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Vision of the Seas - Arabian Gulf - February


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When booking this cruise, as I sat with a TA, I asked about the C&A discount as well as a military discount.  She phoned RCI directly and the response was that 

1) The C&A discount doesn't apply on the BOGO fare that I got.  The TA attempted to argue my case by saying that my loyalty doesn't count for anything then as anyone without C&A will get the same rate as I get.  Where is the gratitude for being a loyal Royal customer?

2) The military discount is not combinable with the BOGO rate.

 

Basically, 2 chances to discount my cruise fare that were both not honored by Royal Caribbean.  It is a good thing they are a good cruise line because their LOYALTY programs amount to nothing.

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I'm on the Vision in June, but don't have any experience yet. I have heard good things, though.

 

The C&A and other discounts are weird when it comes to Royal and their sales and when they do/do not apply. I think the last time I was able to benefit from a loyalty booking discount was 2005 if I don't count my onboard booking last year.

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Having heard so much from Matt about all these sales on cruise extras lately, I have been watching my cruise planner closely, with much disappointment I must admit since none of these discounts seem to apply to my cruise.

 

Voom was listed as only 1 device plan.  I could get it x2 for a total of £101.94 GBP.

Drinks are listed as £44.55 GBP pppd and no discount listed.

 

This morning I see Voom on the planner has a price update:

1 device is now showing £135.96 GBP.  Nothing said it was on sale before.

Now they are showing 2, 3, 4, and 5 device plans so I checked the 2 device plan.  This has come in as 30% off at £124.68 GBP.  This isnt shown on the front banner, you have to actually put it in your cart to see the 30% off.  

So, 2 device plan is actually cheaper than the new 1 device plan.  go figure.

Still no deals on drinks (the most important part of any cruise)

 

I'll keep you posted on any changes I see.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Being always vigilant, I check daily to see if the on board amenities (Voom, Drinks) are going to go on sale for my cruise.  

I have placed these things in my shopping cart on the Cruise Planner yet haven't yet purchased them, waiting on a sale to show up.  Imagine my surprise when I logged on this morning and it said "price updated".  I have kept screen shots of the prices as I go just for my own tracking purposes (i'm a numbers and logging geek).  

Here is the result:

Deluxe Drinks went from 735.96 total to 726.88 total.  A savings of £9.08 GBP

Voom Surf&Stream 2 devices went from 124.68 to 123.14. A savings of £1.34 GBP.

I can only assume this price difference is due to the GBP/USD exchange rate.  This savings totaled up to about 1 lava flow on board.  Needless to say, I have not purchased these yet.

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I just noticed that I have no record of a booking reference for my Emirates flights to Dubai.  This is needed to add to the phone app and to select seats onboard the plane.

I phoned my TA (Barrhead Travel) and they said it should be on the paperwork but it has been left off.  Royal Caribbean can give it to me since the flights were package booked through them.  "here's the number to call them".

Boy, I wish MEI Travel worked in the UK.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Special Deals???????

I have been watching daily (even Black Friday and Cyber Monday).  Not a single deal has been offered in regards to drinks packages.  VOOM has been 30% off from the day I booked.  I'm wondering if I will see any discounted packages offered for this cruise.  I'm starting to think I made a mistake with this booking, hoping that opportunities to save some money would arise.

 

Your thoughts?

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  • 3 weeks later...

Since I booked this cruise, I have checked daily in hopes that drink packages or internet will go on sale.  Well, this morning, what a Christmas sale they have!!! The price actually went up - again.  Cruise is in 45 days. Should I wait to see if the price goes down, or should I just book now to avoid the possibility of the price going up even more because of the USD/GBP exchange rate fluctuations?

 

What do you all think?

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Our first cruise was on Vision out of Venice over Thanksgiving. I have nothing to really compare it to, except we will certainly cruise again. I found the food just okay, but the service was generally very good. We were in a larger suite so the concierge lounge and our concierge were outstanding...we always had available table whenever we showed up and I thought it was overall a great value for a vacation. Voom was so lousy on the ship it was a complete waste of time and frustration so I just used the computer in the concierge lounge and was much happier when I needed one. Ship seemed spotless to me, crew extremely friendly, captain and officers very accessible. It was a good first time experience. Hope this helped a little bit

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Our first cruise was on Vision out of Venice over Thanksgiving. I have nothing to really compare it to, except we will certainly cruise again. I found the food just okay, but the service was generally very good. We were in a larger suite so the concierge lounge and our concierge were outstanding...we always had available table whenever we showed up and I thought it was overall a great value for a vacation. Voom was so lousy on the ship it was a complete waste of time and frustration so I just used the computer in the concierge lounge and was much happier when I needed one. Ship seemed spotless to me, crew extremely friendly, captain and officers very accessible. It was a good first time experience. Hope this helped a little bit

That is a great review for me. Thanks.  Vision of the Seas doesn't seem to have many things said about her on these forums.  I'll give my review here when I am done with the cruise.  Stay Tuned.

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I wouldn't worry that the price will go up before you set sail. But, I would purchase before you board because the price to purchase the drink package probably will be higher on the ship. Wait it out to see if it does drop but pull the trigger before you get on. Just my thought. On my Apr. 22, 2017 Harmony sailing, the drink package sale never reflected a price drop. Once it was combined with voom, that was enough to get me to order it even though I wouldn't purchase voom independently. Some sailings reflected a discount during the sale while others not so much. My last cruise I waited to buy the package on the ship because I thought the prices precruise weren't reflecting a discount from the on board price. I was wrong and it cost me a few extra bucks by waiting.

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  • 1 month later...

That's it done!

Ran out of time as the cut off for purchasing cruise items online is midnight tonight.  Bought the drink package yesterday at GBP£45.10 pppn for a total of GBP£745.06.  Never saw any discounts offered and the price only fluctuated due to the exchange rate.  Once Brexit happened I saw the exchange rate go down (fewer USD for each GBP) which made prices go up in GBP.  When this happened, RCI was very quick to change the prices.  When the rate goes up, the change isnt quite as quick.  Over the course of my booking I saw a difference of about GBP£ 20 between the lowest and highest rates for the drink package.  Unfortunately purchased at the highest.

VOOM also never changed.  Always showed the same price (GBP£18.03 pd) Sometimes it showed a 30% discount (same price) and sometimes it didnt but the price never changed. (except the exchange rate change as explained above).

 

Regardless:

We leave Sunday night from Glasgow on Emirates Airways.  Cruise leaves Dubai on Monday.  We will be having a good time and I will try to keep this thread going as a Live Review.  Watch for periscopes as well under the same username (Sailor_to_Cruiser)

 

See you on the Vision of the Seas in the Arabian Sea.

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  • 3 weeks later...

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