Starry Eyes

The logic is relevant if they decide to place a RoyalUp bid. For example, if they book an inside quad on a future cruise and bid for a balcony, they could get be placed near the smoking area. Texan can think about it before bidding. They might decide to look at the locations of specific categories on specific ships (say an ultraspacious) and decided if all are in acceptable locations before bidding. Different people, different priorities.

Hmm, if Royal were really taking the Pinnacle for granted and knew he’d be back regardless, surely that would incorporate that knowledge into the RoyalUp algorithm, too. So, by your diabolical logic😉), the inexpensive RoyalUp upgrade would have gone to a some other guest with a higher future spending potential, leaving the pinnacle in the obstructed cabin. Oh, but the pinnacle got a cheap upgrade, so that’s not true! Back to the old days…there are lots and lots of newbies, way more newbies than pins, so by luck if draw, way more newbies will get gty upgrades than pins. Upgrade fairy was always rare. Number 1. Your C&A status has no bearing in your gty assignment and you should not have expected a better cabin than your friends.

What’s confounding? The cruise was cheap, suggesting demand might have been low. A cheap cruise may have drawn budget conscious people, so some may have bid little or nothing. Somebody else obviously had to cancel at the last minute. Your wife had an active bid, so they accepted it. Perhaps there had been many other cancellations and other higher bids had already been fulfilled. GS did not want welcome gift back once they are in your cabin; that is not surprising. Certain we do not know the details of the algorithm, but presumably they are trying to maximize revenue.

From FAQ: “Guests may also bring non-alcoholic beverages as carry-on items on boarding day. Non-alcoholic beverages may not exceed 12 standard (17 oz.) cans, bottles or cartons per stateroom.” Here is the full FAQ in a link: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/food-drink-onboard-policy If you cans of nonalcoholic sparkling (or no sparkling, for that matter) beverage are no more than17 oz, you may bring up to 12 per stateroom. Somebody might read the label to confirm it is nonalcoholic, I suppose, but it should pass just fine. If the containers are larger, you have an issue.

I’ve enjoyed such windows on other ships and never thought of them as “obstructed.” At night we had to keep our drapes tightly closed to keep light from our cabin from interfering with the bridge officer’s night vision.

LOL, as it is now Jan 12 they better have be off the ship for days as it was a 3 night New Years Eve cruise😉 I think it has been 10 days

Two bottles of wine per stateroom at embarkation in carry on luggage only

Does the ship have a Solarium Bistro? If so, you could add “make reservations at Solarium Bistro” to your list of options. While also a buffet, it has a much different feel than the WJ. You can make the reservations in the cruise planner and cancel if you decide not to go

While Priority waitlist seating request in the main dining room is a C&A benefit, Priority Guarantee Cabin Assignments are not C&A benefit for any level. One should not expect gty preferences based on their C&A level. Nor should you expect to be lucky every time. Just be happy for your fellow cruisers.

Well, UK posters have not shared success stories here on CruiseCritic, so the odds seem low. Were it me, I would not waste my time and energy. If Crumley has a travel agent, I’d more strongly advise against doing it; don’t damage the relationship with repetitive calls when you might need that TA for something important later.

Rather than “blame” I’d rather call this awareness. There are real pitfalls to booking gty cabins. Before booking a gty, one should consider the possible bad cabin assignments. If there are possible cabin assignment that would make you sorry you booked, then you are making a gamble by booking gty….maybe you should not do it. We are flexible people and have booked multiple gty over the years; sometimes we have indeed been assigned those worst possible cabins without option of trade. We still enjoyed our cruise. Crumley may not be able to use his balcony (unless there is a fresh breeze blowing the smoke away🤞) but they will still have the natural light in the cabin.

Plenty of people seem to enjoy it, so go for it. Just have a private chat with your waiter or head waiter a couple days in advance. I’m sure they will make you DH’s 60th memorable.

You can check the app yourself for each sailing when underway to see if they have new menus or old. Just hit “browse our ships,” Navigator, and the appropriate date.

Solarium Bistro dinner was free last time we ate dinner there on Harmony (except select up charge items) during the restart…and sadly that’s what it was worth. I hope it has improved, as we enjoyed it before the shutdown (also when it was free).

Oh, when I suggested a Promenade cabin I was thinking you were on Explorer. I just processed that you used the ambiguous “EOS” so you might have meant Enchantment, which would not have Promenade cabins. I really do not know which ship.

The last time we were in Solarium Bistro on the 2nd formal night they did not include free lobster tails. I also suggest you go to the MTD desk as soon as you board (with a list all cabin numbers) to make arrangements for your large party. And remember, you can go to MTD without reservations; you just stand in a different line. It may take longer (and you might offer to split into two tables to hasten seating) but you will be served.

Have you considered having the bed in your interior cabin separated into two twins? that way you will have a center aisle between the beds for easy entry/exit this time. It is an efficient use of space. If you do not like that idea, the next most cost effective might be a promenade view cabin. It will have the head of the bed set against the side wall. It won’t be as dark as your regular inside cabin, but close the curtains and your eyelids tightly😉

I’m glad you had a good cruise, but this experience is a bit more relevant on the Celebrity forum😉

That’s still a public area. Your own balcony is really the only appropriate place on the ship for your hammock IMHO.

We’ve been on partial ship charters. Often we did not know before we booked. Sometimes the charters seem to have taken most of the cabins and scheduled many private events. As that closed many venues and impacted the general activities schedule, it did impact our cruise. We still had fun, though it was disappointing to repeatedly arrive at a venue hoping for a cocktail (or whatever) to find it closed for a private function. Other times the percentage of cabins taken by the partial ship charter seem much lower and the number of private functions was also lower. It has minimal or no impact. I suppose I’d visit the charter’s website and try to get the schedule of private events to assess the type and frequency. Oasis class are large ships, so there may be room to accommodate the charter without impacting you substantially.

You certainly should submit your desire for NA wine on the survey. If enough others express interest, it might begin to appear on wine lists. Meanwhile, carry on a couple bottles of your favorite wine if you want to enjoy it on board. We do. Though we have enough vouchers to cover all our drinks, we bring bottles of our favorite wines on board as it is not on Royal’s wine list.

Have you researched obstructed balconies on Brilliance? Are you sure it would be a problem for you? As I recall, most if the balconies marked as obstructed on that class of ship have a clear view straight out so you have a great view, though if you stand at the rail and look straight down you see a lifeboat cover. Personally, I can live with that. I do not recall any balconies with obstructions I’d find unacceptable. (Different story on a different class of ships, but you only need to know about Brilliance today). Research the obstruction on that ship a bit yourself (pics online), consider the price difference, then decide. As you are from NA, after your cabin is assigned, typically they will allow you to swap if another cabin in the exact same category is available that you like better. Of course, sometimes there are no cabins left in your exact category or very few (perhaps none that you like better)

Many families with young kids book connecting cabins. You can keep the connecting door open all the time if you wish. Or you can close it now and then for a bit of privacy.

If the price of the cabin looks right to you, I’d say go ahead and book it now. The price may rise and you will sorry you waited. I have not noted a correlation between time of booking and quality of gty assignments.

Currently we have chosen to have ours lists match, so we know what gifts have been requested no matter how the names are listed or if solo. I suppose if you wanted a variety gifts on a b2b cruise, you could change who was primary on each sailing, with each person having registered different selections.