Liljo22

I was going to ask the same thing. I have 7 certificates in my coupons and credits section. This is a new section added after the upgrade so I think its glitching badly right now.

That is correct.

Ok. Thats not too bad.

I think it may. I was looking at the Oasis in December that has a stop at Coco Cay and Labadee and the package is $89.99 right now. That's nuts. You would need to average 8 drinks a day to make it worth it.

The pricing bounces between two "sale" price points. That may be the higher one. If it is, the lower will probably be 72.99 or 73.99. I was on the Oasis in December last year and the Black Friday was just the lower price point of the two. It wasn't a special sale. For me, the biggest Black Friday savings was on private island excursions. They were all a legit 50% off.

NCL has been in the Asia market for a while. The Joy was the one that sailed from China but was moved to the US.

If the ship is going to be in the Asia market, it would make sense to change the name. The Asian culture, especially Chinese, is very particular about ghosts and spirits. Having a ship named Spirit could keep potential passengers away. Fun Fact: Because of this Shanghai Disneyland does not have a Haunted Mansion and in Hong Kong there is a Mystic Manor instead of a HM.

The OP currently has a balcony room but is bidding on a Haven room upgrade.

Yes its break even but the allure for some is not having to worry about the bill at the end. Plus it gives you the freedom to try drinks you would not normally order. If you don't like it, just order something different. You can bring 1 bottle per person of age in the cabin.

Nothing wrong if the drink package doesn't make sense to you. Its expensive and not for everyone. For a lot of people, 5 drinks is not a crazy amount. A mimosa in the morning, a drink by the pool when you return to the ship, a wine at dinner and a couple of drinks for after dinner entertainment and you are there.

7 Days are fine. Its the 3 & 4 day cruises that are the booze cruises.

The $75/pp/pd is their bundled all included rate which includes the Classic drink package. The classic on its own is $89pp/pd plus 20%. The Classic is very limited in the offering and only goes up to $10 per drink. If you want the Premium package, its $109pp/pd plus 20%. If you take the all included rate, you can upgrade to premium for $24pp/pd plus 20%. The all included is a good deal given it includes tips and wifi on top of the drinks if you are ok with basic drinks.

Put a first time cruiser on any mass market ship without the branding or venue names and I bet they can't tell the cruise lines apart. They all have similar venues(italian restaurant, steakhouse, lounge, etc.). The Oasis class is what sets Royal apart from the other lines. If you are not choosing between an Oasis class and another lines ship, I would look at which line has the better deal.

I agree. Prices are up from where they were pre COVID but I have found them to be competitive and most of the time are coming in cheaper than Royal. Once you factor in having to add the drink package and dining to the Royal fare, it’s an even better deal.

On both my Royal cruises last year, the buffet closed at 9 pm. Sorrento's was the only place really open afterwards and it was always slammed. I don't think there was a gap between breakfast and lunch buffet and if there was, it was very short.

We enjoyed Cats but I can see why its not everyone's favorite. The story is hard to follow because its all singing and is mostly each type of cat singing about their situation. You don't really pick up on the main reincarnation story line unless you know that going in.

There is an overall increase in negative reviews over the last 6 months. She was just using the Oasis reviews as an example. I don't think this is exclusive to Royal though. Go look at all the mass market boards and there are complaints about diminished quality of food and service. All the lines are saddled with large amount of debt taken on during the shutdown in order to stay in business. We are living in a different cruising environment right now and some people do not like it. Cruising is a lot of money. If you don't feel its worth the money any longer, you need to find something that is worth it to you. Personally, I still feel it is worth it. I don't care about twice a day cleans. My vacation is not ruined if my dinner service is slow or it takes a little longer to get a drink at the pool bar.

FCC can only be used on a future cruise. OBC used to be offered for after final payment price drops and that could be used for other purchases.

BTW...Escape is in Puerto Plata today. They just switched DR and GSC.

Actually the last bookable cruise is January 27th. Nothing after until July 28th.

If you can swing the extra for a refundable deposit, go that route.

I don't understand how anyone can say there is nothing to do on an Oasis class. There is always something going on. In terms of crowds, the places it seems to get most crowded is karaoke, Sorrento's and the buffet at times if everyone shows up at once. Besides those places, I felt the Oasis handled crowds pretty well. We never had trouble finding a pool chair especially if you are ok with laying a deck up.

We did MTD on the Oasis with a sold out ship. The first night was a mess as both the reservation and non-reservation lines weaved through the hallways. After that neither line was long. I had made reservations for every night but ended up just showing up at a different time on a few nights. Also, the Solarium restaurant is an option for an included sit down dinner.

There is always one on every forum that wants to claim that only "cheerleaders" have positive things to say about a line.

Cruise lines will usually order several ships with the same layout to save costs. The class of the ship is usually the name of the first ship built in that layout. The Dawn and Star are in the same class and they will just have different decor and the names of some of the venues will be different. You will probably also like the Jewel class ships(Jewel, Jade, Pearl and Gem). They are slightly bigger than the Dawn Class but still in the "classic" cruise style before they started to add the family geared activities.