Spurschick

On 9/15/2022 at 8:05 AM, Midway7934 said:

Anyone have experience with Adventure of the Seas? I am a diamond member in a suite. There is no separate suite restaurant for dinner (yes, for breakfast only). I made 7o’click reservations for MTD. Also, my husband is disabled (blind). Can I get any priority for dinner or will I be standing in line? We book suites for the assistance they provide to make our travel easier for me with my husband.  This ship was chosen by my sister for a cruise to celebrate her birthday, and we are going along. Should I speak to the Matre’d or concierge? 

If you are in a full suite i.e. grand suite or above then the suite concierge will reach out 1 week prior to you and you can request your reservation times through them. 
 

if in a JS then the Diamond concierge may be able to help when you board - however we only use the suite concierge not the diamond concierge.

15 hours ago, Daghis said:

My offers had completely evaporated for a while, but I see from USPS Informed Delivery that I'm getting [url=https://www.royalcaribbean.com/content/dam/royal/resources/pdf/casino/offers/22005401_Casino_Q2_Sailings_ID_22AMJ102.pdf]comped balcony + $150 freeplay[/url] in the mail today. I checked the website and it is there, too, but I also see an interior cabin offer for "2023 COCOCAY SOIREE EVENT". I've not gotten any details on that, though.

I have a comped balcony for a cruise that I have booked for next spring not through casino. To book through casino and apply my free balcony will save me $200 🙄

Our offers are poor as well and we have so many booked already that if I try to apply to anything already booked I’m only getting a fraction of the value. 
 

also tried to upgrade from a JS to a CLS and the difference in price from when we booked JS to current pricing CLS is $1000 difference but they want $3000 to upgrade 

We are getting way better offers from MSC - 1200 points on a cruise gets automatic 30% off so 1200 points off YC is better than meeting minimum points for free interior and when we were last on MSC they invited all passengers in casino booked cabin to enter $10k invited guest only slot tourney with 10 finalists all getting freeplay 1st place was $3k. And their slots were a LOT looser as well. It’s been a while since we had any decent play through on RC after restart. 
 

Doing NCL for the first time in 9 years next month and Celebrity for the first time in a few years soon so will be interested in how they differ.

what was most frustrating was that on our last cruise dh and I sat next to each other on 3 card poker for the same length of time for the same average bet and he got way more points than me 🙄

16 hours ago, livingonthebeach said:

From a social media site - items confiscated on Solstice

Yes pretty much what was on the 2 full tables from the Harmony. My husband was in rush to get out of car park or I would have stopped to take my own pictures.

On 10/10/2022 at 9:04 PM, John&LaLa said:

 

Good for heating massage oil

Provided you ar not bringing to massage my dh in March then we are good 😉

looking forward to meeting you 

On 10/10/2022 at 9:17 PM, Sunshine3601 said:

What the heck do you need a crock pot, cookware, etc on a cruise ship.  Last thing I want to do on a ship is cook something in my cabin.

That's Nuts!!!

I was speechless to say the least

10 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

Since they've already jacked up the drink package price, I would imagine increasing the cocktail price would just be to get people to start buying drink package again

Or to give them an excuse to increase the price of the drinks package again 😉

On 10/7/2022 at 11:04 AM, not-enough-cruising said:

I hope you reported the sub par service; I wouldn't tolerate that

It was reflected in what we left them and the survey. We are on cruise to relax - don’t need the stress of having to complain taking the edge off our cruise. It’s not like we are high maintenance either as we put towels ready to be switched out in a pile ready and pretty much make the bed ourselves and don’t leave anything out. So leaving full trash cans is just shear laziness on their part. 

On 10/7/2022 at 12:12 PM, Starry Eyes said:

OK, next explain the crockpots on Harmony’s naughty table.  She is sailing in the Caribbean.  

Yes was definitely Caribbean 

I know that the repeat guests and newbies was pretty much 50/50 split but they literally had 2 tables as you exited that were set up with predominantly cookware. 
 

now granted I should probably not be shocked as you would be amazed how many times I have been asked if food is included - if that is the case wonder what happened to the food they were trying to take on to cook with!

17 minutes ago, mpdog42 said:

So should i prepay or just use the Envelopes?????😁😁Heh Heh!!

Prepay - we swear the one time we didn’t prepay we got awful service from our cabin steward. We were convinced it was because we were not on the prepaid list.

we intended to pay - we always do but this one specific time it was left off the booking somehow. 

I’ll ask husband in the morning - we went on her a few months ago and I have seriously already forgotten  

🤦🏼‍♀️

ok edit - it is Grease 

Honestly I’d save the money and go with the cheapest option. 
have taken DD to Alaska twice, fist time in 2006 way before the big fancy let’s put bumper cars on ships, and neither time did she have an issue enjoying the ship. Why  - because when we were not in port she was hanging out with other kids she met in Adventure Ocean. Neither ship we did in Alaska was a new ship and she thoroughly enjoyed herself. (Fwiw she just turned 21 and has sailed on RC since she was 8months old and never complained about a ship)

It doesn’t matter where you are sailing from. It is all about the cost of the drinks package per day vs the amount of alcohol and other drinks you think you will drink in a day. Then calculate the costs spent with each method and pick the cheapest option 

Never done 2 excursions in one day. But the sandbank excursion is 2 1/2 hrs so up to you how rushed you want to be. 

3 minutes ago, Ret MP said:

I always wait until I'm on the ship to purchase lanyards and the like, if needed.  I don't like shopping at kiosks, here today, gone tomorrow.  I don't even like shopping in the kiosks in the middle of the Promenade.  Yes, I know they are nothing more than the shops bringing stuff out.  It's just a thing of mine.  I guess it's the usual crowds, which I dislike crowds, and the rudeness that goes on.

 

 

Us too - but our daughter saw one she really liked and couldn’t guarantee it would be available on board so we just went ahead and purchased it.

May, we have done both and enjoyed the more snow on hillsides and the colder climate. Just made it more scenic for us. But that was our personal preference. 
 

we were deflated that when we did in a summer most of the snow was melted and it was not as pretty in our view. 

1 minute ago, Ret MP said:

Yep, that is right! 

 

Just one fine point, your boarding pass can be used in lieu of a Set Sail Card that you don't get until you can go to your cabin, when it's ready and get it out of the mail box outside of your cabin.  If a kiosk, in the terminal, is actually part of the Royal ship, I'm sure your "boarding pass" can be used just like you can use it, on the ship, at the bars/restaurants/ice cream shops, et al, if open, on embarkation day.

Yes boarding passes accepted onboard. 
 

shoreside the port vendor was selling lanyards but was only interested in credit/ debit cards no boarding pass permitted. It as the only sailing we have actually ever seen lanyards for sale inside the terminal. There are a couple of terminals I have seen vending machines for drinks/ snacks but they were cash/ card only.

none of the ports I have been out of lately sold any merchandise in the terminal. 

30 minutes ago, Merion_Mom said:

It can be fine, and it can turn out very badly.   Why risk it?  Bring the wrapping paper and wrap them in your cabin.  🙂 

Unless it’s something like a Keurig then it will end up in the naughty room 🤣😂

got off Harmony Sunday and there were 2 tables of confiscated items - I’ve never seen so many whisks and crock pots, blenders and cookware and coffee makers ever tried to be taken onboard 🤦🏼‍♀️

47 minutes ago, nasa1974 said:

OK. I'm first time RCI. I've sailed other CruiseLine's that show everything up front and you have the option to prepay, gratuities, excursions, etc. All I'm seeing is CocoCay and drink packages on the website. Am I doing something wrong? No idea on entertainment or anything available on the ship. Very frustrating. I'm sailing in March 2023.

Don’t expect to see entertainment until you are connected to ships wifi. 

16 minutes ago, Ret MP said:

Yep, that's true about most, if not all, major ports (air or sea), the port authority owns and usually contracts out the management of the parking.  Wish I would have know that that was what you planned on, I'd warn you against it.  But, you did get one point per dollar, though. LOL

 

For general consumption:

I'd advise against purchasing anything in the terminals, kiosks with the intent on getting double BoA points.  Check them out first, they may be run by the Port or a private entity paying the port for space.  I think a good rule of thumb, although not engraved in stone, if the kiosk is not selling Royal logo'ed merchandise, it's probably not directly connected to Royal.  It's possible too that some Royal Logo stuff, surplus/outdated, isn't connected to Royal, financially, too. It can be tricky.  I'd ask before I buy.  BTW, the terminal is an extension of the ship while the ship is there, the ship is cashless.  So, if Royal has a kiosk or photo locations, they'd be using your boarding pass for your purchases, again, that's not engraved in stone. 

 

JMHO/YMMV 

We bought a lanyard once in a port. Admittedly some time ago. It was credit/debit card only. Not on sea pass card as you don’t get those until you get on ship. It was charged to port on our card - not RC .

2 minutes ago, styxfire said:

I’ve been on somewhere between 12 and 15 cruises in the last decade, and three of them have had itinerary changes after going on board. All due to weather. And other cruises have had changes such as entertainment getting canceled, or excursions getting canceled.  So you have to be willing to go with the flow to some extent… The alternative is to be crabby. To this day I am still disappointed by those cruises in which our itineraries changed, so I sympathize with your predicament.  At least they’re announcing in advance.  Also, some Bermuda stops have been cancelled recently due to excess fees.

 

For your cruise, Since they’ve added an extra port stop, you may want to find out if they’re increasing your port fees, or are they throwing in that extra stop for free?

They will only increase port fees for new bookings. All existing bookings port fees and taxes are locked in.

On 10/4/2022 at 7:04 PM, poocher said:

Funny that Royal up’s happen that close.  Perhaps I don’t understand the concept.  I assumed the program was designed to free up rooms Royal could reasonably expect to be able to sell again while getting a few bucks more for ones they thought they couldn’t.  I would think 2 days before sailing, the chance of selling the lower category room would be slim to none.  I guess, depending on the bid, it’s still more revenue.  But seems kinda pointless.🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

Not if you are upgrading from say an ocean view to a balcony. They can they make extra money upgrading those that bid on interior to oceanview to fill that cabin. As many upgrades they can accommodate = extra money 

I would schedule aqua theater show early on in cruise. Whenever we have been booked later in cruise it has been canceled for weather.

41 minutes ago, c-leg5 said:

Celebrity have sailed from Galveston before.
 

Unfortunately Celebrity doesn’t have a very big fleet to spread around.

My BDM said they don’t view it as a money maker hence why no plans to return in near future.

Disney have an even smaller fleet but put a ship in from Galveston for a few months a year so not sure what fleet size has to do with it. 

On 9/13/2022 at 12:42 PM, Maggie4nc said:

What ship should we try for our first RCL cruise?  We usually cruise with Celebrity but would like to see what RCL is like.  We are a couple 53/55, active and no children.

If you have done edge class I would say definitely oasis class. 
 

If you have done solstice class then you could do freedom class but Oasis class is the best.