_1stTimer

It was pointing out but could surely capture balcony activity.

The cam on our balcony was pointed to see our balcony. A towel would have fixed that problem though. Wouldn't be a pleasant experience for an adjacent family with kids to hear or peak at though, so a little discretion would be advised.

This happenned 2 separate evenings. The main dining room was already so loud we had to raise our voices to hear each other, then the dining staff turned up the caribbean music, some of them started dancing, and then here's my peave... everyone started swinging/flailing/twirling their used napkins over their heads! I could practically feel a breeze of dirty air filled with saliva, lipstick, bread crumbs, and boogers. Thank you everyone!

I hope your pooch is doing OK now Twangster.

Just got off our 1st cruise Friday and started feeling chills and aches on the evening of day 7, the last day. I was + for Covid at home. I agree about elevators. Someone sneezed right behind me and I tried to hold my breath. Is there somewhere to report that I got covid onboard? I'm wondering how the cruises keep track after you leave.

Just another confirmation. No corkage fees mentioned across 4 nights of bringing unopened bottles on Allure this week. (4 bottles because of 2 cabins) I think there's such a focus on your head waiter getting a perfect score on the review, that they don't mess with it. We plan to tip extra for their bottle service. (But not because of their lost revenue -- that's their own business problem to resolve.

@HtownHolly, how's your cruise going? Ours is next.

Thanks! I called the port parking number before reading this, and a lady said the base price for 7 days is $140 either way, but you get that discount you mention if you reserve. It's still possible to drive up, though. Their site lists economy parking but that's the Carnival lot. Apparently they haven't updated their listing for the new terminal parking.

Thanks, I do know you can reserve. It says $153, so it seems to be more. Unless there's a discount by reserving, it's not possible, or it's a big problem, I plan to drive up.

Can someone confirm... we can just drive up and self park, then catch a free shuttle to the new terminal, right? Looks like it's $95 plus tax for a 7-day cruise. The port site makes it feel like reservations are needed.

If this is true, "...more guests than ever before are choosing email as their primary communication...", then I wonder if it's because they don't want to wait an hour on hold, AND/OR they don't trust the replies they get from the reps. I see on this discussion board that people are sometimes told different things when they call in. Maybe travel agents get faster responses. We'll use one next time.

Ok, I guess we can conclude that the contact us form on the site is broken or ignored. I called and got it taken care of. Things like this add up and do not enstill confidence in passengers. I don't see anywhere to escalate or report the issue either. Thanks for the replies, all.

They don't give a reason. Is this common??? Dear Guest, We’re looking forward to welcoming you onboard Allure of the Seas! To allow for additional time to complete the debark process from our previous sailing, we kindly ask that you arrive 1 hour after your previously selected arrival time. All guests should plan to arrive no later than 4:00 PM, and we’ll now set sail at 5:00 PM. It’s extremely important to arrive during your new arrival time on boarding day. Space in the terminal can only accommodate a specific number of guests, so those who arrive sooner will be turned away and asked to return during their new time to avoid overcrowding in the terminal. Arriving early may also mean that you’ll have to wait outside of the terminal in all types of Texas weather conditions. If you haven’t already selected a time yet, we kindly ask you to please visit our app and complete your online check-in.

Anyone else getting no replies from the contact form? I got the auto reply from "web_reservations" when I sent my message Wednesday morning. It's now Saturday and still nada. It's a simple thing that shouldn't require a phone call and hold time.

@smokeybandit, @JohnK6404, How long should we plan for embarkation to take so we know if we should eat lunch prior to or wait and eat an included meal on the ship? We arrive at 1pm.

I called, and the rep says that because the reservations are linked they will have the same table. She also asked me table size preference. Thx!

@twangster, you provide some good info in your posts, but I gotta say... The following responses are painfully obvious and worn out: Don't buy it if you don't like the price. Of course. No one is forced to buy extras. Some are, however, more compelled to need something. It's not a human right. Goes without saying. Assuming that someone considers internet on a cruise a human right is kinda insulting to them, actually. Circumventing is wrong. At a minimum, it's unethical. It may be a policy violation, but I don't know where to find the policy. Sounds like some people here have tried or done it (routers etc.). I'm not judging them. I hope no one is judging me for asking the question if it can even be done.

Or, to be equitable, why not charge by the amount of data used? Some passengers may watch several movies. Others may just chat or check the news, but all pay the same package fee? Edit: better yet, offer unlimited and metered options.

Safety videos! Hahaha. I won't take offense to the sarcasm because that's pretty funny. I think we can all enjoy the subject of internet cost and capabilities. I appreciate hearing all the opinions and experiences. Thanks for your opinion that I should not express an opinion about the cost. Move along now @Xaa.

@Xaa, you are virtue signaling and ignoring that I explicitly stated I do not plan to circumvent. Obviously people can go elsewhere. The main reason for buying intenet is for safety/communication with my kids. I read horrible reviews of the RC app for chatting. If there's something someone questions about a service or charge onboard can they not discuss it here? If you don't like discussing the subject of internet cost maybe just move on to the next thread? ------------ Interesting article about O3b which RC used (or still uses)? RC doesn't have to pay for their satellites or their rockets. Not sure what they pay to O3b. Anyone know which ships are using Starlink now? "SpaceX unveiled Starlink Maritime for boats at a cost of $5,000 per month, on top of a hardware investment of $10,000." I'll make some possibly conservative assumptions here... let's say 5,000 passengers on a ship and 10% of passengers get internet for one device on a 7-day cruise, so 500 x 7 x $23 = $80,500 for one cruise. 3 cruises in a month = $241,500. Cut that in half if my assumptions are off, and they've still covered the monthly Starlink fee and hardware, and made a fat profit.

@twangster, how much DOES it cost RC? Yah, it's cool we can access the internet from sea but heck why not $100 per day or $1,000 per day? Are we really getting a good deal?

Maybe so. I'm spending over $300 on internet for our cruise, which in my opinion should be considered ludicrous by everyone, no matter what your budget is.

I don't plan to violate the rule if it is indeed possible to do. However, I just turned off cellular on my S22 and was able to create a Hotspot for a 2nd device using my home wifi connection. The 2nd device connected and had internet access with its cellular data off. There's also the bluetooth tethering option. @Matt, speaking of the rules...I saw advice from people saying rather than getting a package for each guest in your party, you can just get multiple devices on one package. Isn't each guest supposed to have their own package and apply the extra device access to their own extra devices? @twangster, the issue of splitting the bandwith between the 2 devices could be enough of a reason for RC not to even care if someone does it. Even though they sell them by pkg/device, they're really selling their total bandwidth parceled out by number of devices @ 4mb each (whether tethering or not). Edit: I'm surprised they made it so difficult, but I guess they view it as lost potential revenue even though it's not affecting bandwidth much.

Is it possible to get the one-device internet package and just create a hot spot to share your connection? I'm sure it would be slow, but I wonder if 2 people could watch Netflix at the same time.