JeffT237

It's basic economics, the prices are not too high. They may be higher than what I want to pay or afford to pay, but to your point the ships are full and the upsell items are being purchased and in many times sold out.

We've had the princess Plus on our 2 Princess cruises last year, the first was last May when it was only $40pp, our next Princess cruise in October it was $50pp. Even at the new price of $60pp I think for everything you get it is worth it for us. When we sail Royal we pay for WiFi, pre-pay gratuities and pay for drinks individually.

We've sailed both the Oasis and Allure prior to the Wonder and the reservation system was about the same. Most all of the shows we've seen on the Oasis class ships have been well attended and sold out prior to the cruise.

This is normal, show reservations open up the month before your sailing, so yours more than likely have been open since March 1st. We were just on the Wonder and each show had a stand by line that some were able to get in, how many? I have no idea but I'd guess the earlier you line up the better. Also on embarkation day in front of the theater there was a table set up for the shows and they were taking reservations and requests, I have heard sometimes they hold some reservations for guests to make on embarkation day but I don't know the validity of that.

Wow, I feel like I just got lectured by my mom with the "Jeffrey" comment. I have experienced this 1 entree policy firsthand, and there was no "clean your plate" policy before your second entree. That was what I was pointing out, many of these titles are embellished or exaggerated. Often without any first hand experience to back them up. If there have been multiple first hand reports that the plate must be entirely cleaned before a second entree is given, then please accept my apologies. There is a new one entree rule, I experienced it being enforced, some passengers report no changes on other sailings and I have seen no evidence nor experienced from my one Royal cruise since the new policy that the plate needs to be cleaned before a second entree is brought out. As far as being a "LoyalRoyal", try again to post without speculating. Our last 2 cruises prior to our Wonder cruise were with Princess, whose message boards are filled with complaints and embellishments as well. We actually sail 3 lines and are considering others. As far as staying out of a posted message what kind of responses are you looking for? Real world experiences or just to stir the pot with a comment like "patronizing clean your plate" policy that doesn't exist?

If you took every post on CC seriously you would probably never cruise again. I have used the ship's hot tubs and pools on every cruise and never had an issue. Could I suffer an issue in the future? Of course but I'm pretty sure the cruise lines don't want to have any issues with the hot tubs making people sick. I shower pre and post hot tub/pool use and if they are overly crowded I don't go in.

Our last 3 cruises we have taken were all ocean view balcony and I have not seen that big of a price increase. Our next cruise on the Harmony in March of 2024 we pain with taxes and port fees about $2000 for both of us. Plus we're receiving perks from Royal and our TA. We paid a little more than that for our past Wonder cruise. Both were booked at least a year in advance. I completely agree the price of the upsell items, which we do chose to purchase, has made our cruising more expensive than in the past and I don't see those things coming down. Vacations are expensive, we will be in Hawaii in August and our condo for the week is more than our whole cruise fare. Throw in food, flights, rental car etc and that trip will be much more costly than our recent and future cruises.

It's called click bait.

He was on the Wonder 3 weeks ago, saw him performing in the elevators and often in front of Wonderland.

We booked on board a few weeks ago, we chose to book an itinerary and picked a cabin so we paid a deposit of $100pp and received $100 OBC for a 7-night sailing in an ocean view balcony that is available to use pre-cruise. If you chose a future cruise and select the itinerary later it is a $200pp deposit and the OBC amount is dependent upon your cabin category and length of sailing. If you chose to book a future cruise and select an itinerary, in addition to the OBC and reduced deposit you will also be given the opportunity to change your sailing up to 2 months after debarkation with no change fees.

We were on the March 5th sailing on the Wonder. I purchased it on Black Friday and it was listed as cans, however as many have reported what we received were plastic bottles, which was welcomed. I'm speculating that the price was cheaper for cans because I believe the can size is 12 ounces. But when we sailed we were given the larger 16.9 ounce bottles of Niagra.

I'm sure you're right on that. My cruise decisions are typically foolish when it comes to a financial decision vs comfort and ease on a vacation. From a financial standpoint one could certainly argue a lot of our purchases are foolish. I don't cruise for the financial benefit I cruise for the enjoyment within our budget and what we value. I don't lament over the "wasted" $6 I spent on a gratuity to have an item I ordered waiting for me in my cabin. I also don't spend too much time on how that $6 was broken down and who it went to.

Good question, this could turn into another tipping post! 18% was added on at the time of purchase I suppose to the crew who gathered it from the store room and the guy who delivered it to our cabin, really no idea.

Ours was Niagra 16.9 ounce bottles. I've read they are going to Evian 1 liter bottles.

It always starts as that then morphs into something else. As most posts do. We purchased 2 cases of 24 bottles, not 12 bottles. With tip total for the 48 bottles was $40.08.

Of all the things that are debated on Cruise Critic I find the bottled water for or against one of the strangest. Like any upsell charge if there's value in it individually for any reason, buy it.....if not don't buy it. A few other things: Some people don't want to lug around a case of water. The included water is never free, it's in your cruise fare as well as mine so yes I am double paying for water just like I paid for food and still pay more at speciality dining which we also enjoy. Environmental concerns. I'm pretty sure the cruise lines recycle the plastic bottles and has an environmental officer. If you look hard enough I'm sure you'll find better examples of waste or environmental concerns on a cruise. High price, almost every upsell item, excursion etc is high priced. But yet here we are with most things being sold out or heavily purchased on a cruise that has seen it's fares go up as well. I bought 2 cases of water on Black Friday for our last cruise with tip at about $40 total. That's $40 out of several thousand spent on the cruise, travel from SoCal and all of the other misc vacation expenses. Somehow I managed to pay for it and still enjoy our cruise. Finally, some of us like the package, so we buy it.

Yes they had a stand by line for all of the shows we attended, we had reservations so I don't know how many from the stand by line actually got in. We ate at Chops on the Wonder a few weeks ago and our group of 4 really enjoyed it. We did Chops, Wonderland, 150 CP and Giovanni's and I enjoyed the Chops meal the most. That's not always the case but on the Wonder that week I felt the meal at Chops and the service were great. We had it as part of our dining package so we didn't pay the full individual price not he planner.

You're welcome and I'll add one more thought, rather than take our opinions on how to make him happy on the cruise and try to accommodate his feelings at the expense of the group I would suggest that for you as the host make it clear on what your offer is and what your intentions and expectations are. You seem like a planner and possibly a worrier, that's OK I am too. But will you be able to enjoy the vacation you paid for and plan if the concern is always your SIL and his feelings? That would be a shame. I don't think it's appropriate to tell you do this or that, leave him home etc as we all have family drama. Just trying to offer some suggestions, reading your posts it seems there is some history there with him and he's hard to please. I don't think you're trying to control the situation, just trying to please others can often lead to unhappiness for you. They'll have a great time.

Was just on the Wonder for the March 5th sailing and had a great time. Yes there will be a lot of people, I didn't find the lines too crazy but there will be crowds at the popular attractions from time to time. The Wonder is a beautiful ship with lots to offer, but from the way you describe your son in law and how he doesn't want to cruise it may be hard to please him on any ship on any line. I would think the appeal of a free cruise and the time to spend with extended family would be interest enough and something to be excited about. Don't know your family dynamic but 1 complaining family member can potentially put a damper on a vacation. Best of luck!

All meals in the MDR either with My Time or traditional dining are complimentary unless you select an up charge item, like the filet mignon from Chops. The daily gratuity that’s charged to your onboard account or if you pre-pay them include the dining staff in the MDR.

What lines have you booked and how would you compare them to Royal? Our last 2 cruises prior to our Wonder cruise 2 weeks ago were with Princess. We enjoyed them, way less kids but they were Alaska and the California Coastal iteniraries so not as many kids as a spring Caribbean cruise. Sadly this "me first" attitude is prevalent just about everywhere.

Reading your entire post and all of your complaints makes me wonder why you cruise at all? Genuinely you seem unhappy with every part of Royal Caribbean and what they offer you. That's a lot of money to spend and time invested in travel to be so unhappy. To each his own, just hard to understand why you still support the brand and product. Is there any part of cruising with Royal that you enjoy? You're still paying and have paid a lot in previous cruises to obtain your C&A drinks, and your cruise fare is paying for your "free" food and entertainment. And paying money to do so.

From what I saw 2 weeks ago you will initially be lined up by time, enter into security when the other times ahead of you have been let in then depending on the crowd inside the terminal either sit for a short time by group or be allowed to board. I think you'll board much earlier than 12:30, but there will be a lot on board before you. I do think the later time will benefit you, after 8:00 may be more available. On our cruise the 6:30-7:00 times seemed to be the most popular. We got 150 CP at 7:00, the rest we had at 6:00 or earlier which were also all available. Wonderland we had at 5:15 which was much earlier than we would have wanted but on that night it was the only time available that would work with our show reservation. One last tip, again send members from your group to multiple dining lines and communicate. Even if the first line you see is only one person deep, making reservations can take a while. If they have the UDP they're making a lot of reservations and asking a lot of questions vs someone who has the 3 night package. Our friends who boarded after us had a couple ahead of them that really took a long time, while the other dining line moved much quicker. Best of luck!

I do, but my wife prefers bottled. She has a medical condition that requires her to stay hydrated and she likes the taste better, she drinks multiple bottles per day.

I’ve heard it varies ship to ship, but on our recent Wonder cruise it was Niagra and we thought it was fine.