Carolina Girl 99

From a FB post just a few minutes ago :

Royal Caribbean announced it will begin offering select sailings that visit Perfect Day at CocoCay twice, along with late night stays.

Beginning September 30, 2019, Royal Caribbean will offer 4-night itineraries to the private island destination across nearly 40 sailings. Three exclusive cruises also make their debut today.

In addition, three one-of-a-kind cruises with late-night visits to the island will be offered on Navigator of the Seas. Travelers of all ages will have the chance to extend the excitement long after the sun sets with traditional Bahamian-inspired activities, including a Junkanoo Jam Up Party, an island barbeque and performances by a calypso band and fire dancers, topped off with unforgettable farewell fireworks before setting sail.

The new itineraries are available to guests on select Navigator and Mariner of the Seas sailings.

"Perfect Day at CocoCay has revolutionized private destinations in the vacation industry, and the resounding feedback from our guests is that they want more – more time and even more ways to experience the island," said Michael Bayley, President and CEO, Royal Caribbean International. "We’re building on an incredible adventure that’s already winning the hearts of many."

I know it's been mentioned in other posts before, but I'll also throw this out there- check the current, going rate for the cabin you you plan to bid on and then place a bid that won't make your current (mini suite) cost + upgrade bid come in higher than the current going rate of the Haven room. Because at that point, you would be better off just paying for the upgrade outright and securing the cabin you want  

In what area of Coco Cay did you snorkel?

1 hour ago, LINDAE3213 said:

How much was Melia?

IIRC- it's $139 per adult and all-inclusive

I personally love Teppanyaki for the entertainment and decent selection of food so I book it every time I have the SDP

You have a couple of options- assuming you have the SDP option and are not paying upfront- book the table for 4 if it's the day/time you want (we've traveled with 3 before and run into the trouble of only being able to book for 2 or 4)

Book shortly after boarding. NCL typically only releases a small percentage of reservations for pre-booking, so once you actually get on board you should have more time options available

11 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

On other sailings which your search missed.

Thanks Biker- I was able to locate the missing dates on another site, which just proves it's unreliable to rely on the info from just one site 😆

So then no change for my Feb 10, 2020 sailing. I get conflicting info when looking at port schedules- one site shows no ships on on Tues the 11th (our sea day) and another site shows that Anthem is there 8-6. 

Now here's what I find interesting about the Anthem stop- If I look at her itinerary schedule on crews mapper, it shows a 12 day Southern departing Dec 8, 2019 then nothing again until a 7 day Bahamas/Coco Cay departing on March 15, 2020. So where is she for 3 months??

Ooh, this is all very interesting! I'll be a little sad about the loss of a sea day, but realistically- we booked this one based solely on price, length and departure port. My son is bringing his partner who has never cruised before and he had been talking about this ship, so it worked out for everyone.

Since the 3 day itinerary has the same stops, I am guessing the extra day at sea was just a time filler since the Bahamas are so close by anyways

15 hours ago, sandebeach said:

I was just on the “Book of Faces”, I follow several RC ship groups. No mention of this on the Navigator site, but lots of discussion about this on the Mariner page. So you may be right on target that they are testing something with Mariner. 

Are you seeing any other info about this on FB, or just the same speculations that have been mentioned here?

I have logged into my RC account this morning and so far nothing has changed and I can still access the cruise planner and prices for everything still the same as yesterday

Good find, Dave! Looks similar to a lot of the private island offerings across many of the lines

3 hours ago, LuCruise said:

One thing I'll say...the cost for Thrill Waterpark is ridiculous.  It'll cost us over $420 CAD for a family of 4.

Wow, that ridiculous! We are booked for Feb 2020 and the highest it's been is $44 and the lowest is $37. I realize it's USD vs CAD, but your price works out to $105 per person, which is the same as my cost for the Water park and Zip line combo 🤔 

I have a 4 day booked for Feb 2020, I'll have to ask my TA if she got any email. I already have my super cheap (wink, wink) beverage package booked- wonder if I should grab water park passes at the going rate before the mystery change takes place

Also the entire outside deck 7 SB side where the lifeboats are

I'm about 30 days out from my cruise, so time for me to pick our insurance policy. I always do a comparison and include the  3 Nationwide cruise policies, especially when cruising during hurricane season. Well, I was shocked to see that they have greatly reduced the Port of Call Change benefit. IIRC- it used to be $500/$750/$1250 per port. I'm wondering if they got burned paying out on a lot of claims

While I haven't been to Bermuda yet, I've been doing lots of research for our trip in about 30 days. Since you have very limited time on departure day, you might want to check out Snorkel Park Beach. I've read that it's not the best snorkeling, but they do have gear and rentals and are located right at the Dockyard, so no transportation involved and only $5 entry fee per person

http://snorkelparkbeach.com/

Yup, online check-in opened for me at midnight EST, or in about 10 minutes

23 minutes ago, lgdesign said:

Does anyone know how long this continuing 20% sale is scheduled to last?  I couldn't find any details referring to that.

18 minutes ago, ready2cruzagain said:

Extended until Aug. 6th. It is under the terms and conditions

It's actually good until August 31 according to my TA

19 hours ago, tallnthensome said:

I booked another Panama Canal cruise under this offer. Let us all see what happens tomorrow with the Latitudes 20% offer. It should end and the prices for our cruises should go up if this was indeed a limited time deal and real sale. I'll be very curious if our deals just get extended over and over and/or if they get extended out to everyone regardless of Latitudes members after this. We all know NCL and their shady sales and marketing tactics. I did not have my cruise booked before this offer came out and I'm curious what will happen in the next few days. I know it's odd to say but I want to see my cruise go back up in price 20% so I indeed know I made a good money saving decision. I don't want to feel like I got duped by their marketing team into booking a cruise that was simply given a permanent price drop. I know I can still cancel if I don't get that warm fuzzy feeling of a real deal ....... If there is such a thing anymore.  

I believe it IS a true sale- I was picking through some itineraries for Oct 2020 and found one I liked. Called my TA and asked her to put a hold on while I checked with some family members to see who wanted to join. My TA said there was a 20% sale coming up for Latitudes members and the one I picked qualified. Sure enough- that Monday morning when the sale went live, the price did in fact come down 20%, so we took advantage and saved just under $800

On 7/29/2019 at 4:12 PM, mitsugirly said:

 

 

THAT'S IT!! I knew it was something that you normally don't hear about. I'm definitely going to have to ask for one of those! Sounds yummy! Thank you

YUP!! Fireball and Rumchata served in a shooter rimmed with cinnamon sugar!

A couple of years ago, we did one night pre-cruise at the Hampton Inn & Suites Coconut Grove and had a nice dinner at at a little place a couple of blocks away called Berries in the Grove. 

https://www.berriesinthegrove.com/

52 minutes ago, trex-de said:

I just booked two.  Not sure which one we will choose but the deal on both was good.  We are sooooooo far out. We have to cancel one.   Never done that before.  

 

Thanks to the op. Had no intention to book but now have some anticipation.  

I did the exact same thing- I have a 14 night on Breakaway for Oct 2020 and a 9 night on Breakaway for May 2021. Hopefully we can do both, but the reality is that one will get cancelled. Can't beat the $50 pp refundable deposit to at least put a hold on them while we decide!

Also, in case you weren't aware- MSC does "status match" with other cruise line and hotel loyalty programs. Even if you were to match to MSC's lowest level- your booking would still qualify you for a 5% discount on the base fare (before taxes and port fees). 

On 7/23/2019 at 11:08 AM, mrsfoose said:

Would these work like a rum runner and go undetected in you bags?

Where did you find these? Would love to freeze some of them to throw in my cooler on beach days at home

4 hours ago, cincicruisers said:

Great that means there will be a Mitsugirly review!!  Enjoy your cruise.

I know, right?

I've been on Getaway and Escape and loved both, but for some reason never had a desire to try Breakaway. There are some really great longer itineraries coming up in 2020 and 2021, so now I might have to change my thinking and a Mitsugirly review might be all I need for confirmation!