Balsam12

1 minute ago, grapau27 said:

The cocktail hour is 3.5 hours and people often take full drinks out of the DL.

Most companies will try and offer some sort of reward scheme for loyalty so why shouldn't people then take advantage of the reward scheme if they have been loyal?

Please don't get me wrong... if there is a loyalty scheme, and I can get something out of it, I will be be the first to do so. I would also give others advice on how to gain the same advantages.

I have two points here...

1. People who are D or D+ always comment " I'm Diamond, so I get free drinks and I don't need a beverage package". Great for you, but only if you only want a drink in the allocated times. 

2. People who post with what seen to be "normal" questions, but then add in "I'm Diamond". If you are Diamond, you should know the answer to basic questions... or are you just trying to tell everyone you are diamond?

Really, as a newbie to both these boards, and to cruising, I'm actually sick of the Diamond people here posting about their entitlements. Maybe when I get to such lofty levels, I will also feel entitled, but at this point, all I see is "I am D+, so I deserve X"

People say they don't need the beverage package because they get "free Diamond drinks". Yep, but that's only in a two hour window. I like to have a drink at various times during the day, one of which is at dinner, where I would like a glass of wine or two.

On a sea day, I may like to have a beer or even a cocktail during the day... not covered by Diamond drinks.

Yes. I realise everyone's needs are different, but so much discussion here is about Diamond, and I work on the idea that if you have cruised enough to be Diamond, you really should know how things work.... 

Just wondering about the difference in price between these two cruises...

Add two extra nights and more than double the price. The only thing I can think of is that the port costs for Australian ports are hugely expensive.

Can anyone suggest why there is such disparity in the prices?

1 minute ago, viviancartman said:

 

I’ve had the key offered in my cruise planner for my March 2019 cruise from Sydney on Ovation since December 2018. 

OK, Maybe they are simply not offering it on my sailing out of Singapore.

Did you find it listed under "Internet and more"?

Also no mention of "The Key" in the Cruise planner... has anyone else seen this offered other than on sailings from the US?

2 hours ago, JoeyJoeJoe said:

All good guys got my opportunity to bid email last night.

They let me bid on

JS Min 140pp AUD

Ocean view two bedroom no balcony Min 140 pp AUD

GS Min 280pp AUD

 

This is for an 11 day cruise on the 15th of April so 2 months exactly before sail date.

 

Trying to force myself to be reasonable

 

 

 

What category were you originally booked in?

I'm currently 35 days out from my Voyager sailing, and booked in an Oceanview that I specifically chose because I liked the location. According the RC website (if you can believe it) the suites are sold out, and there are only limited balcony cabins left.

I haven't had an email inviting me to did as yet.

I have the fear that if I bid on a balcony and it gets accepted, I'll end up with the lowest balcony in a crappy location and with an obstructed view of a lifeboat, but pay extra for it.

19 minutes ago, rasmonkey said:

Each to their own, but you could also buy 100 bags of popcorn (ridiculously priced at $2.50 on an all-inclusive RCI  cruise) for the audience of a show.  But my guess is the OP likes, and therefore values, the photo package.

Interesting idea, although popcorn tends to make me thirsty, and if I used my 250 on that, I wouldn't have the drink package...

What a conundrum we have now.

Each to their own, but for me, $250 is a drink package on a five day cruise.... much better value 😀

Admittedly, I don't have children, but a few happy snaps with my own camera or even on my phone will be good enough for me, and they won't have numbers or barcodes on them either.

On 2/3/2019 at 4:31 AM, dpostman said:

General concensus is 5 drinks per day is the average amount required to break even.  Unless you already plan to purchase the non-alc package anyway,  then the added cost to go up to the deluxe package is only about 2 drinks worth for the difference. 

 

dp

This is the important bit....

If you like to have decent coffee and/or fresh juice with breakfast, bottled water for your cabin and to take ashore, or even (gasp) soft drinks during the day, then you don't have to be tanked every day just to break even.

Without knowing the exact prices for drinks (as it varies between ships), having each day:

1 x coffee

1 x fresh juice

1 x soft drink

3 x bottles of water

would mean you probably only need 4 or four alcoholic drinks to break even.

1 x beer in the afternoon

1 or 2 glasses of wine with dinner 

1 x cocktail or nightcap

On sea days, you'll possibly drink more, so don't forget to factor that into your calculations.

Finally, don't forget the other part... you don't have to worry about a huge bill at the end of the cruise, if you try a cocktail and don't like it, you simply order something else (the same with the wine), and you're not checking your account all the time to see if you've been charged correctly.

If,l on the other hand, you only have maybe two alcoholic drinks a day, and are happy to drink the non-alcoholic drinks that are included in your cruise anyway, then the package would be a waste of money....

Personally, I will definitely get value for money from the package, but even if it was borderline on breaking even, I would get the package just so I can forget about it and enjoy my cruise.

7 hours ago, Biker19 said:

A little - maybe by $1 or so - I was mainly talking about the drink package.

No argument about that, but it doesn't change the main point of my post... It's easy to work out roughly how much you will spend if you have no package. From there, you simply look at the cost of the package, and work out if it's cheaper than paying as you go.

You also keep checking the Cruise Planner regularly because the prices change. If the price doesn't drop below your break even mark, you don't buy. If it does, you purchase. If you do purchase and the price drops below what you paid, you cancel and repurchase.

Heck, someone has even made a great spreadsheet tool making it easy to do the calculations.

That covers probably 50% of the threads on beverage packages. Another 40% would be covered by "if only one of you wants the deluxe package, call RCI and they will let one have deluxe and the other have the refreshment. No, you cannot get one package and share it".

There you are... In one post, I've dealt with 90% of the beverage package threads. All I need to do now is solve the problems of chairhogs and small dogs...

If your idea of a fun vacation is to keep a spreadsheet of all you beverage expenses so you can say you saved a few dollars by not getting a package then great, but to me, I would rather spend that time having another beer at the pool bar.

I am really starting to tire of the beverage package threads.

The math isn't particularly difficult if you actually do some research on drink prices. There are three possible outcomes if you can add up... 

1. I won't get value for money as I don't drink enough chargeable drinks.

2. I will definitely drink enough that the package cost per day is less than paying as I go.

3. It's borderline whether I will break even or not.

It seems like common knowledge that RCI will let one person have only the refreshment package if you call them, so that's not really an issue.

Can people not use Google to see what the cost of drinks is onboard?

For us, the package was a no brainer... Even if we are only close to being even when compared to paying as we go, the peace of mind knowing that they won't be a bill at the end of the Cruise makes the package worthwhile.

1 hour ago, davekathy said:

The OP said "I don't have this capability". 

Ahhh... Missed that bit. Cheers.

6 minutes ago, davekathy said:

When doing your online check-in and depending on the ship you are asked to upload your photo. Still an option whether you do or don't. One less thing to do at the time of check-in at the embarkation port. We've never done it.  

Yep, I understand that and actually asked in another thread when it wasn't available option when checking in for my sailing on Voyager. I have now learned that it isn't available on Voyager.

My question here is that if the OP couldn't complete online check in without uploading a photo, why didn't they simply upload one? Problem solved... or is that just too simple?

Not trying to be funny, but why would you not want to upload a photo?

Has anyone done this recently?

We are cruising to Vietnam in March, and the documents received from RC state USD45 per person for the visa.

I also read that the Vietnamese Government did raise the fee from $5 to $45, but then dropped it back down to $5.

I thought maybe the documents were just out of date, so I called RC, and got a "Whatever it says on your documents" response.

I also spoke to a colleague who did a cruise to Vietnam in August last year with RC, and he said his documents also said $45, but they never actually charged him.

BTW we are Australian.

WOW... more paranoia over nothing.

You get to your cabin and your card is in the envelope at the door. Who cares if the envelope is sealed or not? I don't even see why they need to put it in an envelope in the first place... if I was going to use someone else's card to get a free drink, what would stop me from then taking it back the the cabin door, putting it in the unsealed envelope and sealing it up?

Anyway, after you pick up your card, you then go inside your cabin. You can turn on the TV and check your onboard account to see if there are any charges you don't know about. If there are, you go to Guest Services and sort it out. 

You do this before the ship sails so that security can check to see who has used your card and (as noted by an earlier poster) kick them off the ship straight away.

People worry about this, but just accept that your luggage will be left unattended in a corridor...

Not trying to be funny, but what does that shirt have to do with the ship?

10 minutes ago, bruzin_for_a_cruizin said:

but rules are rules and laws are laws, 

Rubbish.

The ship is in international waters. They can serve alcohol as they please. 

Fair or not, this happens all the time, and not only on cruises.

Try buying software like photoshop in Australia... it will cost about $2000 more than Americans pay, and this is for something you download over the internet and doesn't even need to be shipped.

We call it the "Australia Tax".

You'll be allocated a restaurant, but won't find out which one until you get on board.

I am led to believe you can then go to any specialty restaurant and change the restaurant if you want (subject to availability).

I would also refuse the Johnny Red.

I prefer the Islay malts, with Laphroaig begin my preferred choice.

Not sure if it's allowed, but you could take an empty hip flask on board with you, then just before going back to your cabin to prepare for the evening meal, visit a bar and order a shot of whichever Scotch you choose, pour it into the flask, and then it's waiting for you when you get back to your cabin after dinner. Your wife could even order a shot of the Scotch... for herself of course.

If that's not allowed, you just take the glass of scotch back to the cabin with you.

Cool. Thanks for the quick responses folks 👍

OK, that's probably why  Sailing on Voyager.

So that would mean our photos will be taken by check in staff prior to embarkation?

On a slightly different note, I read about people uploading photos prior to boarding, but I haven't seen anything about that on the website. I have completed the online check in, and have now learned about the luggage tags, but nothing about photos... can anyone shed some light on this?

Cheers,

Balsam12

Interesting that Teacher42, who in the other thread was merely making an observation about the rules of RC bookings, and was not actually saying they wanted compensation or special treatment, was jumped on by many people who were assuming that was the basis of the post.

In this thread, the OP believes they are entitled to more than they received and nobody with an IQ larger than their shoe size agrees with them. Now Teacher 42 has joined in, yet this is a completely different situation.

We then get a couple of people posting tongue in cheek remarks about seeking compensation themselves, and other people jump on the bandwagon and agree with them.

"I'm rethinking my earlier post. Maybe RCCL is treating my mother, who is in a wheelchair, badly because they charged her full price for her balcony cabin on our upcoming Adventure cruise. 

Perhaps I should start a new thread demanding that Royal give her a balcony for the price of a guarantee inside cabin, just because she is in a wheelchair. And if they don't comply, claim they are cruel and inhumane, maybe even claim age discrimination."

One even made up stuff that the OP never actually said "Also they kept the port charges", and complete fabrications "Also other lines were sailing that route during that time frame so the excuse "weather" will not hold up in court".

The OP never mentioned port charges being kept by RC, so where did that come from, and other vessels were definitely rerouted during the same period. Read before posting is usually a good rule to follow.

Yet another thinks they are some kind of lawyer, and made up another ridiculous statement "The ship was believed by some to be unseaworthy due to a faulty stabiliser, backed up by press reports. I think given those facts, even if later proved to be wrong could influence a higher compensation payment."

What a crock.... if that were the case, I could look at any ship, aircraft, train or other form of transport and say "I believe this is unseaworthy/unroadworthy/etc and get myself a higher compensation payout. The ship was declared safe to sail, therefore what the passengers believe is completely irrelevant.

To round this out, we have now heard from someone who actually took the cruise in question and did not regret doing so, which is what our OP should have done in the first place. Again, our OP has yet to explain WHY they chose to take the refund for the cruise instead of having an enjoyable holiday and not losing 1500 pounds.

Unless the OP comes back and clarifies their reasoning, this thread is fast becoming a complete waste of time.