Starry Eyes

Just a guess…they may have accumulated enough bookings that gty guests will eventually fill all those (previously available) balcony cabins, so they stopped taking balcony reservations. If people cancel or upgrade, the category may open again.

Ships generally dock at their ports of call even if rain is expected. No promises, of course, as high winds or high seas (even without rain) can sometimes prevent a ship from docking. I agree with the others who said that (a) advanced forecasts are wrong and (b) rain in Bahamas, Caribbean and Florida can be short events. Nevertheless, if you do indeed get some adverse weather, be glad you chose a big ship. O class ships have a variety of indoor venues to enjoy. Sure, others might also be enjoying those venues, but I have found it to be even worse on a ship with fewer indoor options.

There is a grace period on most credit cards. If we pay our full credit card balance on time each month we don’t pay any interest. By paying this way we do not go into debt for a cruise yet we get certain payment protections from the credit card company plus extra member benefits (cash back, travel insurance, etc). Retailers pay a transaction fee so credit card companies can make a profit even if we don’t pay interest. Of course, plenty of people carry a balance on their credit cards; they may pay substantial interest.

My post wasn’t about rates it was about the number of different insurers offering policies and the limits on medical coverage on those policies. The offering will vary by place of residence (county and state) as well as age. When the oldest person was your age, we had more insurers offering us annual policies including some high medical coverage limits ($500k or 1M). As the oldest traveler was into 70’s then into 80’s, there were fewer choices and lower medical limits on annual policies.

I understand you took the 10K from another poster and I’d have made the same comment if the number had been triple. Would 300k in medical plus medical evac for one of you had been a big deal? Even worse, what if a serious accident resulted in both of you sustaining life severe injuries? Yes, during your cruising you were lucky while without travel medical. I hope your luck continues in you post-cruising years. So far, we have been lucky with travel medical; I hope we never need to use it. I also hope I don’t need to use my auto or home insurance. When we age our higher limit travel medical options seem to decline. I wish a company offered a high deductible, high limit, annual (or multi year) policy to cover those of us concerned about really catastrophic travel medical events.

I’m glad neither of you ever had a serious medical issue during your cruising years. Between medical expenses and medical transport back to your own country, such an event can cost far, far more than $10k.

That’s how I feel as well. The medical coverage and med evac limits on many travel insurance policies are way too skimpy for my tastes. While having $25,000 in medical coverage (Royal plan limit) is far better than none, it still won’t cover a the medical expenses from a really serious accident or illness.

Many of us without allergies enjoy lunch in a specialty restaurant on embarkation day. It is a relaxing way to start a cruise…perhaps even more so in your case.

The embarkation lunch for Key guests is typically held in the MDR. Some ships also offer a special lunch for back to back guests; that may be in the MDR as well. However, on embarkation day the MDR is not open for lunch for all guests.

If those are the only two items of significant interest to you, then I’d say don’t buy the Key. Instead, book lunch at a specialty restaurant on embarkation day (a nice experience for less money than the Key). The MDR is open for breakfast on debarkation morning. If other Key benefits also quite valuable to you, my opinion might be different. Also the price of the Key varies. Obviously it is much more tempting to buy the Key when the price is lower. How much per day? What ship? Have you considered renting a scooter, especially it is a large ship?

Thank goodness that is a rare event. Of course, your delayed excursion that day held the ship for any cruisers on non-ship sponsored excursions that day who arrived even slightly ahead of you. Due to the age exclusion, the OP’s party may not have the option to select a ship sponsored excursion. All they can do is research their vendors and select excursions with care. On St Maarten and St Thomas, the OP can probably find reliable excursion vendors and return to the ship in a timely fashion, barring a major rock slide or other incident.

I mentioned private excursions because the OP is traveling with parents, so there are at least 3 people in the OP’s party, maybe more. A private excursion could also be designed and paced just for that family’s interests and needs. You, of course, have different needs and tons of experience.

What ports are impacted by this issue? In many ports you might find that you can arrange better private excursions or book directly with excursions operators…just be sure to be back to the ship on time. You can get more info on the port of call forums.

On Royal Caribbean, the MDR is not open for lunch embarkation day currently (though people who purchased The Key do receive a special lunch served in the MDR). If you do not want to go to Windjammer for lunch, you could pay for a specialty restaurant that day (Chops is probably open on Brilliance). Windjammer in the main lunch option on port days; it is quiet if you are on board while others are in those ports you have do often visited. Do not expect the MDR to be open for lunch on port days. The MDR is open for breakfast on port days.

Lately by the time my cabin is officially assigned there are no longer any available cabins left in my category ( or it one or two remain, they aren’t more desirable then my assigned cabin). I hope you have better luck, but don’t get your hopes up. There’s no way to know how long you will be in barcode status. Your official assignment could come soon or it could come just before the cruise. I will add, though, for several cruises when I have saw my cabin via bar code soon after check in, my assignment became official exactly 30 days out. YMMV

We are not pool people either, yet I consider the pool deck (with plenty of deck chairs) a very important part of the ship….after all, to avoid crowding, passengers must spread out. I hope for excellent pool weather, especially on sea days, even though I won’t be in the pool. If there is a wonderful pool deck and conducive weather, the pool people are happy and they are not crowding the non-pool-people’s spaces. Same thoughts apply to kid’s clubs and other attractive areas/activities we don’t happen to use.

Check in starts 45 days prior to the cruise. Simply count back 45 days and you can tell which of the two dates you see on the app should be correct.

That’s unusual timing for a rejection. On the have had bids cancelled in that timeframe when our gty cabin was assigned. We were able to re-enter bids.

That was my immediate impression as well.

Some rates are offered for “new bookings only.” If the gty rate you saw was for new reservations only, it would explain why the customer service agent could not see it while logged into your old reservation number (as old reservations would not qualify for that rate). It would also explain why they had to go through that convoluted process of obtain a new reservation number to get the rate even though you did not really qualify. If the rate was for new booking only, you were lucky they waived the booking rules; it may not happen next time.

Yes, we thought 30 Pins on a 7 day Oasis class sailing was quite low. When we saw how few people were in the Suite/Pin waiting area in the terminal we suspected a low Pin count. Still, I was surprised by the number 30 at top tier event. Posting that graphic might give heart to newer Pins that that they may sometimes make the 30 Pin cut-off for CK access, even on big ships. You never know…

The number of pins on board varies. There are only 30 Pinnacles on Wonder this week.

Yes, those of us on Wonder are in St Thomas today and we will visit St Maarten tomorrow. As Mike mentioned, the changes are due to dock damage in San Juan (a dolphin mooring pier was damaged by an MSC ship). Note: CoCoCay wasn’t on our original itinerary. We missed San Juan plus our two consecutive days in Dominican Republic (one of those was a Labadee replacement). Mileage from St Maarten to DR then on to Port Canaveral is too great to keep even one decently long day in DR, so both DR calls were canned.

Are you looking for your bids via the cruise planner by chance? The cruise planner typically closes about 3 days before the cruise, so it may not be the best way to find your bids to check status. Go back to you confirmation email or use the sign in page at https://www.royalcaribbean.com/booked/cruise-room-upgrade

Several times when the barcode trick worked, my official cabin assignments came right at the 30 day mark. Not every time, mind you. I see from roll call posting the OP is >30 days from sailing, so based on my experiences would not be shocked if that assignment appears on day 30.