Biker19

Self service has nothing to do with it - 18% is also added to Bionic bar drinks where there's no bartender at all. BTW, on the ships that do have them (not all do), use of Freestyle machine may not be the main way most folks get their sodas - it's usually at some bar/venue with a person involved.

You can call it whatever you want (tax, grats, resort fee, profit margin, etc ) - 18% is added to the base cost.

All planner items which have grats added to them are added at 18%.

The app info becomes more complete/accurate closer to sailing. Set the app to a current 8 day sailing, like Odyssey, to see the menus you can expect.

The chance of the perk being denied for using it on the "wrong" day are quite low - the cabin steward will know.

Call C&A - your level should likely be higher than pre based on your Celebrity status.

Policy wise, yes, in real life probably not (she can probably get away with bring two).

Not really: W (suite), X (balcony), Y (oceanview) and Z (inside) are the main guarantee (GTY) booking categories. Within those, you can have subcategories like on Oasis class where you can have XB (ocean facing balcony) and XN (neighborhood balcony). CP=Central Park.

Central Park is usually the lowest cost - category wise they are about the same - neighborhood balconies. If booking an XN or just X you are likely to get a CP balcony.

Yes.

Yes, but they might charge you the full on board fare for the single booking vs. the perhaps discounted rate you found in the planner. Also, some ships enforce having to use the BOGO perk on the 1st/2nd day - if the booking is for another day, they may not let you.

RCI IT incompetence answers the questions most of the time. You should be fine.

No, just Diamond.

The only question and answer for RCI: Cruise Critic Member bgoff60 asked, "It seems like there’s a lot of emphasis on younger cruise activities for Icon of the Seas -- are you working to redefine your target demographic for this class of ship?" "As we introduced the Icon class, it really is focused on multigenerational travel, which is what Royal is known for," said Liberty. "We're introducing new neighborhoods onboard that will appeal to cruisers of all ages."

Jewel was sailing from Dubai up to the start of COVID.

Welcome to CC. Yes, though you should have much less of an issue on a TP. Some of those issues may be so isolated and one-time things that it might be hard for staff to follow up - even if you brought it up all the way to the hotel director (which you could). For a repeated issue, start with a supervisor at GS.

RCI abandoned ME departures and port calls for now. The only potential to visit that part of the world in the near future would be to either book the world cruise on Serenade or assume that one of the ships will be repositioned to/from Asia via Middle East/Suez (maybe in 2025 or later).

Don't waste your time - front line CSRs are not going to know (or they'll make up something to appease you).

Welcome to CC. The chances are real high you'll get the lowest category for your booking category.

No, a GTY booking won't preclude Royal Up eligibility.

You have to call.

Yea, not sure what they were trying to accomplish with that.

We're talking about RCI IT here, so..........

Looks like another week without the regular flier but the F&F flier was updated last week: RCI Travel Agent Reduced Rates.xls - Compatibility Mode (rccl.com)

One is likely selling too many GTY, a second is that they take a bunch of cabins out of service (to fix them, whatever), there are likely more reasons.