LauraLL

A resounding YES.

The theory that the presence of a lifeguard will make an otherwise observant parents become “lazy” and not supervise their children is nonsense. If you are a parent that acknowledges the dangers of pools and monitors your children, you will CONTINUE to be a diligent parent regardless if a lifeguard is present. If, on the other hand, you are a negligent parent you will CONTINUE to be negligent. The only difference is those children who happen to have a negligent parent, may have their life saved by a life guard.

For me, if the presence of a lifeguard has the possibility to save one child’s life it is definitely worth having them at the pools.

It really depends on the size of the group for the reservation. If it is only 2 or 3 of you, you can wait until you board. If it is a more than 3 I highly recommend making reservations before you board.

We booked our MTD reservations for our Feb 8th 2015 Allure Cruise over a week ago. 145 days before our cruise, not 2 months prior.

Same for me. I booked specialty restaurants and MTD for our March 22nd cruise in mid September. Approximately 6 months out. I actually received an email from RCI telling me the specialty restaurants were available for booking.

The Family Stateroom is enough room for 3 people but you may not be able to book it with only 3. They sometimes require at least 5 people to book the Family Staterooms.

It is not required but I highly recommend making reservations. You can always cancel them if your plans change. Depending on the evening you could wait quite a while before you are seated if you do not have a reservation. This then has a cascade effect if you have show plans for that evening as well. I'm a planner so I ALWAYS make reservations and change them if needed.

Yes they are open. My sons also took a lesson session the first day.

We its official our 10 month old loves to cruise. Issue I am running into is with the Crown and Anchor. I am getting the run around about how the little can become a member. I was told that she would be under mine until she is 18 and be at the same level as my wife and I. Then I was told no she will have her own and need to develop points as we did. She will not be at the same level.

 

Which one is it? because I am getting told by other cruisers and staff the mixed answers.

 

Thanks,

My daughter was four years old when she became a C&A member. It was not an issue.

Has anyone flown out of FLL with Spirit Airlines after disembarking on Allure or Oasis? If so, were you able to print boarding passes on the ship for this airline?

 

We are debating whether to attempt an EXTEMELY early 7:45am flight after getting off the Allure. Our plan is to print boarding passes the day before on the ship, carry our 2 luggage off the ship at 6:15am, be one of the first at customs, grab a taxi to the FLL airport, go thru airport security, and be at boarding gate by 7am. We REALLY want to fly out in the morning and all the other flights are in the afternoon.

 

In the past, we had a 8:45am flight on SWA. We got off the Oasis at 6:30am and arrived at the airport at 7:15am. We ended up waiting 1 hour to board our flight.

Under no circumstances fly Spirit. They are horrible, plus keep in mind their luggage weight limit is 40lb which is tough for a cruise.

I am a cruiser who suffers from seasickness too. On our first cruise, in 1984, I was given Bonine by the Customer Service Desk. It was fantastic. I never go on a cruise without it. I start taking it the day before we leave and take one tablet each day while I am on the cruise. It is not supposed to make you sleepy like Dramamine does but I have heard some people who have had trouble taking it. My believe is not to leave home without it.

I too, swear by Bonnine for motion sickness but also agree most likely on a large ship you will be fine. Start taking the Bonnine 2 to 3 days before you leave and take the entire duration of the cruise. It is important to start taking before you leave. Select a cabin in the middle of the ship on any level.

Oh for goodness sakes people! Do you not drive because you may get in a car accident? NO- you take the necessary precautions. You put on a seat belt and GO. SAME THING HERE. Put on some bug spray and enjoy your cruise.

I've heard comments about all the issues with the website, but haven't paid a lot of attention until now. I click on my reservation and get a message "Sorry, the page you requested is no longer available". I assume this is one of the (many) glitches to which people are referring?

Yes, this is one of near 1000 different type of errors people are experiencing with the RCI planning website. The website is horrible. If you need something done, you may have to call directly.

We have a group of eight couples going on the Oasis of the Seas on January 25, 2015. We took immediate action when the "buy one get one half off" sale began. Three of the couples booked immediately and got fantastic deals. The other five couples booked off and on the following two weeks and the prices were all over the place. Those that booked the latest, got the worse pricing. The sale said it was lasting until the end of May and thought all the pricing would be the same - NO WAY. Was a bit frustrating for those that did not take IMMEDIATE action.

I experienced the exact same thing. I took immediate action when the sale posted and rebooked my cruise. Not only did I save $1200, I was able to move 4 people from one room into 2 connecting rooms for the reduced price. People who were traveling with us did not move as quick and are paying the exact same amount for two people (in one room), that I am paying for 4 people (in two rooms). The BOGOHO sale really was only a great deal the first few days. After that, the prices jumped up so significantly you were essentially paying full price for both people. The key message, "You snooze, You loose."

Arrrgggg!!!! I'm trying to book shore excursions, and RCI website seems to be having an attack of stupid! I know, surprise, right?!! It wont let me book more than one person on the reservation at a time...when I choose 4 as the number of guests, click on all of us, it says I've not chosen 4 guests. After 20 minutes of fooling with it, I decided to do it one of us at a time, and that workd for DH and I, though it is a pita to plug in all the credit info each time. Went to do the kids, they're in their own connecting cabin, and the reservations are linked. The choose one trick didn't work, the site doesn't recognize them as a guest, even with the link. And when I went to their reservation, I can't book them because they're minors. Ugh! I know I can do this onboard, but I was trying to take care of this before we go, I'd rather have everything paid beforehand.

 

Ok, vent over. Thanks for listening.

I feel your pain. This is exactly the same issue I am having. I called RCI and notified them of the issue. They said the are "looking into it". It is so frustrating!!! Even the RCI agent could not book it for me. She suggested to try back at a later date. CRAZINESS.

In my former life, I was responsible for testing and quality of our in house software that we sent out to the sales force to price our products. I can't tell you the number of errors we catch being an end user. It looks like Royal doesn't have any testers or Quality assurance personnel. Maybe I should apply!

I too work in software development and I am quite certain there was absolutely no testing done of this software before they deployed to for everyone to use. I have been unable to add excursions since they installed it. Keeps giving me the same error, "Guest Selection error. You must select 4 guests". I HAVE SELECTED 4 guests. A very basic, and money making function, for them does not work.

Didn't come out ahead on the deal but I did cancel a cruise last week.

 

Originally paid $750 deposit, was starting to get annoyed when almost a week went by with no "refund" on the card and then on Friday I got 3 refunds instead ...

 

For like $97.12, $423.52 and 229.36 .... which adds up to $750 but I have no idea how or why it came across as 3 transactions for those amounts ....

This same thing happened to me. My refunds came in partial payments that added up correctly but the individual refund payments did not correlate to charges originally made. Very strange process they have going on right now.

When does this promotion end?

It ends May 31st but the savings are not nearly what they were when it first started. RCI has raised the prices so the savings are not minimal.

I was doing some dummy bookings and the prices seems pretty similar, especially for a family of 4... anyone find good deals for 4?

I had an existing booking form March, 2015 on Allure and was able to save $800. Initially, I had 4 people in one room but with the BOGOHO savings I was able to place us in 2 adjoining rooms and save an additional $800. If I had left all 4 of us in the same room, the savings would of been only $600. This is a huge savings PLUS we get to expand into 2 rooms.

Hi,

 

I am looking up cruises on ships (not quantum or anthem).. as they don't have the BOGO.. but the others are showing the 2nd person at full price... am I doing this wrong?

The prices displayed are the average of the 2 bookings, including the 1/2 off. If you continue through the booking and select the summary of charges after selecting a room the break down is displayed. First passenger is full price and the second passenger is 1/2 off.

I wanted to follow up on a few of your questions.

3) if my daughter is wearing a nice dress but it has a tank top style top to it will she be allowed in the MDR for caudal evenings? Or asked to change?

The dress is just fine for MDR.

5) is sorrentos self made pizza allow you to make whatever you want like bacon pizza or BBQ chicken pizza? Is it good? No the pizza is not good but I'm from Chicago so perhaps used to the best.

7) is chocolate milk included or do we have to get a drink package for my 6 yr old? Blue juice? Yes they will make chocolate milk for you at anytime.

9) I have a free specialty dining card offer which place would you pick? Why? If you children are joining you, then go to Giovanni's. It is great for the entire family. Chops is great too. So I would use your free card on one and reserve the other one as well.

12)I wasn't able to book all of my shows online can I book when I first get on the boat? You can try but it is best to book online before hand. You can also show up about 20 minutes before the show and get the open spots. Your family may have to break up to find seats.

15) is the BBQ on labadee free for all or only select people? Where do they normally hold that and what time? Free for all people. Open for several hours.

20) do you take your kids with you on the excursions or do they tend to stay behind for adventure ocean? This question is really the one that made me want to answer your questions. My children go on all excursions with me. They LOVE them and help select the ones we go on. It has made some wonderful memories for them. One thing to remember, if you are leaving them on the ship I highly recommend taking the excursions with the cruise and not on your own. If you take the excursion through the ship they will not leave without you if you are late. If you venture out on your own excursion and are late, they will leave without you and your children would be on the ship.