figs

Anyone heard how the dry dock is going? Finally booked our flights today, since we’re under the two-week mark (in the hopes that they’d cancel by now, if needed)!

Almost every sailing I check, multiple ships, has most/all of the stateroom categories switched to "guarantee only" - wonder if this is a much larger booking system issue? Either that, or something weird is about to launch.....LOL. 

Interesting! I was super disappointed with Royal’s response to an injury I got on Freedom back in 2019 - the official excursion bus had exposed metal screws at shin-level juuuust barely sticking out of the seats. I ended up with a 3” slice across my leg and was bleeding like crazy. I told the driver & the Royal customer desk when I got onboard. They both shrugged and said “eh, this happens a lot.” 
 

I went straight to the infirmary, and was told I could see a doc if I wanted…but I’d have to pay for it (oof, that price). When I pushed, the nurse grudgingly gave me antiseptic and a band-aid, but wasn’t even willing to do that at first. She didn’t even ask if I had a recent tetanus shot. I ended up with a noticeable scar/divot across my shin, which (weirdly!) hurt to the touch for over a year. Oof.
 

I reached out to Royal again after the cruise to express my concern about safety - they said they’d get back to me, but never did. Wished they’d at least fake-promised to handle it - would have been more reassuring! LOL.

Has anyone figured out what these emails are about/if they are legit? We cruise on Sunday - and it’s only cruise booked right now - but my travel agent tried to look into this random FCC & couldn’t see anything tied to me or my booking in her/Royal’s system! It’s in my name, and the “check FCC” option someone mentioned above just spins & does nothing when I try to look it up myself. Help?

1 hour ago, Wally Alligator said:

When combining offers to get a higher class of room / better discount they will only use one offer from you and one offer from your husband.

 

 

 

Thanks for the info! We’re excited about Europe - fingers are crossed.

I think I want to clarify - so because we’re likely headed overseas mid-spring 2020 (but it’s not certain yet), we’re having trouble booking dates. We have $700 of “earned on a cruise, must book within 30 days” credit. We tried to combine it to upgrade a free interior cruise in March, but the rep *seemed* to tell us no, but we had a TON of communications issues with him, definitely not on the same page! But we can’t seem to find any cruise to use the $700 on (without spending at least that much in flights), because we’d have to sail in the next few months....we don’t know where we’ll be living after that!

I guess my question is, then, does Club Royale let us combine the “$300 off/earned on a cruise” type credits with any of their Club Royale offers? I’m going to be super sad if we have to let it expire because we don’t know where we’ll be for half the year. It’s definitely our problem, not RC’s, just trying to figure out our options.

Hi all,

I made Prime back in April, and the hubby just made it a few weeks back. We have questions!

1) Club Royale page - I have 5 mystery offers, with no corresponding email! Is there anywhere I can find out what the codes mean, offer-wise? I'm pretty visual, having the Casino Royale folks verbally tell me the deal makes my head spin. 

2) We earned (together) $700 in discount certificates on our last cruise. Looking to use them...can we apply them to a "free interior" sort of cruise to get an upgrade? Or together with any of the "take $250/400 off the price" Club Royale code listings?

3) If all goes well, we're moving to Europe in the spring. We'll both have our free annual cruises loaded by then - can we use them over there? Will we start getting European offers? It'll be a little hard to get back to the US for a free cruise! 🙂 

6 hours ago, Garmy4 said:

Some casino reps are very knowledgeable and get all the questions right the first time.  Others, I have had, cannot answer the simplest ones correctly.  Some call centers are much more capable.  Take all answers with a grain of salt.

Thanks for this - I only dealt with them once a year ago, and they were pretty spectacular then (definitely more on the ball than the regular Royal reps). It’s good to know.

3 hours ago, Bronx12 said:

 

Just to clarify, you were able to book your complimentary Prime status annual cruise AND use a $500 certificate? We booked our Prime status rooms, had a certificate for a free interior (my husband's), a certificate for $300 of (mine)f, and another one for $200 off (mine), and we were not allowed to combine any of the offers.

Was the $500 certificate earned on the ship, or something else?

Thanks

Whoops - wasn’t clear enough, ha! I made Prime AND earned the free interior cruise instant reward. And then my husband earned a $500 instant reward for his play on that cruise. We were able to combine the two certificates earned on the ship to make it “free balcony cruise (off the list).”  

The back of our certificate said that two members of a household could combine certificates and go up to a JS, but I’m not sure what kind of certificates you’d need to have to get that far!! Our interior + $500 certs got us for free only up to the balcony level; the lady said we’d need to chip in ANOTHER $1,000 (total) to get a JS. 

Hey there!

I made Prime on April 10-12, 2019; not sure when, I’d forgotten about my table games points! I definitely asked the Casino Royale phone lady today - she said (and this is as much of a direct quote as I can remember): “Since you earned Prime in April, your status will begin on April 2020.”

And then I said, “Oh no, I was hoping to use it for WiFi and no fees in the casino on this next cruise (sept 2019).”

She responded, “No, sorry - but maybe you can check with the casino host when you board, let them know you earned Prime this year already and maybe they’ll give you something early. I can’t guarantee they will do so, though.”

It definitely wasn’t mixed messages - she definitely intended to say that earning Prime in 2019 meant no benefits until April 2020 - I’m really hoping you’re right! Has anyone else ever had experience with this?

Hi all!

Like another recent poster, I just made Prime status on my last cruise (ending April 12th). I’ve booked our free cruise, and we used my husband’s $500 off certifícate to upgrade to a balcony (wooo!). 

I called Club Royale to ask how the status levels work (I’m excited about our newly booked cruise). The nice lady on the phone told me the status (annual cruise, WiFi, drinks, etc) doesn’t take effect until April 2020. I didn’t realize you had to wait out the qualifying year!

Just wanted to check with the CC hive mind - does that sound right to you? We were really hoping for a discount on WiFi and the casino 5% fee for our free cruise. 😞 

Just wanted to circle back and thank everyone! Bought our packages on the pre-Christmas deal right now, I think it came out to around $600 for two soda packages and two devices with Surf and Stream (and you were right, buying separately was the way to go). Oof, but way better than the original pricing! So many thanks!

Thanks, folks - it’s one of those “I don’t mind the mark-up price when it’s only for 7 days, but gee, can’t they bring it down when we’re talking 14?” sort of things! I mean, $722 for soda and internet is actually what we’d pay for a YEAR’S worth at home! It’s gotta be pricey to host ship-internet..but it can’t be THAT bad, right? Oof!

Sadly, we want simultaneous internet hookup - we’re big balcony-sitters, reading the news, researching upcoming ports, downloading new books when we inevitably run out of the ones we’d brought, etc. I don’t even drink soda, but I adore the Coke Freestyle machine’s non-fizzy options - it’s all we drank last cruise!

Black Friday/Christmas/etc sales would be great! I didn’t even think about that possibility. I’m also wondering if we can get away with the Surf package, instead of surf-and-stream?

Hi all!

DH and I will be doing our first transatlantic on Jewel in March - with all those sea days, we definitely want internet (and the soda package) for the whole trip. But the Soda + Voom package for both of us, for the whole trip...yeah, that’s $722!!!!!! Oof! Oddly enough, if we book individual Soda packages and a 2-device Voom package, it’s only $665? None of this makes sense! Help?

We don’t mind it so much on 7-dayer, but those prices are a bit high for us. Do they ever run any specials for the TA crowd?

Super bummed by the TA move to Miami. I live in San Juan, so now I have to add a flight. But MORE importantly - the March 29th sail date now has us arriving at Holy Week in flippin' Rome. We were planning on spending a week. I bet hotel prices will be astronomical. :(

Thanks! So if my invoice says Cruise fare is $3062, and the 30% off line says -$1156, and the current pricing for my category online is fare $3062, with discount line as -$1196, then "-$75 SEEK" discount and $175 onboard credit....

Would that be a $40 drop? Also, would we be able to get the -$75 credit and $175 OBC, or just the price drop?

This is fascinating!!!

I am currently sitting in my apartment in San Juan (we live here). The hotels here in town are fine; if they're taking bookings now, it's no worry. Both Hyatts near the port and the Sheraton, the La Concha, the Stellaris Marriott, the Vanderbilt, all of these and more are fine and have been for several months. Taxis and Uber are everywhere and working wonderfully. Restaurants are open. The only big noticeable difference is the lack of streetlights in most intersections.

Hi all!

We just booked on Jewel for April 2019 for a transatlantic, San Juan to Rome. The awesome lady who applied our Club Royals credit told me to make sure I check for price drops. We have a 2D balcony.

Newbie to way-out bookings - how do I do this? I can see the invoice showing the original price, minus Next Cruise, minus 30% Nonrefundable deposit, minus Club Royale, plus gratuities, plus taxes/fees.

What on earth number do I use to determine if the price has dropped? I honestly can't figure out my official "original booking price" from this mess, much less figure out what to compare it with to see if the price has dropped. Also, not sure how often to check, a year out. Help! :D

$50 (total of $64 post-taxes/fees) at the BWI Courtyard by Marriott in Baltimore, for a Saturday night pre-cruise, on Priceline.

Thanks Tony....good pics.

Do 7A balconies sell out quickly? I could switch my booking to the Early Saver Fare and save $1100 for the 10 of us. I know the deposit is non refundable but I do have insurance.

 

Also....Always been more midship.....any extra movement on an aft balcony.

 

Thanks

Marty

This is my question, too, but in reverse. I'm trying to book my parents on the Pride, and there's a decent 7A rate, but only 5142 is available, which is at the first BIG lifeboat, and also has the "stick-out" wall blocking the view to the right. It'd probably be considerably obstructed.....I think.

It's been "the last 7A remaining" for almost a week. Is this a sales "scam"? I can't imagine that it's been sitting there, unsold, for a week, when it's the room that's automatically given you when you try to book past guest or residential or fun saver for a balcony.

What gives? Is this just a "placeholder" room to get more bookings, since it's cheaper? Will it ever go away? My parents have never sailed Carnival, so I want to get them a decent room first off. :)