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New Grand Suites on the Oasis and Allure will be Redsignated as Aqua Suites Next Summer


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Head's up, everyone who is interested in booking one of the 6 newly added Grand Suites in the Aqua Theater area of the Oasis and Allure. These are the 6 new Grand Suites that were added to both of these ships during their most recent drydocks (this is where the "hidden balconies" were before renovation). The stateroom numbers are 11330, 11730, 12330, 12730, 14330 and 14730.

 

These very LARGE Grand Suites are going to be redesignated as Aqua Theater Suites. The Allure will change these rooms from GS to AS June 5, 2016. The Oasis will make the change May 7, 2016. The 4 biggest ones (11330, 11730, 12330 and 12730) are going to be category A3 which require a minimum of 4 persons to book. The smaller ones (14330 and 41730) will be a new designation A4 and will be available to general inventory, which means that you can book with just 2 people.

 

I found this out ONLY because I was planning on booking one of these Grand Suites for my Christmas 2016 cruise only to find that they will be designated as Aqua Suites by then. The Club Royale agent and I backtracked and determined that the change-over from GS to A3/A4 will occur in May and June of next year.

 

So....if you want to take advantage of booking any of these 6 rooms while they are still Grand Suites, I suggest you do so very soon. Word WILL get out that their availability as GS is limited and they will all be gone - poof !

 

Needless to say, the price on these rooms skyrockets once they go from being GS to A3/A4. The room that will cost just over $5K on Feb. 21 will be upwards of $15K once it is redesignated. Of course, they are doing NOTHING to enhance these rooms at all...they are just taking advantage of the fact that they are bigger than all of the other GS on the boat and know that they can charge 3 times what they are currently getting for them. Typical, right ?

 

Of course, they aren't telling ANYone about this...even the RC sales agents didn't know about it. We all found out together. So slimy.

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5K to 15k...if someone is stupid enough to spend $15k for a  larger but basically same room, then more power to them.

 

No wonder RCI can keep cutting back on service, perks and discounts  and increasing pricing.....some people are willing to pay I guess.

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Do you really think they are going to up the price that much?  That is more than an A1 category costs now and they are 830+ sqaure feet with a Balcony of 800+., with two bedrroms and two baths. While I do find it weird that they charge the same for A1 as they do A2, I just think they will "jump the shark" if they try to charge more for an A3/A4 which is considerable smaller.  If they re-classified the A1's to another name..then maybe it would fly.

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I know for certain that they are going up that much. This link takes you to the A4 category (which, by the way, is the SMALLEST of the new Aqua Suites and the only ones that you can book with just 2 people) for the Christmas, 2016 cruise on the Allure. This is how I found out about the change. The price for 14330 for this cruise (which is a 10 night cruise) is $14,527.38. http://www.royalcaribbean.com/booking/setCategory.do?stateroomCategoryChoice=Aquatheater+Suite+w%2fBalcony~~A4~~D~~A6~~A7598274~~false

 

Now I realize that Christmas week is second only to New Year's week in high prices for a cruise...and that this is a 10 day vs 7 day cruise...but it's still almost 3X the amount that this same exact room is costing in Feb. 2016.

 

The Christmas cruise on the Oasis (8 nights) for this same A4 room is $13,592.44 http://www.royalcaribbean.com/booking/setCategory.do?stateroomCategoryChoice=Aquatheater+Suite+w%2FBalcony~~A4~~D~~A6~~A7598274~~false

 

You are absolutely correct, bdchili...these rooms are MUCH smaller than the other Aqua Suites categories AND they are only 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom. How can they possibly justify requiring 4 people to book the new A3 rooms (decks 11 and 12) and require 4 people in a 1 BR, 1BA stateroom ?

 

It seems like very bad planning to me. I completely understand that they are much larger than the other Grand Suites on the ship and that the balconies on these rooms are HUGE compared to the other Grand Suites. IMO they should reclassify them as a different category of GS and charge a little more for them than they do for the standard GS but to reclassify them as AS seems dubious, to me.

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WAAAYTOOO, Right now I have a junior suite for the Group Cruise and with the Club Royale Discount I am paying $3,100.00 for 2 people... I am considering upgrading to a grand suite.. How much are you paying for the grand suite including the club Royale Discount for the group cruise? Just curious how much more I would need to pay...

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Stephanie I paid $3822 ($1911 each) and b/c I booked on April 15 I paid no taxes or port fees. With prepaid gratuities it ended up being $4021.50. I think that's right...very close if not exact. So, if you have paid $3100 already it's less than $1K to upgrade to a GS ! If you are going to do this do it immediately b/c the last of the new GS discussed above is still available (14730 I think)...at least it was when I checked earlier today. Both the room and the deck are bigger than the other GS on the Allure.

 

Considering all of the amenities that come with the GS I think it's a no-brainer for the difference in price...plus you're back with the Aqua Suites !

 

Good luck !

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In case you haven't yet checked, the prices on the Feb 21 cruise are actually DOWN today...so what was a good price yesterday is even BETTER today. Even with the increase in gratuities the net fare is still reduced.

 

So for any of you who are on the blog cruise, be sure to have the TA check and see if you can realize a reduction in price with the new discount. It definitely saved all of my group money.

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Stephanie, I would like to chat with you about the cabana at Labadee. I am going to try and send you a message with my email address on it and ask you to please chat with me via email.

 

I am not really familiar with all of this tech stuff so I hope it goes through.

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Very Excited.. I switched from a junior suite to a grand suite on the group cruise. I loved Coastal Kitchen on Quantum and I am happy to have it on Allure. Also want to get a Cabana in Labadee.. The Group Cruise is going to be great!

Wow, I need to start hanging out with Stephanie more

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Head's up, everyone who is interested in booking one of the 6 newly added Grand Suites in the Aqua Theater area of the Oasis and Allure. These are the 6 new Grand Suites that were added to both of these ships during their most recent drydocks (this is where the "hidden balconies" were before renovation). The stateroom numbers are 11330, 11730, 12330, 12730, 14330 and 14730.

 

These very LARGE Grand Suites are going to be redesignated as Aqua Theater Suites. The Allure will change these rooms from GS to AS June 5, 2016. The Oasis will make the change May 7, 2016. The 4 biggest ones (11330, 11730, 12330 and 12730) are going to be category A3 which require a minimum of 4 persons to book. The smaller ones (14330 and 41730) will be a new designation A4 and will be available to general inventory, which means that you can book with just 2 people.

 

I found this out ONLY because I was planning on booking one of these Grand Suites for my Christmas 2016 cruise only to find that they will be designated as Aqua Suites by then. The Club Royale agent and I backtracked and determined that the change-over from GS to A3/A4 will occur in May and June of next year.

 

So....if you want to take advantage of booking any of these 6 rooms while they are still Grand Suites, I suggest you do so very soon. Word WILL get out that their availability as GS is limited and they will all be gone - poof !

 

Needless to say, the price on these rooms skyrockets once they go from being GS to A3/A4. The room that will cost just over $5K on Feb. 21 will be upwards of $15K once it is redesignated. Of course, they are doing NOTHING to enhance these rooms at all...they are just taking advantage of the fact that they are bigger than all of the other GS on the boat and know that they can charge 3 times what they are currently getting for them. Typical, right ?

 

Of course, they aren't telling ANYone about this...even the RC sales agents didn't know about it. We all found out together. So slimy.

I just saw this response.  Pretty insane IMO!  I am one who trys to view things as "the glass is half full", however unless RCI has a plan that is completely off the grid then I have to think they will have to change this scenario.  The only thing I can even pretend to guess could be in play is they will announce a tremedously generous "tiered" amenities program for suite guests and the A-4 classification falls into a much higher level of perks than the GS.  If that isn't the scenario, then they have probably missed the mark on this one.  

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They are still trying to get their act together on these suite changes. Yesterday I went to the Oasis sailing on 5 Nov 2016 and they were advertising the A4 (the smallest of these new GS-turned-AS) rooms as full-sized AS2 (600+ ft sq room and 600+ ft sq balcony) which of course, is completely WRONG and they had an A3 (12330) out in general inventory (GI) when these rooms are supposed to require 4 people to book. Needless to say, I snatched that A3 up before they could pull it back out of GI.

 

Today, they have fixed the dimensions on the A4 category and no longer show any A3's available. I don't know if they had actually sold the other A3 (12730) or they had never had it out in GI where it didn't belong.

 

So there are still some BIG issues with these changes. I paid a little less than $2K more for the GS-turned-A3 (even with my Club Royale discount) than I paid for a BIGGER GS cabin 1 deck below on the Allure in Feb 2016 so they have definitely adjusted the prices UP but not as much as they first had...so they are still figuring it all out.

 

You would think that they would have thought all of this out FIRST before making these changes but it seems they are fumbling around making changes and more changes. It's quite humorous, actually.

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They are still trying to get their act together on these suite changes. Yesterday I went to the Oasis sailing on 5 Nov 2016 and they were advertising the A4 (the smallest of these new GS-turned-AS) rooms as full-sized AS2 (600+ ft sq room and 600+ ft sq balcony) which of course, is completely WRONG and they had an A3 (12330) out in general inventory (GI) when these rooms are supposed to require 4 people to book. Needless to say, I snatched that A3 up before they could pull it back out of GI.

 

Today, they have fixed the dimensions on the A4 category and no longer show any A3's available. I don't know if they had actually sold the other A3 (12730) or they had never had it out in GI where it didn't belong.

 

So there are still some BIG issues with these changes. I paid a little less than $2K more for the GS-turned-A3 (even with my Club Royale discount) than I paid for a BIGGER GS cabin 1 deck below on the Allure in Feb 2016 so they have definitely adjusted the prices UP but not as much as they first had...so they are still figuring it all out.

 

You would think that they would have thought all of this out FIRST before making these changes but it seems they are fumbling around making changes and more changes. It's quite humorous, actually.

 

My head is spinning!?!?!?!?  I guess I should be really glad a friend convinced me to book a cruise over a year out!  Normally that is not the way I roll, but moving forward it will be.  I have an A1 for that sailing and the way they keep messing with the pricing I doubt the fare will improve no matter what PROMO they throw out there between now and June 16.

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This is STILL changing daily. I JUST rebooked the Harmony TA from a GS to one of the "new" AS. Of course, on the Harmony, these suites are not add-ons, they are part of the original build. For that reason, it turns out that the one on Deck 14 is actually LARGER than the one on 12 (at least that's what the agent told me...I sure hope she's right. I will be VERY unhappy if I get there and find out that I should have booked the one on Deck 12).

 

ALL of these AS on 11, 12 and 14 are now being advertised as A4. Originally I was told that Decks 11 and 12 would be A3 and only Deck 14 would be A4 - at least, on the Allure and Oasis. It turns out that all of them are going to be A4 on the Harmony. This actually makes sense since all of these rooms are only 1 BR, 1BA. The other AS (8, 9 and 10) are 2 BR.

 

Anyway, it's all still messed up. The deck plans for Oasis and Allure still show those rooms as GS even though they are being sold as Aqua Suites (no idea what designation...it changes daily) after May and June of 2016.

 

My recommendation is...if you find any available at a reasonable price, snag them. I have already done that with 2 cruises in November of this year and November of next year...plus the TA on Harmony.

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I am just very happy I get to take advantage of the new rooms while they are priced as a Grand Suite. Aqua Theater suites are a little out of my budget since I Cruise about 3-4 times a year but Grand Suites I can do!

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Matt, You gotta come check out my room on the group cruise. I cant wait to show you the balcony it is very cool!.. Also now I guess I will have no problem getting a Cabana in Labadee so that is also a plus.. But seriously I want you to come check out my room I just think its so cool that you can see the Aqua Theater from there!

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Matt, You gotta come check out my room on the group cruise. I cant wait to show you the balcony it is very cool!.. Also now I guess I will have no problem getting a Cabana in Labadee so that is also a plus.. But seriously I want you to come check out my room I just think its so cool that you can see the Aqua Theater from there!

Absolutely.  We will do a cabin crawl event more than likely so yours will be a must-see.

 

No promises that I leave.

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