smpoole813

I am booked on Harmony in October and still 176 days to go before sailing, and yesterday my OBC was loaded and I was able to reserve all entertainment (Grease, The Fine Line etc). Activities such as sushi-making and Dreamworks breakfast have been available for a while, but yesterday I was also able to book the Rubicon Escape room, which hadn't previously been available. I was surprised to say the least, but was happy to get all my reservations made. Still not able to reserve any specialty restaurants at this time.

Hi everyone, So I also have a question regarding the OBC. Do you need to have the points earned prior to final payment or only prior to the sailing. I was thinking of applying for an RCCL visa simply for the purpose of the OBC. I am sailing in October. I won't have a problem making the required amount of purchase in the 3 month time frame stipulated in the card conditions but possibly won't prior to July 16th when final payment is due. Will that matter, does anyone know? I did try calling the 800 number but the young lady with whom I spoke had a thick accent and seemed to answer conflicting questions with the same answer which had me confused. Plus she was saying a whole of 'I think' and 'I believe'....

Thanks everyone.

I was on Liberty of the seas in August and they showed Star Wars The Force awakens (the 2015 one that reunited Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher) in 3D in the main theatre. I realize this is not the most recent movie (Rogue One).

I have pre-purchased drink packages for my Oct 2017 Harmony OTS cruise. I was looking at the FAQ on the RC website and it states this: Q: In which venues will the all-inclusive beverage packages be honored? A: The beverage packages are honored at any of our bars or lounges, Windjammer Café, Main Dining Room, and our private destinations during normal business hours. Room service and minibar are not included. So does that mean that if you go to a specialty restaurant that you have to pay additional for your drinks? The answer above is very specific about mentioning the Windjammer, MDR and private islands but doesn't mention specialty restaurants which sort of implies, to me, that they are not covered there. :( On the other hand it is also very specific about mentioning Room service and minibars are not included and doesn't mention specialty restaurants in their 'not included' list either. So...??? :unsure:

I just saw this thread and was checking out BPC on-line. If I used them to book the same cruise I've already booked directly with RCCL the price comes out $393 cheaper ($54 less pp, plus no additional $98 for a mid-ship room plus they pay the $189 gratuities) . However the RCCL price included $100 OBC but, even by forfeiting that, I would still be $293 ahead. I have yet to find out about their cancellation policies but now I'm wondering whether this is something I should jump on. I think it would negate me being able to see if RCCL drops the price significantly before the final payment is due. This is for an Oct 2017 sail date on Harmony of the seas, ocean balcony room. I wonder if I should gamble on the company being legitimate and also on the fact that RCCL won't drop the fare price by more than the current savings in the next year. Hmmmmmm!!!

Thanks everyone, I'm located in the Houston area. I did apply for a quote using the sponser agency travel service that Matt mentioned. The rates she quoted me were identical to what I could book myself. I'm still not sure if this is the way to go though <_< My concern is that a sale will come up over the weekend and the TA won't see it and I won't be able to take advantage. Last Spring this happened. I had a cruise booked and there was a 48 hour deal that ended Sunday night and it saved me $200 per person. I'm assuming that a TA would only be working M-F. We'll see. I'll ask her some more questions. ^_^

Thank you for the responses. So my follow up question is - does it need to be someone local to me or is a long distance relationship just the same too. I'm wondering how to find the best one. Cheers.

Hi everyone, Does anyone use a travel agent? Do you think it's better and how would it benefit me? There is a WOW sale on right now and I'm wondering if booking by myself vs. using a TA has any advantage! Don't you end up paying more since the agent needs to get something out of it too? How does one find a good travel agent for RCCL cruises - does RC have approved agents they recommend or should I be shopping locally? Thanks :)

Woohoo! Thanks Matt, Michael A and everyone else for your input. I'm sure I'm going to have fun regardless :) Eleven more days :D

Okay, I'd like to preface this by saying that I'm not an alcoholic - I'm travelling on LOTS in August with my 7 y.o. daughter and have no intention of getting the drink package or really even drinking if I have to pay for it (going to take my 2 allotted bottles of wine though :D ). Anyway, I was looking through some old cruise compasses and saw where there were events such as Champagne meet and greet, or tequila tasting etc. Are those for certain RCCL members only (e.g. Diamond Plus) or do they cost additional? I'm not planning on spending money for drinks but I'm not opposed to grabbing a free glass of something while on-board if it's being offered :rolleyes: So.....are there opportunities for having a little drink without it costing? Thanks :)

Hi there, My teenage son has dress pants, shirt, tie and shoes but it turns out that his suit jacket is now too small. Will he be required to wear a jacket for formal nights in the MDR? I don't want the embarrassment of being turned away. Also, I'm a little unclear as to what casual nights attire is for teenagers in the MDR - will he and his friend be allowed to wear knee length shorts and tee-shirts (clean and plain, i.e. no graphics or slogans)? Are sandals allowed? Tennis shoes? Thanks in advance for any advice :)

Hi everyone, I was wondering how early you get the cruise compass. When you board do you have the entire week's compass available or is it issued each day? I want to be able to plan ahead as much as possible, especially when coordinating a couple of activities that I want my 17 year old son to join me on, but if we can't view the compass until each morning he'll still be asleep and it will be hard to plan. I would hope that it would at least be available each evening before so you can take a look and see what you want to do for the next day. Thanks everyone, :)

One other thing to remember is that you must be boarded 90 minutes prior to departure or you won't be allowed on the ship. I'm leaving from Galveston in a couple of weeks and received word that our departure time had moved half an hour from 4:30pm to 4pm, which means we have to be on-board by 2:30pm. If, as a recent poster mentioned, the airport is only 30 minutes from the ship, I would hope that you will be well within the window. Good luck and have a lovely trip.

Hi, I'm going on my first cruise in a couple of weeks but have looked at online cruise compasses from past cruises that people have posted and for each day planner it says whether it's formal or casual attire. For 7 day cruises leaving on Sundays This seems to default to Monday and Friday being the formal nights. If you Google a cruise compass for your ship and itinerary you will be able to see. They don't seem to change that much from cruise to cruise.

Thanks for the replies. They are well behaved. I didn't go on the cruise last summer but did ask my son what they were doing at 1am and he said sitting looking at the stars and talking (although he did mention the ship causes a lot of light noise!). We'll see. I imagine they will get tired as the week wears on anyway.

Hi everyone, I will be travelling next month with two 17 year old boys (son and his best friend) on the Liberty of the Seas. My son was previously on a Carnival cruise (last summer). I mentioned to them that, according to what I've read, there is a 1am curfew for anyone 17 or younger and they both looked horrified. My son tells me that Carnival 'had' a curfew but it wasn't enforced if you weren't being obnoxious. Does anyone know how strict they are on LOS? Not that I want them running amok but I also don't want security nabbing them and knocking on my door with them at 1:30am each night; I'll be in my room relatively early each evening because I'm also travelling with my 7 year old daughter - so cannot be supervising the boys' every move. Thanks :)

How do you see the Cruise Compass for your upcoming trip? We sail August 14th on Liberty of the Sea - is that CC available somewhere? :)

That's the thing that I've been concerned about. I want to be able to Skype when on Liberty of the Seas in August. Has anyone sailed on the LOTS since it was 'upgraded' to VOOM in May? I'd love to hear your opinion.

Hello again, I've never been on a cruise and am booked on Liberty OTS in August. I was wondering how secure people have found the ships to be regarding leaving your cell phone/sea pass cards on a lounger while taking a dip for example. Also, I'm assuming there must be some form of security force on the ship -maybe US Marshalls like supposedly fly on aeroplanes? I would hope it's not commonplace but, with people possibly over-imbibing, I suppose it's not out of the realm of possibility that a bar room brawl could occur! <_< Do these ships have a brig? :P Also, should we expect to see visible guns on the ship - which I feel would detract from the feeling of being on a carefree vacation. I'm taking my 7 year old daughter and 17 year old son plus his 17 year old best friend on the cruise. I assume I will see little of the 2 boys and would like reassurance that everything is very civilized on board and also would like to know my items are most likely secure if I'm going down the slide with my 7 year old. A friend told me of a cruise (different cruise line) she went on years ago that seemed to have a lot of drunken behaviour on board and stuff being pinched from people's loungers :huh: Maybe that was because she went on a Spring Break cruise?? Thank you.

Hi everyone, I'm very new here - going on my first cruise in August on Liberty OTS. I purchased the online discounted VOOM package with the streaming video option but have yet to hear anyone talk about if/how well it's working on the LOTS at this time. I did see one message where someone posted that the VOOM in the Caribbean was somehow 'lesser' than the one offered on the East coast. Does anyone know if it is definitely up and running on the Liberty and how well it works? Also any more news on the Tidal Wave? Thank you in advance.