Starry Eyes

One need not pay for a cruise or go to a bar if you’re into that. Just read CruiseCritic; somebody will post a moan soon enough🤣

True. Also if the spouses currently have the same number of points, they are both better off in the long run if the double points go to the person who is more likely to take cruises without the spouse (solo or with a friend/relative) in the future. Sometimes that needs to be planned when the booking/upgrade is made.

Though DH and I tend to be early birds, I know late night food matters to other people. If we all kept the same schedules and enjoyed the same things, the ships would feel more crowded. I recall how unhappy fellow cruisers were as midnight buffets became less lavish than disappeared. Even on the same line, some cruises feel different than others. For example, several years ago we did a back to back cruise, so same ship, same departure port, same month. The first cruise was a five night sailing to Bermuda. There were lots of young couples and families with young kids plus some seniors. It was very active with long lines for pizza and a very busy buffet, even at dinner. Boisterous crowd. There were only a few b2b guests. The second cruise was nine night Canada and New England. There were lots of seniors, far fewer young people, very few kids, and far more high loyalty members. More card games, no more long lines for pizza, the MDR was busier at mealtimes. Sedate crowd. We enjoyed both cruises, but the contrast was quite noticeable.

Ah, so none of your other 37 cruises were transatlantic or other ocean crossings. We have done 96 cruises on a variety of cruise lines, including multiple transatlantics. They draw a different crowd and have a different pace. Passengers on a TA behave differently than passengers on a 7 or 10 day cruise. Obviously the TA worked out for us but it does not suit everyone. Try to think about the TA demographic and TA crowd behavior separately from your feeling about Royal Caribbean. That will help you decide if long transoceanic cruises on any line suit you at this point in your life. There are other points that are specific to Royal Caribbean and your cruising style/preferences. For example, free late night food seems important to you (that is not important to me at all, showing personal preferences really matter here). If Royal’s offerings (typically pizza, sandwiches, cookies as I recall) do not appeal, another cruiseline might suit you better for most or all of your cruises. That’s why there are multiple cruise lines. Many of us have taken a cruise that was good yet did not quite fit. We go back to the line(s) that feel right.

Our congratulations email for a winning bid came yesterday. Today with received new cruise docs with the new luggage tag on the last page. So watch your email. Your new docs should come soon. Your new cruise docs should then also be available in your cruise planner.

I’d guess it went through in a wearable pet carrier https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B5KWBB5K/ref=sspa_mw_detail_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9waG9uZV9kZXRhaWw That might be where it was hidden some of the times the cabin was serviced, too.

While there are some reliably “high kid” times, I don’t think there are any reliably “low kid time period” cruises on Oasis class ships. There can be a surprising number if kids of many sailings. Just because kids are in school in your hometown does not mean all kids are in school. Not only are there many pre-school child, there now many home schoolers. There are also plenty of parents who will pull kids out of school for a trip. Then there are schools with alternate calendars, both domestic and abroad. For example, my schools only got one day off for President’s day in February while in other parts of the country, there is a week break. I have also boarded ships to find a large number of families vacationing from Brazil, for example.

I guess that’s another reason I don’t want to sail Icon (at least while she is new). If other people want to pay that much for a rope course, I hope they have a blast…and I hope RCI pays down more debt.

Access to Solarium Bistro those weeks costs only $70 ppd. Royal will be happy to take your money.😉🤣🤣 Joking aside, I do understand your pain. I’ve lost access to multiple venues when I discovered I was on a ship with a partial charter. The cruiselines do not warn other passengers and it can impact their cruises. Allowing a group to have certain venues for all or large portions of a cruise is not just Yeshiva week/Bistro/Royal thing unfortunately

I have found a coffee station set up early somewhere on those ships. Some ships have more than one spot (for example, they might have a coffee station on an upper deck outside the WJ and one on a lower deck, maybe near near the MDR entrance). The guests who do not have lounge access on those ships generally are not really OOL.

I suspect you’d get also varying reports if you asked about spring break cruises with loads of kids. Some people would report the their cruise was ruined by poorly behaved kids while other people would say they had a decent cruise with lots of kids being kids. Not only are there different kids and different parents on the various cruises, the different observers with different personalities keep different schedules and hang out in different parts of the ship so they see different things and are impacted differently. My sailing was a few years ago. Ii is quite possible that the behavior has gotten worse.

Ok, here’s a different report. Several years ago we had never heard of Yeshiva week and happened to book a cruise with them (oasis class out of FL). They were families with kids. They behaved like kids on a cruise…those kids might have behaved a bit better than average. I have been on cruises with worse behaved kids during summer and spring break.

I agree with the others that a suite gty nearly always results in a JS assignment; anything else is rare. Don’t get your hopes up for a free upgrade. If I were booked in a suite gty, I’d bid on the upgrades as if I expected a JS. I would keep an eye out for my assignment and cancel the bid if by some chance I was assigned a full suite. Watching for the assignment would include doing the “barcode trick” on set sail pass within 45 days of cruise.

US Virgin Islands also raised port fees(“Capital Cost Recovery Charge”) for Royal Caribbean cruisers to fund port infrastructure improvements.

I have not used this benefit, but I can imagine a couple uses. If the wine one desires is only offered by the bottle, not by the glass, it would make sense to use a voucher for a discount to get the wine one really wants. Or if one wanted to treat your whole table to wine, one could buy a bottle (or two) with the voucher discount.

Thanks for providing the flyer. The participants will be paying $70 per person per day for their Kosher buffet meals. $35 for kids 6-12. That will really add to the price of a family cruise.

The MTD desk does ask for cabin number and does know which guests have MTD vs traditional dining.

It varies. An 83 year old family member loves the big ships, though getting from one end to the other is taking a bit longer than it did 10-15 years ago. I laughed when the OP said Odyssey was “too big (long) for ‘guests’ over 25.”

You do not get extra loyalty points if you win a RoyalUp from balcony to suite. Your loyalty points are awarded based on the booked category, not on the category you get by bidding.

Like the previous poster, I think you’d be better off in traditional dining, working with a specific head waiter to preplan your meals and the same waitstaff to deliver them. If you are not able to switch by calling, you can try emailing with an explanation of the circumstances. Either rcldining@rccl.com or mgutierrez@rccl.com

Do you personally really desire the beverage covered by the Refreshment package or are you mostly buying it so hubby can get his drink package? If it is the latter, DH would have to consume a substantial number of drinks each day to justify buying both packages at those prices. When thinking about how many drinks one might average per day, remember to think about port day plans. If hubby is off the ship touring, he won’t be using the drink package. Some people may alter their behavior before and/or after long or strenuous tours. When I was not drinking due to a medication, hubby just paid by the drink.

I have used the barcode trick multiple times and it has always accurately predicted my actual cabin. I did read a CC post within the last couple months from a poster who booked an inside gty thought the barcode trick predicted a balcony cabin and was assigned an inside. I did not recognize the poster from other threads, so I have no opinion on the poster’s veracity or whether they did the trick properly.

I do not like the new MTD system, but I disagree with your characterization of it. It is not really sandwiched between the two seatings. There is a dining room used for early traditional dining and as those early diners exit those tables are turned over to MTD for the rest of the night. There is no late traditional seating in the MTD dining room. MTD might run from 6:30 to 9:00. (That said, some MTD folks may be accommodated at empty tables in other dining rooms as time and space permits.). A few late tours? Why not just book specialty restaurants those nights and be done with it. Or eat in WJ. Or room service. Or if the tours will make you just little late, you can politely ask in the MDR…they may be able to seat you later those nights. You are trying to hide behind the technology issue. It is not technology; currently it is $. Right now if you want the best times, stop whining, get out your credit card and book your times. Easy Peasy. On the other hand, right now if you want the package price, you have to live with the current terms of sale. By the time you sail, they may or may not change the terms so you can pre-reserve. Even if they do, someone else may pre-reserve those slots you want before you can get them, leaving fewer to race for on day 1. Be careful what you wish for.

You shouldn’t buy the package if you cannot accept the terms offered by the seller. You know you could pre book your all your meals now; that option simply costs more.

One pays a set amount for the UDP; there is not “basically” a price for the lunches. After all, with the UDP someone could go to two restaurants and have two lunches plus a full dinner and a late meal at playmakers. If buying the meals separately with the current sale is a better deal (or close to the same price) then just cancel the UDP and book separately.