Royal Blue

That escalated quickly... Anchorman movie reference, the original better one. Tipping, what a goodie box of possibilities. To insure promptness was the basic story I thought but it has a more colourful history via an interesting site. Could a cruise line market/compete with a no extra gratuity offering? Either lower wages or raise the ticket cost are the only two choices. That $499 cruise is not enough for competitve wages AND the profit margin the company requires. The fare needs to be subsidized. The site I looked at had some interesting cases about the "mandatory" tips from restaurant cases in the US. Turns out mandatory is not a legally enforcable statement, on land anyway. Get bad service in that "large group" table service and don't leave the mandatory you can get taken to court. You'll win but still. Good service should get rewarded, but why did the food service industry manage to make it their own? The Home Depot guy in plumbing who helps for 30 minutes finding the right fittings, no tip for him? One thing that always bugged was the amount of service vs the amount of tip. Open a bottle of beer, $1... open a $50 bottle of wine, $10 tip. Same amount of work. For another day.

My recollection was , apart from this thread, you start in $cdn, aud, or mex or ..., your entire final payment stays in that same currency. Switch, not so easy, you have to start over again in the new currency. For that $12 drink Royal will charge 1.45 , VISA might be 1.42 Bottom line is expensive either way, now. I guess we will have a definitive answer shortly.

Better method is to get a $usd credit card, BO montreal has them. Link to your $usd account for payment.

Actually surprised that RCI is still sticking with $cdn pricing that they set per cruise. Yes it pays to check to see which price is more avantageous at booking time. Royal seems to set exchange rates a few times per year, so winners and losers depending on the markets. Would be nice to be able to switch with a mouse click but they want to make it more difficult. Fair enough I guess because they are taking the currency risk with non $usd bookings. They have to hedge this risk in the FX market. I'm sure they'd love to avoid dealing with all other currencies. It's nice they do, we're buying a US product in essence. Curious to know what the average nationality breakdown is for the caribbean cruises, canada has to be a strong second still.

Yes, the three day statement seemed pretty cut and dry. Curious why no rebuttal on your post. Further to the processing end of things, since you cannot book a ticket without a passport (limited exemptions shown on RCI page) you think you'd be pre-screened well in advance of three days. If a TSA / border agent can chime in, I assume they already know before they ask the question "what is the purpose for your visit" ? The flight / cruise booking where you gave the passport number has already been sent on. Been tempted to test but these people have no sense of humor anymore - either side of the border... the non walled (currently) northern one. Lastly, if the 3 day is correct, how did the cruise industry get saddled with that one and not the airlines. They love last minute booking$.

The "three day" rule is interesting, would not have guessed. So I assume there is a 'no sail' list the US gov has that cruise co.s must adhere to?

For the cruise (deep) insiders. Many years back I saw a TV doc on the life of a 7 day carrib cruise out of FLL. It was an RCI ship, may have been the Oasis. All the depart prep - loadup: hundreds of new mattresses, a small liquor store worth of booze, a pallet of strawberries, check in: late arrivals, insufficient ID to board etc.. just like a reality show without the script. One thing that always stuck was the $$ side of the story, the war room to get the ship filled to 100%. The calls they'd make to the frequent cruisers, I assume the nearby florida retirees. An empty cabin is revenue that will never be recovered. Of course they never revealed a break even point on capacity but they gave the impression it was the last 5-10% of the ship that was the sweet spot for profit. And the constant review of numbers on the real gravy , all of the extras: meals, booze and shopping that were targets to meet to make it a really successful week. I think about this again as I troll through the current offerings and now see what i think now must be the new pricing strategy of WAS $$ NOW $$ SAVE $$. I did not recall that as being listed on every departure as it is now. Is this just marketing games? Possible that the major expense of fuel and the savings they are now experiencing are being passed on? Or is it just get them on with the lowest number and we'll make it up with the add-on services and a $12 drink. True comparison only works for the lucky USD holders as the rest of the world gets the currency pinch. Same cruise route year over year, what kind of increase or not have you seen with RCI? My limited cruise history is still very positive. Great overall value to visit, if only for a day, a new country, learn to surf and rock climbing all within a few days. I'm on a three year cruise cycle so I cannot become jaded to the excitement I read in all the other posts. RP

Of course there is a webcam shot from a beach bar, PRC shot is even more impressive. Almost the same angle. Looks like the sand has been replaced. Another beach is missing some sand i assume.

Ideal port, beach right infront of the ships and city right behind. No shade if memory serves, i do recall umbrella and 2 beers for $10 offers all along the beach. Time and plane schedule permitting would have loved to gone to the airport beach to watch the planes land. Next trip.

Avoid these stakes, they tend to be wooden, metal or plastic. If you appreciate your digestive tract or spell checker stay clear.

We brought 2 sets as a family of four. Newer gear is quite compact and had nice carry bag. Balcony room makes storage less hassle. Coco was nice spot to dive. I think they encouraged the vests back then too but i just ignored the calls from shore. Thats a bit too much nanny care. Found a massive shell close to shore but it burrowed back in the sand by the end of the day. I recall a bag check before boarding the tender so nothing other than sand leaves the island.

As a BC'er, Victoria is a great walking city. All around the harbor is just fine to kill a day or so. Parliament buildings, history mueseum and the empress hotel are the highlights. Shopping should be cheap with your USD if the exchange rate holds until then. Send your "kids" shopping and you go for tea at the Empress.

Interesting. So if a ship comes back 1,2 or whatever days earlier I'd much rather stay on ship than hassle with refunds, booking hotels and transportation issues with a 1000 other people competing with me. Now would they still feed you....? I wonder what the winning percentage is for the class action suits you read about when stuff happens at sea. Better call Saul.

Just curious with recent weather issues off the east coast, when ships have to break the route and come back to port early, does the passenger have the right / option to stay on the ship? Somewhere buried in the small print must be a clause relating to this. I expect the company would not kick you off but maybe they incentivize you to do so.

Just learning this technology, made the RCblog and medic the first two scopers to follow - ever. To travel virtually with your group on AOS cruise this past week A great time waster and dream maker. The bird chirp alarm is a hoot. I'm late to twitter also. Real time reviews and Q&A's. RC should definitely throw a bone your way, this is what they call "earned media" and RC gets it for free. I assume corporate scopes are just around the corner.

Do the scopes from sea show up on the map? Live and replays?