Atlantix2000

Royal can't change your dining type because you have a TA. Your TA has to request this change. Same thing if you wanted to change the date, ship, or room, or cancel the trip. You can't make those changes unless you booked directly with Royal (in other words, if you are your own TA). Anything else you can book through Cruise Planner (excursions, dining, etc) you can do yourself and call Royal for help no matter how you booked.

It may feel crowded near the pier and the first stretch of beaches but that's because most people don't wander very far from the amenities. Trust me on this, if you want to be alone on the beach and hear nothing but the waves, all you have to do is walk further down. It's not a large island, you won't actually be very far from anything, but you would have to walk back to use the bathroom or get a drink at the bar.

Travel agent OBC generally only shows up after you board (usually on Day 2). That means it can't be used for Cruise Planner purchases before the actual cruise. OBC from Royal (including shareholder OBC and Royal credit card rewards) will show up and be useable in the Cruise Planner. I've heard you sometimes have to call to expedite getting it transferred to Cruise Planner though.

If you are using My Time Dining to eat at different times each day, then it would be difficult to reserve the same table every day but they would still try to give you a window seat if you make that request. If you are using My Time Dining to eat at the same time every day (but don't want the traditional times), then yes it is very easy to be assigned the same table every day.

I would say the series of steps is correct. But everyone should probably be aware in advance whether their medical and/or travel insurance will cover medivacs. If not, depending on the seriousness, it could be a better choice (and FAR cheaper) to stay at the local hospital (with the rest of the party staying at a local hotel) until they are recovered enough to take a commercial flight home. Medivacs are notoriously expensive.

Thankfully, this is something that can be fully tested now while you are at home. Get all the phones set for Wifi Calling (which includes text messaging). Then, put all the phones in airplane mode and turn on WiFi. Then, text everyone from each phone. If it works at home, it will work on the ship. If not, there's some setting not right but at least it will be obvious which phone needs fixing.

If you are doing traditional early or late dining, the ship schedules multiple opportunities to see shows that will work with both schedules. It's when you choose My Time Dining and eat at times in the middle where things get questionable. But the benefit of My Time Dining is you can always eat earlier or later on a specific day to see a specific show.

In general, the holds are the same amount as each charge. Royal doesn't want to pay the behind-the-scenes transaction fee every time you swipe a card, so they put a hold instead. Then, at the end of the trip, they add up the total charges and make one transaction so they only pay one transaction fee. It's up to your bank/credit card company how quickly the holds fall off. But until they do, you are effectively using twice as much money. For a credit card, this doesn't matter as long as the total is below your credit limit. You will only ever actually get one charge. For a debit card, the money in your account is actually inaccessible to you until the hold falls off. That could create real problems if you have automatic payments coming from the same account or you need to withdraw cash and your balance doesn't cover the holds and real charges.

Hmm, that's just what a Spam bot would say!

Third party companies that offer excursions to cruise passengers are generally used to adjusting as needed. You could certainly contact them and ask about their procedures but for a trip 10 months away, they probably won't give you a very specific answer. Look at it this way though. If the company offers an excursion at 10AM and books 15 people from your cruise ship, but the ship gets delayed and doesn't show up until 11AM, what do you think they would do? Cancel and refund everyone? Not likely. If the ship still has to leave at the same time, they'll shorten the excursion in some way (and possibly refund a portion to compensate). But the ship might also announce they are going to stay an extra hour so the excursion can run unchanged just an hour later. The tour company (and its employees) only make money when they actually run their excursions!

A simpler explanation...guests #3 and up in a room pay less than guests #1 and #2. If you are already sailing at less than full capacity, you want everyone to be guests #1 and #2 so you make the most money!

Same reason they give over 21 people bracelets/stamps/etc at certain clubs to allow them to buy alcohol. If you gave them to the under 21 crowd, they would just take them off so they could buy drinks!

I think the issue is the separation of vaxxed and unvaxxed passengers in the MDR. I forget the details but a side effect seems to be that early My Time Dining reservations are not available. However, since your cruise is 6 months away, I would not be surprised if they change those rules and My Time Dining is open at all times again.

If you are worried about a dress code, there really isn't one whether it's the first night or any other night. Many people don't dress any differently even on "formal" nights. Odds are actually pretty good you will get your luggage before dinner, especially if you walk down the hall and find the staging area for your floor. But if you don't get your luggage before dinner, you just keep wearing the clothes you wore when you boarded the ship! Really, the only thing they won't allow in the MDR is swimwear. The WJ is definitely a good option for a faster meal if you are tired.

Can you get away with it is a different question than what is the rule. One waiter/bartender might look the other way, another might report you and have you thrown off the ship.

There are 2 types of restaurants: Those with a cover charge and those where you buy food by the item. At Cover Charge restaurants, the menu has no prices and the package includes all those items. However, a few restaurants have a specific item(s) that has an extra cost (the Seafood Tower appetizer at Chops is an example but it isn't available right now). These will be the only items with prices on the menu and you would pay it even with the package. At Pay-As-You-Go restaurants, every item on the menu has a price and you can order as much as you like. Here, the package gives you a credit for a certain amount of food. For example, at Playmakers, you can spend up to $20 per person with the package. Anything over that, you would pay for.

On any US-based sailing, the legal drinking age is the US drinking age - 21. Whether your son can drink while on shore in the ports is a different question subject to local laws.

Officially, yes you would have to cancel. However, a pregnancy opens up a lot of undocumented exceptions to the rules with a lot of companies. They will probably work with you on options. Congrats.

There's no real reason to request a later disembark group. The earliest you are supposed to get off is when your group is called but you can always be the last person off the ship if you want. However, there's not much open and breakfast closes at some point. Your room steward also wants you out so they can clean the room. So you are mostly left with hanging around in the common areas. I've done that when we weren't in a rush to catch a flight. The people watching can certainly be interesting. Your luggage will still be at the sign for your group's number regardless of when you actually get off the ship.

That sounds like a Canada rule not a Florida rule.

Doesn't change the answer. You don't NEED any form of passport to do a closed loop cruise in the Caribbean as long as everything goes according to plan. The problem is if something happens and you get separated from the ship, the only way to fly home internationally is with a real Passport Book. It may be a really small risk but it is a risk and only you can decide if you're comfortable with that risk.

A party doesn't have to stay together the entire day when using Genie+! When you book each ride, you select who is going. If someone keeps selecting the whole party, that person is messing things up. At least that's my understanding.

We are booked at the Poly for this coming September. It is very hard to book a room there right now. We actually booked before the holidays and didn't get our first choice of week. It seems to be totally booked now for that month. Due to pent up demand, they aren't offering any sort of discounts at the Poly because people are paying full price. The overwater bungalows at Poly are actually DVC (Disney Vacation Club) properties. That means almost all of them are only bookable by DVC owners or those willing to rent points from owners. (There are several reputable companies that will help handle those type of transactions.) Disney itself only owns a few percent of the rooms at each DVC property and makes those available on their website for cash rentals. However, since there are only 20 bungalows, there are probably only 1 or 2 that are actually rentable from Disney. This means you will probably have to book very far out and the website will almost never show any availability. At this point, all the Deluxe resorts have a DVC section. At Poly, 3 of the buildings (those closest to the Ticket & Transportation Center) were converted to DVC some years ago. The same is true at the Grand Floridian (they are actually about to convert another building there). At the Contemporary, they actually built another tower (Bay Lake Tower) to be the DVC section so the main tower is still all Disney owned. The side effect is fewer rooms available for normal rental at the Deluxe properties.

This post is almost 5 years old! I'm not so sure this is accurate anymore.

I would say it's worth reaching out to the vendor to discuss with them. If their business is big enough to book multiple of the same excursions each day, they might collect all Royal passengers into the same trip. In that case, the start time is probably flexible with the ship's schedule. If they only offer one trip combining locals, hotel guests, and cruisers, they may be less flexible because they don't want to keep everyone waiting. Another consideration - if they are picking you up at the port, they are probably used to cruise ship schedules and will adjust. If you have to get somewhere (by walking, taxi, bus, etc.) to meet at a specific time, that would be riskier.