NoobCruise

The pricing is out of whack but I trust that it will reset slightly in a few years. It is never going to be what we want it to be but the market will set the prices. People pay insane prices for cabanas at coco cay and they will continue to pay those prices so that's why they are so expensive and will continue to be. Cruises in general are a different story. Once you are anywhere close to a $1000 a night cost, people will go elsewhere. Let's be honest I definitely would have booked a cruise on this ship if I felt the price was tolerable. It wasn't and they lost a passenger on this cruise. I certainly won't make a difference but it sounds like many others didn't book for the same reason. Also probably won't make a difference but in a few years with bidenomonics kicking in we will get back to prices that won't make you vomit.

57 minutes ago, Vlad said:

That's Townhouse for 2 during first sailing... 

ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE THOUSAND !!! 

Townhouse for 7 days or a Cybertruck for the rest of your life!

1 hour ago, TheMaxRebo said:

It feels like Icon starting with high pricing but there was so much interest/appetite that it drove those prices up, and now Star is sort of starting at that elevated price 

 

Just glad we booked Icon when we did as might be our only time sailing this class of ship lol

Same. I thought I was being ripped off with a $4,400 Icon booking.  I didn't cruise for most of my life and with prices like this it looks like I will be going back to that approach. 

Royal's pricing is out of control! I booked a month after the Icon release date and was able to get an ocean view  for $4,400. fast forward to Star, booking the instant it's available and a random week in December (7th) is $5000+  I am sorry but 5 or 6 thousand dollars for a basic 7-night cruise is nuts.

1 hour ago, TessFromFlorida said:

Mykonos was a tender port during our visit on Odyssey in July. 

Good to know. We will be on Voyager so it might be a possibility as well. Time to buy a selfie excursion.

On 11/23/2023 at 11:27 AM, cedricmr said:

Rhodes ; no

Valencia : No

Mykonos : It depends on whether several ships

Sicily : Messine ?

Sicily (PALERMO)

Thanks for your help

Thanks @jbrinkm Fortunetly it looks like it's high tide at noon on March 1st  our day at coco cay. So hopefully tides won't be an issue at 1pm.

Is there any way to know which ports are tender cruise ports?

We are heading to Rhodes, Mykonos, Sicily, and Valencia. I am guessing Valencia is not a tender since it is an industrial port, but I want to purchase royal shore excursion for any tender ports so we can get off first.

Thanks for any advice

12 hours ago, need2cruz said:

I wanted to give advice for when booking the jet ski times.  I had booked 3 jet skis drivers and passengers this past July and it was cancelled because of "weather".  The weather was perfect and my family was very disappointed.  Apparently, it is cancelled because of low tide.  I would have never of booked 1pm if I had known they cancel it when the tide is low.  Next time, I'll check the tide chart.

This is a good tip. I am booked for 1pm as well.  Unfortunately I am having difficulty finding a Feb 2024 tide chart.

8 minutes ago, USFFrank said:

 At the rate they're nickel and diming everything, I wouldn't put it past them. We booked a jeep driving excursion in Grand Cayman thru Royal. I thought we were getting our own jeep to drive. Perhaps maybe I didn't read all the fine print, but we were forced to have 2 other passengers on the cruise go along in the jeep with us. Wasn't too happy about that.

wait what? who was driving the jeep? I hope a tour guide.  Either way 5 people in a regular jeep seems crowded. 

14 minutes ago, jbrinkm said:

No, it states that the add on must be purchased in conjunction with a driver. We did the add ons because our teens can't drive themselves and we want to go as a family - but we booked them along with the jetski driving option in the planner. Also  "drivers are not supplied"

 

Good to know. I almost purchased a passenger ticket just to ensure I wasn't driving around some rando.

If I have booked 1 Jetski Driver (which I have) and I doing this activity alone, will they add some random person as passenger to my jetski if they purchased a passenger ticket?

This is such a great post and thank you to @DDaley for starting it and taking the time to share it.  This has helped me a great deal in preparing for our July 1 2024 Voyager of the seas. It covers many of our ports but now for my shot in the dark and reach out for help from other helpful forum members. I am looking for port tips and possible excursion recomendations for:

Valencia, Spain and Sicily Palermmo, Italy.

My research has concluded that Valencia is an industrial port and we can't really just walk about the town, and watching The White Lotus season 2 will make you want to visit Sicily.

thanks for any sugestions

I am not sure I understand the difference. If I add the three people on my cruise I will get charged $300+, but if I just sign myself up for wifi and get 3 devices it much cheaper.

Why would anyone do it the other way?

Sorry about that. I had to re-upload it at somepoint.  Here is the new link

2 hours ago, bobroo said:

Wow! Someone put down the RC pom pons and gave an honest review!

 

Ha! Put down their pom poms. Love it!

36 minutes ago, Blulady said:

Just chiming in with my son and daughter in law's recent embarkation at Cape Liberty.  They had a boarding check in time of 10:30.  They were a bit early, parked the car and messaged me when they were ordering their first drinks on the ship - at 10:24.  They said it was the fastest they have ever boarded.  

Yes. Everyone I talked to on the ship that didn't have to take a covid test on site said it was about 10 minutes to get on the ship.

26 minutes ago, Xaa said:

garage is right there, pulled into the garage and was through security waiting for the ship to clear in like 10 minutes.

Yeah our issued 12:30 arrival time didn't help and 6,000 passengers on Oasis didn't help either. How much was a week of parking if you don't mind me asking?

1 hour ago, ScottD said:

When did you sail from there....and what was the issues? 

We sailed out of cape liberty exactly a year ago. Memorial day weekend 2022. While the restart for many ports might have been in 2021 I am pretty sure NJ Cape Liberty had only started up about a month before our sailing. There were definitely some new hire issues but our main problem was have to get an onsite COVID test for our unvaxed 4 year old. There wasn't a proper system in place to distribute the results so that was a mad house and obviously something you won't have to deal with. You will have to deal with the bottle neck getting into the terminal. There is only one road going in and out and it gets backed up. I would bake in 20 to 30 minutes of traffic time once you arrive near the terminal.

6 hours ago, GJ_123 said:

It seems in some cases this is true, but my wife enquired about a Kate Spade bag on Symphony, and it seems we would have had to pay 21% tax onboard, and they give you a stamped letter to take to the customs desk at the airport and they can refund 'some' of the taxes, she said it would be between 10%-16% refunded. Really odd, surely it should just be tax free and that's it. Has anyone else experienced this? It seemed like too much of a faff so she didn't bother buying it.

That does seem odd. 21% in tax seems insane. If it is a sea day who would be collecting that tax? very odd. 

3 hours ago, ZBrady said:

HOLY the production value of this video is unreal. Only 6 minutes in and I’m blown away.

Ha. Thanks Zbrady. It was a bit of a passion project.

10 hours ago, Xaa said:

I really don't understand any kind of shopping beyond souvenirs and forgotten items on a cruise ship.

Good pricing generally requires supply in excess of demand and sellers competing for limited consumer dollars.  Neither exist on a cruise ship. 

I wouldn't call high prices a scam.  It's always up to buyers to find good deals.  It's not up to sellers to offer them.

You pay no taxes on a cruise ship. While the prices are not always the best sometimes they are not horrible and if you are saving 10% in taxes it might make sense.  clearly not the case with the Invicta watches. Last May the latest gopro was $499 on amazon and on the cruise ship. Buying it on the cruise ship would have saved me almost $50.

Here is my comprehensive video review of Wonder of the Seas in 2023. I review the drink package, unlimited dining package, WoW bands, ports of call, and much much more.  Enjoy.

If you don't want to watch it I can sum it up that we will continue to happily cruise with Royal Caribbean. 

I was on this cruise and would like to share my youtube review of it. Enjoy.

17 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

You will have early arrival and boarding, and double C&A points.

I like it! Hello Platinum! lol