Atlantix2000

16 hours ago, twangster said:

Disney's cruise line's biggest problem is their very narrow target market which nearly always involves children.  Who goes on a solo Disney cruise as a grown adult?  Kind of creepy really.  Must love being around children, others people's children.   Count me out.  

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

1 hour ago, PJC said:

Hello everyone 

Just a quick question - can anyone advise what time the cabins are usually ready by ? 
On our previous cruise it was 1pm - but I’ve just looked on the app for our forthcoming cruise & it says 2pm ? 
Not sure if to leave luggage with the porters or not - as last time we didn’t get our luggage until 8/9pm - so was considering keeping luggage with us, but that’s when I thought it was 1pm not 2pm - any advice ! 

 

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.

10 hours ago, Karie said:

Upon looking through the invoices I noticed that my brother, the brother sailing with 2 children qualifying for the kids sail free promo, was charged  $1016 more for guest 1 and 2 in his cabin than I was charged for my husband and I for the same cabin. I called our agent immediately to inquire what happened here. She said that Royal charges a higher fare for guest 1&2 in cabins with 4 guests as guest 3&4 are free.

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.

On 3/24/2023 at 10:41 AM, csteph said:

Hi there! We are first timers and have a guaranteed ocean view on Allure of the Seas and haven't been assigned a room yet (end of April '23). I did the barcode trick and get a very long # followed by a dash and GTY. I'm starting to worry we'll be stuck behind a lifeboat! Can anyone make a suggestion as to how to get a better room? The upgrade prices are SO HIGH. Do we put in a bid for upgrade?

Thank you in advance! Appreciate it!! 

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.

41 minutes ago, BMW Hoosier said:

Dare I ask what happens if someone doesn't?

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.

On 3/24/2023 at 5:49 PM, RoseofTX said:

It seems like they could allow for bookings the UDP restaurants in advance.  Of course it probably reduce sales since people would reconsider booking it once the prime slots were filled.  

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.

On 3/24/2023 at 7:14 PM, Pattycruise said:

I would think if they get a portion of the tip pool somehow by getting slips of paper signed all the bartenders and wait staff would be sure to get those receipts printed and signed.  I always give cash, and I have had them not do the receipt sometimes and when I check later the drink is not on my account.  I think this will remain one of Royal Caribbean's mysteries unless we get a former crew member to do a "tell all book".

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.

1 hour ago, Vlad said:

I understand, 

But my point was without a paper receipt, there's no way to add the tip to the no charge drink. And he's not getting 18% either, since charge is zero! 

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.

On 3/15/2023 at 8:36 AM, chussey07 said:

2) Does anyone know if the couch extends out in the cabin or if it's just the pullman beds for additional sleeping options?

3) I know a little about RoyalUp but not much about the rooms themselves... would upgrading to an oceanview or balcony room really give us much more space?

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.

44 minutes ago, Xaa said:

You've swayed me with facts @jeffmw.  We are now of one mind on this.

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

2 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

So they used one of your vouchers on your 40% off deal ?  That kinda stinks....

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/

1 hour ago, Riley said:

How do you check? 

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

37 minutes ago, Pattycruise said:

Below has been my experience, and we all know it can vary from ship to ship. <snip>

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.

1 hour ago, Gadget Hackwrench said:

This is the land that Royal Caribbean is going to develop with an agreement with the government of the Bahamas for tourists. It has angered nearby Atlantis resort but such is how partnerships and competition in the marketplace works. What do you think of the idea of making Nassau a more desirable port with this new resort?

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

27 minutes ago, Ampurp85 said:

I would disagree with you. I don't know what land based bars you go to, but you can order more than one drink. It's not uncommon to get a shot and a beer, wine and a beer, two double jacks etc. without needing two IDs. Plus, if it is an actual bar in most cases IDs have been shown at the door and you can get a round, pitcher, etc. without the specificity of how many people are enjoying it. 

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

11 hours ago, Randon1234 said:

If you don't drink alcohol than obviously the DBP doesn't apply to you. My rant was for the people who think you have to only drink booze to equal the cost of the DBP, (aka i need 7-10 alcoholic drinks every single day) which is in fact not true at all. You have to take the accumulation of all your drinks to determine whether or not the price was justified. 

If you get the DBP and only have 1 beer, but drink enough soda or whatever else to total out to more than the cost of the package, its worth it. Thats my point. 

I think you are questioning a different argument about which is more cost efficient. In my scenario above it would be cheaper to just buy the 1 beer and have everything else on The refreshment package, but that is not what my rant was about. This was for those who strictly claim that the deluxe has to be consumed with nothing but alcohol. 

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.

16 hours ago, asquared17 said:

i think the only caution i would add is to be kind of stealth about it - at least until you get the lay of the land/the bartender assisting you.  

some bartenders will have no problem doing two drink vouchers at a time (if course you will sign separate slips as they key them in one at a time) whereas others may frown on it. 

we got to know the bartender in vintages (and tipped very well) so he knew when he saw me that i’d  be using two drink vouchers for champagne. and he’d run them one at a time and hand off with a smile. 

technically your vouchers are for YOU - so just like you can’t invite non-diamond members in the diamond club for snacks and drinks, it could be argued that your vouchers are meant to be consumed by you. 

again, its probably not going to be an issue but never hurts to be a little careful at first and then discreetly hand off the drink instead of marching up to the bar like, IM USING MY DIAMOND VOUCHERS FOR THESE THREE FOLKS

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.

50 minutes ago, SmoothJ24 said:

I am not fooled by it, but I used it several times without issues. What I don't understand is how RCL would approve it, but then have it taken away at the pier.

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.

43 minutes ago, CruiseRoyalDad said:

So you're saying people were routinely boarding with four bottles per stateroom!? No way! 

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...

3 hours ago, CruiseRoyalDad said:

Has anybody experienced any changes with the new wine bottle per adult policy, replacing 2 bottles per stateroom, to 1 bottle per adult? Honestly, seems like silly semantics to me.

However, do my wife and I have to carry our own individual bottles onboard? We often run the drop off, people, bags at curb and park the car drill, leading half our party to board slightly ahead of the other. Do we really need to ensure that each one of us carry the bottle in our carryon? Or can she or I just carry the allotted amount for each adult in one of our carryon bags. 

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.

I think the word "linking" is being used in multiple ways in this thread which could be confusing to the poster and future readers.  "Adding" a reservation (yours or someone elses) makes it visible in cruise planner for viewing and purchasing cruise planner items.  "Linking" reservations (at least to my understanding) means connecting multiple reservations as a group for dining purposes.  Linking requires a call to Royal (or to your TA).

8 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

We have a points issue as well.  We went to chat with the Loyalty Ambassador on OA last week.  She confirmed that the higher point total that was reflected in the app vs the lower point total on the website, was correct.  She also found that Dan had 5 separate C&A sub accounts . She said she was going to merge all of those accounts and his points and mine should be the same.  Nope.  Hasn’t happened yet.  I think I might pay her another visit next week and see how long it’s supposed to take to get all of this reconciled.  Silly that they can’t fix this kind of nonsense.  At the end of next week’s B3B on OA we should hit 600 points but if this isn’t corrected we will not reach that number….a psychological barrier that we had been so happy to surpass…maybe.

If I recall, you also have an issue with not getting emails from Royal.  Perhaps it has something to do with those multiple C&A sub accounts.  Recently, someone posted about figuring out that they weren't getting Casino offers because their email was associated with multiple people's accounts.  If Dan's email is associated with all those sub accounts, maybe that triggers the same situation?  And what the hell is a sub account anyway?

48 minutes ago, ZBrady said:

I love the Bionic Bar  never gives me trouble when I ask for a double or a triple.

41 minutes ago, DDaley said:

This was the reason I liked it too! A bartender will alllllways give me a drink and a shot at the same time but haughtily puts their foot down when I ask for the extra shot to be inside the drink. The bionic bar makes no judgement!! 

I assume the bionic bar charges extra for a double or triple.  Or is there a flat price?