RFerrington

I will probably upgrade at some point. I always think I can tolerate an inside room but then end up upgrading anyway. LOL

I really do not know the answer to this.

For the past couple of cruises, I have gotten my rejection email before we get on the ship. In cruises prior to that, we would get the rejection email after we boarded. I think they are refining the process somewhat..but who knows....

What I have "heard" (read) is that they are charging those who made the online reservation, pre-cruise the full price (that is to say...the price that they paid online, not full onboard price)...IOW, they are not allowing them to use the pre-made reservation as one of their package meals. I really think it's dependent upon the ship and who you get to help you with the "conversion". I think you will be in a better position if you have the UDP than if you have only a 3-night package. Hopefully it's much ado about nothing and you will be fine.

Yeah....we're in a promenade inside. Not the greatest cabin but it's something we've never been in before....so it will be an adventure !

Yeah, wouldn't it be great if they nixed the stop in Nassau and added another night in Bermuda ?

😲

Interesting. I've never seen "upgrade not available" before. Must be something new.

We are on Mariner 10-13 (and 10-20). The 10-13 itin has an overnight in Bermuda. This will be our Pinnacle cruise unless something changes...which is always possible !

I totally agree with you. The courtesy reservation is entirely meaningless. ...on the other hand, I have never had a problem changing whatever reservation they make for me so I guess it's a harmless, meaningless maneuver.

I hope it works for you. It seems to be very much a YMMV situation. It just seems like Royal is getting wise to this "hack" and may be trying to shut it down. Fingers crossed that it works for you !!

I’ve been reading that some ships are not allowing this anymore.

Follow-up on this subject. I called today to have the certificate applied and it worked perfectly. The price was exactly what the NC rep quoted. Quick (once I finally got through) and easy.

Another interesting thing about Izumi on Mariner....while you had to make the hibachi reservations at Izumi they did not take any reservations at all for the sushi bar. That's the first time I've heard of no reservations for sushi. Now, granted, the sushi side of Izumi on Mariner is TINY...they have obviously gone all-out for the hibachi experience on Mariner, but I was surprised that they would not make a reservation for us for sushi. It is walk-up, only.

There were 2 tiny sharks at the Beach Club yesterday. Some said they were nurse sharks and some said lemon sharks so I don't know what they were....but they didn't cause any harm. Dan found the water around the Club to be too shallow for any real snorkeling. I guess we will have to try Chill Island next time.

I’ve never been denied embarkation lunch when I’ve had the UDP. I would guess that either Chops or Giovanni’s or both will be open for embarkation.

It is a nuisance. They did give us a confirmed cabin and quoted us a final price so hopefully no pricing surprises. This change surprises me b/c they made such a big deal about making NC a “partner” in the casino comp process….and now a complete turnaround. I am actually leaving the ship with more money than I boarded with so I’m very happy ! Very unusual for me !

Oh, cool !! Another "bad welds" ship discussion !!

Interesting change re: booking [onboard-earned] casino certificates at NextCruise… NC can no longer apply casino certificates to onboard bookings ! NC can book the cruise but you then must call Club Royale and have the certificate(s) applied. Not sure when this change occurred but today when we took our certificates to NC (Mariner) they could not/would not apply the certificates. We will have to do that once we get home. They did permit a low ($100 PP) deposit. That also surprised me.

That was the case this week on Mariner. Hibachi reservations could only be made at Izumi. PITA

Even better ! Thanks. I’m feeling better about my chances…

Thanks, Graham So you guys shared a package ? Oh no…that will never work for us ! Lol Thanks for this intel though….it’s very encouraging that they are allowing you to use both the D+ and the Prime discounts. I figured it would be one or the other…

That's a great question. I have heard conflicting answers. I have read that some have been successful in applying their Prime discount to remaining days, after they use their D+ free days. I know for sure that you cannot use these perks together - at the same time. But I think you are asking the same question I have - can you use them concurrently.... I will find out very shortly ! We will be on a 4 night Serenade sailing in July. I intend to use my 2 free D+ days and then try and get my Prime discount applied for the last 2 days. I expect this attempt to fail....but I'm going to try. Even if I get no Prime discount for the last 2 days it will still be cheaper than buying the plan pre-cruise UNLESS they increase the onboard price above what it is currently showing. There's just no way to anticipate how this will work out, but I will report back !

Thanks for this information. This is pretty much what I had assumed, but never had it verified. I think this is what we can expect from now on. Kinda slimy...

We boarded Mariner on 5-26 and the MDR was serving GenPop. We were told that Mariner was running a month-long trial. It was a limited menu but was very good. I hope they make this permanent and take it fleet-wide. I will say….they did a horrible job of advertising this embarkation meal. Had it not been for a lovely lady in the D Club, we would never have known about it.