JLMoran

Ummm, if someone needs to buy luggage when they're already at the airport then I kind of feel like they're doing it wrong. ?
Have a blast! Remember, no matter where you are, it's 5 o'clock somewhere! ?

Its quite simple, the cost for for the UDP for Symphony and Harmony was 29 $ per day ,I guess RC decided that all OASIS ships will be the same so 29*7 is 203 ,but 200 dose not looks good therefore 199 ... Only one hundred and not  two ?
Now , while its very easy to change the price in the system   - change is being made in the product catalog or some pricing reference tables and just waiting for the next automatic update,  the picture change (where you see the 24 $) is much more complicate :
First the marketing need to approach the IT to change it , IT will tell marketing its a design change so it should go to another division, the other division will send it to the graphic department which will reject the request since they just had a downsizing and the person who was in charge on pricing pictures was  fired a  week before.  After some discussion they will decide to take a contractor for this work , it will be the same person that was just fired but now he will be hire as contractor paying him 200% of his previous  salary. He will do his job and change the picture pricing to 29 PP. The picture will be sent to marketing branding group for approval , the person that need to approve it will reject it saying the price Icon is too red which contradict the new brand color pallet which changed  few days ago (actually, no much changed done but its a good for job security for such divisions). The graphic department will get back the picture, they will hold it for three days and send back the same exact picture , this time the brand group will approve it. Next marketing will send it to IT to upload to the site , IT will try to upload it on the next maintenance window just to see they do not have enough disk space as someone forgot to compress the picture , as the maintenance window will already pass it will wait for the next one. On the next window it will be uploaded and everyone will be happy , the only problem will be  once when people go to the site they will still see the 24 $ picture , yes , someone forgot to refresh the cache , oh well it can wait for another window. when it finally it will be fixed , RC will find out a drop in UDP purchasing and ask to rollback the change. 
So now you see , why its 199 in the price and still 24 in the picture ?   

In July of 2017 we were on Oasis with some friends and decided to book Symphony for December 8 (just over a week away).  We did at Next Cruise, both parties booked a balcony, rooms next to each other but different reservation.  In the last few months we have done the typical reservations for entertainment etc., all was good.  A few days ago we had to drop my wife from reservation due to a new job, but my self, and son(7) were still going as well as 2 other cabins of friends on different reservations.  After they dropped my wife, I verified all our reservations, excursions, and all was good.  I did online checkin with me and my son, and printed tags and passes.
This morning I log on to reserve hibachi for the 6 of us, but my cruise doesn't show up.  I wasn't worried, figured it was a glitch, but shot my TA an email anyway.  He responds that Royal canceled our entire reservation some time late yesterday or early this morning!  Thankfully John at MEI travel has been working on it hard today, but the original room is gone.  They had us on deck 3 from a while, and now deck 14, but the rest of our group is on 9.  It is so frustrating because with my wife not joining us, I was counting on our friends helping with our son a little bit so I could go on a morning run etc.  Plus just the logistics of us being spread across the ship and keeping in touch.  Is much easier when you are next door and a couple doors down.  
I just don't see how this can happen, especially since I was checked in, and everything was set to go.  I received notification when my wife was dropped from reservation, but not that it was later canceled.  Anyone have any connections with management that I can complain to?  I am just thankful we have a TA to deal with this, but doubt anyone at RC really cares how this changes the logistics for our party on this cruise.  
Thanks guys, just needed to vent to people who will understand my frustration.
Scott

To clarify -- the prices listed for dining packages before adding them to your cart already have gratuity included. Drink packages, on the other hand, only show the base per-day rate without any gratuity until after you add them to your cart; when you go to check out, the gratuity is then calculated and the final total for those package purchases is shown before you give your credit card info.
I don't really get why Royal doesn't just show the drink package price with the gratuity tacked on up front like they do for the dining packages. Yes, the price you see before throwing it in your cart will be higher, but at least when you go to check out you won't have that head-scratching moment wondering why the price suddenly jacked up by maybe a hundred dollars, depending on how many packages you bought.

I guess I’m not on the Serenade anymore...

Couples spa pass can only be purchased onboard. Go to the spa on embarkation day, and don’t wait long after you board. There are a limited number of passes available and they go pretty quickly.
Escape room is also only bookable on board, afaik. You’ll need to visit Guest Services for that.

Happy birthday, @Ray!! Thanks for taking point in the "Turning 50" brigade! ? ?

That didn't take long?

Sorry I'm a bit late, but instead of post cruise depression I managed to get a post cruise cold. I'll try to keep this as short as possible.
There were two major drawbacks for us on Royal: the class system (also called C&A) and the shortage of waiters in bars and lounges (Playmakers being the notable exception). I'm hoping that it isn't that bad on normal cruises with less top tier cruisers. As for the missing waiters, well at least you get to know your bar tenders.... Apart from that, we were really happy with our first Royal experience. The food was better than expected, staff was phenomenal, entertainment top-notch and the ship amazing. We also liked the international mix of cruisers. TLDR: we'll be back - for Oasis 5 transatlantic and we're also looking at Anthem cruises from Southampton.
 
Regarding our cruise with Caribbean Princess: we can't recommend it. The ship is old and looks the part (we've sailed on ships 10 years more senior that looked better) and there isn't much to do. Caribbean Princess also has some major problems with vibration - your plates and glasses are constantly moving in the buffet (deck 15!). Food in the MDR is way worse than on Royal, so bad that we only went twice. We liked the buffet better than the Windjammer so we spent most dinners there. As for speciality dining, Sabatini's was on par with Jamie's, but Crown Grill was way inferior to Chops Grille. Yes, Crown Grill is cheaper than Chops Grille, but I'd prefer paying a bit more for better quality.  We liked Planks (part of the buffet that sells barbecue dinner for 12$ per person).
Regarding service, Princess was also inferior to Royal - there were A LOT of staff but they prefered to chat among themselves, therefore you often had to get drinks yourself. I didn't mind that much on Royal but if there is enough staff around, why don't they work? We also had a bad cabin steward who forgot the water for my CPAP even though I prebooked it (took some reminders) and who was capable of overlooking empty dishes and glasses for up to 3 days in a row. I just stacked them up until even he couldn't not notice anymore... Other bad service examples include Princess not providing German menus or cruise compasses even though they advertised it beforehand (no problem for us but we met some fellow Germans that were really struggling). Another thing that really annoyed us was the amount of advertisements and sales. You were constantly plagued by staff trying to sell mimosas, speciality dining, pictures... or even schnapps glasses in the MDR after dinner. And trust me, they weren't subtle about it, it was really rude at times.
There were a few good points about this cruise: the Caribbean (yes, we'll have to do it again), the super comfy bed (way better than on Royal) and in part the medaillon. When it worked, your stateroom door was unlocked when you approached - a real plus when carrying food or drinks. You could also order drinks from anywhere you set via the app - well, at least when it worked... it's still quite buggy. Funny enough, while the app manages these more complicated things, it's impossible to show the MDR menu of the day, or any day in fact.
Guess the comparison between good and bad points says it all - we'll definetely never sail Princess again, we were indeed very happy when we finally could disembark. Descriptions can't do it justice to say how bad it was. On the bright side, the flight home was actually rather enjoyable. I fear I'm now spoiled and will never fly economy on intercontinental flights but well... at least I'm willing to go to the US again!

Today is our first and only sea day and to be honest the rest is needed, now understand why so many of you prefer the sea days. 
Almost 8am and sitting in smoking area near pool, a rough guess over 50% of the chairs have already been claimed, towels and other items just left on them with very few people actually here.
This one was here at 6am and has not returned, it did cross my mind how funny it would be if the last page vanished ?

Not a big gambler in any way,  $3 stake on slots resulted in $27 profit, following evening took $10 of the $27 from previous night and didnt do to bad 
 
Gave my wife half of winnings to treat herself in onboard spa, she wasnt impressed with the service. She got some sort of manicure and in her own words had to do most of it herself.

Another day in a new country, today it was St Lucia and as we had nothing planned we decided just to stay at port and explore ship more.
Every port of call has the same shop outlets as the previous so it amazes me that my wife always finds something to buy. 
Took in the Marquee show which was decent enough, then it happened..... the clock hit midnight and my age no longer had a 4 at the start of it ?
How do you celebrate your 50th birthday on a cruiseship? For me it was to hit Olive & Twist nightclub and party the night away. Walking ( ok staggering ) through the promande at 4am the ship seemed to be rocking more than usual. 
4hrs sleep and it was up for a day in Barbados. Slow walk round dockside before heading to our booked excursion the Atlantis Submarine Experience. 
50 minutes under water diving to a depth of 144ft, cant remember what i paid but it was worth every penny.
Back at dockside my wife decided a new ring was needed!! Not sure why as she has more rings than fingers as it is. However for an easy life and lighter bank balance i relented.
Dinner in MDR was good as it has been each night, waiting staff decided tonight was the night to mention their review and to give them good marks. I askws them to bring me another steak and i would consider it! 2nd steak wasnt as nice as the first. 
 

Day 12:  End of cruise

I need to go to a Cruiseaholics Anonymous meeting tonight.

Mission Accomplished!

Bots don't receive offers ??

We had a cold snap in florida this week ... maybe the hamsters froze to death down in Miami ?

@mattymay, I had asked my TA this same question about Celebrity in general a while back. She said that the line as a whole isn't really set up with activities or other things meant to appeal to teenagers. If your kids have more eclectic tastes, especially if they're foodies, they can still find ways to enjoy the trip, but they won't have things like a rock wall or other "high energy" activities.
On a separate tack, when I was first looking at different cruise lines I had asked my friends on Facebook if they'd sailed Celebrity and seen kids / teens there. Responses were very few, but uniformly said they never saw more than a few. So finding people to hang out with might be another issue, although I'll throw in the caveats that I don't know when those people took their cruises (may have been during school time) and that I'd hardly consider my sample response size representative.

Ditto! Ate them every morning when I'd have breakfast in the MDR on Freedom. Not an option at Cafe Two70 on Anthem or I'd have taken them there as well.

Hey, if we're going with that vibe, then there has to be a stuffed ostrich you sit on while strapped to the bungee cords! ?

Joe, Celebrity has been doing this since last summer, I figured it was only a matter of time for RC to do it too.  Jury is still out for me, but we shall see! 

Hey, if we're going with that vibe, then there has to be a stuffed ostrich you sit on while strapped to the bungee cords! ?

Exactly ...... I don't know if anyone would remember the video game, JOUST --- it was out in the '80's.  That was the image I had.

THANK YOU!!!  After thinking longer....you nailed our thoughts exactly!!!  Especially seeing the first booking of this cruise started out in a JS and within a week we were into the deck 8 ATS ? AND, as a family we have recently lost 175 lbs total and don't mind the walking....at...all!!!!  ?   We are cruise ready!!

Battle of the Sexes at the Safari Club

IIRC, all of these options -- loungers, beach bed, bungalow, and cabana -- are based on one person buying them and then indicating who else in his/her party will be using it. So if you need a total of four then you only need two people to buy them, total cost $90.
That said, I still think that with a party of four or more, going the bungalow or cabana route is much better in spite of the higher cost. You have guaranteed shade, the cabanas actually have a ceiling fan installed to keep you cool on a hot day, and the attendant taking care of you just makes it a nicely indulgent beach day. Now, if you think you'll spend 90% of your time away from the place and hanging out in the water or doing other things, then the loungers may be more than enough.