leaveitallbehind

You make the RU bid - the TA does not participate in that on your behalf. Their role beyond that doesn't change with or without a successful bid. To clarify what @Tlbecker1said, some big box TA's don't participate in the RU, so if you booked through one that doesn't, you will not be offered a RU bid from RCCL (through their 3rd party bid service) and won't be able to place a bid. Enjoy Harmony!

You don't have to explain yourself to anyone. IMO you provided an objective reason to your recommendation. This board is not inherently anti-Carnival. IMO that was a misstatement.

OK but I don't see the connection to that with this specific CC forum, which is generic in nature and not specific to any one cruise line. Besides to your point on biggest brands, RCI is second in size to Carnival, so I would expect the bias to be the other way from that indicated by @cruizergal70 if what you say is the case.....😉

Once it is assigned it does not change. You can, however, change it to a different location of another same category available stateroom if desired. But if you are happy with the location then do nothing as it will not change.

I'm not sure why the "Ask a Cruise Question" forum would be anti-Carnival? (RCCL, Celebrity, NCL, etc. - sure, as expected). But this is a rather general format forum. But as I've not sailed on Carnival I would not be objective in my response. So I will not offer an opinion other than to sugges, as with @cruizergal70, that if they are both similar with your budget, research the different ports of call and base your decision on the itinerary that would be most appealing. Then on your next cruise, try the other and decide for yourself which you would prefer. You could also go to the Carnival and RCCL forums and read what other people are saying to get those - albeit biased - views on the cruise lines and ships. But to get the most balanced views you would have to look for those who have experience with both. But keep in mind all of our opinions are just that and are subjective to our views. Just look for the apples to apples as much as possible to try to determine the differences.

I need to correct myself on this information. I just signed us in for our Walgreens rapid NAAT test for our upcoming Allure cruise and it did not ask for insurance information. It asked all of the other personal profile, general health, and vax history questions, however. In looking back it was CVS that asked for insurance when scheduling their previously offered rapid antigen test. My apologies - I do want to provide correct information.

Never been an issue with us with 30 years of cruising.

If you want to modify dining plans for an upcoming booked cruise you can email dining@rccl.com with your booking number, ship, sailing date, and dining request. However with any new booking made on line you can select your dining preference during the booking process as it is one of the prompts. If you book through a TA they can change it for you.

I'm surprised this is even a legitimate topic for a poll!

Low use real estate that was not generating revenue such as that now received from the added staterooms. That has been the "formula" with all of the added staterooms in that area (and others) of several ship classes over the recent years.

They will not completely rip apart the gym and it will remain very functional, but they have taken some space from there to add three JS, two interior, and on large panoramic OV stateroom on the starboard side, deck 11. The deck plans on the RCCL website will show their location. They have added staterooms in similar locations (such as those on deck 12) on a few ship classes over the years.

Didn't say it was carved in stone. Maybe there were no higher bids or enough inventory to clear to your bid quickly. I was just saying what usually happens.

You have to have your permissions set with your email and RCCL to receive promotional and other notifications. (Typically done through your booking profile). With any booking you have, should they be offering the Royal Up program you will receive an email notifying you of the available categories, minimum suggested bid, and T&C's regarding the program and the bid process. You would then submit a bid online and await notification. Or you can follow this link and enter your booking number to see if the program is available for your itinerary: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/booked/cruise-room-upgrade

Yes, those you do typically receive - LOL. I guess what I was also trying to say to the OP is that there likely have been the majority of successful higher bid notifications already given to those who have been awarded their bids. It is usually the last ones awarded, as I understand it, that that come in the last few days. And think its coming down to the wire with the OP.

They can take as long as until a few days before departure to notify if a bid was accepted. And as it is a bid they are awarded by highest first and down until available inventory is cleared. Most people do not have successful bids, so you just need to be patient to see if you were one. But as you have not yet heard on any of them and your cruise is less than a week away IMO it doesn't seem to promising.

I'm sure they will be able to open them. We've never had an instance when it could not be done on those ships where they physically can be opened. (There are some older ships where they are not the type of balcony that can be opened. But that is not the case with Ovation - they most definitely can).

As everyone else has said, in our experience a deposit for a cruise booked on board must be made to your credit card and cannot be booked by way of a cruise line sponsored non-refundable OBC. But as you do not mention a cruise line I agree as well to contact your specific cruise line in question to confirm. Maybe there are those that do - but IMO it is not likely.

Laundry given to the stateroom attendant with his evening turndown will be delivered the next day after 5 with that evening's turndown. So yes, 3 days prior to the end of the cruise would be wise.

It varies by ship and sailing. What someone else got on another ship for a different sailing likely will have little bearing on what you may have on yours. What will end up being the best for you is whatever the planner sale for your sailing shows. You can always cancel and rebook if a better price appears.

I guess I take a somewhat different view of it. Most of the people that you would be at the beach with are fellow passengers so I guess they would then be the most likely ones to be concerned with taking your valuables. (I know, there are locals and other beach employees there. But it would be a bit obvious for them to be rooting through someone's belongings). I would want to hope that a fellow passenger would not try to steal from me with many other people sitting near by observing it. Besides the only thing of real value that we would have would be our phones, which I would think most - if not everyone there - would already have. I realize there is crime everywhere - including on cruises - but I guess we have been fortunate that in 30 years of cruising we have never had anything taken from us on a beach or experienced other issues on board. Just my opinion.

Just to be clear all staterooms are fully air conditioned, air exchanged, and temperature controlled. Unless you want to add more circulation to the air in the room, there is no need to bring a fan.

Well, I couldn't resist and ate it on the way home before I could get to FedEx......sorry. I'll get another to you for sure....😉

They typically ask for insurance information with the sign in. That, I believe, is what assures it is free. We have always answered "yes" as that provides the accurate answer and have never had a site charge for the test. (Sounds convoluted to answer "no" if one is traveling). BTW, even is there was a CVS nearby they (at least in our area) no longer offer the original rapid antigen test and don't offer the rapid NAAT test either - only the PCR test.

In your case the GS likely had a (significant) price increase since you first booked it and repriced it, but the inside did not. Pricing is driven by algorithms that would not be easy to follow and are based on inventory mix, current demand, stateroom category, etc. No sense trying to make sense of it.

When? We were on Anthem April 10 and dropped our luggage off at 12:10, parked the car and were in line at 12:30, and in our stateroom at 1:10.