Starry Eyes

Shirt and chinos will be fine any night. Wear the jacket only if it pleases you.

Owner’s suite on Indy would not include WiFi or the beverage package. During cocktail hours, the suite lounge offers free drinks to suite guests. D+ members do get some drink and wifi benefits. Each D+ gets two days (24 hour days, so you could start at 11:30 am to end at 11:30am the next day)… or a discount on an wifi package purchased on board. DH and I tend to share our wifi days (so one or the other is logged on, not both at the same time). Strategically spreading our combined 4 days over the course of a 7 day cruise, that is enough for us. Others need to buy more wifi. Each D+ member get 5 free drink vouchers per day. Between drink vouchers and suite lounge cocktail hour and the cappuccino machine in the lounges, we have enough drinks without buying a package, but may want to buy a package.

I’d call back. You may get a different rep who understands that you are allowed to change to a less expensive cabin category before final payment. If they resist, perhaps ask for a conference call with a RCI rep.

No, I would not expect they’d inform you (or others who bid the minimum or slightly above) earlier that the bid was unsuccessful. They gain nothing by rejecting your bid early. Theoretically enough people could cancel their reservations (imagine, for example,a major issue with airlines just before the cruise)that previously low probability bids might win.

If one has a certain “must visit” place, do not book a cruise. Book a flight and hotel instead. I love cruising, though so have experienced many itinerary changes and missed many ports. Sometimes one hears of changes in advance, like the OP; cruise contracts allow such changes. Other times, the change is made while on the ship…weather, strikes, political unrest, damaged piers, mechanical issues…we have missed ports for so many reasons. You may or may not get a token amount as a refund of port fees; if you do get a small port fee refund it will likely happen on the ship, not now.

Food decisions are personal, do you’ll have to make this decision on your own. For example, DH and I are not sushi fans; with only two restaurants that appeal to us, we would not elect UDP on that ship. Look at the menus for all three restaurants. Among those menus, will you be happy dining all 7 nights (and perhaps embarkation day and sea day lunches, too)? If so, go for it. If not, is there a smaller dining package at a good price?

If you already have a cruise booked on Wonder, the sequence is Dining>Main Dining Room>then level 3 to see early/late times, then level 4 to see MTD time. If you don’t currently have a Wonder cruise booked, use browse our ships to see Wonder info. The app defaults to current info. Sometimes dining times are adjusted, especially if a ship moves to a different home port region.

Looking at the app, the current times are: Early at 5:00 Late at 7:45 MTD from 7:15 until 9:30

Though a few people get their cabin assignments early, most assignments seem to come closer to the cruise date. Often people get their first hint by using the barcode trick after they check in at 45 days, though that’s not an official assignment. We just got our official assignment at 30 days out. In fact, in the past couple years I have gotten multiple assignments on day 30.

Did you try the bar code trick? If not, you should, your phone answer not withstanding. The Royal Caribbean reps do not see the info hidden in the barcode. It is possible, of course, that your bar code will also say gty; we won’t know until you do the trick. Are you an iPhone user or android user? That changes the options to perform the trick.

On those other rare instances where an oversold offer was made I think the offer is made to both gty bookings and specific cabins bookings. The offer may go only to the specific overbooked category. After all if a flexible person in a specified balcony cabin voluntarily gives up their cabin, that cabin can now be assigned to a gty balcony booking (who may not have volunteered or who volunteered but had higher cruise costs plus reimbursable costs).

That’s how Royal Caribbean has handled a few past episodes of overbooked ships, do it’s not a scam. The overbookings are uncommon and most if us have only seen copies of those emails posted on CC or other social media. If the terms are agreeable to you, submit your info. Would you please share the ship and sail date?

The statement must be less than 90 days old and they have been known to enforce to the day. Near the end of a quarter, I sent in my quarterly statement for shareholder credit. RCL waited several days, then sent me a denial saying the statement was too. On the day of denial, the statement was exactly 90 days old (still less than 3 months old, so I did not yet have a newer quarterly statement. I was unhappy with them as the statement was less than 90 days old when the request was submitted.

Most b2b passengers follow the above plan, but they also have a plan for those who want to get off the ship to spend time in port. Typically those folks will receive their new sea pass card and an in transit pass; if they desembark using this option, they re-board during general boarding (not with the other b2b passengers)

If a person wants a cabin in a certain location or is noise sensitive, booking a gty would be risky. OTOH if a person is flexible about cabin location and isn’t noise sensitive and can contentedly sail in the worst cabin in that category, then booking a gty doesn’t seem so risky.

Thanks for coming back to tell us the outcome. I’m glad they provided your GD a comfortable bed. Changing to that banquet style in some cabins (so they accommodate 3) would the cruiseline a bit more flexibility in cabin allocation. Still, traveling as a couple, I’d be a bit disappointed if I got a cabin with the backless, armless seating.

Ah, but the two are connected; the less one paid for the original cabin, the more they must shell out for that paid upgrade at current pricing. Imagine passengers A paid a fare $2000 for a balcony and passengers B paid $2500 for a balcony on the same sailing. The current booking price for a JS is $ 3000. The RoyalUp minimum bid offered for those in a balcony to a JS is $200x2=$400. Passengers A with their lower initial fare can pay $1000 for a JS upgrade or bid from a $400 minimum… a $600 decision. Passengers B with a higher initial fare can pay $500 for a JS upgrade or bid from the same $400 minimum…a $100 decision. The PP wondered why the PP’s choices are close in price. My message to the PP was that the bidding math may differ depending upon initial cruise fare and party size.

Posters on CruiseCritic frequently suggest people look at the cost of a traditionally purchased upgrade vs the bid amount. Good that you did. Another couple points to keep in mind: other people in your cabin category are getting that same minimum bid amount, even though they paid cruise fares for their cabins. Hypothetically, some people your category might have paid less than you (maybe even a free cruise), and that minimum bid for the upgrade might make sense to them. Also, the math can look different for parties of different sizes because RoyalUp always charges based on two guests; so if they are in the same cabin type a solo’s minimum bids are the same as a party four’s minimum. Of course, they probably paid different fares and would probably have different costs if they purchased a traditional upgrade. Each booking needs to do the math for their personal situation; it likely differs from yours.

Yeah, OP and hubby were discussed in first post, so I inferred two bottles for their cruise.

All in all, I think you should pass at that price. If it does not include the wine dispensers (which clearly interest you) and the math does not add up and you have more port days than sea days, it does not sound like a great choice for you at that price. If you don’t purchase the packages, is it workable to bring two bottles of wine plus your allowance of your favorite nonalcoholic beverage? That will keep your bill down.

Quite reasonably, you anticipate ordering more drinks on sea days. Begging the question…How many sea days vs how many port days on your cruise?

Johnny Rockets has a free breakfast

About the 3 night dining plan…if you buy the plan, you make reservations once on board. I’d suggest you now add up the pre-cruise sale prices of your three chosen restaurants and compare it to the price of the 3 night plan (plus any surcharges like Hibachi). Depending on the current sales and the restaurants that interest your family, the 3 night plan may or may not be a significant savings. If the savings are small, I’d forget the plan and reserve the individual restaurants pre cruise; that way you know you have the restaurants and times you want locked in without any hassle on day 1. OTOH, if the savings are substantial, you may want to take the 3 night plan. Board as early as you workable can. Since you want Hibachi, go there immediately; they can tell you if they have space for you or perhaps put you on a waitlist in case there are cancellations. They can also make the other reservations.

When is the cruise? You cannot get a price adjustment after final payment.

Not yet…you have to wait until you check in for the cruise (45 days out).