LuCruise

This is great news. I always thought that you were limited to the short list of specific alcohol. Thanks for the replies.

That's great to hear. Won't be disappointed if we can't when we go , but definitely a bonus if we can order anything. Thanks for letting us know it worked for you.

From the deck plans, VCL is in between the Suite Lounge and Diamond Club on Liberty. So does that mean we can get full drinks from the Suite Lounge?

Thank you for the replies! Sounds like we are good to take a drink with us to dinner. This is on Liberty. I've seen an old list for the lounges. All I can think of is "baileys on the rocks" or "vodka and cranberry juice" (or DH likes scotch on the rocks), and of course a glass of wine is nice. If anyone has any other suggestions let me know for simple drinks if it's just what is on that list.

We have a cruise coming up and will have access to the Suite lounge. Can we go before dinner and have a drink there, and then carry another one out with us to dinner? Or do they prefer you to only keep the drinks in the lounge? Trying to decide if we should also bring a couple bottles of wine with us or if it isn't needed. As another question...any specific "mixed" drinks they can make? Thanks.

Definitely...prices have gone way up. It's not just Royal There is a similar post on the Disney boards about the parks. Also, airlines, hotels, and even groceries etc. They all took a bit hit very hurt during covid. But I agree with your post. As an example, we booked Odyssey for Dec 2023 when it was released. Even back then with the prices, we selected 2 interior rooms (virtual) as moving up to a balcony option was too much if we wanted two rooms. When I do a price check on our rooms today, it is $3512 more than our booking! That's nuts. (It is holiday time so not expecting it to be cheap but how much it has gone up since we booked is crazy). Similarly, we booked Icon for following December. For this one, we "had to" stick with one interio room for the four of us (Central Park Interior with a window at least). And even that cost is double what we would normally pay. It's a mix of new ship + holiday + making up for lost revenue.

We went on Anthem for the first time this past March and quite enjoyed her. The ship is a bit different, but with the familiar Royal feel. Our kids loved the Sea Plex, iFly and North Star gave neat views. In my opinion, Anthem has the best "Broadway" show with We Will Rock You (Broadway used for the type of musical but it never actually played in New York). Spectra Cabaret had neat effects/technology but tbh, I found it very weird. The 270 is a wonderful room with beautiful views while staying inside, and then flipping to entertainment venue at night. The indoor pool is also a plus as it was usable in cold or bad weather. I didn't have an issue with the Esplanade but DH didn't like it as a lot comment as well. I think my only negative with Anthem is the dining room. We were lucky in that we had a table near the window, but we wouldn't have been happy if we were in the inside as nothing special there, and would feel very enclosed. Guess it's like a normal restaurant, but comparing to Royal's usual beautiful MDRs, it's definitely not as nice. One venue I didn't love is The Music Hall. Unless you get there early to get a seat near the stage (or overlooking it from upstairs), it's hard to see. We tried one night to go to one of the adult shows and walked out (but did manage to attend a few other events getting there earlier) I still put a ship like Symphony as my favorite, but I can see us going on Anthem again. We enjoyed it, and being out of New Jersey is a plus too since it's drivable.

Ship looks amazing for families. In fact, we booked it at a ridiculous cost just so we can go with both kids before they are too old (doesn't help that we are limited going forward to Dec holiday time for travelling with both kids). Having said that, I can't see DH and I booking Icon without them. Vice versa, we probably wouldn't take our kids on something like Serenade or Grandeur, whereas DH and I would have no issue sailing on these if it was just us. Royal was always family friendly but in recent years have been trying to add more things for families with their amplifications. And I agree...Icon isn't for everyone, but Royal isn't getting rid of the other ships in their fleet. That's one thing that I love about Royal, they have different ships that appeal to different demographics and definitely has a ship for everyone.

Every time I tried yesterday, it was 2-3 hr wait. So I tried this morning. Got my kids organized with breakfast and school and then I called. It was 7:15am. The wait estimated was 15 minutes. Ended up being 25 minutes but not bad considering other times.

Main number?

One of my cruises dropped in price too, but unless I want to sit on hold for 2+ hours, I can't call in for a reprice. For cruise planner items, it's frustrating Yesterday I noticed that the initial page had a lower price then when you click into the item to purchase it. Heard many others reporting the same (could be OPs issue too). Very frustrating. Also, it seems to be dynamic pricing. Yesterday we purchased an excursion. Today when I checked, the price went up. Good that we purchased when we did, but the existing sale isn't necessarily a static price during the Black Friday time.

Thank you. That makes me feel better.. We will keep an eye on it and hopefully it will drop off and don't have to call Royal.

For anyone with pending (additional) charges, will these just drop off or do we have to call Royal and ask them to remove them? Didn't have any during the original issue (eventually booked that one on the app). Then booked another excursion last night when it came back up. That one was ok. Then it had an issue again when I tried to purchase one additional item. Booking didn't complete (error again about cc issue), but we noticed the pending charge on our credit card.

I'm annoyed too since one of my cruises has a price drop...but of course, I can't exactly call Royal and get our booking adjusted (unless I want to sit on the phone for 2+ hours as their phone lines are overloaded)

Noticed that too. For the one that I was originally trying to book, the app had the same price that I was trying earlier on the website. However, for for a couple other excursions I am looking at for one of our other stops, each shows about $10 more per person than I saw on the website this morning. Can't get in now to confirm website "current" price.

Thank you! I tried in the app, and it let me apply OBC from one room (same as the computer site). Phew...booked. All good. (Still can't get into the website) Thank you for noting. Both DH and I checked prior to me trying to book through the app (as I tried on both cards) and no pending charges. I hope you get yours resolved without hassle.

Never knew you could book excursions in the app. Does the app recognize OBC?

Still having issues. If I try to book again, the Reserve button is blanked out. At one point I got to my cart and the "Complete Booking" button was enabled but didn't do anything on click. Ugh....

Was just going to say the same. I see the summary page of cruises but can't click in to one. Maybe they are fixing the issue?

Thanks for reporting back. I'm, still on hold but sounds like I shouldn't bother.

Same. I don't understand how often they have issues when they roll out changes. Don't they test it?

Thanks. I've tried a few times but same issue. Will try again later. Btw...Not sure if it's complicating the purchase but we have 2 rooms and trying to use OBC. Are others similar?

Thanks for the reply. Maybe that's why the wait when trying Royal is 111 minutes 😞

Looking to purchase an excursion that came out today. I've gone to check out, but it won't take my payment (I've tried my card and DH's ). Wondering if anyone else is having a similar issue.

Yikes. That's a bit scary. You would have thought that would have been well tested before actual passengers.