TheInnocentAge

Check for any updates to your boarding time, as I read a post from a current Adventure passenger that they will not arrive back in port until tomorrow afternoon...

I'm in the Tampa / St. Pete area and we're just starting to get some of the higher winds and rain bands. Local airports (both TPA and PIE) are closed down for the day, with a tentative reopening tomorrow. Stay safe everyone.

We've stayed in three of the AT Suites so far, but all have been the 2BR suites. Haven't been on Wonder yet, but we've been in #8334 twice on Symphony and once on deck 10 on Oasis (can't recall the cabin #). We like the location, and especially the larger balconies, but keep in mind that the cabins as well as the balconies get smaller as the decks go up. If I recall, deck 8 is the largest and they gradually get smaller as you get towards deck 14. Others have mentioned that they didn't like being so close to the rock climbing walls, but it didn't bother us. Same with the sound from the movies or shows; you don't really hear that much if the doors are closed. Sorry I didn't have any info specific to the 1BR's, but I hope you enjoy the cabin if you book it.

I was on Radiance last week (Sept 6 - 13) when you first posted, and the captain did announce and confirm that there were mechanical issues. This caused us to miss about half of our time in Juneau, arriving around 5:30 pm instead of 2pm as originally scheduled. We seemed to be back at normal speed by the next day, and the day after that we had a bridge tour during which he reconfirmed that the issue had been resolved. We did received a credit of $250 for missing those few hours, which I thought was more than fair. Hopefully your sailing will go smoothly.

Agree... Price for the package on our cruise earlier this month approached $80 per day for the 'sale' price, while we paid $42 per day on Symphony a few years back (I know, those days are gone). We don't purchase it any more, as we've been able to stretch our five free C&A drinks per day combined with the suite lounge freebies.

Are you sailing out of Port Canaveral or Tampa? I'm guessing Canaveral as that is closer to Orlando, though we have friends that flew into MCO (Orlando) for a Tampa cruise because of the flight options.

Yes, both times we had the CLS on Harmony were pre-Covid... $2600 per person the first time and around $2700 the next. Symphony was just after the Covid shutdown ended and that CLS was about $2900 PP. Since it was one of the first post-Covid cruises, the ship sailed at very low capacity, around 1400 people. Our concierge told us there were more crew onboard that week than passengers.

We've stayed in a CLS a few times on Harmony and Symphony and love the location. We always book the day the sailings open up so we have been able to pay as low as $5200 for two people. I think the other two times it was around $5400 and $5800, but like most cruises the prices jump quickly after the first couple days of going on sale.

As others have stated, Debby won't be an issue in Florida when you get here. I'm in the Tampa Bay area (western/gulf side of the state) and it's already passed us by and made landfall well north of here. Some lingering rain bands this morning, but nothing too crazy. But since it's hurricane season, keep an eye on the weather. There is already another tropical disturbance near the windward islands that's being watched, but is not expected to be a threat at this point. This happens off and on throughout the summer, we're used to it, and many of these storms just fizzle out. Hoping for the best weather for your cruise!

MCO is actually closer to Port Canaveral (cruise port on the east coast of FL) than to Tampa (western side), but RC may still have a bus option. I see S.A.M.J.R. just replied as well. If you haven't already booked your flight, TPA airport is a much more convenient option if you're sailing out of Tampa, especially if you're going to fly in on the day of your cruise. Orlando / Disney traffic can be a nightmare. Enjoy your cruise!

Were those on the 'Lucky Leprechaun' slots by any chance? I kept feeding those on Jewel and watching the jackpot totals rise, only to return later and see they had been hit and reset to $1000 or so 🙂. Oh well, maybe next time!

Thanks for the detailed review. We'll be on Radiance in September, our 2nd Alaska cruise. This one will be northbound from Vancouver, and with a similar itinerary as yours in reverse order. We did the RC pre-tour our first time around in 2017, and preceded that with a few days on our own driving around, which actually ended up being our favorite part of the whole trip. This time we're renting a car after the cruise and heading north for some more exploring. Thanks again for sharing your experience!

Sad news for sure. RIP Beachammo.

Good question, and I think the answers can vary widely. I usually know before going into a casino (land or sea) how much I am "OK" with potentially losing on that trip, and just have to stay disciplined enough to stop before I get to that point. I'm not a high roller by any means, and for slots I usually stick to the lower end to the middle of the bet options. Some of the older slots still have a max bet of $1.50, so even if the machine is cold it takes a while to lose too much unless your limit is really low. My last cruise was 15 days. I gambled on probably 10 of those days and still didn't reach Prime status, but got close enough (about 1,700 points) that I can reach it on our next cruise in September with about 800 more. After all that I ended up $300 ahead. I'll never get rich that way, but I'll take that every time.

Bing left Jewel mid-cruise in May and joined the Harmony as a Genie, a promotion after serving as the Suites Concierge aboard Jewel. She is fantastic.

Chris, Yes, it was 11a to 11p for us recently. Beer, wine and soda like you mentioned, and also included champagne and hard seltzers (usually Truly) as well.

We were able to board Jewel just after 10:30 on a recent cruise and go straight to our cabin, but that was only because she had just been in dry dock so there were no prior cruisers to disembark that morning, so the cabins were already prepared. Other than that the earliest I can recall was around 12:45 on Symphony once, but the 'average' has probably been 1pm for us. Enjoy your cruise!

Based solely on what you said above and your anticipated daily drink intake, I would lean towards not getting the package in your case. But as Fishfan just posted, it's nice to have the flexibility of trying new drinks out without worrying that you just spent $12 or $14 on something you don't like. You didn't mention if your C&A status allows for any free drinks (a D+ gets 5 per person per day), or whether you're staying in a suite that may allow for the 'suites happy hour' (usually 5pm to 8pm-ish), and/or the 11am to 11pm drinks that are available in the Coastal Kitchen on some ships. The last time we bought the drink package it was $42 per day, but that was back in 2019 I believe. Between the D+ drinks and the nightly happy hours, it's just not needed anymore for us. Whatever you choose, have an amazing cruise!

Thanks Biker, I had forgotten about this thread and topic. We sailed from there on Jewel in mid-May.

Maybe sometimes, but we've bid the max on two separate occasions before and the bids were not accepted, yet the one time our offer did get accepted we had bid barely above the minimum. So it's really hit or miss with a lot of other factors involved. On the two occasions where we had bid the max, our initial bookings were made on the first day of availability and that original category had more than doubled in price after just a few months. So even the total price of our 'max' bid may have been less than what many other bidders were totaling with a mid-range bid. As other threads here on CC have often mentioned, the algorithm was designed to give RC the highest profit.

We did! We recently returned from our 15-day cruise staying in the RS on Jewel, and your word captures the experience... it was definitely awesome. And despite what someone posted earlier in this thread, we did receive others perks in addition to those listed in the 'benefits of the suites' document: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/what-are-the-benefits-of-the-suites-program Our suites concierge was fantastic, and she made it known immediately that those in this suite would get special treatment whenever possible, whether it was from her or from other RC staff, on or off the ship. She made it a point to find us each morning, making sure everything we needed was taken care of, and she would check in once or twice throughout the day as well. On top of all of the benefits listed in the above form, here are a few of the additional perks... In the handful of shore excursions that we had booked, she met us just beforehand and escorted us off the ship just ahead of our tour group, and had seats reserved for the four of us in the front row of the bus each day. This carried over to extra attention from the tour guides, which was an unexpected add on as well. On top of the welcome amenities listed, every few days or so we would return to the cabin to find another bottle of wine or champagne had been delivered, plus trays of fruit or cheese a few times as well. We've had this happen on occasion in other types of suites too before, but much more frequently this time. We were able to take advantage of an extra complimentary laundry service, which we hadn't planned on needing or using but was a nice touch. Also extra pressing/ironing if we needed it.. On Day 1 she had some of the staff leaders meet her in our cabin so she could introduce us, and all were very gracious to us, answering questions and providing their contact info in case we needed anything over the next two weeks. About halfway through the cruise there were bath bombs left for us, which made the whirlpool tub even better. They even tuned the piano during dry dock right before the cruise, and since I play this was an added bonus. I can understand where some would think it's a waste of space to have a piano in a ship cabin, but it wasn't to me. I used it every day, and in a cabin that size it's not like it is blocking the way. All in all this suite was everything we expected and more. It certainly helped to have an excellent suites concierge taking care of us as well. We were sad to hear that she was moving on to another ship to become a Royal Genie, but I'm sure she will be fantastic in her new role, Happy sailing everyone.

From what I've seen, getting logged into the website isn't the problem, it's when you try to go into the 'Plan My Cruise' option in one of your booked cruises.

Our cruise planner showed the drink package 'Sold Out' this morning for my upcoming cruise, but just now I see that it is available again. Probably just a temporary glitch.

Yes, that's us!