JAMESCC

3 hours ago, Cruise a holic said:

What probably will happen bassed on my experience, those in the Jr. suites will bid up and get the grand suites and you will probably get a Jr. Suite.  However I wish you good luck!

I was thinking that too and that would be ok. This on Liberty OTS. 

We have bids in for 1 bedroom Grand suite, 2 bedroom Grand suite and junior suites for next months cruise. There aren't any junior suites left but a ton of grand suites. Do you think we have good shot at a win here? Both 1 and 2 bedroom Grand suites. 

We had two cruises last summer, first since the awful pandemic but we won both Royal UP bids at the minimum or just a hair over I think on one. 

Really, really hoping to win a suite for our cruise in October from a balcony GTY. 🤞

6 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

I have been to Coco Cay the last two Februarys. The weather is usually beautiful that time of year, but the water is too cold at the water park, the oasis pool and the ocean. Keep in mind I live in Florida, so what I consider cold water might be different from someone up North. 

Oh wow interesting. I know our son care about the water temp but we might. We are from the north so we might think it's perfect or even warm. 🤣

10 minutes ago, voyager70 said:

I’d take late February over July/August in Coco Cay any day, but I’m from the northeast so anything over 70 is pool or beach weather for me😎

Us too, right from NJ where we sail from. 👍

20 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

We have sailed November thru March on Anthem many times. 

 Expect 1st day at sea to still be chilly in the morning but may warm up enough to be poolside by afternoon.

CocoCay should be high 70s/low 80s.   Ocean temp may be low 70s.   We love escaping the winters in PA.   Hopefully you will enjoy it too!

Definitely a lot nicer than the heat and humidity of July and August.   

 

Oh wow very nice. Those numbers all seem good to us. It'll be nice to like you says escape the cold NJ winter for a week. Anthem is our favorite ship too. Sad she is leaving us and Odyssey is coming. I mean I'm Odyssey is awesome too and will try her for sure. Pools will be ok and splash park water temp wise? Thanks again. 

We did our first cruise to Coco Cay last August and loved it! Loved it! But man oh man was it freaking hot. We thought let's try it in winter to see the difference, plus I always wanted to sail south out of NJ in the dead of winter so we are booked on Anthem from late February. I think we will be at Coco Cay February 28th. What should we expect as far as weather goes, temps and ocean temps? Overall what should we expect? Thanks. 

On 2/21/2023 at 5:18 PM, derorim said:

When we were in Salem last Fall (October 15) it was extremely crowded, with people on the main street (closed to traffic) walking shoulder to shoulder in all directions.  It was difficult making our way down the street.  The pictures in @Rogueperson's post look deserted in comparison to what we experienced.  There were long lines for everything, even just to go into a store, get a bite to eat, or use the restroom.  I would not recommend trying to go there on October 21 and would be surprised if the ship offered an excursion there due to the nightmarish traffic, especially when leaving Salem.

On 2/21/2023 at 4:43 PM, Rogueperson said:

 

I was there last October.  It was the first day of the Salem's Haunted Happenings which is their month long Halloween celebration.  It was a zoo, even though it was raining half the day.
 

Go to post 215 and you can see my pictures from Salem.  What i did was I rented a car from Avis which is about a 10 minute walk from the port.  Its in one of the hotels.  I just drove up there.  It was about a 45-60 minute drive.  When i got into town, it was insane, and it was the absolute first day of the festival.  I don't want to know how crowded it gets closer to Halloween.  I came in on a Saturday morning. 

Parking.  What would be easy parking, you have to switch gears and think event parking.  Any parking lot within walking distance is going to try and charge you thirty bucks or more.  Street parking is limited to residents only, and if you try to park, they WILL tow you.  Good luck at trying to find a metered spot, which prices are jacked up because of the event.  However, they do prepare.  There are plenty of satellite parking if you go online to find one of these lots.  I parked at the Okeefe Center at 225 Canal St.  They have shuttles going back and forth every 10 minutes or so.  Fair warning, we rode an actual school bus.  I haven't been on one of those since i was IN school.  Still gives me anxiety.

Also, many of the attractions don't really take too long.  I went to the Salem Witch Museum, and its less of a museum than it is a presentation of the Salem Witch Trials.  It took maybe an hour and a half at most.  If you're curious about some of the other attractions, you can easily fit 2, maybe even 3 in.  Once we finished, we actually had a lot of time left even after lunch. 

You need to get tickets beforehand, especially during the Haunted happenings.  I did not go into any of the Haunted Houses.  They weren't quite open yet when we were there and even if they were, it was raining, and my wife would never go into one of those things and leaving her outside in the rain is a sure way to annoy her.  To my dismay, there are a LOT of places other than the Salem Witch Museum like the Salem Witch House and the Witch Dungeon Museum.  All places I would have loved the check out if tickets were available.  Some only go on sale that day, but you can get it online.  That means you need internet connection onboard as there is a day at sea between Bayonne and Boston if Boston is your first port of call.

Overall, I LOVED Salem, but it was very crowded and you can't just show up without a plan.  I was fortunate that my plan held up, but it could have easily collapsed.  I was not prepared for Haunted Happenings as I thought it was just some local festival.  IT IS NOT.  It is a highly coveted and attended event.

That's guys, appreciate the advice. I guess we will think of something else. We were there in early October probably 13 years ago and don't remember it being quite as bad as you described but definitely don't want to deal with all that. We were on an excursion and it worked out fine. Thanks again for the info. 

1 hour ago, Rubyfisch said:

It is definitely pretty cool in Salem, although there are a ton of subject matter specific tours in Boston (I'm sure some excursions, others may not be) that you might find interesting.

Yeah, if it's not offered as an excursion there are a few others that look cool. Some educational Boston specific excursions. 

10 hours ago, Rubyfisch said:

Bostonian here - the traffic in Salem in October is next level awful on the weekends. Like backs up miles on to the highway. Not sure what day you'll be in Boston, but I wouldn't try to do it by car on your own. And it's always on public transit as well.

Thanks, we'll be there i think October 21 which of course is so close to Halloween which from I remember from last time we were there on an excursion is like Salem's Superbowl. I really hope they offer an excursion otherwise I'd say we will not try it at all. Can't take a chance of missing the ship. I just remember it being so much fun last time we were there. We went to a Salem witch trials museum. Very interesting, and educational. Thanks for the info, appreciate it. 

We are on Liberty OTS October to Canada/NE. Our first port stop is Boston and we want to go to Salem. Last time we did this cruise it was offered. A bunch of excursions were loaded last week but unfortunately nothing to Salem. You think it might still pop up? Is it a crazy idea to try to get here and back on our own? It's kinda far I think. Thanks for any help. 

On 11/13/2022 at 1:23 PM, SG65CB said:

 

All you can do is try to narrow down where the problem lies. There is a whole string of possibilities and you can try to eliminate each until you find the problem. The next step would be to determine if the problem is with your computer or with your account on the RC website.

 

Try logging in to your account on another computer. Even if this has worked in the past, try it now in case something has changed on the RC website.

 

If you cannot log in on another computer then we know the problem is with your account because other people are able to log in. 

 

If a different computer works then the next thing I'd try is take your new laptop to another location such as a coffee shop and connect to their wifi, then try to log in. This would show if RC has an issue with your internet provider or IP address. 

 

Unless someone here had the same problem and can describe what they did to fix it, it's just a game of elimination.

 

 

I logged in with my Kindle with no issue. Does that tell us anything? Oh i like the second suggestion, I will take my laptop to my in-laws and try there. Something tells me it has to do with IP address. Thanks for the suggestions. 

On 11/12/2022 at 5:15 PM, SG65CB said:

Try a different browser on that laptop to see if the problem is browser-related.

 

Try Chrome, Edge, Firefox. If the laptop only comes with Edge you can install the other two. 

On 11/12/2022 at 7:39 PM, Longford said:

I have a 2 week-old HP laptop and I can access the RCL website without problems.  I'm currently using Microsoft Edge.

I'm using Chrome but I tried Edge and that didn't work. I just tried incognito and that didn't work. I'm kinda out of ideas here!

Every since I got my new laptop I can't login to Royal's website. It gives me a message that it has my info but log me and try a different time but its been a month now. I have location turned on. I'm really confused here. Thanks for any help.

On 7/24/2022 at 8:18 PM, ZoeyVictoria said:

I would like to know if bids can be modified or canceled at embarkation time.  I do not want to get unpacked and settled in and then have to move during dinner or the evening.  It doesn’t seem fair to be unable to cancel your bid but still not know if you are going to be a last-minute upgrade.  

It says you can cancel your bid at anytime if you don't want to be moved on Embarkation day. That was interesting. 

Just now, orville99 said:

We are currently on Mariner, and people received RoyalUP wins after they had boarded and their luggage was delivered to their original stateroom. They had to re pack so the stewards could move them to their new cabins.

Wow! That's crazy and kinda cool. I like the big surprise. Thanks for the info. 

3 minutes ago, bajathree said:

Sounds to me like what they are saying is while you didn't win you're Royal Up bid.....there still may be a last minute chance for your upgrade if some cabins open up on boarding day from no shows.

Thanks, really hoping we get this. Its for the 2 bedroom Grand Suite and it was for just slightly over minimum bid. That would be weird to be on the way to the cruise terminal and our cabin category was changed, kinda cool actually. At that point our luggage tags would be for the wrong room. This would be some surprise. Thanks again. 

Royal Up emailed me yesterday about our upcoming Adventure OTS cruise next week. It said 

We have reviewed the RoyalUp bids for your upcoming sailing onboard Adventure of the Seas^®, and while we have not selected your offer yet, the team onboard the ship may choose it for upgrade based on availability at departure time

Anyone get this before? Does this kinda mean we are gonna win this bid? Good news? 

Thanks for any help. 

45 minutes ago, xtremegk said:

It's definitely bigger than the 4D and 5D balcony cabins. If you have two kids, I don't think you could have ended up in any of them, however, as the 4Ds are double occupancy and the 5D are all capacity for 3 on Adventure. But if you have just one kid, you could have ended up with a 5D.

 

We booked a 5D with our son only because we were able to snag an aft balcony.

We have an 8 year old and a 7 month old at the time of the sailing. I guess it is bigger so that's good. Thanks for info.

When the KSF promotion came back this week I talked to my TA and he repriced our cruise. We actually saved 250 bucks and got a better cabin. We went from a balcony guarantee to a spacious ocean view balcony #9528. I saw some videos and pics but doesn't look any bigger than a standard balcony but its nice to just have the cabin number and not have to wait to be assigned a cabin. Any thoughts on cabin #9528 on Adventure OTS? 

Wow crazy. I hope things change by then or really very soon for everyone. I mean I get being cautious when it was needed, those days are over now. 

Just now, Biker19 said:

I wouldn't assume that.

I'm actually kinda flabbergasted it's not changed now. I mean let's use some common sense here. 🤣 NJ which I keep on because I live here had 1,100 cases, the day before it was 600+. Canada has to be extremely low by now. 

38 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

You may want to keep up with the Canadian cruise news - as of now, very unlikely that sailing could go as planned and the PVSA loophole to be extended by Congress only applies to Alaska sailings.

Yeah I thought about that but by the then it's gotta be ok. Like what is Canada doing anyway? Love Canada and Canadians but geez guys, ease up just a bit here. 😲

Ok we finally have things set to go back cruising for the first time in oh 3 years. First cruise is a short guy on Adventure 4 days to Canada/Halifax July 30th and then Coco Cay on Oasis August 14th that has been in the making since May 2020 when the cruising world stopped. 

Glad masks are no longer required that's for sure. Do you think pre cruise testing will be gone by July? My guess is not but what do you think. 

Oh the Adventure cruise is so short we decided to take a chance and book a balcony guarantee. Never have done that before. Any experience with balcony guarantee's? 

Well we are excited that's for sure!

1 minute ago, molly361 said:

Yes they are

No way! Even the lift and shift? That is awesome, we will be Diamond after the August cruise then. Unfortunately not for the August 2022 but after. Thank you very much!