davisrnr

15 hours ago, Iamcruzin said:

We purchased the wow bands on Anthem. DW used it most because she doesn't have pockets. However, I still carried both cards in my pocket because it was just easier to pull the cards out of my pocket than to remove the wow bands when getting drinks or paying  elsewhere on the ship. I took mine off mid cruise and didn't bother with it. DW used it to open the door and to get a drink if I wasn't around.

Just curious - why do you have to remove the wow bands to pay? How does that work? 

Also, how much do they cost? 

On 11/30/2019 at 1:47 PM, cured said:

Completely off topic and completely unsolicited, but I can't help myself because it was such a game changer for me; if you have an end of year surplus in an HSA or looking for a good gift, you might consider purchasing a travel cpap.  I got tired of lugging around my big cpap and having to deal with water reservoirs and finding distilled water everywhere I went. Before we did our med cruise, I purchased the Resmed Air Mini mainly to have on the 12 hour plane flight. Best purchase I ever made.  It doesn't use a reservoir but a disk that connects to the hose.  It fits in the palm of my hand so it is easy to throw in my purse or carry on. I couldn't believe the difference it made in travel to not have to haul a big extra bag with my cpap and having to deal with all the questions all the time at TSA.  

 

Been looking into this, but I need a full face mask, and the humidifier disk doesn't work with those masks. Anyone used an air mini without the humidification? Thoughts? 

The other option is the Dreamstation Go, which is supposedly very good, and does have a reservoir for an additional cost. Unfortunately this makes it significantly larger than the mini. The other advantage of the Dreamstation is that you can use any mask. 

We leave in about 10 days and I've been mulling over this decision for awhile, but I'm a bit gunshy and afraid of spending a big chunk of change on a machine that I won't use.  Any other thoughts on this? 

Thank you for your insight!

We are booked for Oasis in mid-December, and have two cabins with our 3 adult children travelling along with us. Our travel agency gave us a dinner for 2 and a spa visit for each room. However, they only emailed us 1 voucher for each. There is no identifying number or bar code on either of these, so I'm wondering if the vouchers sent were purely ceremonial, and that Royal will just know that we have these. I'm wondering how we redeem/use these. I do not see it when I login to my Royal account, but do see them listed when I login to my TA account. I was considering pre-booking the dinner, but maybe I can't do this with this kind of a freebie. Any advice? 

From reading tidbits on here, it sounds like booking a tour through the cruise line for snorkeling in Cozumel is not really necessary. My wife and I will be cruising in December with our 3 adult sons. We've done snorkeling in Cozumel once but it was so long ago I don't remember much. 

We're thinking of just taking a taxi from the port to Chankanaab and doing our own thing. Is that what you would recommend? What is the distance from the port? Also, will a taxi accommodate the 5 of us? Is there a better option (either for snorkeling or transportation) that we should consider? I assume we can rent equipment at the beach? 

Any other tips or tricks that we should consider? Are any of the RCCL snorkeling options worth considering instead? 

We're just looking now to book our excursions. We have our 3 (allegedly adult) children with us. Would the over the water cabana in Labadee be a good option for us? Our kids will likely be doing some more active things (zipline, water sports, etc), but we'd be happy just relaxing. 

Also it mentions that lunch is complimentary. Is this anything decent? And would it be good for all 5 of us? 

The price tag ($550) seems steep, just want to make sure its all worth it. 

Thank you!

I'm trying to book voom, and have a couple of questions. When I see the 3 device package it says per adult per day for $26. I need 3 accesses for my children, but when I select the 3 device option and then click on each of their names it looks like it's charging me for 3 sets of 3 device packages. I assume I just need to assign this to 1 of the children's names and then we'll get 3 codes, right? 

Also, if we have just made our final payment and find a better deal, we can still cancel and rebook these add-ons, right? 

Finally, our cruise package is through Costco travel, but we still book these directly through Royal, right? 

Someone had posted the link for transferring a reservation to a TA in a previous thread, but since I mentioned the name of the TA it looks like the post was deleted and/or my search skills let me down. Can somebody repost the link? 

The disturbing part of this is that they are clearly aware of this issue and choose not to fix it. As the OP stated, in her case they actually changed the total at first and charged her the full price until she brought it to their attention. OP knew this was a glitch, but a less savvy, first time cruiser may not. That is some very shady *bleep*, and I wonder how many customers have booked this way in good faith, been charged more than they thought they would, and not caught it until very late in the process when it couldn't easily be undone...i.e. upon (or if not careful, after) final payment. 

Haven't been on any newer Carnival ships. We used to cruise Carnival frequently, but feel like we've "graduated to RCL". I found all of my cruises on Carnival enjoyable, but it is a bit of a different experience. Carnival a little younger in demographics,  and a few more kids; also a little more blue collar.  If you have younger children, we did really like the Carnival camp program and I think our kids enjoyed that a bit more than on Royal. Has a bit more of a party vibe but not just a drinking vibe, a little more of a fun focus. That's a little bit of a mixed bag in my view, I like some things about that, but some of it also can get annoying as the days on the ship wear on (mainly a few individuals who don't act well after imbibing a few adult beverages). Pool areas on Royal are setup a little more to accommodate those that want to relax. 

I'm not a big "show" person on ships, but I believe shows on Royal are a step up from Carnival.

I also disagree from the comments of others - I like Royal's food a bit better. I don't really like buffet style dining anywhere, but it's a must on cruise ships at times, and the one on Mariner of the Seas was much more tolerable than those on our Carnival experience. Better quality food and a bit more concern for cleanliness. Main dining room is closer call, but I'd also give a slight edge to Royal, although we had a good experience in the MDR on one of our cruises aboard Carnival Splendor.

It also depends on which ships/class of ship. Carnival had advantage on earlier classes with waterslides, and other deck activities, but RCL is closing the gap on that in recent years. Conversely, RCL used to have many more balcony rooms than Carnival, but Carnival is beginning to compete in that area with some of newer, larger ships. The sacrifice there is you may lose some outer deck space to enjoy. 

I don't think the differences are enormous, and they clearly vary from ship to ship (and probably even from sailing to sailing), but on the whole we prefer RCL. I would probably first look at specific ships, pricing and itinerary, and if all else is equal maybe let some of these thoughts help break the tie. 

Looking at booking a 3-night dining package. Two questions: 

1) it asks you to put in a time for your initial use of this, but it doesn't ask you which restaurant. Can someone explain how this works? 

2) for a 7 night cruise, based on your experience what do you recommend? Is a 3-night package fine or you recommend the ultimate package where you can also get lunches (in addition to more dinners) . 3-day is currently $89/pp and UDP is $199/pp. From past cruises, we do like to do a few dinners in the MDR (but not every night, esp formal nights), and lunches tend to be mostly the buffet option or even the poolside options. Breakfast is hit or miss and can be MDR, buffet, room service, or skipped altogether. 

11 hours ago, mugtech said:

I always bring a Barong Tagalog, the formal shirt from the Philippines, light, easy to pack, made of pineapple plant fabric.  Easy to wear on formal night, the Filipinos on board usually give me a smile.

That is an excellent idea. I may steal this. 

So, I'm beginning to question decision to buy through RC. I didn't really even think about other options. My son is in military, and I guess I assumed the RC insurance would cover this if he gets deployed. Does anyone know if this is covered? Also, if I wanted to change, can I cancel this and purchase elsewhere? 

Hoping this gets added to Oasis in dry dock so I can try it out in December

I discovered the same issue. I thought I followed the instructions exactly but it still doesn't show up when you select "Find your Royal Caribbean Roll Call". I'm not sure what I did incorrectly. I'm assuming it's because it doesn't include "Roll Call" in the subject. If that's the case, is there a way to add that requirement to the instructions?  Thank you for your assistance with this. 

Here are the two links: 

Unfortunately you can print it when you book, but after that there is no digital trail, so you have to call to get it. 

Can't wait for the rest of the story about the Petri Dish of the Seas. 

What is a virtual balcony? 

Question: can you do this multiple times if the cost goes down more than once? 

Yes, this is my understanding as well. When you click "add a cruise" button, it allows you to see the other parties reservation, but it isn't linked and recognized as a combined party by Royal. I'm not really sure what the implications are of this, but it is definitely helps when you call in for an issue that affects both reservations. 

I've called three times in the last week and it's been 1hr+ each time. 

17 minutes ago, FLACRUISER99 said:

https://secure.royalcaribbean.com/allaboutcruising/guestSpecialNeeds.do

Many thanks

Question: where do you get the special needs form? Is it part of the check in forms?

On 1/3/2019 at 9:43 PM, barb in ga said:

 

4. Be sure to use your Crown and Anchor discount if you are choosing a balcony or above.

 

We just booked two balcony cabins with the current "sale" and when I asked about using Crown and Anchor, he acted like that wouldn't apply. Should I revisit this?