moopetguy

I have a PowerCube, model "Extended USB 4400/USEUPC". None of the packaging or information inserts reference surge protection as a feature. I confirmed with the manufacturer, Allocacoc USA, that this model does not have surge protection. It is also CSA- and UL-listed, conforming to UL-1363 and CSA C22.2 No. 21.

However, they also pointed out that other PowerCube models do have surge protection (e.g. 4200/USOUPC, and they said those models are rated at 175 joules with a clear marking of "Surge Protected" on the product).

Thanks for the answers to my questions so far. :)

If you upgrade while on-board from a lower stateroom category to JS or higher, will you receive an extra cruise point for each night, or will it still be based on your original stateroom category of 1 point/night?

Does it matter whether you received the on-board upgrade for free after inquiring at Guest Services, or if you paid for it (even if it was only a nominal charge)?

Just curious...how does Guest Services typically (if there is a "typical") price out an upgrade (if cabins are available, of course) while on board? Do they have access to, and simply go by what it would have cost to book in the days leading up to the sailing, or is there actually some semblance of a formula for a substantial discount to be offered?

Part of 4, by your logic you can justify killing someone because there are people out there who have killed more than one person. There's always a "more bad," that doesn't justify doing something that you know is wrong.

"something that you think is wrong". Fixed that for you.

You believe it's wrong to go on dolphin excursions. Fine, you're entitled to that opinion. But there has been some judgment and questioning of intelligence over the choice to go on dolphin excursions, and that's wrong (in my opinion) because it's hypocritical.

Someone else could argue all of us on this forum are "bad people" who are doing "something that we know is wrong" because we are all cruisers. We are endorsing, with our dollars, the burning of fossil fuels, the exploitation of crew members from poorer countries, food waste, and so on.

There isn't universal agreement over animals in captivity being morally wrong, whereas there probably is over something like murder. :rolleyes: They aren't the same thing.

Moopetguy, that argument is so stupid though? You're basically saying "I'm going to go do this clearly immoral thing, and no one is allowed to criticize me unless they are a literally perfect super-being who has never done anything wrong."

 

Yes, sometimes I use paper plates and it's not good for the environment. That doesn't mean I am not allowed to say "Hey don't do that!" if I see someone kicking a puppy.

"Clearly immoral" in your subjective judgment. You are implying a false equivalence between "kicking a puppy" and a "swim with the dolphins" excursion. The people going on excursions are not kicking dolphins, but that is who you are calling out.

"Honestly, stop kidding yourselves and just admit that you go on cruises because you want to, and the well-being of the crew does not factor into your decision very much at all. You don't care about other humans, you just want to get people off your back and do a fun vacation without care for the repercussions."

"Honestly, stop kidding yourselves and just admit that you go on cruises because you want to, and the environment does not factor into your decision very much at all. You don't care about the ocean and burning fossil fuels, you just want to get people off your back and do a fun vacation without care for the repercussions."

"Honestly, stop kidding yourselves and just admit that you eat non-fair trade chocolate because you want to, and the well-being of the cocoa farmers does not factor into your decision very much at all. You don't care about other humans, you just want to get people off your back and enjoy a nice snack without care for the repercussions."

It's funny how people can rationalize whatever they want to do :rolleyes: As an earlier poster suggested, we're all kettles. Let's not make harsh moral judgments of each other (especially previous attempts to disparage people's intelligence or education), because I'm sure somebody will find fault with something you do.

So...because I like chocolate it makes it acceptable and justifiable to abuse animals? Nice try.

 

Done.

I believe you may have misread and misunderstood my point. I suggested that some people hold the view that not purchasing fair trade products in the aforementioned categories is unethical (due to the exploitation of developing countries, and with child and/or slave labour often being involved in non-fair trade products).

Here is a link with further information on fair trade: http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/

Since you mentioned enjoying chocolate, here is a link with further information about fair trade chocolate: http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/Buying-Fairtrade/Chocolate

There are many other resources online with further information about fair trade, if one goes looking.

I believe that most educated people do believe that it is cruel to keep dolphins in captivity, and ignorant to support the practice with their dollars.

How many times can you hit a LIKE button....

 

By the way, it's PhD.

I see that we have a pedant correcting someone over a trivial issue. :rolleyes: Let's discuss substance, instead. Please cite a statistically valid survey supporting the claim that "most educated people" hold this belief (furthermore, please define "educated").

One could also argue each of the following -- I wonder how those same "educated people" feel, and if they act accordingly with their dollars in every circumstance?

• Going on mass-market cruises is unethical due to the exploitation of the crew members, of which the vast majority are paid very low wages and work inhumanely long hours.
  
• Purchasing anything other than fair-trade products in industries such as coffee, chocolate, bananas, gold, diamonds, flowers, etc. is unethical.
  
• Purchasing cheaply-made foreign goods is unethical because it takes away domestic jobs and contributes to a throw-away society.
  

I'm sure we can come up with many more examples of situations that people can be judged over, if we put our heads together.

I'm a bit surprised that their web site/reservation system are apparently geographically constrained in this day and age. As an outsider, it's difficult to discern many details of their overall infrastructure, but they do use Akamai's content delivery/edge computing network...there should not really be a dependency on some data centre(s) located in Florida. It's the cloud...workloads can be moved anywhere with relative ease.

Maybe they have a NOC in Florida and if the cloud rains, their staff may not be able to fix it from Enchantment...

During the last few cruises I've been on, I distinctly remember a sign being posted on top of the Guest Services counter stating that no unoccupied rooms were available for an upgrade because the ship was at full occupancy. May or may not have been true (although most likely was), but I'm sure it gets posted to discourage people from bothering to ask. They probably get tired of fielding that question.

I've been on relatively few cruises, but so far in my experience, it basically amounts to the same old stuff on the promenade or in the shops every time. The only thing I'm usually interested in buying on board for myself these days are the magnets that have the ship's specs (passengers, tonnage, length, etc.) on them.

OK - so just a couple of observations, and questions, since I'm sailing in 60(ish) days.....

 

1 - regarding a corkage fee for the dining room. When I took a cruise last October, there was no fee, and everyone in our party brought a bottle of wine on board with them. When did it change that there is now a corkage fee?

According to this link - there is no fee. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2416505&highlight=room+service+fee

 

 

2 - regarding room service.... from the RCI website today - the $7.95 charge is only on the "American Breakfast" - and not everything. Which is ok, because we usually only get a couple of pitchers of coffee and tea in the morning, and then head up to breakfast. I would be very disappointed to be charged for that.

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/content/en_US/pdf/Room_Service_Menu_2017.pdf

 

I am "loyal to Royal" and I'm still not 100% sure of the non-refundable deposits, and don't want to jinx myself as I have never had to move a cruise - RCI has cancelled on me - but not me on them.

 

Happy Cruising!

Sorry, the corkage fee returned earlier this year, I believe the beginning of June. This FAQ is up-to-date:

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/charge-corkage-fee

And as for the room service menu, see the bottom right of the second page. It says, "Room Service Menu has a service fee of $7.95 per room delivery." It's only the continental breakfast that is complimentary; the service charge applies to anything else from the room service menu.

Hmm, I never knew about the gifts for kids either...and DD (6 years old next month) never received one, even prior to the recent change to gift eligibility for Diamond and above. She's been sailing with us since Explorer in 2013, minus Enchantment...so that's 4 cruises for her, no gifts. Always got the Kids Compass and Youth C&A offers information sheet, though. She was old enough for Aquanauts (3-5 years old) for her last 3 cruises, and received a lanyard and a small Inky the Octopus on each sailing (through Adventure Ocean, not a gift in the stateroom)...that's it.

It's already happened, very rare, but it has happened.With RCI, it's unlikely to be intentional, more due to their IT system.

Yes, I seem to remember there being reports of it happening. I can't imagine it being intentional. Regardless of intent, getting bumped would make me swear off a cruise line forever unless they bent over backwards to compensate me. Something along the lines of a full refund plus a future equivalent cruise being free with lots of OBC in a grand suite or above, might do it.

Could you imagine if cruise lines took a page out of the airlines' business model by overbooking, counting on no-shows, falling short of staterooms at check-in and then start bumping people based on status and how much (little) they paid? :eek: Unlikely to happen (it's not like they could just bump people to the next or another cruise), but if they ran the numbers and figured they could get ahead, they'd probably do it...

I don't think they were breaded

Thanks for the photo! They look yummy enough...I'll give them a whirl...

Yes, most reported the wings being good.

I did 10 or 11 on Serenade. They were tasty, but we weren't sure which was which. Went for one of each

Are the wings breaded and fried, then sauced? I don't suppose anyone has any pictures? I like food porn :D Really looking forward to trying them when I'm on Navigator in about 3 months' time...

You get 5-6 wings per plate. That may mean 3 plates per pound, so you need 12-15 plates. [emoji33]

Thanks, I didn't know how many wings they'd provide in one plate/serving. So the question remains, would they actually take you seriously if you attempted to order 12+ plates of wings? That's totally do-able, especially with multiple people in a stateroom. :p

Follow-up question...are the wings actually any good? I haven't seen any first-hand reports on them yet...

What about Fox News?

 

That's a new addition not mentioned above.

It was mentioned in post #22 of this thread:

TV now shows Fox News and CNN. Fair and Balanced.

I do think that the non-refundable booking option is a positive. I have seen a LOT more suite availability already since this was announced. The room service thing can be both negative and positive. While the extra charge is a negative, the increase in options and service should be a positive.

I am glad to hear the new booking rules for suites appears to be having the desired effect. I will probably never book a suite (I'm too frugal) but if it's curbing selfish behaviour that's negatively impacted others, I'm for it.

I previously tried room service a few times (but never for breakfast), and it was never a good experience. Usually there were lengthy delays, but one time, there was an epic failure involving food allergies I previously posted a story about. I hope that the service charge is improving things. Has anyone tested the theory of "all-you-can-eat chicken wings for $7.95" with the new room service menu by ordering the equivalent of say, 4 or 5 lbs at once? :D

Not really recent (but semi-recent), but the 3 drinks for Diamonds and up on the seapass card is wonderful for those who don't want to sit in a crowded lounge, or get their drinks at a show instead. We definitely use that and to us is a big positive. Even more if you have a kid who might not be allowed in the DL but want to actually get a drink and spend time with their family.

I am not confident that the 3-drink benefit will still be there when I make it to Diamond ;p It'll be 2019 before I get to that C&A level.

Also added lifeguards to the pools, apparently not yet fleetwide.

That started over a year ago now however it varies by ship and sailing date.

Yep, I noticed lifeguards on Liberty when I last sailed in November. Thanks :)

Oasis has a new menu was purported to be rolled out fleet wide but it has yet to happen.

Thanks, I guess I am up-to-date on the menu situation after all. I wonder why it's stalled. :confused:

There have indeed been positive changes but mentioning them brands you a "cheerleader" or "corporate shill".

My goal was not to be negative...my goal was to summarize any major changes. If there have been "positive" changes, I'd love to hear them from someone who doesn't mind risking being branded a cheerleader ;)

Hi folks!

I've been trying to keep up on the boards by poking my head in periodically, but life is busy, so I think I may not be up-to-date on all the latest developments. I thought I would try to summarize what I remember, and hopefully others can help fill in the gaps. This summary might be helpful to others, too!

1. I'll start with food, since it's one of the most important things to me ;) Have the new(er) MDR menus been rolled out fleet-wide yet? If not...what progress has been made/which ships? My information is dated now, because last I recall, it was only on Oasis.
   
2. A service charge of $7.95 is now effective for each room service order, excepting continental breakfast.
   
3. Introduction of a non-refundable deposit booking option that offers some savings...if you dare. :D
   
4. Booking a grand suite or above now means a mandatory non-refundable deposit. A per-person change fee applies if changes are made more than 30 days after booking.
   
5. A corkage fee of $15 has been (re-)introduced for wine you bring on board when opened in a public area (e.g. bar, restaurant), though the charge is not 100% consistently applied (well, nothing is 100% with Royal ;p). You can open your bottle in your room and carry your glasses of wine/bubbly anywhere to avoid the charge.
   
6. On certain sailings (was it only Harmony?), if someone in a stateroom purchases an alcoholic beverage package, other pax over 21 in the same room must get it as well (barring special circumstances e.g. medical condition or pregnancy that would preclude drinking).
   
7. NextCruise bookings on-board have eliminated the reduced deposit and instant OBC benefits (regular deposits apply and you will get future OBC).
   

So, what did I miss? They have certainly changed a lot in just the last several months...

To you pedants out there (I count myself among you :*), please offer gentle corrections for any details I may have wrong above.

Thanks!