Koz1

This has been a very interesting discussion. Thanks to everyone for your thoughts.

Since I now have diabetes I have to be careful with what I drink. I don't drink much alcohol, just an occasional beer, and while I will drink some Sprite or Fanta I have to watch my sugar levels so shouldn't drink a lot of it. I tend to mainly drink orange juice or water at home and shouldn't have much juice either, even though I really like it. My wife will drink an occasional wine when we are travelling but she mainly likes coffee and tea, and will have an iced water with dinner.

Do they serve iced water with meals and if so do they charge for it? We're thinking that in our circumstances we won't buy the AI package and just pay as we go with our drinks but we may still change our minds in the next year and a half before the cruise and add it to the booking.

Hi ken, I hope you are having a wonderful cruise. No one has been able 100% to confirm that you can withdraw cash or the balance in cash. Have you tried this? Thanks

Yes the cruise has been wonderful thanks and the Allure of the Seas is an awesome ship.

We sailed on the Celebrity Century in December and had around $110 of OBC provided by Celebrity from booking on board another cruise left over and I went to the Casino on the final day (you must do it before the Casino closes on the final night of the cruise) and withdrew $105 and $110.25 (including the $5.25 commission) was charged to my cruise account. Since this was non refundable it was a choice of spending it on board or paying 5% to the casino and withdrawing $105 in US notes which was handy for our current trip. I had a final charge on my account of around 85 cents.

Since Royal Caribbean and Celebrity have the same parent Company things should work the same on Royal. I've just called in to the Casino on the Allure of the Seas and asked about withdrawing cash and it works the same as Celebrity - there is a 5% charge on cash withdrawals and a minimum withdrawal of $20 and it's all charged to your sea card.

It doesn't matter if there is OBC on your account or not, any charges from the Casino go onto your account along with any other purchases - drinks, photos, shops etc so this is a good way to use up any non refundable OBC that was given to you by the cruise line when you booked. If you didn't have any OBC to offset the cash you get from the Casino it would all be charged to your credit card as part of your final bill. You don't mention at the Casino that you are using OBC - you just ask for the amount that you want. They don't look at what you might have available in your account, they just swipe your card and ask you to sign the receipt, just like any other charge you make on the ship. On the Celebrity cruise there was a sign saying the maximum withdrawal is $2000 a day but there was no sign here on the Allure and I didn't ask about that.

If you have OBC you've purchased, like a lot of us have done recently, it is refundable and shows on my account on the Interactive TV as "OBCR - ROYAL SELECTIONS" so would be better not to get it from the Casino and lose 5%.

I also called in to the Guest Services and asked how I get any of my refundable OBC I don't spend back and asked if I can get cash from there. I was told no, it would be refunded to the credit card you register for your on board cruise account. I'll call in later in the week and ask again to see if I get the same answer. If we have any left I'll see how much is refunded to my credit card.

I think it would be refunded back at the conversion rate on the day because when it's put onto your ship on board account it comes as a gift (I got a gift card in the room on the first day of each cruise) and is then part of your on board account and any charges you put on your account will be offset by any OBC and you will then be charged for any extra you spend to the credit card you register on board so any refunds should also go to that card, even if it different to the one you used to purchase the OBC. The gift of OBC could have been purchased by anyone and sent to you for your cruise as a gift so I think once it's in your account that's what would happen. I'll post back here after our cruise finishes on Sunday if we had any OBC left and it has to be refunded.

Ken

Ken,

Thanks so much for this updated info! We sail next Sunday and just turned Diamond. Would you say this new faster speed would work for FaceTime?

 

Thanks,

Ali

Hi Ali,

We used the middle speed last week for a 45 minute Skype chat back to Australia and the quality was great - the video quality was really clear and didn't break up at all. With the new speed it should be even better since they say you can stream movies and do live video calls.

Especially with the Diamond discount making it $75.05 it's a bargain for a full week of unlimited access but even without any discounts paying $105 for a week is great value compared with what I've had to pay on other ships and the speed is so much better here. I have the 1 device package and swap between my iPad and laptop computer. They say to log out of one device when you want to log onto another device but you just need to sign in on the new device and it disconnects you from the previous device.

Ken

We're on the Allure now and will be staying on for the February 8 cruise as well. The internet prices turned out to be cheaper than I had seen listed previously. I've just gone online and checked prices as if we were signing up now.

 

Premium Plus Voyage Plan - 2 devices $245 1 device $195

Premium Plus Daily Plan - $60 - Continuous for one day and expires in 24 hours

Premium Plus Hourly Plan - $35 - 60 minutes that can be used gradually throughout the cruise, making sure you log out each time.

 

Premium Voyage Plan - 2 devices $150 1 device $115

Premium Daily Plan - $45 - Continuous for one day and expires in 24 hours

Premium Hourly Plan - $25 - 60 minutes that can be used gradually throughout the cruise

 

Basic Voyage Plan - 2 devices $120 1 device $85

Basic Daily Plan - $32 - Continuous for one day and expires in 24 hours

Basic Hourly Plan - $20 - 60 minutes that can be used gradually throughout the cruise.

 

I signed up for the Premium Voyage Plan - 1 device for $115 and got Diamond C & A discount of $29.95 so it only cost me $85.05 for a full week of unlimited internet - great value compared with other cruises we've been on.

 

 

 

Sine we're also on the February 8 sailing, if the prices are different to these I'll post the info here.

 

Ken

For anyone sailing on the Allure soon the prices are even cheaper for this week, sailing February 8, compared with last week. Last week there were three different speed levels available and this week they are only offering one speed - the highest speed, at a price lower than I paid for the middle speed last week.

The prices are now:

Voyage Plan for 2 devices $140 1 device $105

With download speeds never before seen at sea, this package lets you do it all from streaming movies to live video calls, downloading large files and more.

Voyage Daily Plan $29.95 (24 hours of continuous access)

Voyage Hourly Plan $29.95 (60 minutes to be used throughout the cruise)

I asked at the desk on deck 5 selling the internet package and he said he's been told these new prices will be the same for the foreseeable future.

I took photos of the screen at the desk promoting the internet packages and also of the screen on my iPad when I was choosing a plan, both showing details of the plans available, and I've attached them here. The second photo shows prices before and after the Diamond discount has been applied.

While I was at the desk someone asked what the discount is for Emerald and was told 15% and I got a Platinum 15% discount when on the Navigator last August and that unlimited 7 day package was around $160 before the discount. The internet speed on that cruise was very slow.

There are not many ships yet with this new fast internet so I have no idea what prices will be on other ships. I'm pleased that prices are dropping on the Allure. Maybe they are trying different price points to see how many more sign up with lower prices.

Ken

Please note: I'm sorry the quality of the second photo is not very good. I've been trying to resize to keep within the file limit size of Cruise Critic but the quality has come out a bit fuzzy.

Allure Internet prices 08 Feb 2015.pdf

Allure Internet prices 08 Feb 2015 - 02.pdf

Awesome!!

 

Thank you!

 

What's Diamond C&A? How do I get that? I'm guessing it's Crown & Anchor? And I'm also guessing it's more than my first RCCI cruise. lol

 

 

Sailing Allure of the Seas - 2/15/2015

175 points are required for Diamond Plus and it's 80 for Diamond. After your first cruise you'll be Gold.

The points required for the different Crown and Anchor levels are:

Gold 3

Platinum 30

Emerald 55

Diamond 80

Diamond Plus 175

Pinnacle Club 700

Full details are here:

https://secure.royalcaribbean.com.au/cas/benefits.do

That's is good to know Ken. Thanks for letting us know. It seemed too good to be true, but took the risk anyway. Your info has put my mind at rest.

Hope you are enjoying the Allure:) we loved it, but unfortunately didn't do a B2B....7 days was not long enough:(

Yes we are enjoying it and are so glad that we have another week to look forward to before leaving the ship on the 15th. We originally booked a week on the Oasis and then a few weeks later changed to the two cruises on the Allure when we figured that a week wouldn't be long enough. We booked last May when the prices were low when the BOGOHO had just started and they never came back down to what we paid so it's all worked out well especially with the half of the second person.

It's a great question and the answer is that you don't 100%. They tell you it is 1-1 and the receipt they email you shows purchase cost equals (say) $100 AD for $100 OBC. The fact that OBC on RCL ships is only ever in USD should be a guarantee but it doesn't mention USD anywhere on the receipt.

We're on the Allure of the Seas on B2B Caribbean cruises now and I called the Australian Royal Caribbean number a few weeks before we left and purchased $200 OBC for each of our cruises. They told me it was 1-1 Australian to US Dollars and the receipt showed as you said, with no indication that it was US Dollars.

There was a card delivered to our room on the day we boarded saying we had a gift of $200 Onboard Credit. Message: BEST WISHES Compliments of: SDSDF SDSD .

The onboard credit showed on our account when I looked on the TV in the room that we had $US200 OBCR (the R means refundable and when I asked on the ship what happens if we don't use it all I was told that it will be refunded to my credit card (not that we'll have any left).

So it was certainly a great deal with the $A exchange rate at the moment.

Ken

Does anyone have a complete list of the internet prices on the Allure. I need to be able to taunt the folks at work back home with pictures of Pina Coladas and beaches and what not... :D

I'm on the Allure now and have just posted a full list of prices for the Feb 1 sailing on the following thread:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2163283

The prices are pleasantly lower than I was expecting and for the middle "Premium Voyage Plan" the cost is $150 for 2 devices and $115 for 1 device - lower than the $160 for 1 device that I had seen listed previously.

For anyone with Diamond C & A the offer for internet is 1 hour of free internet or $29.95 off any internet purchase, so with the $29.95 discount I paid $85.05 for a full week of unlimited internet access.

We're also on the February 8 sailing so if the prices are different to these I'll post the info here.

Ken

Thank you. That's a great help - but it only listed pricing for 2 devices.

 

 

Sailing Allure of the Seas - 2/15/2015

We're on the Allure now and will be staying on for the February 8 cruise as well. The internet prices turned out to be cheaper than I had seen listed previously. I've just gone online and checked prices as if we were signing up now.

Premium Plus Voyage Plan - 2 devices $245 1 device $195

Premium Plus Daily Plan - $60 - Continuous for one day and expires in 24 hours

Premium Plus Hourly Plan - $35 - 60 minutes that can be used gradually throughout the cruise, making sure you log out each time.

Premium Voyage Plan - 2 devices $150 1 device $115

Premium Daily Plan - $45 - Continuous for one day and expires in 24 hours

Premium Hourly Plan - $25 - 60 minutes that can be used gradually throughout the cruise

Basic Voyage Plan - 2 devices $120 1 device $85

Basic Daily Plan - $32 - Continuous for one day and expires in 24 hours

Basic Hourly Plan - $20 - 60 minutes that can be used gradually throughout the cruise.

Because I'm looking at the prices today, the second last day of the February 1 sailing they also have the following special offers:

2 Day Premium Deal - $59 48 hours of unlimited internet access for 2 straight days for 1 device

1 Day Premium Deal - $36 24 hours of unlimited internet access for 1 device

I signed up for the Premium Voyage Plan - 1 device for $115 and got Diamond C & A discount of $29.95 so it only cost me $85.05 for a full week of unlimited internet - great value compared with other cruises we've been on.

I had read earlier threads comparing the 3 different speeds available and the general consensus was that the middle plan - "Premium Voyage Plan" was as good as most of us will need so I went for that. I've been pleased with the speed of the Premium plan for web browsing, uploading photos to Facebook, listening to streaming radio from Australia etc. and I will get the same plan for our Feb 8 cruise.

For anyone with Diamond C & A the offer for internet is 1 hour of free internet or $29.95 off any internet purchase.

Sine we're also on the February 8 sailing, if the prices are different to these I'll post the info here.

Ken

Thanks for the replies. You've all been very helpful.

Ken

We've just booked the Arctic Explorer cruise for July 2016. This will be our first Fred. Olsen cruise.

I have a couple of questions and would appreciate any feedback from previous Fred. Olsen cruisers.

On the Fred. Olsen website it lists internet prices as:

• 30 mins - £5
  
• 60 mins - £10
  
• 3 hours (180mins) - £20
  
• 24 hours (1440 mins) - £30
  

All charges are summarised at the end of each session and posted directly to your on board account.

If I buy the 24 hours (1440 mins) package can I log on for say one hour per day and the usage is totalled and number of minutes remaining from the original 1440 minutes is shown at each log in (It works this way on Celebrity and Princess)? Or does it have to be used all at once in one 24 hour period? I've seen some Royal Caribbean packages that offer unlimited packages and also offer smaller packages (like 60 minutes) that have to be used all at once. The price for a 24 hour package is very reasonable compared to prices on other ships if it can be used gradually.

We can buy an unlimited drinks package for £10 per day but are considering buying drinks as we go since we drink mainly soft drinks and juices. The website shows some prices:

a glass of house white costing £3.95, a pint of lager £3.25, and a gin and tonic also around £3.75 (depending on the brand of gin) but does not mention soft drink or juice prices. Does anyone know the approximate costs of a glass of soft drink or orange juice?

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

The terminal used for Oasis and Allure is very fast and slick, super easy. We were so fast we didn't even have time to go and wait in the C&A priority lounge. You can arrive around 10:30 or so and expect to be boarding shortly after 11 am, give or take. It's up to you, but also know that your cabin will not be available until 1 or 1:30 pm. If you want to go straight to your cabin, board after 1 pm.

 

Have fun.

Thanks Karen. With Celebrity we're used to waiting until after 1pm for our cabins to be ready. We still like to board as early as possible and look around the ship a bit and have lunch before it gets too busy so we will arrive early.

This will be our first cruise on the Allure (we're doing B2Bs from Sunday) and our first visit to Florida. We arrived in LA from Sydney today and we fly from LAX to Fort Lauderdale on Saturday ready to board on Sunday and we're very excited!

Ken

What is the earliest time you can usually board the Allure? I received an email from RCI saying that for our deck we should arrive for check-in at 2:30 P.M. but as Diamond we can arrive any time between 12.30pm and 3.30pm. We are Diamond because we have just become Elite with Celebrity so are not sure about how it works with RCI.

I know that these emails are suggestions and that you can usually arrive at any time without any issues but I thought I'd read here that you can board around 11am or 11.30am if there are no issues with delays from passengers dis-embarking from the previous cruise.

We always like to arrive as soon as possible and our hotel has a shuttle to the cruise terminal so I have to choose a time for the shuttle when we check in on Saturday evening.

So would arriving by 11am be ideal or should we make it a bit later? If 12.30pm is the earliest we can board we don't need to be there before 12.

The 1 cat. upgrade is for any Captains Club member at any time.;)

 

Is there OBC in addition to the offering in the 123 All Inclusive OBC?

Yes. We booked a 2017 cruise in a Concierge cabin while on board a couple of weeks ago and got the three 123 All Inclusive offers as well as $300 OBC for booking on board so we got two lots of OBC.

We also booked two 2016 Europe cruises in Veranda category and got the choice of any two 123Go offers for Europe cruises so we took the beverage package and gratuities paid and then we also received OBC for each cruise for booking on board.

So, if you're going on board soon it is worth waiting to book on board.

We were booked on the February 2, 2014 Infinity Antarctica cruise and had been looking regularly for an FV to become available. Some were released on October 22, 2013 around three and a half months out, so I called up and switched to a corner FV 7202 for that cruise.

I had subscribed to a website that notifies you of price changes etc and I had put FV as a category to watch on this cruise and as soon as they were available I received an email, which luckily was on the day we had just arrived back in Sydney from a Transpacific cruise from Honolulu.

Keep watching though. We recently booked a Europe cruise on the Constellation for 2016 and they released two FV cabins for two passengers (one corner and one next to it) so we booked it straight away. The on board consultant on the Century was surprised to see these available already. There are still 10 more (5 corner) yet to be released so they should become available closer to the cruise. Some friends booked a different 2016 Europe cruise and were also able to book a corner FV when again the same 2 FVs were released on the Constellation for their cruise.

We will be traveling on the Island Princess in February and have organized a private tour in Cartagena. It has been suggested that we all meet on the ship and then all walk off together to join the tour.

I would appreciate any suggestions from anyone who has been on the Island recently for a good place for us all to meet.

We haven't been on the Island Princess since 2009 so can't remember the various locations on the ship. I'm not sure what deck they would usually use for the gangway but with looking at the deck plans some locations that might be worth considering seem to be near Passenger Services on deck 5, near Calypso Cove on 6 or the Bayou Café on 7.

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

We will be sailing on B2B cruises on the Allure in February. Having completed a Celebrity cruise just over a week ago that makes us Elite on Celebrity now that the points for that cruise have been updated we are now showing as Diamond on RCI and the SetSail Pass now shows the D rather than the P as it was previously.

However our Luggage Tags that we can print online are still showing as Platinum. Are they likely to be updated to Diamond as well? Is there any advantage in having the luggage tags showing Diamond? I'm guessing probably not but at least having the D on the SetSail Pass allows us to use the Diamond check in line.

We returned last week from a Celebrity 7 night Tasmania cruise from Sydney and while we have a passport my wife's father, who also joined us on the cruise, does not have a passport. Our travel agent called the Celebrity Australian office and was told to tell us to just put the drivers licence number under passport in the online check in even though it only gives the option of a passport, so we did that and it worked. When we checked in at the port we had no problems using our drivers licences.

Royal Caribbean and Celebrity share the same Australian phone number (1 800 754 500) and office so the same should work with a Royal Caribbean cruise.

Worst case scenario, if you can't cancel the cabin you've already booked and book the same one onboard (I don't think can cancel a booking onboard), just go ahead and book another cabin (same category) while onboard. When you return home, cancel the original one and have your TA switch the cabin you booked onboard to the one you previously booked. Just make sure you keep the reservation number from the onboard booking when you switch cabins.

 

The only caveat is if someone has that particular cabin wait listed. If so, the minute it's released, it goes to the one who's waitlisted.

 

Good luck!

Thanks again everyone. We've just returned from our cruise on the Century today.

I went to the Future Cruise office on board on the first day, before we departed. I had booked with my travel agent a few days before this cruise but hadn't paid the deposit yet. I was able to keep the same cabin, which is a Family View aft cabin 7199 on the Constellation.

These are not usually released for two passengers until a few months out from the cruise, if no families with 4 or 5 people have booked them. However for this cruise in August 2016 they released 7199 and 7201 a couple of weeks ago. I guess the other FV cabins are still being held until later. I have had 7202 on previous cruises on the Constellation and Infinity by changing from my original cabin when 7202 became available and we love the large corner FV verandas on the M class ships.

I called my Travel Agent while I was with the consultant on board, who booked us into 7201 and he asked me to ask my Travel Agent to cancel the booking she had made for me with 7199 and as soon as she cancelled it he had his finger on the keyboard ready to go and he grabbed 7199 straight away for us. It all worked out thanks to the co-operation of both my Travel Agent and the On Board Consultant and I was able to get the extra OBC for booking on board as well as choose two of the three 123Go offers for Europe bookings and we took the beverage package and gratuities.

Someone else on the cruise we've just finished also booked a Europe cruise on the Constellation and was able to get 7199 on his cruise in May 2016 as well.

We booked a B2B on the Infinity for next year back in June. While on the Constellation recently we rebooked both cruises as the perks were great. We thought our TA may charge a cancellation fee, but we would still be way ahead. Turns out they 'merged' our two bookings with no penalty, so we are really pleased.

Thanks everyone for your replies. I decided to book now and I'll ask on board if they can transfer the booking to an on board booking. At least we have the cabin we wanted whereas if we had waited until next week it could have been taken by then.

Booking in Australia we don't seem to get the offers available through US online travel agencies. I have used a US travel agency before but at the moment the value of the Australian Dollar against the US Dollar is dropping and it's a few hundred dollars cheaper to book in Australia than through the USA when we allow for exchange rates, and if the Dollar keeps dropping the difference will be even higher.

We'll be on a cruise next week and are planning to book a Europe cruise for 2016 while on board.

I've just seen a cabin I'd really like available and am tossing up whether to book now to be sure we get it in case it's no longer available next week. It's a Veranda category so with the 123Go we'd get the choice of two offers because it's a Europe cruise. If we wait until we go on board and hope that cabin is still available I know we'd get the extra OBC and it says also your choice of one other offer. Does anyone know if you still get to choose two offers for Europe cruises when booking on board?

When we made a reserved passage booking while on board the Solstice in October 2013 the on board booking gave us a $200 OBC for a 10 - 13 night cruise in a Veranda category cabin. Is that still the amount we would get for an on board booking, in addition to the other offers we choose?

If we book now with the 123Go we will choose the drink package and either the $300 OBC or the Gratuities, which would cost us around $150 each for this cruise.

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

Thanks mrsfuzzmo. I've checked with Dolphin Cove and we cannot take photos in the dolphin area but we can in other parts of the park. They do have lockers for rent so we'll use those and we'll buy some photos from them if they look good.

We'll be visiting Falmouth while on the Allure of the Seas in February and we've booked a "Dolphin Encounter Swim and Dunn's River Falls" tour.

We won't be swimming at most of the ports as we want to see as much as possible on our B2B Eastern and Western Caribbean cruises so I'll have my camera equipment with me each day. While at Labadee we can take turns swimming and minding our bags but for Dolphin Cove I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who has done this tour, whether it is likely that there would be enough people doing the dolphin encounter swim that my wife could go in the water with the dolphins while I take some photos of her and mind our bags, and then I could go in another group while she takes photos and minds our bags.

The RCI tour information says that lockers are available but I don't know if that is at Dunn's River Falls or at Dolphin Cove, or both.

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

We're now thinking that we'll leave the ship as soon as possible to get a taxi over to Red Hook and travel by Ferry to St John. The Allure is scheduled to arrive at 10am. Does it ever arrive a bit early? How quickly are we likely to be able to disembark? Would it be possible to get to Red Hook in time for the 11am ferry or is it more likely that we'll be on the 12.00 ferry?

There are five other ships in port that day so would you have to be at Red Hook very early to get in line to catch a ferry? How many passengers do the ferries hold?

We'll be visiting St Maarten in February while on the Allure of the Seas. We don't plan to go swimming but would still like to visit some beaches and other island sites to take photos as this will be our first visit here.

I am particularly interested in spending time at Maho Beach to take photos and videos of the planes taking off and landing over the beach.

I've looked at the various group tours that cost around $40 or $45 and while they look good I'd like the flexibility of a private tour so we can spend a lot of time at Maho Beach and less time at Orient Beach and Marigot. I've seen on different company web sites or contacted them and it seems that the time spent at Maho Beach can be 30, 45 or 60 minutes on different tours and a couple of hours at Orient Beach and an hour at Marigot for shopping.

Other places visited on group tours we've looked at include Cole Bay Hill overlooking Simpson Beach and Indigo Bay and The Hill, with views of Phillipsburg so they would appear to be places that we should try to visit as well.

The private tours I've looked at are around $350 or $360. Are there any other options that would work out cheaper for the two of us but still allow the flexibilty to spend more time at Maho Beach and still visit other sites on the island? I've seen mention here of taxis but I'm not sure we could get one for the whole day by asking when we arrive at the port as with so many people in port I wouldn't like to miss out if we wait until the day.

Another possibility could be to ask a taxi driver for a private tour that takes us to a few sites before arriving at Maho Beach and then try to get another taxi from there later in the day to take us to other places on our way back to the ship.

Any thoughts and advice will be much appreciated.