wreckem2013

People spend a fortune on drink packages not sure why people don’t see the dining packages the same way. If a ship has 4 or more different specialty restaurants I always get the UDP. 3 or less I just do a 3 night package.

Don’t make a reservation on day 1 expecting to get a refund when canceling. They very much follow their advanced notice cancellation policy. Embarkation restaurants are rarely full or sold out. Also note, just because a restaurant is available to book on day 1 doesn’t mean it will actually be open. I’ve had restaurants booked for day 1 lunch and they weren’t opened. They just moved us what was opened.

Most of the time it didn’t feel to crowded. I have been on Odyssey twice, 8 day southern during Thanksgiving 2022 and the 2023 NYE cruise that just wrapped this morning. I cannot say I prefer it to all Oasis class ships but Odyssey is better than the OG Allure.

Odyssey has the best playmakers in the fleet.

I have won two RoyalUp bids. Both on Odyssey. Thanksgiving 2022 we were upgraded 30 days out. For the Dec 31 cruise their year we were notified today. So 17 days out. We never even received our inside gty room assignment.

Ice games was extraordinarily dated last Christmas. Glad it was replaced.

Shhhhh. Or it will end just like the US Mint loophole from years ago.

If all else fails, Go to casino enter sea pass card into slot machine. Load the amount of money you want on the sea pass card to machine. Cash out of machine. Take payslip to cashier. Get your cash.

GTY assignments are random. As are actually getting Royal Up upgrades. I’ve been assigned my gty room the day after booking before(months out). Currently I’m 30 days out on Odyssey and no room assignment on what now appears to be a fully sold out cruise on Dec 31. I have Royal up bids setup but I doubt I’m getting an upgrade.

All quantum class ships have several balconies that have various levels of obstructions by the life boats. I booked a balcony Guarantee on Odyssey for Thanksgiving 2022 without realizing this. We were assigned an obstructed view balcony it ended up being on of the ones with the worst obstructions. I put in a Royal up bid for just over minimum and ended up in a spacious or large ocean-view balcony(whichever one has the larger balcony not larger room). I’ve never seen a guarantee unobstructed view for a balcony on Royals website but I’ve sometime seen different types of guaranteed cabins on travel agent websites.

I’ve never had an issue with guarantee bookings before. One time I was even upgraded from inside to a balcony on radiance. But now y’all are making me nervous. I have a guarantee booking on the 12/31 Odyssey sailing and no assignment yet. Normally I have always been able to see the assignment by now even if it still shows gty. There had been about 30 staterooms showing open for booking until yesterday. 2/3rds of them were balconies and jr suites. The remaining rooms were going from $2750 to $3750 pp. now the sailing isn’t listed anywhere. I’m hoping they just pulled it from inventory to assign remaining guarantee rooms because I find it highly unlikely they booked all the horribly over priced rooms all the sudden.

I think it’s also because you may end up having multiple waiters/assistant waiters so it’s easier to tip them all with auto gratuity in theory but the reality is no one really knows how Royal or any cruise line actually distributes tips.

Last year I did an 8 night Thanksgiving cruise on Odyssey. Overnight after thanksgiving day they decorated pretty much the entire ship.

Midnight buffets have been gone for what over a decade? Not just on Royal but pretty much all lines. Most lines late night dining is minimal. I don’t see a whole lot of people who are clamoring for gorging on a fourth or fifth meal late at night. Plus on Odyssey they have the nicest playmakers in the fleet that is usually open till 11pm.

I can book big front seats and a checked bag for cheaper than southwest or aa for the same dates. Spirit doesn’t always make sense but sometimes it does. People also seem to not know or forget you can save $45 round trip per person on spirit by buying at the ticket counter.

DFW to FLL on Dec 30 at 11am. Returning Jan 6 in the afternoon. Yes it’s on Spirit but we have never had problems with Spirit. We also know what we are getting with Spirit. We also have under seat carryons made by Samsonite that are considered personal items. I could have snagged 5am on Dec 31 for $90 round trip per person but my wife didn’t want to do that.

My airfare for FLL during Xmas/NYE was $125 per person round trip.

Yep. Allure is the only classic unmodified Oasis class ship left. But it needs updates based on what I saw when on board Xmas cruise 2022.

I had two weeks of perfect weather June 29-July 14. Original forecast before leaving was cold and rain. Didn’t rain a single day. Had 11 completely sunny days and 3 cloudy days. You never know what you will get.

I was on the larger one about a week ago. It’s really new as it was delivered during Covid and I believe it’s their second season on it. It was purpose built for whale watching and is perfect for it. The day we went the older brother was the captain and the younger brother was onboard as well.

Difference a few days makes. From my back to back on Radiance. Crystal clear day July 6 and poor visibility on July 8.

Taxis and tour operators have a permit quota that was exceeded by July 4. If you drive your self or take public transit you can get in easily and you only have to pay the park fee if you are doing photo point or the visitor center. If you hike Trail of Time, Nugget Falls, or the east loop there is no fee.

It’s a 25 to 30 minute walk from bus stop to the visitor center. About 20ish minute walk to trail head for trail of time(which also has the trail head for the east loop).

On Sunday Radiance got in and allowed people off at 11:20am. Ovation was coming in a bit later. We got on the 12:10 bus at the downtown transit center and headed to Mendenhall. Only six people(including myself and my wife) got on at the start of the line. We picked up dropped off about 10 locals along the way. Took 40 minutes. The walk took another 20 minutes to get to the trail head for Trail of Time. We took the trail of time trail to the visitor center then did Nugget Falls and Photo Point. We spent a few hours and then caught the 4:25 bus back. The bus back was slightly busier but wasn’t packed. Also in terms of the glacier, the glacier wasn’t very busy this past Sunday.

It was offered last week and this week on Radiance. Last week was sunny and not a cloud in the sky. Today was foggy and really cloudy and overcast and the tour still went out. Just keep checking. Saw it as low as $350 a person. Both sold out shortly before the cruises. Each trip has room for 150 guests.