cruisegus

my opinion is anything they would also wear to school is good for dinner

That is only because the cruise fare for that particular cruise had not changed. If you cancel a person from a cabin and that makes you the only person in that cabin, Royal will reprice you to the new price, albeit only if it is in there best interest, i.e. price went up. In your case ((current cabin fare is $3k more than originally paid)) you sliped through the cracks, as a shareholder publish you booking number and I will see that it is corrected 🙂

Yes if you cancel the 2nd person, Royal will reprice you at today's rate. That is why your TA said it is cheaper to just have the 2nd person No show at this time. Also as stated, it cost nothing to change the 2nd persons name, so use the name of one your neighbors children and pick a birth date that corresponds to their approximate age (they are going to be a no show anyway) that way you can buy the UBP for yourself and still collect the double points for cruising solo.

it more depends on the local CBP at the port, I have never left the ship in San Juan (USA) on my b2b's there, but have in Galveston, Ft Lauderdale.

Everyone HAS paid the gratuity on the dining package, the only question is does it show as a separate line item when you purchased the package or not. Either way your 18% gratuity is covered. The only time it would be added onboard is if you purchase onboard. They don't like to advertise the price on board with gratuity included it is always added separately to the price.

My TA say everything helps

My understanding is that if you are booked through a TA, i.e. they own the booking, even if you are the one that bids physically on the royal upland win, they get the credit for the increased base cruise fare. In other words they get their ~15% commission on the additional royal up fare.

Personally I think they should NOT allow anyone to remove the gratuities be they either the daily charge or prepaid. They also should change what they call it, to a "service charge". Most higher end hotels and resorts now have a resort charge. Most tours ie Trafalgar, Globus, etc allow you to prepay gratuities for the tour guide.

Expect this to be the new normal at least through the rest of this year.