Rose City Cruiser

46 minutes ago, craig403 said:

Sorry you were disappointed with the price.  I don't think there is much you can do about it.  You seem to have a good attitude about it though.

My wife purchased a ring on one of our cruises.  I think it was only $25 or $30.  After a couple months the gold started to wear off.  On our next cruise on a different ship, we took it back to the store.  (they all sell similar stuff)   The store manager listened to our story, grinned, and said "You got it wet didn't you".  She also said "don't even think about getting soap on it".  After we all had a good laugh she exchanged it for us after we promised not to tell anyone.

you broke the first rule of Fight Club

20 hours ago, Katiel53 said:

i know my opinion won't set well, but doing that is one of the reasons, I believe, that all over 21 need to purchase the package.  There were too many sharing packages. We are all being penalized for the cheaters.

They could just follow what all-inclusive resorts do.  Everyone pays for the deluxe drink package regardless of age or whether you are ordering alcoholic beverages or not.  In theory, this should drive costs lower as the minors and non-alcoholic drinkers are subsidizing for everyone else.    

They know teachers are already off during their peak season (March Break, Christmas and Summer break).  Not need to entice them to take vacation time off.  

We were able to use MyVegas Full-House 5% off voucher for Royal Caribbean on top of the current promo!!

Stopping by Sorrento's for a slice of pizza even though you are still full from dinner.  Sit down and people watch at the Royal Promenade.   

3 hours ago, monctonguy said:

I am not aware of a priority lounge area anywhere for gold members. The line ups yes, but as mentioned often the line up for gold or even platinum are longer than the general ones!

 

There will be a sheet off offers in your cabin that are pre-loaded to your seapass card and I agree, any perks are defn nice!

It would be awesome if the new Miami Port will have airline type lounges (lazy boy chairs, buffet, beverages, etc) for their higher tiers/suite guests.  

26 minutes ago, rjac said:

I've been dealing with this for a couple of weeks now.  These figures are Royals. The "base price" is $55.00 with 25% discount. When you add this to your basket the "price shown that reflect your discount" (their words) is $45.00. So, $45.00 + 18%(gratuities) = $53.10 per person per day. For a couple that's $106.20 per day or $743.4. for a couple on a seven day cruise on the Allure next March. 

Below should be what the calculations for a BOGO50.  Not sure if it is worth to challenge RCCL's interpretation of BOGO50.

Drink Package #1:

$55 * 7 days = $385.00
$385 * 18% gratuity = $69.30
$385.00 + $69.30 = $454.30

Drink Package #2:

$55 * 50% off = $27.50/day
$27.50 * 7 days = $192.50
$192.50 + $69.30 = $261.80 (Used gratuities on $55 base price)

Drink Package #1 + Drink Package #2 = $716.10

2 hours ago, rjac said:

My gripe with this whole drink package deal is thier math. I have no problem buying them for my wife & myself, however, get the damn math correct. Here's a screen shot from my Allure cruise next March. The banner says "buy one get one 50% off". But then just above the "add to cart" button it says 

From*$45.00USD Adult per day

Price Shown Reflects Your Discount

According to the customer service reps I have spoken with, it's actually 25% off of the regular price of $55.00 of each package, hence the 50%. Of course 18% gratuity on top of that. What is mathematically incorrect here is 25% x $55 is $41.25 NOT $45.00 as above "Price Shown Reflects Your Discount". $41.25 + 18% = $48.68. So, I am confused about this discounted "price" of $45.00. 

Am I wrong here or does RC have a super golly wampus high speed low drag hand held computer integrated calculator to perform simple (?) math calculations on their packages? I'm almost afraid to look at excursions and dining "deals".

 

Can you show a SS of what the final price is for two DP with the gratuities amounts?  I am trying to figure out what their "base" price is and make sense of this math.  This is becoming like going to a car dealership with "invoice" pricing sales tactics.

7 hours ago, hallyluhopper said:

The Bluetooth tracker sounds like a great idea, where can we get something like that? We are going to put magnets in the door, never thought to put our faces on their too. Thanks for the great idea.

The big box electronics stores should carry them.  Amazon has them as well http://a.co/dT0iRCG.  

RCCL should partner or start up their own craft beer brewery.  I think there is enough interest for excursions and tasting tours.   

On 10/16/2017 at 9:51 AM, monctonguy said:

Welcome to Canada..the land of lots of taxes and regulations and high costs...lol

Is that why we apologize so much? lol

3 minutes ago, pamw said:

Did grandmother remember your advice where to go?

We would "test" her throughout the trip.  About 75/25 she would remember.  She was always accompanied by someone she is familiar with the entire time.  Only time we were worried is if she wandered off while everyone was sleeping.  It never happened.  She was exhausted after all the fun activities on the ship!  She had a great time.  She would always talk about the cruise even years afterwards.  

My late grandmother had Alzheimer's.  We would take a photo of her everyday and every time she changed her outfit that way it will assist in case we needed search for her.  We also used photo magnets of people who she was familiar with and put them on her cabin door.  Just make sure you do mention to the cruise line of any medical condition.  We also used a bluetooth tracker like Tile.  Attached the Tile to a piece of clothing or in her pocket.  Have a plan.  We told her to go to any stairway/elevator and stay there.  

2 minutes ago, rjac said:

Have you considered the amount of money RCCL is spending on getting the hurricane devastated islands back up and tourist worthy from which where these islands get the bulk of their income. I, sir, do not agree with you about "RCCL caring about one thing, their shareholders."  

Please, no need for you to reply to my post, it will be ignored. 

Pure PR move.  They could have simply done it without advertising it.  Just like how millions of people around the world have done with their donations and volunteering.  

This probably won't make much of a difference, but I have cancelled my drink package on my upcoming cruise.  Will now order my drinks individually.  Not much a drinker anyways.  But I will be sure to express my opinion regarding this policy change when they send you that survey after you have completed the cruise.  Come on now..... at the end of the day, RCCL only cares about one thing, their shareholders.  This drink policy change was not to curb sharing of drink packages.  It is to benefit the shareholders and their bottom line.  By requiring the exempted passengers to purchase the replenish drink package proves this.  How is this still really going to stop the drink sharing?     

2 hours ago, Lauren said:

I just called to upgrade my refreshment package to the ultimate beverage package and they would not do it unless I added the refreshment package for my husband. I quoted him the email in the above link and he would not budge. I was willing to spend over $200 more to upgrade, but he said that was an old email and that their policy changed a week ago. 

 I would keep calling and see if they are consistent with their "change" in policy.  These seem to be sales tactics similar to what the telecom companies use until you use the magic words "I want to cancel."

59 minutes ago, bcrazycramer said:

So what all drinks are provided with no charge? I see you mentioned Powerade. 

I'm sorry!  I read your original post incorrectly.  I thought you were purchasing your children the Soda Package.  

The Powerade are available from the Freestyle machines with any of the drink packages.  You must use the complimentary Coca-Cola souvenir cup included in the drink package to operate the machines. 

I always bring one of those mixer bottles when I travel.  You will have to use the provided plastic cups to dispense the flavoured water and then pour it into your bottle for hygiene reasons.  There are signs posted to do this but I have seen many people ignore it.  On ships with the Freestyle machines, I like getting the Powerade and pour into my bottle to bring with me when I go off the ship.

23 minutes ago, KathyC said:

MCO is not exactly close to the port, that's why the hotels in the port area either do not offer this service, or they don't do it cheaply.   We were supposed to cruise out of Port Canaveral in September but thanks to Irma that didn't happen.  But we did have a hotel that did offer this service.  They would send the Cocoa Beach Shuttle to MCO for you and bring you to the hotel, then the shuttle would pick you up the next morning and bring you to the ship.  Finally, upon disembarkation, you caught the Cocoa Beach Shuttle back to the airport.  This was a service you had to call the hotel directly to book, it is not available on their website.  I'm thinking other hotels may do the same thing.  

Here is the website:  http://bestwesterncocoabeach.com/cruise/  Scroll down to the Fly, snooze and cruise section.  Since we didn't actually end up staying there I can't vouch for the actual hotel, but the price in September for two of us was around $230?  I think? 

I have stayed at the Best Western.  They have complimentary continental breakfast in the lobby in the mornings.  Good service.  Clean.  It is what it is.  Just a bed to stay the night before the cruise.  There is some noise because it is along a major road and there's a trucker stop next door.

25 minutes ago, CGTLH said:

You got it...

It seems like the gratuities charged is on the base price for both passengers.

I would recommend renting a van from MCO & surrounding areas.  Book a hotel near the Cocoa Beach area.  The major rental car companies will have a shuttle to take your family to your cruise ship.  Just make sure you choose the drop-off location to the one closest to Port Canaveral.

Irons are prohibited in the staterooms.  

I will sailing on Freedom of the Seas with only my wife next April.   We chose MTD and reserved mostly early seating and late seating on a couple nights.  Is it easier to get a table for just the two of us with MTD?  Am I in the minority if I am not wanting to share a table with another couple/group?  If I wanted to socialize, I would just go to the sports bar or the pool deck during the day.  

3 hours ago, mamabdw said:

My situation right now. Booked the dining + drinks combo during the sale this weekend, now priced them out separately and since the drink package is down to $43/day it would be $9 less than the package. The cheap side of me wants to pinch every penny, but I'm not sure it's worth it for that little amount of savings

A penny saved is a penny earned.  

2 minutes ago, Sabrinaklai said:

I have found from watching fares daily that there seems to be a trend...for example for our Disney cruise this December (from Port Canaveral so flying to MCO) we booked this cruise in June 2016. Airfare was release in March 2017 and I noted the price and it was reasonable. Because we are travelling with parents and siblings and all their kids this time we decided to wait on it as a group. And my dad said exactly what @twangster said that at 3 months it would be best. So we watched daily and it went sky high and then back down a bit but never back down to the original price I saw it at. Finally, the very last day of August (we are flying out on Dec 1st) it went back down to $6 above the original price I saw it at. We grabbed it at that point. Since then I have still been checking and it has gone up again. So it's a gamble I think...

I have yet to book airfare for our cruise on Anthem in March. Going to test the 3 month theory again. Will have to check out Kayak.com and airfarewatchdog.com later. 

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