leaveitallbehind

IMO, I think the only way to be sure is to ask the maitre d or the waiters once on board. I would not rely on CC posters to be certain. Otherwise there may be items in the ingredients that may cause concern and if you don't know, then there could be an issue. Wouldn't he rather not be served foods that may include those items? It's kind of a Catch-22 in that you don't want to eat foods that contain those items but you don't want to find out if those items are in the foods. If it were me, I would ask. Again, JMO.

You are correct that the times are check in times. However, since they started the check in time queues, we have only been delayed and not gone directly on board once after we checked in. That one time occurred when we were scheduled with the first check in time and the ship was delayed in disembarking the prior itinerary's final passengers. We waited in the seating lounge upstairs where there was plenty of room for about 15 minutes. We then boarded. Otherwise we have always gone directly on board once checked in. This, at least, has been our experience over at least eight cruises since that started from three different embarkation ports.

Have you ever been there? (Labadee, not jail - lol)

Stay on top of your TA. I can see an over the weekend delay because a lot of TA's don't respond then. But certainly by tomorrow you should have something from them. Hopefully it is a live person with a brick and mortar agency and not just an on line entity so you have someone to talk with.

No, but I would bet my safety on the decisions of the cruise line which would be passengers, crew, and ship safety before any risk at a port of call. I am rather certain they would suspend that stop before ever putting anyone at risk. They have done it in the past. Keep in mind they also have employees there as well for whose welfare they also have a primary concern.

BTW thank you for clarifying from your prior post. Hard to say whether or not you should upgrade as I think it is pretty much a crap shoot as to which staterooms are affected and which are not. There are 1,649 staterooms on Beyond and I think the problem is random, so IMO the odds are pretty low that you would be assigned one of the affected staterooms. But who knows? Also, I don't if Blue Chip bookings - perhaps based on tier status? - would have different outcomes for upgrading GTY's beyond the initial category in which it is booked. Others with direct experiences would have to respond. But I do know that with standard GTY bookings, as I mentioned before, the odds are very slim to none that it would occur.

When we use a TA, they provide not only a copy of their agency invoice but a copy of the cruise line invoice as well. This is updated from both real time with any transaction made and come as two attachments with the same email. (There have been times when it wasn't necessary for my records to have the agency copy and, when requested as such, the agency would just send the cruise line copy as that is the only one that ultimately matters). The benefits are obvious for two reasons: first, it confirms all aspects of the booking and provides a cruise line booking confirmation number, and second, confirms that all financial transactions were processed by the agency to the cruise line and that they received it. If you are not receiving a cruise line copy in the above manner, then I would call the agency and demand it, and failing that, call the cruise line to explain your concerns and have them confirm receipt of payment. I realize the TA "owns" you booking, but in an instance such as that the cruise line can confirm payment.

I did not suggest a time and only mentioned MTD as an alternative to consider. In our experience MTD on RCCL starts at 6:00, and we have done MTD numerous times well before 7:00. But I'm not debating that point only suggesting that as an alternative to consider so as to not potentially inconvenience the servers. Do as you wish with your arrival times - the MDR will always try to accommodate you.

I think @firefly333 touched on the concern in terms of holding up service. But I am going to take it another direction as you indicate that you will be at a table for two. The scheduled times are not just for the convenience of the passengers, they are also to keep a pace for the servers and preparers as there are other scheduled times to follow yours. If you are consistently late you will be compressing the timing of the servers who will already, as example, be serving appetizers to the rest of the room when you are just arriving. This, IMO, could be inconsiderate to the servers who now will have to alter the intended pace to accommodate you. If you don't want to consistently arrive until 5:15 or 5:30, my suggestion would be to consider scheduling My Time Dining, so that you can arrive at your convenience. You also can just arrive at MTD without reservations and wait until a table opens.

I don't disagree that it is necessary to monitor and I am certain RCI is doing just that. I was also only passing on anecdotal information indicating the strength of the relationship that at least at one time existed.

As indicated, it is an either / or situation - you either pay the discounted price through the planner (or on board if it is offered as such) -or- you use the Captain's Club discount. @Arizona Wildcat provides good information as well - you can buy the Classic via a promo, then apply the Captains Club offer as an upgrade value to Premium on board if that would net the better price for the Premium.

Very true and Labadee supports the local economy not only by a per passenger fee, but, also as you indicate, by providing local staff employees. Anything can happen, but I am certain RCI is monitoring the situation. But as a side note, I know that RCI is seen favorably by Haiti as during the 2010 earthquake, RCI ships continuously delivered relief supplies when calling on Labadee. Not only was this reported in the media, but I know this as I was on board one of the ships when many pallets of supplies were off loaded. I don't think the government would want to see a disruption in the cruise line relationship.

I don't disagree and was only speculating on a reason as our bookings, as stated, typically open up earlier than that claimed by the OP.

We did the inaugural cruise on Grandeur of the Seas in 1996 and they gave us each a hard bound book describing the build, the ship, the launch staff, the company management staff, along with a story about RCCL. It was actually very nice.

...which is the size I had been describing.

I understood that - was just clarifying what is included and requires Premium over Classic if you need those options. Sorry if my post wasn't clear as well - lol.

If by base cruise fare you mean standard v 'always", which includes the classic beverage and standard wifi packages, then I think that is a decision based on how many daily beverages you would consume and your budget. Typically you would need to consume about 6+ beverages daily to break even on including that in your fare. As mentioned, wifi is also part of that fare. Otherwise, I am not sure I understand what you mean by base cruise fare.

I don't disagree, but I think the OP wants to carry on their luggage to have it with them when they go to the room, rather than wait for it to be delivered later.

As you are planning on the Premium package, as a further comment, phone calls, face time, or streaming, are only available with the Premium package. Phone calls and face time will then be available via wifi calling.

I would be a little concerned with mid-sized bags, but the worst case scenario is, as mentioned, you would have to check it at the pier.

As a side note, usually the incentive for additional OBC is for on board bookings (such as with your FCC). They typically also require a reduced deposit. But no reduction in published fares In our experience many bookings include some amount of OBC - on line or through a TA.

But will also be priced accordingly - higher.

Most mass market cruise lines - Celebrity included - run frequent back to back sales that are genuine in how the pricing is calculated, but typically to a very similar fare structure sale to sale. Most will include OBC or some other similar on board offer. So are they a good deal? That all depends, but likely about the same good deal each time. You just have to decide if what you see is in a budget you are comfortable with and go from there. Keep in mind that once you lock into a fare, you are protected from any increases that will likely take place as sales continue approaching the sailing date. But you also can benefit from any fare reductions that also can take place. You just have to follow your sailing date's fares to make sure your booking was at the best rate available.

Again, that might be a UK policy.

If you plan carry on only, then you should be OK. But keep in mind that port security is similar to airport security and the bag sizes that can go through the screeners can't exceed carry on size. So if anything you have is larger they will not get through security and you will have to check them at the pier. Also the app check in isn't like trying to check in with Southwest Airlines - you don't need to jump to click on the boarding times at midnight. There are plenty of time slots that accept hundreds of passengers each to accommodate all of the passengers. You will be able to get your preferred, or certainly a desirable, timeslot without rushing. Lastly in terms of arrival time, I would not press it too late as you must be on board 90 minutes prior to the scheduled departure time. So plan your late arrival time accordingly.