RosieRoo

There is a cruise I have my eye on that is on next weeks sale. I can book it before I leave or book onboard. I don't know if there is any benefit to waiting because it states in the fine print that the sale prices are not combinable with any other offers. Does anyone have any experience with this? Did you ever book a Tuesday special onboard and get the onboard booking credit as well as the sale price? Thanks.

I hedged my bets and booked before I left just in case the prices went up. They did not so I booked onboard and came home and cancelled the other ones.

 

Edit- one of them did go up the day I got off the ship.

Thanks for mentioning this. I actually booked 4 cruises recently for 2015/2016 to assure I would get the cabins I wanted. I am hopefully going to rebook at the same prices onboard next week and cancel the original bookings when I get home. It was actually a lady at C&A who told me to do it that way.

Denzil was the concierge and he was amazing, I never had that experience before and was Leary about what to expect, well he was wonderful (and easy on the eyes too).

 

My mom ordered a club soda with a lime in MDR and the lime never came. I ordered a line infused drink in 19th hole during a suite event and got 4 slices in my drink, then next night ordered a strawberry daiquiri at suite event and got a lime garnish. We took photos of the limes bc we knew it was rare to see limes on the ship:)

 

 

 

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Thank you for answering.

Who was the Concierge?

No problem. I just wanted to give you the opinion of a frequent RCCL cruiser.

And thanks to you as well. It was reading posts from suite cruisers like yourself that got me to try NCL in the first place. I don't know why I waited so long.

Whatever you decide, it will be wonderful. In 45+ cruises I have never had a bad cruise. They're all special in their own way.

We ended up moving back to the Escape, but you get breakfast and lunch in Chops on Royal, plus the in-suite dining and snacks from your suite attendant. Just didn't want any misinformation out there.

Just to make this clear, the breakfast and lunch in Chops means you can go to the buffet, get your own food, and eat it in the specialty restaurant instead of with the masses. It was not sitting down and ordering off a menu and being served. At least that's how it was when we were last on RCCL, maybe it has changed? This doesn't compare in any way with Cagney's on NCL. And the free drinks are limited to popular brands of liquor and Chardonnay or Merlot, neither of which I drink. It is not a full bar. If you are at all picky about what you like, you wouldn't be happy with the free drinks.

I've been cruising for years and I have sailed in suites on RCCL and most every other line, but this year I sailed on NCL for the very first time. I have since sailed NCL three more times because I think they have the best suite benefits of any line I have been on. No other cruiseline has personally escorted me on to or off of the ship. The only other line we had a butler on was Celebrity. No other line has a restaurant which is exclusively for suite guests that serves breakfast and lunch which is huge for us since my husband hates buffets. Those are just some of the things I think they do well. There's so much more.

Not to say we wouldn't cruise any other line. I have several upcoming on RCCL, Celebrity and NCL. Variety is good. I like to see what everyone has to offer. I don't in any way want to deter you from sailing RCCL. I just want you to know what to expect if you are used to NCL suite life.

Thank you for the advice. I don't know why, but I never thought to even ask before. I'll see what they say.

Could you also answer a related question please? If you are both D+ can you each use a coupon for different nights? We are on Explorer for 9 nights and it would be nice if we could use both.

A few questions about booking on board.

 

If you book on board and the booking is transferred to your current TA can you change to a different TA later?

 

Is the OBC issued to the cruise you are on or to the future cruises?

 

Are you able to take up special offers, perks and price reductions on the future cruises that you have booked or are you locked out of some offers because they may state "for new bookings only" etc.

If your booking goes directly to a TA you can not change to another TA unless the original TA releases the booking.

The OBC is for the future cruise.

Price drops and new offers may or may not be combinable.

I suggest you call Crown and Anchor for clarification on this. I have enough points for a free 3/4 night cruise in an OV cabin. When I called Crown and Anchor to book the cruise and told them what I had planned to do the agent told me not to redeem 50,000 points for both fares because I would lose my D+ balcony discount. She said if I used 25,000 points for one free fare it would be applied to the fare without the balcony discount and I would be able to keep the balcony discount on the full fare person. So, basically I would be getting the full value of the one free fare $500. plus the value of my balcony discount which was $150 and only using 25,000 points instead of 50,000. I hope I am explaining this clearly. She also told me I could do the whole transaction thru Crown and Anchor directly and not thru the website. Now mind you, this is what I was told. Someone else could get a totally different answer.

And I agree, using them for OBC is only getting half the value you receive by using it for the free fare .

Indybeachgal thanks for your input. That's the exact cabin I am looking at.

We had the same problem with our TA calling RCCI and not letting us have any Aft balcony under Cat D for two people on the Navigator July '15. I called two days later and told them how disappointed I was that I couldn't have an Aft corner balcony and I knew they were available so she called and in 10 minutes I had one. Mine is a deck 9 corner Cat E.

 

 

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I believe that is because the aft cabins on deck 9 only hold 2 people. I think if you had tried for deck ten or eight they would not have allowed it as those are triples. The afts on deck nine are the only afts that are double occupancy on the Navigator.

Thanks everyone for the replies. My husband likes the bigger cabin so after reading your comments I think I will go with the corner aft JS on deck 8. Thanks again for taking the time to answer.

Looking to book a cruise on Vision of the Seas and I am looking at aft cabins as we spend a lot of time on the balcony. I can get either the starboard corner D1 on deck 7 or the corner JS on deck 8. The price difference is approximately $500. The balconies look almost the same size, of course I know the JS would be larger inside. My questions is, is noise a problem with the deck 7 cabins. I notice that deck 7 is directly above a lounge, but it appears the Diamond Club is under the starboard corner. Any feedback from recent Vision cruisers would be greatly appreciated.

I just booked Liberty OTS 7708 aft corner cabin for 2 for may 25th. No problem.

As I said above, according to someone I spoke to in Corporate, they are only enforcing the rule during peak travel periods like school vacations and holidays. March is a huge spring break month for colleges in the northeast so I believe that is why they are blocking 2 people from booking the triples and quads at that time. I'm sure Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years, as well as the summer months will be blocked also. I had no trouble securing aft cabins for May, early December and mid January.

That is correct.

Thanks!

Thank you for posting the new info. Could someone please clarify if I am reading this correctly?

If I want to book a B2B 4 and 5 night sailing onboard I would get OBC for the 5 night but not the 4 night. Is that correct?

We have a great TA who was able to find aft cabins together for us on the Independence next March but when we all made deposits (5 couples) RC said no that they would only go to triples and quads...guess I understand but not really. Anyway now the option is side d1 on deck 10 or d2 cabins on Deck 9. Is one deck better than the other for us?

Also wondering if JS side balconies on Decks 9 and 10 are all same size balconies??? We were in aft JS on deck 10 and RC will let us keep that for 2. Should we keep it ? We love the balcony but also want to be near friends. One last question will they open partitions between side balconies on the Indy? Any help would be appreciated...

If you pick deck 10 you will be directly under the pool and buffet. You may or may not hear noise from this. Safer to be on deck 9 which is in between two decks of cabins.

The aft JS cabins have huge balconies and the cabin is very nice. I'd keep that one.

I also tried to book aft cabins in March for just 2 and they blocked me from doing that, but I was able to book the exact same cabins in December without a problem. I think they are only enforcing this rule during peak travel periods and March is a peak spring break month.

To the OP: I'm sorry if I hijacked your thread, but your question made me think about the expiration of points. I am sure if you applied them as an OBC you would have no problem keeping the OBC if you move the booking.

Nhsaltshaker, thanks for the reply, not exactly what I was looking for, but informative none the less.

Just an FYI for anyone who may be interested, after speaking to C&A I was told the only way to find out when your unused accumulated points actually expire is by calling Bank of America customer service, which I did. They are actually able to tell you the number of points due to expire month by month. I was surprised to see that I had points that were 4 years old.

You may be able to check your points by logging into the redemption page:

 

https://www.managerewardsonline.com/RMSapp/Ctl/entry?pid=grprwd&mc=RCCL

Thanks. I tried that and I can see my available points, but couldn't find where it says the expiration date. Maybe I'm not looking in the right place?

I am aware that they expire, but how do you know when they do? Are you able to look at the date somewhere or do you have to call to find out?

Sailed the Baltics last August in a corner aft family suite. The seas were pretty calm and you can't beat the view back there.

Sure do. Here is the list of "Wines by the Glass":

 

St. Martin Chardonnay

Danzante Pinot Grigio

Beringer White Zinfandel

St. Martin Cabernet Sauvignon

St. Martin Merlot

 

Hope this helps!

Thanks!

The Chardonnay and Cabernet were St Martin and were very nice for house wine. Merlot may have been the same. They offered Pinot Grigio and I don't remember the brand and also Beringer White Zin.

Thanks. I like white, but not Chardonnay so I will be happy if a Pinot Grigio is offered. If not, no big deal. I'll just buy my glass of wine as I always do.

We were on the Ex last week and I had the drinks pre-loaded on my card. It is a very nice perk, but beware that frozen drinks are not included as per bartenders and guest services. I asked for a BBC (bailey's, banana & coconut) and was told that drink was not included, although Bailey's is on the list. I was also told that if I ordered a rum and coke I'd have to pay for the coke. Really??? I can't believe if I was in the Diamond lounge I'd have to pay for the coke.

 

Don't know how it's done on other ships.

Do you happen to remember what wines were on the list? I know usually in the lounge it's Chardonnay or Merlot. Hoping maybe there are more choices at the bars.