Florida Glamazon

This is more of a rant that I hope Royal would listen to one fine day. 

I had my heart set on going to an all inclusive beach resort-until I looked at the stingy, lame port schedule for our sailing: 7AM to 2PM. I do believe that Scrooge thought of that schedule. 

  I'm bummed that it wouldn't be worth scrambling around in the early hours, especially since we like a leisurely breakfast on cruises. We both work full time, so the chance to have a relaxing day is a big part of what we treasure so much about cruises.Then worrying about getting back to the ship would before we could be featured in a pier runners YouTube video would kill all the feeling of really having a relaxing beach day. I'd have that worry even with a RC excursion since the time in port is so truncated. 

  Is Royal Caribbean doing this because they are trying to sell more of their own excursions? Well, that's not going to work.

  I don't go on cruises to rush around and wake up when roosters do in order to get anything but a rushed/ripped off feeling with excursions. And shame on Royal for limiting what the shops and other hard working local tourism related business owners can make due to a skimpy port schedule. 

  Just for that, Royal, I'm not buying a darn thing onboard that day or playing in the casino once we set sail that day. If more of us complained and stopped buying anything onboard on "Scrooge port days", maybe they would listen and let us get a REAL port day in Costa Maya to relax. 

Out of caution/parania,(and fear of God forbind my cruises being cancelled)-I sent my TA screen shots of two of the 3 cruises I booked that are showing as paid in full.

Oddly, The 3rd cruise is still showing a balance, booked via a different agency.

20 minutes ago, PigsCanFly said:

I went to check current prices on out 3 upcoming cruises to be able to compare to the the "new" prices for the sale and none of the planners are available.  They must be pre-raising already.

Yes- I had the same error message for the second time this month

6 hours ago, marci22 said:

Was it an OBC or did you use the BOA credit to reduce your cruise price? I can see they might not offer a price adjustment if you did that. I do not understand no adjustments for adding OBC to your booking.

In used RC Visa for OBC well before final payment. After many tries wtih both RC and my TA, I wasn't able to get my fare discounted when there was a sale. I was able to spend the OBC onboard. Lessons learned- I won't apply RC points for OBC until a few weeks before the cruise.

6 hours ago, cruisemiser1 said:

 

This is odd. Why would this void your ability to reprice your cruise prior to final payment date? Just curious.

I was told that I couldn't get a price adjustment after I had put the OBC onto my reservation-This was from RC and my TA looked into it for quite some time. She's been really honest with me, and goes out of her way to help so I trust her confirmation of RC's answer.

FYI once you apply the Visa's OBC, you can't get a price adjustment/ further discount applied per RC and my travel agent. I had it applied several months before the final payment date and learned the hard way.

4 hours ago, Psycho and Barb said:

$18 bucks per day.  Not a Black Friday sale...Just a Royal cruise planner error but they did honor it.  Unfortunately, we never got to use it because of COVID.

We had that $18 rate but they emailed us and cancelled the beverage package/refunded us.

6 hours ago, karena1 said:

There are, but I won't use them.  They are terrible.  I take my own blow dryer and my own toiletries.

 

Yes, they are at once under-powered yet way too hot. I call those types the "Fisher-Price Singe & Fry" defective toy blow dryer.

Hmmm, I am wondering about the availability of Playmakers on boarding day- and how hard it is to lug our carry-on rolling suitcase (several necessary items) into Playmakers? The Key used to be a good option but the price is soooo much higher than just the internet alone.

Hello- I'm wondering if anyone has info on how firm the junior suite beds are on Wonder-granite slab or slightly torturous? I asked for a mattress topper via our travel agent, but I'm hoping that thye don't run out or forget. My husband and I both have back issues.

TIA

I'm in the category of people who prepare for almost anything a cruise can throw at us-almost. So we both grab a few Lysol wipes and wipe down the high touch areas: Door handles, remote, sink and shower handles etc. 

Then it's full on "Mamasita needs a margarita: time!!!!

Hello- Has anyone sailed in WOTS #11242? Asking because I've booked that junior suite but I've been seeing more videos/comments where people said their cabin's A/C didn't work & they were hot for the whole cruise.

  My husband likes to have it fairly cold and I hope this isn't one of the "complimentary sauna" cabins...

Thanks everyone. I stayed up until around 12:30AM and got an 11AM arrival time. My husband and I both waited to take our pictures until the next day. I wasn't able to use the good hair day selfie stored in my phone on the app, oh well:)

I will be sure to double check our phone number on the website.

Does the app (or website) allow you to check in at 12:01 AM  on check in day 45 days before the cruise?

Also, when you do the check in, does it allow you to use a profile picture that you already have saved on your phone?

5 hours ago, jean87510 said:

This is a picture of the bar on Deck 12 when we were at Cayman.

Can you get soft drinks at the oceanview?

Thanks everyone- Plantation for the win!!!!

On 1/15/2023 at 7:13 PM, Jim_Iain said:

We are just on the cusp of Spring break and the rates show it.

 

Love the suggestions but geezeeeeee the rates are over the top -   We currently have a reservation at Hilton Embassy Suite for April 13 - 15 with a free cancellation until 5 days of arrival for $354 per night (2 nights including Tax $953).   I was hoping it would drop but seems to be climbing.

 

I just checked Hilton Marina and the are at $573 -  $1,363 including Taxes and fees for 2 days.

 

I guess I will be happy with Embassy Suites for now.

We are kicking ourselves for booking the Riverside Hotel several months ago for one night stay 4/14 before our 4/15 cruise. There is a big music festival from 4/14-4/16 called the Tortuga Music festival and guess where they are telling festival goers to catch the water taxi? Yep, right outside of our hotel. I'm praying we can find a safe place to stay that's a little farther away from the party crowds but within a 30 minute drive to Port Everglades.

13 hours ago, wrk2cruise said:

Yes since the restart you don't get you seapass cards in the terminal anymore.  They will be in the mail slot at your cabin.  You can go directly there, pickup your cards, drop your carry on, put things in the safe.  Then you should return to the public spaces until the rooms are announced ready around 1-2.

Is this true on all the Celebrity ships? We are going to try Celebrity for the 1st time in April (our 4th cruise). It will be nice to have this option!!

It's safe, we have parked there twice. I paid $175 for a full week, but it's nice to just get the bags to the car and drive off instead of waiting around for a shuttle.

On 9/13/2022 at 9:32 AM, Lois R said:

Riverside here as well.🙂 When are you sailing? That always affects the prices. I am sailing out of Ft. Lauderdale in January and got a room at the Riverside for under 300.00. Not sure what your price point is.......I do have to say I LOVE the location of the Riverside. Right in the middle of the Blvd with a water taxi pick up point right there and tons of restaurants and shops on each side of the hotel.

 I hope that it's not surrounded by noisy party boats or bars that blast music. Hate to sound like a fossil, but we had a hard time sleeping the night before our Symphony cruise because of the obnoxious LOUD party boat that blasted music until at least 1AM.

Hello- We have the key for our upcoming cruise on Harmony. When we sailed on Symphony in April we had initially gotten a 12-noon check in time, then we received an email allowing us to come one hour earlier. Not positive- I *think* the email came one week before the cruise.

We have a 10:30 AM check in this time plus The Key for Harmony departing from Port Canaveral.

Will we be allowed to board any earlier?

I've seen boarding videos with long lines and big crowds in the past few months at Port Canaveral.

On 9/15/2022 at 10:41 PM, robmtx said:

Did you ask them to turn it down or raise concern to the beach bed concierge? I had to complain multiple times on a recent stay, and eventually a supervisor showed up and offered to move us to a cabana. 

They ignored me when I said something to the 20 somethings and the young guy behind the concierge desk didn't seem to give a darn about much of anything. He didn't bother asking a waiter to help with drinks after I asked (and waited a long time). I asked about it and he said he'd say something. He didn't. It started raining about 2 hours into the beach bed experience, so we went back to the ship.

We were hoping for a "chill" experience with a Chill Island beach bed, but there were waiters being attentive to drink orders from the neighboring beach chairs and scampered away from us 3x. I decided to just grab my own drinks and sat back to enjoy the view. The bed was lovely and comfy. 

  The chill was interrupted by 2 twenty-something guys-one directly behind us and one across the way, both blasting competing boom boxes. Royal staff ignored it. 

On 9/12/2022 at 12:57 PM, NorthStarStateCruiser said:

Not for the USVI as the OP mentioned are some stops on their trip.  Banana boat spray contains octocrylene which is banned. 

Also contains octocrylene. Not allowed in USVI.

Unless you're talking about the Sun Bum mineral sunscreen, this also contains octocrylene.

Best broad spectrum protection out of the ones suggested, but also contains octocrylene.

 

Contains octocrylene 

 

Your only options are to wear UV protective clothing or to use a mineral sunscreen which will leave a white residue on your skin.  It appears not sufficient scientific research has been conducted to determine the real-world effects of all chemicals that exist in traditional sunscreen products.  Consumer Reports wrote a nice article about this.

https://www.consumerreports.org/sunscreen/the-truth-about-reef-safe-sunscreen-a3578637894/

Thanks so very much. It's pretty sad that the manufacturers claim those are reef safe. Guess I will go as Casper's sister, LOL.

18 hours ago, Coralc said:

I don't know. It doesn't really look that difficult to me. Just Google Panama Jack's Animal safe sunscreen. There are lots of options. Clear, white, whatever. 

 

It is the sunscreen that they use at Discovery Cove, dolphin safe, probably reef safe. Probably not something I would stress over. 

 

Thanks, it actually is hard because a LOT of the ones that say reef safe have a lot of the unsafe ingredients. Several of the ones recommended on this forum are nice but when you look at the post with the ingredients to avoid, they have the chemicals that harm reefs. I just don't want to get to St. Thomas and have someone tell me to ditch the sunscreen that I bought at home because the ingredients are not reef safe.