robmtx

Thank you for the respectable challenge to my post. This is Marketing tactics true in any industry. "To add value, we're increasing prices." Always the case. Netflix price increases are money grabs but the consistently tell the users this is to bring you improved offerings. Yeah whatever Netflix, it's a cash grab! Or Spotify just this week: So that we can keep innovating, we are changing our Premium prices across a number of markets* around the world. These updates will help us continue to deliver value to fans and artists on our platform. Marketing! What they really mean is they will raise their price now because they feel they can do it without losing too many customers. We do it in my company...when we're ready to raise rates we get Marketing to spin it into a nice fluffy press release that talks about how great we are and that our customers love us, so what's the harm in a few more bucks out of their pockets. I agree though, every single one of these companies should just say "Hey look, we have huge debt to pay back and so we're passing along that problem to our customers." The kicker? When the debt is repaid will we see a return of services or discounts? HELL NO! lol

I was looking for Catsup the other day, but they only had Ketchup.... /snicker Ok - so I think one thing here is that OP's should word the title of their posts with a little more thought. You start throwing in words like "lie" and you're going to get the Royalists in here to defend against those claims. I see that the most heated topics are from people who are (maybe innocently) trolling. So it sounds like this Subject is more accurate = "Half & Half Issue on Allure Pres Cruise" -- It had nothing to do with proven 'lies' - I would have thought, based on the subject, that there was some interaction with someone employed by Royal and caught them in a true 'lie'. I'm a Royalist, and yeah I like to see what people think of Royal when they accuse them of lying and shady stuff. They've been upfront with their cost cutting changes. As much as I don't like those changes, I still cruise with Royal because the overall experience change has been minimal (the housekeeping change is kind of annoying though). Have people started to forget that the cruise lines had no revenue for 16-18 months? Also - grass isn't always greener on the other side. I think most major market US based cruise lines have gone to once-daily housekeeping, revised menus or policies in the dining room, and astronomical pricing for addons like Drinks or Excursions.

I must have had the same new worker, because none of us were asked to show anything more than a SeaPass card to enter the cruise terminal in Nassau, Jun 2023. Maybe they are more lax now

We have multiple clients booked for March and April 2024 with calls in Bahamas. We haven't seen any emails or other notices yet. We'll keep an eye out of course, but so far we've been kept in the dark. Only way I know about this is from this thread. Anyone else missing notifications that would be affected by this change?

Yeah it's in the crown, so you get expansive views of the sea. This makes it a great place to hang out. I don't like the DL on Quantum and Oasis class ships (where it's down on deck 4) as they either have no windows at all, or just some port holes that overlook the bottoms of life boats. Adventure, and her sisters, have a much nicer DL.

This is exactly correct. I even called from my stateroom and had it activated. Another tip - if you activate your free day, it's for "24 hours" so I call to set it up after dinner before a sea day, and enjoy it for the evening and throughout the following day. We are both D+ so we get a total of 4 free "24 hour periods" which covers an extra device for our entire cruise.

We never have a problem. Cruise planner makes the complimentary reservation for night 1, and you select a time slot for that. Then once onboard, go to any restaurant and give them your schedule for the week. They may adjust your preferred time by :15-:30 minutes in either direction to accommodate you in their computer, but they'll assure you that you can just show up at your time. That being said, I'm assuming your party is 2-4 people..maybe larger group would want to email dining prior, but otherwise just check in onboard and they'll hook you up.

Looks like Icon will co-habitat with Mariner to start, with a random Adventure thrown in there. So if you're on Mariner, do they offer a ShoreEx to tour Icon? 🙂 Instead of "Resort for a Day" you could have "Icon for a Day" lol

Private taxi is the way to go. Hop off ship, meet the drivers who are ready to take you on a tour. I miss "Captain" Cann.. 😞 - he died from Covid in '21. He was hard to keep up with when we'd stop at places...which is saying a lot because he had half as many legs as me! But he took us to some places off the beaten path, and was so entertaining. RIP Captain.

Found it -

We've been transitioning from "batten down the hatches!!!" and securing everything like our lives depended on it, to leaving electronics out. My newest tablet doesn't fit in safes (except CLS safes), so it just goes in a drawer now. Wifey left her laptop out all week. I still lock up the work laptop in my luggage, but mainly to make it more of a pain in the you-know to get it out and work 🙂

Celebrity Beyond is scheduled to dock at Coco Cay on 5/13/24 and 5/27/23 - Wonder of the Seas is also scheduled there those days. So very good observation you made there. Looks like Royal is filling in some gaps with their sister line.

Also on that cruise. Also same experience. I almost felt rushed as I was trying to count heads as my group crossed the street from parking lot, while the guy was yelling (not yelling madly, just loudly) to please proceed and do not wait for your appointment time.

Also, if I'm remembering things correctly; When we went to medical in Jan 2018, we had to pay more because we went after hours. The clinic was open for 2 hours in the morning, and 4 hours in the late afternoon, and anything else was considered after hours and considerably more money. On this month's visit, we called the clinic, and they said we needed an appt. The appts were available every half hour throughout the evening and they didn't seem to differentiate between regular hours and after hours pricing. Has anyone else seen that they no longer have after hours pricing? Maybe this was changed post-pandemic??

I was dreading the thousand dollar bill, like I've also seen in years past!!! BUT- Here's a sample invoice from a cruise just this month: Office Visit, new patient, level 2: $144.24 Urinalysis: $32.29 10x Antibiotic pills: $8.70 6x small painkiller pills: $4.56 Total: $189.79 They informed me, twice, on the phone when I called to make appt, that we'd be charged the $144. I was also told about the charge when we got to the facility and before they even started the intake. I appreciated the upfront notices about the fee. I'd expect my PCP is charging that amount right now, but we pay copays on land so our bills all much smaller. We'll wait 6,000 years to see if my travel insurance reimburses any of this 🙂 .

Do bathrobes count as PJ's and can I substitute a restaurant for the MDR? If so, then: Adventure of the Seas, May 2022 Restaurant was Izumi on formal night. Man dressed in the white bath robe from his stateroom and slippers. He had a ball cap he bought from the onboard shop and big aviator sunglasses. He seemed to be enjoying his Sushi and attention he was getting. He was not denied service and was quite popular with other guests and even the crew.

aww snap you got me. You rule the internet with interjections. Man I am put in my place today.. thanks ! Also you seem to care about what I say/do? Why?

And it's amazing...this whole mask wearing thing is completely optional now.... and you still see people wearing them around their chins? I don't understand why you would optionally wear one, then wear it improperly?

Our family has two Medical calls in our history. Both were non-accidents, and we were billed to our stateroom account, which was linked to our credit card. We received fat envelopes with the bill and the details on both occasions, so that we might forward to our travel insurance. Actually, I recall on the first time, we had to medically disembark, and the Medical office was in constant contact and had me wait a moment at the gangway, so that they could make sure I had all paperwork I needed, both for insurance, and for the island's hospital. I think, both incidents, were handled quite well.

He took political positions a few times. Couldn't care less about his views, only his meteorology reporting. But because his Twitter was his personal account, there was a thin line between work and personal tweets. He would even push tweets about his kid...proud papa I'm sure and not faulting him for those kinds of tweets...but I only wanted to follow him for weather related reports. Don't know him personally and wasn't interested in his proud papa moments. It's just - there's a time and place for everything. Moving forward, Royal needs to create official company social media accounts for the Chief Meteorologist and then promote those accts as the ones to follow. That way we're not following someone's personal stuff.

They charge Bahamian Sales tax on our shore excursions. So that we know.. The Bahamas makes a pretty penny off those $3,000/day cabanas!

Hi. Found this post so bumping it to ask if there's been any updates on the September drydock. I looked at deck plans that appear to become effective on 9/29 and Samba grill is still there. Has anyone heard anything, like at recent Captain's Corners?

Go to Playmakers and meet your bartenders Cyrile and Angel! They're great!

We're on Oasis now and NO, the comedy shows in the comedy club could not be prebooked by any of our 3 reservations. We had no issue booking (and then modifying bookings once on board) but 100% the only 3 shows our sailing were allowed to pre-book were Cats, Frozen in Time, and Aqua 80. So will add the "your mileage may vary" sticker to this. We have never been able to prebook anything other than those 3 shows on Oasis.

Even Cats is showing sold out? Then it's either a glitch or they are holding back some options until you board. As soon as you board, connect to Oasis wifi and book what you need. The comedy shows can only be booked onboard while the guest entertainer shows don't take reservations at all.