leaveitallbehind

To clarify with US originated bookings, no, all deposits are not now NRD. The only stateroom deposits that are always non-refundable are suites. All other stateroom categories have the option for refundable or non-refundable deposits and corresponding fares. The key to note is that the default option on the website is NRD. But refundable is an option, and available to any booking. Travel agents have no special access to them, but do have access to non-published group fares. The deposit amounts for all non-suite categories is the same for NRD and refundable fares, with refundable having the option to change or cancel a booking without penalty. NRD will charge a fee for changes, but the full deposits are sacrificed if the cruise is canceled. Our current Odyssey Oct. '25 cruise is booked with a refundable deposit.

You just need to coordinate at time for all in your group to show up at the MDR lobby. That may take a few extra minutes early to make sure all arrive on time. When you check in, the maître d will have someone show you to your table. It really doesn't require any extra time.

I prefer ports of call that have real places to go and a variety of things to do instead of a confined manufactured space. JMO.

Pass. Rather have the extra time being cut out at Aruba and the day at sea.

Agree, 5 or 6 minutes tops, including elevator time. How long would it take you to walk 1,000 ft at home, maybe 3 minutes? Just trying to make a comparison. The ships are big but quite manageable.

I agree that it would be very rare these days. You could always ask at guest services once you board to see if there are any upgraded staterooms available, but it would not likely be free and would be at the difference you paid v the last market price for that category. The days of free upgrade fairy offerings I believe are long gone. In our 32 year cruising career we had it happen at n/c twice on RCCL from a Balcony to a JS, and from a JS to a GS. And never on Celebrity. But those were both years pre-covid.

I am not familiar with any specific wine only packages. Both the classic and premium packages offer unlimited wine with the premium offering the "better" brands. Bottles of wine for purchase vary in price but are not inexpensive, although Captain's Club members are offered discounts on wine bottle purchases based on tier level. The corkage fee - if charged - would apply to bottles of wine brought to dining venues to be opened there.

Just to add to clarify, the motion that intensifies the further forward and higher up on decks you are is the up and down motion of the ship as it moves forward. The side to side rolling motion will be felt the same anywhere on the ship, more intensely on the higher decks. But this rolling motion is what the stabilizers mitigate.

Have there been any changes in your profile? As long as you have confirmed your correct email address and permission to use it for promotions, you should receive them. We still do and because of the volume of emails, I recently changed to a different email less used that is now receiving them.

Not criticizing, but hurricane season actually us June 1 through November 30, or half the year. And the peak of that season is typically mid-August to early October. But July would still fall within hurricane season. But as others have indicated, I would not avoid booking a cruise based on that in of itself as hurricane season does not mean that hurricanes will happen with certainty on any given date, just that conditions are correct that hurricanes can happen on any given date. Too much variability to worry about any given sailing date IMO. And I also agree with the other factors you mention with moving to a July date.

As indicated, all specialty restaurant dining packages, with the exception of the placeholder reservation typically made for night one, are made on board. Just go to any specialty restaurant after you board and the Maître D can confirm your preference for the placeholder reservation and book the rest of the nights and times for you at the restaurants of your choice. It generally takes about 10 minutes.

I think it is more likely that making an actual helicopter landing at sea on a ship - moving or not - is rather dangerous and perhaps when you factor in the actual number of times a helicopter pad is used for an emergency evacuation it becomes less necessary to have one. We have been on a ship when a helicopter evacuation was performed and they hovered over the moving ship above the pool deck and airlifted the passenger from there. I guess the seriousness of the passengers' condition outweighed the risk of the airlift. We have also been on a ship that turned around to meet a coast guard vessel an hour or so away to evacuate an ill passenger rather than do so by helicopter. I think airlifts are very risky.

It is one or the other, whichever is better, but not both in combination. Anecdotally, we just used our CC discount to upgrade from classic to premium beverage and base to premium wifi on our upcoming Eclipse cruise. The CC discount was significantly better in our case.

Thanks for the update. I wasn't sure if they reversed that decision or not as we received one on board after that from the Loyalty Ambassadors inventory but its been a while since and I wasn't sure what the situation was.

I had mentioned this earlier and could be wrong but I was told several years ago that they were no longer producing them and that supply could be sketchy as it would be based on remaining inventory on hand with the ships. Again, I could be wrong and things may have changed since then. It has been a while since we got our last and based on our current RCCL bookings and planned ones it may be a year or so until our next one. (Do more on Celebrity now). Have to wait and see what happens then,