rockmom

You need to go into the email they sent you when you submitted your bid, that will have links to click and view the current status of your bids. You can also go to the Royal Up page, put in your name, booking number etc. as if you're going to make a bid, and that will bring it up as well.

Have you gone back in to your bid to see if anything is showing as expired or pending? That is a good first step. You would have received an email when you made your bids, that email will have links to your current bids. The previous times I've bid and won this year, I was notified at least a week or more in advance--but ships were NOT sailing full. Also, it will hit your credit card before you get the email, so if you check your card regularly, you might see it there first. Recently, with ships being very full, sometimes you aren't notified you got an upgrade until you are actually on the ship and in your original stateroom already. That happens when someone is a no-show or is denied boarding for some reason (like being sick). You then have to move your things from one room to the next. I'm guessing you don't have a smart phone where you can check your email, check into your cruise via the app, etc? That would be the fastest and easiest way to monitor if you were upgraded a day or two before sailing. And then the porters would give you updated luggage tags when you dropped your bags off at the port.

There are several threads on this, it comes up pretty often. Labadee is nowhere near Port Au Prince, which is where all the unrest happens. It is a very long drive between the two. Royal's area is a secured compound in an area where there's not much else.

On Royal's website it says 16.

Not sure what sorts of things they may offer via Adventure Ocean, you will want to go there as soon as you board to check it out and look at all the offerings.

Minimum age is 16 years old.

The new terminal is about a mile and a half from the old terminal, at least according to Google Maps.

I'd never get it for a ship like Enchantment (which I've sailed on twice). At least in the main dining room you get different menu options each night. If you LOVE Chops, then maybe buy a 3 night package if it's offered.

The bookings are open (it's 1:30 am eastern) Prices are nuts, as expected.

I'm going to guess....yes. Hope I'm wrong, but we'll see.

Most ships aren't requiring reservations for shows. I have had The Key on a few sailings this year, including twice on Navigator, Explorer's sister. In February, reservations were required due to so many seats being blocked off for social distancing. No reservations required a month and a half ago. When I boarded, and headed to the main dining room where the Chops lunch was served, they had a table set up where you gave them any carry on bags that you wanted taken to your room. The staff there also handed out the paper that listed the times for the Flowrider and rock wall -- just so you are aware, it is NOT private. Everyone who has the Key gets that time. So, it does cut down on the numbers waiting, you won't be by yourselves. I do think they might have more than one time slot and just give a certain amount of Key holders that time, but I can't be sure for Explorer. Ice rink seating is good for The Key--but you still need to get to the show pretty early as they release those spots about 10 minutes before it starts. We usually went about 30 minutes before, got a good seat and a drink. Same for the theater.

and I did the first sailing on her from Seattle at the start of the Alaska season--May of 2001. We were given some 'inaugural' goodies on that sailing as well. I think I have a book about Radiance somewhere that was part of the goodie package.

That is the date they used when they did that middle of the night 'test'. Several people reported seeing it and some prices, for that one date. Some tried to book and it didn't work. Then it was quickly pulled from the site. So we'll see if this holds true, it probably will, but until they post the full, actual, bookable listings, we wont know for sure.

My point was, that is all incorrect info. They were showing that as being Icon when it clearly was not.

I don't think that's a valid site.

Earlier this year we had a cabana (chill island) and they needed the list of who/how many we would have. That was monitored by the cabana attendant--each cabana area has a couple of attendants that kept an eye on who is coming and going. We saw them turning people away and keeping an eye on who was in the area. They definitely knew who belonged. You should get 2 cabanas. If you can't afford that, then just skip the cabana.

Also, not sure you're aware, but the prices can be all totally different, even on the same ship, with some sailings having better deals on Cruise Planners things like drink packages. So what one person might be seeing for their ship/sailing, could be completely different that what you'll see when you log into your cruise planner. And they can vary widely. That is part of the reason people can't give you a solid answer.

I'm probably not going to me much help either, but as someone else said, you need to totally ignore the percent off or a 'buy one get one....x amount off'. The reason is that the 'onboard' price/base price changes quite a bit as well. So always throw things in your cart, then go all the way to the check out page where you'd need to enter payment info, to see what gratuities, taxes and fees might get added and that's your final price. As far as Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales go, I have seen years where it's been great, years where it's not so great. My gut is telling me that this might be a not-so-great year, especially for things like the Deluxe Beverage Package or Unlimited Dining packages. Where you tend to get the best deals are on things like the soda or refreshment packages (no booze), or wifi. Speaking of wifi, if you're going to purchase it for more than one person, it will always be a better deal to purchase it for one person but for multiple devices. Quite a bit of savings over buying a 1 person, 1 device for everyone, and it works just fine to do 1 person, 2, 3 or 4 devices. Black Friday will normally actually start the day before Thanksgiving, and if you follow these boards, you'll start to see people posting what 'deals' they have scored. I have 3 cruises I'm going to be 'shopping for', so am hoping to get a great deal on something, but as I said, not sure this will be a 'bargain' year. I hope I'm wrong.

You have to call, it's no longer something you can do online. Which is so silly.

I saw this on YT

Yes, that's the time you check in. They will ask you to confirm that you feel ok and they check you in. It's when they will also scan boarding document, check your passport (or whatever you're using to board) and take your photo if the one you uploaded doesn't meet their standards, or if you didn't upload one. Once you go through that check in, you'll move to the boarding area and then get on the ship.

Unfortunately the wellness check is where they determine if you're healthy enough to board. Those who want to get aboard as early as possible need to log in the moment boarding/health check times open up, which is 45 days prior to sailing. If you wait longer than that, you'll pretty only have later times as options. The good news is that if your wellness check is at 1 pm, by the time you get on the ship, staterooms should be opening up. Booking an earlier lunch doesn't allow you to board any earlier, so you will likely need to either try to move your reservation to something like 1:30 or cancel/move to another day.

Can't answer the arcade things, but want you to know that the non-alcohol beer is not included in the refreshment package. Same with NA wine.

Which ship gets in first? That does make a difference. I was on Symphony and Odyssey got there about 3 hours before us, so they definitely had first pick of loungers, etc.

Yes.