Poplin

1 hour ago, smokeybandit said:

What are e-cards? The same as gift cards?

Yes, e-cards are gift cards that you download and take to customer service after you board. 

2 hours ago, Krazcruiser said:

Wife received a Royal Caribbean e-card for our upcoming cruise on May 5th on Harmony. Do we visit guest services to apply the e-card or can we just call RC, thanks

E-cards can only be used on board. If you don't use the full amount while on board, the remainder will be put back on the E-card. You can not add it to your account until you get on board and you can not use it to pay for anything ahead of your cruise such as excursions,  restaurants,  drink package etc. I just used one in April on Symphony of the Seas.  

We did a 15 day Mediterranean cruise with a group but went with another couple ( good friends) that we cruised together with all the time. All of us were seasoned travelers but had not done a European cruise in several years. Going with a group was good for us as they took care of details and gave us several good tips. We and the other couple decided, for the first time, not to eat in the dining room except for the two nights our entire group was eating together ( sea days). This allowed us to pack less and not stress to get back for dinner. We did book all our tours through the cruise line and I have to say all were excellent.  But we did go from early morning to late afternoon. We would return to the ship, eat in the cafeteria, grab a glass of wine, and go to our balconies and watch us sail away (loved doing this). We go to bed early as we were up very early for our tours. We did enjoy the ship on our sea days and did a specialty restaurant on those days if not eating in the dining room with our group. I hope you enjoy your cruise as much as we did. 

Just off the Symphony and had early dining time. Once the early diners left, a table (lengthwise)

was set up each night to sit 18-20 for MTD. We watched as the party came in and noticed they seated all the kids at one end and adults at the other. Several nights our table stayed until 7:00 chatting and watched this large group come in. I'm not sure if there were seat assignments but the kids seemed to know exactly where to go and  were well behaved and waiters had it well under control and organized. Other diners had to maneuver around the setup but it wasn't that bad. 

54 minutes ago, not-enough-cruising said:

You will have no trouble getting a chef’s table reservation on board; and it will very likely be cheaper than booking pre cruise.
 

Many of my cruises recently they are practically begging people to book it. 

Good to know - thanks for the heads-up.  Have been cruising for years with RCCL and finally got my husband to agree to the Chef's Table as a 50th anniversary celebration.  

If family members want to give you money toward your cruise as OBC, I would advise they call RCCL direct and have them add the amount directly as OBC. Any unused amount can then be credited to your card on file or in cash. Of course, those adding this OBC will need to have your reservation number, I think. If they to a gift card, any unused amount will go back to the gift card and can only be used, onboard,  on a future cruise. 

17 hours ago, bluewater1298 said:

I'm sure they will refund it in some way. I have added OBC from my points through my visa rewards card and what I didn't spend they credited it back to the credit card they had on file....which wasn't the rewards card. Unless OBC is listed as nonrefundable then they have to refund what is unused.  If you're the one adding the OBC then it should be refundable.

I know they will refund OBC but if it is a RCCL gift card, the unused amount will be credited to the RCCL gift card so you can only use the remaining amount if you go back on another cruise. I hope they will use our gift card amount before they use our, refundable, OBC. I'll request this once I'm on board and hopefully they will comply. 

3 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Just make sure you redeem asap if using for your sailing in 2 weeks.  They are strict about the timeline to process.

I received one for Christmas and forgot about it.  Then I tried to redeem a week or so before my cruise and was told unable to process that quick.

We received a gift certificate also for Christmas.  We also had all excursions/drink packages/OBC paid in full. We are doing a B2B starting March 31st and tried to book the Chef's Table using the gift certificate.  We were told, by a RCCL representative, we could not use it to book the Chef's Table over the phone or online and must wait until we get on board. Good luck to us trying to get a Chef's Table reservation that late. If its meant to be, it will be. 

We are doing a B2B - March 31st and April 6th 2024 on Symphony.  Have received an email today that our Labadee stops have been canceled and I certainly understand. We will go to Coco Cay on the first cruise and repeat Falmouth on the second as we stop there on the first too. Coco Cay does not show up in the app in order to book an excursion. I called a representative and he could not book an excursion for me. Any suggestions?

20 hours ago, lukydog said:

It's been a few years since we've sailed Royal.  When you are doing on-line check in do they have you pick an arrival time for boarding day like Carnival does?  We are cruising with 2 other couples and want to make sure we can all board the ship together if they do.  Thanks!

I checked in at 4:00am the day on-line check-in opened for our B2B cruise on Symphony starting March 31st and did not get a choice of selecting my arrival time - I received 12:30. 

8 hours ago, RWMike said:

Show reservations now open.

I went into the app and the Crown and Anchor site but reservations still not showing up for me. I called RCCL direct and the representative booked them for me. We are doing a B2B and the March 31st cruise opened up on the Crown and Anchor site the 1st of February.  Curious.....

Less than a month away from boarding the Symphony ( April 6th) and still no opportunity to book show reservations - odd.

1 hour ago, RWMike said:

Same here, patiently waiting. Also still waiting on cruise doc's.

I've already filled out and printed our cruise docs but not luggage tags.

Sailing on Symphony April 6, 2024 and show reservations have not be offered as of today March 5th. Just checking to make sure if any of you sailing that week are experiencing the same thing. Making sure I haven't overlooked the reservations. 

We leave in 40 days, April 6th, on Symphony of the Seas and RCCL has yet to post show times. We are doing a B2B and the first week, March 30th, had show times posted 4 weeks ago. Have any of you had show times show up this close to sailing? Usually times post about 60 days out. 

I gave monogrammed beach towels and a cloth bag ( Vera Bradley) filled with funny towel clips (Amazon) and sunscreen.  I also had personalized door magnets with their name on it for their cabin doors. 

This is a delicate subject but I've been asked to investigate by the tour group I am going with to the Mediterranean.  Do the larger tour buses, specifically  in Spain, France, Malta, Montenegro, Malta, and Greece, have bathrooms on them. We have a few in our group with issues and may opt to go on shorter tours.

We are sailing on Emerald Princess and would like to know where the self-service laundries are located.

There is no pool in the Solarium on the Harmony. Have never figured out why RCCL did this. We leave Friday on a B2B (16 days) on the Harmony and we love the Solarium. I do miss the pool but not enough not to sail on this beautiful ship.

As always, everyone has an opinion.. but lets think about this twirling guy and ask if YOU could spin like that for more than 10 minutes and not throw up your dinner on yourself - NO... So I will say the guy is talented whether you like him or not!!

Also - something else to consider... RCI has some of the best entertainment on their ships - Please tell me where else on a cruise can you find such great talent diving into a pool, all while at sea?

I've been on Oasis, Allure and Harmony - thought all Aqua Theater shows were superb and have to hand it to the talent onboard for keeping us entertained!

I guess if you don't want to see talent on a high wire above your head while you're at sea, you could always go make a donation to the casino!!

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We sailed the New England/Canada itinerary last fall out of Boston. We stayed in Boston 3 days and had a fabulous time and used the T to get everywhere. The Serenade is much smaller but we were sailing for the ports and not the ship. We also enjoy the MDR so that is not an issue with us. The excursions in each port were wonderful. Every tour guide was fantastic - highly knowledgable and entertaining. I don't remember movement of the ship being a problem. We are diamond plus and enjoyed the concierge's lounge. We also enjoyed the entertainment It was one of our favorite cruises

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Our group actually prefers deck 14 forward near the elevators especially on cruises with several sea days. We like being steps away from the solarium, our hang out spot on sea days. Very seldom do we hear noise from above but we are early risers. I'm up between 6:00-7:00 - husband by 7:30.

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1995 - Sovereign of the Seas got us hooked on cruising. We have a BtoB booked on Harmony of the Seas in March 2019 - our 47th and 48th cruise.

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Have magnetic signs made to put on their door after they retire for the night. Such as: "Just Married - Do Not Disturb - Busy!" or "Please Knock 3 times - we love visitors" etc. Use your imagination.

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I may be wrong, but I think all the ocean-view balcony beds on the Harmony are by the balcony.

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