tidygirl

OMG, I never knew you could click on the colored box and then those appear, that is exactly what i wanted to know, that is not how it worked last year when I booked mine and I figured there had to be a way but I just wasn't getting it. THANK YOU, I am going to have so much fun now looking at all the different itineraries we wanted to do and see what cabins are actually available and the prices, I was getting sick of calling RCCL and being on hold, I love this site so much. Thanks again.

I'm so glad to help someone out. Remember If you find something you want you can always do the 24 hour hold and if you like then call and book. I personally prefer to talk to someone directly so I KNOW I have it confirmed by a person!

I usually have a few Diet Mt Dews in my suitcase and I always end up getting them. Can't do without it for a week and if I am flying and departing on the ship on the same day I don't have a place to buy it. I had an airline worker say you know you can buy pop when you get there! I said yes but my flavor is hard to find! So I go prepared!

Hello,

Quick question. I have always booked my own airfare so I could use my miles, or just in general the airfare was cheaper. For my upcoming TA on Brilliance out of Harwhich, there is a significant cost savings to use Choice Air. For an international flight, it states there is a 25.00 fee pp that is applied. From my understanding of the fine print this is waived one time for platinum and above C&A. For three people that is 75 dollars that can be waived by calling directly and booking via a person, and not booking through the website. It says Choice air not included, but I am assuming they mean the air fare, as it is a little confusing in the fine print.

 

I recently booked air to Barcelona as it was significantly cheaper than doing it on my own! They also say they will help you out in case of flight problems so am hoping that is true.

I was charged $150 processing fee, (that was for 6 tickets) but considering I paid almost $500 less pp than booking on my own I figured it was worth it. I'm thinking read somewhere or was told if you book by phone it is even more than $25 so you may want to check!

Not sure if this will answer your question but when you try to do a booking and you pull up the cabins you can you select have you tried clicking on the boxes where the deck code is? Say if you click on an inside cabin deck codes will come up in different colors (purple, yellow, blue and green if you actually click on those small boxes it will give you different options instead of clicking on select stateroom. So I'm not sure if this will help or not but I did discover that option just recently!

If I were you I'd try the Windjammer then you can eat when you want. I think it is a completely different scene in the evening! Lights are dimmed, much more relaxed and not very busy and they usually offer a specialty meat that they are serving in the MDR! We have been on about 9 RCI cruises and have only ate at the MDR 1 time! We like to eat when we choose and when we are done just get up and go! Some may thinks that's crazy but to each his own!

We were on FOS in Sept and no dodge ball or tournaments! DH and son very disappointed as they enjoy playing!

When are you going on your cruise? We will be going on ours Apr 19th and are planning on doing the Mt Liamuiaga hike but not through RCI.

We've been to the rainforest in El Yungue but did that before a cruise, you could just take a taxi over to old San Juan check out the forts and take a nice walk along the water. It would be better than staying on the ship all day!

St Martin you can get a taxi to take you on a tour and drop you off at a beach if you want.

I understand being nervous about getting back to the ship but we've been on 10 to 12 cruises and only have done a few RCI excursions and (knock on wood) haven't got left yet! Just make sure you plan on getting back to the port a couple hours early then you can shop around it you want but you know you are able to walk back in time!

Usually in the Wind Jammer they have cartons of white and chocolate milk (sometimes towards the end of the cruise chocolate gets scarce) Like other posters mention the have unsweetened tea, lemonade, tap water ,juices, hot tea, coffee and hot chocolate. My family had never purchased a drink package. Though I have taken on a few bottles of my diet Mt Dew!

We were on FOS in Sept and had 2 adult kids stay with us in an inside room!There are 2 beds they can put together for a king or leave separate and then we had the 2 Pullmans that come down from the ceiling and a very small loveseat type sofa. We made do as we are in the room very little!

We just booked a Mediterranean cruise in Jan. gave my future open booking papers to my TA and for some reason RC didn't use the booking # so they say I can't switch my current booking # to the open booking one especially since I now have the 3/4 guest rate so my TA is sending back my papers to use next time.

She tried everything she could and they wouldn't budge so I don't know when I will be able to use them plus I've heard they are going to drop the OBC you will receive. At this point not sure I would do it again as they don't want you to use them during promotions!

I have a big breakfast and skip lunch when in port. That's the best way to save a few $$$.:D

I agree! My family always eats a big breakfast and grabs something when we come back! We may take some candies or pringles in a backpack in case we get really hungry! I get nervous eating in other places as I'm not sure how clean they are or if the food has been refrigerated and cooked properly so I prefer not to take the chance of getting sick!

Thanks guys. Really appreciate the help. I called and confirmed that the 1.5 year old gets charged a standard 3rd person fee for the cabin which is a bit ridiculous. When you include the baby, it's over $6k for the 3 of us. I think we are probably going to just book for another time in 2015 since we can take vacation time anytime/no school aged children to plan around.

 

I'm taking it that the kids sail free doesn't apply to this cruise?

Thanks guys. Really appreciate the help. I called and confirmed that the 1.5 year old gets charged a standard 3rd person fee for the cabin which is a bit ridiculous. When you include the baby, it's over $6k for the 3 of us. I think we are probably going to just book for another time in 2015 since we can take vacation time anytime/no school aged children to plan around

 

I'm taking it the kids sail free doesn't apply to this sailing?

It's just a safety issue, that's all. I have worked in public service for 20 years, and I've seen a lot of bad things and bad people. After booking, the more I thought about it, the more it bugged me, so I called Royal thinking it would make me feel better if we were closer. My son is 16, and my daughter is 10. I thought it wouldn't matter, but it does! I learned my lesson, though! Thanks for your advice![/quote

 

I don't blame you for being nervous can you all just bunk in one room and use the other one for storage? I know I'm overly paranoid but we travel with our young adult children (the one is married!) but I always tell the agent we have to be side by side or across the hall. If we have to use the lifeboat I want my family together!!!

I have often come to Cruise Critic because many of you are so knowledgeable and I usually can get an answer faster than through my TA!

 

We're booked on an Inside Cabin for Allure April 6th sailing, obviously way past final payment. I knew about the KSF promo weeks ago but I never thought to check my April sailing. (I thought the promo is for May - December sailings.)

 

Anyways, now I see that I can get a balcony cheaper than my inside. I know we cannot get price adjustments after final payment but I have heard that you can upgrade?

 

How would this work?

 

My triple inside cabin is booked under police rate with the $65 C&A savings certificate applied for $2348.

 

A triple balcony guarantee under KSF promo is $2214.

 

What can I do? I prefer not to fork over any extra money. Will RCCL switch me from inside to balcony? I'm not expecting a credit or anything!

 

Or do I have to upgrade to the next category up for $2554? (Can I still apply the balcony C&A certificate of $125?

 

Thanks so much in advance!

It doesn't hurt to ask, but not sure they will give you the 3rd guest free at this point. I do know if the price is dropped after final payment they will upgrade you sometimes. We were booked on the Jewel inside cabin for April 19th prices dropped after final payment I called and they upgraded me to ocean view, well I noticed priced dropped again yesterday so I called and for $32 got upgraded to a balcony room our first time! I was quite happy though I would have rather had the cash back I'll take what I can get!

I just spent about 1 hour and 45 minutes on hold waiting for an associate (brand specialist) to help with my reservation. I eventually hung up. Has anyone else experienced this lately? I feel like i can recite the hold spiel at this point!

I was on hold close to that long last night was just about ready to give up when I finally got through! I'm guessing it's the sale plus the associate told me she thinks everyone is sick of winter and ready to get away!!

I also had to call last week and the lady said I could set my alarm for 3:00 AM and probably could get through then.

Oh I forgot to ask you, we have a teenage son as well and I am hoping that he will enjoy his time onboard. What did you find your son liked the most? any good tips from him on getting the most out of the ship?

Thanks again!

We were on FOS in Sept with young adult kids the son,(24) son-in-law (23) and hubby (47) fell in love with the flowrider, enjoyed playing on the volleyball teams,(even talked the 2 girls into that!)played mini golf and did the rock climbing wall. As you can see our family is very active and don't like to lounge around!

I didn't realize if you book before you cruise you can not use OBC and it will be charged to your credit card immediately! You can cancel 24 hour before your excursion. Our last trip I procrastinated booking the excursion my DH had his heart set on and had to pick a backup, I call RCI and they told me they leave a certain amount of excursions for people that may not have access to internet and to try as soon as we got on the ship to cancel the one and book the one we really wanted. Thankfully it all worked out and Hubby and the adult kids were all happy with me!!

Is there an outlet in the bathroom for a night light?

No we didn't have an outlet in any of the bathrooms only could find one above the desk so had to put light it in the bedroom which almost make it too bright!

You may want to bring an extension cord or one of those adapters you can plug in more than one thing if you have phones etc to charge.

We are cruising on FOTS the end of April. Does anyone know what times the below shows start? Is there only one show time, or two, as we have the late dining?

Love & marriage

Once upon a time

Quest

We did FOS in Sept and Once upon a time was on day 5 (Grand Cayman) at 7:00 and 9:00 Pm usually the big shows are that time it seems.

Love and Marriage-Day 4 (Falmouth) 10:30 PM

The Quest- Day 5 10:30 PM doors open at 10

I looked at my Old compasses and not sure if they change them for each cruise but i assume they stay pretty close. Make sure you make reservations before hand for the ice show!

If you have the tendency to be cold a sweater or jacket would be a good idea. When we were on FOS in Sept even the main theater was cold. I even saw people wrapped in pool towels and blankets so I like to be prepared. I am coldblooded but my DH even thought it was cold!

Depends on what kind of activities in Cozumel we did Wild Tours x-rails (dune buggies through mud if it's been raining dust if not and my family loved it!) we booked through RCI but I think we could have booked it on our own.

Falmouth did Dunns River since we had our SIL there (his first cruise.) We used Patrice Bailey and I was nervous she wouldn't actually be there, but she showed up and even knew my first name.

Most of the time we do our own thing and have never had any major problems! Some tour drivers are better than others but you get that any where

We did both these ports in Sept this was our second time at Labadee as we aren't big on sitting on the beach all day we chose to go to a fishing village which was kind of neat enjoyed the boat ride getting there. We got to see a little "house " that slept 13 people in, how they make peanut butter, coffee and a bread (we got to taste) and the locals that lived and worked there.

In Falmouth my new SIL (this was his first cruise) hadn't done the Dunn River Falls so figured we'd do it again and since we had stopped at Ocho Rios before hadn't got to see much of Jamaica so figured the hour drive we could watch the scenery. Even though this was our second time to Dunns River we still had a fun day! We booked this through a private company and I was quite nervous if they would show up, but was relieved when the lady found us and even remembered my first name!!

DCL is going to be out of the ballpark for me price wise to do their European stuff in 2015 so I'm thinking about the Allure of the Seas to the Med. sailing from Barcelona. I'm looking for info. on:

How are RCCL's pre-curise hotel choices & flight packages? Do their's or do my own?

I'm concerned about getting nickeled & dimmed on board between drinks, drink packages, speciality dinning etc., how do you manage that?

Concerned about crowd level on board,that's a lot of people on one ship, do you feel crowded on board such a big ship?

How's the spa pricing?

Anything else that would help a first time RCCL cruiser.

We are booked out of Barcelona for Sept 2014 I've been watching prices on cruises and airfare for a year and a half. This is what I've found the pre and post cruise hotels really expensive booked one on my own hopefully ok Trip Advisor said it was good. Flights from Pa if I did on my own have been running close to $1200 .Through choice air $1000 to $1035 plus they will help you if any flight delays etc. I have been checking the flight prices 2 to 3 times a day and one evening a couple of weeks ago I checked at 5:00Pm and at 8:00 Pm the price for some reason dropped to $780!!! I jumped on it right away as I am paying for 6 people! (It was back up by morning) As far as extra expenses we have been on 8 or 9 cruises with RC and never have eaten at the extra restaurants, we don't drink alcohol, and are satisfied with the free lemonade, tea and water . I'd rather spend my money seeing stuff than eating or drinking it. So you can limit what you spend if you want too and if that's important to you. My biggest temptation is the photos as I'm sucker for pictures and as my kids are all grown and we no longer do a yearly Christmas photo this makes up for it!!

I love cruising went on Freedom and agree the beds are great and lots of stuff to do!