Orange Crush

Nice people get their drinks faster!

I think he meant Deluxe Beverage Package which would be DBP...........

I get the sense that, the longer the cruise (and more people you have), the less valuable it is
 
See, you jinxed yourself by saying it out loud.  Book it first, tell your husband later.  That's how I roll. ?
(Besides, you can always drop it & get a refund if you change your mind later.)
I'm trying it out on our October trip on Mariner.  Seems worth it for the VIP show seating, wifi, lunch & breakfast.  Not sure we'll make use of the bag drop (we only carry on what we'll want before the luggage arrives--i.e. sunblock, passports, hat & sunglasses) or priority boarding (we have never not walked right on the ship at 11ish) but I guess the perks are there just in case.  We could get stuck in traffic on the way to the port and have to wait in a line like savages.
 

Had a noon to midnight stop there in October, everything except the corporate bars (ex Senior Frogs) was closed and the metal doors were down on all the local-owned storefronts we saws when we tried to walk around at 8pm on a Saturday night.  And Frogs was pretty dead.  Just a few very drunk kids from one of the ships grinding on the dance floor.
I'll give them my business, but they've gotta be open for business while we're there.

Wait, which cruise website am I on again?
100% this is a to each their own thing. What is valuable to one person may not be valuable to another. In the end, it's not going to affect my own cruise experience. The particular introduction of the key poses little impact to those who have chosen not to purchase the key. It is what it is. 

Daaaang.  And they were *so close* to making it back in the nick of time.  I would lose my mind seeing the ship so close you can almost touch it just slowly drift away.
I think I have a phobia about being left behind, so the video absolutely horrifies me because I can't help but think how I'd feel in that situation.
I'm not going to celebrate their misery, but it totally reinforces my neurosis about triple-checking the time & getting back to the ship at least an hour ahead of the final boarding call.  I'd probably cuss out my own mother if she was dilly-dallying.

Nicely done - I had literally just made the comment to my husband the day before the price increase that "we should maybe look at getting it before something changes".... and then the next day it went up. We grabbed it on the recent sale when it went back down to $25. 
Also, enjoy the Allure! We spent two weeks on Allure for our honeymoon and love the ship. 

I'm really excited to try this on Allure in September and hope the perks stay about the same. Since we would have bought VOOM anyway, it wasn't really a huge jump at all for all the other perks.

Daaaang.  And they were *so close* to making it back in the nick of time.  I would lose my mind seeing the ship so close you can almost touch it just slowly drift away.
I think I have a phobia about being left behind, so the video absolutely horrifies me because I can't help but think how I'd feel in that situation.
I'm not going to celebrate their misery, but it totally reinforces my neurosis about triple-checking the time & getting back to the ship at least an hour ahead of the final boarding call.  I'd probably cuss out my own mother if she was dilly-dallying.

If this is an RC excursion, the ship will wait for you or it will be RC's responsibility to get you to the next port/home.  On my last cruise, the ship left Falmouth almost an hour late because it was waiting for an RC excursion to get back. 

There is protocol for folks who don’t make it to the ship on time beyond blasting the ships horn. It begins with announcements onboard requesting they call guest relations (because it is entirely possible they are aboard); you can be sure their recent seapass use is researched to see if they have entered their stateroom, bought a drink, played a slot machine, bought some art from Park West, etc. etc. I’d like to think somebody onboard is calling, emailing, and texting the important contact information you were required to submit when you bought the cruise. Finally— security enters their stateroom and ransacks it to obtain their passport and then those missing persons passports are handed to the local port agent before the ship leaves. Offenders are left high and dry but with access to their passports, just no luggage. On the bright side they do have plenty of time to head back to Froggies or Margaritaville.
Who is the port agent you ask? Well, somewhere buried in your cruise documents is the name, address, and phone number of the port agents for the ports you will be visiting. You sign your name that you are aware of this people when you first get onboard. Remember?
We all can be sure the ports where people are frequently late like Rome (Civitavecchia) or Nassau everyone who works on that pier will know which way you need to go and who you need to see.
Not every pier runner is drunk. Hey, sometimes medical emergencies happen while passengers are in port. In those cases, the hospital will usually notify the ship that Mr Smith has had a heart attack and Mrs Smith will be staying with him while he is in surgery or Mr Jones is in traction from a zip line injury earlier that morning; in those cases Royal security will ransack the room and the little safe looking for passports as they do but they will also pack the personal belongings and leave those with the port agent. So maybe hospitality has not completely left the cruise industry?
 

It is kind of fun to watch people running and make it onto the ship.  It does put a different light on the situation when they don't make it.  However, there is a 99% chance this was not a simple misfortune, but rather a neglect of responsibility. 
 
If we can leap from misfortune to neglect, we can then leap to the possibility that it's not the first time they've pushed the envelope in any number of instances when in a public setting.  In that you get a little piece of karma.
 
I wish they'd have made it and this topic didn't come up, but as mentioned, there is a very good chance this isn't the first time.

I disagree with this.  If I were to be left behind anywhere I would hope it was there.  There are so many excursions I want to go on here I can barely even do one in the 4 or 5 hours here.   If I was left behind here I would go back to Atlantas and actually get my money’s worth at the waterpark.  I would check into a hotel and try the next day try and make it to Dolphin Cay in the morning and see the pigs in the afternoon and maybe even something else before getting back to Miami the morning the boat got in.  That’s just me though, I would move to the Bahamas if they weren’t so strict about not letting in dogs that look like any kind of bull terriers.

I think this thread has served a purpose.  Cruisers old and new have learned the ship will actually leave without you when you don't return in time.  Of the 6,000 on board, 5,998 made it back. 
I was on a cruise two weeks ago and I saw 60 - 80 people slowly walking up the pier well past all aboard time.  None were in a hurry.  One drunk girl lay on the concrete pier and rested (or passed out) .   I had to check my watch thinking I was an hour off.  I wasn't.  Crew were waving to them to hurry up.  The bridge blew the ship's horn.  People are way too cavalier and just assume the world revolves around them. 
I tire at the muster drill waiting for the stragglers to show up.  I tire on an excursion waiting for people who show up late.  
Hopefully this video will serve to educate everyone that a ship will leave without you.  It is your responsibility to be on time.
The cruise community has a name for these types of people.  "Pier Runners" and it transcends all cruise lines.   
This is about personal accountability and yes, two ships full of passengers will make fun of you when you miss the ship.  
Lesson learned - don't be late.  

I get quite nervous about going too far from the ship when we head off by ourselves and keep checking my watch. 
I usually try and get us back at least an hour before departure time.
I remember on one cruise we where about 40 minutes late departing from Lanzarote and we where sitting on our balcony just looking out over the port when we saw this taxi screaming though the security point, lights flashing horn blaring. He pulled up right next to the ship and a couple got out and legged the remaining 20 feet to the gangway. Needless to say they where met with many cheers from the on lookers on the Balconys.

Thanks for those people letting us first timers know the app is inaccurate for timing. 

+1 on this point.  App was highly inaccurate on Indy in December.  Gave up on it after Day 1.

Just don’t trust anything on the app as far as times. It’s notoriously inaccurate. Go by the cruise compass. Although I found the menus on Mariner to be accurate. 

Get rid of the bridge.  Tampa traffic isn't that bad.  

For sure.  Three to four years of speculation and rumors.  I'll start...
I hear they are building a port for her in Denver, CO.  

What's a prime member?
I'm assuming this is totally unrelated to free shipping from Amazon. ?

Service animals that have been trained to perform a task are still allowed.  Providing comfort/emotional support isn't a task an animal has been trained for, that's the main distinction.
Hopefully this is enough to curtail the abusers who are just ordering a vest and certificate online so they can bring Fluffy.  The current laws are meant to make it easier for people with legitimate disabilities and needs to get by without being harassed and challenged constantly.  Businesses aren't allowed to ask what a person's disability is or why they need a service animal, it'd be like asking somebody if they really need that wheelchair or are they just lazy.  People with disabilities put up with enough crap that they shouldn't have to deal with a problem caused by selfish and overly entitled jerks.

Here's the direct quote from the ADA website:
  The ADA recognizes psychiatric service animals, but that does not include nebulous "emotional support" animals. 

Service animals that have been trained to perform a task are still allowed.  Providing comfort/emotional support isn't a task an animal has been trained for, that's the main distinction.
Hopefully this is enough to curtail the abusers who are just ordering a vest and certificate online so they can bring Fluffy.  The current laws are meant to make it easier for people with legitimate disabilities and needs to get by without being harassed and challenged constantly.  Businesses aren't allowed to ask what a person's disability is or why they need a service animal, it'd be like asking somebody if they really need that wheelchair or are they just lazy.  People with disabilities put up with enough crap that they shouldn't have to deal with a problem caused by selfish and overly entitled jerks.