Will special offers change on 1st April?

[reallyitsmema]

If I was pay by Credit Card, I think I should have protection if the TA was to go bust before paying RCL.

 

I have checked one holiday at the comparison is £1120 (RCL website) v $1216 (equiv approx GBP856), that around £285 more or around 30%

 

I have just read that in theory you could be turned away at the point of embarkation because you are not a US resident. Any Brits out used US TAs to book RCL and has anyone heard of subsequent issues?

 

Thanks

SImon

 

If you are using a US Travel Agent, when you pay for your cruise, you are paying the cruise line directly. The charge will appear as Royal Caribbean on your credit card, not the travel agent, if it says anything else, they are legitimate. If the travel agent were to go bust, it would have no effect on your booking since payments are directly to the cruise line.

[gooners1968]

The current UK offer with free drink package and OBC ends April 4th.

 

I have a few RCI agents as friends on facebook so can usually see the new offer the day before it goes live. The UK offers are usually different to USA/Canada offers

 

Currently got my eye on Independence from Southampton August 13th 2016-£1299 for a guarantee inside,just dropped from £1399. Got a great deal last year booking 3 weeks before we sailed, so waiting to see what happen next week!

[SparklyNails]

The current UK offer with free drink package and OBC ends April 4th.

 

I have a few RCI agents as friends on facebook so can usually see the new offer the day before it goes live. The UK offers are usually different to USA/Canada offers

 

Currently got my eye on Independence from Southampton August 13th 2016-£1299 for a guarantee inside,just dropped from £1399. Got a great deal last year booking 3 weeks before we sailed, so waiting to see what happen next week!

 

Being cheeky here, but I might as well ask! Seen anything today about what might happen to the deals tomorrow?

[gooners1968]

Just seen on FB-the all inclusive and OBC still valid until beginning of May. The OBC is up to $300, So not much change really!

[grechster]

Just seen on FB-the all inclusive and OBC still valid until beginning of May. The OBC is up to $300, So not much change really!

 

Cant see that on FB

[SparklyNails]

Going to sit tight and see what tomorrow brings - still loads of interiors left, don't know how long I'm prepared to wait. Still counting down on the RC UK website for this offer finishing at midnight!

[gooners1968]

Cant see that on FB

 

It's in a closed group

[gooners1968]

Going to sit tight and see what tomorrow brings - still loads of interiors left, don't know how long I'm prepared to wait. Still counting down on the RC UK website for this offer finishing at midnight!

 

Which cruise are you looking at? We booked 3 weeks before last year but there were still 25 inside cabins showing as available. We got allocated a virtual balcony cabin!

Edited April 4, 2016 by gooners1968
spelling

[SparklyNails]

2nd October 11 night Canaries on Independence - at least 120+ interiors left just now!

 

Main concern at minute is dining options - only flexible or 8.30 sitting available, and we would want early sitting as we have a 3 year old - at least if we booked we could get on the wait list.

[SparklyNails]

Though to clarify - we would need a category K for the 3 of us, in laws also travelling would take any interior though. Wondering if we should book and let the in laws sit it out to see if it gets cheaper!!!

[gooners1968]

2nd October 11 night Canaries on Independence - at least 120+ interiors left just now!

 

Main concern at minute is dining options - only flexible or 8.30 sitting available, and we would want early sitting as we have a 3 year old - at least if we booked we could get on the wait list.

 

That's a lot of cabins! With regard to the dining,if you had to go for the flexible dining you could always book an early time for every day-we booked 730pm for every day online before we left last year with no problems

 

We're in the same predicament for the 13th August sailing-lots of inside cabins still available

Edited April 4, 2016 by gooners1968

[Shocked91]

[SparklyNails]

Ah right - we were on Anthem in February and had a nightmare with dining reservations - different times every night, and there was only one night we were actually able to take advantage of My Family Time dining. That's why we were thinking about the 6pm sitting.

Never done flexible dining! Is that just MyTime with a different name?

[gooners1968]

Though to clarify - we would need a category K for the 3 of us, in laws also travelling would take any interior though. Wondering if we should book and let the in laws sit it out to see if it gets cheaper!!!

 

Cabins for 3 or 4 tend to go quicker-although it's out of school holidays so difficult to judge. Decisions,decisions!

[Shocked91]

[SparklyNails]

 

Thank you!!! Why is it our offers never seem as attractive as those in the US? :-P

[SparklyNails]

Cabins for 3 or 4 tend to go quicker-although it's out of school holidays so difficult to judge. Decisions,decisions!

 

I know, and we have future cruise credit to use anyway - thinking we should just book and take the guarantee, then buy the drinks package we want. Time to get the calculator out again!!!

[gooners1968]

Ah right - we were on Anthem in February and had a nightmare with dining reservations - different times every night, and there was only one night we were actually able to take advantage of My Family Time dining. That's why we were thinking about the 6pm sitting.

Never done flexible dining! Is that just MyTime with a different name?

 

Yes I think so-we amended some days when we wanted a later slot if we were off on a trip by just seeing the staff in the dining room. Never had an issue.

 

Do you want to take advantage of the free drinks offer? As we are not big drinkers we like to pay the reduced price instead of the all inclusive-last year our drinks bill for 14 days was less than £300. Paying an inflated price for the drink package doesn't make sense to us in this situation!

[SparklyNails]

 

Brilliant that's a great help. Does the OBC vary depending on what type of stateroom you book, or is that $300 across the board?

[SparklyNails]

We would want to take the premium package for drinks, as the select barely covers any wine - we do like a frozen cocktail or two 😉

 

Need to work out the price to upgrade the package on board, and the OBC to see if it's worth it. Even with the guarantee we pretty much know we would end up on deck 6, as that's where 95% of K cabins are - so is it worth the extra to choose when we're not really that bothered?

[Shocked91]

Brilliant that's a great help. Does the OBC vary depending on what type of stateroom you book, or is that $300 across the board?

 

Not sure just says on 10 or more nights.

[gooners1968]

With the offer at the moment on the 13/08 sailing an inside guarantee is £1299. With the all inclusive offer it's £1699. £800 difference for a drinks package and OBC. You need to be taking advantage of the drinks package to make the figures work.

 

I saw no reference to a difference for cabin type for the OBC-just depends on length of sailing

[SparklyNails]

Yip, it's £849 for the inside guarantee or £1199 all inclusive on 2nd October

[gooners1968]

Yip, it's £849 for the inside guarantee or £1199 all inclusive on 2nd October

 

The countdown on the website has changed to 10 days:confused:

[SparklyNails]

I know - no further forward really!!! Ts&Cs not updated with the new dates yet - will wait until that is done to book. Think I've tracked down 2 staterooms next to each other which would suit us, so booking is getting closer - I guess that's progress.

 

And my number crunching suggests that the OBC would cover the cost of the upgrade to the premium drinks package, plus booking through Topcashback will give us another smidgen of discount.