HappyTexan44

You can't really compare to airlines overbooking. If someone is late (no-shows) for a cruise, they are out their cruise fare. If someone is late (no-shows) for a flight they are given a spot on the next available flight, possibly as standby.

I think it goes beyond expected versus real cancellations. If it were just that, they could have been informed before they got to the port. It sounds like they miscalculated the number of no-show cabins. Apparently there were 2 and they were hoping for 13. I can understand them not wanting to sail with empty rooms. But, they could have informed the people before they left their home. Said something like Looks like we might not have a cabin for you. If you'd like to go to the port and maybe get a cabin based on no-shows, then you can sale for ports/taxes.etc, and we'll refund the rest. Or you can change ... Some people have a flexible vacation schedule (like me) and our departure port is a reasonable drive away. Other people would basically be out a vacation. I don't know how much travel insurance would help in this case. Royal will refund the cruise.

Wow!

The chef doesn't and neither does the dishwasher. The bartender gets a certain fraction of each waiter's alcohol sales and the busboys get a certain fraction of each waiter's (total or food) sales.

Well, sometimes people tip in cash even when paying by credit card because they or someone they knew had their non-cash tips confiscated by the restaurant manager. If the crew said something like "Yes, I get a certain amount per person per day from everyone pays Royal the gratuity" Then people wouldn't worry. But the fact that even the employees don't know smells like Royal is keeping some of it.

So to do online check-in you need to provide a credit card?

I would be unhappy to be on one of these cruises. I have zero problems with Jews (had been engaged to one in college) But, I'd really dislike not having access to all the public areas, and we also deliberately picked a low kid time period. Fortunately, I picked February. I suspect many people pick January after the first week for the same reason.

Oh, I was wondering where the idea that I was born in '44 came from. No, HappyTexan was already taken so I just mashed the number keypad to make it unique.

Well, I wasn't born in '44. But I can narrow it down, we are leaving from Galveston. He'll be the only one in the next year from Texas who plays blackjack on a Galveston ship with a happy wife born after '44. And even then, I'm sometimes grumpy. So maybe the casino will see me being grumpy and think the one they are watching for isn't DH.

I can just see it. "You are from Texas, your wife seems pretty happy and you are playing blackjack. I bet you are that card counter we've been watching for."

I hope they don't get rid of these. I can bring my own darn chocolates, but I can't bring towel animals. Well, if I did, that would be insane.

Yes. Never lost money. It sounds like my idea of having him earn beer money isn't going to work. Plus the blackjack rules on the casino seem brutal enough to take the fun out of it.

I think they like the cheat sheets. They know you are a newbie who will play consistently. I remember going to Vegas back in the dark ages with a friend. Dark ages as in the $1 'steak' and eggs breakfast at midnight. On our last day I played with one of those charts memorized at a place downtown with nice blackjack rules. I think they even had the 7-cards-and-you-win rule. I played for 12 hours, had about 5 cocktails (and tipped), and that $1 breakfast and walked away within $8 of my start. I forget which direction. Not a pro. gambler by a long shot, but super cheap entertainment.

It continuously shuffles? So every hand is basically a fresh deck? Well, that would mean no counting. I doubt he's 160 IQ. But, he's pretty smart. Many people do similar to card counting when playing card games. They know what cards have been played and what cards are left. In a card game there is more to remember since you have to pay attention to suits. That isn't me. I can barely remember my own cards when playing poker. He said he's never lost money playing blackjack. But he did say they made it very unpleasant when they accused him of counting, and took his winnings. That was a while back.

How does Royal handle it when they think that someone is card counting? Both DH and I are math-people, he is better with the mental math. Probably because of that, he just naturally card counts when playing blackjack, as in before I knew him he was ejected from casinos even when trying to not count. Me, I like to just play according one of those charts that give you a tiny edge at a normal casino. I've noticed that Royal's payouts aren't good, so probably just lose slower with a chart. But I was thinking, maybe he should play a little bit of blackjack just to earn some beer money. What will Royal do if they think he is card counting? I wouldn't think we could be tossed from the ship. Would they try to take back the winnings?

And the WJ must be cheaper for them. So people skipping the MDR in favor or WJ and/or Specialty seems like Win/Win for Royal.

I hope they have old information. They show Voyager going Jan 2024. Our cruise is mid Feb, and Jan and Feb 2024 are solid cruises. I assume that they don't cancel cruises for drydock?

I think it is a good thing that we got early traditional dining. So, we'll have time to send back crappy food and switch to something else if the quality is bad.

@SRF What a beautiful Akita!

I have to remember this.

One idea. Don't prepay for gratuities. Buy whatever reservations you'd like now. Use the credit to partially pay for the gratuities.

Maybe take a screenshot of what you ordered. That way if they deliver something else you can get your money back.

We are ones that don't give a hoot about the view. I remember one trip to Universal Florida where I used a TA and I'd carefully researched where we requested a particular area for our room for the view plus shortest walk to the boat. We got it. We opened up the curtains and said, "Yup, that is nice view." We gave the view a Grand Canyon nod, and then closed the curtains never to open them again. The same trip we stayed someplace else not as nice and we opened the curtains and said, "View of the trash dumpster" and closed the curtains never to open them again. After that trip, I told the family we obviously don't care about the view. Although, I would like to not here deck chairs being moved around, or the base from some band at 11 pm.

Thank you for telling us about Costa Maya. My family has never seen a Mayan ruin so we were thinking of doing an excursion to the one nearby. Your experience makes me more certain that is the best option. I read a review online where someone talked about his girlfriend who was a masseuse there bragging about cheating tourists. For example, they never got the time that they paid for.

Can you tell us what happened in Costa Maya? We have an upcoming cruise same ship and ports.