leaveitallbehind

First of all, welcome to Cruise Critic. Not criticizing your idea, and JMO, while it may be more costly, the option to have the ship take care of it on board would outweigh any cost benefit in consideration of the time in having to locate a facility, get to it with laundry in tow, wait while the laundry is being done, and return to the ship with the laundry during a port of call day. We have had the ship do our laundry on long cruises in the past and will be doing so again with our 14-day TA in October '25. Again, JMO. But to your question, while waiting for others to respond, maybe google could provide some direction.

Which clearly with the NRD with suites they have achieved. But that is still an option with the non-suite categories with the refundable deposit fares. Just as a side note, the move to NRD was also a not so veiled price increase opportunity for RCCL. Back when it was first initiated, we had several cruises booked with refundable deposits. When the NRD was announced, we went back and did mock bookings of our booked cruises using NRD and almost to the dollar, the "new lower" NRD fare was the same as our original refundable deposits with which we had booked, and refundable was measurably higher. Obviously moving forward the NRD was the lower fare resulting from the increase base to refundable. But at the time it was a (not so) quiet way for them to raise fares with new bookings on existing itineraries with NRD replacing the refundable fares and refundable increased.

Sorry, as you never specified, I guess I dangerously assumed your group was smaller. Your group size being the case I agree you will never likely all show up together, so you would only need to be a bit early the first night to confirm your table location. And yes, whomever is the host will have the necessary details for check in, boarding, dining, group functions, etc., arranged as much as possible in advance and that information conveyed to you prior to boarding. Just go and enjoy!

I realize I am commenting from an old post, but just making some comparisons. Liberty has been in service since 2007 (17 years) and Vision since 1998 (26 years). Vision is currently the fourth oldest RCCL ship. IMO Liberty offers more in terms of venues and ship design with the Royal Promenade, etc. Vision is a much smaller ship as well. JMO but my preference would be Liberty, but it has been many years since we've sailed on her so I have no recent experience to draw from.

Understand completely and that is always the consideration with refundable as the fares are indeed going to be higher. My point is the deposit is the same.

I was responding to another poster that indicated deposits are higher for refundable deposits - which they are not. Obviously the increase is in the base fare for the privilege of complete change and cancelation flexibility without penalty. We are saying the same thing.

The deposit amounts for non-suite category staterooms are the same for NRD and refundable deposits. There has never been a difference in our experience booking both. The fare rates are different.

May just be semantics, but there are two fare bases - refundable and non-refundable deposits. Refundable is at a higher fare base and NRD is at a lower fare base. There is not a fee per se being added to NRD to make it refundable. Selecting that deposit option simply directs your booking to the higher fares. Often those fares are at a higher differential than the NRD deposit amount, in a sense mitigating the NRD change and cancelation risks. And I am not aware of any suite refundable deposits. That is something new in my experience but certainly worth looking for. BTW you can convert a refundable deposit fare to a NRD fare prior to final payment at the then prevailing NRD fare base at n/c.

To clarify with US originated bookings, no, all deposits are not now NRD. The only stateroom deposits that are always non-refundable are suites. All other stateroom categories have the option for refundable or non-refundable deposits and corresponding fares. The key to note is that the default option on the website is NRD. But refundable is an option, and available to any booking. Travel agents have no special access to them, but do have access to non-published group fares. The deposit amounts for all non-suite categories is the same for NRD and refundable fares, with refundable having the option to change or cancel a booking without penalty. NRD will charge a fee for changes, but the full deposits are sacrificed if the cruise is canceled. Our current Odyssey Oct. '25 cruise is booked with a refundable deposit.

You just need to coordinate at time for all in your group to show up at the MDR lobby. That may take a few extra minutes early to make sure all arrive on time. When you check in, the maître d will have someone show you to your table. It really doesn't require any extra time.

I prefer ports of call that have real places to go and a variety of things to do instead of a confined manufactured space. JMO.

Pass. Rather have the extra time being cut out at Aruba and the day at sea.

Agree, 5 or 6 minutes tops, including elevator time. How long would it take you to walk 1,000 ft at home, maybe 3 minutes? Just trying to make a comparison. The ships are big but quite manageable.

I agree that it would be very rare these days. You could always ask at guest services once you board to see if there are any upgraded staterooms available, but it would not likely be free and would be at the difference you paid v the last market price for that category. The days of free upgrade fairy offerings I believe are long gone. In our 32 year cruising career we had it happen at n/c twice on RCCL from a Balcony to a JS, and from a JS to a GS. And never on Celebrity. But those were both years pre-covid.

I am not familiar with any specific wine only packages. Both the classic and premium packages offer unlimited wine with the premium offering the "better" brands. Bottles of wine for purchase vary in price but are not inexpensive, although Captain's Club members are offered discounts on wine bottle purchases based on tier level. The corkage fee - if charged - would apply to bottles of wine brought to dining venues to be opened there.