Intent2smile

We have always cruised on Liberty so we never made reservations. We have a cruise on April 30th on Allure. Reservations opened yesterday for entertainment. We were able to reserve for Mama Mia, Aqua Show, Ice Show, and Adult Comedy

Cruise prices fluctuate. I have been doing mock bookings for 2024. We have a cruise this year and we cruise every year at the time. The price for 2024 cruise right now is actually $350 cheaper now than what we paid for our cruise in 82 days. I will agree though extras such as DBP and UDP are higher now than a year ago. We paid $57 pp/pd for the DBP for 2022 and our cruise in 82 days we paid $67

Just a heads up if you have the ultimate dining package when you make reservations through the app it looks like it is going to charge you each time you make a reservation but it does not.

Just thought I would share my experience in hopes of helping someone else. Hubby and I did our COVID test on April 29th for our May 1 cruise at Walgreens. I was a little disappointed because Walgreens did not ask for any form of ID to prove who we were. They did not even ask our DOB. We did the test at 10 am by 10:20 hubby had his results. I waited until 12pm and went back to Walgreens to check why I had not received the results. Turns out my test came back invalid. They reran the test and within 10 minutes I had the negative result. We had several people that we talked to on our cruise that the same thing happened. I spoke to Walgreens and they stated they do not automatically rerun the invalid results. So if you do not get your NAAT rapid results try calling and seeing if that is the issue.

I have never used them but I would call them with the guidelines from Royal and make sure that their results meet all of the requirements especially the CLIA Cert number being on the results. We heard someone on May 1st on our cruise that had to get tested again because the CLIA was not on their results

We just got off Liberty on Sunday. My hubby worked in restaurants for years so he is normally picky. He had no issues at all. My steak in Chops was over cooked but it was the first night. They cooked me a new one in no time though and it was great. On the last night my stuffed chicken jalapeño was cold in Sabor on the last night but I had a hot one in no time. Neither experience made me think anything less of the food or the service. We were on vacation and like we heard in Jamaica there are not problems only situations that can be fixed

We took into account all the drinks we had on our last cruise not only alcohol but also soda, fresh squeezed OJ an specialty coffee and it equaled out for us. The main reason we purchase the DBP is honestly the ability to prepay and not having to keep track of what we are spending while we are on vacation. That to me is worth it even if we did not even out.

We went to Vegas when our Sept 2021 cruise was canceled. It is Vegas but we never walked away with less than $100 for most meals for 2 of us. I will gladly pay the $168 we paid for the UDP. I broke it down to we would not eat out at home for $24 per person. The service is what makes us get UDP each cruise, I think the food is better than the MDR but the service has always been amazing with the UDP and it is not long and drawn out like the MDR felt to us.

We always leave our passports in the safe as well. We always have a picture of our passport on our phones and I am sure it would do nothing if something happened but it makes me feel better so it is on my phone.

We are the same way. We cruise once a year so stick with RCI because we have always had great experiences. We have had friends try to convince us to give Carnival a try but we are of the mentality if RCI is not broke don’t fix it.

I agree! I personally if I see a price I think is cheaper I actually call RCI and have them do the cancel and rebook for me. I always ask them to confirm it is cheaper before they cancel. It takes a few minutes and a phone call but it saved me once so now I always do it that way now

When you book the make a reservation for you but once you get on the ship you can change through the app or go to any of the specialty dining.

I do not see what your sail date is but keep watching especially around holidays. Memorial Day is coming up if you do not sail before then. We kept watching because ours was $70 for our May 1st cruise and finally found it for a price we were willing to pay. If you purchase and the price drops before your cruise you can always call and cancel it and repurchase. You will have to pay again and then they will refund you the first purchase. We have never found a price drop after purchase that was worth the hassle of cancel and repurchase, for me it would have to be $100 cheaper for me to do it.

Our cruising tv tradition is American Gladiators. It is usually on a lot and does seem to repeat the same episode

I scheduled with Walgreens. CVS within a 25 mile radius did not offer rapid tests. I would be stressing like crazy waiting for results