HolyShip

That is a great idea! My SO is going to want to take the dolphin home if she gets to hug it! AWESOME picture!

Xaa, your post made my day! And gave me a chuckle about the report card hiding - something that I am not going to confess that I did on a public forum of course. I am really glad you enjoyed the swim! I have been stalking the excursion availability obsessively and finally landed a reservation. I was thrilled! I love your suggestion about spilling the beans at the Blue Lagoon line, and I will definitely grab the envelope first.

Hello, Royal Friends! 1.) I have flipped Google upside down trying to find the difference between the Blue Lagoon Island Dolphin Swim and Beach Day and Blue Lagoon Island VIP Swim with Dolphins and Beach Day, and besides there being a lunch offering in one versus the other, I see no other differences. I called the tour operator, and they said the group size is the same, but the representative wasn't entirely certain. I was wondering if it was their Royal Swim, but I'm not sure. Do any of you folks know? This is a bucket list item of theirs, so I have zero problems purchasing the VIP swim over the normal swim. I don't know if this excursion includes a VIP Blue Lagoon Island day (whatever that is) or just the swim? 2.) Secondly, and this applies to anyone that has ever booked an excursion through Royal: I want to surprise my significant other with this excursion - it's on their bucket list to be with a dolphin (instead of me I guess ). I'd like to surprise them right before we leave the ship for the excursion, but having never sailed with RCCL, do they distribute excursion tickets or share/brief your excursion with you in such a way that it'd either be worth telling my SO the day of departure or prior to the cruise so that the surprise doesn't get revealed by someone other than me? I hope this makes sense. Basically, I don't want the (lovely, awesome, and hard working) people at RCCL to reveal it whether that's them handing an excursion ticket once we board with the excursion name on it, etc. I made the mistake of looking at how dolphins have predatory nature and can harm humans, so that was a bad idea researching that. I will just cross my fingers that everything will be okay. lol Thank you all for your help!

Thank you so much. Def seems like we're gonna proceed with the package. I can definitely say we will be having 2-3 sparkling waters per person each day, several water bottles, and coffee each morning.

Oh, you're right, I guess I'm paying gratuity after all either way on the drinks. @Atlantix2000, yep that $460 does include gratuity. Sounds like the water bottles would definitely go if we got the beverage subscription. We now have some money back after the company we booked our excursion through scammed us, so more money to devote to either the beverage package or back into another port excursion.

Thank you!! I can’t math, so this helps. And yep, two people. I wish I would have locked in that Black Friday pricing like I did for the unlimited dining, but hey - I saved somewhere! I guess the other benefit is that the gratuities on the drinks are prepaid, because I read that each drink outside of the package a la carte has a 18% gratuity each? If that’s true, I guess that adds up quickly.

That is super helpful, @Cactus527! I just checked, and did verify we spent $30 on bottled waters. Not a horrible expense. I could see if I could reduce the quantity but would nice to at least have a pack available, but we’ll definitely hit the bar for them! For 7 days, including gratuities, I saw the beverage package is a whopping $460! My traveling partner said she’d absolutely take advantage of the sparkling water and coffee (if the coffee isn’t already included), and we’d enjoy a few mocktails. Is it enough to make it worth $460 vs buying out right, I’m not sure. Maybe it will be and that $460 will have been worth paying versus buying drinks individually and paying gratuity per drink (which I think is a thing?).

Thank you both for this response! I didn't realize we could cancel? When we booked the dining package, it made me pay for it and the same for the water. I can cancel and get a refund on it though if I book it? I know we definitely want some bottled water in the room and spent $27.98 for two packs of 24 bottles. I didn't know we could get bottled water at the bar through the refreshment package, so that's good to know! Though we may keep the packs for the room because that was on Black Friday. Is there are a limit on how many mocktails and drinks we can get per day on the package? I could definitely see, between coffee and a couple mocktails, hitting three per day. I guess coffee isn't included, so maybe worth it just for that.

Hi Royals! My significant other and I are soon to go on our first Royal cruise (I believe it's 7-nights). We are both aiming to abstain from alcohol (only except the chef's table dinner which has alcohol provided). We will mainly be drinking coffee, water, and mocktails. I don't know if there's sparkling / flavored water onboard? If there is, that'd be happy news. So, we're looking at the Refreshment Package. We bought a ton of bottled water through RCL, so the only things we'd drink in the 8-item package are the: mocktails, sparkling water, premium coffees and teas, and I would at least be drinking fresh-squeezed juices every day. We would very likely not partake in the regular milkshakes, fountain sodas, and bottled water. The package is currently discounted at $27.99/per day vs $36/on board, and the app says the deal is about to end. Question to you all is: based on what I've described, does it sound worth it or no? We did book the premium dining package, but I doubt that includes any beverage benefits. Buy or save the money and just buy on board? Thank you so much!

Yeah. It makes me wonder if there are any limitations to the discount fare they booked on the cabin, and since the "Gov't Charges and Fees" was what was billed separately to the agency, I know some of that includes their commissions, but I wonder if there are additional fees that Royal will charge us. I understand you pay gratuities separately anyways? But, don't understand what other fees I may be liable for.

So, the Royal agent (over)shared with me that our cruise was about $2,800. That was the promo rate without commission. The invoice shows the cruise rate as been just about that, minus a couple dollars ($2,798). Then, it just shows the "Gov't Charges and Fees" at about $300. Everything that has been paid above that $2,800 (Royal's charge to the TA) has gone directly to the TA (as their commission as I understand it). So, I don't know if that means that Royal included their fees (whatever) that would be in that discounted $2,800 rate or if we'll be surprised with those. The agent said the total that we have been charged (the $2,800 - billed to Royal Caribbean and the $300 - billed to the TA as commission) covers the cruise (I imagine that does not include gratuities, and not sure what other fees we will be responsible for or how that works)? This. They felt awful when I spoke to Royal and had to go to such lengths just to figure this out. I will say, I was happy to hear that the rate Royal charged was not commission-inclusive, otherwise that would have been super messed up and basically the TA getting two separate commissions. Not to say this isn't messed up as it is. Good question. I'll ask my TA. I want to do Royal Up, but also am totally fine staying in my current cabin because I strategically put myself in a part of the ship I would not get too sick on from the motion and I understand Royal Up puts you wherever the system has availability of the winning bidder. It is creating memories for me. I am super grateful for this community providing so much information and being so engaging. Next time, I will not be working with this agent. Good news is that the cruise is paid for, I just have to pay the final part of the fees / commission, which goes to the TA, and I have the cruise insured for the full amount the TA charged (their "fees"). I also got them to agree in writing that if something goes wrong, they provide a refund / credit based on the full amount paid to them, not just the $2,800 that they paid for the Royal Cabin. They did re-confirm they cannot provide the Royal invoice due to special promo pricing documented on there, but at this point, I already had Royal confirm the price that was paid, and unless there are any shady conditions or anything I should be aware of, I'm not as worried about getting the invoice now.

I just looked at the TA invoice again. It shows the itinerary, who is traveling, payment history, and a has the cruise total (which is roughly the amount they paid directly to Royal for the discounted cabin -- which was a non-commission promotional rate), then about $300 written just as "Gov't Charges and Fees".

First off, THANK YOU to every single person that responded. This has been IMMENSELY helpful in my discussions with the travel agent and Royal. @cruisellama and @deep1 hit the nail on the head (as I just learned today) LONG UPDATE WARNING (grab your coffee, popcorn, wine, whatever it is you need): I called Royal today, knowing full well that they would tell me nothing since the reservation was booked through a travel agent. I got to chatting with this Royal agent, and I managed to get them to say what price my travel agent paid and I almost got them to send me an invoice. There was an audible shift in their voice when they told me the amount that was paid and revealing that the cruise was fully paid (like a "I shouldn't have disclosed that" tone). So, here's what I got from the call (using fake numbers): they said the travel agency paid $2,500 for the cruise. The travel agency charged me $2,800. The royal agent then revealed that the rate that they charged was a non-commission rate, so I now know the agency is charging the amount above $2,500 as a commission. I then said if Royal cancels the cruise or issues a credit, will it only be of the $2,500 since they didn't charge the travel agency's $2,800, and they said yes: we will only issue credits or refunds based on the $2,500. The $300 agency commission is not insured and is between me and them. I asked them if I could request a direct Royal invoice from the travel agent, and they said yes. With all of this knowledge, I call the agent, and she said 1.) Royal should not have disclosed any of what they did, 2.) They cannot send me the Royal invoice because of their special pricing and info on the invoice (press X to doubt), and 3.) that they were charging the remaining amount as their commission (which tracked with what Royal said). The agent felt awful for the stress I have undergone trying to figure this all out, AND they said if the cruise were to cancel or be credited, it would be on the full $2,800, not just the $2,500. They reassured me of that several times, and I have it in writing. The only thing they said is that Royal will not issue future cruise credits, so that will not apply to me, because that apparently stopped after Covid. At the end of the day, the rate was cheaper than what Royal had, the cruise is paid for, and the cruise is insured for $2,800 (plus excursions). So, will we proceed with the cruise and make the final payment? Yes. But, wow has this been an adventure. The travel agent reassured us several times, and apologized, and said they've been in business 30 years, and that if anything goes wrong, they'll take care of us. And, that they were going to call Royal to talk to them about what was disclosed (that's on them, not me), but I knew the price from Royal and was able to calculate it on my own anyway by determining what was charged to RoyalCarribean vs them directly. I express again my appreciation to you all for all of your comments, and I hope this will be useful to others in the future, and reaffirming to those that have been in this situation as I learned above. I will continue to monitor this thread. Happy Friday?

I bet you're right. I just called Royal again, and she's like you have every right to request an updated invoice, but we can provide you with absolutely nothing. The other reviews for the company, prior to their rename, look good, so I don't think we're going to be scammed horribly, but it definitely seems weird. The first RCL agent I spoke to, I was able to get him to admit that he showed it as paid; this one would not budge, understandably.

I just emailed them and and asked for the RoyalCarribean invoice and booking confirmation (not their invoice). We'll see what they say. If I see the lower balance, which I expect to see, I wonder if I should tell them to refund the amount above RCL's charged booking total?