L454S

Have never gotten any funds back after final payment. Only the upgrade, either for more money or because the higher class had come down lower than my booking.

After final payment, RCI will not be refunding any money for changes or upgrades. We have upgraded to a higher class cabin and paid the difference(they WILL take more money). If you have an inside cabin and the ocean view cabins come down in price to or below the price you paid, you can get the upgrade to the better cabin. BUT, if it is a lower price than what you paid, there is NO refund. The last time we did this was a couple weeks ago. Had an E(small/7654) class balcony cabin on the Serenade. A week before sailing, an AFT D Class(large/7174) balcony cabin came available for less than we had paid. We called and were upgraded at no charge. BUT, no refund for the overage.

All these answers are relevant up until final payment. I have called many times for price reductions and gotten them without problems. Just call your T/A or Royal Carib. directly if you booked with them. After that there are different procedures.

Your "auto" gratuities will automatically be added to your account(13.50 per person, per day). You don't have to pay any other tips. No laundry facilities I am familiar with. You can have some laundry done for a fee(ask your cabin attendant). 23 days is doable without laundry issues. The Windjammer is good, I like the Main Dining room better, especially for dinner. You have mentioned the biggest extra expenses already(booze and specialty dining)

You can request a particular table at 6:30, but if it is taken by another earlier seating, you will have to choose another or wait. I guess it depends how many show up for the early seatings(prior to 6:30). I enjoy having the same wait staff for the whole cruise. When you show up at the hostess station at 6:30 you can ask for the same wait staff even if the particular table you want is taken. You might be seated at a different table in their section.

We tend to use MTD like a personal fixed seating. Make our online reservations in MTD for the same time every day. After boarding we go to the dining room and pick out a nice table for 2 that we like and ask the hostess for that table. If we like it on the first night( service, etc.), we just ask the hostess to make it the same for the cruise. This may be harder to do for seatings about 7PM. Generally, a lot of the early diners are still there, so a lot of the tables are occupied. I find a little flexibility helps. This works well for early seatings, not sure about later(8PM on)

Not sure about the commerce laws/rules involved, but I know the rules are different for people in Britain than in the US. I have done what you are attempting to do without issue.

Things seem to be changing and updating almost by the hour as new arrangements are made by airlines, ports, RCI, cities, suppliers, etc.......All you can do is wait for the latest news or announcements. All the lines are doing the same.

On the last T/A on Rhapsody, we actually had "decent" wifi while crossing. Actually got a bit worse in the Mediterranean. We could make wifi phone calls home and such.

This is what we(and others behind us) were wearing last time.

Very true, these are repositioning cruises. In April(usually) RCI's Mediterranean/ Northern Europe ships all sail over(Eastbound) for the summer and then reverse the procedure in the fall(Sept. and Oct., Westbound) usually. We love these sailings, some have many port stops, some have few. I can see how not everybody would be thrilled with 7 or 8 sea days in a row. I guess you would need to try one. They are usually less expensive per day and the overseas flights with Air2Sea are very reasonable. Next month we fly from New Orleans to London for $313 PP for the Independence T/A. I can't buy domestic flights for that kind of money.

The food would be the same on most RCI ships. Have tried Giovanni's on several ships and they are VERY similar. Same goes for Chops. The MDR has been the same to me for just about all my RCI sailings(little change here and there). Oasis and Quantum class ships have a lot more bells and whistles(shows and activities) than the smaller class ships. We have tried the larger ships, still prefer the smaller ones. Give Oasis class a try, sounds like what you are describing.

This is very typical of RCI. We wanted connecting rooms last year and none showed available on RCI site. We called RCI and they said they had plenty.....go figure. Now we just call, sometimes you can't even trust the OTHER websites to be in sync with RCI.

Giovannis at $21 is better than we were ever offered onboard. Ordered a couple for the Indy T/A coming up.

Tried Princess for a few years, enjoyed their sailings very much. Lately, we tried MSC Divina and liked it enough to book the new Seaside this January. If RCI doesn't drop the ball, so to speak, we will stay mainly with them. However, for the right itinerary and price, you never know.

Agree about the crowded feeling. Been on several ships and that was the only RCI ship that felt this way. Even the Allure did not give me that sardine feeling. The elevators were a nightmare, one centrum unit was inoperable all cruise long. You wouldn't think one elevator could make such a difference. Evidently from other replies, that one elevator would not have relieved the crowds at the elevators.

Arebee has given the answer that works for me. I have tried clearing cookies, cache, and tried using Firefox, Safari, etc.. Nothing worked till I was once told to try clicking top left "file" and then "open new private window". Use this as normal and no problems. I know what I wrote here is for Mac, but have heard same results in Windows.

Yup, I call it the sale dujour. Once in a while, you will see a price drop, usually cost goes up. Just like all the other marketing schemes from the other cruise companies. Seems people love to see a SALE going on.

Spent 9 days in the starboard corner aft(7388) on Navigator a few months ago, no problems at all. BIL and SIL in cabin 7390 next door had no problems either.

Best yet was the entire westbound transatlantic cruise from Copenhagen to Boston. Norway was great, but 4 days and 3 ports in Iceland was so different from other places we had been. Would do that sailing again in a heartbeat. The Serenade was on top of their game. Great room steward, wait staff, etc.......Everything was just right.

I find it to be good, and yes it is "brewed" coffee as opposed to Princess who were using the coffee syrup to make a pot. I find it stronger at different hours and venues, but still to my liking.

No laundry facilities onboard. Number of luggage bags depends on how light you can travel. We can easily make it with 3 checked and 2 carry-ons. Just did 23 days with that much. Oh, and take care of the ship for me, I will be on it for the return sailing from Amsterdam to US in September 2018......

If the "mega store is in town, it would depend on which dock your ship uses. When we have been, Royal Caribbean ships dock a good ways south of town. We walked it once, it's a long way. Take the cab as posted above into town. I think it was Norwegian and a couple others that docked "in town" within walking distance.

Done FLL with a 9:55AM flight with no problems recently. Did the self disembark, and was standing at the gate just after 8AM.

We just stayed in the Hotel Ala for a couple days after departing the Rhapsody. Can recommend it highly. Hotels are all over, and no cars or transport. Some are on the Grand Canal and cost more. We picked what we did as a mix of location/price/reviews. Hotel Ala is about 50 yard walk from the Vaporetto stop. As mentioned above, try not to schlep bags too far from the only transport on the island(Vaporetto). Venice is not that big, but it gets BIGGER carrying bags. Most hotels will let you stow your luggage there if you arrive early. We got to the hotel at about 9AM after disembarking, left the bags and off we went. The main Vaporetto terminal(closest to ship) is still a long way to carry bags. Take the people mover(tram) for a couple bucks. This will put you closer for the shortest walk to the ship.