exm

On a side note, my deluxe drink package is 30% off today at my upcoming Wonder sailing. Haven't seen this price at all. Might be just 'my' sailing but it's worth checking out if you have an upcoming cruise.

I got a few quotes in. Can't seem to get below $200 all-in one-way (Nassau to the terminal), so I think I'm going down that route with a limo company I used before to Bayonne. It's cheaper, and I don't have to park my car in a public lot (not that it's not safe there, but I prefer my driveway). Thanks all.

3 hours ago, lenquixote66 said:

We live in Nassau County and whenever we cruise out of Manhattan we use a very reputable Car Service.The last time we booked the car service was in 2018 and it was $100.00 plus tolls and tip each way.The company is Affordable Limo Service ,located on the South Side of Nassau County but they service all of Long Island.

Yep, not my first time out of LI either. Let me get some quotes out. $100+toll/tips is around $130. Let’s see if I can get $200 all-in.

3 hours ago, lenquixote66 said:

I lived in Brooklyn 60 years and never had a break in .

Brooklyn is big. Do you think that matters?

I live in Nassau County, and have a 10 day cruise out of Brooklyn coming up. Parking is an outrageous $45 a day (or $450). We are driving a relatively "nice" car (2021 SUV, nothing too fancy!), I don't want to park it on the street somewhere, and are with a party of 6. So we should all fit in the car. Our options are to drive and park (for $450), or we can have a car service drive us for about the same amount ($200 each way + gratuity). So both options are a wash.

Questions:

- Any other options? Don't see us take public transportation by the way.

- Thoughts on self park vs car service out of Brooklyn?

I was looking at Icon right after bookings became available. At that time I was suffering from a bit of sticker shock. A month later we decided to book anyway; however prices doubled compared to the original quotes! So yes, supply and demand. We ended up on Wonder instead (never been on an Oasis class ship, so this will be a treat).

My family also booked a MSC cruise for about 50% less compared to Wonder.

Sort of unrelated question: my family of 5 turned Diamond but haven't cruised since. With Diamond you get 1 free day of internet usage. Now, we have 5 free days to use that I probably want to rotate to my kids at sea days. How does activating the "free day" work, especially for minors (my kids)?

CyberMonday has the exact same pricing. FYI.

Try MSC for a change.

So tired of the DLP for the b1g1 50% off. Just give me 35% off a single purchase 

I agree that the crew deserves the gratuities, period. However, with inflation being a problem, Royal had 2 options:

1. Raise the gratuities;
2. Raise the (minimum) wage of the crew.

Option 1 is on the customer, option 2 on the company. So this has nothing to do with appreciating the crew or how much money to leave them. It's Royal dumping the inflation problem (in this case, the crew) onto the customer.

12 minutes ago, love to cruise 2017 said:

unbelivable this CEO does it again, they make a billion dollars and yet there crews have to beg off tips for making that billion dollars...its time they stepped up and paid them a living wage ...but no this ceo and the company will nickel and dime us to death and continue to pay the crews pennies per hour worked until we say enough is enough,,,,

I commented before in this thread; I am at a tipping point (no pun intended), but the big issue with RC and most of the other big cruise lines (except MSC) is their debt thanks to COVID. They are making billions of dollars but they need every penny of it to pay down their huge debts.

Having said that, my last Royal cruise was in January of this year during a relatively low cost season. It was still expensive but certainly doable.

I am booked on Wonder next year in late September and astounded by the prices of everything: the base fare, the drink package and now the gratuity? We are a family of 5, so everything gets multiplied by 5. The only reason I am booking is because we never been on an Oasis class before and it’s a special occasion.

i have also booked a MSC cruise out of my hometown NY, which will cost me less than half. So let’s see how they compare.

Royal is pushing it, but for me: too far.

7 minutes ago, joeyancho said:

MSC is run differently than other cruise lines.   It is privately owned.  MSC is a massive commercial shipping company with over 760 ships worldwide.   Those ships did not stop sailing during the pandemic. They had an income stream.  They were positioned much better to deal with the shut down of cruising.   Being privately owned means they are not obligated to stock holders. There is no pressure to pay dividends.  They don't answer to anyone.  They mainly operate in the European market.  Only recently have they ventured in to the US market.  So their product is a bit different than Americans are used.  I would not say they are not "as nice".  I would say they are different.  They have 5 different drink packages.  Much more reasonable than Royal. Their drinks are cheaper than Royal if you are paying out of pocket.   There are not as many places to get free food,  but the buffet stays open from 6 am to late at night.  Their pizza is crazy good.  Rooms are serviced twice per day.   I have taken one MSC cruise and was impressed.  I am booked to go again in December.   This time in the Yacht Club experience,  the most elevated experience of any of the major cruise lines.  Even though I am diamond + on Royal,  I am not Royal loyal.  I am always ready to venture beyond my comfort zone.  I am not upset if everything is not the same as what I am used to.  So if you are fed up with rising costs and fees, why not try something different?   After all you will still be on a cruise.  Bon Voyage. 

Absolutely agree. Did MSC (Seaside) once. Great experience. Next year going on RC Wonder (first time Oasis class, and I'm Diamond with young kids!) and MSC Meraviglia also: I'm sure the Wonder is much nicer, everything is "better" but for a family of 5 I am looking at 5k MSC vs 12k Wonder (including drink packages and internet). At that point I rather cruise twice on MSC over once on Royal.

I am really getting to a point where I need to permanently switch to MSC. Sure, might not be “as nice” but it’s 50% cheaper.

18 hours ago, sm3ds said:

We were supposed to go to Israel in May on Odyssey. They pulled out over a complete nothing burger. They offered us very little compensation. Odyssey was a nice ship, but I won't ever step foot on a royal ship again.

It wasn't just the Israel ports being canceled it was the whole ineptness of the staff to handle it. It was a complete cluster "you know what" and guest services was about as competent as dealing with a cell phone company. You would think that they would have been prepared for it since tensions had been escalating for weeks prior to the cruise. I would hate to see how this cruise line handles hurricanes. Never again. Definitely not Loyal to Royal. 

Really? This caught everyone by surprise including the IDF. I don't know how Royal handled this on-board, but I am sure the staff itself did the best that they could considering the circumstances. Maybe Carnival is a better cruise-line for you.

17 hours ago, Donsyb said:

It has to be within 30 days of booking the cruise I believe 

Correct. And the cruise needs to be less than a year away.

An update:

- Booked my cruise on Monday through a TA for September 2024 (<1 year)

- Have the 10%, 5% and $100 obc discounts available. Since this is my first time, and the fine print of the 10%/5% discounts looks confusing, I decided to try the $100 obc.

- Went through the MV redeem option on Tuesday, used my real name (MV is linked to Facebook, which has a different last name), got the email in.

- Email still had my FB last name, but for the 5 questions I used my real name.

Forwarding the email to the clubroyale@rccl.com, here is what I wrote:

1.Purchaser First and Last Name, Date of Birth and Citizenship
<REAL NAME, DOB,> US
2.Guest First and Last Name, Date of Birth and Citizenship
<REAL NAME, DOB>, US
3.Preferred Contact Time (i.e. Morning, Afternoon or Evening)
Morning
4.Contact Phone Number or Email
<phone> or <email>
5.Crown & Anchor Number (if applicable) Limited to sail dates within one year of redemption.One reward redemption per booking (stateroom).
<CA NR>

RC Booking number: <RC BN>

(Note: last line is optional)

-Today (Thursday) got the approval email:

"Thank you for contacting Royal Caribbean’s Club Royale regarding your upcoming cruise vacation on the <ship>, departing <date>, in reservation <nr>. We have applied your MyVegas offer code <code> for $100 onboard credit. Your invoice has been sent to your Travel Agent in a separate email."

So pretty smooth sailing, and my TA is not a store like Costco, but a small agency. Hope this helps someone.

3 minutes ago, torpeedo said:

Right now I personally would not want to be anywhere in the Mediterranean.  I still have memories of the Achille Lauro.   I"m sure Royal is taking all precautions they can and will remove ships if they feel the risk is high but it's all such an unknown at this time. Just my opinion and I really hope all does go fine with all the cruisers and ships in the Med. 

The Mediterranean, even the Eastern around  Cyprus,Turkey and Greece should be fine. Not sure why you think there's a potential issue in the Mediterranean? They really need to stay out side of rocket range, but even so: chances of an unguided rocket hitting a moving cruise ship is pretty much zero.

22 hours ago, TravelinTess said:

After playing the silly game for years, I finally cashed out a bit and purchased the 10% wild card a few days ago. I already had a future cruise booked for a few months, but the price was nearly the same when I checked last week, so I put a hold on a room in the same category and called the number on the voucher. Ultimately, I canceled my refundable room and booked the one I had a hold on, saving me about $450. 

 

I was confused about the process until I found this thread explaining it had to be booked through the number provided on the voucher and the sailing had to be within a year from the time of booking. 

 

The 10% wild card was a far better deal for my booking than the onboard credit, but YMMV.

Thanks. So you do need to book the cruise through that particular number, correct? There's a also a 5% discount which seems to be less restrictive.

Don't expect any cruises visiting Israel for at least 6 months. This is not a conflict; Israel declared war.

Hi,

So I achieved Diamond Status and I'm planning a Wonder sailing next year. My 3 minor kids also achieved Diamond Status due to my status. How does the "free day of internet" work exactly? Would love to use the 5 free days (spouse, myself and 3 kids) to almost get a free week of internet. Just not sure how this can be activated/how this works.

On 12/10/2022 at 12:20 PM, Jbluebird said:

And as it says, it's only for new bookings.  I tried to redeem a MyVegas 10% discount for a cruise I booked about a week ago, but was told I'd have to rebook my cruise in order to get the 10%.  Right now, refunds are non-refundable and we have a refundable so I'll have to wait and see what I can get (hopefully before the 30 days are up).

My TA is booking a RC for me on Monday for September 2024.

I am seeing the $100obc in my MV account (should be straightforward to get), however the 10% is there also and I am confused how this works. Does anyone have any experience?

Must be some serious security now at the cruise port.

Just came back from Rotterdam. My kids are 7,9,12. Unfortunately they are grouping 7-12 (and 3-6) so my eldest didn’t go at all. At other cruise lines they group 12 year olds with older kids.

Anyway, during sea days they are doing mandatory activities, and my kid really didn’t like them. They just wanted to do their own things. Very disappointed with the kids club.

I will attach a picture of activities.

I just don’t see how HAL is a premium experience except the older crowd. 
 

I am going to edit my original post to add the following negative:

- No waiters around the pool deck taking orders.

don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed my cruise. But I gladly sail Royal again!