faymuiheng

So weighing all your thoughts and a little digging on my own, this was what I did.

Found out that the upgrade from O would cost us $3875/person USD on top of our cruise. If we booked on our own, the credit was $800 per person.

Flights we wanted, was from Vancouver , BC to Nice and them from Madrid back to Vancouver.

Fare we booked, was with British Airways business class on all legs. cost $4209 / person.

with the exchange rate , we found that by booking on our own, we were able to save at least $400 Canadian per person.

Hi ...need some advice.

We've decided to upgrade our flights with oceania to business class on our cruise for this OCT. Have yet to reach final payment....

1/ is there a deviation fee involved in this?

and

2/ can we request which routing we would like?

First time using air by cruise line, so whatever advice you have would be appreciated!

Thanks...

I just checked my profile and noticed that they did offer a discount for the first night. My cruise only offered the Tuscan Grille for $15 off. nothing else... fine with me, and it did let me use my OBC to pay for it.

My last cruise in 2017, we were offered 25% off on the 2nd last night of the cruise in another specialty restaurant, so it does happen.

Printed and in my travel folder

so we can still wait to buy onboard, just wait til it's left the port...

Thanks!!

We have cruised out of a variety of ports where they charge you sales tax on drink purchases while still in port. That said, I have seen other threads that indicate if you purchase the AIBP onboard, they will not submit the charge until after sailing, and the ship is beyond the mileage requirement for collecting tax. I do not have any personal experience with purchasing the AIBP on the ship, but it sounds like you will be fine if you wait. My spouse has purchased the soda and more package numerous times on the ship before sailing, and they have never submitted the charge until after sailing. No tax was ever collected.

Hi ...

is anyone able to advise if there is sales tax on buying beverage package on board, if we board in Vancouver BC?

If that is the case, I will buy it online. At his point, we don't know which package we want, and will wait, if there is no tax.

thanks!

You can get Starbucks at two places.

1/ promenade by Ben and Jerry's ice cream

2/ windjammer at the bar, front entrance

Cross posting...

** we just got off from Alaska, left ship at 815am walk off/self assisted.

cleared building and into bus parking lot area with 20mins.

they really did well on this disembarkation!

oh and about CUSTOMS...

we did walk off, left ship at about 815am, line up only for scanning cards , and for escalator. once we got off the escalator, we walked a steady pace to CUSTOMS, and handed in the card, off we went.

Fastest time ever!!!

Just got off the Explorer on the 9th Sep.

- gave us bathrobes, just have to ask.

- pillows were rather flat, so we asked for a 3rd one for each of us.

- formal nights were not very strict. We booked specialty restaurants for a few nights.

- ** tip ** if CHOPS/specialty restaurant is not busy, they will sometimes, have someone come out and cruise the promenade asking if you are interested in coming, for 20perc off. We couldn't make up our minds, and they offered a bottle of wine on top of it. so instead of 35bucks/person, it was $28.

I know!..

Get her something from one of the shops on board..... I know I can always find something I like. Even if it's something small, she will know you got it onboard and love it even more!

Specialty restaurants.....so worth it...........

That's what I thought as well, but she did ask specifically about beverage package, cause she didn't believe me.

It's possible the rep your cousin spoke with didn't understand and thought the question was about gratuities that are given to the crew...bartenders, dining staff, cabin attendants, etc. Those are added daily and appear on your onboard account and are payable the last day of your cruise.

Thanks for the speedy reply.

My cousin was told, that it was tallied up, and charged to the room towards the last day.m

Again, thanks for the clarification. Our first time with any such drink package. Now comes the hard part, self control once we get on the ship! :p

Could someone please clarify for me, as I'm getting conflicting information. We have the premium beverage package booked, and I'm assuming that the gratuities is already included unless we tip additionally each time. Is this correct?

Reason why I'm asking, is that when I called celebrity direct , they gave me one answer and when my cousin called a few days later , she got the opposite answer.

Thanks

Take the OBC and drink package.

OBC will cover the grats plus extra left over.

Internet you can get outside on the port days.

Anyone able to advise if this is avail on the Infinity?

we have a $450 OBC to spend, and we already have grats/beverage/wifi covered...

If I could offer any suggestions. We were on the cruise on 07FEB.

- if you had any hotel reservation at the end, in case you wanted to stay a few more days, try and contact them to change the dates, and waive fees if non refundable. A few of our friends did that, and the hotels were accommodating.

- same goes for the airlines. United was super in waiving our change fees due to mishap.

- otherwise, your credit card you purchased airfare on, may offer trip interruption.

Booked one for SEPT to Alaska!

First change fee was made when we were told we were arriving at pier for 6am. When we got the update that it was then changed to 9pm, we tried to make a 2nd change. Due to us flying one particular airline home, we could not make any changes due to flights all sold out til the 14th of FEB.

We then called our credit company to see if we could apply for flight interruption , we were allowed to book upto $5000 per person in economy class only. This saved us from double change fee.

ROYAL will cover us for the change fee, but not the baggage fee to check bags. Our original carrier allowed one free bag /person. Gonna try and check on this again.

ps...off topic, but does anyone here have any concerns that the life jackets were all on the same floor as the lifeboats? We were on the 13th floor, and found that somewhat disturbing.

Thanks, tried going thru their website and it wasn't showing one. I called them and they said NO....

thought someone here would know if different. I've called a few times before for other issues, and was advised incorrectly. My second choice was to check here.

Thanks!

Bumping post up. Now that retrofit is done, anyone know?

OOOHHH....I'd be all over that....:)

My husband's niece, who also sailed with us, had a great idea for compensation. RCCL should make everyone on 02/06 Anthem as honorary Diamond members! It would cost them nothing to do.

These charges could be a number of things...

-all beverage packages were pro-rated

-duty free liquor and shop purchases were not refunded

-specialty restaurants.....

etc....

Hey I am new here and was wondering if anyone could help me.

I was onboard the anthem that was was stuck in the storm and had to return to port. I just had 175 euro taken from my account from the anthem of the seas. I've no idea what this could have been for and I was expecting Royal Carribbean to be refunding me not charging me further. As you can tell I am new to this as this was my first cruise. Has anybody else had similiar issues? Any help would be greatly appreciated

Got the cert and always used up! rebooked for cruise to Alaska in SEP. Explorer of the Seas. Painless, and was even pleased that our points went into the system.

Merci Beaucoup ROYAL!

:):):):):)

Just checked our account. We got all 7 cruise points. YAY!!!