Anton

I have a Freedom booking that I was going to move since I sensed this was coming, and it was for a JS for half the price of what a JS is going for now on the optional sailings. Maybe I'll win this one. Now for my agent to call the confused call center who won't have any idea about this change or how to apply the rebookings.

No.

RCI hopes "new to cruise" guests will want to come back for more after a bite of the apple for 3 or 4 nights.

Yes, all those of legal drinking age in the same cabin have to buy it. However, you can call RCI and request to get the deluxe package for one, and the other adult (the one who doesn't drink alcohol) will have to get the refreshment package (not the soda package). And, since you have the VIFP logo in your account, you might be surprised that Royal doesn't have the 15 alcohol drink limit like Carnival.

Within the last couple of hours the DP340 and C&A balcony discounts showed up. I was looking at October 2024 b2b and a boardwalk balcony as a single. What was around $2800 total is now about a $1000 cheaper.

https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/items/alcoholic-beverages

I liked booking JS at NextCruise for the lower deposit, but since they moved JS category to the full suite category for deposit purposes (and apparently only that purpose) I can't see me visiting the desk again.

The rules for confiscated items state that alcohol they find will not be returned.

The day passes are available for my Wonder cruise this August, at the completely reasonable price of $268.99 per person. Children get the true value though, at only $250.99 each.

I did a dummy JS booking and the refundable deposit was half the cruise fare.

No. It was created by this member:

Check in opens at 45 days out and electronic cruise documents (luggage tags) are issued at 30 days out. There is a way to look at current drink package prices for any cruise using this: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ukT6gOPcu7coL92LuDcyDaWXQfO88u5kN9FEdHRj5bM/edit#gid=0 Use the pulldown menus for ship name and date and it generates a link that opens the cruise planner for the cruise you selected.

Here is the latest list. https://www.royalcaribbean.com/content/dam/royal/resources/pdf/cas-amenities-feb-2023.pdf

They used to do exactly that and even had two versions of the all-drinks package, I think it was the premium package and ultimate package or something like that with top shelf liquors being the kicker for the most expensive one. The beer package which was often around $35 a day. They dropped all of it to streamline things to the current one size fits all version, along with dropping several beers, whiskeys and liquors from the inventory.

Yes. Example: A new policy comes out and the bar manager on Explorer tells the staff to do it how he or she interprets it. A while later some new bartenders check in off of vacation and at their last ship the policy was interpreted differently, so they keep doing it that way. Now a variable has been introduced. And we are off to the races on what experience a passenger will get.

It's not a problem. They have been doing it this way for quite a while since it speeds up check-in. The sea pass cards are in a sealed envelope with a pull tab to open. If it's been tampered with, you'll know it. Plus, when a card is scanned for a purchase your photo appears on the point-of-sale screen so they'd know if it was you.

No bars, but there is bar service in the MDR and suite/pinnacle breakfast. I never paid attention in the Windjammer. I've sat with people who were denied diamond drinks at the final breakfast in the MDR (within the last several months) but those with drink packages received their screwdrivers, mimosas, bloody mary's.

The email they sent out last December. It doesn't help this discussion.

But you didn't book 8 days you booked 7, because day 1 began when you board the ship at 11am, or 1pm, or 3pm. It is confusing when they throw around days and nights interchangeably when they don't mean the same thing. And some cruise lines sell 7 day cruises while others say 7 nights. But from the accounting perspective for C&A drinks, the last day of the cruise began at 5am on day 7 and ended at 4:59am on day 8. I'm not just saying that, I was told that by a bar manager earlier this year. I think it was the Odyssey but I don't remember specifically. I do agree they could simply add "drink vouchers cannot be used after 4:59am on the last morning of the cruise" or something like that to note 5 on the benefits, but then Royal Caribbean is a total disaster when it comes to effective communication of practically everything. And then they muddy the waters because if you bought a drink package, you can use it on the last morning all the way up until you card off the ship.

Correct. And the last day of the cruise began at 5am the morning prior to debarkation, so when 4:49am happens on debarkation morning the cruise is over as far as drink vouchers are concerned.

I always check in on the website. I can do it faster that way than using the app. When they rolled out the app a few years ago they did let a certain number of people get better arrival times if they checked in with the app, but I don't think that's the case anymore.

A few weeks ago someone posted in that big social media place that there were 417 Masters at the start of the current casino year, not exactly but approximately. There were twice that amount in the last casino year so a lot didn't meet the criteria to keep Masters tier.

He needed a bigger badge.

They posted a vacancy announcement for Chief Meteorologist yesterday. Chief Meteorologist

Isn't that already the policy for UK bookings, maybe some other countries too? I can see them going there and just saying you have to options after booking - cruise or lose the deposit.