Southern Waters

I remember a year or so ago hearing about a woman who inadvertently left something in her cart. After final payment date came, the cruise line (not RCL but can't remember which one) canceled her cruise because she had an "unpaid balance". I don't know if RCL would do that or not, but I wouldn't want anything sitting in my cart just in case. But I'm a rookie cruiser, so take that with a grain of salt.

From what others have posted, the app is a little behind the website for check-in. I personally don't know this for sure because I'm not interested in the earliest arrival times.

If our balcony chairs on Harmony are zip-tied in the reclining position, I've decided that I'll politely ask that they be zip-tied in the upright position instead. Hopefully they won't be unreasonable and refuse.

Good points, @Southern Dan although I would say April is probably past spring break for most schools and it's more likely that spring and summer are peak cruise dates. I'll pass on the Caribbean heat and suffocating humidity that time of year.

I must be missing something here, which is very possible at this hour of the morning and considering what a cruise rookie I am. What's included in this price? We booked a 7 night western Caribbean cruise on Harmony with a 4D ocean view balcony for less than $1200 total through my TA. This includes pre-paid gratuities, travel insurance, and port fees/taxes. Plus we got $150 OBC. This was booked last May for the Jan 19 2025 sailing. Maybe cruise fares have increased a lot since then?

Thanks so much for posting this, especially all the pictures of the mocktails. My favorite is the virgin lava flow, but I didn't know you could get all those variations of it. I'm gonna have to try the blueberry one for sure!

I agree with just about everything you said in the first paragraph, especially about the spa. I do go into a bar here and there to get a mocktail (virgin lava flow is my fave!). We usually eat at Johnny Rocket's once or twice, but that's the only upcharge restaurant we go to. I have no eye for art, and certainly don't have the bank account for it. I wait until the last night of the cruise to see if there are any good sales in the shops.

Thanks for posting this! I saved a little bit on Voom for our upcoming Harmony cruise.

I don't know for sure when the entertainment tab first showed up because I wasn't checking for it every day. But it was there after we checked in, so about 45 days anyway.

I was able to upload a photo from my gallery when I did the check-in on the app for my June 2023 cruise. But this time there's only the option to "take a selfie" or "retake photo". I'm terrible at taking selfies, so if they have to retake my pic at the terminal it'll probably be an improvement.

I agree with you, especially considering it was over a year between the lawsuit being filed and this action being taken. It may not even be the reason they did it. One of the posters said this but didn't provide a link or source:

This would be fine with me because I never recline my balcony chair. It's funny, on one of those other forums there were several people complaining that their chairs were secured upright and they wanted to be able to recline them. If the chairs must be zip-tied, you should be able to choose upright or reclined.

These chairs aren't all the same, since some recline and some don't. Maybe she was sitting in one with a shorter back that ends at about her shoulder. The chair could've been positioned just far enough away from the glass that her head was the first thing to hit the glass. Here's a link to the lawsuit filing. The incident happened on Freedom in Nov '22, lawsuit filed March '23. https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/florida/flsdce/1:2023cv21171/640961/161/

I did a search online for "balcony chairs zip-tied Royal Caribbean" and found threads on 2 other cruise message boards, one of them 7 pages that started in August. One of the posts had a link to a 2023 lawsuit filed by someone who ended up with a broken neck after the chair back suddenly dropped and she hit her head on the glass door. It might be the reason all this is going on, but if so it seems like a lot of time passed before they made this change.

My problem isn't my back but an old tailbone injury from my youth. It flares up when I sit for more than a few minutes in a reclining position on a non-padded chair like the ones here. ETA: @Matt , weren't you just on a cruise? What did you experience in regard to the chair situation?

As was posted above, someone was seriously hurt; it could be that the chair fell into the flat position while someone was sitting in it. Fine, secure the chairs so that they don't do that again but put them upright. For me, the position is the issue, not that they're zip-tied.

I certainly hope whoever decided to put stickers like those on chairs that don't recline isn't in charge of anything crucial.

My one and only cruise for 2025 is coming up in 6 weeks and this asinine situation is still not resolved. I can't believe there isn't someone at RCL with some brains and common sense who can put an end to this. They have to be getting loads of complaints.

My TA got us a great refundable group rate for our upcoming Harmony cruise, including $150 OBC. I checked the price on RCL's website for the same cruise and cabin category, and it was over $300 more. This is only my 5th cruise, so I'm a novice at this. For me, using a TA is a no brainer.

I use a travel agent because she can usually get us group rates and we always get OBC. We had an issue with an excursion booking one time, and she was the one who spent time on the phone getting it straightened out. It doesn't cost anything to use a TA, so why not?

I checked in yesterday too and could've gotten the 11-11:30 slot for us, but I chose 12:30-1. I hate dragging my backpack around for 2 or 3 hours waiting to get into our cabin. We also stay away from the Windjammer because it's just too crowded on embarkation day.

I realize they don't fly to as many destinations, but Southwest Airlines doesn't charge cancelation or change fees.

I've been on Liberty twice since 2018. If that was offered, I didn't know about it.

I'd also like to know, since it's a European adapter. I don't have one yet, but I'll get one if it passes muster.

From what several people have posted in this thread, it's not on just one ship. More than one of the posters said they were told by either guest services or their cabin attendant that it was fleetwide. Wherever it's coming from, it's asinine. I'm glad you posted here, Matt. Surely someone with your high C&A status has some pull with the higher ups?