basictek

I avoided deck 14 because of all the negative reviews not just the pool deck but the sports deck as well. I noticed that deck 14 rooms appear to be the last to sell out and I'm afraid to get a GTY room to save money because I'd bet many of them end up on deck 14. I haven't experienced it but there are a lot of negative reviews. 

The key disappeared on Harmony (nov) as well about the same time this post was started. It was $29.99, but it came back yesterday still at $29.99 The Key was $37.99 back in May when I booked. Since I'm already getting a single voom stream (currently $10 pd) I would consider 2 keys for my wife and I, if it ever drops back to it's original $19.99 but will pass on anything higher. At this point I don't expect it will drop...  

It looks like they must be getting people to pay much more than the original $19.99 on Harmony because it's never dropped below $29.99 since May regardless of any sale that was going on (memorial Day 4th of July, etc). 

Both JS's are gone again, now an owners suite for about $5,000 more is the cheapest available, and heck no! :)

On 7/21/2019 at 5:57 PM, POF1234 said:

I'm debating whether we need the package for both my husband and I.  Can I hotspot from the WIFI.  I'll have all my info downloaded so I won;t need to get on-line, but if I had too - it would be nice to have an option.  

I wasn't able to hotspot, but I was able to do wifi calling and unless calling each other a single account is typically enough with both of us taking the wifi as needed switching devices. This seems to be a popular practice. With 2 voom's you could actually do wifi texting and calling which would be neat. 

Thanks everyone! I guess I want to justify the extra grand but it really isn't "justified" comparing the 2.  I'll let this one go, unless it drops another 500 or so. ;) 

Thanks for the responses everyone, I did reach my TA and I will get an additional OBC (the difference) the reservation # won't change so all my scheduled excursions, etc will stay the same. The cost is about $1130 - $90 extra OBC

I guess one extra perk is the suite would count as double C&A points and we'd hit platinum on this cruise instead of our next cruise, which I believe means we would be eligible for discounts on balcony and above cabins in the future.

I'd still like to know the difference on the bed, but over $1000 doesn't quite seem worth it.

If the royalUP comes along, does anyone have a ball park idea of how much it might run to get a JS or better yet a full suite? A JS at $1,000 just doesn't seem worth it to me right now. 

I don't think we will spend a whole lot of time in our room, it's just me and my wife so while the extra 100 sq ft would be nice it's really not necessary  

I'm currently booked on Harmony in November through a TA with a group rate. I got a nice Oceanview Balcony on deck 6 (6302 or something) near the rear for $899-pp + tax and $100 obc-pp. I've booked 4 excursions, soda, voom, shows for every night, early dinner, and the chops+1 dinner package.... about $3,000 total expected costs... 

Since booking in May there have not been any mini suites, so the suite price has been about triple+ what I paid for a balcony, and I wasn't willing to spend that much.

Just recently 2 mini suites just opened up at $1448 + tax and $135 obc and I'm seriously considering upgrading but had a few questions regarding changing my booking through my TA (I haven't asked him yet but will soon)

1. If I already have $200 obc, would I get the extra $70 (difference between the current and new room) would I get nothing extra, or would I lose anything in regards to OBC? To note I already spent $50 on an excursion the rest won't be available until I'm at sea.
    
2. Will upgrading change any of the things I have already booked (will I need to cancel and rebook anything)? The original room and upgrade will both be handled by the same TA
    
3. Our 7 day cruise has 3 port stops. I'm really considering this because of the larger room,  the priority checkin.boarding would be nice too but not worth $1,000
    
4. I'm pretty sure I saw something about mini suites having pillow top and have seen many complain about the firmness or mattresses in regular rooms on RCI in general. I don't see the pillow top mentioned in the https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruise-rooms/royal-suite-class for sea class or any other, does anyone know if that is true for Harmony?
    
5. So we're talking about $1,000 difference between an oceanview Balcony or mini suite on Harmony of the seas. I could always use the extra $1,000, this is my 1st Oasis class cruise and only 3rd cruise ever. I'd like to hear any opinions as to which options they would choose (particularly those with experience in both) and anything I might be missing. To note I don't think I'll be dining in coastal kitchen because we are cruising with friends that like the MDR and don't have a suite. So that perk will most likely be lost.

Thanks in Advance

I'm planning on this package and going to wonderland as the other.

On Harmony (november) It started at $37.99 and it's been holding at $29.99 since, I might grab it at $19.99 since I'm paying for voom anyway, but hasn't come near that since I booked in May.... 

Look for combo deals as well. I was planning on getting a soda package, and got soda + voom surf and stream for $21 (soda is usually $9-10 and voom is $14-16). I see they are currently offering it with the deluxe beverage package for $55 on my November harmony sailing. Usually the beverage package alone is $50 a day. It's also included with the key, but they are selling the key for way too much on my sailing at $30 a day but if interested in that it may be cheaper as well. 

Along the same topic...

They just opened up my online check-in (90 days out) 

The earliest boarding time I was able to select was 11:30 but I'd also like to arrive at 10-10:30 and get on board by 11

This is Harmony on Canaveral. From what I'm hearing there would be no issues arriving 1 - 1.5 hours before my boarding time? 

My TA usually has some really great group rates for Oasis class ships, I ran the #'s for Symphony next July and found much lower prices then mentioned here also with lots of cruise cash. This was supposed to be for 2 people so I assume groups rates would work for that, and both of these rates were for ocean view balconies with rooms available on multiple floors. 

I'm paying around $2K to go in November so the prices are certainly much better outside summer but these group rates absolutely destroy everything on RCI site especially with $300+ obc on July 18th, & 25th. They didn't have group rates available on other dates in July probably some in August though.

On 7/8/2019 at 2:06 PM, nc2sc said:

I dont see newer topics, so wondering...am I the only one who cannot log in to royal's website the last few days?

It goes to the signin url, loads 75% across the top, and then just hangs forever.

 

Anyone else see this? I cleared history on browser, and tried chrome and MS Edge.

 

 

 

This exact problem was happening to me in chrome a week ago. I was able to get in via incognito mode. I absolutely refuse to delete my entire browser cache for anyone (probably haven't done so in years) so I work on every angle to resolve. I did try deleting Royals site cache only and that didn't help.

I found other browses worked like Edge so I'm not sure how you had the issue in both I Think IE worked but I might be wrong). I did see that when I accessed the site from my work computer it was fine in chrome, so the issue appeared to be local computer and/or browser specific in my case.

After a few days maybe a week it all started working by itself again. I login to the site almost daily looking for deals I might have missed on a cruise that's a little more than 3 months out. Overall the site seems to work fine but has some formatting issues

Thanks, I wasn't 100% sure but based on other cabin reviews and understanding they seem to rotate every other I was hoping this to be the case. It's just my wife and I so this should be great. 

I've been looking at booking Carnival Mardi Gras in fall of 2020, the prices for 2 people are much closer to Harmony and Mardi Gras should be a much more comparable ship in size / features. If comparing to breeze you can look at RC ships out of Tampa to get closer pricing. I think RC tends to charge more when you go above 2 per cabin too. I saw that when I helped my coworker book a cruise for 4 (they went with carnival due to price).  

6302

Being new to cruising, living in FL, currently the prime factors are...

Port (Canaveral and Tampa are the closest) so currently all cruises I look at are out of them, eventually when we get board of the same ones we'll maybe venture to Ft Lauderdale and Miami...

Cruise line / Ship (since the options are limited by above RCI - Harmony is currently #1 but strongly considering Carnival Mardi Gras next fall) 

Price / time of year / season / weather (next I'm avoiding cruising in summer when it's too hot & busy with kids, etc, we're avoiding hurricane season, & mid winter is too cool in Late Dec - Feb) So mostly looking from March - May or November - early December... 

Itinerary - Finally after all of the above are figured out I try to pick either a different itinerary or go to ports we already like. 

I saw many post how things changed from when the 1st started cruising, so I'd bet this changes as we cruise more...or don't... Who knows...

I'll 2nd the massages on the beach @ Costa Maya. Approx $60 an hour and was one of the best my wife and I have ever had, in fact we typically compare any new massages to them.

There is so much to do in Cozumel We'll have to go there at least 20 more times to do it all. We loved Xplor park in 2014 so much (all day zip lines, cave swimming, and dun buggy riding  plus great food) that we are doing it again in November. It was a tough choice to repeat an excursion with so many other great things to try.  

1 hour ago, Ourusualbeach said:

The OP is looking for a cabin that holds 3 people.  Group space is only available for double occupancy cabins. They can book at regular prices and move into the group to pick up the group amenity (usually a $50 OBC) but they will not get any savings on the price.

I forgot about that, doesn't seem fair.... so much for that idea

     I've been booked on Harmony since April with a great group rate for oceanview balcony (I choose my own 8D room). I've watched every sale and checked dozens of scenarios and other sites. I've seen a few GTY prices that were close (not including my TA perks) but absolutely nothing that offers me a similar cabin for the price I'm booked at. 

     There's always a "sale" and always "discounts" but if you get a good price lock that in. Probably no more than 2-3 weeks after I booked my TA now only offers the same price with GTY, so new people booking an 8D at their group rate have to get what they give you instead of picking their own... I think the longer you wait the best cabins will go away, so you may get a good sale but on what cabin? (the ones no one else wanted...)?  

I only know the refundable part is for "group rates" so if the RCI rate is lower make sure to inquire if it's actually refundable (it can be, but may not be)

I was on Rotterdam in April, and they told us the reason they were not sailing from Tampa had to do with port negotiations, that Tampa port was only going to have CCL, RCI and NCL, from now on. I don't expect to see HAL back in Tampa anytime soon, but I have no idea if we were told the truth or how often these "port negotiations" occur

1 hour ago, Pixelfrog said:

Bonus question if anyone is still getting notifications - is it better to book early, like now for next June, or to take a chance and wait for last minute deals or sales?

Also to note the amount of rooms available will get less and less if you wait as will the options for cabins next to each other or adjoining.

8 hours ago, maryred said:

You do realize many cruise lines will allow you to "exchange" your tour tickets on board for the same tour different time with just a simple phone call or visit to the excursion desk. 

Did not know that, and I wasn't really sure why it had a different time until the day we got off the ship, then I realized they had opened a 2nd time slot. 

I bought an excursion with another cruise line, then saw it sell out, and disappear from the list, only to see it reappear later at a different time slot. So there ended up being two excursions at different times. I noticed because I would have booked the later one if it had been available originally, it wasn't a big enough deal for me to cancel and re-book. So depending on the type of excursion that's a possibility too.