BND

With a relook so I highly doubt in 7 days anything will happen that will change the current status.

Just an FYI for anyone looking for info as this thread is over a year old. We've been to Charleston several times and never taken a ship's tour. We've done our own walking one on one trip. We also walked over to the Ft Sumter ferry and bought tickets and went on the first ferry of the day which means we were there for the flag raising. We're stopping in Charleston again in April (2024) and plan to walk to the aquarium and tour it. We've also done the market a couple of times and we always eat somewhere in town in one of the many good restaurants there.

We love the Vision class. We've been on EN 7 times and GR 7 times and Vision once. We're on Vision again for a 16 night b2b on 4 Apr. We love the smaller ships and the intimacy. You see the same crew and cruisers more often. We also love going out of Baltimore as we live in No VA so a easy drive up morning of. She is going into Dry Dock in a few weeks.

I only bring an old grocery store card out of habit from when some of the ships had magnetic strip safes. But, we've also used business cards. The slot just needs to see something is there.

Huh? All ships don't stop there during a cruise from the US.

Funny they sell these. Our stewards have kept cards in ours. I bring an old grocery store card just in case. Actually a lot of things will work. BTW, I searched amazon for "light cards" and didn't find them.

Specialty dining can vary for each cruise. There are sales sometimes. Each specialty restaurant has it's own pricing so comparing a large ship to small one only applies to restaurants that are on both.

We were on Wonder in Jan. First week we were in CC with 4000 passengers from Icon (media, family members). Second week we were there with another ship (can't remember which one) that probably had 3500+ passengers onboard. We get off early (by 930) and have no trouble getting a chair anywhere we wanted. In our case by the pool. We're back in April on Vision with Liberty (I think) and we have Hideaway Beach passes for the day. Island can supposedly support 12000. As far as Nassau goes, we've been there many times. Last time was a year ago. New port area is very nice, but limited food choices. We usually go to Senor Frogs for lunch and now with the new port area you can walk most of the way through the port and avoid the street.

Why would they be different? A drink package is a drink package. Itineraries can drive costs differences. The packages you mention don't have anything to do with the other amenities onboard (dining, pools, etc.)

There are many good reasons to use a TA and this is one. 40 cruises using our friends who are TA's and never a glitch. Also, glad we either drive or take Amtrak to our cruises. Amtrak will refund our points fully. If we happen to pay with our cc (Amtrak MC), our experience has been the same although they post a penalty for cancellation (10% last time I checked).

They said that on the news last night. The border is very heavily secured. DR doesn't want them in their country as they are much more stable and tourism is a huge industry for them.

Well, booked in the same cabin.

Well, as Royal ships pretty much all sell out in the US, I'd say, they're all pretty popular for their own reasons. We prefer smaller ships for a relaxing vacation. Younger cruisers and families tend to favor larger ships with more to do. We've been on Explorer 4 times and we really liked it but they moved it out of NJ so we haven't been on her in years. We've been on Oasis class several times also but they can be a lot if you're not looking for that level of activity.

That has nothing to do with D or D+. Nothing has changed.

No. It went to all Pinns.

We've seen it all. People slamming back as many as possible as soon as they board and others who drink moderately even with the package. On Wonder in Jan on the second leg of our b2b, there was a couple sitting up near the entrance area (just past the handwashing station) every morning at a bistro table. Every, single, morning, he had a bloody Mary and she had a glass of wine. Wine with eggs and bacon, etc? Yuck lol. We've never bought a drink package in 40 cruises. We carried on wine for a while and we made D pretty quickly so then used the DL in the evenings and usually had no more than one drink during the day that we paid for. Now, we get 5 free drinks a day and 3 bottles of wine (525+ amenities). We don't even use all of the 5 per day. What I don't get is the mentality that when buying the drinks package, you don't have to keep track of or worry about what you spend. Odds are, most people wouldn't drink as much if they didn't have the package because they're only drinking as much to try to get their "money's worth". As I've said on other threads, Royal wouldn't sell the package if it wasn't really profitable for them. They're not selling it for the cruisers benefit.

Um, I don't know maybe they don't need to say anything. Would you? Labadee used to be a favorite and common port for us, but since CC was revamped and the pier added, that's where we've been going. We're scheduled for Labadee in March 2025, but we won't really miss it if they still aren't going there.

What we've seen on recent cruises is that the Concierge/Suite lounges aren't very busy so this shouldn't impact them at all. I'm thinking they looked at the numbers and decided that this was a way to make it look like they are giving something to them which really doesn't impact them at all. How many Pinns actually cruise with non-Pinns they want to share a cabin with? It only benefits the non-Pinn so there's no incentive for Pinns to do it.

Of course, if they have custody/guardianship, then it would. It appears that isn't the case. I'm guessing Royal for some reason assumed the grandparent was the parent.

We go to eat lunch at a place we've been to many times. Can't do that in port.

We always used to walk it. Takes about 15 minutes. With my knee injury it would take us a bit longer now so we take a regular taxi. Have done the water taxi in the past, but it's easier IMHO to just take a regular taxi.

Not to mention that Coco Cay is already scheduled for two ships basically every single day.

That shouldn't have happened unless he lives with you as a minor.

I had to actually read the thread to figure out what you were asking. Does it make a difference?

We drive or take the train but never carryon anything. With 635 pts we get 3 amenities on most cruises which we use for wine. We absolutely use our vouchers for whatever we want and the whole idea that it's "wasted" to use on anything but alcohol is ridiculous. It's not wasted if you use it. We also end the day with unused vouchers left over. I know that'll give a few a heart attack haha.