Mr. Click

On our July cruise to Bermuda we bought one premium wifi package to share but since we are both elite we should also get 90 minutes free....I used my wife's free 90 minutes while she used the purchased package that was in my name. Once the 90 minutes were gone I tried to use my own 90 minutes only to be told that once you activate the purchashed package the 90 minutes is voided. That would be all well and good IF ihad used the Captains Club discount but the July 4 sale was cheaper so I did not use the CC benefit.....so my question is how can I manage to have one of us use all 180 "free" minutes and the other use the unlimited package? If I buy a package during one of the sales and cannot use the CC discount too isn't that a bit unfair?

Food is so subjective. We were on the Summit in July for a wonderful trip down to Bermuda. We were in the MDR and found the food to be fine and the service was great. We are not foodies at all but we enjoyed every meal. We did one dinner in the Tuscan Grill and a lot of lunches in the OVC and it was all good. The Bermuda trip, our second one, was so nice we booked August 2024 on the the Eclipse for NJ to Iceland. Looking forward to hearing more about the OPs adventures on their cruise

In the past the clothing has come back with little stickers on it. Sometimes I find them weeks later.......

This says it all. It is all about supply and demand. The ads for "sales" are just something to get you to look because there is no base line for the % off.

In recent times the real "sales" have been on things like wifi, bev packages and excursions for cruises already booked. There were several "holiday" sales leading up to our last cruise in July that really did save you some money. The rest is just smoke and mirrors... Heading back into the woods to look for some brown bears...

The daily delectables are some small oh'derves or how ever you spell it. Hardly worth it. It is easer and better to just bring a plate back from the OVC. The gelato is not that good, especially if you have to pay for it. The currently free ice cream in the OVC is very good and they offer more flavors. We are ice cream fanatics and much prefer the ice cream on board.

Of course they do but I was trying to keep it PG here......The R version is for the late night show in the lounge.

Is the sky blue? Does the brown bear live in the woods?, Is water wet? there is always some kind of sale coming but is it really a sale? You just have to keep looking and checking.

That is all well and good but for me the bottom line is their gelato is not that good to begin with so why pay extra for it when there is very good ice cream included in your cruise fare? We have tried the various gelatos using our CC freebies and found the flavors lacking. That said, I glad to hear that the $2 cookie has gone the way of the $10 hamburger at the Mast Grill.

A good broker who listens to his clients need and wants and then backs up the sale with great service is worth their weight in gold. Squaremouth did little but take my money.

I am well aware that they are a broker but they sold the policy they were quick to take the money, when there was a problem they were no where to be found. The folks at the trip insurance store were more helpful when I went public with my problems and have been very pro-active with anything I have bought since there including getting me refunds of premiums on 3 canceled trips during COVID. A broker needs to stand behind their sales.

I did not realize that. The whole gelato thing did not start until we made Elite....bottom line is that it is not that good, certainly not worth paying for it.

There were free cookies in OVC on the Summit in July. At the ice cream bar and the ice cream is far superior to the gelato. As Elites we each get a free scoop of gelato and it has never been anything special. We are not booked to cruise again for about 11 months so I am curious to see how this turns out. Oh, the $10 burgers did not last too long because no one bought them....

Wok2cruise said it well. The big issue is the health part and pre-exsisting conditions. When I have a long gap between booking and final payment I usually now buy a quick policy for the value of my deposit and then add to it at final payment. That was some good advice from the people at The Trip Insurance Store. One company that was mentioned was squaremouth.com. I avoid them. The one time I had to file a claim they were just terrible. Paper work got lost, all kinds of extra stuff demanded and until I used the L word, nothing happened. Avoid them.

Blue Chip cruise....wow, you really are rolling the dice. IMHO you are cutting way too close. Why not look into getting the last flight out of Gulfport to ATL and over night there or check out AA, they have a hub in Miami so maybe a direct flight.. Definenately call FBC and see what they can do to get you there sooner. All of that stress is no way to start are fun trip.

Second on this. August can get really hot and it is the end of the summer season so things are likely to be more crowded and expensive. Only you can decide how much the aft cabin means to you. We have always gone with regular verandas and enjoyed them.

yep, or Costco.

While I did not go to medical school I have spent some nights at a holiday inn express....but seriously this is not a problem for us just in Florida. It has been a problem all over the world so my wife has chosen to just avoid drinking the ship's water. Her choice.

That is correct. I have done it is various ports around the world. Just make sure your case is good and strong. Worst scenario is you lose a few bucks if the case is lost but so far every time I have tried it it has worked just fine.

You are not alone. On our recent cruise out of NJ we flew in the night before and did not have a chance to pick up a case but I did see any number of cases of water being delivered with luggage on day 1.

The water on board comes from the onboard desalinazation system. Some people find the traces of salt in the ship's water bothers some. Others just prefer their own brand.

Prices in general are going up. It is all about supply and demand. Earlier this week I was looking at something for Aug 2024 on a popular route, limited runs on an S class. I looked at it again today and it was 10% higher. Made me glad that I had my TA put a hold on it on Monday for 5 days.....A quick email to him with the booking number and then a phone call with my CC number got me the old rate...phew.

And all I was doing was relaying a conversation that we had with Captain Smith where he made some very good points about the current path that the company is on.

On a recent cruise on the Summit our captain, Nigel Smith, was making the rounds in the MDR at dinner one night and stopped to chat with us. We were happy to tell him how much we were enjoying the ship, the food, the staff, the whole package. That lead to a discussion of Royal overall and what they are doing. One of the key pieces to their plan for the future is keep making money, stay profitable and use the profits to retire the current debt that they took on during the pandemic and basically refinance it with new debt at a lower cost to keep growing the brand with new ships etc. I raised the question about re-fi now with rates way up and he said that yes, during the pandemic money in general was cheaper but the cruise lines had to go begging lenders for help and the rates they had to pay to stay afloat where well above market and even with today's higher prime etc the company could save money with the re-fi. What does this all mean? it means RCI is well aware of their debt problem and working to resolve it. They are not just blindly blundering along and pocketing the profits. We also talked at length about what they had to do just to get ships moving again with passengers onboard once things began to open up..

I booked, canceled and re-booked out internet package 3 times before out recent cruise on the Summit. Seems they are always running "sales" so you really need to keep on checking.