new2cruzing

Sorry, meant to say we booked 2 months ago at $69 a person vs. RCL's $89. Ours is at 10AM.

We booked the Ketchikan Duck Tour on Day 7 and saved $20 each via Tripadvisor.

Thanks for pointing that out, KevinK. I checked and I guess my count of days on the calendar is matching RCCL's "fuzzy math" after looking at their package pricing for too long .

Hi all, just noticed they updated the MDR menus this morning in the app and there isn't a Royal night with lobster. All of the themed night menus are there, and I see a Taste of the USA which is I haven't heard mentioned before. I hope it's wrong or we would be losing out on at least 1 free lobster tail, we'll see.

If you're referring to the MDR (Main dining room), all the regular items are complementary. The only exceptions are the Premium selections that have a charge listed and if applicable, a charge for extra lobsters on lobster night. Hope this helps.

IIRC, Ovation sailings to Alaska weren't free last year. They charged for fish and chips and chicken fingers too. The lobster was always an add on so that is the same as Independence.

My order still shows 12oz bottles when I check my May Ovation sailing. Clicking on my order history also takes me to the old listing where it shows that the package is sold out. Will be interesting to see what's actually delivered on board.

Did they offer the Print + Digital for $50 more? On our cruise last Sep on Ov OTS, for $50 more they printed our selections at 8x10 and we were still able to download the digital prints at home.

My 1st ever cruise was in 1993 on the Viking Serenade, a 4-day cruise out of Long Beach, CA. Ah, the fond memories of being an infant on my 1st cruise

We all understand that tips are the primary part of the crew's salary and unfortunately, the cruise lines are the ones who created this situation. Perhaps they should change the gratuity label to a "resort fee" as ALL land-based hotels charge, that would prevent the removal of the fee. The point being, gratuities should be considered a part of your normal cruise fare, just like port charges and taxes. Any tipping above and beyond should be within one's own means, no one is able to understand or judge another person's financial situation, but the crew shouldn't be the ones penalized either way.

I like to order a protein main along with a 2nd entree as a side (e.g. NY steak and Spaghetti Bolognese). Good to know that others aren't experiencing the 1 at a time rule on these recent cruises. Of course, I'll still ask nicely and make sure the servers are tipped appropriately , they aren't the ones coming up with these new rules.

Thanks for the inputs all. Puts my mind a bit more at ease.

Hi all, glancing at another forum, I'm noticing that folks are saying RCCL is only allowing you to order 1 entree at a time in the MDR. Curious if this is being experienced by recent cruisers here? Trying to gauge what my May cruise will feel like on Ovation in May, thanks.

I booked via GetYourGuide.com . Hope that helps!

LOL, I read this and just noticed my RCL app notification. Yep, I have 30 min to complete my e-muster but need to check back in 45 days for my May sailing Check-In .

We just booked for this sailing too and am so amped! 2nd time on OTS to Alaska but 1st in Ketchikan. Booking our excursions via 3rd party sites to save some money, especially on whale watching tours in Juneau!

On our All Access Tour on Ovation OTS in Sep, only surgical masks were required. We used the provided RCL branded white mask from our cabin.

Sorry to hear about your problem. No solution here but just wanted to add that on our last cruise, we tipped the photographer (same guy) each time we took the staged background photos around the ship. on the 6th day of the 7-day cruise, we went to finalize our picture selection and ran into him again. He recognized us and was nice enough to unlock ALL of the pictures we took on the cruise and suggested we buy the $10 thumb drive and he loaded all 200+ pictures to it for us. It was a YMMV situation, but we were quite surprised by his generosity and obviously, tipped him again. Just adding my 2 cents if it helps for future reference. Good luck with your situation.

We used luggagehero in Seattle in Sep and our luggage was stored at an inn that was staffed 24x7. They have different vendors and options to choose from. I'd highly recommend trying them.

Agree with SPS. On the Ovation OTS in Sep, we had to connect to ship's wifi in order to reserve iFly by Ripcord, and day 4 reservations weren't available until day 2 . Totally worth the fun!

Yes, definitely paper menus were provided each night in the MDR on my cruise on Ovation in September.

I recently completed my 1st RCL cruise in Sep and am only at Choice level (900+ points), but have received 3 inside cabin offers on select sailings of 3-7 days between Nov 2022 - May 2023. This may lend credence to them maybe targeting newer customers.

Can anyone share the lowest unobstructed balcony room rate they've found so far? Hoping we can find something within our budget for this sailing. Thanks in advance.

We just returned from a 7 day on Ovation OTS and heard NADA from our neighbors in the connecting room. Unless you count chatter on the balcony when we were all looking at the glaciers .

I like your logic! . Enjoy your tour!