Atlantix2000

I hope you'll consider purchasing travel insurance in the future. For maybe a couple hundred extra, you'd have gotten all the rest of your money back (depending on the details of what type of insurance you purchased of course).

any chance you're using an outdated link like http://www.royalcaribbean.com instead of the modern and more secure https://www.royalcaribbean.com?

How does someone even find a 4 year old thread like this?

Royal typically releases new itineraries in November/December and March/April (plus or minus a few weeks depending on their mood). So June 2025 would be in the next batch but we likely won't see it for 5 months or so.

My understanding is that the UK and other non-US booking sites already include gratuity in their prices. However, on the US site, they do not. Dining/Beverage packages will have 18% gratuity added during the checkout process when purchasing on the US site. Therefore that $74.99 price you see will actually be $88.49 when purchased. That matches pretty well with the $90 you get from the exchange rate.

The only thing at shore level in Santorini is the docks. Everything else is effectively on top of a cliff which takes time to climb the stairs, ride the donkeys, or take the cable car. Donkey and cable may not be faster because of the line to ride. So no, you do not have time to go up to the city and then back down to the boat dock to make an excursion.

You're not likely going to get much info on P&O cruises here. This is a fan-made forum for Royal Caribbean cruisers.

What's the difference in price? If you've already got the reservations where and when you want them, is saving a little money worth the risk that you won't be able to book what you want on the ship? Personally, for $20, I wouldn't change a thing. For $100, I'd consider it. But I doubt the savings is that great when you're only talking 2 meals.

The danger of resurrecting old threads is that the info can be out of date. The link from above (https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/food-drink-onboard-policy) has been updated with the latest rules. The difference is that they changed the amount of wine from 2 bottles per stateroom to 1 bottle per adult. The general belief is that this change was because a couple could board separately each carrying 2 bottles "for the stateroom" thus managing to actually bring 4 bottles for the stateroom. The line about soda remains unchanged: "Non-alcoholic beverages may not exceed 12 standard (17 oz.) cans, bottles or cartons per stateroom". Generally, they don't look as closely at non-alcohol but whether you can bring more is going to depend on luck, the specific security guard you approach, and quite possibly the phase of the moon.

There's not nearly as much undeveloped land on Cococay as there used to be. There's a road that runs East/West down the middle of the island and there was a nature trail that went through the forest between that road and the southern shore. If you pull up the current satellite view on Google maps, you can see the trail snaking through the trees. (That's the far end of South Beach on the right.) You could take that trail all the way to a small deck with a couple chairs on the tip of the island over the rocks. It had a nice view back to the ship. The trail used to be advertised and the start had a sign but I don't think it's kept up anymore. You can also walk the beach all the way down but it's possible you'd hit a construction area now (on the beach or the trail.) For reference there was virtually nothing north of the road or at the tip of the island when I last walked this.

Unless there is a big dry dock scheduled before the move to Port Canaveral, it don't see how this rumor could possibly be true. Moving set pieces on/off a ship is not something that is done between cruises. I've only ever heard of it being done during dry dock.

The decision is always up to the captain of the ship, but generally the ship will change time as it crosses time zones. Any reputable 3rd party excursion company already understands when the ship arrives and how long it takes for people to get off. What you may not be considering is that the listed start time of an excursion is the meeting time on the dock (or other specified location) and there will always be stragglers. It is not necessarily the time when you would actually depart for your excursion. If you are booking a unique or private excursion, then they'll be waiting for you even if tendering takes longer than expected. If you're booking a popular excursion, then smaller groups may depart whenever a full van/bus load of guests have arrived. Remember these companies survive on their reputation. They don't want anyone to write a review that says "they left me behind!"

The ship's cell tower is only active when in international waters (12 miles off shore). While in port, you will use land-based cell towers. That may or may not have a cost depending on where you are and what coverage your provider/plan allows.

That's what I meant by "whatever is appropriate for your state". It is entirely possible that it's already too late for the OP's grandson to get a photo ID for a cruise that leaves on Monday. But the grandson MUST go somewhere or call someone immediately to have any chance. An adult without a photo ID is going to have issues and missing a cruise is an expensive mistake.

Does that paperwork include a photo? If not, I'd be very worried. A driver's license isn't required for travel (since not everyone has one) but an official photo ID is required with the birth certificate. Your grandson needs to deal with this right away by visiting the local Secretary of State office / DMV / whatever is appropriate for your state. Otherwise, I fear an 18 year old without an ID is about to learn a very adult lesson.

Your suitcases will fit under the beds. Some people never bother to unpack, they just slide the suitcase out, get what they need, and slide back under. If you really think you'll need more room for your stuff, please consider that you may be planning to bring way too much stuff! If you think you need more space for the people, remember that there's an entire ship to explore.

Depends on what you mean by "copy". There's no legal difference between the the first issued birth certificate and any subsequently issued birth certificates. As long as it has the raised seal or whatever else makes it legal in your state/country/etc, then it is a legal birth certificate. These are called copies of your birth certificate (including that first one). However, if you put a legal copy of your birth certificate on a copy machine (xerox or other scanner/printer device) and make a "copy", then no, that is NOT a legal copy. It's unfortunate that we use the word "copy" in both situations but I'm not aware of a better word.

My answer to not trust royal's customer service on this issue is based on years of hearing other people have issues after relying on something they heard from phone support. I'm sorry you don't find that helpful in your decision making process.

There are multiple recent threads about this (plus more resources reachable with google). Calling Royal is not a guaranteed answer for anything and this is especially true when the issue is a legal one. If you get to the port and are denied boarding, "I talked to someone who said it was OK" is not going to change the situation. In my opinion, it's not worth the cost of the trip (which may not be refunded) or the time involved (especially if vacation time is lost) to risk something like this.

Your browsers may be caching the page. On a desktop, hold down Control while hitting refresh to force a re-read from the server. If that doesn't help, then it's also possible the update is still propagating across redundant servers (either Royal's or a load-sharing company like Akamai)

That appears to be the version information from an app store. (Google Play Store has the exact same text but not the same format so perhaps this is from the Apple App store?)

Actually no. Many people report Apple's iMessage works while in airplane mode with no paid internet package. Apple's iMessage uses some critical background networking protocols that cannot be blocked without breaking the internet. However, it's not officially supported, only text based messages can get through (no pic/video) and it's not guaranteed to work or continue to work. Your login to iMessage will eventually time out (or randomly disconnect) and you cannot reconnect without "real" internet. So if you regularly reconnect to "real" internet (in ports), you MAY be able to have iMessage service throughout the cruise. But to be clear, it's a weird quirk of Apple's design and not meant to be a supported feature.

To expand on Mike's answer, no credit card can be directly used for purchases on the ship. You use your Sea Pass to charge everything back to your room's account (or your individual account if you setup each person in the room separately). Your account has a credit card on file which is charged at the end of the trip or each time a certain dollar threshold has been crossed. (You could also put cash on your account which must be replenished when exhausted or you won't be able to charge more.)

It means you've got a longer thread going on a website with the initials CC where you've gotten plenty of feedback.

What is the exact booking category code you booked and what is the room number and category you received? I'm not convinced a 0% obstruction guarantee exists. I think it's far more likely you got what you booked and didn't understand what you booked.