Dan83

2 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Royal does not offer group space for triples or quads.

That would explain why I never see them offered. I'm pricing for a family of 4 

2 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

You just booked into a group.  That group could be anywhere from 8 cabins and up.  It is nothing to be concerned about.  That group is just a block of rooms that the TA reserved early and locked in a great price.  Happens all the time.

Are these group rates more common on double occupancy balcony cabins on higher demand sailings?  I can't seem to find them for 4 person cabins during off season sailings.  

45 minutes ago, Ashland said:

Scooters, walkers, wheelchairs, strollers etc are NEVER to be left in the cabin hallways as they are a FIRE hazard. The staff should be notified (if they don't see them first) and they will take this up with the owner of the mobility device.

My parents had a scooter on Liberty this past March.  Always parked inside the room.  About mid-week, their cabin attendant suggested they park outside their door in the hallway.  She said be sure to take the key out during the daytime or kids might take it for a joyride.  At night she would happily take it somewhere to store overnight and return in the morning.  They still parked inside unless it was only a few minutes.  We had an umbrella stroller and our cabin attendant(same one) said the same.  But I didn't feel comfortable with that and it folds up anyway so didn't see the point.  We did notice scooters and strollers parked in hallways throughout the ship.  Didn't seem like they took up any more space than a room attendant's cart.  

I’m still waiting on ours to show up also. September sail date. Last two cruises it was available further in advance.  We always have to get the photo package. The wife loves pictures and this is cheaper than her hiring a photographer to come out to the house twice a year. I’m afraid RCI is going to realize that it’s not too outrageously priced and decide to jack up the price. 

I priced an additional interior vs adding passengers 5 and 6. The interior was about $400 more. There wouldn’t be the flexibility with cancellation with the additional interior. The extra bathroom would be nice though. 

14 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

For a refundable deposit you can cancel guests 3 and above up to the final penalty phase of the reservation which is 15 days prior to sailing and receive a full refund. 

 

It should not make a difference with them being on being on a separate reservation.  You should also be able to change both names on that second reservation.  

Good info! Thanks!  I'm surprised they will refund the third guest that close to sailing 

Thank you in advance, this site is a wealth of knowledge.  I booked an ultra spacious oceanview (8200) on liberty of the seas. Refundable deposit of coarse. One of the few cabins that hold more than 4.  A spring break week of 2021, this cruise will sell out early and be even more expensive later on.  It will most likely be just our family of 4.  But I tend to overthink "what if's" and plan for different scenarios.  So I booked 6 in this cabin with 2 placeholder names in case we want to take someone else with us.  Nearly 2 years in advance, who knows what our situation will be.  The guy at RCI seemed very knowledgable. He said it's better to book the 6 now than try to add one or two later on.  Pricing will almost certainly be higher and the ship will probably sell to capacity making it impossible to add the extra.  So the two extra placeholder names have a separate reservation number.  He seemed unsure as to how far in advance those two names are refundable.  90 days or more for sure the extra deposit is refundable.  But he seemed to think that passengers 5 and 6 may be refundable up until a few days prior to sail date.  Didn't seem right to me and he didn't seem entirely sure.  Also I'm worried about dropping the two extra placeholder names reservation at 90 days, hopefully that wouldn't reprice the entire reservation?  He said it wouldn't.  Also, since the "fake" names are both under a separate reservation number, will they only allow one of the names to be changed?  I forgot to ask him that.  

Room 8200: I chose this because it's unique and has extra space.  Much prefer the extra space and sleeping arrangements than having a balcony.  I'm concerned about the location and walking distance.  But maybe the unique room will make up for that.  Also under consideration was a spacious promenade view interior. Also a 6 passenger room more centrally located.  Does anyone have experience in either of these rooms?

Thanks for the info!  

We have booked an extra cabin(inside we got for dirt cheap) for some family on our next trip.  One has a history of backing out at the last minute.  We discussed this prior to booking and decided to take the risk.  Travel agent says she needs 3 weeks prior to sail date to make the change without any fees.  Says 3 days prior is possible but has had problems doing this in the past.  I've heard that it can be done as long as its more than 24 hours prior to sail.  Several other family members would happily jump on a free cruise at the last minute.  Anyone have experience with this? 

Following this, trying to choose between the two itineraries on Freedom next spring.  B2B would be wonderful, but can't get away for 2 weeks.  

Was pricing balconies down to insides.  No suites for us just yet.  The balcony category had "you pick your room" listed cheaper than "we pick your room".  Opposite of what it normally is.  

While shopping fares for a 2020 trip, I see a box to check for a refundable deposit.  It adds a few hundred to the total fare.  This is on the RCI website after you put in names and DOB.  Also, sometimes there isn't a refundable deposit box to check for certain room categories.  Under the "Cancel After Penalty", the first date listed says 25% of total price, this makes me think it could be a refundable deposit fare. Because on other room categories, under the "cancel after penalty", the first date listed will say "today" and "minimum deposit".  These are obviously non-refundable deposit fares.  My question is, how do I know for sure I'm getting a refundable deposit fare if there isn't a box to check.  I did talk to a travel agent I've used in the past but that was unhelpful.  I'd rather book directly on RCI website.  

2 minutes ago, jrljel said:

I have one more question for those who have purchased this and used it:  How does security know that you purchased the key before check-in?  I just did my check-in and didn't see it anywhere on there....just my D+.  Maybe it shows if you print out the SetSail pass but I was doing it all in the app. Curious so I don't screw this up.  Thanks!

I had no proof of purchasing the key until check in. At security and in the check in line they just took my word for it. I suspect people may take advantage of this. It wouldn’t hurt to print off a confirmation from cruise Planner just in case they crack down on cheaters. Arriving early in Galveston, this was of no real benefit. My parents sailing without the key went through the regular lines faster than we did. Also with the set sail pass, I failed to realize the one I printed off only had my name on it and not the whole family. At security and at check in I had to pull up the others on my phone to get through security and checked in. 

We used Bodden for the second time last week.  Joanne driver both times and highly recommend her.  Especially if you have young kids.  She took good care of us.  Very aware of the time and road conditions.  We had complicated requests this time with our group splitting up doing different activities and she did an amazing job.  Roatan is my favorite cruise port and this is a great way to see the island and get a lot of activities in a short amount of time.  

Our KEY Experience: Liberty 3/3/19

I've read this entire thread over the last couple months to help decide whether to purchase the KEY package.  I decided to take a chance to see how it goes.  This was our second trip on Liberty and with RCI.  Previous cruise experiences were with other lines and before kids.  Our kids are ages 5 and 2.  I purchased at $20 per day for the 2 adults. We traveled with the grandparents who did NOT purchase the key.  This was their first RCI sailing.  The big deciding factor for me was based on the embarkation and debarkation experiences we had in Galveston for our first Liberty sailing.  I wanted to avoid those headaches and was willing to dump a small pile of cash for those reasons alone. What I know now is that for the most part, those headaches can be avoided without the key.  However, I'm happy with the key purchase and will purchase it again in the future if the price is right and I'm not feeling too cheap.  Overall there weren't any surprises and I had a good idea of what to expect.  So, here is our KEY experience and I'll start with embarkation. 

Embarkation: We arrived early this time. No lines to speak of.  Found a "key" sign at security and took my family through that lane.  The non-key grandparents went through the "standard" lane and were waiting for us on the other side by the time we finally got our wild children thru security.  For check in we found the "key" lane and went there. No real wait to speak of.  Again, found the grandparents waiting for us after check in.  Had we arrived about an hour later during the rush, I'm sure this would have been a different story.  They started boarding sometime around 10:45 I think.  Boarding went FAST.  They started calling suites, pinnacles, diamonds, and then key.  We started buckling kids in strollers when they first started boarding.  By the time we walked up there(within just a minute or two), they started calling Emerald I think.   The grandparents were on the ship about 10 minutes after they first started calling suites and pinnacles. 

Carry-on drop off:  This was nice.  Really enjoyed that.  Even left the stroller.  It's on deck 4 theater.  We entered on deck 3 and then walked up the stairs to find them.  Walked around the ship for a few minutes and made our way to Chops.  

Chops:  Windjammer and Chops didn't open until 11:30 and there was a bit of a crowd waiting to get in, including the grandparents. They went to the buffet and we went in Chops.  I didn't take a picture of the menu because it's the same as what a previous poster has provided.  They didn't give us a kids menu. They just brought them two extra plates and they had what we had.  There was plenty.  It was delicious and relaxed and we all left full.  Again, the grandparents had finished their meal and were waiting for us outside chops.  Took the kids to register for aquanauts and royal babies/tots.  OFF TOPIC: parents please take advantage of the open house hours to register your kids for kids club.  Its easy and fast.  If you just show up later that night or on day two to drop off kids, you will have to register/ask all your questions and it seriously holds up the line for everyone picking up or dropping off.  Also, for "Family Time Dining", RCI website says you have to be in early main seating diner for the kids club pickup.  On Liberty this is not true.  They pick up at 6:40 on deck 4 at the entrance to the dining room. It doesn't matter when you are seated.  Early main dining is at 5:30 so that's 1 hour and 10 minutes after seating until pickup.  They always serve the kids faster than the adults.  My time dining at 5:45 or 6pm would work very nice if you are interested in the "Family Time Dining" program,  although you may have to take the kids up to deck 4 to meet the kids club staff. 

Seating at Shows:  Platinum Theater Key seating is on the balcony.  The balcony works for me but it seems the lower level fills up much faster than the balcony.  The reserved section really never filled up completely even after they released the seats.  Grandparents were always able to join us after the section was opened up 10 minutes prior.  Sometimes they waited 5 minutes prior to release the section to all guests.  Studio B for the Ice shows was a different story completely.  Both ice shows filled to over capacity with some guests sitting in the isles.  We were very glad to have the reserved section.  Grandparents were able to find decent seats nearby.  There was a guest that was being very helpful by helping the staff police the reserved section.  Anytime someone came by, he let them know that this section was for "Diamond Plus".  However, he did seem very dissatisfied that us "key people" got to sit in his section.  The ice show was great.  Don't miss that one.  

Flowrider/Rockclimbing/Ice skating times: Sorry I didn't take a picture of the schedule but it was very very similar to the one already posted for Liberty.  There were 6 sessions for rock climbing, 5 flowrider sessions, and 1 ice skating session.  I used 4 flowrider sessions, 2 rock climbing, and the 1 ice skating. There were 3 key guests total show up for the first flow rider session on the first sea day.  5 key guests total showed up for the second sea day.  I missed the first port day flow rider.  The second port day flow rider session was interesting.  It came right after an advanced stand up session.  I showed up about 3-5 minutes after the hour started.  These guys were very very disappointed that I showed up and they were very vocal about it.  It was awkward for a bit. Apparently they had been told that if no key guests show up, the hour was theirs.  Here I was, and I'm definitely amateur flow rider.  I ride for about 5-10 minutes, wipe out a few times and sit down to take a break.  The staff motions for one of the advanced guys to get on, and all of a sudden, the rest are back in line.  Now I'm thinking to myself, do I just go cut in line when I'm ready to get back on?  Thankfully two more key guests show up and the instructor is uncomfortable with the non-key guys riding and sends them on their way.  The third port day and last flow rider key session I had the whole hour to myself.  The instructors practiced while I rested.  All of the key flow rider guests were amateurs like myself and it made for a very fun environment. Also a great learning experience, the instructors were great teachers.  I got my fill of flow rider during the key hours and I never showed up during regular open hours.  Rock climbing, never saw anyone else climbing during key times. Also never really saw any line to speak of during regular open hours.  I climbed twice during regular hours and didn't have to wait.  Ice skating: total of 7 key guests showed up. Myself and my 5 year old were the only ones to stay the whole hour.  It was nice.  There was a huge line waiting for tickets and I'm fairly sure at least some of them got turned away.  The ice skating was definitely a key benefit.  

Port of Call debarkation.  Didn't get off in Belize but the first tender was available if we wanted it. 

Voom internet.  We can do without it, but it was nice to have.  Glad we got it otherwise we would have missed some important communications from shore.  There was an outage of around 18 hours.  I went to front desk to find out if it was an actual outage or if my devices were messed up.  Heard other guests getting pro-rated refunds for internet.  Nothing of that sort for us, as it was part of the key package.  

Debarkation:  This is important and it's not listed on the website. But they give you a letter explaining the process on the last sea day.  If your goal is to get off the ship as early as possible, then you will want to skip the key breakfast and self assist with the first group out.  We went the the key breakfast and it was exactly what I was hoping for. I wanted to sleep in a bit, have a relaxing breakfast, and then quickly make our exit.  They will not get in any hurry after breakfast, but that's ok.  They take groups every 20 minutes or so.  You get escorted past a monster line right to your waiting bags.  And from there its a short line through customs.  Leaving dining room to out the terminal door in maybe 10 minutes.  We did wait in dining room for a little while, but totally worth it.  There is some confusion in the dining room because they have other non-key guests waiting to debark.  Just be sure to ask someone to make sure you are where you are supposed to be.  While being escorted off, they take you right past this huge line.  Other passengers did take note and some were vocal about it.  I did hear one "who are these f**** guys".  I was totally ok with that.  We were in the back of that huge line last year with fussy kids.  We dropped a small pile of cash to avoid that experience and it worked out great this time.  Oh and the grandparents were off the ship and to the car at 8:15 with self assist.  We got to our car at 9:40 and still beat them back to our hometown.  

Lessons Learned:  Comparing our first experience last year to our Key experience last week and to our parent's non-key first time RCI experience . It wouldn't have done them any good to purchase the key with their goals.  It made sense and was worth it for us with two kids.  I will purchase the key again for our next cruise if it's available and we can afford it.  If not then we can still have a good time without it. 

Any guesses on how bad it will be tomorrow morning in Galveston? Any way to get up to date info other than wait for Royal Caribbean to send out texts and emails? 

There is indeed conflicting information out there.  Every port schedule website I've looked at validates what everyone here is saying. The reason for my thinking is because last year we had a stop in Roatan.  Roatan was an hour behind US central time because they don't do daylight savings time.  Itinerary had us in port 8 am to 5 pm.  All aboard was 4:30 ship time.  They warned us many times that if our phones may update to local time.  All aboard was in fact 3:30 local Roatan time, 4:30 ship time.  I can see how that could be a pitfall if you're not paying attention.  I figured it would be the same situation in Cozumel with them being 1 hour ahead of CST. 

This has been covered but there is plenty of conflicting information on this board and from the cruise lines and travel agents.  I have a good understanding of time zones and their relationship to UTC, Greenwich Mean Time,  Zulu time, etc.  Throw in daylight savings time, no problem.  I just want a simple CORRECT answer to port times listed on cruise itineraries. I already know "ship times" stay in departure port times for most caribbean cruises.  Let me provide an example.  Forget about daylight savings, we are in standard time.  Two Royal Caribbean ships have itineraries to arrive in Cozumel at 7 am.  One is sailing from Florida(EST), the other from Texas(CST). A local sitting on the pier is watching ships arrive.  Cozumel being in the Eastern time zone, the local's watch reads 7 am for the ship arriving from Florida.  An hour later(8am local), he sees the ship from Texas arrive as scheduled.  This is what I believe to be correct.  However, the cruise line representative and my travel agent both say that the Texas and Florida ships both arrive at 7 am local Cozumel time.  Websites that list the Cozumel port schedule have both ships arriving at 7 am local. An experienced local that we are meeting is confident that our Texas ship will arrive at 7 am Cozumel time.  Yes it may be trivial information.  And it doesn't matter at all because we have plenty of time to do what we want to do.  And yes I know how to set my watch and get back to the ship in time.  My curious mind just needs to get some facts on the subject.  

My understanding of this must have been wrong.  I thought if a photo contained even 1 other person that wasn't in the stateroom with a photo package then it would be excluded.  Seems like I've read of others having this issue.  For example, a group containing 6 people traveling in 2 separate staterooms. Stateroom A buys a photo package and stateroom B does not buy a photo package.  If someone from stateroom B photobombs a picture of the guests in stateroom A, then they will exclude that picture?  Of course they want both staterooms to purchase a photo package.  The photo package is a good deal if your into pictures.  My wife loves pictures and she has paid a lot more to have a photographer come out to the house and take family photos. She will seek out the photographers on the ship and take as many photos as possible.  Drives me and the kids crazy but she loves it.  Halfway through a cruise the photographers recognize us and I can see the look of exhaustion on their face.  

We stayed in this room October last year.  Nothing special, just a standard spacious ocean view balcony.  It was a nice room.  Directly under windjammer but we could never tell.  Never heard a sound.  Only sound we heard was the occasional chair scoot from neighboring balconies.  I didn't take any pictures of just the room, but it should be the same as any other in that category.  3B I think it was.  Long walk to stairs/elevator.  But less foot traffic by the room.  You will enjoy it.  

excellent thanks!  that route looks perfect! and if it happens to be backed up it will be easy to just bail to the parking lot.  

thanks for the info.  we are driving in from AR the day before and staying somewhere cheap between houston and texas city.  we did go to roatan in october and back again in march.  will try to be earlier on both ends next time.  

We sailed on Liberty back in October.  First time after many years.  Im curious if what we experienced was normal, as we are returning for Liberty again in March.  I've read conflicting information on this forum and elsewhere about dropping bags off at terminal before before parking.  We tried this last time and was a huge mistake.  Got stuck in traffic for over an hour just to drop off 3 bags.  We parked ezcruise and found that it was an acceptable distance to walk.  I would much prefer just to park and drag luggage as to drive through that line again.  We're going to drag the same luggage back to the parking lot when we self debark.  However I keep reading that it's easy to drop off luggage then park, is there a trick I'm not aware of?  

Also on debarkation, we were delighted to get off the "ship" as soon as we went down to our debarkation spot.  However going thru the terminal and customs took a full TWO hours.  It was rough with two young children.  Others passengers seemed to think this was unacceptable as well.  I wonder if something was going on that day or if this is normal.  I will need to change strategy for next time.  I would rather take my time and not get up super early, but if that puts us behind a 2-3 hour customs line,  we'll just have to get our rear ends up and out of there as early as possible.   So basically for the next trip, I want to try to avoid a long drop off line and customs.  Everything else seemed to go smoothly.  Thanks for any info you can provide.  

We did this very thing last October.  First cruise after kids.  We took our 4 and 1 year olds.  Roatan was the best stop.  Victor Bodden's private tour.  Kids were free so it only costs us $80 total for all day driver.  Another $10 for the monkey/sloth/petting zoo which was totally worth it.   Joanne was our driver and was great with the kids.  She kept us away from the crowds.  We got a lot of activities in.  Swimming/snorkeling/beach.  Yes we put life jackets on the kids and snorkeled with them in tow.  Worked out great, they loved it.  We got off the ship early and our driver took us through the west end area before the ship crowds got there, Chocolate factory, etc. Did some sight seeing, met a local beekeeper and we exchanged bottles of honey, iguana farm, had lunch.  We saw a lot of the island and kept busy,  we really maximized our time.  Got back to the ship with 15 minutes to spare.  Our friends thought we were crazy taking young kids on a cruise but it worked out great.  Everyone had fun.  I don't remember the name of the beach we went to. Our driver recommended it and it worked out good.  Didn't eat lunch anyplace fancy either.  We wanted to keep moving so we got baleadas at a gas station.  Fed all of us including the driver and some cold bottled water for the road for $6.  Next time we'll find a nicer place to sit and have lunch if the kids are behaved well enough.  We booked the same ship again and are going back to Roatan in March.  Already requested our driver Joanne with Bodden's tours.