lisa6191

So in another thread, someone pointed out that if you purchase your specialty dining in the cruise planner, there is no gratuity added, but if you wait to purchase onboard, they do add the 18% gratuity. Is this correct? If you purchase in the cruise planner, is there no gratuity added at any point unless you give one yourself voluntarily? It seems like it would be better to purchase ahead of time in that case, although I guess the price on board could go low enough to compensate for the extra 18%. I had been planning to just wait and see what we feel like doing on board, but maybe it's worth it to plan ahead.

Does anyone know if it works the same way for spa treatments?

4 minutes ago, dsvd79 said:

No price drop for me too, including my 2021 cruise.

 

Oh well

My May 2020 cruise is actually more expensive than when I booked a month ago.

3 minutes ago, The Fun Researcher said:

 

I don't even see where it says the type of cabin you are getting with a "We pick your room" option.  Say, in the case of an Interior on the Majesty, I have two options:

 

1 - "You pick your room" for an interior, which doesn't let me choose and actual cabin, but rather kicks me to and "Interior Guarantee"  which is listed as 2v, 4v or 6v

1 - "We pick your room" for an interior.  (This option doesn't say what level of cabin, 2v, 4v, or 6v, but how could it be any different?)

This was exactly my question. When you do "we pick your room" you go right to the checkout pages, and there is no indication of which level cabin you are guaranteeing. On "you pick your room", the guarantee says it could be 1D, 3D, 5D, 6D or 7D. This includes the "worst" cabins as described above by timf2001. Why would the second option be $50 more, since both seem to guarantee a 7D and up? It makes no sense.

6 minutes ago, timf2001 said:

 

Explorer has class D (regular) and class B (spacious) balcony cabins.  The lower numbers are considered better locations, with 1B being the best and 7D being the worst.  Even number categories fit only 2 people, while odd number categories can fit additional guests.  Class E only applies to Quantum class, which is obstructed view balcony.

Thanks! Once they assign me, will it say what the category is?

2 hours ago, timf2001 said:

The "We Pick Your Room" categories are the guarantee-specific categories (WS, XB, XN, YO, ZI).  The "You Pick Your Room" categories are specific stateroom categories that have gone into guarantee status.  If you book the former, you can get assigned to any room in that category.  With the latter, you are guaranteed no worse than the category specified.  There's not always logic behind the pricing, as factors such as Going Going Gone can make certain categories cost more or less than their typical hierarchy.

 

For example:

If you book a category XB, you can get assigned any type of balcony from class 1A-2E.

If you book a category 6D guarantee, you'll never get assigned to a 7-8D or a class E, but could still get as high as a 1A (or whatever the best balcony cabin the ship has).

I'm a newbie, can you explain what 7-8D and class E would mean? Do all ships have all the categories? This is on the Explorer.

They are both guarantee cabins, right? So why is the "you pick your room" one showing up as more expensive? This is in the balcony category, if it matters.

54 minutes ago, GTO-Girl said:

Yes....but you “may” be able to pay for an upgrade after final payment date 

I was just able to upgrade from interior to balcony guarantee after final payment date.  Only $100!

5 minutes ago, JennyB1977 said:

@lisa6191 I flew direct (aka nonstop) DCA to MIA. We landed earlier than planned and even with a medical situation on board were off prior to our expected time.

Departed 7:52am (7 minutes early)   ==>  Landed 10:08am (36 minutes early)

Great, thank you. We are booked on a nonstop flight from philly that is supposed to land at MIA at 9:45 am. I was assuming that was totally fine until I started reading these boards and started second guessing myself LOL. It's the first flight of the day and a nonstop and not in snow season, so I can't imagine we will have a problem. (I know, never say never). Glad to hear it went well for you, makes me feel better.

Jenny - What time did your flight land on embarkation day? I assume you flew into MIA?

Thanks!

Is there any way to find out what time the evening shows are?

6 hours ago, Biker19 said:

Be prepared for "feedback" on the efficacy of flying in the day of the cruise.

 Why, is that not what people do? I wasn't planning to come the day before and have to pay for a hotel. The ship doesn't sail till 5, I have to think landing at 9:45 am is safe. Am I missing something?

On the other end, is it okay to land at Miami at 9:45 am on embarkation day? I assume that leaves us plenty of leeway right?

4 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

 

It's not unusual for Royal to change the occupancy levels in a stateroom.  In fact, someone recently had a post here about how their stateroom was recategorized, they could not have it anymore, and were given a couple of other choices.

Is that what taking away the sofabed means? That less people can be booked in that cabin? But wouldn't it also mean they are removing the existing sofabed from the cabin? So you think they are just moving them around? It doesn't make any sense to me. 

OK, I went through the booking process to see what was available, and it looks like they have made it so that if you want a sofabed in an ocean view with large balcony, you have to have at least 3 people, and there aren't any on decks 9 or 10. So I can't even put my kids in that category with a sofabed even if I were willing to change decks. Annoying.

It still seems like it will require at least some changes to the staterooms themselves (to change furniture), though, so we can hope for a little refreshing.

Well, they are doing something to the staterooms - I just went to check the deck plan for deck 9, as that is where our cabins are, and the cabin I booked that supposedly has a sofabed no longer has one after the refurb. If you click back and forth between the two versions on the decks you can see the changes. As far as I can tell decks 9 and 10 are losing sofabed cabins, but decks 7, 8, 11, 12, and 14 are gaining sofabed cabins. Decks 3 and 6 look pretty much unchanged. I don't necessarily need the sofabed but I was hoping to have it as an option for my adult kids in case the separated twin beds were too small for them.

Oh ok. I didn't think that could possibly be right! Thanks for your help.

Hi - I have already purchased Thrill waterpark passes for our Coco Cay day. Now I am trying to purchase the full day Chill Island beach bed (the one for $199) and when I get to the final step, it says I have a calendar conflict. Can you only book one or the other? That seems silly.