Skid

1 hour ago, pamw said:

Has anyone else received a questioner from RC.

I had one today asking about where we have cruised where we would like to cruise.

I duly obliged until I got to the question asking about our income.

I never give this out - it's far to invasive and personal.

The questioner wouldn't let me move any further until I had provided it.

I decided to close it down but struggled - it kept returning to the question. eventually I shut the PC down and that seemed to clear it - only a short while later it popped back up at the same page.

I won't be filling in anymore questioners from RC!

 

 

 

I agree with you and thanks for sharing your experience. Now I know not to bother with it.

5 hours ago, DocLC said:

I get 3% cash back with my Costco Visa on travel purchases, so there's no incentive for me to get the Royal Caribbean branded card. 

Very true, DocLC, but keep in mind that by getting that card (no annual fee) and making just one purchase (it can be a cup of coffee) within 65 days you get 10,000 bonus points which is good for $100 OBC. So if you and and family members each get a card, you have a few hundred dollars.

5 hours ago, ellcee said:

The website allows you to easily use your credit and there will be a popup and an icon on the top of the screen when he books anything.

 

This is how I plan to pay for my drink package. Got the RC card, will get as many points as I can for 11 months.

If it's a new card and you are getting the thousands of bonus points, that's great. However, the RC card pays only 1% on purchases other than for RC. Other cards pay 2% on everything. Why not double your cash back and just pay for the drink package?

On 8/19/2017 at 7:12 AM, Michael Vitale said:

When you see SALE, take notice that it also says "off onboard prices".  Your eyes see it and think its 25% off what YOU paid, but thats not it at all.  :-(

The really deceiving part is the banner. The price for VOOM has been and is the same exact price since I booked in June for our May 2018 cruise. Today it shows up with 20% off onboard price banner.

6 hours ago, JRT said:

We are taking our first cruise out of Baltimore in January. We are planning on driving down the day before from New England. Does anyone have any recommendations for hotels near the cruise port that offers stay and park with shuttling to the port.

Thanks for any help:)

 

We have been using buyreservations.com for a few years now. https://buyreservations.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI6vyJm_7m1QIVF7bACh2cAwV6EAAYASAAEgIMJfD_BwE

2 hours ago, RestingBirds said:

Title:. To sea, or not to sea?

Love it!

6 hours ago, Boston Babe said:

Hi All, looking for some information, I've been online and it's getting mind boggling. We are booked on the Grandeur for next May, primarily, it's leaving from Baltimore because it's close to us and it's a smaller ship.  We are looking at also March/April 2019 for our 25th wedding anniversary, would consider Miami/FLL but it seems all those ships have between 4K-6K (Symphony) passenger capacity. Any suggestions or do we suck it up?? LOL

 

2 hours ago, RestingBirds said:

Voyager class might be a good next step from Grandeur.

Agreed that Voyager class may be a good next step. We have sailed on Adventure and loved it. Actually sailing on her again in May out of Cape Liberty (of course that won't help you since you're already booked on Grandeur). However, I bring that up because if you are willing to drive to NJ and sail on a larger ship you can take your 25th anniversary cruise on Anthem and save the cost of airfare. Anthem is a beautiful ship (we have sailed on her also). If you have never been to Bermuda or to the Bahamas (or want to go again) here is a link to Anthem sailings out of Cape Liberty in April/May 2019. They don't have June 2019 listed yet, but Anthem also does a 9 night Bermuda/Caribbean itinerary. Plus, FYI, the entertainment on Anthem is unbeatable! Enjoy.

https://secure.royalcaribbean.com/cruises?departureCode_BYE=true&dates_minDate=04%2F01%2F2019&dates_maxDate=05%2F31%2F2019

Maybe not new to others, but I found this interesting site that lists which ship will be in what port for 2017, sorted by location.

http://crew-center.com/cruise-ship-port-schedules-2017

5 hours ago, whitsmom said:

On Oasis July 16th sailing and no water any place and no extra charges either!

Thanks for letting us know!

I emailed Matt for posting on the Compass board but figured I'd post this link here in case the email didn't go through. Embarked from San Juan. Visited St. Thomas, Curacao, Aruba and St. Kitts.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8IxXYFC0sUVMUxVeUgybmo4dW8

56 minutes ago, whenismynextcruise said:

Hi Skid,

 

I am at day 109 (I think) for Thanksgiving trip on Anthem now so I will set a 50 day reminder to request a window table. 

Great. Let us know how it works out.

Thanks for posting! Love it.

18 minutes ago, jbelle said:

Only have it if you pay the cost of insurance in ADDITION to the deposit????

That is correct as of May 2016 when I had it. What I did was make a payment on line. When the payment processed I called and asked them to make sure the insurance became effective immediately and to email a new invoice/confirmation, which they did.

On 7/29/2017 at 1:40 PM, whenismynextcruise said:

Once again the this Blog has the answers! I am definitely  going to call with a request for a table by the window. Our next RCL trip is Anthem for Thanksgiving so I am guessing that there is plenty of lead time for this. I may even send an email to the address Skid supplied.

Thanks everyone for your feedback. 

~Mark

FYI, I emailed them and got a reply that table assignments on the ships are done 50 days before sail date and to resend the request around that time frame. Again, address is rcldining@rccl.com

1 hour ago, whenismynextcruise said:

At the risk of sounding stupid here would someone mind explaining to me the differences between MTD and Traditional dining. We always travel as just the two of us and of the dozen cruises we have been on we have never eaten in the MD. We choose to eat at the specialty restaurants (Love Chops!) or Windjammer, or Johnny Rockets, etc most of the time. Reading all of the discussion here in various posts about the MD I am starting to feel like we are missing out on that experience.

We have not eaten in the MD for for 2 reasons;

1) We prefer to eat by ourselves. Like everyone else vacation time and $ to spend on them are a precious resource and for us it is time to spend together and we just prefer dining that way.

2)  The tables for 2, from what I have seen, always seem to be in awkward areas in such large rooms. I have noticed some that look like they are in what we would consider a better spot.

With traditional dining you get assigned to one table for the cruise right? Does MTD give you any flexibility in choosing a table for the week?

Anyone else have experience in dining for just two?

Thanks in advance for any info/guidance.

We have requested a table for 2 in the main dining room several times and it has always worked out well. As far as location, we usually go to the dining room as soon as we board to make sure that our assigned table is, in fact, a table for 2 and that we like the location. The staff has always been very accommodating and we have never had to switch. We loved our spot last time and will be on the same ship again next cruise (Adventure). So we will email a few weeks ahead to request the same table. I think the address is rcldining@rccl.com

30 minutes ago, Matt said:

To be fair, I never assumed the Excursions staff were any kind of experts on the destinations we visit.  They are there to take orders and answer basic questions about the excursions offered. Granted, after a number of cruises they often get a good feel for these ports, but I wouldn't figure them to be local experts.  Or am I missing the point of the original post?

I see your point, Matt. However, the group I encountered couldn't even answer basic questions. I agree they should not be expected to be experts, but when they are so new and inexperienced as this particular crew was, they should at least be working along side a "veteran" or two. To be clear, I was not annoyed at them personally. I felt badly for them for the position in which they were placed. I was just wondering how often this had happened.

36 minutes ago, BrianAlt said:

Almost sounds like a gag.  I mean, I'm sure they have the basic information available to them.  Might not be all that helpful, but it would have been something!

Anthem has iPads. The staff knew absolutely nothing. They sat down with us, looked at the screens, and read what they saw out loud, as if we didn't know how to read. We wished it was a gag. Of course, now we research excursions prior to sailing!

2 hours ago, Mushroom said:

Is there a glow party on Harmony?

(2 months to go, working on packing list)

1 hour ago, FManke said:

What is that?

22 minutes ago, rjac said:

Usually, after you fulfill your drink quota for the day on your ultimate drink package, you will have quite a glow on. The friendly bartenders will point you in the right direction for the party, which is typically at the end of the bar with all the other glow-ees.

Wait, it's not the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling?????  :)

After seeing the post from an Adventure OTS cruiser that I copied below with my reply, I am wondering if this type of occurrence is more prevalent than I ever would have expected. Has anyone else experienced this?
Other staggering thing- stopped by the Excursion desk afternoon before St. Lucia. 2 ladies working there actually told us they have no idea about the island- they had never been there themselves, and had only been working for 3 weeks. They were certainly honest, but didn't expect to be told "Uh- your're on your own!".
This same thing happened to us on Anthem in 2015 and it was even more ridiculous. The only 2 people from the excursion department were both on vacation at the same time. The rest of the staff was new (literally the third day for one of them) and not one of them had ever been to that particular port (Barbados). 
Fortunately, the guy from the jewelry port shopping desk knew everything and did a great job in guiding us. We informed corporate of his extra effort. 
I think I will start a separate thread. Will be interesting to see if this has happened with any type of regularity.

10 minutes ago, colinmac31 said:

Couldn't agree more. The charge for these restaurants is even more ridiculous when you consider that you are not eating in the MDR or Windjammer that evening and you technically already paid for it. I just don't want to see the industry turn cruise ships into a giant strip centers at sea that are specifically designed to generate a certain amount of revenue per square foot. I worry we will have to buy tickets to shows in the coming years. My wife and I's favorite part about cruising is being able to go out to a great dinner, see an awesome show, and then go listen to great live music and dance late into the night all included in the cruise fare. I fear that is going away one small change at a time (Specialty Dining Fee, Room Service Fee, Escape Room Fees, Corking Fee, etc.). If this continues ships might as well have passengers with 1st class tickets that can afford to take advantage of all of the amenities and others with 3rd class tickets that can only access the Windjammer.

Obviously this is hyperbole, but I do see this as the general direction that the cruise industry is sailing. I think the question they are all asking each other around conference tables at Royal's corporate office is, "How can we generate more revenue from the passengers on the ship". While this a valid question for a business to be asking, I think they are going about this wrong. I think the question they should be asking is "How can we create the best possible experience for our guests while keeping all of the costs within the standard cruise fare?" In my opinion, the first question will ultimately lead to less revenue and ultimately failure while the second will lead to more revenue and success.

Even with all of the changes cruising is still the vacation with the best value. I just want it to stay that way.

Great post! Your favorite, to me, is/should be the definition of cruising.

Just saw this new post on another site-good news:

Hi. 
I was on Anthem sailing July 15, 2017 and there were no Evian water bottles in the cabin.
I asked the cabin steward and he said they don't leave them anymore.

2 hours ago, mom2mybugs said:

I know...im in the process of booking my river cruise and about 5 other trips...will do when i can!   I had a question though.   Its not a vig deal to cancel and rebook the drinks pkg, because its not limited.   What about dining and excursions.   I booked them early...if a sale happens,  am i playing with fire if i cancel and immediately rebook?  Im afraid i will lose them or the dining time.   Jane

That is a great question Jane! My first instinct is to book the new ones, then cancel the old. But I'm guessing the website wouldn't allow 2 bookings for the same person. Maybe by calling, a rep can put in the new order while cancelling the old??? Does anyone know the best way to handle this?

14 minutes ago, MattHird said:

Thanks very much Skid, that's good to hear. Am I right in thinking that the Freestyle machines are not on every ship?

Although I have been on only 3 of Royal's ships, I believe your thinking is correct.

3 hours ago, mom2mybugs said:

Im waiting it out too...mine are still 55 plus gratuities for my match freedom sailing.   As soon as i see a sail i will book 2 pkg....just in case they make both people in a cabin share...and then cancel one of they don't.   Jane

Although you may not want to lay out the money this far in advance, booking it now will protect you from any future price increase. If/when the sale happens, you can cancel it and buy at the sale price.

2 minutes ago, MattHird said:

New to RCI but booked on Navigator in November. We would not get our money's worth with the full Beverage Package but will likely buy the Soda Package. I keep reading about the Coca-Cola cups that are used, does this mean you have to carry these cups around with you wherever you go on the ship, or are you able to still get Soda from bars and main dining room etc. in glasses? Thanks.

You can get sodas anywhere on the ship at any bar, venue or dining room. They will serve in regular glasses or fill up your cup if so desired. Do not have to carry the cup around. However, FYI, those cups are the only ones that work in the freestyle machines. Glasses, etc. will not work in those.