cdixon22

For cruisers, NOT shareholders, Jason Liberty is the worst thing that has ever happened to Royal Caribbean.
I don't get how stock value translates to good customer experience. 

You are correct but will not miss the solarium IMO.  The hideaway is great if the weather is good.  If not, use the outlook near the aquadome at the front of the ship.  It is very quiet, bright, airy, air conditioned, and has plenty of seating just missing a pool.  We actually liked it better than the solarium.

You are correct but will not miss the solarium IMO.  The hideaway is great if the weather is good.  If not, use the outlook near the aquadome at the front of the ship.  It is very quiet, bright, airy, air conditioned, and has plenty of seating just missing a pool.  We actually liked it better than the solarium.

It’s not just me, Royal Caribbean agrees…..

No !  That’s the best part of a B2B with the same cabin.  No packing at all !  AND you get to go right back to your room when you re-board….no waiting til 1:00 for your room to be ready.  Your room attendant will (should ?) do your room first so that it’s ready to go when you get back on the ship.  You will feel SO special…especially with the rest of your group having to disembark and YOU get to relax and stay on !

As mentioned above, Star and Icon have the Overlook (front of the Aquadome) which is effectively where the solarium is located on Oasis class ships.
It’s a beautiful air-conditioned interior space with tremendous views (no pools or hot tubs like a solarium) that is low-key usually during the day. A couple of bars as well. It will get loud of course during a show next door in the Aquadome, but most of the shows tend to be in the PM.
Some pics of the Overlook on Icon…








A couple of night shots…

I've seen this many times before. I think it means the ship is very full and they don't want to reserve any more specific rooms.

You are correct but will not miss the solarium IMO.  The hideaway is great if the weather is good.  If not, use the outlook near the aquadome at the front of the ship.  It is very quiet, bright, airy, air conditioned, and has plenty of seating just missing a pool.  We actually liked it better than the solarium.

We did use a Travel Agent...and they told her for the category it was GTY, after reading all the comments I joined my FB sailing group and asked the GTY question and everyone said they have not received their room assignments yet either, so showed the family and they calmed down lol. I gotta say I appreciate this group for the humor, and all the knowledge you all possess with cruising. I've even bought a lot of things for our trip due to posts here (Chair drink clips I'm looking at you haha)

Thanks because with junior suites ya never know. It's kinda the unsuited suite. 🤣

If you think about it they have to hold a cabin for you.  The way it works is for example:  The ship has 50 suites in total.  When you book a GTY cabin they subtract 1 from the total available and only allow 49 to be sold.  They don't care what category they are as long as the told is accounted for.  As they sale cabins the total amount of suites is lower and lower until that total reaches 0.  Then they take all the GTY cabins and assign what cabins are left in inventory.  You might get the worst cabin on the ship but you might also get the biggest best cabin on the ship.
Note:  I do not know this for sure but I have designed computer systems for 40 years.

This is hear-say....I have no idea if it's true....but I've heard that when you have a GTY (any kind), the system automatically assigns you a room (in the background...IOW you cannot see it).  However, that room (which you've been assigned) remains in general inventory (which means that anyone can choose it).  If the room that you have been assigned gets snagged by someone else, you are then re-assigned another random room and the cycle continues until the rooms are all gone (although I don't believe that they reserve all of the rooms in any category until VERY late in the process).  So it is my understanding that you ALWAYS have a room assigned, but it is subject to change at any time.

Yes It worked out as I expected.  I used the pre-booked reservations to get my spot and then adjusted the pricing when I got on the ship.  These days, I've heard there is more functionality available with booking through UDP, so maybe this method is no longer needed. 

I agree with @smokeybandit.  In order to file an insurance claim you must have suffered some financial loss that you are trying to recoup.  There is no financial loss in missing a port unless you have a non-refundable excursion already purchased and that’s not even possible on Labadee.  There is no claim to file.  

When I gave him the birds&the bees talk, he said "You made dad do that TWO times??"
Yes, I have two children.

Heh...I see Santa every morning when I look in the mirror.

@WAAAYTOOO already explained that food and beverage gratuities can't be removed. But maybe you would like to know why. Just because you might only use the freestyle machines, doesn't mean humans aren't involved. They clean and refill said machines. 

We just disembarked from a Symphony B2B.  The chairs on the balcony in our first room did NOT have zip ties but the ones on our second balcony did…

Oops...sorry for the double post.
Just an OBTW, there is a "Diamond and above" sale that started this morning for drinks packages.  Might include other stuff too....I just noticed the banner on the drinks link
 
 

Hmmm....do you already have the internet package for the entire cruise ?  ...b/c I don't think any of the beach clubs (I assume you mean PDCC) include complimentary internet...it just means that if you already HAVE internet, you can connect there.
Maybe I'm confusing things....

Sailed enchantment in February, found the ship charming and have no complaints. Sure she’s older and starting to show her age but the staff were awesome and had a chance to remember you with the smaller crowd

This is PRECISELY why this dining option has not yet been activated for future sailings.  They had no idea if this was going to succeed or fail so they wanted the flexibility to adjust the price accordingly.  I realize they could do this even if the option had been previously posted but they wanted to get some initial feedback, first.  I actually think the fact that the dining option was mysteriously missing from most Cruise Planners added to the FOMO drama and helped increase the hype.  <SMH>

Just to give you another idea of how fast our TA is. Last night at 8:16 last night I sent him an email to make final payment on our Bermuda cruise in May. 8:30 it was done, I received an email we were all set with a paid in full invoice. Just love these guys.

Those robes are nice to wear on the ships but not something I would ever wear at home. Yes, they are very thick and somewhat heavy, but not really soft at all.  There are many robes for sale in the world that are much, much softer, better fitting, better material, and cheaper prices.
I guess you could just buy a RC patch or something and sew it on--HA HA!
 

I my opinion they are too heavy.