ARandomTraveler

I'm doing that route in august. It's mostly sold out, and insanely expensive, but there's still rooms available. The sail date is actually July 31st.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Thanks for the update. Do you have a website for where you purchased the Vietnam visa? I've looked online and it seems like there are a lot of websites offering to sell them, and I can't be sure which is the "official" site.

The key is a waste of money, that's what it is.

Are you sure this wasn't an issue with the travel agent? Or their booking system? Maybe the way they do their bookings and collect payment make it confusing on RC's end. EDIT: Just finished reading the thread and see that the OP got an explanation.

Yep I did this on the symphony in November. I knew it would likely book up before I got on the ship so I paid the $130 for us to go, on top of having already bought the UDP. When at dinner I asked the waiter to refund my money since I had the UDP and he was really confused, so he got the manager and she fixed it right away. It really didn't take that long, but I was willing and prepared to not get my money back when I made the booking, knowing that it might not work.

It's also nice to have the reservation because the hibachi seems to sell out before you can even get on the ship to book it with the UDP.

We didn't find this to be true on Symphony (regular balcony room). We had to leave both of our large suitcases out in the open because they were too tall to fit under the bed.

I don't have answers to all your questions, but as far as #2 goes, absolutely, 100% get 2 rooms. For one, having 3 adults in a room is too many. That's at least 3 full sized suitcases, 3 adults who need closets and drawers to store their things. And when all 3 are women, you'll most likely also need extra counter and shelf space in the bathroom. For two, a 3 year old is going to need a lot of quiet time, which isn't fair to the 2 adults who the 3 year old doesn't belong to. Way too much tiptoeing around during naps and bedtime for your sister and mom to be able to enjoy their vacation. If you're paying for everyone, they can't really complain about the accommodations, but if it were me, and someone invited me on a cruise, with the caveat being that I had to share a room with 2 other adults and a 3 year old, I'd pass.

Has anyone ever been to the Hot Pot? That's also showing up as $28.99/person, when I've seen it before for $45 or $50. It might not be on any ships besides Spectrum. I know what "hot pot" is, I'm just wondering what people think of the ship-based one (if anyone has eaten there).

Great price! Thanks for the heads up. I booked the hibachi 2 months ago on my symphony cruise for $60/person. I just looked in my cruise planner for my Spectrum cruise this summer and lo and behold, $28.99/person. Booked it. Might book it twice 🤔

I assumed that they could see if you had a reservation at a specialty restaurant and therefore would know you weren't coming to regular dinner. We had specialty dining reservations every day, never went to the dining room, and nobody called us. I guess they weren't as eager to have us for dinner as they were to have you 😂.

We used the starlink internet on Symphony to stream a football game through the XFinity app on our phones, which lets us watch live TV just like we were at home. We had no problems with that and didn't use a VPN. EDIT: Oh Jesus Christ, I didn't realize I was responding to a 4 year old post until I saw Bob 🙄. Who resurrected this? 😂

If you want a really good deal on a high end purse, go to Paris. You can get a Louis Vuitton bag for half the price as what you'll buy in the US, AND you'll get the tax refunded to you when you leave the country. The cost of a round trip flight is still less money than 50% of the bag. I wouldn't waste my money on a Coach bag from the ship. I highly doubt they're offering anything that would be considered a real deal.

I don't even consider the non-refundable price when booking. It's easier to book refundable if you have your mind set to thinking the listed price is the discounted price that Royal Caribbean will give you if you're willing to sacrifice flexibility, and the "real" price is the one you get at the very end of the booking once you get to the shopping cart and can click the box for "refundable deposit."

There are insurance plans that offer this as a benefit. You have to read through the full policy to see if "loyalty points" is a benefit. I don't think the policy that Royal Caribbean sells will cover anything having to do with your airfare, but the private policies do.

I would book A&B in one room, and then if C&D can go, they can get their own separate room at whatever the price is at that time. I wouldn't risk my own pricing in order to wait for 2 people who may not be able to go. Why penalize yourself? I also wouldn't sail 4 adults to a room.

I was surprised to login to my cruise planner this evening and see the deluxe beverage package listed for $54.99/day. I've never seen it that low. Still not worth it to me, but kind of refreshing to see a price that doesn't have a "7" in front of it. Granted, it's for a 12 day cruise, plus it's in Asia where people drink less, but for people who usually buy it at $72.99 on a 7 day cruise, it's not that much more expensive which is nice.

Izumi Hibachi was good. Fun atmosphere, very tender steak, flavorful fried rice (they use lots of garlic butter) 150 Central Park has the best "high end" food and a classy atmosphere. Wojderland was a unique and interesting experience if you're an adventurous eater. Hooked has great service and lots of seafood option. All lobster options are included (whole Maine lobster as well as the warm water lobster tails). I wouldn't waste a specialty night at Jamie's. It was good, but you can get pasta that's just as good in the windjammer at the custom pasta bar. I also wouldn't waste one at Chops. It's a good restaurant but nothing special. If you can only pick 3, this one wouldn't make the list for me, but if you have the UDP, then you should try it of course.

I went with my 20 year old on Symphony in November. We met another 20 year old and her Mom at dinner the 3rd night, and that girl told my daughter she'd been going to the "hyperlink" every night, which sounded like a venue where the "in between" could hang out. The Hyperlink turned out not to be a venue, but just a name they gave the group, which was supposed to meet at different venues for various activities like trivia, dancing, karaoke etc each night. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out to be activities that were set aside specifically for that age-group, and it wasn't organized, so the "kids" would show up and have to just know who the other 18-20 year olds were. There wasn't even a table or anything set aside and labeled so that they could find eachother. My daughter tried going to 2 of the activities, but she walked in and wasn't able to figure out if anyone in the venue was part of the 18-20 group, and just ended up wandering aimlessly and sitting by herself. So, from that experience, it was not a well organized group, and unless you happen to be able to figure out who else is sitting alone in the activity and can go up to them and ask if they're there for the Hyperlink meet up, it's not gonna be much of a meet up. Thankfully, my daughter prefers to hang out with me and go to shows and do activities together, so it didn't bother her. She only went because the girl we met at dinner invited her (and she did find that girl at one of the activities), but she never did meet anyone else in the group.

That's different than being invited on a vacation to be a babysitter. When you plan to take children on a trip, your mind is set accordingly to be the babysitter and playmate. When I book a vacation for myself, it's not my idea of fun to be put in charge of other people's children. Maybe that's just me, but I wouldn't do it.

I get that totally. I don't dislike children at all, in fact most of them at that age are hilarious and entertaining, but I don't want to be in charge of them on vacation...ever. And I don't mind if they're in my vicinity while on vacation, as long as I'm not expected to keep them entertained or to disrupt my adult time, which I paid good money for, in order to give their parents a break. Every time I see people make suggestions about bringing the grandparents on vacation to watch the kids, I wonder how the grandparents feel about that. I wouldn't appreciate it. Becoming a parent means making some major sacrifices in your life for many years. Relaxing on vacation is one of them.

1000% agree with @poocher! Who wants to be invited on a vacation to be a babysitter? That is NOT fun, no matter how cute your kid is. For me, and I'm sure this is not how everyone feels, but having graduated from that stage of parenthood, the last thing I want to do is have to entertain or give attention to a toddler who is distracting me from adult conversations and relaxing. Sorry but, no thank you.

I cruised with a 2 year old and it was not relaxing at all. Extended family who was on the trip with us were understandably not interested in giving up their vacation time to be babysitters, so I spent a lot of time in my room for naps, or trying to do tours and sightseeing while pushing a sleeping child in an umbrella stroller, or hanging out on the ship while everyone else went out adventuring. Personally, I don't think it's worth the money to take a vacation like this with small children, but it also depends on how much relaxing and/or adventuring you want to do (you won't do much of either with a toddler in tow). It cost me $2600 for the 2 year old between airfare and cruise fare, and she wasn't allowed in the adventure ocean program, and she was very confused and upset the whole cruise as to why she wasn't allowed to swim in the pools, which was really the only fun thing on the ship for a 2 year old to do. 100% would save my money and never do that again. That 2 year old is now 20 and we cruise and travel together all the time, and we have the best time, but at 2? I'd save my money.

Good point!