JLMoran

Oh! I thought part of the whole data system and web site rework was that all of the loyalty programs were being reworked, so each person had just one loyalty member ID and everything was unified. I guess Royal only cared about getting everyone down to a single ID across the lines, and not so much about one unified loyalty system. ??

Just back a few hours ago from our 5-night trip to Bermuda that @ellcee and @Broons77 were also on. I have a ton of photos to go through and edit, and I'm taking my older daughter to SUNY New Paltz tomorrow for a campus tour and maybe interview before she applies to transfer, so I probably won't be posting anything detailed before early next week or even next weekend. But here's a quick preamble of what, where, and why: This was a double surprise cruise for my wife and me. First surprise was that I even booked the thing, as we had only booked our cruise on Freedom in December 2016, still had nearly a year to go to sail that cruise, and here I was going and booking another one! Why? My wife had mentioned a while back that she's never been to Bermuda, so when I saw this itinerary I figured I'd jump on it. While we were "officially" declaring the cruise on Freedom as our 20th anniversary celebration, I wanted something for just the two of us where we could have a chance to reconnect over a few days. The second surprise, as most here have known for quite a long while now, is that when a BOGO 60 sale came along I upgraded us from a D2 Balcony cabin to a J4 Spa Junior Suite on deck 7. I managed to keep that secret until embarkation day, and I'll give the details about the reveal and reaction when I start making the real posts. You all already know from @ellcee's great live blog that this was a single-stop cruise to just Bermuda, nowhere else, with an overnight stay that gave us basically two full days on the island. Since we had free rein of the island for that whole time, we'd worked out a plan for what mattered most to us and when we'd try and see it: First port day – St. George, Crystal Cave and the nearby Swizzle Inn, and if time permitted, Hamilton Second port day – Horseshoe Bay Beach and the shops / sights around Royal Naval Dockyard In addition to our time in Bermuda, we made plans to check out the North Star and try out Ripcord by iFly, see all the on-board shows, and have dinner at Wonderland. We also wanted to buy the Thermal Spa package and have a chance to enjoy that throughout the trip. It was a pretty packed itinerary for a 5-night sailing; stay tuned to see how it all turned out!

Glad you had a great time, @ellcee! It was really nice meeting you, just for the validation that we're not all a bunch of bots! ?

And if you know what the word “otaku” means, then you’re automatically part of the core. ???

Looking forward to seeing you on board, @ellcee!

About 5 hours of sleep, woke up at 6:30

IT’S CRUISE DAY!!!! That’s all

Umm, well you’ll have to wait an additional 24 since we’re meeting on night 2, not night 1. ??

Casino Royale seems to give a standard 5% extra discount off the current promotional rate as soon as you get into the baseline tier (which basically happens as soon as you have earned just one point). I got that promo after my first cruise, and I've seen a couple of others here who had noted the same. Most likely this is what you've also been offered, but there should be a link in the email you got that provides the details.

Definitely gentler than what Anthem got to experience earlier this morning. Marine forecast where she was due to sail was showing ~50-70 mph winds and 20-30 foot seas for the morning hours, that would gradually ease up as the day went by. ? EDIT: Just saw that as of an hour ago she was hugging Cape Cod to avoid the worst of it and get back to NJ on time. MarineTraffic app shows her still slowly making her way around.

Oof, you'll just miss the Black Friday sale, then. Hopefully they'll have an internet package sale with one of those deep discounts in the next few weeks.

$18/day on Refreshment Package seems to be the lowest anyone has seen it in recent memory. Doesn't hurt to keep checking the price as the sales rotate through, but unless they find they're not selling enough of those packages I wouldn't expect it go any lower. The VOOM package is $15.99 per night, which is basically the "normal" rate. How far away is that cruise? The last month or two, Royal has been selling VOOM for 40-50% off onboard rates for close-in sailings, with a 1-device price of $11.99 per night on those promos. Definitely keep an eye out for that.

Oh lordy, don't I know it! Still haven't packed, have to do that tonight. Already decided with this being such a short cruise with only one formal night that I'm not packing my suit and dealing with getting it pressed this time. Good chinos, a nice button-down shirt, and maybe a tie will suffice this time around.

You have to go into the Cruise Planner and then just have your browser sitting there, not even reloading the page, for about 15 or 20 minutes until it triggers. I did that the other day while waiting for my wife to get home so I could ask her what time she preferred for Wonderland.

Add to that when you've been idle in the Cruise Planner, you get a warning that your session's about to expire, and if you don't continue it or explicitly use the "Exit and Save Cart" link, you won't be able to access the Cruise Planner for at least 15 minutes. ?

Typically, the adult version is done around / after 10 PM, while the family-friendly one will be earlier in the evening.

If you want to share your OJ with them in the morning and not get them a glass, then yourself a glass, that's fine. I think it would be declined if you asked for fresh squeezed OJ for the kids and yourself at the same time. Now, if you're in the Windjammer and not the MDR, there's a bit of a workaround that avoids the frowny-face. In WJ, you have to go to the bar yourself and request a glass of the OJ. So you could do that once for your kids, walk back to your table, wait a couple of minutes, and then walk back and ask for another. The guys manning the juicer won't be any the wiser, as far as they know you just guzzled that OJ and want another. As far as bottled water, you can get a bottle of water at the same time as another beverage (coffee, soda, etc.) with no problem. Not sure if you could get two bottles of water at once from the same venue, but if they declined you for that you could just go to two different venues, or do the same buy-and-wait-a-couple-minutes thing at the one venue.

First reaction when I read this was, "Wait, what?!?" Second reaction is to agree with @kontraxed, if the wedding planner doesn't know the answers, then his/her response should be, "I don't know but I am going to find out and get back to you ASAP." Isn't the job of a wedding planner to know the ins and outs of putting together a wedding in whatever situation the bride and groom are trying to arrange? Third reaction is that while a wedding planner isn't obligated to be contracted with a cruise line to be able to actually plan cruise weddings and get experience in that niche, it's not out of the realm of reason to think that if the cruise line is going to contract with a wedding planner, that they would interview and choose only wedding planners who have already gained some measure of experience. Maybe your friends' daughter should call Royal and ask for another planner who has experience with this? Weddings are stressful enough as it is without needing to worry about whether the person you've hired to manage the planning and coordination actually knows what they're doing.

It'll be here before you know it, @coneyraven! And look at it this way, you won't be wondering about whether a hurricane blowing through is going to get clear of the area in time for your ship to make it back to port when scheduled! (Yeah, I know for certain at this point it's not an issue, but Sunday through Tuesday had me glued to the NHC site for updates)

Booked the reservation for night 3, 7:30 PM. Exactly when the missus said she wanted. $49 per person standard rate; now just have to see if there are any in-port specials that night, and if so how they compare after tacking on gratuity.

Thanks for blogging, @WAAAYTOOO! And here you had doubts about how good a job of it you might do. ?

Ah, OK. Yes, Mama Mia will need reservations. If it's not in your Cruise Planner yet, just keep checking daily. It should show up soon. Still a little early yet, like @twangster said it's usually 60-90 days out.

Welcome to the boards, @Sioux Hockey! As @RatedPG noted, they show anywhere between 45 and 50 days before you sail date. In addition to getting them via email, you can get them directly on the web site. After you log in and your Dashboard loads, you can click the "View More Details" link in the lower left; doing that expands the section to show your room number and a link to your eDocuments once they become available.

For the Refreshment Package, the entire room does not have to order it if one person does. That only applies to the Deluxe Beverage Package. Be aware that the Refreshment Package only covers non-alcoholic drinks like soda, virgin cocktails, espresso-based coffee drinks, etc. These drinks will typically run between $4 and $7 each. Bottled water is about $2. You also get a refillable travel cup with the Refreshment Package that can be used at any of the ship's Freestyle soda machines; there are two in the Windjammer and one by Sorrento's Pizza on Freedom. Getting soda from these machines costs nothing extra, but they can only be used with the cups from the Refreshment Package as the cups have an RFID sensor that activates the machine. Alcoholic drinks typically run about $7 or $8 for a beer; $12 for a cocktail or mixed drink; and $13+ for a shot of your favorite spirit, a glass of wine at Vintages, or a cocktail made with a super-premium spirit. If you want a beverage package that covers alcoholic drinks, you'll need the Deluxe Beverage Package; many here have seen and purchased it as low at $42/day on recent sailings, but it typically ranges between $45 and $65 a day, depending on the specific sale that's going on, how far away from your cruise date, etc. The Deluxe Package will cover all beverages, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic, up to $12 per drink on Freedom. If a drink costs more than $12, you just pay the difference.

Just to add a couple of concrete examples of places you almost certainly can get a quiet spot to relax and have a drink: Go to Vintages. Yes, they serve only wine, but there is nothing stopping you from getting a drink at another bar that's to your liking, then going over to Vintages and taking a seat inside while you relax, read a book, people watch, or whatever (maybe even chat up the staff and try a few new wines!). When I was on sister ship Freedom this past April, Vintages could always be counted on to be relatively empty and quiet, even though it's right in the middle of the Promenade. Another surprising place that I found on Freedom, which should also be there on Indy even after her refurb, is on the pool deck (deck 11). Go into the Solarium on the starboard (right) side, and go by the door leading to the elevator bank; you'll see another mostly-glass door by the side of the ship, which opens onto a long hallway with a bunch of loungers and another door at the far end that goes into the gym. That hallway was almost always empty and quiet, and had a great view of the ocean; I spent an entire afternoon there one of our sea days, enjoying a couple of drinks and going through the photos I'd taken in port. There were plenty more, but those are the two that immediately pop into my head. If you just wander around the ship and open random doors, you'll be surprised at the little nooks and interesting bits you'll find.