PigsCanFly

I have used and received chips from other Royal ships many times.  Seldom have I had them left to redeem.

6 hours ago, jenushkask8s said:

I redeemed my BoA Visa OBC on October 21 and it still hasn't shown up in my cruise planner (we sail on November 20). This is our 1st Royal cruise so 1st time redeeming the OBC.

 

Since we have some time before our cruise, I emailed Royal earlier this week. If I don't get a response by mid-next week, I'm going to call them. 

I redeemed mine for the 11/20 cruise on 10/17 and it showed up in cruise planner 3 or 4 days later.

On 10/31/2022 at 9:30 AM, orville99 said:

We redeem points for OBC routinely (for several years now), and have never seen them show up on the cruise planner. The first time we actually see them is when we get on board.

I redeemed my BOA rc card for OBC and it appeared in cruise planner within a few days.  In the past, I don't believe it showed up until onboard.  For us, it doesn't  really matter since we always spend more than the OBC (usually much more)😱

Just checked our 2 upcoming Wonder cruises, Nov 13 & 20, and they do not have entertainment available.

Our experience with D+ drink vouchers is that once the bartenders know us (usually first day), they have allowed us to use the drink vouchers for the 3 of us (all D+ & same stateroom) when one of us buys multiple drinks.  This has happened regularly for us in Schooner and Solarium bars.

We very seldom use all 15 (3x5) vouchers on any day.  

We always have included our adult son on our "free" cruises from the casino on RCL.  Wife and I typically each receive a offer from a cruise.  We have been able to combine the two offers to offset part of the 3rd passenger fare.  The gratuities and port charges are always x 3 for us.  Is you each have a "free" room offer, you may be able to book 2 connecting rooms with 1 adult and 1 child each and leave the connecting doors open.  Good luck.

We just came back from a b2b on the Zaandam and I had prepurchased the laundry package for each week for $49.  The service was great the 4 times we used it (there were 3 of us).  The laundry service was prompt and we survived 2 weeks with a total of 3 suitcases thanks to the laundry service.

We use portable usb fans that work very well by the bed or chair .  Don't know about the UL thing, but we have had 3 of them on many cruises on Royal and Holland America.  They have 3 speeds and can be pointed where you want them.

We will be on the Zaandam with you for that week and the next week we will remain onboard back to our car in Boston. Happy Anniversary on Sat.  DW and I will be celebrating our 39th on Sep.3rd.

We just got a 15-day update for the 1st half of  our upcoming b2b cruise bos-mtl-bos.  the HAL links re: b2b imply a required test between legs.  We did a b2b on Rotterdam last December, and they required a test on the last day of the cruise.  We did a b2b on Royal Anthem in Feb'22 and they also required the mid test.  We did a b2b on Royal Oasis in June'22 and they told us that  they no longer required it.  I would also not like to be stuck in Montreal in the middle of our cruise as much as you would prefer not to be stuck in Boston.

On 7/9/2022 at 11:31 PM, Gunther1 said:

In my case, I guess I’m screwed.

On a positive note, you will be able to drink twice the carbonated beverages to justify the extra cost😀

I am also a Pepsi vs Coke fellow.  I put up with Diet Coke by adding Bacardi to it.  After a few drinks, the Coke become more bearable😉.  My land source of Caffeine is Pepsi Zero so I switch to Coke Zero (or Diet Coke) on a ship or unsweetened Ice Tea to stay alert.  

We were on a b2b on Oasis last month and got the 2nd cups.

6 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

That would be Princess policy, not HAL's. 

Why would the Zaandam be Princess policy?

22 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

It changed around April 1st, to no test required for the second part of a B2B. Been a few discussions about the change here.

We sailed on Royal on a b2b in May and they provided the testing the morning of the last day of the 1st leg.  On the Oasis in June , also a b2b, Guest Services told me that we would be receiving the testing location on the last day of the 1st leg.  When we did not get it, I returned to Guest Services and they assured me that that was no longer required since April.  We are hoping that our upcoming August b2b on Zaandam will be dealt with by Hal whichever way it goes.

13 hours ago, mom2miracles said:

Title says it all. I see so many people talk about b2b cruises, and I wonder why they wouldn't just book a longer length cruise instead. So, is there a benefit/perk of a b2b rather than just booking longer? Aside from the obvious of some cruises only doing cruises of x amount of days. 

We often do b2b based on club royal offers that provide casino free play for each half as well as 'comped' stateroom.  ( I avoid the 'free stateroom' reference because I fully realize that I get the comped stateroom due to my extended residence in Casino Royale when it is open.)  

We also benefit each week from the free wash & fold for D+.  

Our only negative experience on a b2b was last November on Symphony of the Seas where they decided to make our b2b bookings into a single cruise onboard.  Guest services seemed to have a hard time dealing with it being 2 separate bookings, which caused some strange issues.  I spent more time at guest services than I preferred.  That has not happened before or since , so we are still booking b2bs when possible.

4 hours ago, Burrata said:

Hello all!

booked Montreal to Boston August '22 on the Zaandam. Best to book excursions in advance? on board?

TIA and thank to all who have served!

We are on the Zaandam for 2 weeks Aug 13-27th'22 and last week when trying to book excursions we encountered several that were already sold out.  We  are waitlisted for one of the ones we wanted.

We always use the wash & fold bags on Royal ships.  There are 3 of us travelling, so we usually need to make use 2 or 3 times on a 14 day b2b cruise.  We are each D+ so there are 3 free bags for us per week.  We will use  the ship laundry for shirts and pants if needed at cost.  We have never had an issue with Royal laundry service.

D, D+,... drinks work there also.

On each of our recent cruises, we received a list of D+ benefits in our stateroom once it was open.  It has been mostly the same for each, but some minor specific ship differences.

I have done this several times on Holland America cruises.  The only one I have seen on Royal was the pint bottle and 3 cans of coke.  I have not seen it recently though.

We booked Hibachi at 15% discount for an upcoming Oasis in June.  Our son wanted to do that restaurant for his birthday, so we made reservations to ensure the date.  In our past cruises we often are approached by crew offerring discounts on some specialty restaurants.

On 4/25/2022 at 2:32 PM, Mandalay1903 said:

Has anyone had the experience of using gift cards and bonus gift cards to pay for cruises or purchase shore excursions in advance, and then the cruise is cancelled by HAL? If HAL cancels the cruise and I take the refund option, does the gift card value return to the gift card or to my original form of payment (my credit card)?

 

What if I cancel the shore excursion before the sailing date?

We recently cancelled a booked HAL cruise prior to final payment due time.  We had paid ~half of the cruise with cc and gift cards and bonus gift cards.  The refund to the gift cards was all that we had used them for, but the Bonus gift cards did not get refunded.  We ended up rolling the cc refund into 2 new bookings.  It was not HAL that cancelled, but I believe that the bonus gift card did say non-refundable.

We always carry a bunch of $1s and tip for each drink we are served.  We drink 'free" in the casino due to tier status and 5 per day for D+ status.  $1 per drink is a way to thank the server for their hard work.  After a few days, the servers seem more attentive to our level in our glass. We are happy to make it worth their while.  Between the 3 of us, 15 or 20 $/day are distributed to some amazing hard-working folks.

Our April cruise showed up on our offer pages.  Points for pre April 1 reset for new tier year.