notmyrealnameoremail

On 11/28/2023 at 10:12 AM, smokeybandit said:

Nothing a little googling can't find

June 10 -- Twelve-night Baltic cruise from Harwich, calling at Oslo, Stockholm, Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Tallinn and Copenhagen. (Additional sailings on July 4, 16 Aug. 9 and 21.) From $3,499 to $12,199.

Sorry to go a bit off topic, but a minimum of $3,500 per person plus taxes and port fees strikes me as expensive compared to this 2024 cruise:

39 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Get ready to start looking in the app as soon as you board.  It will go quick

I'm really afraid of heights, but I've been thinking I might want to try it.  Assuming port days are free, I guess it would be on a port day.

22 hours ago, Biker19 said:

Yes, unless you can prove to RCI they are unresponsive to the point they take away the booking from them. The TA lying to you that they are limited in the number of reprices is not a reason RCI will take away a booking.

I would hope that if the TA actually refuses to reprice and you can show that, Royal would force them to reprice or allow you to pull the reservation from that TA.

I firmly believe that a good TA wants you to get lower prices and better deals.  They are responsive to questions and requests.  They understand that running their business that way it helps drive future business. 

My TA is ridiculously responsive.  Yesterday, as my wife and I we picking excursions for an NCL cruise that we booked a while ago, I came across an upgrade package that would save us a few hundred dollars.  For some reason NCL's website and app wouldn't let me add it, so I sent him an email asking if he could find out if I was allowed to book it.  An hour later, I got an email back saying he had already added it to our reservation.

During COVID, he rebooked a cruise for a small group so many times that we were able to tack on a 5 day B2B cruise with some savings left over.  Of course he made sure we had 2 balconies next to each other so we could get door between the balconies open AND stay in the same cabins for both cruises.

Of course YMMV, but for us getting a customer focused TA has been very beneficial and I like to think we are worthwhile clients for him.

2 hours ago, steveru621 said:

Been around for a few months.  This should suck up the remaining Internet bandwidth.

Since casting from your phone or other device will use intranet not internet, it shouldn't cause problems.  If there is a lot of extra streaming, that could impact internet access, but Starlink significantly increases internet bandwidth.

YMMV

33 minutes ago, Driftwoodgal said:

Curious, do you get extra cruise points if you upgrade to a suite? Please forgive me it this has been asked before.

Unfortunately you do not get extra points, but you do get everything else that normally comes with the level of suite you are upgraded to. 

Our great travel agent got us a good deal on Icon's 30 November 2024 cruise a while back and we thought it would be fun to sail Utopia and check out both of Royal's newest ships.  We hadn't been paying close attention to the Utopia launch and didn't realize it was doing 3/4 itineraries. We really didn't want to go to Florida for a 3 or 4 day trip. 

It took me a while, but I finally realized we could tack Utopia's 9 December 2024 4 day cruise onto our trip down to Florida for the Icon.  We have two days to get from Miami to Port Canaveral and I'm sure we can find something to do. Our travel agent got us what we consider an excellent group rate for a Central Park Balcony ($1419 including taxes and gratuities total for the 2 of us) and now we are booked.

I'm convinced we may be doing more of these almost S2S, or real S2S in the future. It's easy to find other longer Royal cruises to match up to Utopia when there are cruises out of Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Tampa and Port Canaveral to choose from,

Just my two cents.  As always YMMV.

Tom

On 8/16/2022 at 8:15 AM, Tudy said:

I have been in the situation where the TA's price was cheaper than booking onboard because the TA had a group rate. I was able to book onboard and then roll the booking into the group rate. Talk to your TA. If you visit Next Cruise early in your cruise, you can have an email conversation with your TA and know exactly what you can and cannot do.

On 8/16/2022 at 12:06 PM, Ourusualbeach said:

You can still hbook on board and  have the booking repriced to the group rate, get the group obc, keep the next cruise obc.  The only downside is the booking remains non refundable. 

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner.

1 minute ago, mom2miracles said:

“Cruise approved” as in they meet the requirements that cruise ships have regarding these type of items. You’re reading too far into this - it was a general statement, as I’m sure most are when they say “cruise approved”. No need to be snarky.

Different cruise lines have different rules.  I doubt sellers on Amazon have checked the rules for every cruise line before writing their advertising. 

YMMV

The link to Royal Caribbean's list of prohibited items is below.  Note it lists

"Electrical Extension Cords" as prohibited.

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/prohibited-items-onboard-policy

20 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Last week on Ovation the pay viewings were all $69.99 per person

Yikes!

34 minutes ago, PompeySailor said:

Agree 11-11 Free Drinks in SL 

Allure✅

Oasis✅

Harmony✅

Symphony✅

When we cruise out of New Jersey, I stop at our local Costco the night before and pick a nice bouquet for less than $15.  We also use the collapsable vases.  We always get comments from from other passengers as we get on the ship.  They even last through our B2B cruises. 

4 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Depends on what they pay for a short 3 day sailing and what length of cruise their next one is.

 

4 free drinks a day for a 7 day sailing at $15 a drink is $840

Yep, math is your friend.  Plus you get to cruise for an extra 3 days.

2 hours ago, molly361 said:

Mine is in Canada and I'm in Florida  strictly email contact and he is SUPER responsive

Mine is in Canada as well.  I email him and sometimes talk with him as well.  It is rare that he doesn't get back to me in less than an hour.

Thanks everyone.  It looks like it is 1600 points for a free cruise now.

They were doing it our last couple of cruises with a decent list of available cruises to choose from.

If they are, when is the last date to sail the free cruise?

Thanks.

Tom

On 5/9/2022 at 12:51 PM, John&LaLa said:

 

They know. If they didn't, I'd have about 10 more blocks by now😉

John,

So you are saying Royal IT can get this consistently correct, but they can't let us chose amenities online? 

6 minutes ago, Ms Jo UK said:

still not working for me.  it has been 6 hours now.

same same

30 minutes ago, deweytrader said:

Just got upgraded on my 4/9 Symphony sailing, went from ultra spacious balcony to Crown Loft Suite for $880 x 2.

nice

2 hours ago, Skjhoward said:

I booked through a TA, but I logged in the Royal Up this am and I was allowed to bid. 

That's good news.  Most TAs do allow you to bid, but not all.

1 hour ago, MickD said:

Update managed to get the upgrade from balcony to junior suite plus £50 refund to card 😁

You have to love it when they pay you to take a better cabin.

You should ask your Travel Agent for help, especially if you are still using them.

My most excellent Travel Agent has devoted many hours to getting FCC issues resolved for us.

YMMV

Tom

1 hour ago, kwokpot said:

Yes I misspoke on a couple of points. Having said that, what's the Voom kiosk? Is this something new? Previously, before the pandemic, we had to go and speak to someone to get the Casino Royale Free cruise internet for Signature. Is there a new process now? We haven't sailed Royal since the restart. 

 

Sorry, I wasn't clear. 

You would need to the Voom kiosk to get your on or two Diamond/Diamond Plus days of you already have an internet package.  It the desk where you go for internet help.

I won't have my first cruise as Prime until April, but I assume you would go to the kiosk for casino related internet as well.  Someone please correct me if I am wrong.

Tom

Thanks in advance.

Tom