sailing bears

Can someone tell me whether the Premium Balcony Cabins (B1, B2 and B4) on Emerald have a sofa?  Are the Premium Balcony cabins larger than the regular balcony cabins (like BA and BB) or do they just have a larger balcony?

If you are disappointed in the size of the lobster ask for more.  We and others have asked for and received several additional.  We have never asked for more than two lobsters but others at our table have asked for more.  We always ask for the drawn butter and they will bring it.  Any time you are not happy just ask for what you want.  I can guarantee you the waitstaff do not want anyone to go away with any type of bad experience.

7 hours ago, firefly333 said:

The one thing neither my tablet or app worked for was scanning. I have a scanning app but to use a downloaded non rcl app I need wifi. .. it was impossible to explain this onboard, they think I'm sying I cant use the app. Another said oh let me show you scan is built into your camera, oh it's not there...

 

I needed to scan to make a appointment to disembark and also to schedule a covid test on my b2b. The app still needs work imo if I have to stand in line for anytime dining or scanning. (Carnival you push a button when you are ready to be seated for anytime dining and very fast it assigns you a table you walk up and show them). 

 

And to get a time to get off the ship or tested I had to go to customer service and stand in line. They just assume everyone can scan or you are a dummy. I've gotten talked down to more than once like it's just something I dont know how to do, rather than their app cant do. ..or my tablet I use onboard.

I don't understand "scan" in relation to the app.  I have done the b2b with the covid test and disembarked and picked my time and the app has never asked me to scan anything.  Please expand your question.

Your agent can easily do it online.  Call them.  I actually would have expected it would already be done if they knew you were traveling together.

If you always travel together he will get your status anyway on your booking.  If he is going to travel with someone else he needs to get his status changed.  That would be handy if you want to book 2 cabins.  When we travel with our non-Diamond family members we always book me in one cabin and my wife in the other.  We don't actually stay in the other cabins but it improves the cruise rate for everyone involved.  

When you look at the Royal Caribbean website the prices you see are already discounted.  Note the pink arrow that says "Price shown reflects your discount".

If you are using a travel agent they can book it for you ($31.95 each way or $63.90 roundtrip).  As you know if you have called Royal recently you may get right to an agent or wait hours.

We had this happen on a cruise we were doing with our two granddaughters.  We had to get a letter from their parents (our daughter in this case) saying that they could not take a different cruise and it was okay for RCCL to transfer the credit to us.  As mentioned above the credit stays in the child's name but can be used by us.  We were able to use it on a cruise that we recently took (one that thankfully was not canceled).  It is my understanding that anyone on the same booking can transfer their FCC to another person on that booking using the same procedure, but I am pretty sure that is a temporary process (COVID-related) that may not continue. 

Oceania has some sailings that do pretty much Ireland only (10-day circumnavigation).  Look at the September 28, 2020 Nautica sailing.  Not inexpensive but you get more than just a couple of Ireland ports like the major American cruise lines. 

On ‎1‎/‎15‎/‎2019 at 11:09 PM, hlaw97 said:

Is this a gated parking at 1080 Caribbean Way, Miami, FL?  We are going on RC and are trying to book parking.

 

does anyone have a number or info since its been a while

Since you have a cruise booked call up Royal Caribbean and ask whoever answers about convenient parking near the port.  That is how we found it.  The sales rep at Celebrity volunteered the information.  The parking garage is across the parking lot that is in front of the Royal Caribbean building.  Get on Google earth or something and you can see it.  It has been almost two years since we used it but our car was perfectly safe when we were there for a week.  Obviously that doesn't mean anything.  As I stated previously there are security guards in the area but you won't have anything that gives you any type of guarantee since you are not booking it.

I think it also depends on which terminal you use. Our last few times at Ft Lauderdale, we have been at terminal 18, which is what the Oasis Class ships usually uses. There the Global Access line was the same as those using Mobile Passport. In Miami, we were told that there wasn't any special line for Global Access.

This was the situation when we got off Harmony on June 2. You are lumped in with all the Mobile Passport people so it is not a breeze through situation, but still much shorter line than those without Global Entry or Mobile Passport. There are no kiosks so you actually have to have your Global Entry card with you. Last year we walked off the Harmony and were the only ones in the Global Entry line. Mobile Passport is good but it sort of takes away any Global Entry advantage at Port Everglades. As far as I know Port Everglades is still the only cruise port that has a Global Entry line.

Just a quick thread hijack for a related question...

 

Are there any benefits for booking a future Celebrity cruise onboard a Royal ship, or are the reduced deposits/OBC only for Royal Caribbean bookings?

Booking Celebrity on Royal is just like booking onboard Celebrity. You get the low deposit, extra OBC as well as whatever promotion Celebrity is running at the time.

I don't remember it ever being $50 when we did it, always $100 per person, but it certainly could have been at some point in time. The current policy has only been in effect since about February or March of this year (2018). After they came up with the non-refundable deposits the low deposits were dropped for a while. Last fall we were on Rhapsody and no low deposits were available so we booked our next cruise on Celebrity where they were still there.

When booking at the Next Cruise desk the deposit should be $100 per person on a non-refundable fare. If they are trying to book a refundable fare the $250 per person is correct. You also get extra on board credit when you book on board. We always do it to get the low deposit and extra OBC. Royal dropped the low deposits for a while but then brought them back. We were on Harmony three weeks ago and booked that way.

We had 9078 on Serenade. Loved the location and the huge balcony. The noise level was something we didn't enjoy because we are in our 70's and most nights we are in our cabin around 9:00. The fire door right outside the cabin is supposed to stay open until 10:00. I would go out and close it at 10:00. We could still hear the music from the Centrum but it was okay. That worked well except for the last night on the cruise. I went out and closed the door at 10:00 as usual. Sometime later someone opened it and the music continued until around 12:30. The music is loud unless the fire door is closed. If you are out and about until midnight it would be a great cabin.

Ask your room steward to bring ice. We ask ours to bring it morning and evening. If you need it more than that any of the complimentary food venues will have ice available that you can retrieve yourself.

Hopefully you got it locked down since is no longer available. Neither of the two wrap-arounds (7440 and 7445) are available, just 4 aft-facing on Empress Deck (7442, 7447, 7448 and 7453).

I'd definitely call Carnival if you want that particular cabin. I just got on the travel agent booking site for Carnival and I was able to get to the point of booking 7440. It is definitely showing available.

What is the address of the garage? I spoke to a Captain's Club rep and she did not have any information about a free parking garage at the port. Here is a map of the port: http://www.miamidade.gov/portmiami/library/portmiami-map.pdf . I would really like to save $154.00 in parking fees.

Thank you.

:)

I am cruising out of Miami in January. I don't really want to pay $20 per day but many of the other reviews I read sound terrible. Has anyone, in the last year, had any positive parking experiences away from the port?

This isn't exactly what you asked but we had a positive experience last June in Miami parking in the Royal Caribbean/Celebrity parking deck. The agent at Celebrity told us about it and there is no charge to park there for up to 7 days. The RCI/Celebrity headquarters is at the port so I just dropped my wife and luggage off, drove to the garage and walked back about 3 blocks or so. I can't guarantee the security but there are security guards walking around the area.

Indy and Navigator again?! Seriously, can't they give the UK cruisers something different for a change?

Did you try the Anthem in 2015? We were on it in September, 2015 out of Southampton and a lot of Brits were saying "We want our Independence back!" We like the Anthem but I guess some don't.

I like your response- but I am concerned about carrying too much cash. Prefer credit and foreign transaction fees can add up over the years now that I am retired. :)

I like Chase Sapphire as a credit card (no foreign transaction fees, 2% rewards on travel and dining, 1% on everything else). For cash at foreign ATM's I have a Schwab checking account that provides a debit card with unlimited ATM fee rebates. Both of these are VISA cards. With the no-fee debit card you can get your cash wherever you want to without having to worry about the fees.

I'm sure that all of what y'all have been saying is true (about changes coming) but I will mention that when we were on the November 5 Rhapsody TA Barcelona to Tampa with 250 D&D+ they turned over the entire Shall We Dance Lounge for the Diamond hours so it wasn't horrible. Still pretty crowded but not bad.

The latest date I see for Grandeur is October 26, 2019 (5 night Bermuda).