ldeflavia

Yes, you will wait awhile for your drinks in the MDR. Walk into the MDR with a full drink. Order your next drink when the waiters take the drink orders. By the time you're finished with the drink you walked in with they will be bringing you the one you ordered. One of our disappointments with RCI is that they got rid of the bar waiter in the MDR. Puts so much more work on the waiters and asst. waiters and slows up the service.

We just got $100 OBC from my wife's RC Visa. It shows up on the top of the menu bar on your Cruise Planner screen. Statement closed on Monday, requested OBC on Tuesday, and it showed up on Wednesday on Cruise Planner.

How far out is your sailing and what ship? I redeemed my Visa points in March and in April for our upcoming 6/17/18 sailing on the Symphony and neither of them has hit my cruise planner yet. Our travel companions called RCI asking when theirs would be applied and RCI told them a week or two before sailing. When we did the Anthem last summer my Visa points OBC was applied to the cruise planner within a week of redeeming the points and it was about 2 months prior to sail date.

Frustrating as we want to make some pre-cruise purchases since there are sales going on.

We were a group of 13 people that did it on the Anthem in June. 6 adults and 7 kids ages 14, 13, 12, 12, 12, 10 & 10. RCL originally did give us push back on the 10 year olds being able to participate but ended up letting them join since we were our own group with only 2 other adults that didn't mind them being there. But I will say the 10 year olds were completely bored. The puzzle and clues are difficult and it was way above their heads. This is why Royal does not allow younger kids because it is a distraction to the group if the child is complaining about being bored (this is what were were told). I was actually surprised our 12 year olds were into it.

To be honest, you're not missing much if you skip this activity.

When we were on the Anthem in June you could not use the spin bikes when a class wasn't in session. The door was locked and I believe there was a sign on the door that stated as such.

The ellipticals, treadmills, stationary bikes, weight machines are free to use.

Yes, ours is 30% off right now. Anthem 7/20/17 sailing. It's $39 per day. I originally bought it at 20% off $49 per day. I cancelled and re-purchased at the lower price, no problem. We received an email for the 20% off but never received an email for the 30% off. I just happened to be in my cruise planner and saw it. The 30% was offered about mid-May for our 7/20 sailing.

Same for the 7/20 sailing. Just purchased it with my OBC!!!

iujen94, we are planning to zipline in San Juan as well. Who are you doing that through? I'm currently trying to figure that out for us. I'm having a hard time justifying the zipline expense on Labadee as well. I feel like you get more of an experience when there are more lines and bridges rather than one zip.

I guess we are one of the lucky ones. We ended up with a $251 price drop today with the 1-2-Free sale. We were previously booked under the 60% off sale and the BOGOHO before that. And I was able to still use my C&A balcony discount. We weren't able to qualify for the kids sail free since our cruise is outside the specified dates. But we'll take the $251 drop! This is the 3rd price drop we've received since we booked back in April for our July 2017 cruise on the Anthem 9-day. Total savings so far since original booking is $825. It pays to do a mock booking every day!

We did SNUBA in St. Thomas this past summer. We were a group of 9 people with a private tour. The owner took 4 out first while the other 5 did Coral World then we swapped. Total time under water (not including training and practice in shallow water) was about 30-45 minutes. I highly recommend this private tour company instead of going through the cruise line: Virgin Islands Snuba Excursions http://www.visnuba.com

The price of the snuba included entrance to Coral World.

Just bring both cards with you to the bar no problem.

We had four of us on our last cruise and each person would take a turn getting the round and would bring all four cards to the bar for 4 drinks. no questions ever asked.

Booked a cruise on Saturday under the BOGOHO and Free Gratutities. Checked today and the price dropped $330. So called and got the price adjustment. Lost the free gratuities obc but still ended up $330 to the good. I'll take it!

We were on the Oasis last week and the 3 cabins next to us were one group and they had the dividers removed so they could enjoy one large balcony. Our cabin was in between their 4th cabin and they were asking us to switch cabins with them so they could have 4 in a row with removed dividers. Unfortunately we couldn't as we needed the pull out sofa for our kids and their cabin didn't have one.

Just off the Oasis, DH and I each purchased the Premium Package onboard (used OBC). The couple we were with also each purchased the Premium Package. It was worth it for us and we definitely came out ahead. No need for Ultimate for us as we don't drink coffee or need fresh OJ.

All the bartenders were awesome and didn't seem to mind that we had the package (never had slow service). Was very easy to get drinks for all of us.

Between us we had 5 kids (didn't buy them any drink packages as the complimentary drinks are enough for them). We had all intentions of paying for any sodas, smoothies, Shirley temples, etc. the kids ordered at dinner but the bartender never charged us for one at all. I guess he figured since we had 4 packages he'd put them under that and they kept coming with second/third rounds for the kids. The bartender at the Boardwalk Bar was making them smoothies everyday and not charging us anything. Our dinner bartender was bringing us after dinner cordials each night without our asking. We did tip extra on most of our drinks just because the service was awesome.

It was so nice not to have to worry about a bar tab at the end of 7 days. We also used lots of water bottles over 7 days. So for us the premium package was definitely worth it.

As a stocking stuffer last Christmas, I bought my wife a gift card for our booked cruise. She had no problem using it last week on board the Oasis.

Thanks for the info! Glad that it worked on a recent cruise. We leave Sat. so I'll be loading up my kids' gift cards so they can use.

Great! Thank you!

Does anyone know if you can use Starbucks Gift Cards at the Starbucks on the Oasis? My kids love Starbucks and would like to surprise them with a gift card that they can use to purchase rather than charging to our sea pass.

We have done it both ways and from now on I will always do my own bookings directly with the cruise line.

When we used the TA, I was still doing all the work!! Searching for the cruises and watching for price drops. And when there were price drops I needed to contact the TA who would then need to get back to me before calling the cruise line and that would take 24 hours. Well in 24 hours the price could jump back up. It's just much easier to eliminate the middle man. With everything being online and so much information out there (cruise critic, trip advisor, etc.) it's so easy to do it all on our own.

I've learned that I like to be in control of my booking and can call the cruise line 24/7 if I have a question or need a price drop and it's done immediately. To me, leaving my vacation in the hands of an unknown person is not worth a measly $50 - $100 OBC, or a dinner or a free bottle of wine. Just my opinion....

Coral World has a great snuba experience. We just went there and did it. No excursion, prebooking, or anything. Took a taxi there, did the Coral World thing, then snuba and spent the rest of the day snorkeling on Coki. The snuba was a gift to my son from grandma, and it was just my son, age 13 and grandmas cousin age 60 something. It was so nice to have just the two of them in the group. I can't guarantee it would always be like that, but contact Coral World and see what they say. It was the highlight of the trip for my son and one of the best experiences he has ever had.

Good to know he had a great experience with it! We ended up booking with VI Snuba that does it at Coral World (and we get passes for Coral World). It will only be our party in the group. Then we'll head over to Coki beach after to hang out. I think this will be better than doing it through the cruise line. We're looking forward to it in 3 weeks!

Looking at the beach excursion through RCI and it's at Orient Beach. Does anyone know where on Orient Beach they have it? It says it includes a chair, drinks and lunch. But doesn't mention if it's one of these beach clubs that provides it or something else.

I'm also looking to see if it's just better to go to Orient Beach on our own and just do Orange Fever or Kakao for chair rentals, lunch, etc. Or any other recommended places?

Thanks!

The kids really want to try snuba in St. Thomas. Does anyone have any recommendations? In looking at the snuba tour offered through Royal Caribbean it doesn't have good reviews. Saying the groups are too big, a lot of waiting around, not much snuba time, staff not so good. Thinking of looking into doing it on our own. Wanted to see if anyone has done this, what their experience was like (whether through ship or on their own) and if they could recommend a company, and any thing else we should know. We are a group of 9 (4 adults and 5 kids)

Thanks!

We'll be on the Oasis in June and stopping at St. Maarten. Looking to do an excursion through the ship SM06 A St. Maarten Beach Rendezvous (Orient Beach). Has anyone done this? Have any feedback? The description says it includes lunch, was wondering what type of lunch. Also it says that optional amenities and activities (water sports, etc.) are available for additional fee. Does anyone know what type of water sports? Are there trampolines/icebergs there to use?

Any feedback on this or Orient beach would be great.

Thanks!

We will be on Oasis of the Seas in June and looking to give Snuba a try. There is an excursion through Royal Caribbean ST07 St. Thomas Snuba. Was wondering if anyone has any feedback on that tour? Or who the tour company is that runs it? I'm also wondering if it would be better to do on our own? Does anyone have any recommendations?

Thanks!

I redeemed 100,000 points on my RCL visa card for $1,000 off my cruise fare online about two weeks ago. I still haven't seen the $1,000 deduction on my credit card. Does anyone know how long it takes for them to process this credit? I paid the balance of the cruise on the card and then immediately redeemed my points in the hopes that it would all go through in the same credit card cycle.

I too am getting rid of this card in the next month. Just racking up a few more points to have a nice onboard credit when we sail. The card is just too limited. There are much better cards out there!

Keep in mind that A direct flight includes stops. A non-stop flight does not.

Sorry, did use the correct terminology...we have a non-stop flight.

Thanks all for your responses! To clarify, it is a direct flight from Philly to FLL and it's in June. So no winter weather to worry about or making connecting flights. We can't fly out the night before either due to a late night commitment we have (and no flights past 8:30pm anyway). We're just going to go for it and cross our fingers. 4 out of the last 5 cruises we've taken we have flown in the day of and never had a problem (always in June or July).

Yes, you're all putting me in a panic but all the people traveling in my group want to do it this way....so we shall see!!!