Paid in full to book entertainment & dining?

[develizweb]

If they happen to open up entertainment and dining booking before final payment is due, I'm I going to be able to book or do I have to pay off the cruise first?

 

Thanks :)

[Clarea]

If they happen to open up entertainment and dining booking before final payment is due, I'm I going to be able to book or do I have to pay off the cruise first?

 

Thanks :)

You can book as soon as reservations open, regardless of your payment status.

[akcruz]

No need to be paid in full to book. If you have preferences definitely keep an eye out for when the reservations open up as the preferred times can go very quickly.

 

I booked our shows last year in the first few days they opened. A week or so later thought about switching and our second choices were all booked up so stuck with what we had. This was before we got the email saying they were open for booking and before final payment.

[birdylady]

You can book as soon as reservations open, regardless of your payment status.

Excellent. Question - What time frame do they open up reservations? Once person on our sailing said they just signed up for the Character Breakfast. But not minutes before I checked for dining/entertainment and it said there were no options available.

What did I miss?

Erika

[Clarea]

Excellent. Question - What time frame do they open up reservations? Once person on our sailing said they just signed up for the Character Breakfast. But not minutes before I checked for dining/entertainment and it said there were no options available.

What did I miss?

Erika

I've never been able to see a pattern to when reservations open. Sometimes it's 3-4 months in advance, sometimes less. I suspect Royal opens up reservations in batches of sailings, so it all depends on where a sailing fits in the batch.

[GTO-Girl]

Is this something we just keep checking under our reservation or does RCCI send out an email?

 

First time on Royal in a while and this is all new to me....

 

Thanks

[Clarea]

Is this something we just keep checking under our reservation or does RCCI send out an email?

 

First time on Royal in a while and this is all new to me....

 

Thanks

Keep checking. I would not depend on an email from Royal.

[akcruz]

Is this something we just keep checking under our reservation or does RCCI send out an email?

 

First time on Royal in a while and this is all new to me....

 

Thanks

 

They do send an email, but as I mentioned, many of the shows were already "sold out" for our Allure trip last year by the time they sent the email out. I had been checking so saw when the opened up and had all mine done before that.

[develizweb]

Thanks for all the info...good to know I don't have to pay cruise off. I am checking online every morning just hoping it will be soon :)

[janetz]

Thanks for all the info...good to know I don't have to pay cruise off. I am checking online every morning just hoping it will be soon :)

 

 

Sailing right after you. I am watching also. :)

[Tara Jane]

Confused here - isnt all entertainment included in our cruise price???

Havent been on RC for 7 years but going in 17 days yippeeee

[Clarea]

Confused here - isnt all entertainment included in our cruise price???

Havent been on RC for 7 years but going in 17 days yippeeee

Yes, entertainment is included, but 4 ships (out of 22) have implemented advanced online reservations for shows.

[19Ladybird67]

I'm sailing on the Allure in August 2013 and our excursions opened up in October 2012. I've booked them all! Still waiting for dining and show reservations to open up. We never received an email stating the excursions were open for booking.

[birdylady]

I'm sailing on the Allure in August 2013 and our excursions opened up in October 2012. I've booked them all! Still waiting for dining and show reservations to open up. We never received an email stating the excursions were open for booking.

That makes no sense. You were able to book almost 10 months in advance and I'm just outside 3 months and it's not open for the same ship? RCI makes no sense.

 

Erika

[MrsKC08]

I'm not really sure this is possible. According to what my TA and Royal said, this is a glitch that happens rarely where booking capabilities happen earlier than they should. I happened to check the website to see if I could possibly book, but I get an error message saying it doesn't open for booking until 70 days prior to the cruise, my final payment is due roughly 85 days prior to sailing, so...I would be paid in full before it opens.

[johnbob7]

That makes no sense. You were able to book almost 10 months in advance and I'm just outside 3 months and it's not open for the same ship? RCI makes no sense.

 

Erika

 

I think your excursions are open to book, but they are different then the dining reservations and entertainment reservations. Excursions tend to be open for booking long before the others. Dining seems to open somewhere between 75-120 days, and entertainment is usually after dining.

 

But, the only thing you can count on with Royal online stuff is a lot of variation.

 

bobj

[johnbob7]

I'm not really sure this is possible. According to what my TA and Royal said, this is a glitch that happens rarely where booking capabilities happen earlier than they should. I happened to check the website to see if I could possibly book, but I get an error message saying it doesn't open for booking until 70 days prior to the cruise, my final payment is due roughly 85 days prior to sailing, so...I would be paid in full before it opens.

 

Frankly, I just don't believe that the Royal customer service people have any hard facts available to them, they have been quoted over and over saying widely variant things. And your TA is reliant on them just as we are.

 

What info Royal provides on their website e.g. the error message about 70 days prior, is often just plain wrong. I and a lot of other people have just learned to take any info from them with a grain of salt, and come on here to compare with what others have actually experienced.

 

Bookings are frequently open before final payment, lots of us have reported that over and over.

 

Bottom line, bookings for dining and entertainment will open when they open for any given cruise, and nobody on these boards OR at Royal customer service can predict when with any certainty.

 

bobj

[johneeo]

As soon as reservations for entertainment opened up it was posted by someone on our roll call ... so that is how I found out.