firegal2539

I usually do a 9 or 10. I have done two 14 day cruises but it seemed a little long on the ship.

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I just got off the Enchantment two weeks ago. The day of disembarkation I had a 102 degree temperature. I ended up being diagnosed with the flu that then went into bronchitis. First time I have ever gotten sick on a cruise.

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The most I have done is 9 in one year, last year. This year I am scheduled to do 9 or 10.

Yup I am addicted!

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I was told the same thing, no egg crates or mattress toppers. The reason I was given is they have problems with the cleaning, the cost, trying to get them back on the ship because the ship doesn't have the equipment to clean them. I was advised to bring my own.

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shipboard max,

Where did you hear about the times, according to my TA, she thought it would be midnight for online and 7 am for calls. I can't find anywhere online where it says what time they will start taking reservations.

She could be wrong but she called Royal because she has 5 couples all wanting to book and she needs to get quotes for them.

Candie

Sorry Buckeye I grabbed the wrong piece of paper. The main change was Year-Round Caribbean dropped to the week of March 13.

I will be waiting at 12 am to start looking, can you imagine what a zoo it will be trying to make reservations?

Candie

Under Royal's FAQs there is a section about My Time Dining. You can make reservations by calling 800-590-6218, but if you booked through a TA they have to call to reserve. You can also email open seat at rccl dot com and reserve that way.

Candie

March 8 at 12 midnight because the sale going on now ends on March 7 at 1159 pm.

Royal is rolling out on several different dates:

Week of March 6, 2017 Europe (Phase 1). Year-Round Caribbean & Bahamas

Week of March 13, 2017 Alaska and Cruisetours

Week of March 20, 2017 Europe (Phase II)

Week of March 27, 2017 Northeast and Seasonal Caribbean

Week of April 3, 2017 Australia and Singapore

Week of April 24, 2017 China

Hope this helps.

Candie

I have been traveling solo for 7 years and have traveled on Princess, Royal, Carnival and NCL. I can tell you NCL cares about solo cruisers, with parties just for them, dinner at single tables but just don't like the cruise lines.

As everyone that is solo has said, you can do what you want, where you want and when you want. New ships are building single cabins but they are so small. I don't like them. I usually book an ocean view, I never sit out on a balcony so I won't pay for something I don't use.

I always book the set time dining, same table mates every night. I have made many good friends I keep in contact with. This is how I meet people to do a shore excursion.

With Princess and Royal I get good discounts for cruising so my cabin is a reasonable price.

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I have done the full transit twice, one was just a few months ago. When it is 98 degrees in the shade and 95% humidity, there aren't any cool sides.

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I just came back from a Southern Caribbean on Princess. It had more sea days and only three ports. I loved it. It left from Fort Lauderdale.

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I just got off the Caribbean Princess and there were signs where the wheelchairs were to be parked . There were also blue velvet ropes designating the wheelchair area.

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I am not trying to be ugly but the handicapped section should be for handicapped only. Not there spouse, significant other, children, etc. They can sit in a seat in front of the handicapped section. I understand that they want to sit together but for 1 hour it is fine. I am handicapped, arrive 15 to 20 minutes early and handicapped is full with people that are not handicapped.

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Nope standing at the door 30 minutes before the start. They didn't catch everyone but a lot. Caribbean Princess my new favorite ship.

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I just got off of a Princess cruise where the person greeted you at the door and asked how many seats. If you said 6 they explained that people needed to be there right now to sit in them. They really policed the theater. The theater is the worst to me!

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Just finished a Panama Canal full transit and I did an ocean view. I had the largest OV on the Sun. Research is everything.

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Namelocg,

Hi Gail, Candie here. My last 3 cruises I organized the M&G and slot pulls. If you still have my number call me, I can give you a bunch of info.

Candie

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Noreen,

There has been much discussion about this exact topic on the Royal Caribbean Blog. What we have all found out is Royal has no plan written on paper that they follow. One CAS representative will tell you one thing and the next rep tells you another.

According to a friend who receives three to four FCC's (Future Cruise Credits) a year and discounts of up to 50 to 60% off other cruises, it is not how much you play, how long you play, table games, slot machines. What she and I found out is on slot machines they expect you to play the max bet, if a machine is 30, 60, 90, 120 or 150, you would need to play $1.50 for at least four hours every day. You don't have to stay at the same machine or table but always max bet, 30 cent bets will get you nothing.

Free drinks come with gambling in the casino, usually by the second day onboard, they know who they will give free drinks to because of the money they spent on embarkation day.

Noreen, what you have is known as an FCC can be used on any cruise. Here is a posting from the blog that might or might not answer questions for you.

The FCC are actual certificates that the casino host awards you while you're on the ship. Their wide use is still fairly recent so maybe you just haven't had the opportunity to cruise since they've been doling them out so freely. They range in value from $500 into the thousands (from what I understand. I have ever received one greater than $1000).

You will find that the CR (Casino Royal) rates run about 42 - 46% off full retail price (and, to be fair, nobody pays full retail)....so you will be getting ~15% more off above whatever prevailing promo rates RCCL is usually running. It varies depending upon what promo they are running but you will generally make out best with the CR rates. In all my years of being a CR member, I have only had 1 occasion when the CR rate was NOT the lowest rate and that was last year when they first started running EXTREMELY good C&A rates on Empress.

FCCs are stackable....which means that if you BOTH get an FCC, you can use them together on one cruise. Being a CR VIP is fairly difficult to do these days. They are giving out the FCC's like candy but just because you get an FCC does not mean that they will give you the CR rate on a cruise. You HAVE to be a VIP member to get that big discount. So while anyone can join CR, to be an invited VIP member is very exclusive.

To answer your question, you just have to throw big money around! I don't mean to be flippant about it, but you really do have to make yourself known to the casino host and casino manager.

There are 2 other benefits of being CR VIP. One is that you basically drink for free while you are in the casino but I will warn you - whatever you drink is subtracted from the value of your FCC (if you get one). That's why my FCC is always bigger than my husband's, even though he wagers WAAAAY more money than I do. He drinks his profits away and I do not ! I drink cokes and water and I don't think they subtract anything for those. So...just be aware of that. The other perk is that when you are CR VIP, you do not pay the 5% convenience fee for taking cash against your seapass card. This is the most important perk, for us. We no longer have to carry a big wad of money onto the ship. Now we just play with THEIR money and it costs us nothing. Of course, if you lose, then you have to make it back up but we try not to do that !

To give you an idea of a CR VIP discount, I booked a 9 day in January 2018. I am a solo cruiser so more expensive, the cruise price, only the cruise price, was almost $1,600 with a $634 CR VIP discount, so cruise price dropped to $966. For 9 days that worked out to $100 a day for the cruise, unbelievable rate.

Sorry this is so long but I wanted to give you the information from a couple who have been VIP members from about 10 years and do know what they are talking about when it comes to FCCs.

Candie

7 days til my Royal cruise, 35 days until my cruise in March.

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Hi Noreen,

1-It is for new bookings only and must be made through Casinos at Sea. No you can't apply to your next cruise. CAS has very specific cruises you can use these certificates on. They are not combinable, your husband can book a cruise and you can book a cruise. You can use for a different cruise with anywhere from 25 to 40% off.

2-You can upgrade to higher categories and pay the difference between the cabin types. I upgraded from an interior to an ocean view on a 7 day cruise and it cost me $70.

3-Yes you earn your C&A points.

4-Yes as stated in #1 you can use your TA.

5-I am not sure about this one. You can't use the certificates for a Celebrity cruise.

Please remember you still pay Taxes/Fee/port charges, insurance, gratuities, etc., everything else you pay. This is only on the base cost of the cruise.

What I do is call CAS check availability and my cost, then call my TA to reserve it. You should book all your cruises through CAS from now on because their rates are cheaper than the cruise lines even with specials WOW sales etc., on about 98% of cruises.

Candie

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The Caribbean Princess is an amazing ship. I just got off her this week and there is no Alfredo"s. The food in the dining rooms and International Cafe is wonderful.

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RCCL, NCL and Holland have single rooms. They are less expensive then a regular cabin, instead of a 200% markup they are about 125% markup. Most are the size of a small closet.

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I just got off of Princess 2 hours ago and you still get a cheap tote bag.

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American is$200 change fee. Southwest no fee, Delta and United is $150 I believe. Alaska is $200. This is a question for your airline not the boards.

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Aft balcony is a great cabin. The outside/ocean views are so small you can barely move in it.

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