Orange Crush

18 minutes ago, Baked Alaska said:

Are there any cons to paying off one's cruise early for RCCL, before the 90 days? We 296 days out and can zero it out, just wondering if there are reasons why I shouldn't.

There's no con per se, but there's not really a benefit in doing so either.

12 minutes ago, WhiteSoxFan said:

I see no problem with it.  If you cancel before 90 days out you can still get a refund.  I'm not sure how it would work if you find a price reduction.  You can still get it but will they give you a refund or OBC?  I know someone here knows the answer to that. 

3 minutes ago, princevaliantus said:

Before 90 days, you will get a refund to the C.C. on file IF the price drops and you re-price it. If you cancel the cruise, (a) as for full refund, ONLY if it's a refundable deposit before the applicable period of cancellation; (b) you will not get a full refund on non-refundable deposit, but will be penalized.

That is true. However-- do the math and make sure.  Do not trust them to have credited you correctly.  I've had to call them back more than once to do a correction on a price drop after I paid in full early.  They made it right, but I don't think they would've noticed if I didn't!

5 hours ago, twangster said:

A lot of people are crabby with bartenders.

Which I will never understand.  Being nice gets you the best service, and when bartenders remember you (for being a nice customer who tips) guess who's getting their drinks first during the busy times?

11 hours ago, twangster said:

After the dive I headed back to the ship to change and get my good camera.  

How was tendering back and forth between the ship and shore after the dive?  We're bringing our own gear so I want to be able to hang it up and lock it back up in the room.   I imagine it was easy to get back to the ship that early, but I wonder how much of a wait there was to get back to the island.

On 9/25/2018 at 5:41 AM, twangster said:

You tell me - is sewage bubbling up into your cabin a 'nothing' event that we all should just accept?

No, that is not a "nothing" event.  Even if they claim it was only greywater.

I'm actually a little concerned now because I'm sailing Enchantment next weekend and picked another aft JS just a few doors down from yours.

Did you take the deal they offered?  Are you going to try to escalate further?

15 hours ago, twangster said:

For this cruise my only excursion booked through Royal is a certified scuba dive in Cococay.  On sale from a normal price of $68 I paid just $57.  It's a one tank shore dive to a maximum depth of 37 feet so it's also a great way to keep my scuba certification and my diving brain current without committing a huge block of time to the excursion.  While I have visited Cococay before, I've never dove here before.  I'm looking forward to exploring the portion of Cococay below the waves. 

I'm very interested to hear what you thought of the dive, I'm doing the same excursion next weekend.

I did the opposite--booked it via NextCruise onboard where it was about the same price as what I was seeing online.  The price dropped later, so I rebooked to get the better price.  I lost the NextCruise onboard credit, but the price drop was bigger than that.

First and only time I've tried using NextCruise, and likely the last now that I'm hearing they wouldn't have price matched if I found it cheaper online.  They seem like a waste of valuable cruise time.

Wow, that's surprising!  We're 35 & 40, but I'm surprised they'd have a hard age limit on something like that.  I can understand health concerns and signing a waiver that you don't have any kind of heart condition or requiring a doctor's not and whatnot--we had to sign something similar to get certified in the first place--but I'd be irked if they just flatly told me no because of an arbitrary age restriction.

Anyone done the 2-tank Nassau dive offered through Royal Caribbean?  I think it's actually run by Stuart Cove, but it's a different schedule than what you can book directly through them to accommodate the ship's itinerary.

It's $194 per person on cruise planner and I haven't seen it budge all the time I've been watching.  It's high, but not insanely so, and we wouldn't mind spending the money if it's a really great experience, but we wanted to hear what people who have actually gone on it have experienced.  We're definitely doing the Coco Cay dive, so I'm sure we'll meet some other divers on the ship who did the Nassau dive and can tell us about it, but that'll be after we've left Nassau.

On 9/14/2018 at 4:14 PM, JSB said:

It appears the deluxe beverage price on Harmony of the seas has increased to $59 + tips - Got any info?

Book it now, and then check back every couple of weeks until your cruise.  If you see the price drop, cancel and rebook.  You can do this as many times as you like until a couple days before your cruise.  They charge your card right away, but also refund it back as soon as you cancel.  I've seen drink packages as low as $45, which is what I paid for my upcoming October cruise.

It's just really random whenever the discounts will magically appear & don't count on an email showing up and letting you know.  You have to check yourself.  It's a strange game Royal Caribbean plays.

We try to get there by 10:30am - 11am and usually walk right on, lowly Gold status.  Seems like most of the crowd arrives after noon-1pm.

Same prices we saw on the Allure in March.  We only used the pressings for one formal night dinner and everything came back on time and in great shape, wrinkle free.  The rest of the time we just used the "hang it up in the bathroom during a shower" trick and everything turned out fine.  I roll my clothes rather than folding them and it makes a big difference in both space-efficiency in the suitcase and minimizing wrinkles.

We really didn't miss having access to an iron.

Did they run out of steaks or something?  Every Royal Caribbean Cruise I've been on has had at least a New York Strip option every night in the main dining room.  I've never looked for gluten free desserts, but there was always at least something sugar-free offered, or did they run out of those too?

A good rule of thumb is 3x to 4x the price on land, so the 40% discount brings you down around double the land price.

38 minutes ago, alamode123 said:

The previous price was too high for my liking. Hopefully there will be a price in the future I'm happy with.

Keep checking frequently.  Prices will just randomly drop, there's not a lot of rhyme or reason to it.  Sometimes the announced sales apply, sometimes it's just suddenly $45 for no particular reason with no fanfare.

I think the kids who grew up w/ Shrek & Madagascar are hitting their teens now, and it doesn't seem like the newer stuff is hitting that kind of popularity with the kids today (how to train your dragon, trolls . . .whatever else they have.)

It's hard to compete with The Mouse on characters.

19 hours ago, kidflash said:

@twangster@JLMoran@4ensic@Orange Crush

 

The part that I'm nervous about though is: if I proceed on this little adventure on my upcoming 7 day Bermuda cruise and I purchase a "one" device package, will the ship's VOOM detect the camera as a second device and then I'm slammed with an "up-charge" on my bill?  Twangster has already cautioned me on the inherent latency issues, step-downs, etc. 

It's neither expressly allowed nor expressly forbidden, and ethically I think it falls well within "reasonable use."  There's no indication Royal Caribbean has a problem with it or they're making any effort to prevent this sort of thing.  There's about zero chance they'd decide to hit you with an upcharge without communicating a policy change in writing well beforehand.  You should be fine.  Worst case, your camera just won't connect to the FTP server.

On Allure, the show reservations are kinda like fast passes at Disney.  They scan your card at the door and only let in the people with reservations.  Everybody else has to line up as standby.  About 10 or 15 minutes before the show, the people with the card readers leave and let everybody waiting in line pour in.  If you don't get there early, your reservation won't matter and you'll be back in gen pop.

On 8/29/2018 at 7:51 AM, mbk999 said:

For our upcoming Allure sailing (celebrating 25 years), we have one specialty dining included with the reservation (dinner on port day) and we are looking to do a Bogo for the first two nights.  Izumi is out since sushi is a no-go for my wife and it's more of an appetizer for me.  Our last Chops experience on the Enchantment was good but not spectacular.  We want to try Giovannis and since our TA marked the second night as our anniversary date, I'd like to see if I can get 150 Central on that day.   So thoughts on Sabor vs Samba Grill vs Chops for the third reservation, with the caveat on Sabor that neither of us are guacamole fans (sorry Matt but I re-gifted the patreon avocado peeler to my co-worker who uses it multiple times a week).    I'm was actually leaning towards Samba but I haven't seen much on it other than it can get very warm in there (sailing in Oct).    

Thanks!

If you can't reserve the specific restaurants and times in advance, then find the dinner reservation stand as soon as you get aboard the ship.  When I was on the Allure in March, we boarded on deck 5, turned left and found the reservation stand right in front of the Bow & Stern Pub.

We did the 4-night deal and originally booked Chops, Gio's, 150 and Samba but wound up dropping Samba for a second visit to Chops.  We really enjoyed all three and it was hard to pick which one to repeat.  Chops only won because the availability worked best with our other plans.  Definitely go to Gio's & 150 as the first two, and either repeat the one you like best or book Chops.  I wouldn't waste the reservation on any of the other choices.

Current Floridian and former North-Carolinian here (I lived in the area in '96 when Bertha & Fran hit in the same year). 

Stay safe and stay smart, sounds like you've got the essentials covered.    Just remember that the most dangerous part of a hurricane is after it has passed.  Don't be in a hurry to run around outside, and when you do, be mindful about walking under any branches or other dangling objects that haven't quite finished falling to the ground.  Treat all power lines as live, and don't be breaking out the chainsaws and ladders and climbing on the roof for the first time in 20 years.

Hopefully you don't get any damage and keep power the whole time or get it back very quickly.  Good luck!

19 hours ago, kidflash said:

@JLMoran Joe, thanks a million. I recently purchased a Samsung S9+ which I "think" may allow me to do what you're suggesting but I'm not 100% sure. But what you're saying sounds reasonable. 

Try it on dry land before you go.  Head over to a McDonald's or someplace with a free captive wifi portal and see if you can connect your phone and get it to share the connection with your camera.  Otherwise, order a travel router if you want direct connectivity.

That said, you should be able to use the S9+ to pull images off the camera and shrink & upload them that way.  Connect it with a USB-C to USB-A "OTG" adapter and the phone will be able to read files off the camera.  It's a bit tedious, but if you're only sending up a few images & don't feel like bringing a laptop, it'll work.

19 hours ago, kidflash said:

@4ensic So you're recommending that while it is doable, I should save myself the headaches and just dump the photos straight to a laptop. (and thanks for the link to the previous post) 

A laptop's going to give you the most flexibility & is probably your best bet.

On 9/7/2018 at 10:00 AM, firebuck said:

I just snagged the 3 night dining package for $68 PP on the cruise planner sale today

Never sailed Anthem, but keep checking your cruise planner frequently.  I've seen the 3-night packages as low as $60. (No announced "sale" just suddenly cheaper for a couple days and then back up to the higher price).  It pays to keep checking semi-obsessively, not only when there's a "sale" going on.

Completely close any browser windows on all devices you've used to log in.  Even if you don't have a page open, there could be a zombie process hanging on & keeping something tied up.

On 9/4/2018 at 9:53 PM, KathyC aka KathLuvsGH said:

Majesty is just sooooo huge, it will take a long time to get everywhere!  

You laugh, but she was one of the largest ships in the world through the 90s!

On 8/29/2018 at 4:36 PM, ellcee said:

Agreed. I never can seem to talk anyone into the WJ for dinner whenever I cruise.

It varies by ship and sailing, but the early MDR seating is around 6:30, late seating's around 8:30.  Windjammer serves dinner from 6 - 9 . . .

Just saw this when I logged in to Cruise Planner for my upcoming 10/5 sailing on the Enchantment:

I do believe that is the cheapest I've ever seen it.  Not sure if this is just for my ship & sailing, but check cruise planner for your upcoming cruises in case it's something more widespread.