JLMoran

Interesting. I wonder if those are possible new names for ships in the Edge class.

Why does this site named Cruise Law News read like a supermarket tabloid? I'm not saying it didn't happen or that it wasn't as bad as portrayed, but for a site that you'd rightfully take from the title to be about laws as they apply to cruise lines and probably a lot of "current events" discussion around new and existing lawsuits, questions of how some law may apply to this unusual circumstance that just hit ship X, etc.; it sure does take a sensationalist tone.

Thanks, @Sweety! Glad you're willing to fall on that sword for me! ?

OK, this is starting to make some more sense. Others have reported seeing a bump in both Deluxe pkg and VOOM prices for their 2019 sailings on other ships, so probably part of an overall increase fleet-wide. 30% off sales on the drink packages don't seem to appear until around 120 days out, maybe as far as 150 depending on the sailing. So you may want to re-check around October through December, although something could show as early as the Labor Day sale.

Yup, during a "non-sale" period I've observed that the combined package is often better than the separate purchase. The problem comes when the big sales around Memorial Day, July 4, Labor Day, etc. come along. What seems to happen then is that the beverage package will drop to $42 or $43 per night and the 1-device VOOM will drop down to between $11 and $14 per night, but the combined package doesn't move in sync and often stays at the exact same price or only a dollar or two less. This is why I ended up not getting a combo on either my last cruise or the one coming up -- I got the good drink package sale that just doesn't make the combo as cost effective. If the combined package is the better deal right now (and by a significant margin from what you're seeing), I would say buy two of those for now if you want some price lock-in and your budget allows it. Then keep monitoring the prices as sales come and go, and be ready to cancel the combo package and switch to two deluxe with one 2-device package if the price math shifts in your favor. By the way, when is your sailing and on which ship? That VOOM pricing you quoted is much higher than what I'm seeing for Anthem in October of this year, by about $5 per night for the 1-device plan and $9 per night for the 2-device plan. Combo plan is also five bucks more per night than I'm seeing. Just did my daily price check while also looking for CK and entertainment reservation availability.

Following! Have a great trip, and very happy Father's Day! I agree with @Lovetocruise2002, embarkation on a family cruise is an awesome way to celebrate it!

Wow, that's not good. If even traditional dining is getting slammed then I'd think that Royal needs to hire more staff to better manage the larger dining crowds (even though that will itself lead to some extra traffic in the MDR), and/or do some major reworking of the table layouts to allow better flow for both passengers and wait staff. Of course, if this all ties in with the theories others here have posited about Royal wanting to drive people to specialty dining, well... I guess it's time to put the tinfoil hat back on. ?

Out of curiosity, did you happen to throw an extra tip when you ordered? Like having a dollar bill or two wrapped around the card when you handed it over? I've heard / read doing things like that goes a long way with bar service to getting better treatment from the staff for things like a stronger drink, or them making sure to remember your favorites or standards; wouldn't surprise to find that also leads to a little bending of the rules around punches on the coffee card.

I had a similar experience on Freedom. We tried to watch The Greatest Showman (D17 absolutely loves that movie and its soundtrack), and by the time we got there a little after it started, the only available seats were ones where the view was partially to severely blocked by the massive pillars that rise up from the pool deck and just serve as decoration. Had we arrived earlier we could have gotten a better view, but we had to settle for either a blocked view or standing next to the stairs on the upper sun deck to have anything resembling a clear view of the screen.

Thanks for the review, and very sorry that after the prior overall good experiences you had one with so many negatives, almost all due to the increased crowds. It's possible this is in part because the ship was just refurbished and everyone is excited to try all the new things, but I can see where adding another 500 passengers to the ship will definitely contribute to an overall crowding problem. Especially for the sun loungers. I'm curious to know if you did MyTime Dining or traditional. From multiple posts here over the last few months, it does seem that MTD is becoming less and less of a good experience due to the overworking of the waiters and the general crowding. If this was a problem with traditional dining, that would be a very bad harbinger of things to come.

Welcome aboard, @SorsCode, and happ Fathers Day!

Just got a reply from Heather. She confirmed even she's not seeing the JS rooms when she looks, so it does indeed appear they're sold out (barring something like some other TA's holding a block of them until close to final payment date). She's going to watch the GS prices for me and let me know if any sweet opportunities show up.

I was just on Freedom a few months ago. She's very slightly larger than Adventure, so I'd say comparable. The only time we felt any motion was on the first two days, when the ship was going full-tilt at 17 or 18 knots and we also had some really strong headwinds. Then we'd feel the ship rocking ever so slightly, mostly at night when we went to bed as we were in a center-of-forward cabin on deck 8. It was a little disconcerting at first, but we got used to it quickly. Once the ship slowed down for port days, the rocking went away entirely. Only my younger daughter got any seasickness, and that was after going to the Windjammer for lunch on our second sea day and sitting all the way aft, where the motion was the most pronounced. That required some Bonine to clear it out, but otherwise she was fine and the rest of us never even got to that point. Since you're sailing in the summer months, the seas in the NJ area should be OK. No guarantees, of course, but definitely calmer than what you could find in the fall or winter months when Anthem is still making the rounds.

The "Flight of the Snowbird" itinerary? That looked awesome from what I could see when I was looking Canada / NE options. Wouldn't at all mind sailing that one, but have to wait until I have a budget that will allow for two one-way flights.

I just had a pin show up for me on Pinterest that gives this guide to the Royal Naval Dockyard. It looks like this port village is a lot different than what we found standard in the Caribbean, as there is the Museum of Bermuda, a dolphin center adjacent to that, a craft market and arts center, a glassworks, and a lot more! We have a tradition in our family of buying a Christmas tree ornament from every place we visit for vacations, and I also like to pick up artwork from time to time as our vacation budget allows, as the walls of our house are still kind of on the bare side, even 20 years later, and most of the artwork we have hung up is from places we've traveled to. @WAAAYTOOO, @coneyraven, or anyone else who's been there recently -- how are those two stores as far as the quality of what's offered and the pricing? Is it the usual ridiculous markup and we'd still be better served finding a place in Hamilton or St. George or elsewhere? Is there haggling at these stores in the Royal Naval Dockyard, or are the prices fixed? Since the description of these places says that everything is made by locals, I'm assuming it won't be the sort of stuff I'll find in any other port or back at home, but I'd still rather not overpay if it can be avoided. Also, will these places ship to my home address, and if yes are the prices usually reasonable? If I happened to purchase some piece of artwork that was large and/or fragile, I'd rather not have to try and lug that off the ship along with our luggage, or risk breaking it in transit back to the ship from port, or going from the ship back to the parking garage.

@Th3CruiseGuru, do be aware that buying two of the Deluxe + VOOM packages may not be as cost effective as buying two Deluxe packages and then a single two-device VOOM plan. Since you can share the code for the 2-device plan with anyone you wish, if each of you is using only one device then this might be a better option. I've repeatedly priced out the combo package vs. whatever current sale price is offered for Deluxe and 2-device separately, and I've yet to see the combo sold for a better combined rate than buying the two separately. In fact, on most of the "deeper discount" sales for the drink package, getting the combo would have been more expensive even if I just bought for myself vs. getting the deluxe package and single-device VOOM! As with most things on the Cruise Planner, gotta be prepared to track the prices and do some math here and there. ?

Alternate restaurant, off the touristy path -- Tropical Taste. Was just there this past April and loved the place. Tucked away in the back of a gift shop, a few minutes walk from the pigeon park that's close to the pier area. Apologies that I can't give an exact address, we stumbled across it while being guided through Old San Juan by a friend of my daughters and searching for a non-touristy spot to have lunch. Great conch if you want to try something different, and fantastic mojitos.

Just emailed Heather and asked her if she can keep an eye out. Gotta be in it to win it!

Thanks, Matt. Yeah, I'm not about to hold my breath with the way prices are not going down any more at any time. But I figure if I don't ask, I won't even get a chance at hitting the lottery! ?

So I saw there was a new Father's Day promo going, and of course that meant checking the latest prices on JS rooms for my October 13 Anthem sailing. And things have taken another interesting turn. About a 6 to 8 weeks ago, I stopped seeing direct JS room bookings and only saw JS guarantee rooms available. As of today, that is now gone and the cheapest suite option is a Grand Suite - 1 BR guarantee (for just over $2,000 per person). I saw this both when logged in to the site and when using a Private Browsing tab in Firefox. I guess this means all the JS rooms are now sold out? Zero chance of me getting any further price adjustments? And the other question -- if this means they're short on bookings for those GS rooms, should I ask my TA to start watching for any big dips in the price of those rooms? There's no way I could swing grabbing one of those guarantee rooms, that would bump up my booking price by 40% when I'm a month away from final payment. But maybe they'll have some actual deep discounts in just under 30 days if the inventory hasn't sold? If I could go from JS to GS for a couple hundred or even less and get the true suite experience, that would be... well, sweet!

@Razerbkfan, can't you also order soda at the bars even on the ships with Freestyle machines? Otherwise it would be hard to get any kind of soda if you hadn't bought a package and didn't have the required cup with the RFID chip in it.

I seem to remember @twangster mentioning it a while back, could have been another member of the site. I mean, you can get rum & Coke or a Seven & 7 at the bar, so can't see why they wouldn't just serve the Coke or 7-Up part by itself. ?

I'm guessing that's the price for fountain soda from one of the bars, not canned soda.

Should also note there will be a laundry bag provided to you on embarkation day for things like getting your suit pressed if you need it. But that's most definitely not any kind of special pricing, and as I recall it got pretty expensive pretty quickly if you needed more than a handful of things done. Something like $2 or $3 for a pair of socks or undergarments, $5 or $6 for a t-shirt, and around $10+ for a pair of pants. At least the suit pressing was reasonable at 10 bucks. ?

Or Park Café! ?