leaveitallbehind

Being sold out typically is not a factor. Our sailing was sold out as well, as you mention, but dining packages were offered though the planner unit just a couple of weeks prior to our sailing. But at this late date to your sailing they likely will no longer be offered on the planner. They were offering packages on board, in particular on the first and second day, but as we already had ours I have no idea how they were priced as we never looked at them. Tuscan is one that frequently will be discounted independently, but not as likely with Murano and Qsine. Just check at any restaurant after you board or certainly there will be staff walking around offering packages. Just have to see if the pricing is attractive for you or not.

If you are referring to the D+ BOGO, that is typically used with dinners and I don't believe Hibachi is included. We have never used the BOGO for lunch.

To answer your first question, Eclipse and her crew were great! To your second question, I am not aware of an a la carte menu at Murano and the specialty restaurant fee was not discounted on board. They were offering a discount at Tuscan, however, at least in our case for a second night of dining. We had a three night dining package so that was not of interest or relevant for us. Tips are also a separate additional charge. If you have high enough tier status with Captain's Club they will discount the fee by the appropriate tier level percentage. We ate at Murano, Tuscan, and Qsine under our package and all were very good. We also ate twice a la cart at Sushi on 5 and had our CC discount applied there. Enjoy your cruise!

JMO but we usually eat one of our dinners and often a lunch at Hibachi and in our experience we have not found the per person advance credit through the planner to be a good value as Hibachi (with the exception of their typically one fixed offering) is a la carte and we have never reached or exceeded that amount with our per person a la carte selections. In the above lunch example we would find it hard to equal the $33.99 pp by a la carte - even if that amount is for a "fixed" offering. Again, JMO - your results may vary.

You can ask for any cocktail at any restaurant. While some restaurants may have a bar menu for their signature drinks, that does not limit you to only those drinks. There typically are not restrictions on what they will make as most of the specialty restaurants use an outside bar for their cocktail service. Just got off Eclipse and we dined at every specialty restaurant and that was the case in our experience. We were able to order anything we wanted as long as the bar serving the restaurant was able to make it. For instance, not all bars are equipped to make what the Martini or World Class bars can offer. But beyond that the just about anything can be made by any bar. The only limitation with the drink packages is with the brands of alcohol used and range of included beverages between the Classic and Premium packages.

We're both guilty of the same thing from opposite ends - LOL

Smoking is permitted outdoors on certain decks with non-US based RCCL sailings, but you are correct that no indoor venue - including the casino - allows smoking. My previous comments were relative to US based sailings and for clarity I should have indicated that.

We have seen on board bookings in the past with tours that supposedly were closed on the planner. Admit that this is not first hand information as we don't typically do ship based excursions, so maybe things have changed - only saying what we have seen and heard from others in the past. But agree that it is not likely a good bet - only saying it might be worth checking.

Hard to say as the tour operator has to be able to accommodate extra people, perhaps by scheduling an additional tour, which may not be feasible. If they do not you can try on board as they may hold back some spots for on board bookings. Also keep checking your planner as cancelations do occur occasionally and something may open up pre-cruise.

Sometimes old wounds are the hardest to heal... As I think you know my biggest heartaches are with the Birds stemming from the days when winning the coin toss was considered a victory. Enjoy your continued cruising!

One thing to add, gratuities, when purchased in advance, typically are done so by way of credit card. On board the charges are applied daily to your on board account and mitigated by OBC as described.

While the information provided by @cruisestitch is very complete and accurate, the short answer is that with the exception of a future cruise deposit, all on board purchases will be charge without discretion as they occur against any non-refundable cruise issued OBC. You cannot preselect or determine what it is applied to. Pre cruise purchases through the planner will also use OBC first before being applied to your credit card. These purchases are also refundable up to two days prior to sailing and reinstated to your OBC value. Non-cruise line sponsored third party refundable OBC is applied second with any remaining balance returned to the source of purchase.

As mentioned previously, RCCL permits smoking in the casino on all of their ships, although it now is restricted to a certain smoking area. This includes Radiance. (Certain Oasis class ships also have a second smaller non-smoking casino). This is a policy that is not likely to change anytime soon.

That is an incorrect assumption on your part. I understand why it was enacted and that it has nothing to do with cruise fares. They just fall under its scope. I was interpreting comments that implied to me that optional purchases would be included as part of the base fare plus taxes and port fees disclosure as part of that pricing. Perhaps I was incorrect in that interpretation. If individual planner purchases don't reflect that final price with, say, a gratuity or other charge, then including those charges as part of that disclosure individually, then fine. Currently those additional charges are indicated as being applied, usually by a percentage descriptor, and that total is shown in the cart as check out. So it is still shown, but not as a total in the initial price. Showing it as a total up front may not provide a method of breaking down the elements of the cost. Some may prefer seeing that breakdown, as either way the net total cost is the same. JMO

Please don't be including me as one of your 20 - I find this whole thing amusing.

I don't see how it would be remotely feasible to include any possible optional purchase in the total cruise fare plus port fees and taxes scenario. There are dozens of options including wifi, drink packages, shore excursions, etc. How could you possibly include any or all of them in a total fare disclosure under the CA regulation? That IMO is not what that is about. CA is mandating only required fees and charges to be included with the total fare cost so that there are no "hidden" or additional required charges added later. It does not include optional additional on board purchases which one may or may not decide to add. When a decision is made to purchase a cruise, optional planner charges are not mandatory costs that would be included in the base fare scenario. Unless I am missing your point.

Got it. In other words, to qualify go on the Celebrity website and look at the CC benefits.

....as are you. LOL

LOL. Probably a generic anonymous mailer name as they also are including what likely is a bogus CC number - especially as there is no loyalty tier level as "Preview".

Got it and thank you. That was kind of what I suspected, which is why I asked. Just got off Eclipse and no such thing existed.

If you have it, it would be helpful if you could attach the actual ad, or a link to it, so we can see what it says.

Agree with some of the previous comments. The one fallacy I see with this is that a reason that taxes and port charges are shown separately is that they can and do vary by sailing and are not a "constant". Having them shown separately allows for full transparency of the cruise fares which provides direct category comparison and clarity with any fare changes over time. You then get the total of the fees and fare combined with any mock booking. Simple and fair. If port fees and taxes are buried into this total, IMO that benefit is lost and deciphering actual fare changes would be more difficult. As planner purchases are optional and not mandatory they would not be required to be included. Not clear how gratuities should be handled but my understanding is the regulatory change looks to only apply to the required fare purchase fees such as port fees and taxes. IMO the whole exercise is unnecessary.

The only "reconsideration" with RCCL we've seen in recent years regarding casino smoking is to have a section that is smoking and a section that is non. The smoking section may be vented to assist that, but the smoke still "travels" and is noticeable in the non-smoking area. On some ships (Oasis class as one) the former Comedy Club venue is a small non-smoking casino. To date is limited to only certain ships. But the main casino still provides areas for both smoking and non-smoking. Fortunately we are not gamblers so we can avoid that area other than to walk through. Specific to Radiance class ships, the casino smoking criticism has been that the entrance to the casino is at the Centrum and when smoke travels from the casino the aroma occasionally will find its way to the Centrum and then up to the higher decks through that area.

I completely agree regarding the indoor smoking. However, we don't gamble so the smoking in the casino is not a big factor other than smoke can travel - LOL. We do primarily specialty dining, so that with us is a factor. But as I said we like both for different reasons and have cruised both.

I wasn't suggesting that the PA would be holding the pier open for RCCL "just in case". Clearly RCCL will schedule arrival and departure times based on their itinerary and pay only for the time they are actually in port. I am saying that the pier may just be available during the period you indicate due to no other ships scheduled to be in port requiring that pier at the time. RCCL clearly books the pier arrival and departure time they need and that pier may be available beyond that as no other ships happen to be planning to be there then. Not every pier has ships scheduled 24 / 7 - there are open times. It's not a debate. If that is not the case and they ultimately plan to overnight there, you will clearly hear from RCCL to confirm it. If so, that would be nice so that you can have an extended stay. Brilliance has an itinerary that allows for that, but that is clearly indicated on their itinerary currently. So maybe Radiance will change their current times and will do so as well. Time will tell.