SNemeth

We do not have our Atlantis credits yet. Some people in our group did not book the Premier Package and no onboard credit for them yet.

I got the same email for the Atlantis glitch that was $65/person a few weeks ago. They are refunding and issuing a $50 credit per person.

Just curious how you handle it. Say you have bad service in the MDR so you want to take the tip off for that service. How do you handle tipping everybody else that was not part of your bad service experience? Seems unfair to remove tips for those behind the scenes who had nothing to do with a specific bad experience.

The only thing I see with this plan is you will be tying up the price of both packages for short period of time. You would be actually canceling the Refreshment Package when you book the DBP. It will take at least a few days for the cost of the refreshment package to be refunded to the card so, for a few days the cost of both packages will be on your card.

Bid and won just one time. Went from Ocean View Balcony to Owner's Suite. 4 night sold out cruise on Independence during Spring Break. Received notification more than 3 weeks in advance.

I am 1 for 1 on Royal Up Bids and was informed my bid was accepted almost a month in advance. They don't only award room at sailing.

Indian food is very polarizing. I think you either love it or hate it. Out of our family group of 6 there are 2 that love Indian, 1 that will eat it but doesn't love it and 3 that will not touch it. An Indian restaurant would be a pass for us.

On Freedom Class Chops is open for breakfast for suite guests (Grand Suite and up). Suite guests order from a menu and have breakfast served to them. They have a list of suite guests and check for Gold cards at the door.

We had a similar scenario last year. We had two balcony cabins. One for husband and I and one for our kids (3 young adults). We Royaled up to an Owner's Suite and one son ended up sleeping on the couch in the Owner's Suite. No problem from our cabin steward in the Owner's Suite. We did pre paid gratuities so we gave him and extra cash tip at the end to cover the extra person in the room (plus some extra for the great service). We also left tips intact in the kid's room so even though the steward was only tidying up for two he got the tip for 3.

A cabin that sleeps 4 is usually a different category than a cabin that sleeps 2 and is a higher price. If she does move and it is to a different room category she will have to pay the current price on the new room. Just something to think about.

Theme parks charge adult price for 10 and up. Yet, 10 year olds have restrictions. That is just the way life is. If she looks and acts mature likely nobody will say anything. The goal is to keep the solarium as a quiet, mature place for people without children.

According to Ricky, Tom Hopkins will be on Oasis after Ricky moves back to Indy. Anybody know anything about Tom Hopkins? Was he a Norwegian cruise director previously?

Port Side of the pool deck. Smoking is also allowed on the smoking side of the casino while gambling.

We took our daughter's boyfriend with us when he was 20. We booked him in a cabin with an adult and did nothing else. No letters were required. This was in April out Port Canaveral.

You seem to know these rooms well. Do all of the corner afts on Freedom class sleep the third person in an upper bunk over the head of the bed? We booked 7408 on Indy for our kids (teen son, young adult daughter and her boyfriend) last year and ended up letting our linebacker size son sleep on the fold out couch in our Owner's Suite, as daughter and her boyfriend were scared to let him sleep above their heads.

Ricky is there until sometime in March.

Not sure about your daughters age as we started sailing when our kids were 8 and 10. At that age there were some activities that took place outside the club, like on the sports court etc and partcipation was required. This was more often in daytime hours, but there might be times when they go over to the AO theater too. The clubs have some mobility so I am not sure how a child could sleep if they are changing locations. Looking into private in room sitting or putting the child in the nursery (paid by the hour) might be a better solution if you expect the child to need a quiet place to sleep undisturbed.

Waiting for a flight last month, there was a man, looked to be in his 60s, listening to his 70s disco music on a tablet without headphones at a loud volume. He was in a wheelchair parked near the gate and nobody said a thing to him. When the gate crew would come on the intercom to make an announcement, he would turn it off and then turn it back on. It was louder than the regular music they play in the gate area. It isn't just kids or young people with a selfish sense of entitlement.

Me too! I was recently listening to a podcast where a woman told a story about a family in the dining room, grandparents, parents, a couple of older children and a 3ish year old. The woman said that the 3 year old was standing in the upholstered chair banging two butter knives together saying loudly "Does anybody want to fight me?" repeatedly. Nobody else at the table paid him any attention or tried to make him behave. Sounds funny, not having been there, but I bet it was a nightmare to have to listen to that when you are trying to have a nice conversation.

Quiet music that doesn't intrude on another cabin is one thing, subjecting others to your musical taste or lack thereof is another. This is why Carnival just banned portable speakers. Beware Royal cruisers, be conscientious of your neighbors or Royal might follow suit.

Did you cancel online as well? I always book myself online, but have never noticed an option to cancel online. Please tell me how if I am missing something. Signed, Type A Control Freak. 🙂

My experience in April with a drop in port fees was a onboard credit that they never told us about. I think they would rather give you a credit and hope you don't use it rather than a refund.

I listened to an interview with a gentleman in an upper management chef position with Royal recently. Key points he made were that they were due for a menu change. It had been more than 5 years so it is standard to make changes. He said that inconsistency across the fleet is a major issue for him. He feels that you should get the same dining experience and the food should be the same whether ordered on Brilliance or Wonder. The new menus are designed so that they can do a better job with consistency. He also said that with the pandemic closings they lost a lot of kitchen and dining room staff. They are training lots and lots of new people and streamline menus will help them with the lack of experience both in serving and behind the scenes. The final point he made was that Royal never set out to be an all you can eat lobster cruise. That was never they intention to create that dining atmosphere and with the changes in the availability of the lobster supply they had to make changes. Take all of this as you see it. But, these were the reasons given.

Just wanted to add our experience as we sailed Disney and Royal when my children were young (now adults). My son is on the autism spectrum, but like they say if you have seen one person with autism, you have seen one person with autism. In our experience the Disney programs have a lot less structure, but all the bells and whistles. They pack a lot of technology into the clubs and that can be enthralling for a lot of kids. Both of my kids liked the clubs on Disney, and they got one on one attention when they chose to sit down and do things like crafts etc that not a lot of kids were doing, but if they wanted to spend time playing computer games they were solo a lot. They also had a lot of choice as to what they did at any moment. If a child need structured activities and guidance in making choices they may not have thrived in the environment. Royal was completely different for us as they relied on organized activities without the high tech distractions. Unfortunately, a lot of times participation in the scheduled activity was required and there were no other options if it did not appeal to the child. By that time, luckily we felt comfortable with our kids being able to check themselves out and if together go get a slice of pizza or find something else to do. If they were alone they had the option to come to use (we always told them where we would be) or go back to the cabin. I guess my point is that the programs are very different and one really needs to look at their child's interests and abilities in deciding whether it is a good fit. But, in neither instance will children get a lot of individual attention.

Lost a hat on the pier in Costa Maya once when the wind took it off my head. Either wear a strap or take the chance with a hat you do not mind losing.