Atlantix2000

Mike as in Michael Bayley - the m in [email protected] email you suggested!

There is no such thing as a cruise approved surge protector. There are unscrupulous companies that put that on their marketing but it is NOT real. Surge protectors are NOT allowed and anything that even looks like a surge protector may be taken from you and returned after the cruise. Bring something that gives you more USB ports if you need them. Bring a voltage adapter so you can use 120V devices in the 240V European outlets. If the outlet configuration doesn't meet your needs you can ask your cabin steward for an extension cord to bring an outlet where you need it.

I don't need to repeat the answer but I am rather curious: Why did you think anyone would judge a 13 year old for getting a mocktail?

Not sure about solo adults but there's definitely no shortage of adult Disney fans that go to the parks and cruise without kids.

Regarding your late luggage delivery, it's highly likely your luggage was sitting near your cabin for hours. It gets moved to the correct floor relatively quickly using crew elevators because there's no room to store in the crew areas where it gets loaded. Once it's on your floor, the cabin stewards distribute it from the elevators to the cabins. But it's pretty easy to walk down the hall and grab your own once you have access to the cabin.

But are your cabins actually equivalent? No, because a cabin for 4 costs more than a cabin for 2. You can't compare the price of 2 adults in a cabin for 2 with the price for 2 adults and 2 kids in a cabin for 4. You have to compare against the price of a cabin of 4 adults in a cabin for 4. THEN, you'll see that the kids do sail for free.

Remember, your GTY rate is for ocean view or higher. If you bid on an upgrade, you could theoretically "win" but your original room could eventually be assigned a better room. (This would be very rare of course). But there's no need to worry at this point. GTY rooms can be assigned anytime between the day you book and the day you board with no obvious pattern to when or where and at a better price.

You would have to go through full security to get back in and since you're in a foreign country, you probably wouldn't have a way to skip the line (TSA Pre-Check or other). The bigger concern is your luggage. If they know you've left the secure area, your luggage is now considered abandoned and they have to worry you're a terrorist trying to get unaccompanied luggage onto a plane. So anything from it gets on the plane to it gets the bomb squad called could happen. That could lead to an interesting conversation when you try to come back through security.

But you can already book dining now by paying full price. The point of the UDP is to trade booking now for a lower price. If their IT people were better, perhaps they could reduce the prices the more you book. Like first reservation is always full price, then 2-3 get 10% off, the next 2-3 get 20% off, etc. Unfortunately, that will get complicated if you then go back and cancel the original full price meal which means your second one should have been full price, etc.

I'm only arguing they get something from the tip pool just for entering the drink in the register (they have to first either swipe their own card or key in their server code). Actually matching orders with signed receipts to get tips would be a VERY long and labor intensive process. I suppose they could require electronic signature devices or scan every receipt and then require it, but then they are going to slow down service.

No way to add extra tip (other than cash), but by ringing up the drink, he gets credit for it somehow. For a drink paid for with a package, he would get a slice of the 18% that was added to the package price. For the diamond and up drink vouchers, the source of their tips isn't clear but I'm confident they are getting credited from some tip pool Royal has that covers the diamond drinks.

I'll agree with Matt that the additional sleeping arrangement depends on exactly what category and cabin you booked. Also, most interior rooms are similar to the oceanview/balcony rooms in that the door is on the short end of the rectangular room. However, there are a few cabins on some ships that are "sideways" so the door is in the middle of the long side of the rectangular room. I've heard those feel larger due to the difference in furniture arrangement. The deck plans for Brilliance of the Seas list all standard interior rooms and all standard oceanview rooms as 170 sq ft. Standard balcony rooms are only slightly larger at 179 sq ft (plus balcony) and spacious balconies are 204 sq ft (plus balcony). However, usually they put a 3 seat couch instead of a 2 seat couch in those rooms which uses up some of the difference. In my opinion, you'd be paying for the view/balcony not the extra space. The exceptions are the few ultra-spacious oceanview rooms or the handicap-accessible rooms (in all categories) which are listed as 258 sq ft. That's a size difference you can definitely feel and appreciate.

Someone changed someone's mind on the internet?!? Now I really HAVE seen everything!

Took awhile to find but I knew I saw something about this recently. Check the last couple posts in this thread (page 4). Apparently the terms and conditions for the C&A offers have been updated. Effectively puts a limit on how many 40% off wine bottles you can do (think it was unlimited before). But depending on what you buy, could still make that voucher worth much more than a $14 cocktail. https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/29070-crown-anchor-updates/page/4/

For a charter? You google the name of the ship and the sailing date.

Based on all that, I'm going to hazard a guess that not very many people take advantage of those free VOOM days (due to whatever combination of not caring, not needing, or already having a package) leading to the staff not having enough experience in how to apply them correctly.

When searching for the cruise you described (Sydney -> Brisbane -> Singapore with 12 days overlapping), I would expect both S->S and B->S to appear in the search and you would have to notice that the dates overlap. In the Mediterranean, some ships do 7 night round-trips from Barcelona and Rome that overlap (B->R->B->R, etc) with Barcelona embarking/debarking on Sundays and Rome embarking/debarking on Wednesdays (not certain on the day of the week). Those all show up as separate 7 night cruises and if you don't research you wouldn't realize they overlapped. That's about all I can say. Such cruises don't exist out of the US and that's most of the people that post here.

Actually, they aren't developing out by the lighthouse. That area will stay as is. The rough area that will become the Royal Beach Club is between the red lines on this image: There's concept drawings in this recent blog: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2023/03/08/royal-caribbeans-beach-club-nassau-will-open-2025?fbclid=IwAR1OTGO24EFiLQZ0H4x1voYAjmiDI3hV85QdCTZ5nHQN6v1D0THWnSdMhrI

Sorry, I didn't realize I needed to clarify that my comments applied to the bars and bartenders ON an RCL cruise ship.

Trust me, virtually everyone here knows the deluxe package includes more than just alcohol. Yet almost everyone who questions the value of the DBP does so BECAUSE they know they won't drink enough of those non-alcoholic drinks. That's WHY they say they would need to drink 7-10 alcoholic drinks every day. When fresh squeezed juices or specialty coffee has no value to you, it gets eliminated from the equation. So there's very few people who actually fit into your rant.

I don't agree with this. Many people report using the vouchers to "buy" drinks for multiple people. It's not the same as sharing a package which is against the rules. Think of it this way, when paying cash/credit, you can only buy one alcoholic drink per person. A bartender won't (or shouldn't) sell you 2 drinks unless you bring 2 IDs. You can even buy a round of drinks for a large party so long as there's enough IDs or people present. Using the vouchers is essentially the same. They are pre-paid drinks to be used however you see fit but should only be redeemed one at a time unless you have multiple IDs or people present.

The people working at the pier don't work for RCL so it doesn't matter what RCL says on the phone. After boarding, you MIGHT have a small chance of getting it returned by complaining to guest services but I wouldn't count on that. The best advice anyone can give is never bring something with electrical outlets. Multiple USB ports are fine.

At the risk of responding to sarcasm...absolutely! Since the security guards are just screening without checking your cabin number or recording who brought wine, it was very easy to break the rule. One bottle per adult is super easy to enforce and requires no extra paperwork to get close to the originally intended limit. Actual effect still to be seen...

In theory, yes you should each carry your own individual bottles now. No, there haven't been many (any?) reports of enforcement yet since the policy is so new. But the policy seems to have been changed because of situations like yours where people in the same stateroom board at different times. Previously your wife could bring 2 bottles and says "my husband is parking the car. he'll board later without wine." and then you'd board and also carry 2 bottles saying "my wife already boarded without wine" and look at that you've brought 4 bottles for the stateroom. Now, if each adult carries their own one bottle, you still end up with 2 bottles per stateroom for a couple. Cabins with more than 2 adults can be happy because they can now officially bring more wine. Cabins with only 1 adult won't be happy because they get restricted.

GS is Grand Suite and since that's the lowest level of suite, getting a Grand Suite or better is consistent with a suite guarantee. Note that a Junior Suite is really just an oversized balcony room without any of the suite perks. So you booked an actual suite guarantee. Sometimes they sell guarantees for Junior Suite or better. That would probably would say "JS above" where you see "GS above". With a Junior Suite guarantee, you might or might not get suite privileges depending on what category you actually get.