RobInMN

Mine's interesting.

We are also leaving Friday. Also in the JS. We are on Freedom.

We had the option to bid on the RS, OS, GS1, & GS2. If you did a mock booking, there was no RS available. 2 OS, and like 9 GS1, might have been 1 GS2, but I put in bids on all 4 anyway.

For the last couple weeks, all but the OS showed as Expired, with the OS as Pending. And I was locked out from any changes. Even as of yesterday, there was still 1 OS, and 6 GS1.

Today I checked and now the OS shows as "Upgrade Unavailable", all the other ones have returned to "Pending", and I can modify all of them, including the one that says unavailable.

I wanted to check a mock booking, but I guess you can't book a cruise that's only 5 days away, it's not listed anymore. (soonest cruise is a week from Monday).

So not real sure where we stand. Oh well, it's only 3 nights.

23 minutes ago, Crazy Canuck Cruiser said:

Is the Serenade having upgrades in 2022 in anticipation of its 2023 World Cruise?

We're on the Feb 26th 8 night Southern, and ours was changed yesterday from GC to Nassau.

Here's how I look at it.

It's "CocoCay", not "Coco Cay".

Technically, it's "CocoCay on Little Stirrup Cay of the Berry Islands in the Bahamas"

Meaning, that CocoCay (kay) is the name of the recreational destination on the island/Cay (key), not the island itself.

As as singular word, proper noun, RC can pronounce it however they want, hence, "Cay" to rhyme with "Day".

If it was marketed as "Coco Cay", then I'd probably argue for "Key".

You can find references to RC "changing the name" of the island to "Coco Cay". Whether that's a legal designation or just marketing doesn't really matter, as even then, I would say that when you see "CocoCay", it is the recreational destination, and when you see "Coco Cay", it's the island, and they are pronounced differently.

CocoCay (kay) on Coco Cay (key).

😁

We stayed at an airbnb near Vatican City, and would recommend it to anyone. More info in this thread, here's a link specifically to one of my posts that contains a document with a lot of info for Rome.

6 hours ago, RKHOOKER said:

It’s simple, when you book online & pay the deposit you should receive a confirmation invoice.  You shouldn’t have to call up RC & be on hold for an hour just to request your invoice.  Come on Royal up your game!

First sentence: Completely agree. I swear it used to be that way, and this new policy only started around the pandemic start. It's not like they are saving any money. It's an automatic email.

Second sentence: You don't have to wait on hold. It's a auto-menu item. See post #5:

On 10/27/2021 at 9:51 PM, AshleyDillo said:

Reservation Number: 866-562-7625; opt 4; opt 2 or 3; opt 1.

it's 4, 2, 1. And you may need to say "confirmation".

13 minutes ago, live2cruise2011 said:

Does anyone know if the Walgreens ID Now test is acceptable mine does not have the Binex

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/if-need-an-rt-pcr-test-before-i-cruise-where-should-i-go

Yup.

There's already 3 other threads discussing it.

Years ago we were on Allure and thought the pizza was meh. Did Symphony twice (about a year or so apart), and thought the pizza was pretty decent. Not sure if it just generally got better, or if it was the ship.

from the cruise deck plans site, there is a youtube video from 14-609. They spend some time showing the view from the balcony. At 1:09 (and again towards the end) you can see 14-217's balcony. Don't blink, or you'll miss it.

Looks like a vertical structural member on the right side. You'll have no view to the right due to the Deck 15 bridge/crossing support, and there's more overhang from deck 15.

47 minutes ago, meg1021 said:

We were on Allure in January/February of 2020, right before the Covid shutdown.  It was supposed to go into drydock for a refresh, but I'm not sure that actually happened.

Allure's Amp up was cancelled early in the COVID. We were booked on her TA back from Europe post-Amplification. Obviously that never happened either.

46 minutes ago, Hogbay said:

Have you cruised before on Royal on a ship ?crown &anchor platinum and above get copmlmemtry shore tours. 

Not all, just the 7 New World Wonders Shore Excursion package:

If I was closer to retirement, I'd be all over this. Add me to the list that hopes that Royal does this annually, or at least every other year or so.

So here's another way to think about this.

I mentioned this to my dad, and while he's never had any desire to go on a cruise on ships even this large (they've only done smaller ones), my parents called me back later and they are seriously thinking about it. At this point in their lives, the simple logistics of travelling to some of these places by plane and arranging hotels is just not something they are all that willing to do, and the time they'd need to invest in travelling to those places on separate, independent trips would take much longer than they realistically have left for travelling well anyway.😄 And quite frankly there's a number of places/sites listed on this cruise that they'd love to see without actually visiting the country as a whole.

25 minutes ago, AustinCruise said:

Yup. Think of the double points as a single in a suite. One could earn 10 crystal blocks!

Even without the double points promotion or the single bonus, a standard double occupancy in a suite is just 12 nights shy of 4 blocks for the whole cruise.

I have not priced other world cruises, but I'd be curious how this matches up. The pppn prices seem pretty reasonable to me. Wonder if my employer would allow me to drop to part time and work that remotely (as opposed to my house right now) for 9 months, hmmm.......🤔

34 minutes ago, slyster said:

Can i buy a package for 2 or 3 devices and share it with someone in another cabin (family member)? 

I've wandered passed the wifi desk on the first day and seen people grouping up with strangers to share the 4 device plan.😄

47 minutes ago, twangster said:

 

Emphasis on regular double occupancy cabin.

It's still a valid semantical differentiation. It's 1 additional point, not double points.

Sure, if you are starting at 1, you get the same end result. But that difference in semantics causes confusion on behalf of people thinking it is "double" and a lot of CC posts straightening them out.😉

Incorrect:

3 hours ago, twangster said:

If you booked a regular double occupancy cabin that can accommodate two guests as a solo you will get double points.

Correct:

4 hours ago, AshleyDillo said:

You will get an extra point per night as a solo IF you booked in a double-occupancy room (not a solo balcony room).

Sure, in a non-suite, there's no difference

(1 + 1) = (1 * 2)

But if you book a suite solo, it is 3, not 4. This was discussed a lot with the double points promo, as a solo in a suite with the double points ends up as 6 not 8.

(2 + 1)  * 2 = 6

It is not:

(2 * 2) * 2 = 8 <--no!

We were on Dec 2019 Symphony Eastern Caribbean, and that went to St. Kitts and St. Thomas. We were supposed to go to CocoCay, but it was too windy to dock safely. 

51 minutes ago, amberjohn said:

Where is the best place to snorkel on Coco Cay?

I have not been to the CocoCay since it became Perfect Day (once it was too windy to dock, and the other was a COVID cancellation), but I had the same question. In my searches, the general answer seems to be just outside the 2 inlets at Chill Island. However, people did mention snorkeling off South Beach and the Coco Beach Club as well. 

Apparently the older maps showed a sunken airplane you could snorkel over, but in more recent maps, it's been removed and people have said that you are only allowed to go there with a paid snorkeling excursion?

Guess I might find out in a few weeks. We booked a beach club cabana, not sure if we'll just stick to that or if we'll wander over to Chill Island at some point.

This is the 3rd thread on this subject.....

Congrats!

We are booked for end of Feb. So looking forward to it.

Search for youtube videos. There's quite a few tours and info videos. M** from R**C**B.com posted a new one a few days ago that's almost an hour long.

1 hour ago, Cruzaholic41 said:

Camera on the kid while you’re on the balcony. 
 

First child, huh? 😉

1 hour ago, mgf316 said:

Yup haha

16 minutes ago, gfkcruiser said:

We have 9640.  

Yours and the video I posted of the one right next door (9638) are both on the hump. So yours is the "Spa" JS also.

1 hour ago, gfkcruiser said:

We will be aboard for the April crossing and in a JS.   Never been on a mega ship before or in JS.   Curious about the layout of Cabin 9640.  Surprised that they are not all the same.  

Here is a video of the cabin next door:

If I understand correctly, the "spa" JS with the separate rain shower can only sleep 2. In order to sleep 3 or 4, they need more bedroom space and eliminate the rain shower and go back to a standard tub/shower combo. But still have the split bathroom.

We have 9614 booked for Feb 26th. Our daughter is coming with us, so we have the "normal" JS.