crookedhalo

That short a dry dock, it's going to be mostly mechanical and sprucing up. Probably no major changes. Ships have to go in every 5 years for a tune up basically. She had her last dry dock in 2014, so she's right on schedule.

But who knows - they may surprise us ;)

Since Coco Cay is being renovated maybe your first change was because they know some of the island won't be usable? The second change is probably because of space, but don't sweat it - Freeport (Grand Bahama) is not that great of a port (we usually stay on ship). JMHO YMMV;)

You are still losing the $100 per person. As I was switching from one cruise to another, not cancelling, they just add the $100 per person penalty to the amount. You just do not have to pay that out of pocket at the moment you switch.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

I agree with MM - this can't be how they're doing it! If so, can you imagine all the "RCCL wouldn't honor the price drop" threads that would result? I would imagine that your deposit would simply transfer as $150 per person and you will have to make up the missing $200 when transferring the booking - that is the only logical way they could do this and keep the paper work straight!

My DD uses the patch, but she has also used seabands before (or tried too). If you are very small framed (DD is 30 but still wears childrens size medic alert bracelet) they do not put enough pressure to be effective. Just our experience, YMMV

I sometimes have to use a TA to get special rates that my DH qualifies for. It's harder to work with them on price drops, but not so hard that it offsets what savings we get with the special rate we get.

Hardest part is that I am a control freak and not being able to do what I want when I want sort of freaks me out, but my guy is pretty good and I can always work with his manager if he's not in:D :)

Look up Glory Tours - they offer a tour that can take as long as you want (Bathsheba Beach, Harrisons Cave etc.) and would more than likely be able to lock your luggage in the vehicle you are using and then drop you off at the airport.

We used them in late 2016 (not to debark - just tour) and were very happy with their service.

Sorry, but what is the "KSF" promo?

Kids Sail Free

Alot of it depends on your ship. I know the Quantum class has the RoyalIQ app which allows you to track your reservations. HOWEVER, when we used it it was less than dependable. I think Oasis has been updated to us the app, but never having sailed on her, I'm not 100% sure.

That being said, I'm a compulsive person, and we usually travel with at least one other couple (sometime 5). Over the years, I have become the person who arranges all the reservations for the groups and I always create a excel spread sheet for each day of the cruise. The spreadsheet will show whether we are at sea or port; which port and any excursion planned along with $$ needed and any special considerations. It will also so reservation times for dinner & shows with any notes (i.e. when we sailed on Anthem I had heard of long lines to get in, so for WWRY the spreadsheet showed the time of the show with a note to show up 30 minutes early).

I take a magnet with us on the ship and use it to 'stick' the schedule to wall of the cabin for easy reference. This works well for us - but YMMV ;)

A few years ago cruising was a great deal. I remember trips that I paid $1800 for a 10 night cruise from NJ on ExOS which included port fees taxes and grats in a balcony (corner aft on 7) for two. Short trips for less than $50 per per person per night.

As the economy has improved, prices are rising. This past December we actually opted for an AI because the price was almost $1k less (factoring in drink prices) that we would have paid for a comparable cruise.

We are 5 nights from diamond and I'm not sure if we will make it anytime soon because I am only willing to pay so much for a trip ;) .

I think the days of super cheap cruises are numbered :( .

I believe you can BUT you have to give it to them for safe keeping until you dive and then have to turn it back in. You get it back at end of trip. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong (DH dives) ;)

Also the package includes fresh squeezed orange juice and bottled water. It's very easy to spend $45 per day :

2 bottles of water @ $4 ea = $8.00

3 Martinis/frozen @ $11 ea = $33.00

1 fresh OJ @ $4 = $4

Right here is $45 and it isn't that much...if you like specialty coffees their included as well.

A big factor in my decision is how many sea days/private island days as well. If it's a port intensive cruise it can be a bit harder but not to terribly much ;)

To the OP - looking through the thread it looks like you're going to 'splurge' on coffee (buying a coffee card) and the 10 drink card and you've ordered a case of water to your cabin. Stop and add all those things up and make sure the package isn't a better deal, since all of these items are included in the package. You may be surprised:D

And I know this will garner many responses, but I have found that over the last few years or so if I drink the tap water (and I drink ALOT of water) I seem to get more swelling around my ankles etc. When I switched to bottled water it stopped. Don't know what changed from when we first started cruising, but something did:(:(.

The package allows you to pick up bottles of water as you go (from bars) and take back to your room to have for excursions and just drinking while in the room (I love to have water available in the late evening or middle of the night).

Another good idea is to separate the bed into twins and put them under the pullmans (think two bunk beds). This keeps the floor space more usable and avoids the tight feeling. Agree with the PP about keeping 'stuff' to a minimum;):). We did this a few years ago on Fascination with our kids (late teens and early 20's at time). HTH

We travelled on Anthem in 2016 with a friend who is very gluten intolerant and the MDR worked as previous posters have indicated, but when in the WJ she would work with a chef and they would go behind the station and take her food out of an untouched tray to make sure there was no cross contamination possibility. It was a 12 night trip and she had no issues whatsoever on the ship. HTH.

I wish people would stop trotting out that old myth (6 drinks per day to break even) - it depends on what you drink. Also it depends on how port intensive your trip is. If you have several sea days it is very, very easy to make the package a great deal. If you are a soda/beer/wine drinker, then yes it probably isn't worth your time. BUT if you like to have bottled water in your cabin (picked up at bars on way back to cabin each day) and to take off on excursion, fresh squeezed orange juice, specialty coffees and higher end drinks (martinis, margaritas etc.) and like a specific brand of alcohol, it is very easy (even on a port day) to break even.

We also book our own excursions through local guides - except when the time in port is to tight or the excursion is too tight. In St. Kitts a few years ago, both Royal and a private company were offering the same basic tour. The private operator was about $15 or $20 per person cheaper but both tours were schedule to return just 30 minutes before sail away. Since the tour involved another boat to another location (Neves), I wasn't comfortable with possible problems and so little time to recover, so my group went with Royal for the excursion.

As it turned out, the excursion was a hot mess and we actually didn't get back to the ship until 30 minutes after it was supposed to sail. They were actually counting us back in and the last person came aboard on the gangway:eek::eek::D! Now there is no way of knowing if the private operator would have had issues or not, but let me tell you I was very happy to have done a Royal excursion and see that boat waiting for us :)

The shampoos, lotions and conditioners you had on bath counter is usually only given to upper tier Crown and Anchor members or Suites. Others don't be surprised if you only have the dispenser in shower...

We are lowly emerald so I don't think that was the reason. My pics from that trip are on another hard drive, but I honestly don't remember a dispenser at all. I always bring my own stuff, but DH uses the bar soaps so there could have been one, but I don't think so:confused:

What is in the shower depends on the room category. We were in a D8 on Anthem at the end of 2016, and there were tubes of shower gel, shampoo, conditioner and lotion on the counter of the bathroom. They were replenshed as necessary during the 12 nights. I honestly don't remember a wall unit in the shower itself.

Has dynamic dining gone then ?

 

Yes - we sailed on Anthem 11/26/16 and it was the first sailing without Dynamic Dining.

What happens if you miss your flight home because you don't get back to Baltimore when you are supposed to?

On our trip GS opened up phones and computers at no charge so that people could call and change flights etc.Only real problem is that the arrival time kept changing... We were kicked out of our cabins at 8:30am and had to find someplace to hang. Food and beverage service was cut off around 10am because our original delayed arrival time was 11am - I know it was between 2 and 3 before we actually arrived. We were lucky that we live in So. Maryland so no travel issues for us BUT I know there were a lot of unhappy people on the ship.

Loss of the use of one rudder would require a one or two tug escort all the way from the mouth of the Chesapeake to the dock. The harbor transit in PC is much less, so the tug charge will be much less.

We were aboard GOS in September of 2006 when a similar rudder issue occurred. We had to stop at the mouth of the bay for divers to check/weld the rudder in place and then we could proceed up the bay with a two tug escort - one on each side. We didn't arrive back in Baltimore until almost 2pm (if memory serves me). While GOS was more than capable of her normal speed up the bay, she had to pace with the tugs:o

I have had multiple reservations linked to mine of multiple trips. I think, if everyone is doing the same things (dinner, shows etc) it makes sense to only link to one reservation. If you continue to add people to your group you would need to update each reservation multiple times to make sure all are linked - having one central number that gets everyone to the same spot at the same time is much easier! JMHO

We frequently use trinityreservations.com to locate sleep'n'cruise packages;)

Don;'t you mean that you got the deluxe package for the price of the lesser package? How does that equate to free? It was a great deal though.

I consider it 'free' because (if memory serves me) the Deluxe package was going for $48 or better at that point and they didn't bill me the difference so I got an upgrade worth $10pp/pd at no charge which in my book is free;)