Engineroom Snipe

The deluxe drink packages vary from about $80 to $110 retail according to the size of the ship. There is an automatic 18% gratuity added at the end of the check-out process when purchasing. Discounts are available throughout the year and range from 10% to 35% if purchased before the cruise. The best deals tend to occur on the week of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. The prices can be all over the place and depends on your ship, time of year, and Royal's fabulous "dynamic pricing" (sarcasm intended).

Preaching to the choir. Just treating people the same way you would like to be treated goes a loooooo.....nnnnn.....ggggg way in any situation. Again, this only seems to come with experience in law enforcement and security. The training budgets are almost non-existent and good examples from experienced mentors are hard to find. I make no excuses for this behavior as it has been described.

@Ourusualbeach This is the difficult thing being in any position of power over people's rights. When exercising power by the color of law or in this case, the color of sea, experience is the most important thing. An experienced person would have known that a drink would not be served to a minor. To take this a bit further, if a Royal bartender handed this drink to an unauthorized person, they are breaking their own policies. So bizarre for a person to accuse someone of using someone else's SeaPass. What is next, do I have to show you my passport? Oh, by the way, I did show you my passport when I boarded this cruise so what is your next move? Something happened that caused such an intense scrutiny during a cruise which resulted in an over reaction by Royal. Since this is reported over multiple ships, it was BIG. I do not know the trigger but this seems to be a knee-jerk reaction to an incident. As we have all stated, Royal lets so many policies go unenforced. There is always something else going on beneath the surface on these things.

BINGO!

10K more....Ouch!

@A&L_Ont, We have discussed this. I know exactly where you are coming from. The CEO has gotten his wish. Royal cruises have approached the costs of rival vacation experiences. Time to consider the rival vacation experiences because the pricing advantage that cruisers used to enjoy is evaporating. Enjoy the experience no matter what or where you go.

So, in conclusion, if a staff members walks by, looks the other way, looks at the deck, looks at the sky, etc., their is not much a passenger can do about bad behavior or policy non-compliance. A passenger has to do the same or choose another cruise line. A new cruise line might do cast a blind eye to the same behavior. As I stated earlier, these are policies and not law. We are at the mercy of the cruise line to decide when and if they enforce their own policies. The best observation I can make is that profit will reign supreme over policy compliance unless the cruise lines suffer financial loses due to policy non-compliance. I posted elsewhere about how check-in times were enforced in a haphazard way and it does not seem to matter at the ports that I have been to in the past year. As passengers, we should not have to be policy enforcers on our vacations. Anyone being told what to do or not do will be perceived as a "bad man." "No one knows what it is like to be the bad man......." (Who's Next, 1971.Behind Blue Eyes),

Is this the reason why the food service seemed to be much better fare than what we were getting on board at the Windjammer? I have made previous comments about why is the food so different from onboard the ship? Now I know why. The island chefs make a great day at Coco Cay!

That is how many fans of the rock bands of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s felt when they went to the live shows. 😇

I think this thread is going to be 🔥

"Time is on our side, yes it is..." (Rolling Stones, 1964).

Or chair hogs, smoking in prohibited areas, dress codes, etc., etc., etc. Something must have happened to finally force them into action on this specific item. Royal, like most corporations, is reactive, not proactive. Very interesting development.

I only have an electrical degree, contractor, and inspector license in the State of New Jersey. They all stop at the shoreline. 🤣. They do not cover maritime design so I will leave it to @chengkp75's experience and knowledge in this discussion.

I apologize if I came off gruff. I have lived a lifetime following "rules." I would not butt in line in front of anyone. I would not try to take advantage of a weak spot in the system. My point only was to say, do not sweat waking up at ten minutes into your 45 day check-in period at midnight over 30 minutes of getting onboard because that 30 minute "window" is just a policy and not law. Please have a great cruise and enjoy. It is not suppose to be stressful just to check in. 😁

The Pot calling the Kettle a few names now. One picture says a thousand words.

As for rules, I was within 30 minutes of my reserved arrival time. It was Royal who was not enforcing their own rules or policy. I would have happily waited for my arrival time should Royal direct me to the empty holding queues but it did not seem to matter to them. Royal sets their policy. If they do not follow their own policy, how am I not following the "rules?"

Again, arrived at three ports at about 10:45am after parking and walking to the terminal entrances. I saw two cordoned off approach lines marked 11am and 11:30am arrival lines completely empty as the employees guided everyone directly into the the terminal without checking any SetSail passes. We were processed immediately and sat in chairs for only about ten minutes on two of those occasions, and immediately boarded. Key and Suite passengers (who were physically present) were called and after about ten minutes, we were allowed to board.

I would not lose sleep over checking in. Twelve hours after midnight might only result in a 30 minute later check-in time which in most cases is moot. If you are within 30 minutes of your check-in time, no one cares. Early or late. I have arrived in ports for the past 18 months when they open. There are cordoned off areas for the check in times that everyone bypasses. Royal wants to process and get everyone aboard ship. The assigned times do not seem to matter at this point as much as they would want you to believe.

Many items to put into the calculation basket as you find your happy price point. I always qualify my cruises (and reviews) according to what I think is a good price point for the experience. You have listed some salient observations. Paying a premium price for a last minute booking in a suite is completely different from booking 19 months in advance for an interior at rock bottom prices in a room of my choosing. The food is not the finest, no problem, the service lacking a bit here or there, no problem, I can live with the shortcomings because I did not pay a premium price with premium expectations.

Why not go to the source? Tell me your age and tell me your total amount of 401k balances as of December 31, 2023. This is not a debate. It is law. Easy peezie. https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/plan-participant-employee/required-minimum-distribution-worksheets

Bottom line, coconut shrimp, ceviche, and some special pizzas. Nice but not earth shattering.

Already been thoroughly discussed by many posters. I have learned much.

🍿🍺

If my TA group rate goes down before 120 days before cruise, I can get the new reduced price. My TA group rate has always been lower than Royal's best price even, with "sale events". I normally get to pick my cabin with my TA for less than a Royal GTY which with balconies can be a $500 per person difference.

Hot tubs become a hot topic. Who would guess? 🤔