Anton

Cabins are open for guests to access around 1pm or shortly after. Guests are not allowed to access the cabin area prior to that, even if you just want to drop off carry on luggage and get seapass cards. You use your setsail pass or just your cabin number for purchases prior to the cabin availability.

The list of cruise lines that have self-serve laundry is not very extensive. Carnival, Holland America, Princess, Disney, and Oceania are the ones that spring to mind. NCL doesn't (they used to but removed it many years ago). None of the Royal Caribbean Group brands have it. I don't recall Royal ever having it, but they may have on their original ships. Royal did install machines on the world cruise aboard Serenade, but only because it's a unique cruise. They will be removed once the voyage ends. I don't think laundry service is a huge profit center for Royal Caribbean. They just don't want to deal with the maintenance, stocking supplies, etc. It is what it is.

Luggage tags and cruise documents are not issued until 30 days before departure date.

The app works for me but I always use a printed setsail pass from the website. I find that it is quicker to show the printed pass to the check-in agent rather than fumbling around with my phone.

Currently aboard Caribbean Princess. I have the Plus Package and in the app under my profile I have ‘onboard packages’ and in it there is a counter for drinks and desserts. It resets at 6am and only counts the alcohol drinks.

Flags of convenience and open registry are the search terms to use. Bahamas is one of the open registry countries. So is Vanuatu. We can safely assume that the ships registered in Vanuatu never visit there. It’s apparently quite a good business. I just learned that the Liberian registry is headquartered in Vienna, Virginia and has a contract with the Liberian government to split the registry fees between the government and the owners of the registry corporation.

I'd say the average onboard price for the deluxe drink package is $100 per day before the 18% gratuity is added. Some ships are a little lower ($90) but then the newest ships are going for $115 per day, perhaps higher for onboard pricing. The usual sale to buy it prior to the cruise seems to top out at 30% off the onboard price, or the more common "buy one get one for half off" which is also hyped on boarding day but that is based on the higher onboard pricing. Today my cruise planner shows an onboard price on the Mariner Of The Seas of $105 per day, but with the current 30% sale it is $72.99 per day. Again that's all without the 18% tip tacked on. Bottom line from all the above is if you want the drink package buy it before the cruise. Just like the internet it is always cheaper than buying it once aboard the ship. Or, for drinks you could gamble up to 2500 points and get Prime casino level and then get free drinks when the casino is open, only at the casino bar.

If it's throwing error messages about your login and password being wrong it's a problem that has been going on all week. You can reset the password and it should fix it. Some have kept the same password and it accepted it as a new one. Multiple threads are posted about it. I just logged in to the app with no problems. I changed my password a couple days ago.

He mixed up his gazintas and entered too many naughts in a line of code for the password database.

They also have a brunch once or twice per cruise instead of a separate breakfast and lunch. As you might expect this has a few breakfast items and some lunch items.

My Galveston plan, which I've done many times: I fly in from Huntsville Alabama, which is a direct flight for me, and since it's United Express I have to go to IAH (George Bush Intercontinental Airport) which is the one farthest away from the port. I stay at the Marriott in the airport, which you get to by the airport tram underground, direct from baggage claim. This works for me since I look at the night before the cruise as just being close to the port and not a night on the town in Galveston. I eat at the hotel or take an Uber to a local restaurant. I book Galveston Express for 8am the next morning and they are always there, often early. I board the tram and go to Terminal A and walk out Door A-114 and look off to the left past the traffic lanes. That's where they will be in a black van. I've done it enough to be on a first name basis with one driver and his son who is also a driver. Off we go and usually arrive at the port early, even if we have to stop at Hobby airport for other riders. Then on debarkation day Galveston Express is right there where they dropped me off on boarding day. $70 round trip for seniors, I think $80 for younger people. As I said, it works for me and is easy. It's probably not everyone's cup of tea.

I'm on Caribbean Princess in a couple weeks with the Princess Plus package. I've been reading about how they screw up the bar sales in many ways. One being that they charge the medallion that pops up on their screen, so if I go to the bar to get drinks for my wife and myself, they charge both to me by default. Some even went over the 15 drink limit because of this and were cut off even though they hadn't had 15 drinks. I just can't wait. As for Royal Caribbean - at least 30% of every cruise they are doing now is "new to cruise" or "new to Royal" and they have nothing to compare the drink package price to, so they buy it. And it's not going to stop anytime soon. Eventually the company will tip the scales and package sales will decline enough for them to adjust the pricing.

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/plan-a-cruise/certified-vacation-planner

Yes. My mistake. Make Prime after April 1, 2024 and you are good until March 31, 2026.

Yes. And as soon as you get to 2500 you start getting the Prime perks and then you are also Prime for the following year. So go on a cruise that starts this Monday April 1 with no prior casino member level and get 2500 points that night, you are now Prime for the rest of this casino year and also through March 31 2025. The annual free cruise for Prime is in an inside cabin, 7 nights or less. There are blackout dates.