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Daghis

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Posts posted by Daghis

  1. 1 hour ago, texasreb said:

    The hosts seemed dis-organized. Should have addressed our concerns.

     

    It's not quite apt, but you'd think that Royal Caribbean would show more interest in "the hands that feed [them]".

     

    I swear that Royal Caribbean/Casino Royale continue to show that they are either unable or just don't care to address the various issues they have. I called Royal Caribbean in early December to stop receiving offers, but they keep coming. It used to be that I couldn't get RC to send me any offers, and now I can't get them to stop. (My husband and I have completely given up on RC based on our past several post-pandemic cruises, and I don't need to get offers that have zero interest for me.)

    • Like 2
  2. 4 minutes ago, texasreb said:

    Could not redeem points for Free Play.

    I know that NCL will automatically cash in leftover points for OBC, but I don't recall whether that's a Casino Royale practice. That would've helped alleviate some of that inconvenience at least. Of course, the OBC would need to be refundable to be truly useful.

    • Like 1
  3. For those who may interested in the kinds of comps that Casino Royale offers, you may want to peruse this thread where we discuss things related to the casino loyalty program, mostly related to the kinds of comps people are or (more interestingly) are not getting.

     

    Several there have had their offers diminish in value no longer including offering sailings from ports local to them. We've also started seeing half-comps, where you get the first passenger for free but you have to pay the "discounted casino rate" for the second passenger, even if you're sailing solo.

    • Like 1
  4. I'm currently on my first transatlantic sailing (on Symphony of the Seas). Since I'd not done such a cruise before, I had concerns the water might be rougher than I could handle.

     

    I used Amazon Clinic ($30, I think) for a text-only consult to the responding physician's assistant who coordinated with the doctor to verify that scopolamine would be okay for me based on my history and then they prescribed it. I sent that prescription to Amazon Pharmacy who filled it using my insurance (so just $5 for 8 patches) and then sent them to me overnight. This way ended up being cheaper than going to my local doctor.

     

    I'm pleased that I was able to get this medicine relatively easily, just in case. I am wearing my first ever patch now, and it has seemed to help, although maybe I would've been just fine if I'd let my mildly nauseated stomach rest a bit.

    • Like 1
  5. On 10/24/2023 at 9:30 AM, skaberriecake said:

    Right now it's full price at $49.99/day. Who the heck pays that 😂😳

     

    I was shocked to see that our 14-night transatlantic coming up on Sunday is offering The Key for $49.99/day. Other than the daily internet benefit, it seems to me that the majority of value of The Key comes from the beginning and end of the cruise, I figure I must be missing something that The Key offers if this price is perceived as fair.

    • Like 1
  6. On 5/9/2023 at 8:35 AM, Daghis said:

    I got a letter from the IRS saying that I failed to report three W-2G forms totalling $11,133 from Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd in 2021. The problem is that I didn't win any jackpots anywhere in 2021. In fact, I didn't do much gambling at all that year.

    I have an epilogue to this story now.

     

    After a couple of months, I received a letter from the IRS basically saying, "We're still investigating. Don't call us, we'll write you." Then, a few weeks ago, I received the letter stating that they accepted my information (the corrected W-2Gs from Royal Caribbean showing that those wins were actually from 2020) and the matter is now closed.

    • Like 1
    • Thanks 1
  7. I wonder whether those are more expensive ports (or if it's merely the much more limited number of ships and sailings from those ports) are restricted to higher offers. As I've posted, I get offers from all those ports. My offers are currently ending in 02 or 03.

     

    (My "jackpot offer" doesn't seem to count by that reasoning, though. It was just a handful of four older ships' 4-night sailings. And that was an 01 offer.)

  8. 13 hours ago, RFerrington said:

    Interesting.  I always thought that casino comps could NOT use a GTY category. 

    I know that the comps were only valid if there were direct cabin bookings available; if a sailing was guarantee-only for the comped category, you couldn't book it. I bet that's still the case.

     

    Could one, with a comped balcony cabin on a sailing with available cabins, elect to book a guarantee cabin instead before this recent offer? I wonder whether anyone even tried... seems risky for a comp.

    • Like 2
  9. 20 hours ago, SRF said:

    And one thing I found out was that if you buy the package, you cannot use your free day.

     

    We normally get one internet package and share it.  One cruise we both needed internet for a period of time one day.  So we used my GFs one day, great.  Next day, I tried to use my one day, but there is no way to access it if you have the package.

    As Diamond Plus, my husband and I each get 2 free days. What I've done on each of the past several cruises is to go to the internet desk when there are 4 days remaining in the cruise and ask the person to bump up our package by one device for the remainder of the cruise. Most recently, I had purchased a 4-device package in advance for our group. Then, on day 4 of a 7-day cruise, the crew member handling the internet desk "cashed in" our two 2-free-day coupons and bumped up our package* to a 5-device one.

     

    Based on my past interactions doing this, this seems like a relatively routine request. It just has to be handled manually since their end-user system doesn't support that kind of a transaction.

     

    * One minor necessary "glitch" is that the cancelling of the lower package to replace it with the higher one signs out all devices requiring logging in again, so keep that in mind.

    • Like 1
    • Thanks 1
  10. 37 minutes ago, GetToLivin said:

    We also had 11730 on Allure last December and the balcony was hands down our favorite part about that suite. It's huge, perfect views, great place to sit and take it all in, enjoy!!

    That was definitely a perfect balcony for our large group to enjoy sailaway back in 2014 when it was still a public balcony. 😄 We were even able to be seen from shore!

     

    image.thumb.png.bf0e77d2e57773e175541b696b31baf2.png

    • Like 3
  11. I've not personally heard about retroactive charging, but the way I figured they'd handle it is to 1) stop giving offers to that member, and maybe 2) cancel offers already extended (allowing the member to pay). #2 is obviously a severe outcome that should be reserved for abuse, which I hope isn't happening.

     

    From what I've seen, though, is that there seems to be a disconnect between landside operations and actual happenings onboard. I had learned some time ago (I don't know its current state) that if you were flying out of Las Vegas, it didn't pay to gamble at the hotel offering you perks on the last day because the lower amount of play on that last day would lower your Average Daily Theoretical (ADT), which then could lower your offers.

     

    For Royal Caribbean, I've suspected that if you accept a casino offer and go on the cruise but never go in the casino, no update is made to your ADT, thus you continue to get the same kinds of offers. It's almost as if you were never there in the first place. I have no idea whether this is true, but I don't think it'd surprise me.

    • Like 3
  12. On 9/25/2023 at 3:38 PM, PompeySailor said:

    We very rarely even speak to the hosts onboard,

    I think this was on my last pre-pan cruise on Mariner of the Seas (4-night). I tried to interact with the host, but even while standing at his or her (don't recall) desk, I felt like they didn't want to take the time to interact. One of the 2 or 3 times I tried to stop by, I walked away after a minute or two of not even being acknowledged standing there at their desk.

     

    I felt that I got much more out of the Club Royale experience when it was by-invitation-only (after 2,000 points earned on one cruise). The perks were very straightforward (discount on your cruise or cash at the casino cashier), and I felt like they (both landside and hosts) really tried to make us "VIPs" feel special.

     

    I still have very fond memories of my early-ish days of being a "VIP". I was traveling with ~20 friends. I had commented that we were going to be dining at Portofino later in the week. I guess my play was pretty good (and it wasn't even that much by later years' standards) as he comped the meal for all of us in the party and even comped $200 for wine. It's this kind of treatment that made me want to spend more in the casino (!) to be treated so nicely. Yeah, bad psychology in action, but that was the truth.

    • Like 3
  13. 19 minutes ago, irishgal432 said:

    First night  FILET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

     

    Surprisingly Chicken noodle soup from the kids menu.

    Oh, yes! You're speaking my language. I think I almost prefer night 1 Coastal Kitchen filet over paying an arm and a leg at Chops. Yeah, no question about that! 😄

     

    For me, though, the soup is the French onion. That soup is like what they used to serve in Chops and it's so good, much better than the waterier version in the MDR from my experiences. Sadly, I just can't eat anywhere near as much as I used to, so it's either the filet or the soup these days.

     

    Oh, and on our last cruise with friends, one of our friends is a real meat lover, and she really enjoys dinner at Chops. Our last cruise together had us in a GS and they in the JS next door. It was nice that we could have dinner together at CK. The maïtre d', bless his heart, made sure that she could have filet every night. 🥰

    • Like 1
  14. 59 minutes ago, skiiergirl said:

    Would love this but didn’t get the invite!  Not the big gambler some of y’all are! 

    Oh, if that were the only reason, that would make sense. Then again, if it made sense, Royal Caribbean/Club Royale probably wouldn't do things that way.

     

    I'm getting comped balcony cabins regularly again. Here's my current status:

    image.thumb.png.6227cc816b3022b9d1714f9766f7fb86.png

    • Haha 2
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