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I got a few quotes in. Can't seem to get below $200 all-in one-way (Nassau to the terminal), so I think I'm going down that route with a limo company I used before to Bayonne. It's cheaper, and I don't have to park my car in a public lot (not that it's not safe there, but I prefer my driveway). Thanks all.

Yep, not my first time out of LI either. Let me get some quotes out. $100+toll/tips is around $130. Let’s see if I can get $200 all-in.

Brooklyn is big. Do you think that matters?

I live in Nassau County, and have a 10 day cruise out of Brooklyn coming up. Parking is an outrageous $45 a day (or $450). We are driving a relatively "nice" car (2021 SUV, nothing too fancy!), I don't want to park it on the street somewhere, and are with a party of 6. So we should all fit in the car. Our options are to drive and park (for $450), or we can have a car service drive us for about the same amount ($200 each way + gratuity). So both options are a wash. Questions: - Any other options? Don't see us take public transportation by the way. - Thoughts on self park vs car service out of Brooklyn?

I was looking at Icon right after bookings became available. At that time I was suffering from a bit of sticker shock. A month later we decided to book anyway; however prices doubled compared to the original quotes! So yes, supply and demand. We ended up on Wonder instead (never been on an Oasis class ship, so this will be a treat). My family also booked a MSC cruise for about 50% less compared to Wonder.

Sort of unrelated question: my family of 5 turned Diamond but haven't cruised since. With Diamond you get 1 free day of internet usage. Now, we have 5 free days to use that I probably want to rotate to my kids at sea days. How does activating the "free day" work, especially for minors (my kids)?

CyberMonday has the exact same pricing. FYI.

Try MSC for a change.

So tired of the DLP for the b1g1 50% off. Just give me 35% off a single purchase

I agree that the crew deserves the gratuities, period. However, with inflation being a problem, Royal had 2 options: Raise the gratuities; Raise the (minimum) wage of the crew. Option 1 is on the customer, option 2 on the company. So this has nothing to do with appreciating the crew or how much money to leave them. It's Royal dumping the inflation problem (in this case, the crew) onto the customer.

I commented before in this thread; I am at a tipping point (no pun intended), but the big issue with RC and most of the other big cruise lines (except MSC) is their debt thanks to COVID. They are making billions of dollars but they need every penny of it to pay down their huge debts. Having said that, my last Royal cruise was in January of this year during a relatively low cost season. It was still expensive but certainly doable. I am booked on Wonder next year in late September and astounded by the prices of everything: the base fare, the drink package and now the gratuity? We are a family of 5, so everything gets multiplied by 5. The only reason I am booking is because we never been on an Oasis class before and it’s a special occasion. i have also booked a MSC cruise out of my hometown NY, which will cost me less than half. So let’s see how they compare. Royal is pushing it, but for me: too far.

Absolutely agree. Did MSC (Seaside) once. Great experience. Next year going on RC Wonder (first time Oasis class, and I'm Diamond with young kids!) and MSC Meraviglia also: I'm sure the Wonder is much nicer, everything is "better" but for a family of 5 I am looking at 5k MSC vs 12k Wonder (including drink packages and internet). At that point I rather cruise twice on MSC over once on Royal.

I am really getting to a point where I need to permanently switch to MSC. Sure, might not be “as nice” but it’s 50% cheaper.

Really? This caught everyone by surprise including the IDF. I don't know how Royal handled this on-board, but I am sure the staff itself did the best that they could considering the circumstances. Maybe Carnival is a better cruise-line for you.

Correct. And the cruise needs to be less than a year away.

An update: - Booked my cruise on Monday through a TA for September 2024 (<1 year) - Have the 10%, 5% and $100 obc discounts available. Since this is my first time, and the fine print of the 10%/5% discounts looks confusing, I decided to try the $100 obc. - Went through the MV redeem option on Tuesday, used my real name (MV is linked to Facebook, which has a different last name), got the email in. - Email still had my FB last name, but for the 5 questions I used my real name. Forwarding the email to the clubroyale@rccl.com, here is what I wrote: 1.Purchaser First and Last Name, Date of Birth and Citizenship <REAL NAME, DOB,> US 2.Guest First and Last Name, Date of Birth and Citizenship <REAL NAME, DOB>, US 3.Preferred Contact Time (i.e. Morning, Afternoon or Evening) Morning 4.Contact Phone Number or Email <phone> or <email> 5.Crown & Anchor Number (if applicable) Limited to sail dates within one year of redemption.One reward redemption per booking (stateroom). <CA NR> RC Booking number: <RC BN> (Note: last line is optional) -Today (Thursday) got the approval email: "Thank you for contacting Royal Caribbean’s Club Royale regarding your upcoming cruise vacation on the <ship>, departing <date>, in reservation <nr>. We have applied your MyVegas offer code <code> for $100 onboard credit. Your invoice has been sent to your Travel Agent in a separate email." So pretty smooth sailing, and my TA is not a store like Costco, but a small agency. Hope this helps someone.

The Mediterranean, even the Eastern around Cyprus,Turkey and Greece should be fine. Not sure why you think there's a potential issue in the Mediterranean? They really need to stay out side of rocket range, but even so: chances of an unguided rocket hitting a moving cruise ship is pretty much zero.

Thanks. So you do need to book the cruise through that particular number, correct? There's a also a 5% discount which seems to be less restrictive.

Don't expect any cruises visiting Israel for at least 6 months. This is not a conflict; Israel declared war.

Hi, So I achieved Diamond Status and I'm planning a Wonder sailing next year. My 3 minor kids also achieved Diamond Status due to my status. How does the "free day of internet" work exactly? Would love to use the 5 free days (spouse, myself and 3 kids) to almost get a free week of internet. Just not sure how this can be activated/how this works.

My TA is booking a RC for me on Monday for September 2024. I am seeing the $100obc in my MV account (should be straightforward to get), however the 10% is there also and I am confused how this works. Does anyone have any experience?

Must be some serious security now at the cruise port.

Just came back from Rotterdam. My kids are 7,9,12. Unfortunately they are grouping 7-12 (and 3-6) so my eldest didn’t go at all. At other cruise lines they group 12 year olds with older kids. Anyway, during sea days they are doing mandatory activities, and my kid really didn’t like them. They just wanted to do their own things. Very disappointed with the kids club. I will attach a picture of activities.

I just don’t see how HAL is a premium experience except the older crowd. I am going to edit my original post to add the following negative: - No waiters around the pool deck taking orders. don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed my cruise. But I gladly sail Royal again!

Some background: loyal Royal cruiser (Diamond), cruised on MSC, Norwegian and Carnival also. Cruising with 3 kids 7-12 and I understand HAL isn’t catered to kids. My impressions after sailing on the MS Rotterdam, HAL’s largest and newest ship. Obviously if I post this in the HAL forum I would get different replies but since I mostly sailed Royal I figured to place this here. Equal - Staff. Love the staff on pretty much all cruise lines. Advantages HAL - Food is definitely good quality; slightly better - I like the vibe of the crowd: parties are more mature, no blasting of loud music at the pool. No fighting over pool chairs, a big one! - Live bands (plural!) - Like the ship layout, also like heated pool. A lot! - Speciality restaurants are great and relatively inexpensive - Great WiFi connection (I wonder if they are using Starlink?) - Most movies were great and I loved the provided popcorn - Love the bedding: so comfortable Disadvantages HAL - Buffet: nothing is self service? How hard is it to get some butter for my bread (yes, butter is not readily available) - Dinner variety: food is good, but I feel that every 2-3 days I get the exact same menu. Seriously! What’s up with that? - Drink package: limit to 15, but then also water is counted toward the package? A soda? Not cool. - Food in the Dutch cafe is good, but mostly lukewarm. Lines are crazy and why aren’t the hours more extended? It closes at 8pm. - Shore excursions are crazily overpriced. Royal isn’t cheap but HAL is insane. - Nice cabin (had a balcony), but small! Felt smaller than Royal although the bathroom is nicer. - This might be controversial, but to enforce selectively “no shorts during dinner in the dining room”? Are we living in the 70s? There are many nice dress shorts, it doesn’t get consistently enforced, who cares about your shorts when you are sitting on a table? I have seen babies in the pool all day (against the rules - personally no issues with it): why enforce the no-shorts rule specifically? I get it: they want the dining room to look nice, but the insanity of not following rules consistently drives me crazy. Just let it go. Relax. - On a ship with a lot of seniors, why have 1-2 elevators out of service consistently? - Kids club: at Royal (and MSC) 12 and up are in their own group. Somehow at HAL my 12 year old is grouped with 7 year olds. In other words, she didn’t use the kids club at all. During sea days they do mandatory activities with the kids; there’s no option for them to free play at any of the gaming machines. My kids hardly used the kids club at all because of this (only during the one hour 7-8pm free play). My conclusion: I definitely would sail HAL again, and I understand that older crowds probably love the more mature atmosphere. However, I can’t really say I feel HAL is a more premium product and is worth any extra dollars. Also, I wouldn’t want to try any of the smaller and older HAL ships. As far as Royal is concerned, I haven’t been on an Oasis Class ship (!). That’s next on my cruising journey - fall 2024 most likely.