JBC

Sorry, I posted before I could finish my thought. According to the flyer and FAQ, even if I buy the ultimate (most expensive) alcohol package, it doesn't include the freestyle machines. Would I have to also buy one of the non-alcohol packages on top of it? Seems ridiculous to me, and I could have swore that the alcohol packages all included fountain soda. Anyone have any thoughts or info on this?

So I was browsing the RC website, and on their flyer for beverage packages, the souvenir coca-cola cup is only listed under the royal replenish and royal refreshment packages, not the ones with alcohol (flyer attached). In the FAQ's on RC's website, I found this: Q: Can I use the Coca-Cola Freestyle machines with the all inclusive beverage packages? A: No. The Coca-Cola Freestyle machines require the Coca-Cola souvenir cup to operate. Souvenir glassware is excluded from the all inclusive beverage packages. beverage-flyer-cruise-planner-v41.pdf

Short of very attentive attendants monitoring this, there is likely little you can do, when it comes to the general public, people are just inconsiderate. If you are planning on spending some time at the pool on a sea day, you have to just get there early or plan on moving towels, unfortunately.

Can anyone tell me if champagne is covered by the drink packages? I have searched this blog and online and I cant seem to find a definite answer. Thanks.

So I called, and thankfully it was no big deal, the woman on the phone was very nice and said of course you should switch to ultimate, it is cheaper than what you already paid. Of course she couldn't just switch me though, she had to charge me for the new price and issue me a refund of the old price, with the new charge being immediate and the refund taking 5 days, but whatever, she was very friendly. So I guess this 20% sale is really more of a sale on the ultimate package, since they are $2 a day difference with this sale, instead of the normal $10 or so. Other than the bottled wine discount, the only other differences between ultimate and premium are squeezed juices and specialty coffee. Can anyone clue me in on where on the ship I would be getting these? I am going to be on Freedom. In Windjammer for breakfast, I am assuming they have a juice station and a coffee station like any other buffet that anyone can use, so where am I getting my upgraded coffee and juice? Fresh squeezed OJ compared to concentrated out of a machine are not even comparable.

So in reading this thread, I decided to check my reservation online. They are offering the 20% off drink packages. It's not 20% though, it's 2%. I have two questions: I already purchased the premium package for myself when I booked a few months ago (I like to prepay things as much as possible). At that time, it was advertised as $57/day including gratuities. I am doing an 8 night cruise, I was charged $456. Now that they are offering the 20% off, the premium package is $46 a day and the ultimate package is $48 a day, which is 20%. But when you add them into your cart, they add 18% gratuity, so premium ends up costing $434.24 and ultimate ends up costing $453.12. Crap like this annoys the hell out of me. My first question is why when I bought was gratuity included and now that it's on sale it's not? If or when this sale ends, I am assuming it would go back to $57 a day inclusive, so this is really just a 2% sale. I imagine if it was $57 a day plus 18%, which is what they imply with this sale, then a lot less people would buy it. Even myself, a decent drinker, I don't think I could hit almost $70 a day in drinks for 8 days straight without really trying. Some of the people we are traveling with have OBC, so they were waiting to purchase drink packages on board so they would use the credit towards it. The deal I bought didn't include OBC which is why I didn't wait. This slight discount now isn't going to persuade them to buy it now, assuming they can get it on board for $57 inclusive. Now my 2nd question. I already paid $456 for a package that would now cost me $434.24 with this "sale". I don't care about the $22. At this point, can I just upgrade myself from premium to ultimate? With the sale price on ultimate, that higher package is actually $2.88 cents less than what I already paid. I can't seem to figure it out on the website, so I suppose I have to call? (I'm not a caller, I hate calling, lol). Thanks folks.

A little off the topic, but I would be curious to hear about your experience on Epic. I have never cruised with NCL, only have been on Disney but are going on Freedom in February. When we were deciding on this cruise, NCL Epic was in the mix as a possibility, but RC seemed to get higher marks so we went with RC. Cost wise they were very similar. Thanks for your time.

LOL Jeff. We are sailing Freedom, my wife and I are both buying the premium package. I will get my money out of it, I doubt my wife will. Our 9 and 7 year old's will be using our souvenir cups for soda, we are not buying additional packages for them. The cost of that fountain soda per glass is pennies, and we limit our kids intake of soda anyways, so it's not like they will be running to the machine all day. You should do the same, and not feel the least bit guilty about it.

I'm going to have this same issue as my kids will be 7 and 9 when we cruise. Have never been on RC before, and we are doing an 8 night cruise. I am hoping they can at least spend some time together in OA.

So in reading today's live blog post from Brilliance, the writer states on a sea day all of the pool chairs were reserved at 8 am? I would assume then that the chairs in the shade are gone even before then? Is this pretty much the same across all RC ships? Sounds like people get up early, reserve a chair, eat breakfast, and then go to the pool? We are sailing on Freedom. I have young kids who are part fish, so on the days where we are not in port I envision them spending a lot of time in the H2O zone, while mom and dad watch from a chair and enjoy a book and a drink. Do I really need to get there at 7 am and put towels and bags down on a couple of chairs? I have only sailed previously on Disney, and while the pools were crowded on sea days, I don't recall it being impossible to get a chair. The RC ships have a lot more passengers than the Disney ships though, and the pool areas seem to be about the same size. The RC pool pics I have seen all look horribly crowded. Someone please put me at ease on this topic!

What is the common or accepted practice with regards to gratuities for the alcohol packages? I have never been on a RC cruise before, and for my upcoming cruise I have purchased the premium drink package. 18% is already included in the price, am I supposed to tip additional on that for each drink? Do I have to sign a slip each time I get a drink or do they just hand me one because I have a package? Is it different when going up to a bar to get a drink, verses a server bringing me one poolside or at a table? Are additional tips expected with the drink packages? I'm just curious as to what the common practice is. Thank you for any input.

That video pretty much hits the nail on the head. I have no issue with the money at all, it's mostly just the annoyance of it and a little bit the principal of it. Just charge me the all inclusive price for the service provided and leave me alone. Anyone in the service industry (waiter / waitress / bartender) has to deal with the general public, and a good portion of the general public are idiots, so they certainly deserve more than $7.50 per hour. A big issue for me is what professions society deems tip worthy. Where the line gets drawn sometimes makes no sense. You order a beer from a bartender, he/she gets it, opens/pours it, hands it to you. Total transaction time is about 15 seconds, they get a tip. The fast food worker takes your order, gets your food, hands it to you, total transaction time is longer than the bartender, they get no tip. Both likely make minimum wage. Why is one tip worthy and one not? Just pay them both a fair wage, remove the tipping, and let capitalism take care of the rest. I stayed at a Beaches all inclusive once and we were told at check in that tipping is prohibited. I doubted this and attempted to tip a few servers and bartenders. Every one of them refused to take it, and all of them had the same response. "Thank you sir, but tipping is not allowed here". I inquired further of one of the bartenders (after a session at his bar) and he told me that accepting a tip is grounds for immediate termination. This was the most expensive all inclusive I ever stayed at, but it truly was all inclusive, and the service I received from everyone was outstanding. I wish it was like this everywhere.

Thanks for that link Matt, I hadn't discovered that on this site. You can tell from the comments under that post that opinions vary greatly (and sometimes fiercely) on the comparisons between the two. I wish I could find the pricing deals that some are commenting on for the Disney ships. I am doing 8 night Eastern Caribbean on Freedom in February 2017, 2 adults, 2 kids, balcony room for $3,800. 7 nights on Disney Fantasy for the same week is $7,600. If it was a grand more, maybe even 2 grand, I would have probably went with Disney. Not for almost 4. Like I said before, I have read a lot of good things about RC with the kids, so I am very optimistic that they will enjoy the kids clubs and pool area, the beach on Labadee, etc. Some of my friends who have sailed Disney are looking to other lines because of the steep price increase as well. One thing that I don't think RC could possibly match would be the dinner server. Our waiter on the Disney Wonder was incredible, could not have been nicer to my kids, brought them their meals right away before the adults, brought them dessert while we were eating our meals, dancing with them with the characters, hugging them, high fives, etc. One day he was walking past the pool and my kids waved to him, he came back a few minutes later with Mickey ice cream bars. My kids cried after taking pictures with him after the last meal. They still ask me when we can go on vacation with him again. Needless to say, he received the biggest additional gratuity out of everyone from my group. Royal is not going to disappoint me, I am confident!!

I went on my first cruise on the Disney Wonder about a year and a half ago. It was lovely and they do a great job with families. Since then, they have significantly raised their prices, probably 20-30%. For my 2nd cruise I am giving Royal a try, and the reason is purely price. The comparable Disney cruise was almost DOUBLE the cost, which equates to about $4,000. I couldn't believe it when I was researching. I couldn't justify it and I am hoping Royal provides some wow factor. Disney is all about kids and families, I found their adults only areas pretty much dead most of the time. The shows are all Disney themed (for kids), there are no casino's on Disney ships and they do not offer any sort of drink packages. I am hoping Royal provides a better balance of activities for kids and adults. If Disney prices remain at the levels they are currently at, RC and NCL will continue to have a tremendous opportunity to go after that demographic.

How strict are they on the 750 ml bottle size? Would they really give you a hard time if one of your bottles was the larger size bottles? I'm not talking about a gallon jug or anything like that. I'm not sure of the sizing, but a lot of the popular cheaper wines (Barefoot, etc.) come in two sizes, the standard 750 ml and a bigger size, I think it's 1.5l. I can't imagine they would bother you, but figured I would ask. I did this on the last Disney cruise I went on and they didn't look twice at it. 4 adults at dinner, a 750 ml bottle is one glass each, and who drinks only one glass of wine, lol.

Yea, I will have to research a bit more. Lots of places advertise "dry aged steak" and it isn't true dry aged steak. In your top tier steakhouses that do true dry aging and specialize in it (Peter Luger's, etc.), the difference is unbelievable and worth every penny. I would be suspect on a cruise ship, and in thinking about it, an upcharge of $50 for one meal is a lot. Kind of on the same topic, again, being new to RC, what is the best way to go about determining which days to make reservations in the specialty places? I am doing an 8 night cruise on Freedom, planning on having 3 specialty meals. I have been told that certain nights in the MDR they have nicer offerings, lobster tails, etc. Obviously wouldn't want to miss those, don't want to miss formal nights, etc. If menus are not released ahead of time but you are supposed to reserve specialty's ahead of time, is it just go with it and hope for the best? Or attempt to change reservations once you board and see what is happening in MDR? Thank you for any input.

Sounds like Chops is going to cost me $50 then. Can't pass up a good dry aged steak!

On the questions section of the blog under menus, I noticed for Chops that it lists a bunch of entrees with no prices, then under "dry aged selections" it list a few others, with prices of $18 and $19, etc. Does that mean if you order those, that you have to pay that additional price, in addition to your specialty dining fee? Sorry if this is a dumb question, I am new to RC, have only been on Disney cruises, and in their specialty places you can order whatever you want on the entire menu with no additional added fee.

I have a question about RC's 48 hour price guarantee. So I booked Sunday with the BOGO special, comes with $200 OBC. Yesterday I checked and with this 30% off sale, my stateroom would be $330 less for the fare, but no OBC. So I called RC. The guy I was speaking with was giving me a hard time about changing, kept telling me he can change me to the lower fare, but then I would lose the OBC. I said that is fine, I will give up $200 of OBC to save $330 on my fare. Then I mentioned to him what about your 48 hour 110% price guarantee? It states that if you find a lower rate within 48 hours, you get 110% of the difference in OBC. Is this in addition to changing to the lower rate, or instead of? He is telling me it is one or the other, I can have the lower rate or additional OBC. 110% of $330 is $363, would that get added to my account, which already has $200 OBC on it? This is confusing.

I had family on Anthem and their representations to me were that the media blew it way out of proportion (no surprise there) and that RC did everything they could to rectify the situation. They claimed the bars and restaurants all were free once they turned back, and that the shows went on as scheduled the next night. Once back In NY they ate in Chops for free and spent the night in port on the ship, the bars had bands playing all night, free alcohol and what not. RC was not pushy at all in making people leave the ship, and that by the next morning the ship appeared completely back to normal. All for free plus half off the next cruise - it didn't seem all that bad to me.

I just noticed the blog post about RC's 30% sale starting on Monday. I was planning on booking on FOTS for Feb 2017 tomorrow. With my family of 4 (myself, wife, 2 kids), the 30% sale with no OBC at current prices will net me about $30 total compared to the offer right now of BOGO and $200 OBC. This will be our first RC cruise, have only done Disney previously. My question is do they typically raise the base prices for a sale like this? I guess it's a gamble to wait until Monday. As I'm typing this I am half wondering why I am concerned about $30 on a $5000 cruise. Thanks!