Starry Eyes

I had the impression NCL was choosing not to cut prices aggressively to fill their ships after the restart. When I looked NCL prices were never cheap at my local port. I do not think NCL was undercutting its competitors; one might argue the opposite. Royal was more willing to cut prices aggressively, thus Royal filled their ships. I think NCL still has refundable deposits and with shipboard sales transferable deposit certificates. Those future bookings are not locked in. Of course, I personally like refundable deposits. I’m just saying people who commit to a NRD are making a firmer commitment,

Even if they were not owned by the same corporation, if one likes to eat in the buffet in the evening it is reasonable to ask about the current state of that buffet. Given the low percentage of Celebrity cruises who select the buffet in the evening, I thought the buffet seemed reasonable in size and assortment for dinner once or twice. Granted if I always ate in the buffet for dinner, X would not be a good choice. I seem to remember when I first cruised Celebrity many years ago the buffet was not even open in the evening or they had casual table service by reservation at a few tables for those who did not want the MDR.

I live near the ocean and outdoor showers are common. The windows of our second story living room room and bedroom overlook neighbors’s outdoor showers. We quickly learned to avert our eyes. I feel adequately trained to avert my eyes should somebody fail to pull their curtains on s cruiseship. DH says he sees lots of ocean at home and seeing Central Park or Boardwalk is nice

Mick, based on your earlier post, you cancelled your upgrade request with Guest Services, so you do not know if they would have full filled it or not. Guest services needed time after all guests were checked in before they could consider day of sailing upgrades. You and your wife decided not to give them that time and crossed your names off the upgrade list before the specified time. GS did not “bite off (your) hands”. You decided to keep your inside and your money.

First of all remember yours might not have been the only maximum JS to GS bid. We do not know how the algorithm resolves ties, though perhaps dumb luck is involved. So if movement up the chain included a GS, some other JS bidder may have gotten lucky. Obviously there are far more balconies than suites on the ship. Thus if a random person has to cancel, the odds they were in a balcony are higher than a suite. So, via cancellation one expects far more balconies are available via RoyalUp than are GS’s

I booked it for our April cruise.

So, are you planning on booking the “we select” balcony option (XN)? If so, you should expect either a Boardwalk or Central Park Balcony. The “worst” ones, in my opinion, are deck 14, as you may get noise transfer from the pool deck above. A few of those are noted as having some obstruction by ship structure. As mentioned you’ll need to close your drapes when you need privacy; evidently a some people find that arduous on a ship (I wonder if they struggle with the task when they stay in a hotel or resort, lol). You are very unlikely to be assigned an OV balcony if you book an XN.

Sign up for MTD. No table will be reserved for you. No table mates will wait for you.

I’d suggest you look for a similar itinerary for your ship. When that sailing is underway, pull that sailing up on the app. While there is no guarantee it will be the same menu rotation, it would be a decent guess. For example, I looked at this week’s 8N Odyssey sailing as a reasonable guess for my upcoming 8N Odyssey cruise.

Let me see if I understand…everyone (including you) agrees there are obvious math errors resulting in an erroneous subtotal line. The total price in bold at the bottom of the screen is is higher, and that is the price you would have had to agree to pay to actually reserve the cabin. The online system did not allow you to reserve the cabin at the erroneous subtotal price; it wanted the correct price. You are now escalating the situation (not to help the company fix their math, like “friends and family” might) but trying to knowingly obtain an erroneous low price which will hurt the company. Is that about right???? Note this is not the same as mis-priced beverage package being placed in cart at wrong price and sold at wrong price. If I understand correctly, the bottom line price of your cruise is correct and you are trying to change the price to the incorrect one before your purchase it. Be careful…companies do not need “friends and family” that do things like that.

Like MarionMom, my points are generally posted six days after the cruise. Odds are pretty good the points will show in your C&A account when you board X a week later. You might visit the loyalty ambassador on your royal cruise. Perhaps they will be willing to compose a short note or email to their celebrity counterpart stating you just completed your D cruise.

The extended family ahead of me in NYE were not light packers. Each adult had a large bag plus a carry on bag. The ladies had their purses. There were two small children, a stroller and kid stuff. The stroller and luggage would probably fill an elevator without the humans and it could certainly cause blockages in dining or pool venues. They had flown in that morning, so the large luggage had been with an airline; it should not have contained valuables.

Previously I thought the security scanner would only manage smaller bags. For our NYE cruise out of Port Canaveral T5 we arrived early but security staff did not; only one scanner was operating initially. We were in line behind an extended family carrying all luggage aboard, including large bags. Previously I’d have thought those big bags would not fit. Yet when the family hefted those bags onto the conveyor belt, each cleared the opening. Though they would fit, I still plan to check my larger bags with the porters.

I did not say the ship was there. Another poster suggested if happened it might have been due to some Disney emergency or logistical reason; I posited that if another cruiseline used Coco Cay, a substantial financial contribution might be a motivating factor.

All good points. My point was simply that money talks, and if enough money was offered RCI might well sell another cruiseline a day a private island.

Perhaps Disney was seeking an available port in a convenient location if their ship had to skip Nassau, Disney offered RCI a load of cash and Royal took the offer. Royal gets extra money, Disney guests det a fun day, and perhaps some Disney guests will want to come back to Coco Cay. Just a guess.

The new menus are indeed listed on today’s sailing (8N) on the app.

I believe you said you are on Harmony. On Harmony Solarium Bistro serves Mediterranean themed food, buffet style in the evenings; no extra charge. As reservations are required, it is never crowded or hectic as WJ might be. Here’s a link to a sample menu https://www.royalcaribbean.com/content/dam/royal/resources/menus/solarium-bistro-menu-sample.pdf If you make reservations for the wrong night, you can easily cancel them (and make reservations for another night if still available and desired). If you wait too long, there may not be any slots left. The Brazilian Steakhouse is only on Allure and Radiance.

Though we did not request one, they scheduled us for a shuttle when we did a S2S at PC between Jewel and Wonder in Nov 2022. The officer at guest services noted that we were S2S and took it upon himself to schedule the shuttle for us, leaving a voicemail in our cabin that he had done so. (I wish he had called to ask if we wanted the shuttle rather than assuming, but you will have a different officer and a different circumstance, so that us irrelevant to you). The luggage tags for that shuttle were pretty much the last off the Jewel. We had declined the shuttle offer as we had a car in the T5 garage for the first cruise. We wanted to move the car to the T1 garage an easy debarkation of second cruise. As it happened the shuttle did not make its planned route, as the Wonder was delayed a day due to a Medical emergency enroute. All S2S guests (6-8 or so) were offered local hotel rooms and transfers if needed. So, even under adverse circumstances, Royal Caribbean took care of S2S guests at Port Canaveral. As always YMMV. Based on my experience though, I would not hesitate to book a RCI S2S at PC again.

Have you checked your cruise planner on the website? If you are interested in dining in Solarium Bistro for dinner you might be able to make reservation under specialty restaurants ($0 charge when you out Solarium Bistro in your cart). If interested, I suggest reserving now (if available) as reservation do fill; you can easily cancel later if you decide to dine elsewhere.

Even though it is called a suite gty, I think of it as a Junior Suite Gty. It focuses the mind on the likely outcome, a JS, though recognizing is a small chance of a better assignment as with any gty booking

Per the State Dept website, Haiti is among the countries that requires passports to have 6 months validity. I do not know if that rule is enforced for closed loop cruises or not, but I understand why the OP decided to renew the passport and also get a new Birth Certificate.

It sounds like the OP has already applied for an expedited passport renewal (which would mean the passport office now has the old passport, not the OP).

I think you have a few choices: 1. If you want to insure you do not pay for both Key/VOOM package and your RoyalUp, then cancel your RoyalUp bid a couple days before boarding. Or you could reconsider your package purchase and just buy VOOM. 2. Or if it happens you can discuss the situation with the concierge. They might (or might not) be able to refund the package under that circumstance. You could ask.

Yes, of course it is available on the paperwork. I suggested she should be able to rattle it off…as opposed to having to find the line on reservation form and then stiffly reading it😉