you here! After my husband got the news that we're getting that fantastic discount, he figured out how much we'd be saving over our cruises next year. With four weeks of sailing, and assuming we could've gotten the drink package for just $50/day, the net savings is a bit over $2,000. He then started calculating just how many carats that'd buy.

If you mean sail away from the embarkation port, then I don't think they have that, even for suite guests. The helipad is typically off-limits (unlike most of the other ships in Royal Caribbean's fleet) to passengers.

My family and I went on Liberty of the Seas in 2007 (during her inaugural season), and I fell in love with Royal Caribbean almost immediately. The next summer, we sailed on Adventure of the Seas. I was slightly disappointed that cruise because I felt I was on the less pretty cousin. I basically said to my self, Freedom class or bigger for the future. Last year, we had an opportunity to go on Mariner of the Seas after she was Royal Amplified. What a difference that made! I'd have no problem going on any Royal Amplified Voyager-class ship now, and will be doing so in June 2020 (Explorer of the Seas).

My husband and I did Escape the Rubicon. We enjoyed it a lot. We did "escape" which I think was a result of us all communicating and working well together. I'm going on Symphony of the Seas in a couple of weeks and I'm quite disappointed that the escape room on her is the same one because I'd really like to do another one again.

That's very true, @dodgestang. Of course, those of us who have cruised a few times recognize how difficult it would be for Royal Caribbean to try manage two separate suite areas (one lounge, one in the regular boarding seating area) for priority boarding. On a related point, we were in an Owner's Suite on Harmony of the Seas in October. There (Terminal 18 at Port Everglades), they had actually separated the suite part of the boarding area into Star Class and Sky & Sea Classes. The Star Class suites had comfy chairs and had a table set up with some basic refreshments (I remember bottles of water, but there may also have been some cans of soda), and we were told that we, in our Sky Class suite sitting on the regular boarding area chairs, were not entitled to them. (I may or may not have sneaked a bottle of water for myself from there.) The Star Class section did board ahead of the Sky/Sea Class passengers.

That's awesome to hear! Thanks!

@tiny260, it may simply be that you've not sailed in a Royal Suite Class cabin (only Oasis and Quantum class ships) since that program was implemented. Also, I would expect that the existing ships at the current embarkation terminals would continue doing what they've done in the past. With Symphony of the Seas being at a brand new terminal in Miami, they might enforce the rules differently there. We all know how consistency is for Royal Caribbean.

Now, here's where it gets a bit interesting. In the "What are the benefits of the Royal Caribbean Suites program?" FAQ page, it does say: The Royal Suite Class FAQ page, however, omits mention of any special boarding amenity for Sea class cabins.

@Jess, I think Royal Caribbean may have changed their info. When looking at a Junior Suite on Liberty of the Seas (so not "Royal Suite Class"), here's what the details say: Note that there is no mention of any suite-esque perks. However, the Grand Suite says: Here, it does explicitly call out the suite benefits including priority check-in.

Same here! I got it for this cruise (also at $152) and also for a Freedom of the Seas cruise in October for $126! The Black Friday specials were really good.

Thanks for the warning! Fortunately, we have the Ultimate Dining Package (which is no longer being offered in the Cruise Planner for our sailing next month), so it'll only be once, maybe twice, that'll we'll want to eat at Coastal Kitchen.

Thanks! I'm glad to hear it. In all honesty, it was a photo of the suite/Pinnacle area the terminal that sparked my interest in upgrading. I'm probably spending way too much to upgrade just for that and for access to Coastal Kitchen, but after having been in suites on my most recent cruises, I'm not sure I feel right going back to a regular old balcony cabin. ? I also just found indications that junior suites also get complimentary WOW bands. That's a nice added bonus.

(I posted this on Cruise Critic and was surprised to see that no one at all has posted a reply there, not even certain individuals who seem to reply to every thread with incorrect information.) For those of you who have had the opportunity to sail on Symphony of the Seas, do you know whether "Sea Class" cabins (i.e., junior suites) get access to the private suite embarkation lounge in the terminal? Everything I've seen from Royal Caribbean doesn't mention that as a benefit for "Sea Class", but it is included for "Sky Class" and "Star Class".

This isn't about dinner, but it is about capacity in the Owner's Suite. Last October, I was on Harmony of the Seas in an Owner's Suite. I wanted to host a party for the large group of friends I was traveling with. I arranged it with the Suite Concierge, and he was able to set up an array of hot hors d'oeuvres (yes, with Sterno!) and sweet items on the balcony and a large cheese assortment and some wine inside. We had about 40-45 people in the cabin and on the balcony at any given time. It was a fantastic experience, and I absolutely had a blast being able to treat my friends to this party on the high seas.

My husband was on Independence of the Seas a couple of weeks ago and I think he said that he saw Super Mario there. We had also seen him (and shared an elevator with him) on Mariner of the seas in August.

Thanks for sharing this find! I was able to get the drink package for our cruises in January ($52/day on Independence) and March ($56/day on Symphony). These are better prices than the $60+ they'd been until now.

Ah, thanks! I did a search for "milkshake" and didn't find that thread.

It does seem to be recent. If you look at the tweet, you'll see that this was just discovered about a week ago.

Wow... I wouldn't have thought this could be true. According to Royal Caribbean's beverage package info (I've highlighted this new info): I found out about this from this tweet where Royal Caribbean specifically said, "I can confirm that milkshakes are included in the Deluxe and Beverage Packages. Rest assured, we'll get our website updated ASAP." A friend found out that they had specifically done that. They didn't add it to the Refreshment Package, though. I guess that this is the only non-alcoholic part of the Deluxe Beverage Package that isn't in the Refreshment Package. Wow.

I just had a strange chat with someone at Club Royale. I was calling up to apply my latest certificate to an upcoming cruise, and she mentioned that just based on the points from my last cruise alone, I'd be Signature. I know I didn't earn 25,000 points during my last cruise, so it's certainly possible she simply misread the number off her screen and added a digit. Otherwise, I wonder whether they're changing the number of points per dollar wagered. I haven't seen anyone else say that, so my basic assumption is that she made a mistake.

I don't think you're giving them enough credit.

Like @NS8VN, I've used Verizon Wireless successfully in this way. When I had Sprint several years ago, they were just starting to roll out WiFi Calling. At that time, they did say that SMS messages wouldn't be sent over their WiFi Calling. That certainly may have changed since then (and I would hope so).

Actually, that's not what I was saying in my second paragraph. What you describe is, indeed, how you earn points. If you've wagered $24,000 through the machine (factoring in replaying of winnings), you'll have earned 4,800 points ($5/point) which qualifies you to receive a certificate for a balcony or $1000 discount. This part is unchanged from my previous expectation. What I was talking about was the existence of a second metric that had been unknown to us. This metric seems to be that if you lose $X, you may also qualify for a certificate. I don't know what $X is, but I do know that I had ~2,500 points, and yet I qualified for a balcony certificate due to this other metric. This goes to the frustration that those of us who have been with Club Royale for a while have been expressing. In the "old days", the system wasn't fancy, but you generally knew what you were getting (not counting the issue of opaque points accrual on table games). For slot players, you'd earn a certain number of points. After that cruise, you could call Club Royale and get some cash value for those points (significantly more than the $20/1,000 points they offer in slot free play now) as a "cash rebate" for your next cruise. During your next cruise, you'd go to the casino cashier and they'd simply hand you money. That's all there was to the program, but at least we understood it.