Starry Eyes

Though you cabin number changes, your reservation number remains the same and cruise planner purchases should remain intact. If you win at the very last minute, sometime loyalty items are not in the correct cabin on day 1. So similarly I would suspect if you ordered something from the cruise planner scheduled for cabin delivery at start of cruise, it might not be in the right cabin on day one if you win an upgrade at the last minute. I’m sure they would sort it out for you.

If you win the upgrade, you will receive a congratulatory email. Approximately the same time your new cabin number will appear on the app and in the cruise planner. You will print your luggage tags. Your eDocs will probably need to update for the new luggage tag to appear; that may be a few hours or overnight.

You can check on boarding day, though the odds five seats will be available at a single Tempenaki table are low. Sometimes people cancel later in the cruise, so keep watching. For example, a family dining with us said they picked up last minute cancellations. It was a 5:15 seating on a port day.

The quality of the phone rep varies greatly, so you should not accept every piece of advice a rep offers. Think about the three MDR options (currently for Oasis 5 pm traditional, 7:45 traditional, or 6:45-9:00 MTD). Rank them 1-3 for you and your wife. If you decide MTD really is best for you two, you are set. If not, call and ask for your number 1. If not available, ask to be put on a waitlist and ask if your second choice is available (unless your second choice is MTD which you already have). Be proactive. All passengers are valuable. Obviously booking last minute means many dining slots were requested months or years ago; that cannot be helped.

If your l look last Royal Caribbean cruise was 6+ years ago, you would have sailed with their old MTD schedule; customers liked it. Nevertheless, they changed it, in an effort, I think, to fill essentially all the main dining room seats immediately as soon as the dining room opens. That may be better for the cruise line, but it is not better for MTD passengers. They have also gradually moved up the US early and late fixed dining times so now the early dining is quite early and late is not all that late (I don’t know if they have done that to non US sailings, too). You may want to look at the early and late fixed dining times. If either option appeals, call and ask if it is available or if a waitlist is available. If MTD still seems right for you, you can try to make reservations when you board the ship or just line up in the no reservation line.

We all have our preferences, but personally unless I disliked my assigned gty balcony, I would not even bid on an upgrade from gty balcony to spacious balcony on Freedom class. I’d have only bid on the JS.

On many sailings, OV balcony gty (category XB) will be available. Sometimes it is available to parties of three or four. It is hard to price XB on Royal’s website. In the future you could try looking at on line TA site as some might better display the pricing. Or you could call in the future. Of course, an OV balcony gty assignment could have been far from a public RR or otherwise in a location you disliked. So as you care about the location of the cabin on this trip, you probably made the right decision to pick your own this time.

Royal’s consumer website is suboptimal for oasis class balconies. It does not clearly show which category (XN or XB) of balcony gty is being displayed, though one probably should assume it is the lower category XN when surfing prices. If you book online, it may/should say neighborhood balcony gty (or whatever you book) on the confirmation page, but that seems a bit lat in the game for disclosure. If you want find out if XB is available and the price, call Royal or a TA. The consumer website should be better.

Unless the minimums are set quite high (as they have been on some cruises lately though more reasonable for others), I’ve been bidding above the minimum. Some bids are way above the minimum. Our bids above the minimum are generally rejected. If you bud the minimum there is a chance your bid will be accepted, but your odds are probably rather low. For my party of two, I might not bother to bid on the upgrade from OV to spacious OV if I liked the location of my current OV cabin. The spacious OV would probably gain us bunk beds that would not really enhance our cruise and we might not like the new location. Larger parties likely feel differently about those bunk beds. I would bid on the spacious OV if I did not like the location of my current OV cabin (gty assignment that did not thrill us, for example). I do bid on ultra spacious as they are much larger cabins. Those are also rare cabins, so the upgrade is less likely. I would not call OV to balcony a minimal upgrade, lol. Many people value the upgrade to balcony. I’d expect many people in inside cabins as well as those in OV cabins to bid on the balcony upgrade. There are lots of balconies on the ship, so the chance of vacant balcony going to RoyalUp bidding is better. If I had to guess though, odds are are the balconies will go to people who bid above the minimum.

I’m on Wonder this week. All is well. As scheduled, we were at Roatan yesterday and we are at Costa Maya today. No delays or issues at either of these ports. Our docking at CoCoCay on Monday morning was delayed a bit due to weather. Captain waited until after daybreak to dock there. He also delayed departure from CoCoCay for half an hour to try to balance the later arrival a bit. That could not make the island warmer or less windy that day.😉. We docked in Cozumel on Wednesday on time.

Dinner in Solarium Bistro has a Mediterranean flare; that’s when you are apt to see tzatziki and such. Before the shutdown. We enjoyed Some dinners in Solarium Bistro on Oasis class ships. We have been disappointed in the dinners ther after the shutdown. We have stopped going for dinner. Sad, as we both like Mediterranean cuisine. Solarium Bistro is only open for lunch on embarkation day and sea days. I recall rather standard buffet fare at lunch.

Do you know which terminal? If it is Terminal 1, there is a nearby restaurant (Grills). I think they open for breakfast at 7 am (double check in case their hours change), so if you are dropped off early you can have breakfast and/or a Bloody Mary, then stroll over to the terminal. If it us terminal 5, no similar amenities is nearby, so you would be hanging around the outside of the terminal building until they let guests enter at 9:30-10:10. There are restrooms outside both terminal buildings.

I have cruised multiple times on different Oasis class ships including several cruises on Wonder. I have mixed feelings about the solarium on Wonder. In some weather, that enclosed solarium works out very well. On the other hand, on hot sunny days it can get really hot in the solarium; the climate control cannot cool it enough to keep it comfortable for many people. If you are sailing in summer, you are more likely to experience this than if you are sailing in winter but your YMMV by the week. I think Wonder is a nice ship for a multi generational cruise, though I’d say that about any of the Oasis class ships.

There are two reasonable options depending on your flight timing, activity preferences and budget. You can stay at a hotel near the Orlando airport and take a shuttle or Uber to the port in the morning. There are plenty of hotels near the airport, of course, with a variety of price points. Same with dinner and breakfast options. If I had a late flight arrival, I’d stay near the airport. You can stay near the port at Cocoa Beach or Cape Canaveral, for example. If your flight is earlier and you want another beach day, this is a nice option. If you want to wake up near the beach and/or the ship, this is a nice option. There are a decent number of hotels though prices are apt to run higher for food and lodging in this beach/touristy area vs airport area.

This. I would add that the seats in reserved section are not necessarily considered the absolute best seats in the house. Depending on arrival time and taste in seating, their party may find seats they like better outside the reserved section.

If there is a pre-cruise waitlist for one of the dining options (early traditional, late traditional or MTD), priority waitlist will put you in a better position on that pre-cruise waitlist, so you may get you preferred dining option for the entire cruise. It does not let one jump between early traditional and MTD on the same cruise.

Did you buy travel insurance to cover cancellation and other risks? A decent policy should cover your flights.

From what I have read over the years it seems countries have different laws, have different booking rules and pay different fares. Unless you are also booking from Germany, that German cruiser never had the same deal as you and never will.

Even the cricket sounds are pre-recorded.😀

Those are good points. I found the article. Here’s the paragraph: ”It might take a minute or two for the elevator to arrive. Once it does, it will have room for you and, in many cases, the elevator will go directly to your chosen floor. At worst, the elevator will make a stop or two which are shown on screens inside so passengers know exactly what their trip will look like.” Link to full article: https://www.thestreet.com/travel/royal-caribbean-quietly-fixes-a-massive-passenger-problem Note: I clicked on the article to find out what massive passenger problem was fixed. Perhaps we might have hoped for a major IT improvement or maybe food improvement or price drops. I’m not sure elevators are a “massive” problem most of the time for most passengers.😀

That seems perfectly reasonable. I read an article about Icon’s elevator system that stated when the designated elevator came there would be room for you. As the number of people per party and the amount of floor space needed per person (including scooters and strollers) varies greatly on cruise ships, I was curious how the system was assuring adequate space, especially during busy times…or if the author of that article was simply incorrect. I suspect the latter. Since people of widely varying backgrounds contribute to CC, I hoped someone could satisfy my curiosity. Regardless, I expect the system to be an improvement.

A couple more: There will also be on board shops plus sale tables in the Royal promenade. Everything from cheap souvenirs to duty free products and luxury items. It is your choice to shop/ buy or not, though a reviewer might feel their spouse or kids were “nickeled and dimed” there. Spa services are also marketed. Gratuity will be added and they are apt to try to sell products if you are in the spa. The gym is generally free, by the way, though you might encounter spa folks encouraging you to try services or someone trying to sell add on fitness classes. You can politely decline everything.

Sorry, but I don’t think they will pro-rate the shorter alternative cruise price by number nights. I suspect you will find you may either have the shorter alternate cruise at the original price or you may take a refund. The cruise contract says they can cancel the cruise and refund your money, so there’s little point arguing that the cancellation their fault.

I think many of us are asking questions because we are curious people who like to understand how systems work. I didn’t notice any posts here that suggest the individual is “terrified of change.”

I hope more elevators will arrive with space for your scooter.