CruisingWalter

If you don't have a drinks package anything included at the fountains at the buffet is included. Then water, iced tea, lemonade and some juices everywhere else along with basic drip coffee and bagged teas.

From the RCCL Page for our upcoming Symphony OTS cruise. We have the Refreshment Package for our voyage: Overview Wake up with the aroma of your favorite freshly brewed premium coffee or tea and enjoy breakfast with fresh-squeezed juices. Keep hydrated all day long with unlimited fountain soda refills in your Coca-Cola souvenir cup or a refreshing bottle of still or sparkling water. At night, pull up a seat at the bar and order your choice of non-alcoholic cocktails. What's Included Coca-Cola Freestyle beverages Non-alcoholic cocktails (mocktails) Fountain soda and refills at any venue Bottled still and sparkling water Premium coffees and teas Fresh-squeezed juices Johnny Rockets Shakes Coca-Cola souvenir cup Important details and advisements All Beverage Packages exclude any beverages served inside licensed Starbucks® stores.

That is very strange. you should see pretty much everything for that cruise being about 3 months out. Oh, never mind, you said 2024. Yeah, you won't see much of anything until this Summer or so.

The Refreshment Package is exactly what we get, even though we also enjoy cocktails. The specialty coffees being included makes it break even for me everytime because I will get three or four each day. Plus we love the freestyle coke machines so we can get flavored waters and teas. Then we just pay ala carte for the cocktails. Right now the beverage package starts at $73/day vs. $22/day for the refreshment package on our upcoming Symphony OTS sailing. My guess is most passengers on RCCL would come out ahead if they went with the Refreshment Package, but they don't do the math and just give free money to RCCL. 🙂

Drinks and WiFi should be there immediately. Dining for our Symphony OTS sailing showed up almost immediately as well. You won't see them on the app but if you login via computer it should all be there. The app updates much later in the process than the website. Shore excursions have been slower in showing up in some ports since the pandemic as I think there have been a lot of changes. We actually started using the Shore Excursions Group to find excursions because they're cheaper and usually smaller groups than the cruise line. And they come with a return to ship and satisfaction guaranteed. If you should miss the ship, they will get you to the next port and pay you $1000/pp for the inconvenience. Pretty much the same guarantee as the cruise line, but they won't pay us $1000. 🙂

Drink packages are just stupid expensive on Royal Caribbean these days. I don't know that I've seen them for less than $65/day in quite a while, and keep in mind both adults in the cabin have to purchase it. We're on Symphony of the Seas in a week and it's been between $68 and $80/day ever since we booked. Right now sitting at $73/day or $1,022 for the week for 2 people. And ignore the 'funny math' from RCCL of "Buy one get 40% off, price reflects the discount!" It's ALWAYS 40% off but the price goes up and down, they just keep adjusting the 'original price' so it sounds great with the 'discount.' When it comes to RCCL we will get the Refreshment Package that includes soft drinks and specialty coffees. Today that's only $23/pp but we got it on Black Friday for $19/pp which is $266/week. Then we just pay for the alcohol ala carte. We'll easily spend less than $300 on the cocktails over the course of a week. On a recent Carnival cruise we could have gotten the Cheers package for $51/day but we opted to skip that because over a 7 night cruise that's $714. We went completely ala carte and ended up spending about $275 for the entire week, all coffees and cocktails. Too many people jump right into the drink package without the doing the math, not realizing that they're badly overpaying for the 'convenience' of free drinks. I've done multiple TikToks and YouTube videos showing the math and it's amazing how many people say "You know, I never actually did the math to see if it works out." Especially if one person in the cabin is a bigger drinker than the other person. You're just throwing money away which RCCL is happy to take from you. 🙂

EVERYTHING!!! 🙂 Honestly our favorite restaurant on all of the NCL ships. We went three times when we were on the Escape. My advice is to order no more than 2 dishes per person to start with. Some of my faves were the lamb and any of the sushi rolls. The sashimi 'pizza' was quite interesting and tasty. Honestly with three meals there and we tried so many different things, we loved it all.

New bookings only, and the offer is only good for 7 days after the virtual cruise event that was hosted by the specific travel agent. I.e., you can't make the booking onboard with VV and then transfer that booking to a TA. It has to be a new booking directly with the TA for the Sailor Loot.

Here's the page with the FAQ and luggage restrictions is item 2.5. https://www.celebritycruises.com/ie/booking-conditions You can have up to 198lbs per guest according to that rule with the exception of Expedition class ships and some some destinations. Especially if going to Galapagos the luggage restrictions are more severe. In general the cruise lines supposedly follow the same 50 to 70lb per bag rule as the airlines, but it's rarely enforced. All checked luggage will need to fit through the terminal scanners which are pretty much the same as airline scanners.

Just depends on how long of a cruise you're taking and whether the Bar Tab is important. The new deal breaks down like this starting Dec 13 60% off second Sailor $100 Bar Tab bonus when purchased Any 4/5/6-night sailing booked will include 1 free Bar Tab per cabin Any 7+ sailing booking will include 2 free Bar Tabs per cabin And if you book with an agent who recently held a live Virtual Event with VV, you will get an added $100 in Sailor Loot for an Insider per cabin $200 in Sailor Loot for a Sea View/Sea Terrace per cabin $400 in Sailor Loot for Rockstar Quarters per cabin That Sailor Loot added special runs for a week after the virtual event and only through the travel agents who held the event. That's not available through the website or all TAs.

They just need to look at The Haven on the new NCL Prima. It's the exact setup they could have in the pool area if they can engineer it. As for The Galley, during the morning of Puerto Plata, it took nearly 20 minutes just to flag down a server and it never happened. The assistant at Let's Taco Bout it saw that we could not get anyone to stop and take our order. They kept saying 'we'll be right back' but never returned. So he walked over and started taking our order. THEN a server stopped when they saw him taking our order. Like others on here, our food did not even remotely come out at the same time. Let the Sailors place the order via the app and let the servers deliver it if they must, or we can just go get the food. If you're going to run a 'food hall' then run a food hall. Every food hall I have ever visited we place the order and we go back and get it or the server brings it to us based on table number. VV is trying to run a food hall as a restaurant and it's making it harder and less efficient than it needs to be. Again, NCL Prima's food hall has taken the right approach to the ordering.

Just being a little cheeky as they normally are. They have so many specials going on at any given time, it can be difficult for us to keep up with. But I have to say I love most everything about this cruise line. One they fix the ordering system in The Galley and replace that Net in the back with a pool, it'll be the perfect cruise line. 🙂

Anytime you see something like that, it's 99% a medical emergency. VERY lucky for whomever needed this attention to have it happen right there at the dock.

That is 60% off, but in the booking engine it will show the 30/30 split for each Sailor. This is exactly what happened with NCL when they changed their marketing from "50% off your cruise" to "One Guest Free." In the booking engine it still shows 50% off both guests which equals one guest free. The marketing says one thing, the booking engines sometimes show different things, but they all equal up to the same thing. Some First Mates are also offering $100-$400 Sailor Loot for a limited time that can be combined with the deal mentioned in the OP.

This is for booking a new cruise, not putting a deposit down for a future cruise. There will be a window of opportunity to book a new cruise with up to 60% off the second Sailor and as your note says, up to two Bar Tabs included per cabin.

For ship embarkation you will be assigned an arrival time when you check in. Don't show up much more than 30 minutes before that. For the flight you should always fly into your departure port at least one day ahead. If you have any issues with your flight on departure day, the ship will leave without you if you're not there. Start booking the 'must do' excursions as soon as they are available. All excursions can sell out due to limited availability. If you have any other direct questions about the ship, your travel agent really should be able to help you with questions like these. Have fun! 🙂

You haven't had one yet because nobody has had a cabin inside an AquaDome yet until the ship comes out. I'm wondering about the heat having one entire wall of glass in your cabin. It's not a cabin I would want, but I'm going to be very curious when folks book these Panoramic suites to see if there are heat issues, especially in the summer months in the Caribbean.

Looks like they're calling them panoramic suites. Deck 16 and 17. The original renders we saw made it look like it was an actual balcony inside the dome. Looks like the dome is outer wall of the cabin. Stateroom Features Bedroom area with two twin beds that convert to Royal King. Dressing area in bedroom. Full bathroom with tub. Seating area with sofa. Extension of room that is a panoramic seating area. Sleeps up to 4. Stateroom: 370-440 sq. ft.

Definitely check the Viking Forums on CC for more detail information regarding the ships and the current quality of the Viking experience. You may also want to compare American Cruise Line for the itineraries you're considering. I've only recently become aware of their coast to coast offerings. I honestly thought they were just a Mississippi river cruise line but they are coast to coast including Alaska. As others have noted, we cannot recommend travel agents here on CC. It's been a rule even before TripAdvisor purchased them. But I will say we have been cruising almost 20 years and always use a travel agent for our cruises. The pricing will be identical to what you find online, but since the travel agents don't cost you anything, you can take advantage of their years of cruise knowledge to help you pick the right ship, itinerary and cabin for your trip. They're also an advocate on your behalf when you have to make changes or want any additional requests after the initial booking. They have to get on the phone with the cruise line, not you. That has been huge during the pandemic related changes, we had to rebook cruises 6 times over two cruise lines. Good luck on your first cruise and welcome to the cruise family!

Ditto on the chargers, cables and even batteries. Bring what you need because you may not find the type of cable or battery you need onboard. And any medication you all may need. Have a great honeymoon!

This is true of ANY cruise port. Always get a porter to help with your luggage on the way out. They will either have a separate line, or if you're in a hurry, they can help mitigate your issue by dropping the ropes and moving you around the rest of the crowd. At the very least, they navigate your luggage through a crowd where necessary.

As others have said, standout show for us was Duel Reality, West Side Story meets Romeo and Juliet meets acrobatics. Untitled Dance Party thing was experimental dance so it's rather interesting, but I only made it through about 10 minutes. Never Sleep Alone was a cabaret show where she was trying way too hard to be provocative. Again, made it through about 10 minutes, the content of the show didn't bother us, it just wasn't a great show. Drag show in The Manor was a hoot, and apparently Drag Bingo was a bit hit, we never made it to that. My favorite shows onboard were at On the Rocks. We happened to have a blues guitarist Slam Adams who was amazeballs. And there would be other singing or musical acts there. The Scarlet Lady House band was awesome, especially in the variety of musical styles they featured. One of the most fun things that we discovered onboard were the private Karaoke booths. So much fun and a great way to spend an hour or so. It's call The Groupie on the deck plans. It rained during the PJ party on our cruise and apparently it was moved into the Roundabout area and became very crowded. We skipped it. Scarlet Night is a blast, though I recommend folks bring earplugs for the top deck party. It's amazeballs but LOUD. The coolest thing that might happen for you is to be invited to a Secret Show. We got to see a magician show with about 20 other folks in a 'secret location' in the bow of the ship. Very cool experience.

The ship is unapologetically aimed at families. That entire top deck is a waterpark. Over 80% of the cabins can hold 3+. You have a capacity that jumps from 5600 double occupancy to 7600 full capacity. I don't know of any other ship that has 2000 extra berths beyond double occupancy. Wonder OTS goes from 5734 to 6988 for example. The new AquaTheater certainly looks amazing and I hope folks have realized that some of the balconies in the AquaTheater area are inside the dome. So you may get a balcony that's inside, not outdoors. That will be interesting as I wonder about the heat on those balconies. I do agree no solarium makes it less likely for us to do any serious pool time on this ship, but at the same time, if you really want a nice solarium, then sister Celebrity is the way to go. I will definitely sail this ship at least once because we love trying new cruise ships, but as for repeat sailings? My guess is probably not. After trying out Virgin Voyages recently (our 8th cruise line) we absolutely loved that adult experience. But we will be on Symphony OTS in a few weeks with probably 2000 kids so we'll get the full Oasis Class treatment. 🙂

When we were on the Carnival Mardi Gras there was a gentleman, definitely in his 60s or older, who was having as much fun with the big dunk tank as the kids. Age is a number, never fully growing up is a good thing. 🙂

We have cruised 8 different cruise lines so far, should be 10 or 11 by the end of 2023. We enjoy the variety, especially with so many cruise lines out there. Over 300 cruise ships now with 72 more expected to be delivered by the end of 2027. 🙂