Starry Eyes

The pizza is served in the Cafe Promenade. Perhaps you’ll have an extra slice as you won’t be having roast beef on weck. Or you will find another sandwich. We sailed Mariner to Bermuda this fall. It was a lovely trip. The service was good. We enjoy the food. Don’t fret over one sandwich when you have the pink sand of Bermuda calling your name😉

LOL, North Americans get letters in our cabins telling us we cannot even bring our friends and cabinmates into the Diamond lounge. If we go the LA asking the LA to make them Diamond for the cruise, the LA will look at us like we might have two heads!

In my experience Port Canaveral has not been checking the times on set sail passes as one enters the terminal building. Once you enter the building, there are two lines for security screening. One line for suites+pinnacle. All others go to the general line. When you show the screener a suite set sail pass, they likely will allow your whole party into the suite security line (if not, you can join the general line with your other family member). After security you will go upstairs. Again, a screener may well send your your entire group to the suite check in area (if not, you can join the general line with your other family member). Same deal with the boarding waiting area and suite boarding. My experience with the check in personnel at Port Canaveral has been positive. Politely explain and ask them (with an adorable, well behaved 4 year old in tow if possible😉)

IF you thought this was an Australia specific policy, you probably should have put that in the title and in the first sentence of the original post. The vast majority of people on these boards are not Australian. I’m unlikely to discover if C&A policies are managed differently for cabinmates on Australian cruises; even if we go, we will both be same C&A level

You may want to tell us what ship/port, as people can then share the most relevant experiences. There is variability among ports.

Though we now live close enough to drive to port, I well remember how much more difficult it could be to bring wine aboard when one flies. So, I understand why you are more apt to purchase your bottle through the cruise planner while others might be able tuck a bottle into a carry on bag. I agree the description is suboptimal. Perhaps the “no sharing” nonsense is there because they don’t want the blame for anyone foolishly sharing with minors. Other than that, I’d shrug it off. You asked about size of bottles. I can see 750 ml on the labels of the bottles in the pictures (though I don’t know which brand you will select). I believe you will receive a standard size bottle. If you have doubts, you could take a screen shot of the ad with the picture of the bottle of your choice. I think it will be delivered with a basic ice bucket and glasses, but if not you can contact room service. Your room steward can, of course, provide all the ice you need. I don’t think a formal stand will be provided.

I suspect it is another example of poor web design for Royal IT. Should you order, you will get a bottle in your room. Nobody will be in the cabin to supervise the number consuming the beverage, obviously. I suspect they will deliver a couple flutes (though you can call room service if you need more empty glasses). Checking more than name probably implies to their system that you want more than one bottle. Rather than order via cruise planner, I’d also bring a bottle in the carry on luggage if workable in your travel plans.

Odds heavily favor getting the assignment before boarding day. I think you will probably get it in next two days (by Friday pm). If not see the porters for cabin number and tags.

If not, I’ll give you a tote if we ever cruise together or our ships are together in port. The totes are OK but they are not worth pining over. It will be interesting to see the new D+ gift list. As none of the other selections are appealing, we pick bottles of wine. We don’t need more drinks, as we rarely use all our vouchers. They seem to deliver random bottles of wine lately rather than the specific reds wines we selected; we understand supply issues but sometimes they select poor substitutes, even a sweet rose😕. I hope we like a new gift option or two.

Semantics or attitude, but if I booked an inside guarantee and received anything more than a standard inside cabin (the type of inside for which others pay $), I’d consider it a free upgrade. Virtual balcony or promenade view would be nice free upgrades to me. Deck six is also my favorite on Oasis class. Like you, we find it convenient, too. In addition to your points, if one is aft, Boardwalk and a nice bar are so convenient. If one is forward, the fitness center, spa and vitality cafe are nearby. Deck 8 is my second choice with Central Park and all it’s amenities. I do not wish to be negative about deck 7: If one has a decent sense of direction and is remembers to get on the correct set of elevators/stairs, a cabin on deck 7 aft is fairly close plenty of wonderful features. I have not wanted to put myself to that directional test after cocktails😀

I did not ask to have the balcony divider opened, as I did not think they would allow it, especially with the viral concerns.

As far as I know, those balcony side room size ventilation areas are only on deck six. I learned about them when I was assigned 6542 on Harmony from a guarantee booking. We are always warned that white spaces on deck plans may be noisy, so I tried unsuccessfully to change my assignment. I learned the white space was ventilation and was completely silent. We did not have a cabin/ balcony neighbor on one side, though on the other side 6542 (and 6142) do have a nearby cabin door, so would not suit the OP; others might like them. When 6138 was available on Wonder we were happy to book it as we knew the white space was silent. Both cabins had excellent AC ( perhaps due to proximity to ventilation zone or perhaps chance) This is a picture of balcony of Harmony ventilation areas (position 6540 on deck plan) , taken over my balcony railing

You could look at Cabins 6138 or 6538. They are located next to part of the ventilation system. That is the white space on the deck plan. No noise issue. We recently stayed in 6138 on sister ship, Wonder. Rather than a neighboring guest door, there is a service door in case maintenance needs to access to ventilation system; we never saw anybody use that door, so it meets your request. Balcony is unobstructed. Cabins are forward, but we had a smooth ride.

Some are assigned early, some late. I think most are assigned payment. That plenty of cabins are currently available for a 2024 cruise does not help me guess whether an assignment will come sooner or not.

Yes, anyone in a cabin on deck 7 that regularly uses aft elevator (so back half of ship, give or take) has to be careful to be on the correct side elevator (or stair) when returning to their cabin. I suspect some people have an easier time remembering this than others. There is a big “Boardwalk” sign that prevents people from crossing on deck seven aft. Obviously it is not an impossibly difficult problem 😀. It is just something you might want to know because you might have an option to swap cabins (or maybe not). I have never stayed on deck 7 aft. The location would not be my first choice, but it certainly would not be my last.

I’m glad you are fine with the cabin, because the odds of a free upgrade at this point are negligible. Once your assignment becomes official, you can look at other available cabins in your exact category (for example, D4). If you like one if the available cabins better, you might call your TA (if you used one) or Royal Caribbean (if you booked direct) and ask to swap. Are you forward or aft on deck 7? Deck 7 aft can be a bit tricky on Oasis Class because (unlike all other decks) one cannot cross between the port side elevators/stairs and the starboard side elevators/stairs. Thus you must be certain you are returning to your cabin on the correct set of elevators/stairs or you will be inconvenienced (going down a floor across and back up).

Then don’t chase status. I don’t. Sail each cruise for the joy of sailing on the cabin that pleases you (or your budget). Know that you sucked full value from each and every voyage while you were on the ship. Thus, later whatever C&A perks you receive are truly extra gifts received when you naturally reach that status.

Agree. I find car dealers can be useful. Port shopping experts not so much.

Depending on flight patterns and costs in your area, you may want to consider flying into Fort Lauderdale. When we flew for Miami cruises, we often got good flights to FLL, stayed in a hotel near the Fort Lauderdale airport, and took a shuttle to the Port of Miami the next morning. Shuttle back to FLL at end of cruise. The shuttles were fairly inexpensive. We now drive to port, so if FLL flights seem to work, check the Florida departure board for up to date info on the best shuttles.

We may not know the exact number. We do know you cannot believe everything you read. When some random person posts an absurd number in a comment on a YouTube video, don’t believe it.

OK, I’ll try to explain my interpretation to the two quote again. One quote is from a YT video comment. Now stop looking at the YT comments. The other quote, I believe, is a fresh quote, never before published. I believe it was solicited by Onecruiser from a contact who sailed a B2B at the appropriate time. That person attended the top tier event and is a fellow cruise critic member. Now go back and re-read Onecruiser’s post and hopefully you will understand him.

I’m pretty sure there are two different quotes. One quote came from the YT commenter “Topofthelinetommy” who claimed there were only 800 passengers on a recent sailing. The other quote came from a CC member known to Onecruiser. That CC member provided the info from the top tier event saying the ship was full with so many C&A members Of the two reports, I certainly am more inclined to believe the report from the CC member for three reasons. As a retiree living near Port Canaveral, I watch prices. Had a cruise been that undersold, the prices should have been very low for last minute bookings with abundant cabin options, yet I did not see that. Secondly, CC members would likely have reported such an empty ship, as we have not experienced that for well over a year now. Third, the crew would have been talking about the low passenger count on that sailing, so passengers just before and after would have heard about the unusual event (from full one week to nearly empty the next week to full again the week after), yet that has not been reported. Just some rando commenter on a YouTube video who dined at “Chopped”

The 2700 cited by that commenter is close to Jewel’s absolute maximum capacity. With 1072 cabins, her double occupancy capacity should be 2144. For the Dec 17 cruise at 2650, she will be at 124% of double occupancy capacity.

That YT commenter’s thoughts are worth the price you paid for them. Of course, you’re paying the same price for mine, so…. 😉😀

Jewel will be on a holiday schedule. Dec17-22, Dec 22-31, Dec 31-Jan6. She will also have some different cruise lengths in the new year.