The Fun Researcher

Gourmet soda?  Who would have thought?  😄

Dan

I thinks it's overdue time that RCCL rethinks Johnny Rockets.  Never really understood the appeal of the place, especially for such a steep up charge for diner food.  So many better venues could occupy that space.

I do like what they did on the Navigator and made it ala carte pricing and moved it right next to the pool deck. 

Dan

If you don't need it to be refundable any longer, you can remove that charge.

I just repriced one of our bookings today because we are now so close to final payment (less than a month away) I went ahead and removed the extra fee for the refundable deposit.  So now we have a non-refundable booking, but saved $200 overall in the process.  Overall I've repriced this cruise to a level that's $800 lower than when we originally booked.

Editing to clarify:  You can remove the fee for a refundable booking, but you need to make sure that the base fare still works out to make it worthwhile.  For example, if you booked a refundable fare at $3000 (say $2800 for the base cabin fare and $200 for refundable fee), and today it's $2800 for the base cabin fare, then it's a wash to remove the refundable fee and not worth it.

Hope it works out for you OP.

Dan

On 12/6/2019 at 10:32 AM, rusty nut said:

Give me the pumpkin seed rolls any day!!

 For me it is the onion rolls. The rest of my family loves the pumpkin seed rolls though

Dan

2 hours ago, Howie411 said:

Did a galley tour this morning and the guy giving the tour said RC just ordered two new Icon class ships that will hold over 8,000 guest.

No thanks.  Hard pass

Dan

5 hours ago, suesnake2002 said:

I'd like to also mention that cough I left the ship with wound up being pnuemonia. First time for that. On that other f b page alot of discussion of people being sick. 

I know alot of complaints were made to the head office about not getting our port charges back for nassau. And no one has gotten any satisfaction with that. 

I feel for you that you got sick, but outbreaks occur on cruise ships all the time.  It's not like we hear about this regularly on the Grandeur.  It appears to me that unfortunately you were on one of those cruises that had an outbreak.

Dan

1 hour ago, BNBR said:

 

Royal understands what most people want.  I don't feel disconnected from the ocean on Oasis.  We go to the solarium, pool decks, walk the track, sit on our balcony, etc.  But what we want is a lot of venues, space to walk, restaurants, and a resort type feel with lots of entertainment.  If we wanted an old school ship type experience, we would sail Seabourn or something along those lines.  But the numbers are obvious and people want amusement park/resorts much more than an ocean view.

At some point there will be no choice when all that’s left are the mega ships.  It doesn’t necessarily mean that they are catering to the vast majority.  Their profitability is balanced into the equation heavily.

Dan

47 minutes ago, NateUpNorth said:

I'm more concerned about passenger count than I am ship size.

For example, we love the Freedom & Navigator. Perfect for us....... pre-Amped Up

We'll see if we feel the same way after all the changes on our next trip on either.

We've been on Navigator pre and post Amplification and didn’t find it feeling more crowded. Love the new venues and look.  If anything it made us love the Voyager class even more than we already did.

Hope your experience is similar.

Dan

 I can only hope. Freedom class is the largest in Royals fleet that we care for so far. We are about to try our first small ship on the Grandeur (74k GT) in July. Looking forward to that experience.

Dan

4 hours ago, bobmacliberty said:

Note that for Verizon, the Travel Pass in Mexico (and Canada) is $5 per day.  All other countries are $10 per day.

 Loves travel pass. Have used it quite a bit. The ability to go and access our domestic plan for a one time daily price is fantastic. It’s nice to keep the phone away for most of the cruise but to catch up once or twice with friends and family back home 

Dan

9 hours ago, ROYAL CARIBBEAN DUDE said:

The brand new Oasis Of The Seas!

 

Enjoy!

 

 

Thanks for taking the time to put that video together

Dan

53 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

 

I believe Verizon has eliminated cellular data capability while at sea.

Sure enough.(see my screen grab from Verizon).   It’s only while at sea,  but that makes sense because when you are in port you are using that ports cellular service.   I’m not sure why you would buy this $20 monthly plan for a cruise ship when it doesn’t work while at sea. When in Port they shut off the cruise ships cellular services  so I’m not sure when this service would even be usable?   I wonder how they are able to disable cellular data connectivity to the ships cellular service while at sea?

Dan

15 minutes ago, blackshirt said:

No, that is not true. Even when on WiFi, a smartphone will use cellular data if you let it. It may not be much but it doesn’t take much to run up a bill on a cruise ship. There are some functions like location services that will use cellular data even when connected to WiFi. You don’t have to be in airplane mode to prevent data use but you must then either turn cellular data off or data roaming off. My default setting is data roaming off and I’ve never gotten unexpected data usage on a cruise ship. ATT charges $6/mb on a cruise ship. It does not take much data to run up a huge bill.

Yeah you are correct when you consider the small amount of cell data some apps use for something like location services.  The insane charges that cellular providers charge for cell data while at sea causes this to be an issue.  

However in the case of the OP, it sounds as though he actually had a significant data overage, and to me it appears that he kicked over to cellular from Wi-Fi. 

It is is best to turn off cellular data altogether when on the ship.  

One thing I like about Verizon is the fact that you can sign up for their Travel pass which allows you to use your domestic data and cellular plan in many of the Caribbean islands for a single day $10 charge(per island).   It doesn’t help when on the ship but it is awfully nice to be able to make unlimited phone calls and use your plans domestic data to catch up with family and friends back home.

Dan

OP, You are absolutely correct that when WI-Fi is working properly there is no need to put your phone in airplane mode. Problem is, Wi-Fi on cruise ships is not the best, even with the best service  you can purchase.   If the signal is weak or you are in a dead zone it will default to your cellular data if you don’t have cellular data turned off.   At home, I assume you have a good Wi-Fi signal so no need to worry about it bumping over to cellular data .

 Have you found out how much AT&T wants to charge for the overage? Just curious .

Dan

@Junkhouse

Thank you

Dan

16 hours ago, jamespb78 said:

Maybe it comes from not all of us living in the USA, and some countries have different terms and conditions?

 

Im in Australia, and booked direct with RC with the non refundable deposit option.  My cruise has now dropped $1000 in price from when I booked, and RC won’t drop my price even 1 cent.

 

The cheaper price is for the exact same sailing, same cabin category, and I haven’t even made final payment.  The only option RC gives me is to cancel, and forfeit my entire deposit, which will then also cancel all my tours I’ve booked (tours will be refunded, but they can’t guarantee I can re book them).

 

Ive had several phone calls with supervisors, sent several emails, and they all insist that for Australian bookings with a non refundable deposit you cannot re-price.

 

Considering i booked over 18 months before sailing, I’m peeved off about it.  Certainly didn’t pay to book so early.  Very jealous of US residents who can simply ring up and get the cheaper price.

 Wow, that’s rough. I tend to book refundable until I am absolutely sure I’m going. ( flights are booked )

Dan

3 hours ago, kernie968 said:

Are they called Ranger cookies on the ships? I ran up to the Windjammer many times looking for this mysterious Ranger cookies and never saw them. And I mean I went to the Windjammer every hour hoping to see them.

Don't set your expectations too high.  I think they are o.k., but I'm also not a cookie/sweets/cake kind of guy.

Dan

 Just tell them you want to reprice your cruise. I do it all the time when the price drops

Dan

@Another_Critic

Thank you

Do they use Deck 4 or Deck 5 for My Time Dining?

Thanks,

Dan

1 hour ago, ShakyBeef said:

 

If, by chance, you ever experience the sewer gas smell coming from your cabin's bathroom, try pouring a few glasses of water down the bathroom floor drain.  This will often solve the problem.  The gas-blocking water in the trap can evaporate over time and allow the stench to come through.  Adding water seals it back in again.

Solid advice.  A dry trap can definitely let the odors through.   It happens pretty often in homes where people hardly use some of their sinks.  That trap dries up and whammo!, sewer smell.

Dan

Thank you all for the replies. We are sailing with friends and we decided  on an inside cabin and ocean view cabin 3053 and 3052 respectively.

This gives us cabins above us and below us and puts us mid ship. I figure that will give us the most chance of having quiet cabins and easy access to the front or rear elevators as well as the least chance of the ship causing motion issues. ( none of us have motion issues but we have also never been on such a small ship )

 If you know of any reason not to choose these cabins please let me know thank you 

Dan

The ABC's are by far our favorite itinerary, particularly when it's 8 or 9 nights.

Dan

Looking forward to reading more.  Loved the Navigator when we sailed her in March.

Would love your opinion of the common areas of the Navigator versus the Escape when you get a chance.  How was the Royal Promenade on the Navigator versus the main “centrum” style that is on the Escape?  Also, how did the pool areas compare?

Dan

The longer cruise and southern Caribbean wins it for me.

Dan