billsr

Does anyone know if Cabin 7620 on the Allure of the Seas has bed next to balcony or next to washroom?   

Thanks.

Thanks all.   Looks like there won't be an issue with boys visiting the slides on their own without dragging us in tow.   They will be relieved that Dad won't be cramping their style.  I'll be relieved that I won't keep losing my lounge chair.  Thanks folks.

I have 2 boys ages 14 and 12 that both meet the height and weight minimums for the water slides.   Found a pic of water slide signage that says children must be supervised by a parent; but they do explictly state any age.  This would certainly be an activity that I would be comfortable with my boys having the freedom to visit on their own without the need for parental supervision.     Wondering if others have allowed their 12 year olds to visit the slides on their own without concerns from the Crew.

Bill  

Does anyone know if Royal would accommodate cash withdrawals from visa if necessary?

Bill

We know that Royal Caribbean is a cashless society but wondering if that applies to StarBucks onboard as well.   Wifey thinks that they may require cash because they are seperate from Royal Caribbean.  Can anyone confirm.

I was reading something that mentioned that RCCL no longer issues you a seapass card at check-in counter.   They supposedly now hang your seapass cards on the cabin doors.    You retrieve your seapass card when the cabin area is opened at 1pm.   My concern is how are they protecting my seapass card from being stolen and used to make purchases before I have had a chance to retrieve it.  This seems like a major security lapse - it'd be like a credit card company hanging my replacement credit card my house door until I get back from work.   I am hoping there is some kind of security control or activation step that ensures the card can only be used/activated by the intended person.

Bill

Hi,

We are sailing Harmony of the Seas in March 2019.   The itinerary states the ship arrives in cozumel at 8am and departs 7pm.     I have two questions:

Q1:  How long from time the ship arrives  to the time that they will allow passengers off the ship.  

Q2:  How long prior to depart time do they require all passengers to be back on board.

The reason for my questions is that we plan to book a dolphin excursion (15min away from pier) direct with the excursion company (will save 400$ off same Royal Carib excursion).   We need to book a specific time slot for the dolphin experience time slot.   We'd like to book the 11am dolphin experience which requires us to be onsite at the dolphin discovery site no late than 10:15am.  The dolphin discovery is only 15 min from the pier; but what I don't know is when I can safely expect to be off the ship and make it through the security to the cab stands.  

*** First, I am almost tempted to address this message directly to Bob (Clarea);  only because he seems to be continually at his computer waiting for questions to come in that are needing answers.   Hahaha.   Almost every question I have asked on here is initially responded to by bob; and usually within minutes.   I can't reach a Royal Caribbean agent that quick!    My very first question posted to cruise critic about 8 years ago was answered by Bob.   And even now; he is still answering.   I have to think he works for cruise critic as their Professional Question Answer Guy.    Well, Just a quick shout out to Bob to say "Thanks for all the help and guidance you have given the group over these many years".   Here is one more for you and the group to help me with  ****   

Sailing on Harmony of the Seas on March break.   I made what could be a costly mistake of booking a return flight from Fort Lauderdale back to Canada that departs FLL at 11am.   Per the airline guidelines; international flights expect me to be at airport by 9am (2hours prior to international flight) and bags must be checked by 10am (1 hour prior to international flight).     I have been looking into any hustling details I can find to increase my odds of getting to flight on time.    I have started looking into the TSA trusted traveller program in hopes to minimize my time through Terminal 18 (albeit I am still waiting for approval and might not receive it in time for cruise).   My next thought is to find a way to make sure I am one of the first in line for self-disembarkation.    

If you are self disembarking, where do you line up?  And how soon can I line up there?    I am prepared to line up well in advance of ship even getting to port if it will improve my chances of getting to airport in time.   Just not sure what door they use to disembark.  

Bill

Hi,

I learned from this forum that if I prebook my drink packages/excursions on line before sailing, it is somewhat discounted.    I have a few questions:

1) I am wondering what the payment options are.   Do you pay in full by credit card or is it added to your cruise folio account?   

2) If I prebook my drink package/excursions and then a deal comes out; can I get my pre-booking refunded and rebook at the lower price?

3) What is typically the best deal on an adult drink package.   Right now it is showing 20% off.   Is this about the best to be expected.   We are 90 days out.

4) Drink package currently says "From 73$ CDN per day".  Not understanding the "From".   This implies some other pacakges that are higher priced but I only see the one adult package available.....so why "From" vs "Is".

Thanks

Hi Clarea,

Thank you for the reply.   So if the cash account option allows spending up to $500 against the equivalent of a Royal Cruise Loan; is there at least an ability for parents to have their children's seapass card disabled for all financial transactions altogether?   ie. Not a Credit Card Charge Account AND not a cash account.   Simply a room key.   

Bill  

Hi 

We are a group of 5 travelling on a cruise in March some of responsible for our own respective charges.  We are trying to understand how the onboard charge account vs cash account works and if it is applied by person or by stateroom.     

I don't have experience with a "cash account" but presume this would be where you put a deposit on your seapass card and draw it down until you hit $0 remaining.   Is that correct?

Here is the setup we are hoping for but not sure if possible:

Passenger 1/2:  Share an onboard charge account secured by Passenger 1's credit card.

Passenger 3: Has his own onboard charge account secured by his own credit card

Passenger 4 (Child):  Cash account that he can draw until it his 0$

Passenger 5 (Child):  No charge or cash account.   Cannot purchase things.

Are all these scenarios workable?

Bill

My wife and I are taking our 3 boys on a Harmony cruise for the their 2019 March School Break.   We prefer the 6pm traditional dining but Royal is saying it is waitlisted.   They have placed us on the 8pm traditional dining and on waitlist for 6pm.    I have been calling Royal every two weeks since booking way back in July 2018 to see if any 6pm dining has come available but all they really tell me is that I am on the waitlist.    Any suggestions how to increase my odds of getting into the 6pm traditional dining; preferably a table of 8-12?

Thanks

Bill

Hi Folks,

A group of 5 of us will be travelling on a Royal cruise in March bunking together within 2 staterooms.    We are all platinum level C&A members except one person of the 5.   I am curious if our non status friend will be permitted the same benefits as rest of the group since he will be bunked in a room with a platinum level person.   The benefit we are most interested in is the priority boarding check-in line.   Would he be expected to line up in the regular line or would he be able to use the priority check-in with the rest of us?

Bill

Thanks all; I feel a sense of relief now!

Hi Folks,

I have booked return flights for our upcoming cruise and am wondering if I allowed enough time to make it from cruise to flight for my return flight back to Canada leaving out of FLL Airport.    We are sailing Harmony which arrives back in Fort Lauderdale on Sunday March 17.   We plan to use self-assist disembarkation.  I am planning to hail a cab at the cruise port.  Our flight boards at ~10:50am with departure at 11:20am.    I am hoping to get nexus cards for all of us but need to assume we won't have benefit of that.   Do I have enough time?

I am not sure what to expect for cabs outside the port.  Are there cabs waiting outside airport to be hailed and if so is it relatively quick to grab one OR do I need to pre-arrange one?

Figured it out only because of sheer frustration and persistence in wanting to finish my online-checkin fully.

This is nothing new with their site. Two years ago; I found a security flaw in their website where I could access other people's reservation information without logging in. Just had to create random reservation numbers and embed it in their url.

They need to raise ticket prices by a nickel and put the money towards web development/design.

When an onboard credit is given for a stateroom booking; I am wondering how it is assigned to the seapass card. Is it assigned to the seapss card of the person who initially booked the stateroom? Or is it split equally to the seapass card for each passenger in the stateroom?

I have similiar question for the auto-tips. Is it the daily amount per passenger billed to each passenger's individual seapass card or is the total amount billed to the person who initially booked the stateroom for all the passengers in the stateroom.

Thanks

If the issue was that the "SAVE" button was greyed out - I had same problem. The fix was to use the "Search for another passenger" link as if you planning to pay for someone else. Just put your name/reservation in the search field and hit search. It will give an error (because it is you) but then the "Save" button will be available and you can complete the credit card info saving.

Hi MaddyCat,

My question is different. The thread you provided link to is about purchasing USD OBC but paying in CDN and getting it at 10% rate. I have taken advantage of that already and can confirm it is indeed correct.

However; my current posting is about paying out the seapass card on final day when they bill your credit card. During online check-in, you can elect to let your credit card company do the exchange conversion or elect to have Royal convert it before billing your credit card.

They indicate in the online check-in that if you elect to have royal convert it; it will be bloombergs wholesale rates + 3%.

Reason for my inqury; and what is throwing me for loop is that I just bought a USD OBC from Royal and was billed 10% exchange. So; should I expect the same 10% exchange rate to be used to payout my seapass card as they used for purchasing my OBC OR expect the ship to use the bloomberg posted rate (approx 25%) as their online check-in describes.

It seems odd that they different purchases or parts of the company would be using different rates. OR, what I am reading as bloomberg rates is not "wholesale"

Bill

During online check-in; Canadian credit card holders are asked how they want to handle the exchange rate billing of their seapass charge account (USD) to their credit card (CAD). The options are:

a) Use Royals Currency Exchange program. They will convert the USD charges to Canadian using bloomberg wholesale rate + 3%; billing the credit card in canadian. When I look up bloomberg rate; it is approx 1.25.

b) Bill the credit card in USD and let the credit card company do the exchange. My credit card is using a posted exchange rate of 1.26 + 2.5% exchange conversion fee.

I have chosen to let my credit card company convert it. However, given that canadian's are able to purchase OBC USD and being charged 10% exchange rate....I am second guessing my decision.

Is the OBC purchases using a different exchange rate than what the ship uses when billing your credit card under the royal currency exchange program?

Bill

Hi Folks,

I have finished my online check-in. While filling out the forms; it asked how I wanted to handle the credit card exchange rates. The currency on the ship is USD while my Credit Card is Canadian. The options are to use

A) Royal's currency conversion program. Essentially; the ship converts using Bloomberg wholesale rate + 3% intnl currency exchange fee and then bills my credit card in my currency of Canadian.

B) My Credit Card handles the Exchange. Essentially; the ship bills my card in USD. My credit card then converts to Canadian based on current exchange rate + 2.5% conversion fee.

I looked up bloombergs posted exchange rate is and it is essentially same as my credit card's posted exchange rate. Although I am not sure if what I was looking at on bloomberg is considered "wholesale" or not.

What do other canadian's choose?

Bill

For those canadian's considering ..... I just tried it....

I just called C&A society phone number 5 minutes ago and asked if what I have read is true. She was quick to say it is absolutely true and knew exactly what I was talking about. Their phones have been ringing off hook for last two weeks with canadian's taking advantage of this. She knows it was posted on cruisecritic (which might explain the surge in calls).

I asked her how could this be when the exchange rate is almost 30%....she said she doesn't know....but exchange rate on their system shows 10%.

She said the max I could buy is $500 USD.

I purchased $500 USD OBC and she billed it to my credit card while I was on the phone. She issued a receipt to my email address which I received within a minute of the purchase. The receipt stated $550 but didn't indicate currency. Skeptical and Paranoid; I called my credit card company and they confirmed I was billed $550 CDN.

Couldn't have been more straight forward or quicker.....I can't believe I just saved $100 this easily.

I am not sure if they will let me purchase another $500 but I am going to try again tomorow.

Bill

I read on the cruise critic that there was a journey cover band on liberty. Does anyone know if this band will be on the Feb 14/2015 sailing?

Can someone tell me what type of outlets they have in the cabin (ie. 110v, other). I am wondering if they have any USB power outlets for charging USB devices (ie. camera, iphone, etc)

Thanks

I called Royal. Supposedly, ordering a tuxedo is done outside of the cruise planner through a different website; so I think I should be safe from this issue.

I did plan to book beverage package too but I will error on side of caution and book it when I get on the ship.

For what its worth; I did ask her about the "repricing issues" and gave the OP's experience as being example of recent case. Her response was that she could not see how this glitch could be possible as the cruise planner is actually seperate from the cruise booking site and requires prepayment for all items direct to credit card (I presume she is suggesting it has no reason to retally the cruise pricing being that the charge must be prepaid).

She hypothesized that if an agent did it for OP; they may have ability to bill the "onboard extras" to the final price; but not an option through our website interface.

In any event; Bob strikes me as a "Royal Cruising Expert"; so if think it best I heed his advice and stay away from the website (other than the periodic check to make sure the reservation continues to exist until I reach onboard).

Bill