Starry Eyes

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.

LOL, of course I don’t think I control the company policy because I own some stock. Nor do you because you as a random keyboard warrior. Sure, once a year cruisers are cruising for the cruise, not the perks. Heck, as a frequent cruiser I’m there for the cruise, not the perks. I regularly meet happy once a year cruisers who have made D after ten years. They have been looking forward to the milestone and would be steamed by your rolling proposal.

I’m not reacting as a “barnacle,” but as a shareholder. I’m a fairly frequent cruiser, so I’d fare well under your proposal yet I think you are wrong. As a shareholder I value the scores of once a year cruisers who repeatedly choose RCI. Or twice a year or whenever they are able. I want them rewarded if they sail enough; I do not want them to feel they can never reach any status because their older cruises will fall off after 7 or 10 years. No, absolutely not, because no other cruiseline loyalty program to the best of my knowledge will do that to them. All the cruiselines have data and the fact that they are not using a rolling program might tell you their data says your ideas would be counterproductive.

It seems to me that person who books the balcony gty risks not only a noisy location (as you alluded to in your initial post) but on Anthem they also risk getting being assigned one of the obstructed balconies, so if I were contemplating it I’d think of it as an Obstructed Balcony Gty. As always, one might get an upgrade to a nicer cabin, but one should assume the worst with a gty. The price difference gets an unobstructed balcony cabin as well as your pick of cabin. Unless you are willing to take the risk of a gty cabin, the gty price is irrelevant. Please share the link for the Regent cruise. That sounds like a good deal for a long Regent cruise for 3. I was having trouble finding it.

Yeah, if I paid a single supplement, I’d be unhappy if I were assigned a studio. Frequently solos are not able to book gty cabins. Now having seen this issue twice on CC, it seems like a pitfall one should watch for if one is offered to opportunity to book a gty as a solo. Forewarned is forearmed. IDK. I usually travel with DH and never looked at studios.

Those are interesting ideas. As a shareholder I think there are a wide variety of loyal cruisers whose continued bookings should be encouraged and incentivized. Let’s look at your 14 nights in two years proposal and imagine a family (now D+) that has booked a nice suite for Christmas cruise with the family every year for the last 16 years…very profitable. This year their flight was canceled and they missed their cruise by no fault of their own. Thus they suddenly and sadly only got to sail 7 nights in 2 years rather than 14. If your proposal also strips them of their loyalty status, it adds insult to injury and it may be the extra reason they shop other cruiselines . Backfire. I think the once a year cruises are valuable, even the ones that don’t sail in suites. They are more likely to buy the extras, unlike those of us who sail frequently. If they miss a year here or there (hey, stuff happens), they are still valuable. When they retire they may sail more. Your second example…well, I cannot imagine sailing 28 nights in years is going to be rewarded with unlimited laundry (too expensive a reward for 28 budget nights) Maybe some smaller reward, but, oops, the smaller the reward the less incentive to consolidate.

I recall seeing another unhappy report on cruisecritic of a solo gty booking receiving a studio assignment (it was months ago, I think). we are going to have to watch for that hazard when they do let us book gty as solos.

It really does not sound like a terrible assignment. If you are noise sensitive, you probably should reconsider booking gty cabins. If you book gty again, you could get a far noisier location just before sailing with no chance of swapping. Think hard before booking gty of noise really bugs you. Still, assuming you booked under US/Canadian booking rules, you can watch for opportunities to swap. First, identify your exact assigned cabin category (D3 or E1 or whatever). Occasionally do mock bookings to see if any cabins in your exact category become available. If ever one pops up that you like better, promptly call and ask to swap (call your travel agent if you used one or Royal if you booked direct). Some have suggested RoyalUp. I’d point out that using RoyalUp could take you noise-wise from frying pan into the fire. You do not get to pick you location with RoyalUp; you could get an even noiser location (unless you carefully bid only on cabin categories that are only in quiet areas).

Thanks for the tutorial on Casino Royale for the non gamblers like myself, though the OP was upset about the C&A program so it’s a bit off the main topic. The casino rewards program should differ from the C&A program. They should not continue to give casino rewards to somebody who quit gambling a couple years ago. I’m not confused about airline perks. I still maintain the airline business model differs from the cruise line business model.

Same here. The CL already had capacity limits, so D+ did not have access on many cruises. We still have access similar amenities in the DL. Airlines and cruiselines have different business models and unsurprising have different loyalty programs. Many of the airlines’ top loyalty customers are business travelers vs cruise lines’ leisure travelers. As a shareholder I do not think loyal customers who consistently sail 1-2 times per year for 20 years should not, IMHO, be treated just like newbies. Nor do I think a frequent cruiser who takes hiatus from cruising for a couple years while dealing with health or other life challenges should be treated like a newbie when they make their long awaited return to a ship.

No, that speed check was done in the Viking Crown (Vortex). Wifi had also been slow in the Solarium on Thursday before we moved to Vortex. Wifi improved again later in day.

Guarantee cabins have a location risk. You understand that and know they are not for you, so don’t even look at that gty price; it is irrelevant to you as you are not willing/able to take that risk now. Look at the price of an acceptable cabin for your family. Is the cruise worth that price? If yes, great. If not, move on. If you still want to talk about the spread between gty and reserved category prices, you’d need to give us more info (ship, sail date, number of guests). On some ships taking a balcony gty carries more risk of a poor assignment than others. Pricing patterns tend to be different far out vs last minute.

No

Wi-Fi’s slow on Jewel today

The majority of travel agencies participate in the RoyalUp program; their clients thus can participate. The big one that does not stats with C (we are not supposed to name travel agents per CruiseCritic rules). I have not heard whether yours does or does not. Once in a while somebody is not offered the chance to bid on a particular reservation for unknown reasons no matter how they booked.

Your wife has been on more cruises so she will have higher status. As your C&A account will be linked to your wife’s, you will get her status. When you sign in to your account on line, you will actually see her point linked total (not your own). If you want to know your own total, you can call and ask. If you take a solo cruise, your personal point total will increase, but unless your person total exceeds your wife’s, the number you see when you log in won’t change (that is you’ll still see your wife’s number). Hubby has been eight points ahead of me for years now. I see his total when I log in. When I call in, the agents congratulate me on my on number (8 lower)

Hmm, Pin only crane watches could explain some Pins can tell “tall” tales with such aplomb😀

What would RCI charge for the “behind the scenes tour with exclusive dry dock experience, hard hat required”

Ah, it would indeed be hard to maintain the surprise and also do lots of the planning🤣. The cruise does sounds like great fun. In that case, I’d visit the MTD reservation desk soon after boarding. Hopefully they will work with you to accommodate your large group as well as possible. Do not give up entirely on the possibility of sitting together. They might manage to accommodate you if you go to the MTD desk with all the cabin numbers.

From the discussion you see why we needed to know which ship you are cruising. While nearly all ships have changed to a new MTD system. Enchantment might be using the old (and better, IMHO) system….I just don’t know as I have not sailed her recently. An aside: From another post, I gather you are sailing with a large family group. Are you all hoping to dine together fairly early most nights? If so, everyone might wish to try to switch early traditional dining with linked reservation numbers, and request a large table (or multiple big tables if it’s an even larger group😀) by emailing rcldining@rccl.com about 2 weeks before the cruise. Just a thought…please quickly reject it if it is unworkable or does not suit your group. If you are sticking to MTD, hopefully somebody who has sailed Enchantment recently will pipe up. If you are able to edit your thread title to include the ship name, it might help attract the posters you need. Those on board very recently can’t tell you how MTD is being handled and, if they do still open MTD early on En, how long the lines were recently. I hope you have a great cruise. Remember En is one of the classics ships. To see Royal Caribbean’s more innovative ship designs you’ll need to plan another cruise😀