Atlantix2000

There's no proof that meter is anything other than a marketing tool to make you think you should bid higher. Bid what you're willing to bid. It's not like they actually tell you what anyone else is bidding.

You must pay with a seapass card, but your daughter's friends seapasses don't have to be linked to your account. Set them up as separate so they get their own bill. Then, they can use their Visa card to pay off their charges at Guest Services before the end of the cruise. However, these might need to be setup as cash accounts. Not sure if they will link a pre-paid card during the cruise. You could also make their accounts separate, but give your card for all of them. That way you would get separately itemized bills for each person at the end. Then you can just give the parents their daughter's bills for reimbursement.

I should clarify. The website required you to split up as described because multiple rooms are technically separate reservations and every reservation has to follow all rules. By treating each reservation individually, the website programming can't recognize exceptions like adjacency. If you had called Royal (or used a TA), then they would let you book without splitting up as long as you follow the rules for being near enough to each other. Of course, as you found, sometimes this works in your favor when you want the DBP for only one person.

Guaranteed rooms are just a fancy term for saying that you didn't pick your own room. They are usually cheaper but they are also the leftover rooms that no one else picked. In general, that means they will not be best or most desirable rooms in the category. That doesn't make them bad rooms, but they might be further from the stairs/elevator or they might be noisier because of their location and what is above or below them. The only guarantee is that you have a room on the ship. Also, in the event that they sell all the rooms in the category you booked, they promise to upgrade you to a higher category. So if you booked an oceanview guarantee, you will get at least an oceanview room, maybe something better, but they will not downgrade you to an interior. A guaranteed interior is already the lowest category so in theory you could get any room on the ship. But you're almost certainly going to get a plain interior room. There's a small chance of getting an interior with promenade or central park view. There's almost no chance of anything higher than that.

It's possible it was a mistake but odds are also good they won't take it away. Yes, OBC can be used to pay gratuities or any other charges (drinks/food/spa/etc) you make during the cruise. The only way to prepay the gratuities online is during the booking process. I think you can call and prepay them, but since your cruise is coming soon, I would just wait. Have a good trip.

You don't have to do anything. Non-refundable OBC is automatically used first. You can verify with Guest Services on the ship, but all you have to do is make sure you spend more the the non-refundable amount before the end of the cruise.

As others have said, yes, it's no problem to switch rooms. But I question why you had to book the rooms this way. You should only have to book the "children" (quotes since they are both 18+) with the parents if you were booking NON-adjoining rooms. I've always heard the rule is children have to be next door or across the hall to be booked in a separate room. There are other reasons to split the parents though. Since the alcohol package must be purchased for all guests over 21 in the same room, it is common to separate the parents when only one wants the package. Again, no problem to switch rooms once on board.

Whoops! My bad. I'm still way more likely to get a full breakfast from the Windjammer though. But I'm also never in a hurry to get off the ship.

The departure lounges are almost worthless perks even for suite guests and high ranking loyalty members because most people arrive at the terminal AFTER the ship has started boarding. If the ship is open, you check in and just get on the ship where you can get start getting all the food and drink you want. However, if you check in BEFORE the ship starts boarding, then yes, you can go to the departure lounge and get something but you won't be there long because they don't start check in until they are almost ready for boarding to start! This perk is even less useful since cruising restarted because they are assigning and enforcing arrival times. So now, you also need to get one of the earliest arrival times or this perk doesn't matter.

More than likely, they recategorized a few staterooms. If it's just things like changing a few Balcony rooms from D2 to D4, you'd have to be looking VERY carefully to find those. Something obvious like a change in restaurants would be much easier to find, but also worthy of press releases and we'd probably already have a thread about it here somewhere.

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.