Starry Eyes

We have also had such an announcement for a missing teen.

With the new, colorful edition, we will be happy to collect two blocks from the same ship if one is the older style block and the other the newer style block. That will call for a large shelf.

Also shortly before your cruise (2-3 days IIRC) watch for an email with a link for several stateroom requests. I think “separate beds” is among the requests you can check via that link. Perhaps if you specify on your booking and on that link, your beds will be separated when you arrive. If not, the steward will re-do them for you. We also find separate beds to be an efficient set up in small interior and OV cabins.

LOL, you are the predictable one. It is also predictable that you would not be able to defend your previous post when the flaws were challenged.

You don’t know what that later booking will pay or what they will want. They may also book gty. They may pay even less. Or maybe they are paying a higher rate and really want connecting cabins, in which case it will be better if the op has moved. Royal put all 3V cabins in the same category because Royal judged the equivalent. Thus it is just personal preference.

Rather than a just a “boot”, I’d like to see the offending “vehicle” towed out of the hallway to a secured “lot.” The hallway would be clear for others and the “release” fee could be paid at the “lot.” I assume the Philadelphia Parking Authority could find an appropriate payola scale for towing a stroller🤣

Apparently not yet😇

I’ve seen worse obstruction than the one shown in that picture, so remember it could have been worse. We can’t guess when Royal will make that cabin assignment official. It might happen soon (in which case you’d have a chance to ask to switch to a less obstructed cabin). Or they could wait a while, and by then there might not be any remaining cabins you like better in your exact category (for example, I’m still in barcode status for my Oct 28 cruise; there are no remaining cabins in my category). If you have the option to bid on an unobstructed balcony via RoyalUp, you may want to consider doing so. Now that you know your cabin, you can use that knowledge to formulate your bid. As you said in your first post, bids are not a sure thing, but they are another shot at a different cabin.

First, let’s find out about your cabin, then you will be in a better position to decide what to do next. If your set sail pass has a deck number, there is also a cabin number hidden in the bar code. This cabin has been picked for you even though it is not officially assigned. On CruiseCritic we call this the “bar code trick.” If you have an iPhone, put your set sail pass in your apple wallet. Then in the wallet, look at the numbers below the barcode. To the right of the dash (-), you should see numbers…that is almost certainly your future cabin number (theoretically Royal can move gty folks anytime, but functionally that is rare, so expect that cabin). Android users do the same thing using a barcode reader app rather than apple wallet. Once you have a cabin number, you can google it and search here on CruiseCritic for info on obstruction. Come back for advice when you know more and have thought it over a bit.😀

Hmmm, that might convince recalcitrant parents to store the stroller inside the cabin in the future

Do look at those deck plans. I find deck 6 very convenient on Oasis class ships. It is one of my favorite decks.

Oops. Thanks for correcting that.😀

Unlike the newer Celebrity ships, your connecting door will be inside the cabin. As I recall, on Allure the connecting doors are close to the bathroom/entry. That means there’s impact on the size of your cabin’s furniture, and probably less noise transmission than if the door were across from your bed. I’ve been assigned connecting cabins multiple times from gty bookings without any major issues so far. Often times your neighbor is hoping you will be considerate as much as you hoping they will be. In any case, your TA has chosen the best option currently available. You can do mock bookings to see if a better cabin in your category comes available and if so call your TA to ask for a free swap.

There’s still plenty of time before your Nov 6 cruise. We have a gty booked for Oct 28. Though we can detect an unofficial cabin number in the barcode, we still do not have an official cabin assignment. We are not concerned though; 99.9% sure the cabin assignment will be official sometime in the next 18 days. Then we will be able to print luggage tags. If not, we will have the porters check the manifest before we hand over our bags. I suspect your assignment will also appear before your cruise. And air out that “sour luggage”, LOL. Autocorrect can be funny.

Even with the “Stay Awhile” program offered in some European cruises, passengers still must be out of their staterooms early, as stewards need yo prep those staterooms for new guests. From the original post, the OP does not want to vacate the stateroom early. The stay awhile program might cost more than the “even for a small fee” the OP imagined. Personally, I want to board a ship early on embarkation day and access my cabin relatively soon thereafter. That means I must vacate the cabin early at the end of the cruise so it can be prepped for the next cruise. Judging by the rush of people to their cabins as soon as they are available on embarkation day, many people want early access to their cabins. I suspect the current system will remain, even if the op does not like to get up early.

Another option to consider: find another adult to join your group. That adult could stay in the balcony with two teens. You, your wife. and other two teens are in the suite. That way the teens in the balcony (which is not adjacent to or across the hall from your suite…it is probably far away) are actually supervised by an adult. The teens might hate that….

Since ships have been at full capacity, we have not won a RoyalUp bid for a suite on Oasis or Quantum Class. The minimum bids are also much higher. We moved from a JS to a GS on Mariner last month. I think my odds are very slim for Wonder in Nov and Dec.

Fully acknowledging Royal can manage each cruise differently, I’ll still share the timeline for my for my 11/5 XB booking. At check in 45 days out, no official assignment though cabin # was coded in bar code. Cabin was assigned at 30 days…midship deck 12 My Wonder December cabin is still unassigned. Yours too? If so, happy stalking.😀

Yes, you have to be officially assigned a cabin before you can ask to swap to a different cabin in the exact same category. Many of us use the bar code trick to get an early clue what our assignment when we still do not have an official cabin assignment. It is not an official cabin assignment, so one cannot expect to change cabins based on a bar code. I like using the bar code trick to satisfy my curiosity and to help guide my RoyalUp bids (if we love our the cabin # in the barcode, we might cancel or decrease some RoyalUp bids; OTOH if we are unenthusiastic about the cabin # in the barcode we might add or increase some Royal bids). Both RoyalUp and Gty are best for people who are not picky about location. Those who have specific cabin location needs or desires are better off selecting their own cabins if possible.

People are typically offered the opportunity to bid on more than one category of cabin. For example, a person in an inside cabin might be offered the opportunity to bid on promenade view cabin, virtual balcony cabin, spacious inside cabin, oceanview cabin, spacious oceanview cabin, neighborhood balcony cabin and oceanview balcony cabin. They can bid on all, some or none. A person booked in an inside cabin is unlikely to find suites on their lists of bidding opportunities at this time.

Mariner also has a Johnny Rockets. It is, of course, another casual, lower cost venue, but one should be able to use that as part of the UDP if desired. We don’t opt the UDP on Mariner, but it works for others.

If you get the better assignment, I know you will have earned it (though we know it doesn’t really work that way😉)

I’ve booked a fair number of gty lately and none of my official assignments lately have come before check in. My two November gty cruise assignments (including a Wonder cruise) only show in the barcode; officially those cabins are not yet assigned. It could happen sooner, I suppose, for our Wonder GGG Dec deals, but I am not stalking the app.

No, when you place your bid you agree to accept the upgraded cabin you are assigned. Your previous cabin likely has been assigned to someone else. Maybe. You might be able to switch to another cabin in the exact same category IF any better ones are available…but do not count on that because frequently once RoyalUp upgrades come through, no more cabins in those categories are available, so you are locked into the cabin you are assigned.

I cannot check in on the app while on a cruise. I’m on a ship now. When I follow your instructions (which are quite and exactly what we all would have tried in the past, lol) as if to edit checkin for each of my upcoming cruises, I receive an error message “check in has checked out.” Are you using a VPN?