TXcruiser33

We've been really lucky with our RU bids! We start with a "free" cruise offer from the casino usually a balcony or jr. suite. Then we submit offers to several suites, and so far i think we've won every time. I say "won" because of course this makes our free cabin not free at all?!? But, we're very happy to pay a little to cruise in a beautiful suite. So far, we've won RU bids for a crown loft (twice), and royal crown loft (once), an owners suite (once) and grand suites (twice). I think our bids are usually in the mid'range.....
 

This is going to sound “ultra suite snob” of me but here goes. Anyone reading this, please don’t think less of me. I am fairly down to Earth lol. But this is something Hubby and I have discussed before and it’s my honest, non-sugar coated opinion.
I think the loft attendants are “better” because they are used to the attention given in the gated community. Also, not just anyone can become a loft attendant, only the good ones get there, it’s not by chance. The ATS attendants are just the regular stateroom attendants who get the unfortunate job of having the large ATS in their rotation. That is why you will get some ATS attendants who are better than others. 

Try to have dinners together and maybe 1-2 other family events. Otherwise, let people do their own thing.

We just saw the Beatlemaniacs show onboard the Odyssey of the Seas transatlantic sailing from Rome to Fort Lauderdale (Oct 27 - Nov 11, 2023).
If you haven't seen their show, you don't want to miss it. Whether you are a Beatles fan or not, you won't be disappointed. We sail often and currently in the middle of 42 days out of 80 on board a Royal ship. Their show is by far the best show we have seen ever. Although, it is extremely rare for me to even attend a tribute show, this is one I want to see again ASAP.
As a side note, my wife and I had the pleasure of sitting down for coffee with a member of the band just by chance. He is the most delightful person. Friendly, very funny, and courteous. I haven't stated his name purposely as a matter of privacy. 
Richard and Raquel 

We got an Owner's Suite on our 27 November Navigator of the seas cruise for the minimum bid of 190 each.  Upgraded from a Jr Suite.  Never been in anything above Jr Suite so this will be fun!

Actually I should rephrase that, it's the worst lounge for a happy hour.

We've been really lucky with our RU bids! We start with a "free" cruise offer from the casino usually a balcony or jr. suite. Then we submit offers to several suites, and so far i think we've won every time. I say "won" because of course this makes our free cabin not free at all?!? But, we're very happy to pay a little to cruise in a beautiful suite. So far, we've won RU bids for a crown loft (twice), and royal crown loft (once), an owners suite (once) and grand suites (twice). I think our bids are usually in the mid'range.....
 

We've been really lucky with our RU bids! We start with a "free" cruise offer from the casino usually a balcony or jr. suite. Then we submit offers to several suites, and so far i think we've won every time. I say "won" because of course this makes our free cabin not free at all?!? But, we're very happy to pay a little to cruise in a beautiful suite. So far, we've won RU bids for a crown loft (twice), and royal crown loft (once), an owners suite (once) and grand suites (twice). I think our bids are usually in the mid'range.....
 

We've been really lucky with our RU bids! We start with a "free" cruise offer from the casino usually a balcony or jr. suite. Then we submit offers to several suites, and so far i think we've won every time. I say "won" because of course this makes our free cabin not free at all?!? But, we're very happy to pay a little to cruise in a beautiful suite. So far, we've won RU bids for a crown loft (twice), and royal crown loft (once), an owners suite (once) and grand suites (twice). I think our bids are usually in the mid'range.....
 

"Hey I've got an idea. Let's build a beach for adults only that looks like a blue empanada from above!

My experience with CK so far has been Symphony and Odyssey. We loved it on Symphony, ate several meals there and most breakfasts, and it was always busy so we did have to make dinner reservations.
On our recent Odyssey cruise, CK was empty?! I think it's not in a great location (outside of Windjammer) behind solid doors, so it's just not inviting to walk up to, imo. Whereas on Symphony, it's light and bright, and on the same deck as many of the suites, and includes the Diamond Lounge space. It was just much more inviting.
We'll be on Allure next week in a crown loft suite, so i'm sure we'll be dining at CK several times and i'm assuming i'll like it as much as i did on Symphony!

My experience with CK so far has been Symphony and Odyssey. We loved it on Symphony, ate several meals there and most breakfasts, and it was always busy so we did have to make dinner reservations.
On our recent Odyssey cruise, CK was empty?! I think it's not in a great location (outside of Windjammer) behind solid doors, so it's just not inviting to walk up to, imo. Whereas on Symphony, it's light and bright, and on the same deck as many of the suites, and includes the Diamond Lounge space. It was just much more inviting.
We'll be on Allure next week in a crown loft suite, so i'm sure we'll be dining at CK several times and i'm assuming i'll like it as much as i did on Symphony!

I cancelled by RU bids for the lofts because I don't think I'd be comfortable with a (what's-it-called? butler? oh!) concierge hovering over me - and I have no idea what a Royal Genie is but assume it's another person hovering.  As it is, I don't care for asking my room steward to do anything.  😕  Be nice if they gave me room to move about with absolutely zero service.  Ahhh... Solitude... But I digress.
I'm a casino lady, too.  I'm absolutely chuffed (I'm watching escape to the country right now lol) at the idea of getting comp'd a suite someday.  Can't wait to get to those tables on Odyssey.  Fingers crossed for my RU.  And congrats on all the wins!!!  Have fun this year, everyone.

Don't mean to hijack this one but it goes along with the suite lounge drinks topic. But if I'm a suite guest eating in coastal kitchen during the suite cocktail happy hour 4:30-8:30pm. Do I get "free" cocktails during dinner? I seem to remember this being the case when we were on the Symphony in 2020.  
Also, this may or may not work but it definitely did for us. A nice tip to the suite lounge bar tender on hour 1 of the first day and they won't bat an eye about handing over 3 or 4 coors lights unopened for you to take back to your room and place in your suite fridge. Will this be the case with every suite lounge? No. But it definitely worked for us! 

well, i was confused....i think you're correct. I would still choose the crown loft suite over the grand!
 

The Grand Suite definitely IS Sky Class and would have the same amenities as a Crown Loft Suite.  I also recommend the CLS unless there is a mobility issue that would preclude climbing stairs.

I can speak from experience on this subject as on a recent cruise (Symphony out of Miami) i somehow FORGOT our passports?!? I still shake my head at that but i did. 20 cruises under my belt but brain farts can and do happen to us all i guess?!?
Didn't realize it until we were literally stepping out of the Uber car in front of the terminal. Of course, i panicked but thought surely we'd get on since we had copies of passports in our phones, plus global entry cards, plus valid drivers licenses.
Nope was the firm answer. You either have to have the ORIGINAL passport OR a copy of your official birth certificate. Well.....we didn't have copies of our birth certificates....but thankfully were able to contact someone near home who went in to our house, located our bc's, took photos of them and sent those to us. And RC accepted those so onboard we went!
I think you'll be fine, just be sure you have those birth certificates!
 

Allure is a wonderful ship, we really enjoyed it.  I'm not sure when Jay is going home, I'll have to ask my wife if she remembers.  When we jumped into the elevator this morning for debarkation a couple squeezed through the door after us.  I was smashed into the luggage cart and Jay told the man this was a priority elevator and they couldn't care less.  I just use people's attitudes as fuel to work harder and put in more effort so I can book another cruise.

A little trick for costa maya.  They wind you through the maze of shops, however, if you look in the shops some of them are open in both sides, that allows you to cut quite a bit off of the maze to the exit.  We just walk right through.

Just thought I would pop in and relate our experience this morning, boarding Explorer.  Absolutely no problem entering the terminal (G) via the Suite/Pinnacle line, with our SSP that was not marked with “Suite”.  Either they didn’t look, didn’t care, or were already familiar with the issue of the missing Suite marking.  Very smooth arrival and boarding.
In other news, I received all of my Loyalty Cokes and water.  Hallefreakinlujah !  I wasn’t sure I would score the Cokes given recent announced changes. I know this only b/c I crashed through the closed hallway door (yes, I was THAT guy today) and went to my room in search of Sea Passes as we could not get into the D Lounge at first.  RATS !  I was outsmarted (not that hard to do, BTW) as the Sea Passes weren’t yet on our room door so I returned to the D Lounge empty-handed only to find that, had I possessed even an ounce of patience, someone would have let us in from inside.  Dan was already inside, waiting for me with a self righteous look on his face.  He didn’t dare say a word but I knew what he was thinking.  The sign on the closed hallway  door (cough, cough) said that the rooms would be ready at 2:00.  That’s about 50 minutes from now.
Soon I will find out if JS fall into the Suites exclusion of once-a-day room servicing.
In other, other news, Explorer D Lounge got a new, kick-ass coffee machine while in dry dock.  Woohoo !  The D Concierge and attendant are currently receiving a tutorial on its operations/maintenance from a 12 year old vendor tech.  He might be 16.  Everyone looks young when you get to be my age.

I can speak from experience on this subject as on a recent cruise (Symphony out of Miami) i somehow FORGOT our passports?!? I still shake my head at that but i did. 20 cruises under my belt but brain farts can and do happen to us all i guess?!?
Didn't realize it until we were literally stepping out of the Uber car in front of the terminal. Of course, i panicked but thought surely we'd get on since we had copies of passports in our phones, plus global entry cards, plus valid drivers licenses.
Nope was the firm answer. You either have to have the ORIGINAL passport OR a copy of your official birth certificate. Well.....we didn't have copies of our birth certificates....but thankfully were able to contact someone near home who went in to our house, located our bc's, took photos of them and sent those to us. And RC accepted those so onboard we went!
I think you'll be fine, just be sure you have those birth certificates!
 

I can speak from experience on this subject as on a recent cruise (Symphony out of Miami) i somehow FORGOT our passports?!? I still shake my head at that but i did. 20 cruises under my belt but brain farts can and do happen to us all i guess?!?
Didn't realize it until we were literally stepping out of the Uber car in front of the terminal. Of course, i panicked but thought surely we'd get on since we had copies of passports in our phones, plus global entry cards, plus valid drivers licenses.
Nope was the firm answer. You either have to have the ORIGINAL passport OR a copy of your official birth certificate. Well.....we didn't have copies of our birth certificates....but thankfully were able to contact someone near home who went in to our house, located our bc's, took photos of them and sent those to us. And RC accepted those so onboard we went!
I think you'll be fine, just be sure you have those birth certificates!
 

I can speak from experience on this subject as on a recent cruise (Symphony out of Miami) i somehow FORGOT our passports?!? I still shake my head at that but i did. 20 cruises under my belt but brain farts can and do happen to us all i guess?!?
Didn't realize it until we were literally stepping out of the Uber car in front of the terminal. Of course, i panicked but thought surely we'd get on since we had copies of passports in our phones, plus global entry cards, plus valid drivers licenses.
Nope was the firm answer. You either have to have the ORIGINAL passport OR a copy of your official birth certificate. Well.....we didn't have copies of our birth certificates....but thankfully were able to contact someone near home who went in to our house, located our bc's, took photos of them and sent those to us. And RC accepted those so onboard we went!
I think you'll be fine, just be sure you have those birth certificates!
 

I can speak from experience on this subject as on a recent cruise (Symphony out of Miami) i somehow FORGOT our passports?!? I still shake my head at that but i did. 20 cruises under my belt but brain farts can and do happen to us all i guess?!?
Didn't realize it until we were literally stepping out of the Uber car in front of the terminal. Of course, i panicked but thought surely we'd get on since we had copies of passports in our phones, plus global entry cards, plus valid drivers licenses.
Nope was the firm answer. You either have to have the ORIGINAL passport OR a copy of your official birth certificate. Well.....we didn't have copies of our birth certificates....but thankfully were able to contact someone near home who went in to our house, located our bc's, took photos of them and sent those to us. And RC accepted those so onboard we went!
I think you'll be fine, just be sure you have those birth certificates!