Atlantix2000

Obvious first question is whether this purchase shows up in Cruise Planner so you can cancel/rebook if the price changes (convenient I guess) or if this purchase becomes part of your cruise package and cannot be changed (this would suck)?

13 hours ago, Kevin C said:

When you say "and it's often the same guests over and over," or you referring to guest at liquor tastings?

No, many excursions have multiple stops.  Often the same guest is late returning to the bus at each stop which means the other guests get less time at each stop since they are sitting on the bus.  In the extreme case, they have to skip a stop so you miss part of your paid excursion due to guests being inconsiderate.

Services organized by Royal?  No.  Services organized by other interested cruisers?  Maybe, and somewhat more likely if a priest/reverend/etc happens to also be traveling and wants to volunteer.

50 minutes ago, CrimsonCruiser said:

I actually didn't know there were small breeds that were trained as alert dogs. This was helpful to know. I will be better about judging seeing small dogs in "service animal" vests. That said, any service animal that is actively working (aka in vest) is usually quiet, calm and non-obtrusive, right? So if I see a yorkie in a vest wandering all over and barking at strangers...can I assume the owner is a person abusing ADA rights?

A barking dog in a vest either has an owner that is abusing ADA rights or is in need of immediate medical attention.

12 hours ago, bluer101 said:

Brightline has had many incidents hitting people. We live very close to the Boca Raton station and still have not taken it for a ride. 

The vast majority of the time when a train hits a person/car/truck, the train is not at fault.  Perhaps Brightline should invest in some educational advertising on the local radio/tv stations though?

3 hours ago, EEP said:

2) all medications need to be in sealed bottles. 

You're overthinking this.  The standard pill bottle you get from a pharmacy with a child-safety lid qualifies as a "sealed" bottle.  The official rules say your pills should be in the original bottles.  In practice, most people will still put their pills in a standard daily pill sorter and bring the prescription or the bottle with the rest of the pills.  (Always good to bring enough for extra days just in case something happens.)  What they don't want is a zip-lock bag with a bunch of random pills that can't be identified (because then they might be drugs not prescriptions).

3 hours ago, KimD said:

Thank you for this!!!  It does look to show bed next to the balcony, unfortunately.  This just makes no sense because when the trundle bed is pulled out for the second kid, we will have to crawl over the bed/child to go to the bathroom.

If you click on 9678 on that website, the popup shows a generic layout of the room.  If you click the info tab, you get this text: 

"Some balconies up to 80 square feet. Category 1C (was D1) and 2C (was D2) has larger balconies. Some cabins are laid out with the bed near the balcony, others have the sofa near the balcony. Triple and Quad cabins have the sofa near the balcony. Layout changes every other cabin. Handicap cabins may have small chair bed instead of sofa bed. If there is more than two booked in cabin the chair bed is not recommended for adults.
*Actual cabin size and layout may differ from size and diagram shown."

Since you have a room for 4 people, the description says your sofa is near the balcony.

1 hour ago, Matt said:

Waiter can bring over a bucket of ice

And your stateroom attendant can bring one to your room if you want to keep your wine chilled there.

1 hour ago, APM said:

My original query was for the Suite Lounge...was asked every night if I wanted to use my Diamond Plus Vouchers which I had surplus of so it was not an issue but I remember it being contradictory to stated policy "the Suite Lounge serves complimentary continental breakfast and evening drinks."

Perhaps the type of drinks you were asking for were not complimentary?  For example, basic rum and coke included but a specifically named brand of rum is not?

2 hours ago, Mrs. Thomas said:

@Atlantix2000 I talked to my TA and she is double checking with RC. I will be taking my own BC as well as my daughters and my marriage certificate. It will show that she is my daughter. I'm still looking into other avenues as we have a little over a year before we leave. If she were to get a passport, it would prove that there isn't a problem due to custody because you have to have the other parent's permission before a minor child can get one. However, I don't know his whereabouts so that isn't a thing I can do.

No matter what Royal says about it being OK, they do NOT have the final say.  If the port employees (who do NOT work for Royal) decide they need proof you have permission to take your child out of the country, you must have it or they will deny boarding.  Admittedly, a very high % of people in your situation will not get questioned but if you are unlucky, missing the cruise is a very expensive mistake.

There are many people in your situation who have no way to contact a missing parent to obtain permission.  There are ways to deal with this but there will be a cost.  From previous posts, it seems you've already looked into what it takes to officially get full custody.  Only you can decide if you are willing to risk having a surprise birthday trip get canceled.

3 hours ago, Cactus527 said:

I'm trying to figure out something regarding Perfect Day at Coco Cay.

I found this via this link: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/content/dam/royal/resources/pdf/perfect-day-at-cococay-wayfinding-map.pdf . However, I can't find it on any other maps of PDCC. Can someone tell me if this beach is still open and available? I like the idea that it's so far removed from everything else.

Compared to the (admittedly very out of date) satellite shot on Google maps, that part of the beach is only about 60 percent of the way down the coast on that side of the island.  Unless Royal has blocked it off in the last few years, I've walked the whole way to the end of the island.  I only saw a handful of other people.  Obviously there aren't any chairs, umbrellas, restrooms, etc but you could definitely be alone if you wanted.  I walked back by way of the service road in the middle of the island.  (The shore on the other side is too rocky).  Of course this was before plans to add the adult only Hideaway Beach area.  I don't think that construction would stretch into that area but who knows.

3 minutes ago, RCIfan1912 said:

Wow, awesome thanks for the info. Let's see what happens. There were like 12 suites open a week or two ago but it's less now. That surprises me because the rates are outrageous. sailing is 29 days out. Maybe there is some UP cabin shifting going on, who knows. 

Because GTY and Royal Up are different independent programs, there's also the really, really, rare chance that you could "win" a bid that turns out to be a downgrade from what you got assigned from the GTY since the GTY is for a certain category or higher.  There was a thread sometime ago where it happened to someone.  In that case, I don't believe there's a way to decline the win so you would pay for it even though you got something better for free.  It's a (mostly theoretical) risk of doing both on the same reservation.

2 hours ago, beach girl 05 said:

So we upgraded. Now when do we find out cabin number

If you upgraded but it's still a guaranteed category, then the original rule still applies.  They can assign you a cabin anytime between when you booked and when you sail.  You usually know at least a couple weeks before the cruise, but knowing is NOT part of the guarantee.

If you upgraded to a non-guaranteed category, then you would have picked your cabin number.

3 hours ago, TexasNative said:

I'm quite a heavy drinker lol

Thanks for the info!  I'm currently trying to do their buy one, get another drink package for 50% off, but I'm not seeing the discount reflected at checkout.

That's because the price you see already includes that "discount"!  Wait a few days and they will call it a different sale with different terms but it will still magically calculate out to the same thing.  Ignore all the text and just focus on the number shown.  Track that number up and down and buy when it looks good.  You can always cancel and repurchase if it goes down further.

1 hour ago, Mrs. Thomas said:

The custody issue, to be completely transparent, is that there isn't a set custody determination. We never went to court for it because he has had zero contact since she was 2. I don't even know where he is or how to contact him. This makes it impossible to get the proper documents signed. I've looked into getting full custody but it's more money than I have right now.

My plan is to take both her birth certificate and my marriage license. I will be double checking all of this with my TA too. 

Best of luck to you.  With different last names, showing the marriage license to connect them will usually be enough.  However, please be aware that they COULD ask more questions and if they do, the lack of custody or signed permission documents would be a reason to deny boarding.  It is a risk you will be taking anytime you leave the country while she is a minor (even if she has a passport).

@TexasNative Nope can't buy liquor by the bottle for consumption on board.  Gotta buy your drinks one at a time!  And while looking at the drink package price, remember that's before they add 18% gratuity.  So $79 * 1.18 = $93.22 per person per day.  That will cover your gratuities for all drinks you get with the package.  Buying individual drinks also gets 18% added.  So if you only drink cocktails, you're looking at $79/$14 or $15 = about 5-6 drinks per day to break even.  If you only drink beer, more like 8 drinks per day.  If you also take advantage of the bottled water, specialty coffee, soda, etc, then you have to do more math but it does lower how many alcoholic drinks you need per day.  Keep in mind, the more port days you have, the less time on the ship you may have to drink those drinks.  And alcohol fatigue is a thing on a long cruise - if you aren't used to drinking day after day, it gets harder to break even.

13 hours ago, Scarlett625 said:

I've purchased trip insurance the week before my cruise on a couple of cruises with no issues. I mainly purchase it for if something happens on the trip and never cared about cancellation because I never needed it for that. 

Unfortunately for you, insurance companies aren't going to allow you to purchase insurance and then cancel a cruise that's only a few weeks away especially given that this is a known medical condition.  That would be considered insurance fraud.  Cancellation policies need to be purchased around the the time of the cruise purchase or they will not be offered.  Your best option is to lean on both your doctor for that note and Royal to allow you to switch to a different cruise without penalty.

I'm having a hard time understanding this question since, well, it's Bingo!  I could sum up the rules in a couple sentences but that hardly seems necessary.  If you won, I can't imagine leaving the room without asking what to do next.  As with all complaints, if you didn't deal with it on the ship, it's many times harder to deal with it post-cruise.  Most shore staff have no clue about anything that happens on board.

1 hour ago, ScottD said:

Sailing in 2 weeks from NJ for my first time from there, and I know it's going to spoil me, very excited about not flying this time,  and would like to book another one from there for next summer. Unfortunately all of the dates and room types we would be interested in seem to be "sold out" on the website. Does Next cruise have a little allotment, like a TA might, that they MIGHT be able to pull out for me? Was hoping to get that lower deposit and pick the date right there on board if they have additional rooms in their inventory, or am I just out of luck and either making a much longer drive to Florida or booking a more expensive room than planned?  

The website doesn't always show all available inventory for various reasons (illusion of scarcity, trying to fill certain areas/muster stations more evenly, etc).  However, I've read multiple times that when calling Royal they can see all available inventory even if it isn't shown on the website.  I would assume Next Cruise would see the same.  Of course, if a category is showing as sold out online, that may unfortunately be the truth.

12 hours ago, Cgash said:

Thanks so much CRznTxn for sharing - We booked in Dec. 23, 2021 with just a confirmation email for $500 not showing any receipt. 1st PDF receipt 02-10-2023 arrives after rebooking. It just states GTY- I guess we should have realized right then.

I am just disappointed we didn't catch this sooner - oh well!  We have no PDFs showing that we had ocean view balcony so it must have been our fault on our original booking. 

Thanks anyway for your response!

Yeah, unfortunately, Royal's system isn't reliable at sending the PDF receipts with full booking information (or it ends up in spam either due to your internet provider or your email software).  There's an automated phone system (call and answer a few prompts) that can email you a copy.  That doesn't help you now but it is good to know for the future.  Since it's impossible to know exactly what happened in your situation, I would recommend not dwelling on it and enjoy the trip.  Once your cabin is officially assigned, you can call and move to another cabin in the EXACT same category if there is availability.  Have a good trip!

3 hours ago, Cgash said:

My husband booked this cruise in 2021 and we are finally 33 days out - in looking at the accommodations its says GTY. He swore he booked Balcony with ocean view...Royal Caribbean  cancelled the original date already once and had us re-book. Is there a way it was switched after re-booking? Now all the ocean views are unavailable and I feel like he must have hit they pick instead of you pick as an option. It does seem a bit confusing...so upset about it, any advice???

There is more than one type of GTY and you didn't say which ship you are sailing.  For most ships the Balcony with Ocean View description is redundant because ALL balconies have an ocean view.  The exception is the Oasis class ships where there are balconies that face the middle of the ship (with either Boardwalk or Central Park view).  You also say the Ocean Views are now unavailable but did you mean actual ocean view class (rooms with windows, no balcony) or did you mean ocean view balconies?  What type of GTY do you have now, and what was your original booking type?  If you don't have that or don't know, then there's not much we can use to advise you.

I think at this point Royal's only motivation is getting deposits in the door to pay down the debt they took on during the pandemic.  The deposit for non-suites is a fixed amount, but for suites is 10% of the trip.  So if they jack up the prices now, they can get extra money now.  They don't have to care (yet) whether anyone actually intends to sail because they get an interest free loan of your money even if you end up canceling 2 years from now.

A year or more from now, they can drop the prices to what they actually intend to charge.  Some people won't notice (so they score extra $ on those sailings).  Some will reprice at the lower rate which just means their deposit pre-paid a higher percentage of the trip.  And some will end up canceling which is always true.  But once they've got your deposit, there's a better chance you ultimately sail with Royal.  (Remember, more than half the ship is first time cruisers so this is important.)

17 minutes ago, Xaa said:

I'm not so sure.  From their other posts they say they are taking Navigator in December which are 3 and 4 night cruises.  I think final payment on those is at 75 days.  They also state they aren't to final payment.  If it's a 90 day final then if their cruise is after 12/11 they should still be good.

If they are to final payment date and haven't made it, they have additional problems.   I just don't think that's the case.  

One of their posts is the roll call for Navigator on Dec 11 which by my count is 91 days away so need to pay really soon if it's 90 day final payment and they have a couple weeks left if it is 75 day final payment.  It's always possible the phone agents are incorrectly cutting off price changes before they should but odd that multiple agents would do this.  And I guess we can't completely discount the possibility that Royal really has offered a promo that's only good for new bookings.

12 hours ago, Shanethegriff said:

Something I've noticed is that when I've received the email from RC quoting their new offers in USD, when I log in to purchase, the price in Euro (we're in Ireland) is significantly more expensive than the dollar price. It's like they price it different for our market...

I'll 100% use a US travel agent next time like we did on our first cruise so that we get the US prices.

The price in Euro likely already includes the 18% gratuity.  Go through the motion of purchasing it through the cruise planner all the way to the final step and see if any gratuity gets added.  This is definitely how they do things for a European sailing (like out of Southampton or Barcelona).  I'm not sure what they do with a US cruise paid for in European currency.

However, I can say for certain that any price you see in US dollars does NOT include the 18% gratuity.  If you attempt to purchase it in cruise planner, you would see 18% added before checkout.

You should take the US price from your email, add 18%, and then convert to Euro and see how that compares to the price you see in Euro.  The last time I suggested this, someone in another European country found the prices were identical within a few cents.

Specifically no, but in general, it's crew areas which could include crew stairs/elevators, cabin steward cleaning cart storage and supplies, spare bedding storage, etc.  From the hall it will look like a wall with some doors.