ARandomTraveler

I think you just don't get the double points for sailing solo. For a weekend cruise that's negligible though. I

For my next cruise stuff started showing up around 8 months ahead

Any reason you can't (or don't want to) book on your own, directly with RC, so you can book the room you want with a refundable deposit?

I sailed symphony during thanksgiving week. A lot of time slots were taken by the time people boarded at 11:30am. And 2 restaurants were fully booked and unable to make reservations at (Wonderland and the Hibachi). I was able to get into wonderland for a 9:30pm time slot (not my preferred time) by getting on a waitlist. I had a reservation at the hibachi, but we ate with people who got in off the waitlist. Despite the inability to get all the times and restaurants we wanted, we did eat at every specialty restaurant and we ate at one for every dinner (and a couple second dinners) and a few lunches.

I'll be on the lookout for any accidental pricing glitches now.

My daughter got it, but I didn't. We're booked on a cruise in July that currently isn't showing up online anymore, and I can't get into the planner for it.

My daughter got one too, I did not. We are both booked on a cruise in July together. But that cruise is no longer showing on the website, and I can't get into the cruise planner. I don't know if that is a separate issue or if it has something to do with whatever glitch they're having.

Did you find the language barrier difficult?

Gross

No, but it was down 2 or 3 nights ago for maintenance for a couple hours. I'm not really that tech savvy so this might not even be a thing, but is it possible that you have a cached version of the website from when it was down? I don't think that's a thing but maybe. Someone will surely correct me .

I wasn't meaning that people DO get $25 haircuts, but that they CAN. If you can walk into a super cuts or a fantastic sams (if those exist anymore), that's a privilege some of us don't have. I've been turned away from more salons than have been willing to touch my hair, and those that do, ALWAYS double the price. I have no choice is what I meant. So if someone can use the soap/shampoo combo in the hotel showers, I just imagine someone with very easy hair. And if their hair is that easy, and they're willing to use the soap/shampoo combo, then why even ask if it's good. To me, it's all garbage that will damage my hair immediately.

I do that sometimes (the co-wash). I still use the shampoo because of all the creams and oils I use as styling products, plus I work out a lot and the mixture of sweat with those products just makes a sticky gross mess that feels like it can't be removed without the shampoo. But since I use shampoo without the chemicals that strip your hair, it's probably just doing the same thing as conditioner and water, so I'm probably wasting money on the shampoo.

Not me, I have really thick curly hair. I hated it when I was a kid even though everyone was always telling me it was beautiful. It was hard to take care of and required a lot of products and took over a hour to dry with a blow dryer (still does but now I'm used to it). It's the kind of hair people are paying $1000 to have sewn into their heads with extensions nowadays, but back then, nobody had it and I just wanted to look like everyone else. When I get a haircut, it has to be separated into about 12-16 separate sections to be cut. And I've never been charged less than $150 for a haircut. The idea of being able to use soap as a shampoo is very foreign to me.

Anytime I read a question from someone who asks if they need to bring their own shampoo, I know they have the kind of hair that can get a $25 haircut and use whatever comes off the shelf at target for their hair. I would never risk the damage to my hair by using anything that's offered for free.

Star people

I tried to post a link to an article that talks about the difference between a regular junior suite (J1 and J4) and a Sky Junior (JY) but it got blocked, saying it has to be approved by a moderator. I guess they don't like the blog I linked. The J4 you're looking at is a regular junior suite. You won't have access to the silver dining room. You'd have to upgrade to the sky Junior (JY), but in my opinion, doesn't seem worth it. The prices I mentioned are for a 12 day cruise, not a 4 day, sorry for the confusion. $18,000 for 2 people for a silver dining room and some private hot tubs does not seem worth it. I guess you also get free Internet and access to coastal kitchen just like the full suites, but seriously, for $18,000? No thank you. For your extra $400 you would get double points and a larger room. That's it. You won't get any special treatment for being in a regular junior suite on Spectrum. Depending on what the cost of your inside room is, $400 might be worth it, or it might not. For me, if the junior suite was $400 more than my balcony, I'd buy it in a heartbeat, but the junior suite is thousands of dollars more, and the sky Junior, 10's of thousands more. It really depends on what your starting price is and whether double points is worth it (for a 4 day cruise, double points doesn't get you much)

I should have added that I was quoting prices for a 12 day cruise, not a 4 day. Same ship though. Prices on mine are crazy outrageous. $18,000 for 2 people in a sky junior suite. $9,000 for 2 people in a regular junior suite. Here's a blog/article about the Junior vs Sky Junior perks. The author is incorrect in his article when he says the Icon will be the first ship with this class system. Spectrum definitely has it as well. I don't think you're getting into the silver dining room with a regular junior suite, but it's definitely not worth the extra money (in my opinion) to upgrade to the sky Junior. https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2022/12/08/new-royal-caribbean-sky-junior-suite-benefits-average-or-epic

I also think (based on my upcoming Spectrum cruise) that you only get the suite perks in a junior suite if you book the "Sky junior suite" but not the regular junior suite. There's a big price difference; $4300/person for a regular junior suite (where I assume you get double points and a bigger room, but not the special lounge access), and the "Sky junior suite" which is $8800/person.

I haven't been since 2018, but I'd say San Juan embarkation is pretty much a ***** show. You'll be standing outside a pretty rundown building. No frills. I should note though, that cruises from San Juan are my absolute favorite. You can get to the most beautiful islands from there. Highly recommend!

You have to go through the whole booking process, putting everyone's names in and everything, and then once you do that, and get to the page where you can select options like adding pre-paid gratuities, adding insurance etc, there will also be an option to make your booking refundable. It's really annoying to have to input all that info just to see what the real price is, but they want people to get attached to the listed price, which is actually the non-refundable price. The added cost to make it refundable can be anywhere from around $100, to $1500 (or so I've read, I've never had any of my bookings charge this much extra). The most I've ever been charged to make my booking refundable is around $300.

I'm sailing in July and interior rooms have been sold out since at least October (10 months prior to the cruise). Price has also gone up, not down. I would book your cruise now, book refundable, and that way if there's a better deal in April then you can cancel and rebook, and if there's not a better deal, then you'll be glad you already put your deposit down.

I think it depends on the particular sailing. If it's a popular one, they do sell out, but as people cancel, rooms will periodically pop up. I booked my next cruise 10 months in advance, and when I booked it, interior rooms and ocean view rooms were all sold out. I saw ocean view rooms pop up for about 3 days once, and then disappeared again. We're now 6 months out and interiors, ocean views and balconies are all sold out. No interior rooms have ever become available, and the ocean view only became available that one time. I check every day because I'm looking for price drops, even though it appears that won't happen. Cabins have remained sold out, and the price has increased by $2500 in the last 3 months. The sailing I'm going on isn't offered very many times and it's one of the only times they do it during the summer months so for my sailing it makes sense. But I'm sure it happens for others as well. I don't think it would make financial sense for them to withhold cabins and lose sales just because they think it might entice people to book a more expensive cabin. I think it's just that more people are traveling. You've got people who are still trying to use up credits from the shut-down when their original vacations were canceled, and I think people were stuck at home for a long time and they want to get out and travel. Prices are going up because demand is going up. And people are willing and able to pay the higher prices.

We came back from the beach in our wet swimsuits, wrapped in pool towels, so we always had an old wet towel in our room that we planned to swap out before going to the next beach. Our room steward beat us to it every time. She would come in to clean our room every time we left, and she'd take our wet pool towels and replace them with clean ones before we came back from getting a snack or eating dinner.

I bought a Surf & Stream2-device plan during the Black Friday sale and it was $14.99/day for the first device and $12.99/day for the second. Right now it's listed as $16.99/day for the first device and 14.99/day for the second device.

Oh ok, that makes sense. I can see why it would be a concern for Grandma. They will not link that credit card for future use. When everyone does their online check-in once the cruise gets closer, they will be asked the put in their own credit card number if they want to use one. They can also opt for a "cash" account, meaning they just run up a tab that they'll have to stand in line to pay at the end of the cruise (either with cash, debit or credit card..or maybe even a check, if they take those on the ship, I'm not sure).