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I'm just excited for a ship with more sun loungers than ever so I can get the Guinness World Records "most chairs hogged" trophy.

This is why I'm thinking of just buying OBC up front and using it to book things -- refunds to OBC should be instant, right? Any experiences? If I don't use the OBC, I can cash it out on the ship, or put it towards tips, etc.

We picked 10:30am for our Oct 22 sailing and boarded at 10:30am on the nose. Was the fastest boarding I've ever done in my life! Picked 10:30am for the same sailing for Dec 24 (Christmas Eve) and I assume that one is going to be a nightmare, but we'll see.

Meh, I eat probably 60% lamb and 40% seafood, I have investments in local restaurants that sell seafood, and I can't even tell sometimes. Tilapia I can usually tell, but sole? It's substituted commonly. There are even headlines for the past 20 years that talk about how many seafood restaurants substitute fish constantly -- 100% of sushi restaurants in a New York study substituted fish! I'm not a fan of this, but it happens so often that it's hard to battle. I definitely WOULD send it back and ask for sole if I was sure it was tilapia -- the kitchen probably does have sole, they just were low on it.

You'd be surprised who you are talking to. I've founded and sold numerous successful businesses and have been quoted by noted economists in trade journals and in books as well. I won't continue the discussion here as I write under my real name and you hide behind an anonymous pseudonym, but if you want to discuss economics, feel free to email me below and I'd be happy to teach you.

We are huge fans of longer cruises. My favorite ones were 12 days. My cruising partner only gets about 22 vacation days off a year -- hopefully in 5 years we will change that situation! We are in our 40s, so we're not quite at the point where we can just live on the ships full time. YET!

Just like the hotel and restaurant industry, almost everyone knows that 100% occupancy leads to more unhappy customers. My view is RCL is purely maximizing profit right now for 3 stages: (a) pay down debt, (b) prove there's demand so they can issue new debt at a lower rate, and (c) continue being able to build more boats. I feel once the markets/industry stabilize, they will probably raise prices in order to reduce occupancy so that customers are happier -- but it might be 3-4 years away.

Oh, it's just a wish list for me. I doubt it'll ever happen. The higher end inclusive cruise lines are strictly service focused, which is great -- but I love having a lot of restaurant options, etc. New cruisers are super important as the current "age range" of cruisers (boomers) are getting to the point where they likely won't be cruising as much. So I understand the logistics of marketing! I just would love to pay more to reduce occupancy by 15-20%.

I wish Royal would raise prices more. Maybe even significantly more. My reasoning: Ships at 120% occupancy are not pleasant for anyone. Crew are overworked, on-board things to do are overcrowded. A ship at 90% would be much much more pleasant overall. Higher profitability per passenger means the cruise lines would be more likely to adapt some of their outdated services to provide better ones for passengers. I'm thinking IT/website/app specifically, but also Diamond events, etc. Fewer chair hogs as occupancy drops. Better quality food as you're serving fewer people. Less wear and tear. I know their goal is occupancy+profit, but I'd rather pay 20% more if it meant 20% fewer people on a sailing. My regular sailing partner and I are contemplating just booking 2 staterooms each cruise already, just to add a little dent to the number of folks sailing.

I don’t call a manager or security when someone is acting like a buffoon.

That’s a big savings! Does it include the 18% tip they add before checking out?

How much cheaper is the final actual price after the 50% discount? many of my UDP prices went up with 50% off.

Tell them you support “jury nullification” (a guaranteed right) and both sides will cut you out the first day.

Everyone but the Manitobans.

I have friends cruising on Princess and recently said some of the ships are 1/2 empty. Royal ships are selling out. No need for Royal to offer incentives of any kind. To be honest, I wish they'd raise prices 20% so the ships would be 20% empty, haha.

I book almost ONLY guarantees. 5 Christmases, ALWAYS got a better room than I expected -- and always saved hundreds or even $1000. Thanksgiving for 7 years? 8? Good Friday/Easter for many years. New Year's Eves, many of them (not this year, tho). Always a guarantee, almost always better than expected -- and 100% of Christmases it was better than expected. Sometimes I ended up with an obstructed balcony when I booked a guarantee oceanview or interior! I bet I've saved $40,000, maybe $50,000 over booking the stateroom I ended up with, over say 10 years and 100+ bookings.

You're pulling this out of your backside. The category type is Interior, Oceanview, Balcony, Suite. Don't believe me? Scroll back to your screenshot and read it out loud to yourself. The grade of the category is the sub-category.

I believe the terms you posted DO guarantee the class. They don't guarantee the grade, number and location, tho. If you book a guaranteed balcony, you'll get a balcony or an offer to switch sailings. The GRADE of balcony is not guaranteed. 1A, 1C, 1D, 8D, 1E, etc. = category grade. I almost always book guarantees, and I have always gotten equal or better and in the RARE occasion they couldn't get me into an equal or better, they made strong offers in my favor.

I don't do the MDR so no experience there, but I don't think it's unkind or mean to hold up a low angled hand, with an honest smile, and just say "we cruise a lot, we're aware about the survey, if we have any issues we'll come to you so there's no need to sell us on it this cruise. I've had to pull this remark in the distant past pre-COVID, but on my first post-COVID cruise, we only had issue with one SR manager and SR waiter and noted it in the post-cruise survey.

Is this MDR or SR? Our only cruise so far was Symphony Oct 22 and the food in the SR was amazing. Our only complaint was Wonderland and it's the first time in memory I left a 6/10 instead of a 10/10. Going back on her in a few weeks, same ports so same SR schedule and I won't be going to Wonderland again based on it.

Edited: Same issue here -- can't select every cruise. One or two went in fine but refresh they crashed.

Well I'm a multinational so while I was born in the US, I have lived and worked internationally almost all of my life. I consider myself an American of the US flavor -- my accent is Midwest Chicago, my primary language is US English, but I was raised by immigrants without the same cultures as our neighbors. The demanding folks are rarely the obvious meathead AHs -- I see them on airplanes, I see them at restaurants in the States, I see them on cruises. It's the folks who think they're the only ones who paid for the trip, and that they should be free to cut in line just because they have some status, or make demands because their $7 free MDR meal isn't up to snuff against the $3200 they're going to lose at the casino this week in order to get a free $600 cruise. Last week, I was getting off a flight up in first class, and the guy BEHIND me just barged past me and my luggage. Looked like any normal American, nothing meathead about him. I figured maybe he had a connecting flight, but we both got to the Uber Black spot about the same time, so obviously he was just another entitled snowflake. I let him have it, verbally and even stepped forward to him to let him know he won't do that again, not when I'm around. I'm no Karen, but I will always, always, always step up to entitled snowflakes and let the hammer fall. Always. And lately, on cruise ships, I do it a lot -- especially with older American and Canadian folks. It's been a new ritual. "Who do you think you are?" For me, I tip heavier, but I've made actual off-ship friendships with ex-crew who served me well for years, and the stories they tell me of what tips did for their families always encourages me to tip more. I have no kids by choice, I have no mortgages or debt by choice, I'm probably in the top 5% incomes but I only work 8-10 hours a week by choice, so I'd rather help a hard worker than give a rusty penny to the entitled snowflakes I run into in the US restaurants, casinos, hotels, resorts, etc. If I never vacation within the US again, it'll be too soon -- both because of the staff and the other folks around me, haha.

It’s a cultural thing. Competition is extremely heavy back home for these jobs, and the recruiters teach them repeatedly that US and Canadian customers are demanding and specific and to make sure everyone is happy. They don’t have the same cultural barriers we do, in social settings, so some of them embarrass themselves in contorting to making sure everyone is 10/10 so they’re invited back. source: I have (distant) relatives who have worked cruise ships and act this way among Westerners still.

Yep that's exactly what that is, unfortunately.

Just snagged my first European cruise ever for Jun-Jul 2024 -- was sad that the itinerary I wanted to go on leaves Saturday and we can only do a Sunday-Sunday cruise, so we picked a decent one but not the one we hoped for! Thanks for all on this thread who helped remind me to snag that WS guarantee right away so it's cheap!