bhaybeegrl
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Posts posted by bhaybeegrl
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Hello to all the seasoned cruisers out there!
I've always bought the Vacation Protection Plan through Royal Caribbean. (Mostly because it's a quick click while booking.) Thankfully, I've never had to use the insurance so my experience with it is lacking.
What are your thoughts on Royal's insurance?
Is it worth it, to go through a private company?
Have you ever had a good/bad experience with Royal's insurance?
Thank you for sharing your hard-earned knowledge. :D
- Tiffany
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As a South Floridian, I recommend Sawgrass Mall for someone wanting to spend the entire day shopping. Literally, an entire day. (And you'll probably want to rent a van to bring back your purchases[emoji38])
If you're not into marathon shopping, Galleria Mall in Fort Lauderdale is much more reasonable for a shopping trip. It's closer to 17th Street, and (if you really wanted to visit the beach) within walking distance to Fort Lauderdale's beach.
An Uber or taxi ride would be a reasonable price, if your hotel doesn't have shuttles to the mall.
I hope that helped.
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I've done the Labadee, Falmouth, and Cozumel route on Allure and wouldn't recommend those ports. I'd recommend the other cruise based specifically on ports.
Labadee is fine for a beach day, but not much else. Royal owns the land, so all of the excursions are cruise line prices (read expensive). We did the "jet ski tour" that was supposed to be an hour and lasted half that. I wouldn't recommend it.
Falmouth didn't have any decent excursions in the city. Everything we wanted to do was in Ochos Rios, and that's an hour drive each way. It wasn't worth the drive because we were only in port for a few hours. Of course, that may have changed in the past two years.
Cozumel was fun and had a lot of really great excursion options. (I'm sure they have very similar excursions in Nassau, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten, though.)
Of course, the ports are only a portion of your vacation experience. The different ships offer two very different experiences. Harmony is brand new and has a (slightly) larger capacity. If you haven't already done so, look at Royal's website and compare those ships.
And they'll be at two very different price points, which may also sway your decision.
The weather in June?!? [emoji23] It's the Caribbean. It'll be beautiful [emoji41][emoji160]☀️[emoji484]...as long as there're no hurricanes. (*knocks on wood*)
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We did Allure two years ago (not exactly recently but hey) and had MTD. We always choose MTD and love the flexibility, so I may be biased.
There were five of us in our party on the Allure. On normal dining nights, we were seated within 10 minutes. On the two formal nights, the wait was about 20 minutes.
We didn't show up at any given time, which is the beauty of MTD In my opinion. We just showed up when we were ready to eat.
My experience is that small parties get seated faster than large parties. (On land and at sea.)
I've requested to be seated with a specific waiter and have been allowed to do so. Just bear in mind, that you may have to wait longer to get seated with your desired waiter.
I hope this helped.
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Ok. Good to know.
Thanks for the replies.
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Hello everyone,
I called Carnival customer service today and asked if I could buy the alcohol package and my husband (and cabin mate) buy the soda package. (My husband has chronic kidney disease and doesn't drink alcohol often, so it won't make sense to purchase the alcohol package for him.)
The rep's response was 'I don't know. You should check on board and see if they'll make an exception for you.'
I'm not sure if she was being snide or if that was her real answer.
So my question to the group is: Have you ever heard of an exception being made for the rule?
Thanks in advance.
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So how does ordering things like this work exactly? If I order online, is the water (or whatever else I may order) placed in my cabin upon arrival?
Yep. It'll be waiting for you in your room.
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Great catch! Thanks for sharing.[emoji106]
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I got seven text messages (it was really one long message that got divided into seven) and a pre-recorded phone call from Royal a few days before my cruise earlier this month. It explained, in detail, when each deck should arrive at the port.
I don't think anyone listened to it and it DEFINITELY was not enforced. Don't sweat it.
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Beautiful photos! Wonderful review, thank you!
Just a note: The 'flat bread' was served to my son when he ordered the 'pizza sticks' from the children's menu. I think 'pizza sticks' is a more accurate description.
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I used my cellphone on Allure last week and had better reception than when I use it at work. (Seriously!) I was on Deck 14 near the balcony, so that may have helped.
And it was only $2.99 a minute with Sprint, no need to sign up beforehand.
As soon as I took my phone off of Airplane Mode, Sprint sent me a text message with the prices for the Cruise: "On Cruise ships to call US dial 1-area code-number. Calls: $2.99/min, Data: $0.012/KB, Txt sent: $0.50 recvd: $0.15. Sprint Care 1-817-698-4199"
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Ooohh. This is a fun question. I'd like to see what other cruisers answer!
My husband and I collect unique liquor bottles when traveling. We put aside $200 per port specifically for this collection of ours. (But that's our special tradition.)
Your question should get all kinds of ranges because everyone has different desires from their vacation (excursions, drinks, souvenirs, specialty dining, etc).
It all depends on your spending habits. If you REALLY wanted to be thrifty you don't have to bring any money besides gratuities because the basics (food, shelter, travel) are included in your fare.
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I'm sailing next week and was thinking of buying the unlimited package so that my 3 year old could watch Netflix.
I'm guessing that wouldn't be a good idea now, huh?
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We went to the aquariums at Atlantis when my son was about 1 1/2. It was beautiful and a great experience. I'd recommend bringing a stroller because it could be quite a walk around the aquarium.
There were no car seats available, so we didn't sweat it.
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I'm sailing on the Allure on Sept 7 and booked my specialty dining pretty much as soon as they were available online, but I have never seen reservations for anything related to Rita's on my online cruise planner.
Maybe it's a seasonal thing? (In fairness, I never saw the Prohibition Party either, so maybe I'm missing something.)
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Thanks, I'll try calling.
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Hello everyone,
Does anyone know if we can check what room category or even the room number of our past cruises?
I'm looking on Royal's website, but I can't find this information.
(I don't have any of my old e-mails or keep my Seapass cards.)
Thanks in advance!
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I just got an email today from MyPhotos.com letting me know that my sailing (Sept 7) is available for purchase. I checked the site and a lot more dates were added (including late August).
I think the delay in adding more dates may have been because they made the prices more expensive. My sailing is being charged $309 for all digital photos and in previous posts on CC I noticed they were $299.
Shrug.
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I'm sorry but with due respect that's patently nonsense. Of course it's free. I cant believe I have to keep repeating myself. It's there in black and white. The price of my holiday is exactly the same as it was if I'd booked a week earlier but now includes all my drinks as well.
How is that not free?
Sorry, Tuckmeister. You assumed that I was responding to you and I was not. My remark was for The OP (and is why I quoted his response).
He is obviously having a different experience than you are because he WAS quoted two different prices. (Read the original post.)
Good for you if you got a 'free' all in one package, but my post wasn't for you.
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Ok just for a quick update....
Spoke to RCI abpout this and received a very simple answer " where have we stated that the all inclusive package is free ". So to summarise the all inclusive package is not free.
Exactly what I said in my first post. Wording is important.:D
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It may be a matter of wording...
If they used the term 'free' drink package, then I would also believe it should be the same price.
If they used 'included' drink package then I would believe the cost is just rolled into the cost of the cruise.
(Depending on which drink package is included, it may be a good deal.)
The same goes for the gratuities. Some 'free gratuities' offers may have the customer pay for gratuities up front, but you get the money back as an On Board Credit.
I'd re-read the fine print of your offer.
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In 2010 my husband and I did the 'Haitian Cultural Tour with beach break' and the 'Jet Ski Tour'.
The Cultural Tour was fine. They walk you up a hill with stopping points marked 'making peanut butter' or 'handmade crafts' where they have locals demonstrating that skill. It was staged but everyone at Labadee works for Royal, so I was expecting that. It was mildly informative and we got to go to one of the private beaches and relax for an hour or so, which was nice.
The Jet Ski Tour was exactly like another poster stated: 'follow the leader'. You don't get to drive around, you just follow the tour guide in a straight line, stop when he wants to point something out, and then race to the next point. It was supposed to be an hour tour, but because the guides race from point to point it did not last that long. If we were allowed to use the remaining time to ride around, it would have felt like a better experience, but we weren't. (I think it was $95 for the driver and $30 for the passenger.)
We're going back in September and decided to rent a cabana to make a nice beach day of the visit.
I'd recommend the Cultural Tour but I wouldn't get your hopes up for enlightening insight into the Haitian Culture. Just a mildly entertaining trip up a hill with a stop at the beach.
I wouldn't really recommend the jet Ski Tour.
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I have not used him, but I looked him up on Yelp and he has good reviews.
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Do they still give double points for JS and up?
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Seasoned Cruisers: Vacation Protection Plan Thoughts?
in Royal Caribbean International
Posted
Thanks, Bob. That last thread answered a few of my questions before it went off in a tangent.