doppelganger2621

Said this in another thread but after I sat down to do the math, I determined that anything under $65/pp would ultimately be “worth it” to us. That’s both based on my expected consumption, but also the price that even if we didn’t “break even” I would at least enjoy the peace of mind of not having to necessarily budget out our days.

I purchased at $60.99 a few weeks ago. At the current price for my cruise at $72.99 I wouldn’t.

9 minutes ago, ccotting said:

It's been a while since I did the math and considered booking a package.  Question for those of you currently booking.  If they quote a daily price on the RCI website does it include the tip or is the 18% added after?  So if the sale price is $65 per day is it really $76.70 once you put your money down?  

 

When you get to the final screen it will include the 18% when you pay

I’ve never done it myself, but I’ve been next to a car doing testing and it was four people at the same time.

Mine is $1,900 more than when I booked lol

2 minutes ago, saltcreekmom1 said:

First, can I search just in the RCI page?  I tried but it brings up results for all cruise lines.

 

#1- The last time we cruised about 8 years ago we were able to stick a luggage tag on a case of bottled water we bought at the store and have it delivered to our cabin.  Can we still do that?

#2- We are currently signed up for the late dining 8:30 timeslot.  Is this going to really interfer with shows and nighttime events?  What are the positives and negatives to early vs. late dining?  Not interested in MTD since other reviews says it's a hot mess right now.

#3- Is there a way to see an ala carte drink menu with prices?  We are taking 3 teens and don't want to pay $600 for drinks when we would rather they just have a few "fun" drinks a day (a juice, a soda, a virgin pina colada). They aren't heavy sugar drinkers but will want a "fun" drink every once in awhile.

 

Thanks,

 

christina

For #3, you can go on the app and find all the bars and it shows their current menus. 
 

Example:

1 minute ago, Ptroxx said:

I did not know that.  Then what’s the purpose of bringing one aboard?  
just to show the way?  

Expert in the port, changes in sandbars, currents, etc. 

Here’s video of the collision:

13 minutes ago, BND said:

That is way over where it's not dredged deep enough for a cruise ship to even be.  There's no way they hit those.  They'd hit bottom first. 

 

As I said above, google Falmouth, zoom in and do satellite view.

The video I saw was clearly that it took out one of the mooring points. There's two at the end of the dock, and they hit the furthest one out.

Mine were all validated in about two days—this was a couple weeks ago.

I say better safe than sorry because you absolutely won’t be denied boarding with a booster

1 minute ago, Tree_skier said:

I've had 3 cruises post restart and all were less the $50 per day.  Lowest was $44 a day.  It is only in the last couple months the prices have shot through the roof.

I’ve looked literally every day since we booked our cruise last October and it’s never gone lower than $60.99 for me. I kept hearing these “$50 a day” cases but it never came to fruition for my sailing

17 minutes ago, UsedtobeSmith said:

I just booked a 3 day cruise and my drink package was 79.99 but yesterday it fell to $66 per person so I bought it. I hope it goes down again but the $66 is below what I calculated our out of pocket cost would be.

 

question though… if I see a specialty cocktail that costs more than the $13 cutoff can you pay the difference or do you have to pay the whole cost. 
 

Thanks!

You pay the difference.

28 minutes ago, topnole said:

I can’t speak to current bar prices with certainty because I don’t frequent bars very much right now and I’m a beer drinker.  I do know this, it sure isn’t 8-9+ a beer where I go locally.  And the 13 drinks are over 15 with tip added.  IDK.  That doesn’t seem to be what is charged where I live.  But maybe with recent hyper inflation on some products they are charging that at some places and I’m just not noticing.  

I have season tickets to an NHL team and so I'm pretty unfazed by $12.50 beers anymore lol

8 hours ago, Big_G said:

Was on this cruise too. Had a great time. Couple of small disappointments:

- Still no Crown Royal on the ship.

- No lunch in Solarium Bistro

- Pub music was depressing (Schooner bar saved us)

- Many people were there own worst enemies COVID wise

 

Positives:

- Good meals in CK and Giovanni's

- Legit 2 IPAs (Stone & Terrapin) in the pub

- Great Comedy shows in both the club and theater.

- Found a great Whistle Pig Old Fashion at the Trellis Bar

 

Side note: Young lady sat down next to me in the pub ordered a drink, said her card wasn't working and then proceeded to rattle off 3 different cabin numbers. Bartender kept punching in the numbers until he identified her. Can see how a less interested or distracted bartender may let it slide on the first try.

 

Glad to hear about Stone and Terrapin. I'm a big craft beer drinker and the beer scene on board is usually pretty depressing. I can certainly make due with those two.

22 minutes ago, rebeccac said:

I know people say having a drink package is "easier", but since I would never come close to drinking enough to justify $72 per person per day, DH and I are just planning to buy a la carte.  It will likely save us several hundred dollars each for the week.  

I agree that the best method is really to look at the drink package as more of a "What's my break-even" when deciding if to purchase. Of course, you're just projecting what you think you might drink onboard + have to consider how many days at sea vs ported, how many days at Labadee or CocoCay, etc.

I do like the "ease" of the drink package to the point that as long as I think I'll be in the ballpark of my "break-even" point, I'll purchase because I'm on vacation and I don't want to necessarily keep track and think "Oh, well if I drink more than this, then I should have gotten the drink package"--but that's just because I'm a neurotic budgeter, and at the end of the day, I'd rather slightly overpay (because I feel like that's in my hands where I could potentially "make up the difference") than wish I'd gotten the drink package because I was drinking more than what the drink package would have cost me, because I see that drink package $ amount as my "I know I won't pay anymore than this" number.

8 minutes ago, Reijo said:

My husband and I had our Covid vaccination Feb/March 2021 with a booster in October 2021......nothing since.  We are seriously considering not getting another booster.  We have a B2B for 9/11 and are wondering if we will be able to cruise without another booster.  Any thoughts/experiences?  

Unless I’m mistaken, RCI only requires the initial series for whatever vaccine maker, boosters are encouraged but not required to sail. It is possible certain destinations may require boosters

3 minutes ago, ditmar2007 said:

I know - but it's not what mspink98 said 🙂

 

Ah yes, I see that now—they probably just misspoke. $77.99 for a week would be INSANE lol

Just now, ditmar2007 said:

Per week???? Or per night?

All deluxe beverage packages are priced per night.

My Allure sailing next month has a BOGO 1/2 off that comes out to $72/pp. I’m really glad I bought at $60.99 

7 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

People too often get addicted to the drink packages. You don't need a drink package to drink.

I was really torn on the package. Wife and I drink pretty solidly on vacation. I sat down and wrote out what we would reasonably drink plus the port days plus CoCo Cay and determined if the price ever went under $65 pp/per day then we would be getting our money's worth without needing to commit to getting absolutely hammered. So when it was at $60.99 I got it.

There's also some peace of mind attached that I don't have to worry about calculating how much we've spent on the cruise based on what we felt was "worth it" for a drink package, so as long as we get in the "ballpark" of what we spent for the drink package, I'm fine with that.

37 minutes ago, paul1815 said:

Does anyone know what the current prices are for alcohol drinks on board?  For instance...a simple gin and tonic?  The unlimited drink package seems HIGH, so wondering if $ per drink is now up.

Gin is between $9.99-11.99, not sure what the tonic would cost with that. 

According to the RC App, a Tom Collins is $13

above prices don’t include automatic 18% gratuity

Haha, already counting on them to sweep the Panthers huh? (A good bet)

I’m a Columbus Blue Jackets fan and take a lot of pride that we were the last team to beat Tampa in the playoffs. Good luck in your quest!

We have a group of 9 going on Allure next month and I’m under no illusion we would be able to find chairs together. It was a problem on our first cruise on Liberty 10 years ago.

2 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

Everyone has their own comfort levels & backup plans are of course a good idea.

 

That said, now that we have established that Walgreens simply changed when you can book from 7 days out to 3, I’m personally a lot less concerned.

 

Hope everyone decided on a plan they are comfortable with & things go well.

I just realized that the change on the Walgreens site happened the same day that they added booster availability for age 5-11. I’m guessing this is probably a temporary change until they get the lay of the land on how many kids are getting boosters, there’s usually a huge rush at the beginning when boosters or vaccines become available for a certain age group and then it returns to “normal levels”

On 5/17/2022 at 5:27 PM, PTC DAWG said:

Are people really submitting for insurance payments for a test needed for a vacation? No wonder insurance is so high.  I’ve used EMed test twice now, never even considered my health insurance would owe me money for a vacation. 

On CVS' site for no-cost testing it asks "Are you seeking a COVID-19 test because of high transmission rates and difficulty maintaining recommended social distancing?" 

I feel like that's a pretty good catch-all to use for a vacation-related testing.