easyqueasy

I’ve cruised both ships and I enjoyed Allure more. It is an impressive ship. Lots to do and see, lots of seatings around the ship. The exercise track on a separate dedicated deck so you’re not using same area as others is great. And there are two separate Flowriders for surfers and boogie boarders and that’s a huge plus. Mama Mia and the Aqua show were also fantastic. I enjoyed the outdoor movie by the pool on Mariner more as the seating for it on Allure was odd and lots of activity and people not caring that they’re loud and talking at the seats even though they’re not watching the movie. But Mariner is good, just not as good in my opinion.

6 hours ago, cruiserchris2009 said:

 

Side note, it's the fellow passengers sometimes that are the hardest to contend with. To wit, the family who let their kid take a big old dump on the pool deck and just quickly walked away, or the guy who sneezed a big old wet sneeze in the buffet, looked at his hand, wiped it on his shirt and proceeded to grab the serving tongs. It's a miracle we survived covid as a species.

 

 

Just curious if anyone spoke up or just let it go? Glad you enjoyed your cruise. 

I wonder if ripping off the label (if you can) works? Let us know if you get it onboard or not. Best of luck on your odds.

I would suggest all of you agree to which restaurants and times (with second and third choices as possibilities) for each day well before you board to make booking easier. Also have names and room numbers ready if they allow one person to book for all. I’ve never reserved for more than one room at the restaurant on boarding day so I don’t know if you can reserve for others not in your room or not linked to your reservation.

2 hours ago, TPA2005 said:

Any recent experience with this? Is rcldining@rccl.com email address still good? Are there ship-specific dining email addresses? 2-3 weeks before cruise best time to send request? Trying to set up a my time table for 11 on Wonder.

 

Thank you

Email still good. Put ship name and sail date on subject line. Two weeks out worked fine.

I would probably advise get there early and get a closer spot. Here’s a pic of the parking lot. The yellow highlighted area is the entrance to board.

7 hours ago, firefly333 said:

You should do a mock booking with a refundable deposit to compare. If you are comparing to a nonrefundable deposit, they would have to change you to that. I'm not sure it's necessary to totally cancel and rebook but no harm if its refundable. 

 

Just depends if you really want to chea ge to a nonrefundable deposit.

Do the mock booking as suggested, and they should be able to reprice without cancelling. Just make sure they send you the invoice and make sure it’s refundable before you say ok and get off the phone with them. When repricing, they usually forget to make it refundable, at least the last few times I repriced. And the price for refundable deposits could changes quite a bit from day to day for some reason, if offered. I’ve also upgraded (actually was $150 less to move up two categories in COVID times) and it didn’t change the reservation. But if you can wait for the refund (about a week or two), like firefly says, no harm to book and cancel.

I think if that has Velcro straps to tighten up then it’s fine. They didn’t allow slip on shoes, but they do provide shoes if you don’t have the right ones. 
 

edit: I’m only talking about on the ship, not an excursion if that’s what you’re asking. 

No, they will not subtract the $138, and they should get the full $500 back. Refundable is full money back of whatever has been paid if cancelled before final payment. The deposit required doesn’t change whether it’s refundable or non-refundable fare. The making it refundable ($138) is just added to the total cost of the cruise.

I think your title about transpacific not requiring is misleading as cruising from Hawaii to Australia does. An email was sent about this new change on June 13. But it’s good news! I’d like to understand why Australia still requires it. But in the past other places stated that they don’t require it even though Royal stated it is required per those countries. 

Can’t say about the rates as that’s supply and demand, and whatever else Royal dreams up. But the kids sail free promotions seems to always be ongoing with skipping a few days here and there if not extended right away.

55 minutes ago, rockmom said:

Obviously any cruise planner things get canceled and replacing them might be more expensive--and also have a deadline of probably tomorrow.  

Our cruise planner items just changed to the new person.

Pools looks empty. Is the water cold? Thanks for the review.

4 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

 

Even getting the second guest removed prior to sailing should not result in any reprice other than the taxes and fees for the second guest removed.

So if the second guest is removed and there’s no reprice, does the single person now get double points?

The Navigator also has the water rides where you slide down a tube on your stomach on one side and down a raft on the other side. Those are fun and free also. 

15 minutes ago, FrannyK said:

We booked a 12 night cruise on the Serenade.  So far I have reserved the 3-night specialty dining and the Chefs Table.  The price for the UDP is pretty good I think $254/pp for 12 nights.  I'm wondering if we should take it.  Is it worth it when Serenade only has Chops and Giovanni's and Izumi? 

 

We are Diamond so will also be spending time in the DL.

I would say yes. There’s enough variety between the three restaurants to eat a different meal every night. 

1 hour ago, molsonschooner said:

do you know if it is on any other class ships. I thought I saw a picture of one on Indy or Mariner, but not sure.

My kids loved climbing on it on Mariner (I believe you’re right Indy has it also) but it was called Sky Climber. 

If you do it on Royal’s website, you can just put in a bunch of letters/numbers for the passport info and birthdate to allow choosing of time. You can update the real info at a later time. No picture needed.

I would suggest probably getting a notarized letter from him stating he’s ok with the trip and such. Maybe give more info such as ages of kids so others can answer, hopefully with experience, unlike my just thinking out loud.

And for some reason sometimes it works hours earlier on the webpage vs the app in my experience.

27 minutes ago, BND said:

I love how people assume everyone has an Apple Phone.  We never have.  Why not give every option when replying?

Because iPhone users can only give iPhone advice. We wouldn’t know the other ways if that’s what worked for us. But others do chime in for a different approach.

I always get it. I think it’ll make the cruise more enjoyable for her if she’s that insistent, even if you ask her to pay half. Easy enough to share with a kid since probably not everyone will be at the same shows at all times.

I think you should be able to see it on the guest invoice email as well as the SetSail Pass. But calling show work.

I doubt the porters report their tips as income. But the IRS certainly wants it. Excerpt from an article: According to IRS Publication 525, taxpayers are legally required to report the value of whatever property they stole during the tax year.
"If you steal property, you must report its FMV (Fair Market Value) in your income in the year you steal it, unless in the same year you return it to its rightful owner," the rule reads.
The same rule applies to bribery, drug deals and other income-earning crimes.

https://www.irs.gov/publications/p525#en_US_2022_publink1000229086

Those COVID days are in effect through April 30th, I believe. Best result: take a test and hope for a false positive.
 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/if-i-test-positive-for-sars-cov-2-what-is-your-refund-policy-and-costs-covered