coneyraven

Grandeur of the Seas ---- September 24th 2016

My wife and I are sailing on Grandeur to Bermuda out of Baltimore with our teen granddaughters. We are driving from NJ to the terminal and the girls will be arriving in a different car as neither car is large enough for all four bags. Where is a good place to meet up with them in the terminal area so we can check bags and board together as we will have the travel docs with us? We have never sailed out of Baltimore before so we don't know the territory. Thanks!

It's an open parking lot at the terminal, and from what I've noticed, it's never completely filled so meeting in the parking lot itself is probably the easiest way.  You're going to love this, the port is right along I-95 just SOUTH of the Ft. McHenry Tunnel .... I know for Northbound I-95, I look for McComas St (not sure about southbound what the signage says) --- The Port of Baltimore Signage along I-95 is GREAT, you should have no problems..... When is your cruise?  My wife and I have one booked to Bermuda later this year.  This will also be her first (my third).

Have Fun

Well, there is not a penalty to upgrade...there is a penalty to cancelling (after the final due date).

 

When you "take advantage" of a price change, you are basically rebooking your cruise.  So, if you want to take advantage of a price reduction after final payment, you can certainly do that...but you must also consider the fact that you will be cancelling your original booking and rebooking with this new, lower fare.  Part of the cancellation of your original booking will be the penalty that you will pay b/c your final payment date has passed.  That penalty varies depending upon how far past your final payment date you are.

 

SOMEtimes (but rarely) the price reduction is SO great that it outweighs the cost of the cancellation penalty...and so there is a net benefit to doing it but that is normally not the case.

 

You also have to consider whether there is any OBC or other incentives/promotions that you might lose if you rebooked at a lower rate.  If you have OBC that was part of your original pricing, you would lose that as well as pay the cancellation fee.  Your rebooked reservation would include any promotions/incentives that are part of the conditions of your new booking.  So occasionally, if the new price is seriously low and there are attached incentives or promotions associated with the new price, you will benefit from rebooking even if you have to pay the cancellation fee associated with the original booking...

 

...but Royal Caribbean knows what it's doing.  It will RARELY create a condition where the customer will benefit from ditching the original reservation and booking a new one.  If they got into the business of doing that, they would have a paperwork and scheduling nightmare on their hands with people cancelling and rebooking close to the sail date...and they do NOT want that.  That is entirely the reason that they have the cancellation fees to begin with.  They need a reliable prediction of who is going to be on each sailing well in advance so they know how to provision supplies and manpower.

 

It is rarely beneficial to cancel and rebook after your final payment date.

So very true ..... I work at our local newspaper, many forget that we are a "For Profit" Business.

And yes, Funny Man Matt, I doubt they would ever decline additional $$$'s coming their way ..... Just checking.... I'm binge listening to your podcasts and your Episode 71 about ways to save really opened up my eyes --- Thank You (I'm on #80 now and working my way up)

Thanks guys

Very interesting, My final payment date isn't until July so there is plenty of time to stack on some savings..... Question though, someone referenced above a penalty to change after the final payment date, then Matt references upgrading the cabin..... is there a penalty with cabin upgrades after final payment?  This will be my wife's first cruise and she's the money manager of the household (and that's a VERY good thing) so we went the least expensive route with an inside cabin.  I would love to surprise her with an unexpected upgrade without an unexpected expense.