juanarcin

I would have assumed also since they say every person in a stateroom has to have it, by changing rooms inboard now every person in the new stateroom doesn't have it. Seems like a very basic loophole that would be exploited often.

Yeah I figured, regarding buying drinks for her dad. We aren't trying to do anythign that would get us in any trouble. Mixing Deluxe and refreshment packages seems like a possible solution but I didnt see the option when trying to purchase online, thanks for letting me know abotu calling it in!

Is this somethign that can be done? Basically, My wife and I are going on a cruise with her parents. 2 seperate rooms. Her dad and I are the only ones that drink and we want to buy the deluxe drink package. Since everyone in the room has to get a package, we are thinking of putting her dad and I in one room (we buy the package), and her and her mom in another (they dont buy the package). Once on board we give each other access to both rooms so wife and I can always stay in our room and her parents in theirs. At first glance this seems simple enough but I'm wondering if this would be an issue in any ways that I'm not considering, including causing issues against RC policies. Originally we figured wife and I would buy them and she would just buy drinks for her dad, but I think this is much worse as it would be "sharing", even if she doesnt drink. So we are now considering this room solution. Any thoughts?

THanks everyone, looks like I will have to look for a later one.

we did our first (ond only ) Alaska cruise in early May on Princes last year. Everythign was frozen and white. it was an amazing sight!

My wife and I did Alaska for the first time last year and we loved it! We want to take her parents and ar eplannign a trip but there are two main points of interest. Glacier Bay and the White Pass railroad. We found a cruise on NCL that has these stops and is in our budget, but if I look at the excursions, I don't see White Pass Railroad as an option. I also checked a popular excursion website that I sometimes do 3rd party excursions from and it doesnt show the train. Then if I check The actual Railroad website I see it doesnt search that far in advance (April of 2025), but I also see a lot of blocked out dates. I'm not sure if those dates are sold out or unavailable, and now I'm concerned about getting a cruise only to find out that the train isn't an option since it's one of the main reasons we are going. Any idea how I can verify if it operates on the dates I will be in Skagway?

Leaving out of gavelston on rc and I've seen the messages about not showing up early. But our hotel won't hold our luggage and we have to check out at 11. Our boarding time is at 12:30 so it's not the end of the world but it's our parents first time and we would hate to have their first experience start with them standing outside in the sun for an hour and a half holding luggage! Can we drop it off and wander around for an hour?

Wondering what you learned to do after cruising multiple times to save time, money or aggrevation? Anything from packing, to planning multiple dinner reservations, picking excursions, picking ships or cabins, TA, ordering drinks...anything you can think of! Any info is very much appreciated, thanks!

Those events aren't free but in my experience they have been worth the price. Some can't have more people due to seating, such as the sushi making classes that are limited to the size of the space. But I always wondered why events held in bigger spots like club venues had limits of about 20 people. Then one time I went to a cocktail mixing class and about 10 minutes before it started someone walked in and they were told the class was full but the host hesitated and said, "you know what? we have the space, take a seat and join" and he got their sail card to charge. Then another walked in and another, eventually we started 5 minutes late because so many people kept joining. Then because of the amount of people each part of the event took longer as more people asked questions or simply because making drinks for 35 people takes longer than making them for 25. so we couldn't do the entire class since the space was needed for another event before it ended. It was fun, but I understand why they limit the amount of people.

Yeah, but also, while this post has mostly focused on shows, it's also common for things like the ship tour, sushi courses, alcohol tastings etc to get booked pretty fast

I've heard simular, though it still sort of leaves many in a bad spot if they board late. Because boarding is the same game as events, if you forget for a day about checking in, all the early boarding times are gone and if you get in later you risk boarding a ship with most shows and restaurants already booked.

You're right and to be fair, it does take a while before things are fully booked. I do think that RC can do a better job of announcing some sort of countdown to the booking though. As far as I know we get one email at the 7 day mark, but things officially open at the 30 day mark. so by the 7 day mark things are getting full and the popular stuff is gone. Even as past cruisers who understands the importance of bookig day one, I have still woken up with a calendar notification that its time to reserve...only to see many events got booked because people wait til midnight so they can be first to book. It's like checking in for your flight, if you are even an hour late to the party, all the good stuff is gone!

This is what it is then! My last 4 cruises have been on Oasis and Quantum and I just assumed it was anew thing after the pandemic! Its definitely a great system but also very flawed. I love it when I can book, but it also sucks to wake up on the day you can start booking and see that everythign got booked already by the Level 5 Cruisers who stayed up till midnight to reserve every event on multiple phones simultaniously 😂

Seems like you got the answer you needed, but just FYI, if you are ever on one of th eships that do require reservations, they are done through the app and you can start making them 30 days before the cruise at midnight. But be strategic about it, I'm on the west coast so I'm behind everyone by a few hours and have literally woken up and gone straight to the app only to see things have been fully booked! Its rare but it has happened with the popular stuff like the ship tour or the cooking classes and alcohol tasting events.

As others have said on this thread, Maybe its specific to certain class ships or maybe even just ships. I experienced this on the Panorama I believe though now that you mention it I'm starting to woder if it was a RC Quantum class ship. I have had frustrations with the reservation systems and I thought it was a newer thing because I've only started experiencing it within the last 4 cruises or so, but after reading through some of these responses, I guess its because the last few cruises Ive done have all been Oasis or Quantum classes. My concern is that this system encourages booking frenzys to avoid missing out. This causes people to book "in case" they want to go and if they dont go, then everyone who didnt book is left thinking theres no room. And dont get me started on the dining rsvp when you have the dinning package. Ive ended up in situations where all restaurants are booked and I can't even use it for the night. I know I'm supposed to make all reservations on day one, but I'd rather eat what Im craving at the moment, not what I put on a spreadsheet last Sunday. Ok I'm starting to sound angry haha, honestly, I still love every minute of it, just had to vent 😋

My first cruise was on Mariner of the seas. I had a blast and have been cruising as often as possible since then (12 years ago). Lately I've been doing a lot fo the bigger ships and am curious if anyone thinks the reservation system might lead to a bad experience to first time cruisers? For example, experienced cruisers know that you can rsvp events at about 30 days prior to cruising. But about 7 days prior to cruising an email goes out saying you can reserve. By this point so many shows are full, and events/attractions sold out. Especially the good stuff because experienced cruisers know whats good and they flock to it as soon as possible...meaning if its your first time, you have no idea and will likely not experience the ice show, the sky diving, the aqua shows, the cooking classes or the alcohol tasting events...because they are all sold out or full by th etime you get that "Start reserving" email! I started thinking about this on one of my last cruises which was also my first Carnival cruise. I had no idea about thier comedy clubs, they get so packed! I didnt get to see a comedy show once because when I got to the ship I found out about it and all the shows were 100% full. The standby line was insane every night. so it made it impossible to get in and felt frustrating. I can only imagine how first time cruising must feel now adays when you show up excited but everythign is impossible to experience because so many pro cruisers have taken all the fun stuff! Wondering what you all think?

Will be on Allure this October and will be staying in Gavelston for a nite pre cruise. I've always wanted to try Texas BBQ (beef ribs specifically) but have only had the airport stuff during layovers. Hoping someone might know of a good spot in Gavelston. Unfortunately I'll only be there for a night so I'm thinking venturing too far out of Gavelston wont be an option. I'm staying directly south of the port against the opposite beach if that matters. thanks!

Don't see any excursions but usually see them in carribean ports. Thanks

The cruise ships have a monopoly on jewelery. They sell it on the ship and they own all the shops at the ports. Many will hold seminars telling you which stores on Port have the best deals, guess which stores they send you to... Because they have a monopoly they have little insentive to sell quality jewelery.

I have yet to do a US cruise that cmopares to cruises I've done in Europe or Asia. Everyone is tellig you to do your research which is always good advice, however, I understand what you mean by just wanting to experience somethign different without anythign in particular in mind. coming up with something when starting with nothign in mind will always be difficult. I would suggest seeing the starting/ending ports for European cruises. once you have a handful of locations, look into those and see which ones you would be most excited abotu getting to know. Spend some time there before or after the cruise. As many have said, some of the ports require travel to get to the mian attractions. So instead of focusing on what ports are best, focus on what starting/emding destination is best and just enjoy the cruise as an added bonus where you may learn abotu locations to revisit. I took my first cruise ever out of Rome and spent a week there before the cruise. I was most excited about Alexandria because I wanted to see the pyramids. That stop got replaced with Istanbul. I was sad, but I fell in love with Istanbul. To this day Rome and Istanbul are places I highly recommend and have gone back to multiple times. Cairo on the other hand has been a place I'd likely never go back to. As a side note, if you want really different, I'd suggest Asia. Europe is definitely different from the US, but it feels familiar. Starbucks and McDonalds on every corner, everyone speaks English, Cab rides will be playing the same music you hear out here...But Asia is different. My visits to Japan and Thailand were the first time I felt I was in another world. Either way, enjoy whatever you decide to do!

In the cruise world, I hear A LOT about discounts. My inbox is filled with "sales" that are being held often. I've seen tons of websites that claim to have the biggest discounts for cruises. Visit any major cruise lines website and you'll likely get met with a giant banner about how much time is left for the biggest sale of the year. I've even had conversations with many non cruisers who are usually under the impression that a free cruise is easy to come by through things like raffles or timeshare presentations. Yet, I always feel like if I go with a sale, or click on the big discount links, prices will always vary by about a hundred bucks (not that a hundred is nothing, but its not as noticeable when you're spending thousands). If I get a notification from a major cruiseline that they are having a BOGO deal, I'd expect my $2000 trip to become $1000. Yet somehow it becomes about $1850. Of course its a discount and of course I'll take it! But for an industry that constantly has sales and is known for finding deals everywhere, I've never seen a deal that completely made me change my plans. If I have a trip planned at full price for one week and I hear that the biggest sale ever is the week after, I'll compare prices and stick to my current plan because the discount is never worth reconsidering. Don't get me wrong, I love cruising and am always happy with what I paid. I'm not trying to cheap out lol, I'm just wondering how in an ocean of endless deals, I've rarely found a great deal. Am I the only one who feels this way? Curious what the bargain hunters amongst my fellow cruises have experienced.

Thank you so much! We can now sleep easy! 😊

thank you both, I havent tried switching it to passport. I'll give that a try!

thank you so much!

I posted this in the port of call thread but am adding here because our trip is this Saturday and we are stressing out because we cant find answers! I'm taking a Mexican Riviera cruise on the Panorama out of Long Beach and can't get a straight answer regarding my Mother in law's travel requirements. She is a: Mexican Citizen with a Mexican issued passport permanent US resident has a Green Card When filling out our online check-in it asked what documents she had and we put green card. It then asked for her Visa information, which she doesnt have. It showed her status as pending. The rest of us are all set and ready to board. We called Carnival who told us to contact the consulate for proper documentation requirements. Couldnt find a number for the consulate but found a form online which only has option to enter by land, also Puerto Vallarta isnt an option. I'm so lost at this point! Has anyone had experience with this? Our cruise is this Saturday! any help would be greatly appreciated!