The Scurvy Pirate

Load the sea pass card in your apple wallet. It will show the cabin number as the last set of numbers under the bar code. I did ask about possibly paying for the upgrade and they said I could but that I would lose the GTY credits. Since it is such a short cruise (4 nights) I thought the credits made more sense to me than paying for a JS upgrade. Basically, they are paying me to go on the cruise.....

First time I had it offered as well. The flyer offered an ocean view balcony where I could pick my room. When I called about four months ago to book they said they would give me several hundreds of dollars as casino credit if I booked a guaranty. Seemed like a no brainer. Hopefully, there won't be that much noise from the hot tub as it seems to be semi-enclosed with windows...

With Club Royale I received a “free” cruise on the Allure. As part of the offer, they gave me additional casino credits if I booked a guaranteed ocean view balcony. The cruise is about 30 days out and the room has not been formally assigned. I can see the room number with the apple wallet trick. I have a connecting room on deck 14 right under the hot tub on deck 15. I am not sure I want to be under the hot tub with possible related noise while sitting on the balcony. Will they let me switch rooms before it is formally assigned? If I switch rooms (and move to an non-connected ocean view balcony), will they remove the casino credit?

So, in summary, it appears that the safer course is if you have prepaid them you need to cancel before you get on the ship. It is unclear whether it is refunded as an OBC or to the original payment type (i.e. credit card) (possibly dependent on how far out you cancel them?). If you have not prepaid them, and they are charged daily to your on-board account, then you can go to guest services to have the gratuity removed/cancelled. To the extent they were already paid, they would be refunded as an OBC.

impatiently waiting.... thank you!

Any word on the 2025 long caribbean deployment? The brochure seemed to indicate it should have been posted last week, but I am still not seeing anything. Was thinking Freedom may be a part of that, but RCI is still showing no sailings after April 2025 for Freedom.

What's funny/scary is someone took the time to read the comment, and then double check a cruise date through a cruise search to then come back and post to try to prove another person wrong about their own booking that had already been booked...🙄

For giggles, looked out to October 2025 for Icon. You can get the Royal Loft Suite for the low, low price of $41,118 .... per person.... for a seven night cruise. Can't imagine paying $82K plus for two people for a seven night cruise. Although with the kids sale free its the same $82K...

It's normally 20% off; BOGO50 (25% off) and sometimes 30% off (only started seeing that recently). I don't know that I have seen 35% off before, so if you see that discount grab it. Also, pay attention to the "list" or "on board" price as usually in March/April each year they bump it up $5 or more. I had one last year that got bumped $5 in April 2023 and $5 more in Sept 2023. So, 30% off at todays price may be less thant 30% off this summer's price. As someone mentioned before, if you like the price, buy it. If it goes down, you can always cancel and repurchase. Before you canel make sure to double check the final amount of the new purchase. Have seen many times on here where someone canceled their 20% off to buy a BOGO50 and only then found out that the final price was actually higher (because the on board price had changed and they hadn't noticed). 18% gratuities added at check out.

I see the sarcasm font is working. But, a true experience. My mother in law bought a big duffle (with lots of pockets/space) from an old army/navy store in her town. She cleaned it, washed it, etc. and then packed for her cruise. Once on board she was called to security, escorted off the ship and detained/questioned for over an hour. Apparently, there was one empty .556 cartridge stuck/tucked in a spot/pocket she clearly didn't check and it set off the metal detector. She was eventually let back on the ship literally minutes before the doors were closed. She can laugh at it now, but in the moment it was tramatic.

We all know they are testing it out to see if it is something they can charge as an add-on later. "Pay $X for Express Boarding" to start your adventure earlier. Carnival has the "Faster to Fun" which they now charge $99/room....

The app to do the on-line check in opens at around 12:05 a.m. So, if it says check-in starts March 3, 2024, you can log in just after midnight to select your arrival time (not boarding time). Within the app you can select your arrival time and then come back later that morning/day (or any day later) to input the passport info (which is super easy as you just scan the barcode with your camera on your phone) and credit card/on board expense payment method.etc. It took about 4 minutes to do me and my wife's stuff. Super easy.

I don't know what you mean...

If you try to plug in a true 110 device (like a small desk fan) in to the simple EU adapter, it will fry your 110 device as the adapter keeps its at 220. I use the below converter without any issues (of course now showing not available on Amazon). No surge protection so all is good. Also, don't try to plug your blow dryer into the converter unless its rated for high watts. Found that out the hard way.... https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09M42B2V8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I about choked when I saw it was $30/day for my Octboer 15, 2023 cruise out of Miami. Now, its gone up another $5.00/day. Crazy. It is at the point where you have to start considering port parking when choosing a cruise. Rather than driving in the day of and parking, it may get to the point where it will be cheaper to stay one night in a hotel with extended stay parking and a free shuttle to/from the port....

I used mine towards a free casino cruise that I booked after the OBC expired (wasn't paying attention and missed it by a few days). Basically, they applied the $200 towards the amount due, so it paid all but $6.45 in the taxes/port charges.

In Montana you cannot partake while in the store either. A big no no and the store owner can lose their business license, which are rather hard to come by.

On our last cruise we focused on my wife getting to prime. She got to 2,700 points while I have 11 points (basically I used my free play in the slots until it ran out). She now frequently gets offers for interior/ocean view cabins for 3-5 day cruises. We have another cruise coming up in February and there is no way she will get to the Signature tier at 12,500 points. I could probably make it to prime, but since we are D+ free drinks in the casino for both of us is not that important. My question is, if we again focus on her points, and she gets to 5K - 6K points, do her offers get better, for example more free balcony or longer cruise offers/discounts?

As to the credit card, I always claim mine after final payment and it usually posts within a day or two. I have read on here that if you request it before final payment that it may not be processed by BOA for a while longer.

I have found different time slots have different prices and there may only be one time that actually is that discounted price. It has happened to me and I checked every single time slot and never found one at the offered discount. Kind of like the lottery scratch off where it says they can still sell tickets even if the main prize has already been won....

There is a whole other discussion on corkage fee. The "rules" say there is one but apparently no one, including me, has ever been actually charged (o'k, I think there was this one person but that may have been waiter related...). It used to be two bottles per stateroom, but they changed it one bottle per adult limited to two per stateroom. I guess maybe some solo cruisers were bringing two bottles. You can put the wine in your checked backage (where you give it to the porter at the cruise terminal that later gets delivered to your room) or you can put it in a carry on bag that you lug around the cruise ship until your room is ready. Because there is no coordination between those two luggage systems, some people have been rumored to put two bottles in the checked baggae and then take two more that they put in a carry on/roller bag.

You can also bring one bottle of wine each (up to two per stateroom). Some have said they were able to put 2 bottles in their checked luggage and 2 bottles in a carry on. You can also get small bottles of liquor and beer/truly through Royal Gifts. Choices are limited and aren't necessarily the best "value" as opposed to pay as you go. But, these are additional options.

I have frequently seen people openly using a "cheat sheet" on when to hit/stay, etc. Do they really care about card counting? The advantage has to be miniscule based upon the available hours of play on a normal cruise and that assumes "perfect" play.

My experience was I needed to take my wife's sea pass card to use her vouchers. I never had any trouble handing the bartender her card when she was not around. You just need to make sure that when you are drinking together that you use your voucher's first. That way, if he is away from you, he still has vouchers on his own card to use.

I would think that with the pre-booked reservation you could at least keep your original time, even if they charged you full price once you got there. This could be helpful especially if now all the D+ have to use only the 1st and 2nd nights. Seems like Royal may be trying to limit its use as it would be more likely for nights 1 and 2 to then be sold out, so late boarding D+ would have no availability.