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Forgot to mention tat our friend is not a Diamond member

Have a friend coming on a NZ cruise with us soon on Ovation We won't have a drinks bill as we get 4 free daily drinks being Diamond members. Our friend is trying to work out whether or not to buy the drinks package. I know cocktails are around $15 each USD. Do you pay an additional 18% on every drink you order or is that only applied if sailing from America? Thanks to anyone who can clarify.

No, the current cruise is just the usual island cruise to Noumea etc,

Friends just received an email from Royal asking them to turn up an hour later than their current check-in time on Friday because there will be extended immigration process from the previous cruise, it's no big deal but she is just curious to know what extended immigration process actually means. She asked me but I also have no clue. Any ideas anyone?

Thank you so much for this info. I will visit my friend in Lyttleton in January and in March we can do the shuttle into Christchurch.

We are sailing to NZ on Ovation 29th January and again in March on Adventure. Both times docking at Lyttleton. I read that cruise ship passengers cannot get a shuttle bus into Lyttleton but instead have to go into Christchurch. I would love to spend one of the days in Lyttleton as a friend has bought a home there and I was hoping to spend the day at her home and sight see around the town.

We are Diamond members, fast approaching D+. I have seen people mentioning discounts and I assume they mean we may sometimes get some type of discount when booking, Is this correct and if so how do you find out about it? Any advice greatly appreciated.

I totally agree. Thank you and everyone else for taking the time to reply to my post. Only 29 days to go until we are once again on the beautiful Ovation of the Seas .

I agree with you. We were on Brilliance 2 weeks ago, it was our first cruise on Royal post covid. The food was just as good as we remembered it to be. In fact, the food was one of the highlights of the cruise. We are sailing on Ovation on 29th January and I am excited to reorder quite a few dishes in the MDR that I particularly enjoyed on Brilliance. Either the quality of the produce is better here in Australia or perhaps we Aussies are more easily pleased. Either way, we are lucky as we are coming off our cruises happy chappies.

Thanks, but content now with our cabin allocation. By the way, your response to my topic made me laugh and helped me get over my "woe is me" complex.

Thank you everyone for helping me pull my head in! I guess I was just initially shocked when I saw we had been allocated an obstructed view balcony cabin as I had no idea this was even a possibility. I see now my problem is that we have always been lucky in the past. This upcoming cruise on Ovation is cruise number 48 for us, with about 75% of these being booked as guaranteed cabins. This is the first time we have ever gone guaranteed either oceanview or balcony and been given an obstructed view cabin so when I saw this my reaction was one of "shock horror ". LOL. We have only been on Ovation once before in 2018. That tme we booked a guaranteed balcony and were given a junior suite. How lucky were we? Apologies for sounding like a spoilt brat in my original post. I now am feeling happy with our cabin assignment. As you have pointed out it is in a good location and the lifeboat certainly does not come up past the balcony rail and we got it at a very reasonable price. Thanks again for helping me get things in perspective.

I know this is my own fault, but for the first time I booked a guaranteed balcony cabin for the price of a guaranteed ocean view when RCI were doing this free upgrade promotion, I see today we have been assigned an obstructed view cabin 6624. I never thought we would be assigned an obstructed view balcony cabin as there are no obstructed ocean view cabins on this ship. Does anyone know just how obstructed the view is from this cabin? I guess this is a lesson learnt on my part and I'm sure we will have a wonderful cruise regardless.

We were on the cruise 8th - 19th December and LOVED it. We hadn't been on RCI post covid so very excited. Like everything in life, some people were very happy with the new itinerary and some were disappointed. Most were just happy to be on the beautiful Brilliance of the Seas. I spoke to so many people on the cruise and didn't meet anyone who in any way blamed RCI for the change of itinerary or felt we should be compensated in any form. We love RCI and found the food quality and variety to be just as good as we remembered and loved the new Diamond format of 4 free drinks in any 24 hour period. The broken coffee machine in the lounge had a sign on it saying just go to any onboard venus that sells coffee, show your sail pass and enjoy complimentary coffees. We found all staff to be amazing, so professional, efficient and very friendly. Going to NZ for 11 nights on Ovation on 29th January and can't wait, as I now know all my favourite MDR meals and looking forward to enjoying them again.

Yes, definitely the same size. Ballentines 1.25 litre for $20 on Pacific Adventure. We bought 4 of them and I am still drinking them. They were the exact same bottles for $29 up in Vila. I also looked at other items in the shop and they were no cheaper or only a couple of dollars cheaper than onboard. Maybe P&O realised that unless they offered these competitive prices then no-one would buy from them.

Yeah, you can't beat the duty free when we sail to Villa. Having said that, the cheap duty-free shop right up the end of the main street on the left hand side isn't as good as it used to be. When we were there in July the 1.25 litre bottles of Ballentine scotch were $29 a bottle but only $20 on the ship. The ship always drops its prices when we are docking in Villa.

Sailing tomorrow on Brilliance with the changed itinerary. I know we could purchase duty free alcohol on the original itinerary as it was sailing past Willis Island. Never done this new itinerary before so unsure if it actually ventures into what's classed as international waters so they can sell the duty free alcohol. Any one know? I have lots of American dollars so would have been happy to use some of them this way.

So happy to hear you are joining us on the cruise, even though it is disappointing for you to not see your son especially due to your families recent loss. Our friend Ros is cruising with us and she will now get to see her son James as he lives in Hobart. My husband and I have never been to Tasmania and James has offered to pick the 3 of us up both days and show Davy and I all the major sights. This is very exciting for us. I hope we all have a wonderful cruise and I hope you get to see your son soon.

Waiting to hear from RCI with a new itinerary for Brilliance on Friday. Whilst it is of course disappointing when our plans have to change, it is nobody's fault (well, maybe Mother Nature's), After reading the earlier post from "resordanis" it sure made me get things in perspective and realise how fortunate I am. So sorry for your sad loss and circumstances. Who knows, we might meet each other on the cruise.

Just checking nothing has changed since my last RCI cruise about 6 years ago. During on-line checkin I had to ener my credit card details. I am Australian sailing to New Zealand on Ovation in January. I am lucky that I had purchased a load of American dollars about 11 years ago when the exchange rate was dollar for dollar, which was way better then than what it is now for us. Can I just go to Guest Services on the last night of the cruise and settle my account with American dollars or do I have to let them know at the start of the cruise to cancel my CC as I will be paying my account with cash on last night of cruise? Thanks in advance for your response.

Perhaps they could ban the ships requiring further cleaning from sailing through the Sounds but let them visit their other ports? Probably not, I know I'm clutching at straws here but I'm feeling anxious as we are going to NZ on Brilliance of the Seas for 11 nights on 29th January and again on Pacific Adventure for 12 nights on 17th March. Yikes! Wish us luck, sounds like we will need it!

The Spirit used to sail year round out of Sydney since about 2012 until it was replaced by the Splendor in 2019.. We sailed many times on the Spirit and loved it. We have sailed 3 times on the Splendor and don't think we will cruise on it again. Main reasons being the Serenity lounge is nowhere near as good as on the Spirit and also that on the Splendor one of the main evening nightly live music venues is situated in the main walkway on deck 5 with the stage directly facing the casino. Crazy setup.

Thank you so much Anton. No wonder I couldn't find them!!

We sail on Brilliance of the Seas on 8th December. I have completed checkin, selected boarding time and printed setsail pass, but I can't for the life of me find any sign of our luggage tags. Can anyone help me please? Thanks.