adidas5676

Thanks everyone for the information, very much appreciate it!🙂

On 7/5/2022 at 3:23 PM, TYMAN said:

Got over 2000 points from a May 5 night Mariner cruise and saw the points listed a week after the cruise with my May offer, but the points part is down and I still only see the May offer. The ships are doing it different now. There's two different offers for the points you get on board. One is for you if you book while on board, the other is after you get off the ship. All three of us had balcony room offers plus OBC if we booked while on board and $750 off a cruise if we waited. 

Hi can you explain more about your booking deal?  You mean if you book another cruise within the Casino you get some sort of deal and if you book after your cruise is over you get a different deal?  My husband and I went on our first Royal cruise in April and we played in the casino and I've gotten about 10 offers since then, most being $100 off sailing offers.  We did get one free interior cabin offer and we took that, but when we go on our next  cruise if there is something I should be doing differently I want to be prepared 😃

The only offers we have received for $100 off certificates for April and May.  Do they send free cabin offers for Choice players?

14 hours ago, Terpsfan1 said:

Considering this cruise and others that go to Cozumel and Costa Maya.  Did you feel that there were any safety issues in Mexico? I am a seasoned traveler, but have heard a variety of warnings regarding travel Mexico.

We experienced zero safety issues in either Mexico port (Cozumel and Costa Maya).  We did a dolphin swim in Cozumel then some shopping by the port, and in Costa Maya we went to some far away Mayan ruins then a lagoon then back to port for shopping.

2 hours ago, RJ257 said:

I was in the casino 9:30-10:00 ish and heard my name called on the speaker to come to the casino desk. I thought it odd and maybe a sea pass card problem. They handed me a $100 certificate with instructions on how to play it. Nice! I thanked the lady and went on my way:) I also received an Instant Reward Cruise Certificate later that was in my room but figured many people got one of those.

Wow must have been your lucky night, congrats!

We just got back from Allure in a Crown Loft.  We loved it, it was our first time in a suite and now we don't want to go back to a smaller cabin.  Cancel your internet, check for new luggage tags.  You get lots of great amenities and your stateroom will have a folder from the suite concierge with your list of amenities.  Your concierge may reach out to you to ask your preferred show/dining schedule too. Congrats and enjoy!

6 minutes ago, soremekun said:

Yes, tips are appreciated.  Set aside $500 for the Royal Genie.

No Genie for Crown Loft

49 minutes ago, RJ257 said:

Hi,

 

I too was on that cruise. I drove in from West Palm Beach with a 12:30-1:00 boarding time. I was parking my car about 12:40-12:45 and so easy to get on board. Went right to my room on deck 12 as it was 1pm and room was ready.

 

The Solarium on sea days was very empty around 8:30-9:30 am when I arrived. A few afternoons at the Solarium bar I was only one seated around 5pm though folks came up and ordered drinks. I really thought there were far less passengers than the 4100 I was told about. I had no waiting anywhere and 80% of the time I was the only person in the elevator. No one sitting close to me at the 7:15 Aqua show.

 

The casino got busy later but honestly I didn't think it was very smoky at all unless you were right next to someone smoking which was rare for me. I found a couple of loose slots and won a fair amount of money so I was happy. Casino gave me $100 free slot play the last evening. Unfortunately that particular $100 didn't last long.

 

For those who like to sleep in ear plugs will come in handy. The room doors banging as people go to breakfast starts at about 6am every morning. That's on every ship Ive been on.

 

I take a copy of my passport as well as my sea pass card when getting off in port.

 

There was a good breeze blowing at Costa Maya but I didn't notice much rocking and rolling at all on board arriving or after leaving or at any time on this cruise. I'm sure it bothered some but it doesn't seem to bother me. Very nice weather for the week.

 

I had room service breakfast on my room balcony each morning, on time each day and warm food. They call when food is on the way.

 

I also agree that getting off the ship was very easy and quick. I will return!

Glad you enjoyed your cruise as well.  I agree we had fantastic weather, loved all the breezes in the ports and heard from locals that the breezes were a rarity so we got lucky.

It was my first time playing in a casino (yes, ever, and I'm 37!), how did you find out you got free play on the last day?  Did you get a notice in your stateroom or something?

Oh, the printed cruise compass was placed in our stateroom nightly by our loft attendants.  It was mostly just showtimes though, I also preferred the app.

3 hours ago, lisabdh1 said:

Do you have the dailies? Sorry the seas were so rough at Costa Maya, that had to be annoying!

Sorry, what is "dailies"?  It had been 5 years since our last cruise, we aren't caught up on the lingo! 🙂

3 hours ago, 4Nathan said:

Thanks for the review! We sail May 8.  Looking forward to our OS.  We debated booking a CLS for convenience to CK and SL but I didn’t want to give up the tub and huge balcony of our OS! How crowded is the suite lounge at happy hour?  Did you have to make dinner reservations for the Coastal kitchen ?  How far out before you sailed did the concierge  email you? Are they able to make all your dining/show reservations?  Is the reserved suite seating at shows held til right before show starts?  Were sun loungers readily available on the suite sun deck or do the ignorant chair hogs exist in suite class as well? Lol and one last question - how crowded was the solarium and does the crew ensure kids aren’t allowed to run wild through there?  Thank you so much!

We had no issues in the lounge for happy hour.  The only time we had trouble finding a seat in the lounge was around breakfast time when we stopped in for a coffee and fruit.  Great thing about suites is that you can order room service for free and that was a great convenience we put to use on port days so that we didn't have to rush.  We did make reservations for dinner at CK but all 3 nights we ate there there seemed to be available tables anyway.  Concierge emailed me the week of the cruise and was helpful setting dinner reservations and shows.  We only kept one show reservation, for Ice Games, and ended up being 15 minutes late because dinner ran late at Izumi so we don't know when they released seats that were reserved but even being late we had no issue finding good seats.  No chair hogs on the suite sun deck, it was empty.  Great spots up there though.  Solarium was pretty busy on sea days, as expected, we used two different hot tubs and it wasn't "crowded" but it wasn't empty either.  Wish the suite sun deck had it's own hot tub.  Did not see small children in the solarium at all.  Hope that helps and enjoy your cruise!

On 4/10/2022 at 11:06 PM, mike45orlando said:

Actually it has nothing to do with losing, it's the amount of money you bet on the slots.

 

Yes, you could be down $500 but you could be up $500 and your points would be the same.

 

Also, they allow you to share your account with your spouse and combine your play to get 800 points for a free cruise or 2,500 points for Prime and a free cruise plus free drinks in the casino for a year.

How do you get them to combine your account with your spouse?  Do you have to do it while still on the cruise?

Let me start by saying my husband and I haven't been on a vacation sans our small children in the 5 years since they were born so we loved every minute of our cruise.  The cruise from start to finish was fantastic, all the processes in place were easy breezy, and it turns out it's a lot less complicated than it seemed.

-we drove to Fort Lauderdale from north of Tampa and it was without issue, show your passport to enter the parking lot and then follow the signs and security directions to park

-Entering the terminal was as easy as showing your passport and boarding pass, go through security and then get your pre-cruise photo and wait to board the ship

-They let us board the ship around 11:30AM and once on board we were allowed to remove our masks.  Explore and/or eat until staterooms are ready at 1pm

-Staterooms have a sealed card with your SeaPass in them attached to the door

-we've been waiting for this cruise since our original one was canceled due to covid for May 2020 so we were able to upgrade to a Crown Loft Suite and I must say we both agreed was totally worth it.  Not something we'll get to do often but definitely made for a special trip.  The loft attendants were fantastic

-Allure sailed with 4112 passengers on this sailing, only the pools were a bit crowded.  Everything else we didn't really have to wait at all for anything

-Ports were Cozumel, Roatan and Costa Maya.  All fantastic, but head's up Costa Maya is apparently *always* rough seas and I was extremely sea sick with the 30mph winds and sleeping on the 17th deck.  Be prepared if you have that port.  I don't get sea sick and never have before, but that port was a different experience

-we did Bingo, Casino, Oceanaria, Ice Games and mini golf.  Oceanaria was by far the best show.  Ice Games was a bit cheesy and the skaters had several mistakes but give them credit for the small size of a rink they had to perform on.  Mama Mia is a 2.5 hour show and we didn't have enough free time to spend watching that so we skipped it.

-We did the 3 night specialty dining.  Chops was mostly great, Izumi was great, 150 Central Park service was great, dinner was not

-very organized processes for ports, you do not need to bring your passport.  Just your seapass card

-Suite Lounge and Coastal Kitchen were our most used spaces and we very much enjoyed this space.  Great service and food, plus the fancy coffee machine really helped us stay awake for all our adventures

-disembarking at the end of the cruise was also well organized and a breeze.  Just get your face ID and you're out of the terminal.

Any questions just ask!

Has anyone recently had a bid accepted to a room that a mock booking didn't show any availability for?

8 hours ago, 2VaCruzers said:

All my bids for our April 10 cruise have expired except for a JS bid. It is still pending, but the ability to modify or cancel is gone as of March 17th.  

Congrats on the JS!  If it's Allure my husband and I will be on that cruise with you 🙂

3 minutes ago, packedandready said:

Where do you go online to see balance. I have an invoice with a $0 balance, but would like to see it online. Since it's not highlighted on the cruise planner page I can't access it.

 

You can go to RCCL website, sign in and view your upcoming cruises and it's also where you "plan your cruise" with excursions, packages, etc.  In your cruise planner you can view your balance if you have one.  If you do not have a balance owed you will not be able to click the link to view your payments any longer.

5 hours ago, koxler said:

I had something similar where at the time I went to make the final payment the price owed did not reflect my previous balance due.  It was off by about +$700.  I called them and they did say there was a problem with the system and made the correction.  Just to provide some more information that may (or may not) be relevant it was a cruise that was moved due to cancellation (covid) and re-booked one year later.  It also included a price reduction.  Not sure if that is complicating things on the system side.

Thanks for sharing your experience.  Mine was also originally a May 2020 cruise and rescheduled numerous times and also paid for almost entirely with FCC.  I spent 1.5 hours on hold with RCCL today and the rep told me that after he and the resolutions dept looked into the situation it looks like some issue with one of the FCCs.  The weird part is that I have not applied any FCC to the booking for several weeks as final payment was March 11 and I was paid in full before that.  RCCL extended my final payment date while they "fix the problem", supposedly by March 30, for my cruise departing on April 10.  Makes me nervous, this entire situation. I hope they resolve it correctly and before the cruise and don't make me deal with a big mess right before my long-awaited vacation!

I did not have any OBC and never have sailed yet with RCCL.

I check my cruise planner daily and today when I looked it says I still owe $267 for our cruise in 23 days even though it's been paid off since March 10 and I have the vacation receipt to prove it.  Not only that but I paid more than $400 more than what our cruise now costs since I've repriced several times.  What gives???  I'm now on hold to figure it out, but what is wrong with their systems?   Does this happen to others?

38 minutes ago, carlosalonsor said:

About 90 days

Too far out.  The earliest I've seen is 75 days out to bid, some people aren't able to bid until 30 days out.

19 minutes ago, carlosalonsor said:

How does this works? I've never received and e-mail from Royal Up on any of my previous cruises. 

For my next cruise I've tried to go directly to the Royal Up page and enter my information, then a pop up says "Please wait while we check your eligibility", and a spinning wheel, buy it stays there forever.

How far away is your next cruise?

22 minutes ago, sandebeach said:

Just received notice that we got our Royal Up for Allure leaving this Sunday. Went from a Grand Suite to a Crown Loft Suite. And yes, it is an aft-facing CLS, so I told my husband that we are just going to consider it a new adventure being in an aft CLS. It is 1730, right in the middle of the aft Lofts.

Congrats!  We will be in Allure 1732 in April so your future neighbor!  Can you share what your bid was on it?

5 hours ago, Starry Eyes said:

That is interesting, and thanks for sharing.  Do you know if this reportedly happened recently? 

One person said Odyssey end of Feb upgrade to JS after unpacking in original room.  Another person didn't mention date but it sounds fairly recently and guest services told them RoyalUp could accept bids up until 7pm on departure date.

32 minutes ago, Starry Eyes said:

Via RoyalUp, I have not experienced that nor have I seen a report of somebody winning a RoyalUp bid after boarding.  I would be interested if anybody has had such an ultra late RoyalUp win.

( A few people reported upgrades after boarding by talking to guest services, but that’s separate from bidding program, of course)

Someone in a facebook group claims that their friends won a RoyalUp bid after already unpacking in their original assigned room and claims they did not talk to guest services-that it was a RoyalUp bid accept.  First time I'd ever heard of that

2 minutes ago, lovelife said:

Take several cruises instead. 😄

Yeah that's a crazy minimum!  The minimum for Allure Royal Loft Suite on my April sailing is $2530 but we are currently in a CLS and I thought $2530 pp was too much!