easyqueasy

I don’t see why not. If anything, you can show them that you still have luggage in your room to retrieve after the day in port.

5 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

They need it because Royal Caribbean is requiring it. Does not matter if the United States and Canada don't require it. Royal can make any requirement they want. As to Royal Caribbean's reasons.......they have not said that I am aware.

Understood, but Royal (at least an underling) is saying that local authorities required it.

1 hour ago, Charles4515 said:

Royal Caribbean’s explanation has been edited out of the above for some reason, maybe by mistake? but they say over nine days and five sea days. Still does not really explain, oh how I hate to use this term, the science. Like how did they come up with five sea days and nine days. Seems arbitrary. 

Nine days is bogus as one can sailing Europe, Panama or back to back longer than 9 days.

8566. How much more view would be obstructed by being closer to the hump when looking towards the rear in 8184?

I’ve received Royal Up offers as far as 75 days out from sailing. Other times I didn’t receive it but was able to bid going through their website once within 30 days of sailing. The odd thing is there’s a couple times I’ve sailed with a friend and he’ll be the one to receive the emails for Royal Up even though I’m the one that booked the trip. My email address and loyalty number is entered and only his loyalty number is used for him when booking. His name is alphabetically before mine and he is a higher loyalty member than I, but I don’t know if either of that matters.

I’ve taken the tour. I enjoyed it and interesting to me with the guide sharing historical facts and tidbits. You drive by USC, downtown LA and stop at a little Mexican market. Then you go to the Walk of Fame for a little exploring, which is pretty neat to see and experience, and then to a farmers market by where they tape The Price Is Right. To me it’s too long at the farmers market (wasn’t hungry and wasn’t going to buy fruits/vegetables/flowers for the trip home), but there’s also higher end shops next door if I remember correctly. You get to drive by where Brad Pitt worked when he got to LA, the tar pit and see the road that looks at the Hollywood sign. It’s a nice, comfy bus and wasn’t even half full when I went (ship was at reduced capacity then too). I was solo and it was only $25, which was cheaper than an Uber ride to the airport.

8 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

This made me laugh.  My husband and I recently went to a brew pub in our area.  We had never been before so when we arrived we sat at the bar and had a beer and a good look around the place.  Above the bar was a huge whiteboard entitled "Shi**y Tipper Leader Board"  On it they wrote the amount of the bill and the amount of the tip along with the customer's first name and the date.  We were aghast by the tip amounts.  Some bills were in excess of a hundred bucks with no tip at all.  I asked if the board was real and the manager said that sadly, it was.  Much as I like to keep a glass half full disposition about me, I agree...some people really do suck.

I think the pub sucked in trying to shame customers in tipping instead of paying their workers. What if those people got bad service or were from a country that’s customary to not tip? We EXPECT a tip in America is the custom some might say, but do Americans follow other countries customs and not insult the workers by not tipping when overseas? 

13 minutes ago, BennyandBo said:

"Does anyone know what each port charge is, what the tax is based off of and what fees are?"

 

Read that to yourself. Can you see how that sounded to me? To me it implied, they don't know anyway so let's just stick it under tax or fee. It read like you were implying a few more bucks under tax, a few under port fee, etc, etc. I genuinely thought you were suggesting cooking the books based on that quote. After many posts I understand you were not. You were just spinning his ridiculous argument/suggestion. 

 

His idea of not being transparent and going to court is a real winner. How about everyone but out and let employer and employee handle their business. 

Pretty sure you called it fraud in the post before that and went down that road. I was saying if they wanted to implement it it doesn’t have to be deceptive. It’s deceptive now because if you choose to not prepaid the gratuities, they still charge you daily once onboard and you have to cancel it. At least that’s my understanding.

4 minutes ago, BennyandBo said:

But people can read and add. LOL. 

Once they do the math, the lines that don't charge them the gratuity as mandatory will win. Not to mention how well people will take to finding out the bait and switch on page 2.

 

If they (cruise lines) all don't do it, people will pick the lines with the lower total price. 

 

The cruise lines are perfectly happy with this system. The crew are happy or they can move on. The customers are happy (booking have never been better). Some tip, some don't, some auto gratuity, some cash, some nothing. It seems to work for everyone but the people on here. What they get, is not your problem. What I give them, is not your problem. It's my vacation. I'm not on a humanitarian aid mission. 

What people tip/don’t tip, I don’t care. I was responding to DallasGuy’s “Best case scenario is a cruise line tries to make gratuities mandatory but not include them in the advertised base fare and let it go to court as a deceptive advertising practice” by listing it so it’s clearly transparent and you called it fraud. And now it’s bait and switch from being transparent? Hmm. 

2 minutes ago, BennyandBo said:

How is that any different than just raising the price and saying includes gratuities?

Because people like to see a lower advertised price so they can compare to other lines and this allows them to be truthful and competitive. 

4 minutes ago, BennyandBo said:

YES. LOL people do know what the taxes and Port fees are. LOL. You can't say oh most don't so let's bake this into them. That's is the very definition of fraud. Port fees get refunded when a port has to be passed up etc. These costs have to remain transparent. And when a restaurant ads mandatory gratuities for large parties they post in menu and inform upfront. I honestly cannot believe you think cooking the books is a viable solution to anything. LOL.

How is it cooking the books if they list taxes, fees, port charges and gratuities as additional? It’s just making it mandatory.

8 minutes ago, BennyandBo said:

Fraud. They can't just make up the amount of Tax and Port charges.

How is it fraud? Does anyone know what each port charge is, what the tax is based off of and what fees are? It’s just being transparent and adding gratuities to the total. Seems no different than restaurants putting in mandatory 15% tips for serving groups of 8 or more. 

4 hours ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

And that's the problem.  The mass market lines will continue to have pax subsidize the compensation of most of the ship until they all have a "gratuities included" policy.  And that will never voluntarily happen because the lines that don't change will have a price advantage.

 

Best case scenario is a cruise line tries to make gratuities mandatory but not include them in the advertised base fare and let it go to court as a deceptive advertising practice.

What if Royal started with changing the taxes, fees and port charges total to include gratuities? The price per person advertised for booking still remains the same and total price remains the same as with prepaid gratuities selected. 

You have my permission. I’m a fellow Royal Caribbean cruiser. Diamond at that. Hope that helps. Enjoy your cruise. 😀
 

I heard bookings in Australia the tips are included (no option for pre-paid gratuities) so no way (or need) to remove. Are there bookings from other countries that gratuities are built into the fare that people know of? I don’t know the answer but I would say it depends on where the sailings are from.

The more the merrier: Adventure 6.

Or team challenges in addition to scavenger hunt like completing: round of golf, zip line, rock wall climbing to first bell, lap around track, boogie board, ride the carousel, go down slide, etc. Only one person is needed per team to complete or however you want. 

On 2/11/2023 at 8:51 AM, Ourusualbeach said:

If anything I would say status could work against you.

 

Say they have 2 cabins left and 2 guarantees to fill, one cabin is great midship location and the other is an obstructed view..  One is a new cruiser and the other is Diamond.  Who do they want to impress to get them back sailing a second time with Royal and who do they know that they have already won their loyalty and will cruise again regardless of room assignment.

In my case, I agree. I booked two balcony guaranteed rooms. The in-laws, who had never cruised, got assigned a room on deck 11 and I got an obstructed view room on deck 7 on Ovation.

5 hours ago, DFWJean&Bill said:

 Some questions, did you fly into LAX? If so how did you get to port?

At Cabo, do you get off right in town or do we need to book an excursion to get to shopping etc?
Thank you for your review!

No excursion needed for Cabo shopping. The tender takes you to the marina and there are tons of shops there. The beach is nearby also.

40 minutes ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

On a TA the ship can be several days away from a port where they can disembark critically ill COVID patients to get more advanced care than is available on the ship. 

 

If someone doesn't understand the value of minimizing the number of passengers, especially unvaccinated, who board with asymptomatic COVID (or flat out lie about not having symptoms), then there will be some schadenfreude going on in the middle of the Atlantic. 

I don’t know how Royal came up with their requirements, but you are also many days from land on sailings between Vancouver and Hawaii and no testing or vaccination is required (unvaccinated 12 and over currently can’t sail transatlantic or transpacific). It’s their ships their rules, but I don’t see how a picture of a test or someone vaccinated 2 years ago matters much. 

Change it online.

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/reservation/lookup

9 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Freedom and Voyager all have beds by the balcony.  Not sure about the other classes. 

Is that just for balcony rooms? The bed was by the bathroom in our junior suite on Navigator.

1 hour ago, Engineroom Snipe said:

All I know is that when I get onboard, I will do as directed concerning muster requirements and will have no choice over the matter. No reason to fret over something that is out of my control. 😐

I agree. And for the crew to train for muster drills for every cruise (2 nights, 3 nights, 4 nights, etc) is a lot of repetition . I don’t know anywhere else that trains so much if they do the full exercise.

Sales happen all the time. You can book and then rebook if you find a lower price. Booking early at least guarantees a spot, which can sell out.

The previous cruise before yours is coming from Hawaii. Ships cannot go from one US city to another unless it visits some South American port (distant foreign port or something like that), therefore it can’t end in Seattle from Hawaii. It can certainly sail from Vancouver and return to Vancouver, but Royal’s smaller ships sails those trips. I would assume the Quantum class sails roundtrip from Seattle versus Vancouver is because it can get more passengers to sail and at a higher price.

@PCWalton1 Can you change the reservation online for one passenger to your name so that you can then call to cancel?

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/reservation/lookup

9 minutes ago, RedIguana said:

The ones from the US to Europe were last spring, vaccines were required for those also. Royal has not had a TA sailing since the restart that did not require vaccines. TA's have always been the exception to the no vaccine requirement that came out last august. I don't think it is a matter of that they changed the requirements as much as they hadn't posted the current protocols for the spring TA's yet. That specifies Europe to the US because Royal does not do US to Europe in the fall season. 

On their website it states vaccinations are not required for sailings with exceptions of Canada, Bermuda, Transatlantic from Europe to US, etc. during that time period of late August on and continued easing of protocols. Even if you don’t think there’s a change, at least Royal agrees there’s a change in protocol and are refunding those booked and will not meet the vaccination requirement.