ARandomTraveler

I'm on this ship at the end of July and will be curious to see how different the ship feels with all the areas that are blocked off for suite guests only. I would have loved to book a Junior suite and get double points (24), but my particular sailing hasn't had a junior suite listed for less than $8,000 for the last 10 months. And a regular junior suite doesn't get you any of the suite perks on this ship. You had to get a "Sky" Junior suite for those, and that was somewhere around $16,000, and it sold out months ago. I've watched several YouTube videos of this ship and the windjammer looks like it's always full of delicious food. Very different from the usual windjammers. We shall see...

No, I've done Italy and France, but I didn't make it down to Rome. I do think that I would really enjoy Rome and all the history to see there, but based on what other people have debated so far, it sounds like Barcelona is an easier embarkation port. If I did that one, I might even consider making the Rome stop a "stay on the ship" day, just to avoid the stress of trying to get to Rome and back. Rome might need to be a whole separate land based trip for me. Then again...

Very helpful reading, thank you. Seems there are good reasons for doing it either way.

I'd be happy doing extra days in both places. If I do Spain, I'd also add some beach time in Portugal afterwards. If I do Rome, I'd do some days in Positano afterwards. It does seem like Portugal might be easier and less expensive than Positano. And Barcelona seems cheaper than Rome. It doesn't sound like I can go wrong either way. Do either of you know if it's easier to get to port when embarking in Rome vs Barcelona?

Have you done the Athens to Ravenna route? I was considering this route for next summer but settled on a spain/Italy route instead. If you've done one or both routes, what did you like about them, and do you recommend one over the other?

Thinking of booking a cruise on Oasis July 2024. It has routes that start/end in Barcelona, and routes that start/end in Rome. Both routes go to the same ports (Palma de Mallorca, Marseille, Pisa, Rome/Barcelona, Naples). Is there any benefit or drawback to Barcelona vs Rome as the embark/debark port? I know that it will be hard to really enjoy such a big ship when there's only 1 sea day, but do you see any other drawbacks to doing this route on such a big ship (does it have to tender?)

Yes please.

Thanks everyone, this wasn't even on my radar but with all the positive reviews from you guys, I just went ahead and booked it for my cruise on Spectrum out of Singapore. I figure they'll probably have some good sushi fish on board that one!

Depends on the cruise. Transatlantics May have different pricing than the typical Caribbean routes. The Caribbean routes seem to be going between $73/day-$88/day. I have a 12 day Asian cruise coming up and the drink package has been priced much lower than those. For the last 10 months it's fluctuated between $54/day-$58/day, but about 2 weeks ago they put it on sale for $43/day and it stayed that price for about a week.

No problem, same to you

They just meant that you can also use the dining package at lunchtime on sea days (on port days most, if not all of, the specialty restaurants are closed during lunchtime). Using the package for lunches as well as dinners makes the value higher because your price per meal goes down. For example, if the package is $300 on a 7 day cruise, you could think of it as being for 7 dinners, making each dinner cost $42.86 (=$300 divided by 7), or you can think of it as also being for lunch on 4 of those days too, making each meal $27.27 (= $300 divided by 11). From my experience with the dining package, you really have to force yourself to eat a lot more big meals than you may want to, in order to feel like you got the best deal out of your package. Eating at specialty restaurants for lunch was a stretch for us, and made us not hungry for dinner. But since we already had reservations for dinner, we'd eat them anyway. It was way too much food, and way too much vacation time spent eating. Now that they've raised the price of the dining package, it's much less of a good deal. For my next cruise I just booked a couple restaurants individually.

On the visa application for Vietnam, they asked how many days I would be in the country, and I said 1, but when I got my visa, they made it good for 15 days (starting on the day I said I'd be there). I don't remember now if there was a question specifically asking if you'd be leaving and coming back, I think it did. I think if asks what day you'll enter, and what day you'll leave, in which case, you might need to fill out more than one form (and then pay more than once). But there may have been a way to fill it out where you could cover all your entries and exits, but I didn't notice because I wasn't doing that. I haven't filled out the Singapore entry form yet. I tried, but got a note that said it could only be filled out within 3 days of your entry into the country, so my guess with that one is that you have to fill it out every time you plan to enter Singapore (when you fly in, and both times that you sail back). That form, I think, is just a health declaration, no payment needed or anything like that.

Nope, you'll have to wait for your next cruise. If it's worth the free drink perks (which will equal $504 on your 9 day cruise), then you should look for a cheap 3 day cruise prior to the 9 day. Not sure you can find a cruise that costs less than $504 anymore though.

I don't think they serve lunch in the dining room (I could be wrong and just have never bothered to look), but there's free food in the buffet during lunch.

Ooof, now that's painful. I'm hoping that doesn't happen, but if it does, at least we have 5 days of leeway before the cruise starts so we should make it 😅.

If you go through the whole booking process of picking a room and putting in the names of all the travelers, you'll get to a page that allows you to check boxes for things like dining time, opting in for the cruiseline's insurance, and making your booking refundable. Every sailing charges a different amount for the "perk" of making your booking refundable. I always opt-in for this. Lately it's cost around $184-$250 for most sailings, but sometimes it's around $500, and recently I saw $2400 (anything over $600 or so and I start to look for other itineraries). You can re-price your cruise right up until the final payment date, and if the non-refundable price is still lower than the price you booked at, you can switch to non-refundable right before final payment. This allows you the ability to keep your options flexible, and you can cancel and get 100% of your deposit back until final payment date, and then once it comes time to pay final payment, (when you enter a penalty phase regardless of whether your booking was non-refundable or not), you can switch to non-refundable if it saves you money. Problem is, by that time, the price of the refundable and non-refundable rates will have likely gone up and will be more than what you paid, but sometimes it does work out that you can save some money at the last minute by switching. This is of course assuming you're booking through Royal Caribbean yourself.

It's "only" 19hrs and 41min 😂 (at least my flight there anyway).

Is that $1200 total, or per person? Because if it's total that's a great deal and I'll have to add that to my list of possibilities.

Got my approved visa today. I used "Spectrum of the Seas cruise ship" as my residential location as you suggested and that seems to have been fine.

I should be D by then, but I won't be D+.

Hmmm 🤔 $3500 for 4 nights in a balcony on the inaugural sailing. I can't convince myself it's worth it. September sailings are reasonable, about $1700 for a refundable deposit. Haven't put a deposit down yet though. I reeeeally wish these were 7 day sailings to better ports. I don't really want to sail in September hurricane season. Might have to just succumb to a 2025 sailing since 2024 summer is priced too high for the value I feel I'd get from going to Nassau and Coco Cay.

Not quite the same as flying in for a 4 day trip to Nassau. Much more unique experience and totally worth it.

I was on a cruise during Black Friday last year and they didn't offer any special sales on board.

That's a good savings on a drink package!

Re-book immediately, or that sale could be gone. Sometimes they last a week, sometimes a few days, sometimes it's gone by the end of the day. I wouldn't wait for the refund, that could take a week to get back to you. It won't muck up their accounting, you'll just be out extra money for a few days.