jticarruthers

We did an excursion in Barbados at springbreak off the Jewel that might be this one ... it was a catamaran sail followed by a snorkel and beach break. IIRC it was called Turtle something or other. We thought it was great ... there were several catamarans sailing under the same brand name and some were definitely in better shape than others. Initially we were not overly impressed, the catamaran was in good shape but nothing special and we motored for probably 30-45 minutes along the coast. When the time came for the "snorkel" we basically parked about a half mile out from a beach and jumped in the water .... no reefs ... nothing special to see .... then out of the haze came turtles ... by the time we got back in the boat we had seen several schools of fish, 3 or 4 turtles that were happy to get up close and personal while being handfed, an octopus, couple of flounder, etc. So that actually turned out to be pretty awesome. The beach break consisted of pulling up to the beach that we were snorkeling at and strolling the sand for a bit (beautiful beach but not my thing) so I headed aboard and started the free drinks. Ended with a fantastic hour long sail back to the port with free flowing beverages and some great music.

You got it, that price is on top of the price you pay to eat a regular steak at Chops.

My opinions only but ... I think the new benefits are automatic for the cabins in question once they go into effect rather than being a "sale perk" that you have to book under the right sale to qualify for. I don't recall the effective date but I am pretty sure it was well before December so you should be good. The drink cards seem to be part of a fleet wide alcohol program experiment that RCI is conducting, reports have them appearing and disappearing on different ships at different $ amounts. The best advice at present seems to be don't count on seeing them but they might do them on your cruise.

Havent done Oasis but have done Allure, I don't recall there being any screens up on the main pool deck just the Aquatheatre ones you referred to.

My parents indicated they could hear the music clearly for the 80's night party and other theme events like that. If you are up and at said events, it was fine the rest of the time, if you hope to sleep at the time of those events it might be an issue. Regular background music was not audible in the room.

I would think it is one or the other ... if they "match" the lower fare you found then there is no longer a lower fare that they would owe you 110% of (not saying I agree or believe that to be correct, but would be shocked if that's not the way the lawyers would argue it). If for whatever reason they did not match it then you would be owed the difference as OBC. There is language in the fine print about "the new lower rate must be one that the reservation would be eligible to receive", which I would think is where the legal weasel speak would start to come into play on, the new deal has no OBC so you have to forfeit the old OBC in order to get the 110% OBC. Just my non lawyer opinions but I think they are likely to dig in on match the deal or have the new OBC and forfeit the old OBC ... wonder if you get the new OBC and then ask for a price match in a couple of days as well .... they might miss that trick given their crack IT skills :)

I am hoping to get a decent deal on JetBlue/Southwest direct TPA to SJU, not available yet though for November :(

Only done Thanksgiving (6 or 7 in a row now though) and we enjoy it ... you usually get the Christmas decorations up for the end of the week as well so you get to see the ships dressed for the season as well as enjoying the holiday without cooking and cleaning. bcarney, which airlines have airfares out for Thanksgiving already? Waiting on JetBlue/Southwest who both have direct flights to PR to roll their schedule forward.

To give RCI credit the price on my next RCI cruise did go down almost $40 from Friday to today .... of course it is still over $1000 higher than when I booked it about 11 months ago so I think I will pass on the rebook option :)

2 at sorrentos and 1 or 2 up in the windjammer IIRC

My son was lucky enough to start cruising at the same time as we did, so we all made Diamond together last time out.

Marc, your right, I meant to say when it first started they did NOT jack up the prices. I like you repriced everything I had and got good deals, everything since then has been jacked up :)

We did the JS and so had the silver one time .... didn't even realize it was a different color and that the color meant anything until 2 years later when we were flipping through old cruise cards and couldn't figure out why one was not like the others !!

Marc, I am with you. Somewhat nervous to see how high the prices are going to be but hoping the 30% deal makes it palatable. Its been over a year since I last booked an RCI cruise .... I keep looking, just cant find anything that I can justify to myself when I look at alternatives. Looking for Harmony for Thanksgiving week ... have a large group of people that "might" be interested after some of them did Freedom last Thanksgiving with us but it is going to be very dependent on the price level. In regards to pricing ... it was very transparent when they started the BOGO nonsense that they jacked up the base prices to make it work. Many of us that had existing reservations got great deals from the sale in the first couple of weeks. The sale has been running for almost 2 years so at this point I don't think they are jacking them up again ... they are still jacked up from 2 years ago :) The 30% deal may save you a few bucks it may not , as Matt said assuming you are booking under US rules where everything is refundable ... book now and if the price goes down on Monday have them adjust your reservation to the new price. With the deposits being refundable (under US rules) you should always make the reservation you think you want as soon as you can afford the deposit (the day the cruise is released for me) and then hold it until you decide you want to go or not. If the price does drop you can take advantage of it, if it does not and you aren't comfortable with the price you can cancel it and get your deposit back. I had two cruises deposited for Springbreak 2015, took one, cancelled the other. Two for Thanksgiving 2015, took one, cancelled the other. Two for Springbreak 2016, cancelled the RCI option, will be on NCL Escape next month. Two for Thanksgivng 2016, cancelled NCL Escape, will be on Adventure OTS. Currently have two for Springbreak 2017, expecting to cancel Brilliance and sail on Carnival Vista but holding off on making that decision until we try Vista this summer. Looking to book Harmony for Thanksgiving 2017 ... haven't decided on a second option yet, depending on how I like Escape next month it might be an NCL product (this will be my first time on NCL).

Last couple of times out we have noticed that the menus are a) smaller and b) don't include prices. I have had the same drink at the same bar priced differently never mind different bars on the same ship really never mind a different ship. One of those minor annoyances ... not only do you not know the price you are going to pay for something until after you get it, you also get to pay the mandatory 18% gratuity on it :)

Sort of .... Rules vary by country but under the US booking rules, up until final payment date if you see a better price you can get the new deal (in essence cancel and rebook under the new deal without forfeiting any deposits). They will not contact you to volunteer but if you see a better price/deal they will honor it. NOTE: The total deal changes not just the base fare, so if for example you booked a cabin for $2000 with a $400 OBC and now you saw the same cabin for $1800 with $0 OBC, you CANNOT get the $1800 price and keep your previous OBC, you have to take the whole deal. So in this example you would not want to switch because you lose more OBC than you save. Its not really a low price guarantee its just the fact that all deposits on Royal (under US rules) are refundable until final payment date so they really cant stop you from cancelling your old deal and rebooking the new deal. After final payment you can sometimes get an upgraded cabin if the upgrade falls below what you paid for your cabin, not as flexible though.

And I will one up Doc by saying I no longer even bother with the tie. My wife informed me she doesn't mind if I don't, so I don't.

1 out of 2, we were headed to the eastern Caribbean on freedom so it just became a sea day, don't recall if they "upped" the onboard program or not

Yes, unfortunately (or fortunately in some circumstances) the UK rules on changes and deposits are different than the US ones.

No, they have an RFID chip in them that is activate for the cruise. The cup will not register as "valid" on a future cruise .... technically on a back to back cruise you could probably do it as they seem to activate them for a longer period than just your cruise, but not on a future cruise.

The option still exists (last time I looked in November) but the OBC is almost zero so the only benefit is a low deposit that can be used on a future sailing if/when you are ready.

I believe there are robes and towels available for purchase through the "gifts" menu on the RCI website .... not sure that you would want to buy the "used" ones off the ship but imagine they have new ones available through one of the gift stores if you wanted. The pool towels walk off pretty regularly which is why they go back and forth on tracking them when you check them out or not, again doubt you could officially buy a used one but in all likelihood if one fell in your bag no one would ever say anything (not encouraging the behavior just stating an opinion). The robes always seems to be in short supply (at least I always have to ask for them to scrounge up some for us) so I think those would probably be noticed more quickly if they disappeared.

Beers are around the $5.75 price except for 1-2 big can/high dollar items (Chimay, etc.) My wifes margaritas and frozen drinks are around the $12 mark.

No, on Royal each person can choose the package (or not to have a package) of their choice. So one of you might be partial to cocktails and want the Ultimate, where the other might only want the soda package (Refresh) or choose not to have a package and just pay a la carte as you want something to do drink.

for similar money i would take the ocean view. If you think watching the aqua show / activity on the boardwalk and the new boardwalk perks are valuable to you then its not a bad choice to stay where you are.