DisneyQueen999

Ourusualbeach and Starry Eyes

Asked my daughter to do the Apple wallet trick for me and our room number is showing. I'm very happy now, just needed to know where our room was.

Thanks both for your replies.

We are less than 1 month before our cruise on Anthem OTS and we have booked a balcony guarantee.

Our set sail pass still shows GTY but we have been allocated muster D04.

RCI sent our cruise ticket booklet a few days ago, but the luggage tags in it are blank.

Does this mean our room won't be allocated until check in or, will RCI send us another cruise ticket booklet before embarkation day with updated luggage tags?

Thanks cruisestitch, I was just curious. Expensive for 1 bottle 😵‍💫

Can anyone give some info on this please?

Is it possible to use your OBC to part fund a drinks package online or via the app prior to sailing? 

I know Royal Caribbean allow this but not sure about Celebrity.

25 minutes ago, Pandamonia said:

 

No its not lol. 

 

There are places where the chances of good weather are much better at certain times of year. Outside of freak occurrences. 

 

Sailing in October from Southampton and down the Atlantic to the canaries is basically 2 days where you more likely to see bad weather than good. 

 

 

Whatever 🤪

Your cruises are obviously better than anyone elses LOL

1 hour ago, Pandamonia said:

 

Thats luck. 

 

October Atlantic can wipe 4 days off your 12 day holiday. Ive seen this happen in July even. 

 

If you dont fly then thats going to limit you no matter what so it doesnt really matter. 

 

I cant imagine a life limited to land and sea travel. 

You must have been very lucky with weather on your fly-cruises, like we've been very lucky with our no-fly cruises.

When we have flown in the past to the Med we've had bad weather there too (3 days of terrible storms in Italy and extremely rough seas). It's the nature of weather unfortunately....the luck of the draw.

Each cruiser has their preferences and standards. What one person likes, another may not. If we were all the same life would be pretty boring.

I enjoy the Cruise Critic boards because on the whole people are friendly and helpful and willing to engage in conversation about their love of cruising.

Cruising is many different things to many different people.

5 hours ago, Pandamonia said:

 

You dont believe there is really only a few balconies left for a cruise in the Atlantic in October? Lol

 

Off peak, north Atlantic freezing cold wind there and back. They are hiding the rooms on the system to lure in buyers. 

 

Personally if i was going to the canaries id fly to Tenerife on the P&O Azura for 2 weeks. Better shows, better food, cheaper booze and no 4 days in the rain and freezing wind getting there and back. Probably half the price of Royal too. 

 

If you want to do this ship dont over pay for it. I paid 1100 for a GTY Balcony for 12 nights. 

'Lol'?

We've done this cruise before same time of the year and had nice weather.

We don't fly, as I said.

Also, we had a very good price.

12 minutes ago, Pandamonia said:

CNBC just said prices are only 9% above 2019 prices lol. This means that despite all the hikes in prices they only actually sell rooms slightly above 4 year old prices. Carnival Group cant even get the 9%. 

 

As for 2024 i wouldnt worry about it. Prices always come down as they never sell cabins for the current prices. Give it 6 months and they will be same as this year. Booking for 2024 is a terrible idea during holiday season of 2023. Its a psychological trick to make you pay more. 

 

In 10 years ive never managed to book another cruise whilst on board for 12 months later. This should tell you everything you need to know. Ive always booked 3-6 months out. 

We're a bit limited because we don't do fly-cruises. We booked this month for a cruise sailing to the Canaries from Southampton early Oct 23 and there were only a handful of balconies left. I think if you are willing to fly there's more availability, but if you don't the pool to choose from is smaller and you are taking a chance if you book late unless you're not fussy about room category/deck/location.

1 hour ago, sgmn said:

If its Serenade, its part of her world cruise and is mostly sold out now, hence the remaining few cabins are very expensive. Its a one off segment 

I didn't notice what ship it was, I must have fainted when I saw the price.

Anyone who pays £4000 for that needs their head read.

I agree with FamilyCruiserUK I don't think RCI realise how much people earn in the UK....there's a cost of living crisis didn't you know! Brits are looking for value for money these days.

1 hour ago, gavvy said:

From a very un scientific scan on my last anthem from uk I'd say over 80% were British.

My anthem in march from Bayonne we were told we were the only Brits on board as passengers. Joff told us that when we said hello! No idea if that was true but every voice was American/ Canadian that we heard.

 

I'd say the USA Market is vital to them but with more ships and bigger ships coming on line they have to seek out new markets. You can't sail all those big ships to Coco cay at once !

 

I'm not looking forward to Indi from UK..the way the economy is going with inflation and interest rates I got a feeling they will have to cut prices especially on an older ship. Maybe it will turn into a bargain. Who knows

1 hour ago, gavvy said:

From a very un scientific scan on my last anthem from uk I'd say over 80% were British.

My anthem in march from Bayonne we were told we were the only Brits on board as passengers. Joff told us that when we said hello! No idea if that was true but every voice was American/ Canadian that we heard.

 

I'd say the USA Market is vital to them but with more ships and bigger ships coming on line they have to seek out new markets. You can't sail all those big ships to Coco cay at once !

 

I'm not looking forward to Indi from UK..the way the economy is going with inflation and interest rates I got a feeling they will have to cut prices especially on an older ship. Maybe it will turn into a bargain. Who knows

We've sailed from Southampton for several years now (DH hates flying) and I'd say the majority of passengers have always been brits.

We've started looking at P&O now as their prices are more realistic. I've been told the food isn't quite as good as RCI but I can live with that for the price. Also P&O pricing includes gratuities so you know there's no add-on's. Itineraries are different too.

There was a 15 day Scandinavian cruise we were looking at with RCL (because it's more Baltics rather than Norway) but a balcony was over £4000 each 😱. You can do a caribbean cruise with P&O for over  3 weeks for that price.

47 minutes ago, ARandomTraveler said:

My 7-day Europe cruise for July 2024 is $500 more than my 12-day Asia cruise for July 2023. Not an apples to apples comparison, but I just put the deposit down on the Europe cruise (13 months in advance) and I didn't put my deposit down for the Asia cruise until 10 months in advance, so the fact that the shorter cruise being booked further in advance is already more expensive than a cruise that's almost twice as long, leads me to believe I shouldn't expect any price drops.

 

The cruise I booked for Asia never had a price drop. The price went up almost daily and was almost sold out 6 months ago. 

I think European cruises have always been a bit more expensive, especially those that include Rome and Florence. But I'm not sure if RCI will have many UK passengers next year. It almost feels like they don't know the UK holiday market. There are far too many Norway/iceland cruises on sale from Southampton. We generally don't get a hot dry summer in the UK, so most Brits look to the warm areas in the Med for holidays not Scandinavia. Do RCI not realise that?

They are also building cruise ships bigger and bigger every year. It seems to be more of a pack em in and make more $$$'s mentality. I would rather cruise on a smaller ship that can go to more of the smaller ports and therefore get to see more places. Med itineraries are the same year on year and are lacking in variety.

Looking at prices for sailing on Anthem to Europe from Southampton 2024 and the prices are waay too expensive. The balcony grade we normally have is £1000pp more than this year on one 14 day cruise and another cruise is £2000pp more than we normally pay.

I know cruiselines are playing catch up but I doubt many cruisers from the UK can justify spending an extra £2000 for a 2024 cruise.

Also, itineraries are getting repetitive and there don't seem to be many Med cruises from Southampton for 2024.

Has anyone else in the UK noticed the hike in prices and lack of Med cruises from Southampton?

10 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

The OBC amount is the same as it was pre Covid.  Booking a Royal cruise while on a Celebrity cruise gets you the exact same.

Sorry, to clarify I meant, I'm going to look at booking a Celebrity cruise whilst onboard our upcoming Celebrity cruise.

By pre-covid I didn't mean immediately before. In the past we had sailed on several RCI cruises where future cruises were offering many $100's OBC for bookings. Guests were rushing to book because they were allowed to spend that OBC on their current cruise. RCI stopped that after a few years.

The cost of cruising has increased since we started cruising 16 years ago and has increased significantly since the pandemic. Extras onboard, such as drinks packages, excursions etc have also increased but OBC has remained at pretty much the same level over the years. I feel that OBC isn't offered for bookings as regularly as it used to be.

I think there is a bit of a 'make up lost time' feeling for those holidaying from the UK post pandemic, but once this dies down a bit cruiselines might have to re-think. Itineraries stay pretty much the same in Europe and if you cruise regularly this can get a bit boring.

Guests booking in the UK also don't get as much flexibility with bookings and terms and conditions are different.

LindyWebb, we just booked RCI for October and hardly any balconies left. We may get OBC by booking onboard but are now wondering if there be any decent rooms left by then for 2024. Cruises are selling out fast from UK.

Ourusualbeach,

Thanks. Not to be sniffed at but those huge OBC's pre-Covid are gone by the looks of it. Got a Celebrity sailing before the RCI cruise so may see what they are offering onboard.

Hi,

Just wondering what onboard future cruise deals RCI are offering these days, specifically cruises from the UK on Anthem?

Any onboard credit?

Thanks

Thanks for the link.

Have either of you had a problem getting flights for your cruise through RCL, e.g. in a situation where you can't book the flights at the same time as your cruise because it's too far in advance and you have to book them months after booking your cruise?

We haven't flown for a Royal Caribbean cruise for some years now. The last time we did, you booked your flights at the end of the cruise booking process online. If the flights were on sale (within 9-10 months of the holiday) you could select which flight you wanted. If they weren't on sale RCL would allocate them once they became available.

How are flights booked through RCL these days? 

I went through a dummy booking omline but wasn't given the option to  book flights.

If a guest is booking independant flights but using RCL port bus transfers are you still met by an RCL rep in the airport?

44 minutes ago, sandancer said:

The Holiday Inn have a package which includes room and breakfast, parking and a taxi each way to and from the ship. It’s very convenient and not ridiculously expensive. We would do it again. 

Sandancer,

We normally stay overnight at Holiday Inn so this was one of our options. How does the return taxi pick-up operate?

We would really like to give P&O cruises a try as they have several itineraries we like.

On our past cruises with other cruiselines from Southampton, we've been able to park alongside the ship with ABP, which is so easy and convenient and we like to keep our car keys with us.

My question is, what parking options (for P&O's cruise terminal) have you used where you park the car yourself and keep your car keys? And, are taxis readily available when you disembark a P&O ship in Southampton?

We have considered doing a hotel stay with parking (e.g. Hilton Ageas Bowl) but wonder how reliable the taxi transfers are when you book hotels with cruise parking.

Any ideas/help would be great-thanks.

Thank you all for your kind and informative replies, I feel much better about it all now. I think we've become a bit too comfortable with Royal over the years. Who know's maybe this is just the start of a new cruise experience 😊

Zubrette, we are exactly the same and love the choice and relaxed feel of the buffet. Having said that, the Tuscan Grill looks enticing.

We cruise to relax and don't like to plan anything in advance.

We are taking our first cruise with Celebrity this year. We have sailed with Royal Caribbean for many years, so on Celebrity we will transfer over to Elite level in Captains Club. We've got comfortable with Royal as we know the score (what's included in our fare etc), but I'm worried about this cruise because there seems to be so many areas that only certain guests are allowed to use and I don't want to embarass myself going somewhere I'm not allowed to.

We are in a Sunset Verandah on Silouette.

Are there any bars/areas we are not allowed in? 

Are these by keycard entry (that way we'll know)?

I know we get complimentary Captains Club menu drinks 5pm-7pm but are there bars on Silouette these are not available?

Sorry for all the questions

Thanks

As kindly advised by SbbquilterUT,  it has been confirmed by Celebrity that no price guarantee is applicable (could be just for the UK). No compensation was offered, it's just 'tough luck' unless you want to cancel and re-book forfeiting your £300 deposit.

Thanks everyone, I will ask Celebrity. I've never seen this happen before, prices usually go up!

Guindalf, I think your answer would have been a little friendlier if you'd left out the first sentence. Members come to the boards asking for advice and help. If you can't be nice, don't answer, because it spoils the whole point of the boards and puts members off asking questions. None of us know everything about cruising.