RoperDK

I feel this thread is taking a turn. I was on a Yeshiva week cruise on Oasis several years ago. It took us by surprise because we booked in January thinking we would avoid school breaks at that time. It was like a typical spring break cruise. Lots of families. Lots of kids. I don't think it was more unruly than our March spring break cruise on Wonder this year. I don't remember if the Solarium Bistro was closed for non-Kosher service or not. Since it was our first Oasis class cruise, we were a bit clueless about all the venues onboard. I do wish that cruise lines would advertise when large groups are onboard that can potentially close public venues. It can ruffle some feathers when that happens.

Just another straw to add to the camel's back.

Is it my imagination or are port taxes and fees skyrocketing? Is it just Royal or are other cruise lines posting the same increases? In the past, I just paid them, but they sure seem to be higher now. Can the cruise lines just generalize what they charge or do they need to be reported accurately? I guess I just don't trust anyone anymore! 😳

Am I correct in assuming that there will be no New Orleans sailings after winter 2025? I was hoping for winter 2026. It is our closest port.

You can order anything you'd like. I always ask for Grey Goose vodka and there isn't a problem with that. I believe there used to be "house" brands offered, but I haven't seen that in quite a while.

Oh my, I love Ken Burns! We have drifted away from Carnival recently, but I had sailed with him many times over the years. I love his singing and how he always visited tables and seemed to truly care about your dining room experience. Does anyone know how many years he has been a Maitre'd on Carnival? I know I would cruise again with him any time!

I would rather waste a bit of time now on the phone then to spend my valuable cruise time standing at guest services trying to adjust my gratuities. The only free money Royal has of mine is my deposit because gratuities are paid at final payment. I will now take the extra dollars I saved today and distribute it as cash for good service onboard. My plan. My choice.

I just called and added auto gratuities to my booked cruises this morning. There were 4 cruises in total with several different circumstances. Wonder in Jan 2024 - This cruise was past final payment. I had to pay today to add the auto gratuities at the current rate. Grandeur Apr 2024 and Brilliance Jan 2025 - These cruises are currently before final payment. The current auto gratuities were added to my invoice to pay with final payment. Grandeur May 2024 - This was a free casino cruise and all taxes and fees were paid with a zero balance due and before final payment. The current rate gratuities are now on the invoice to be paid at final payment. The only monies collected today were for my one cruise that is past final payment. On those other cruises, I will be charged the current gratuity rate even though I will cruise after the new rates go into effect. If I had called on Nov. 12th I would have been paying the new rates no matter the circumstances. If you have to cancel your cruise, you will always get your taxes, fees, gratuities, and onboard purchases back. You never loose that money.

I just got off the phone with Royal. Spent an hour total with wait times and a slow process to add the auto gratuities to our 4 booked cruises. From now on, I will add auto gratuities at time of booking. We consider the gratuities as part of the cruise price, but I am now wondering about where the money actually goes. Seems like some fuzzy math to me. I doubt we will ever remove the auto gratuities, but we have changed our onboard tipping since the last increase coupled with less service. We may or may not tip our cabin steward or wait staff extra at the end of the cruise now. We always used to add cash at the end, but now the extra cash goes to those whose service exceeded normal expectations. Isn't that what gratuities are really supposed to be for? I do feel though that the crew may not be seeing all of the additional gratuity money and Royal may be using it to their own benefit. There is no way to prove that, I guess.

Where does everyone park if driving in? We usually park at the port, but I read that Royal uses an unsecured mall parking lot and that there are commonly break-ins in that lot. Do people use a hotel stay and park option or chance port parking? Which hotel offers a good rate for stay and park? We have only cruised with Carnival out of NOLA and they have their own terminal with a connected secure parking deck.

I thought it would open shortly after sail away. Back in the day, you used to have to reach international waters, but I thought that the gambling laws had changed. Carnival opens their casinos shortly after sail away. Anyone have the current rules? It makes a difference on our first night plans for sure!

So glad it's still open in port. I haven't sailed to Roatan in quite a while on Royal. We enjoy the port casino days. Much less crowded and free drinks to boot! We've been to all of the Caribbean ports so many times that we don't venture off the ship in every port anymore.

I heard that the casino was usually open in that port, but that Royal might be changing that. Any current cruises have any info?

I just don't understand the desire to cruise on Fantasy class. I have cruised on them several times over 20 years, but so glad to have a spirit class in Mobile now. We are booked on Spirit in February. If they had placed a Fantasy class there again, I would have skipped Mobile. We only cruise in balconies or suites, so maybe that is why I dislike them so much. Our last cruise out of Mobile (before Covid) was a disaster. Other than good crew members, it was my worst cruise ever. Perhaps the smaller cabin size....no sofa just chair, much smaller bath, and general disrepair around the ship had something to do with that.

We are only Diamond, although not far from D+. I think the trend is for Diamonds to have limited access to the Crown Lounge and Pinnacles to be limited in the Suites Lounge. Perhaps the end game is to eliminate the access all together. We have a JS on Wonder in January, but no other cruises booked on Oasis or Quantum class. The cost of a full suite is outrageous. While we can afford a GS we don't want to spend at that level for a Royal cruise. All of our future cruises are on lower class ships in a GS now. So far we are happy with our decision. BTW....we have really enjoyed our visits with the Pinnacles in the Suites Lounge. I would hate for that to go away.

We always sail in GS on non-CK ships. You are correct that the price for full suites is very high. Our casino offers takes a bit of the sting away, though. We have started to order regular menu room service for other than breakfast recently and enjoyed it. We haven't tried to order from the MDR menu yet. Do you find it arrives quickly and at proper temperature?

We booked a Feb. 2024 6 day cruise just last month. We are cruising with old friends that we haven't seen for a while. Looking forward to catching up. We are Platinum on Carnival (not too far from Diamond), but we switched to Royal for an improved cruising experience. If this experience is good, we will add Carnival back into the mix as Royal's prices are waaay too high. I hope that Mobile is successful. It is so convenient, but only worth it if it isn't a PITA to sail from there. I am a casino rat and have DOU, but we still buy the drink package with OBC because I don't want to spend $100 on a slot machine waiting for a "free" drink, lol. I appreciate your input. It will help us immensely!

One of my reasons for asking about when these JS will be changed to Sky JS is we have one of these deck 6 JS booked on Wonder in Jan. 2024. I'm assuming that these would become the new category for May 2025 and beyond when they release those sailing dates. I heard that these would be reclassified in Jan. 2024. If so, either Royal would give use the new amenities at the current booking price (not likely) or move us to another JS involuntarily (definitely not happy about that proposition). We think that the deck 6 cabins are the best location on the ship!

I have to disagree to a degree. Lower level ships don't have CK and free internet, but full suites do get many amenities. They have priority embark and disembark, suite concierge, reserved seating at shows, free room service, breakfast at a specialty restaurant, continental breakfast, lunch munchies, and nighttime happy hour snacks along with free drinks from 5-8. We spend a lot of time in the suite lounge with the beautiful views to escape the crowds.

I know Icon and Utopia have both Sea Class and Sky Class Junior Suites. I heard that they were going to convert some regular JS to Sky Class, also. Any more information on that? Would that only be on Oasis and Quantum ships or all ships. I know CK is only on Oasis and Quantum class, but the addition of a few JS that have full suite access could be done on all ships. It appears that Sea Class would still have access to CK for dinner if space is available. Any thoughts on if that will go away? When is this addition of Sky Class JS supposed to occur? Thanks!

Thank you BecT, that was exactly what I was looking for! Mobile has always been a bit quirky for embarking and disembarking. The port is just a few hours from our house and I am happy about not having to do an all day drive and wrestle with a hotel. How much was the daily parking fee? We avoid casino cruises because of the crowds. My other casino offers are fine and less stressful than trying to find places to play on those cruises. How was the drink service in the casino and how long after leaving the port before the casino opens? I seem to remember that it took several hours and was longer than expected. Thanks again for the great info!

Now that Spirit has sailed from Mobile for a few sailings, is there any feedback? Interested in how Mobile is handling the restart and how service and condition of the ship is, along with food quality. Any opinions?

Junior Suites do have priority over Pinnacles for dinner only at CK when full suites haven't taken all of the dinner reservations. Junior Suites cannot access CK or the Suite Lounge at any other times. It is a published benefit of Sea Class. If Pinnacles are allowed access, they can eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner at CK along with full all day access to the Suite Lounge. There are very few benefits to Sea Class and Junior Suites are considerably more expensive than other lower cabin categories. I feel that Pinnacles have great access to the amenities unless it is a top tier heavy cruise. Not weird at all.

Yikes, Craps! 😧 Even with a cheat sheet, I don't understand that game! They still have Wheel of Fortune, but you will find me most days playing Buffaloooo! 🐃😁 I think we have hijacked this thread. Let me see if I can come up with another CCL pet-peeve..... Still with the casino theme is the fact that you can't walk up to the bar and get your own drink for free like on Royal. Oh wait, they don't have a bar in the casino anymore! We don't qualify for DOU Everywhere, just in the casino while playing. So my pet-peeve is that there are never enough servers in the casino especially at the slots. Never! We actually don't cruise Carnival very much anymore and we are almost Diamond. Our offers are better on Royal and we find cruising with them to be a better value if you can believe that.

Blackjack strategy is easy to learn with a cheat sheet. They are only a few dollars on Amazon and only about 3x4 inches in size. You are allowed to bring them and use them at the table. Most situations are easy to memorize. I still use the card in unusual situations. In my case, I find playing blackjack extremely stressful. The dealer wants to keep a rapid pace of play at the table and I just can't add and figure out the correct move that quickly. I enjoy watching Hubby play and a friendly table is fun, but just give me my slots! 😁