twangster

Anyone heard of the "Barefoot Beach Cabana Club" before? Reviewing a Nellie's cabana I noted how it states it does not include access to the "Barefoot Beach Cabana Club".

Yes as long as they are within the weight limits.

What extra $400? If the per person deposit is $450 such as for longer cruises then all of that $450 per person is refundable with a refundable booking. Per person deposits are: $100 deposit short cruises $250 deposit medium length cruises $450 deposit long cruises All of these amounts are refundable if you cancel a refundable booking before final payment.

There are four categories now. Over the Water, Hilltop, Waterfront and Standard. Beachfront sounds more like Waterfront vs. the true OTW.

They added a series of landlocked cabanas closer to the BBQ and the bar area. These "inland" cabanas (my name) are the "Standard" I believe.

Jelly fish vary in the open ocean but in the swim with a dolphin enclosures there shouldn't be any jelly fish.

There are two KSF offers right now. The 4th of July offer doesn't blackout Haifa. That ends on July 4. The other July KSF that runs the whole month does blackout Haifa. Check LTYA. This morning the public website was not allowing KSF. When I ran it with 2 adults a 6 yo or as 3 adults in cabin 7150 the rate was the same. Now the same cabin does qualify for KSF but there has been a price increase since this morning. Three adults: Two adults plus a 6 yo: So the good news is that KSF is now working for Oct. 19 from Haifa (if booked by July 4). The bad news is the rates went up over the past few hours.

Love Voyager class (including Mariner) for their layout and ease of getting around. Their slightly shorter length compared to Freedom class makes them easier to walk from one end to the other. Mariner made out pretty well during her amplification but they did not refresh the cabins to the extent they did on Navigator and Voyager during those amplifications. The bulk of her amplification was in public venues. At the moment the internet on Voyager class is pretty dreadful compared to Freedom class. Other than the extra section in the middle that Freedom class received, Voyager class ships have very similar layouts forward and aft compared to Freedom class. Mariner and Navigator are the only Voyager class ships that have the Freedom style balconies with dividers that can be opened so these two Voyager class ships feel like Freedom class more than their sisters.

You do realize that the vast majority of call center agents have never stepped foot on a cruise ship. They read from scripts and use internal support pages to search for and answer questions.

OP stated Oct. 19. RH Haifa is blacked out from KSF through Oct. 28, 2022 and the promo is only for cruises through May of 2023 so either way KSF doesn't apply for OP in October. I priced 3 adults in a balcony compared to two adults plus a 6 yo in a balcony. It was the same price because KSF doesn't apply to RH from Haifa.

Make sure you turn on airplane mode when the ship leaves each port. Once at sea the ship has a cell tower on board and the 3rd party that has roaming agreements with each cellular provider charges outrageous roaming rates that will appear on your cell bill a month later. Smartphones consume a lot of background data. Forgetting to turn on airplane mode each time the ship leaves port can be extremely costly.

It depends how drink sales have trended on a particular cruise. If the revenue manager on board is trying to stimulate some spending they might decide to offer a drink card. Before the shutdown they weren't that common but when they appear it was more common to see them towards the end of the cruise rather than in the middle. It all depends and there is no consistency.

The only gotcha can be when someone claims to be a resident of one state to take advantage of a state discount. For example faking a Florida address could lead to being challenged at the pier and losing the discount. If your booking is flagged they can ask for proof of residency to qualify you are eligible for a state discount.

Puerto Rico is included with most US based cell providers post paid plans. Unsure where you live so that may not help if you are not a US resident. My cellular provider gives me free coverage in all those ports. Check with your cellular provider. Some have $10 day passes for international data or other options for international data coverage.

Absolutely. The "legally join the ship" used to impact Cuba cruises that departed from Florida and stopped in Key West as their first port of call. If you missed the ship in Miami you could not join the ship in Key West and continue on to Cuba as that violates the PVSA. My TA in 2017 made that very clear to me flying a red eye on Air2Sea arriving at 5am on the day of the cruise. In the same vane Seattle based cruises to Alaska do not allow guests to join the ship at an Alaskan port as that would result in a PVSA violation. Air2Sea is not travel insurance. Doing their best is just that. The limitations are well known for anyone who doesn't glance at Assured Arrival and set their expectations inappropriately. They can't circumvent federal law and in today's crazy flight environment they can't add seats on planes to accommodate guests disrupted by airline cancellations. Their best is dealing with the airlines that today don't leave many or any options given the way airlines are overbooking and cancelling so many flights this summer. Assured Arrival has been rendered less potent this summer by the practices of the airline industry. It's not clear yet if Assured Arrival will regain some of its limited powers for 2023 cruises and beyond.

Nov. of 2023 is outside of the current KSF promo window and many Rhapsody Haifa based cruises are excluded from the current July KSF promo Aug. 2022 through Oct. 2022. Like all Royal promos they don't apply to every ship or every sail date. Kids Sail Free Booking Window: July 1 – 31, 2022Sailing Window: All sailings departing between August 2, 2022 – May 25, 2023Offer Details: Guest 12 and under sail free on 3 night or longer sailings – Offer excludes Thanksgiving sailings (Departing between November 18 – November 25, 2022), Holiday sailings (Departing between December 18, 2022 – January 6, 2023), Spring Break sailings (Departing between March 10, 2023 – March 24, 2023), Holy Week/Easter sailings (Departing between April 1, 2023 – April 11, 2023) and Rhapsody of the Seas sailings (Departing from Haifa, Israel between August 5 – October 28, 2022)

That's one way to reduce call center volume. 🙂 A second email had the missing "8" at the end.