leaveitallbehind

As I understand it, @firefly333 is correct. The age (and other) guidelines posted for excursions have nothing to do with the cruise lines but have to do with the cruise line liability insurance requirements regarding those excursion providers. It is also nothing new. My suggestion would be that if there is a ship sponsored excursion you would like to do that is restricting your participation look to book it on your own though through an independent operator.

If you booked with a non-refundable deposit they will charge you a change fee to rebook to another ship or itinerary. If you cancel your reservation altogether you will loose the full deposit amount. If you booked with a refundable deposit then you can change or cancel your reservation without penalty. Contact RCCL directly at 800-327-6700 and speak with a reservation agent and they can make the changes you need for you. Have your reservation numbers handy when you and the others call. You need not speak to the same agent as your reservation numbers will indicate your booking histories and the agent can coordinate your changes.

There typically will be specials on board that usually are offered primarily for port of call days. Prior to sailing, it is hard to predict for sure when a sale will occur, but if there is a sale on the cruise planner for spa services and it looks attractive you can book it then. Keep watching and if you see a better price you can cancel and rebook without penalty up to three days prior to boarding. Hard to tell whether the advanced sales or on board offers will have the best pricing.

Typically as @smokeybandit suggests the award notifications are closer to the sailing date as that would be when the final adjusted bids would be completed for the available stateroom categories and the highest bids would be available for selection. Awarding the upgrades too early may eliminate the opportunity for the highest bids to be submitted.

Fairly certain that metal detectors can not be brought on board the ship in the first place.

Good catch! Knew that but reversed the AM & PM. One of just many senior moments! Thanks for correcting that.

Thanks for that explanation. Although I don't necessarily agree with their perspective. But any debate regarding that is not my intent as it is JMO. I will just accept that I have been lucky with my returned port fees.

Never heard that it was at the ships discretion. If a port of call is missed, you did not receive the value of that port fee, so it gets refunded. Why would it not come back to the customer who paid it? But lucky or not, our experience has been we have always had them returned. That being said, we have fortunately only had a few missed ports of call in our cruising years.

Prior to 2013, no ship casinos could be open while in port in Bermuda. In 2013 legislation was passed allowing ships with 2,000 or more passengers to operate their casinos between 9 AM - 5 PM for the excusive use of the passengers for a licensing fee paid by the cruise lines to Bermuda. The licenses were only valid from April to November. The thought was that these hours would allow for passengers to gamble while in port but would not interfere with local business operations in the evening hours. In 2021 a bill was passed that would allow for those hours to be extended by way of the cruise lines applying for an extension. The bill also allowed the license to be issued for 12 months versus the original 8 month period.

Yes - there are head count based port fees that go to Haiti by arrangement since its inception. BTW although they have exclusive rights to the property as a private destination, RCCL does not own Labadee. They have a long term lease through 2050 on the property and own what they have developed.

The gift shops and the casino are closed while in the embarkation port. However, several restaurants (Sorrento's, Cafe Promenade, Park Cafe, Chops, Giovanni's, etc.) and many of the bars will be open. The pools will be open as well and I believe along with some of the slides. Along with just exploring the ship there will be plenty to do.

That may likely be the case in that one was offset by the other unplanned port of call. Carnival does retain 75% of the seaport taxes received, but I am not sure what the level of port fees are or who pays whom, as several non-Carnival brands also call on Grand Turk on a regular basis.

We have always received port fess as a credit to our account when we have missed scheduled ports of call. It was never retained by the ship in our experience.

While that amount has likely varied over the years, there is a port fee paid to Haiti for each ship passenger who visits there, and as with any other missed port of call, that amount would be credited.

Another way is to google different group or social organizations individually and often their websites will advertise upcoming cruise lines and itineraries on which they are planning a presence. There are several that are well published.

You can use your D+ BOGO at any specialty restaurant. (I believe Chef's Table is excluded). And keep in mind that it applies to all passengers in the stateroom who are D+. The T's & C's indicate that you need to schedule the first restaurant for day one. But in our experience if you have the Maitre d (at any of the specialty restaurants) apply the full charges associated with the BOG on day one to your SeaPass account you can schedule both nights for different nights during the week. This is helpful if you have a dining package that also wants you schedule dining for either day1 or 2, as you can manage that conflict by moving the BOGO to commence on day 2 (or visa versa). We do this on every cruise where we also have a dining package. The result, for instance if we have a 3-day package, when combined with the D+ BOGO is we end up with 5 nights at the specialty restaurants.

...and I am going to assume that the 249 points on your Celebrity account are based on cruises taken with them, as while benefits are reciprocal between RCCL and Celebrity, points are not and remain with the cruise line on which they were earned. When you reach 300 points with Celebrity by way of further cruises with them, you will then be vested as Elite with them, and not just as a result of your Diamond status with RCCL.

Elite is indicated as 300-749 points for that tier level. I am not aware of that changing recently. I think the last changes to the program were in 2013. Based on that you should be Select. Perhaps there was just a favorable mistake made on your behalf. Hopefully it will remain. Maybe others can confirm.

I appreciate that update. On our NYE Oasis this year we were able to book Izumi through the 150 Central Park maître d, but obviously things can vary by ship. And you are absolutely correct that Izumi (and Hibachi) are very popular and book rapidly. We have had similar experiences as you indicated on other ships where different maître d's suggested going in person where we experienced the long lines and limited times. My suggestion, based on your update, would be for the OP to go directly to Izumi after boarding for the best results with reservations. We have also had success with assistance from the Crown Lounge Concierge, but that is only of value if one has access to them or the Suite Lounge Concierge.

At the first convenient opportunity after boarding we always go directly to any one of the specialty restaurants and talk directly to the maître d who then books all of our restaurant reservations for the week. Typically takes about 10-15 minutes but all is completed and confirmed by them at that time. Our preference with this versus the kiosk is dealing with an individual who can confirm our choices. In this case, perhaps go to Izumi / Hibachi on deck 4 portside to have this taken care of.

I am aware of that as it is only one of two ships that have it, Allure being the other. (BTW was not particularly thrilled with it in our experience, and won't miss it if it is gone - but that isn't the point) I (guess mistakenly) interpreted the OP's question to ask if it was still a specialty restaurant v complimentary. Sorry for the apparently irrelevant answer.

Not on board, but it is a specialty restaurant on Allure and that would not likely change simply by being on another ship. It is listed as an RCCL specialty restaurant.

The card has your package identified in it, so the bartenders know when you order your drinks. I can't answer for the Eden menu other than to think it was indicating that likely the brands used were premium package based and that there would be an upcharge for the classic package. Or it may have just been the a la carte pricing for those without a package. But if you look at the pdf I attached it clearly identifies the brands of each liquor type used in each package and at the top, the indicated target drink prices included with each.

That is not correct. Refer to my first response and the attached pdf describing the classic v premium packages and you will see that the packages are not cocktail based, but are alcohol brand based in terms of what brands of each type of alcohol is included with each. The classic is more well brand oriented and the premium is more top shelf oriented. The bartenders will make any cocktail you want from each package and the only restrictions are the brands of alcohol included. If you ask for a cocktail that may require a specific brand and it is not included in the classic package, they simply charge an upcharge for the out of package brand. And the only difference between the US and UK packages that I am aware of is the target drink price threshold with each package, with the UK being slightly higher

Here is the most recent listing of what alcohol brands are included with each package. If a brand you want is in the premium package and you have the classic, you would just pay an upcharge to use that brand in a drink. There is no limit to the variety or types of drinks you can order - just limitations with the classic package as to what brands are included to mix them. The file is in pdf format so you may have to download it. Celebrity drink packages.pdf