Starry Eyes

The cruiseline may have already set aside some cabins for balcony gty bookings. There’s no way for you to know at this point. Is your booking for two people? If so, did you do a mock booking entering 3 guests? Sometimes you will see additional cabins that way that you did not see with two guests. Or not depending on the cruise. Depending on supply and demand, Royal sometimes places parties of two into cabins that can accommodate 3+ guests. Also if suites are available, some people in balconies could move up via RoyalUp bidding, opening up those balcony cabins for gty assignment.

Yeah, sometimes there can be long waits for an empty elevator on the ship on the last morning, especially if many passengers elect self disembarkation. People have carried their luggage down the stairs when they grew tried of waiting for an elevator.

Communication access for crew has been steadily improving for years. Since Starlink continues to launch satellites, that trend will continue. The OP wants to send a petition and then pat him/herself on the back as those inevitable improvements occur.

If you tip more, they can take that money and buy an hour of internet if that is what they most value. Or maybe they won’t use your extra tip money buy additional internet services, preferring to save that money for another purpose even more important to them. Even though you possess only the little knowledge (however accurate or inaccurate it might be) gleaned from conversations with a few crew members (who were actively vying for your tips), you are trying to apply Your values to Their situations and and deciding that more internet for crew is one of the most pressing concerns…so pressing that you feel others should try to insert themselves into the relationship between crew and employer. You point out that you not asking people to tip more, yet people tipping more might actually improve crew members lives. A petition, not so much.

It sounds like the original cabin should have received $100 OBC (just like yours) and the additional $100 OBC was an error. Businesses are allowed to correct errors and customers should not expect to keep erroneous funds. A customer who continues to push to recover erroneous credit is showing bad .faith, and a customer who shows bad faith is unlikely to receive a good faith gesture (such the good will $50 OBC you received). Your bro took a shot at the larger amount and it may have backfired. I think he should stop wasting his time on it.

I think one is apt to see more standing on that obstructed balcony than standing at the typical small cruise ship window (or perhaps kneeling on the bed to get near that window, lol). Plus one will get fresh air on that balcony.

My point was that you are suggesting a petition drive (or such) for a situation that is already continuously improving. If you want to improve the lives of crew members, tip them well and encourage others to tip them well. Let the crew members decide how to spend that money.

I remember when crew would buy phone cards and stand in line at pay phones in port to call home. Though you might consider today’s communication conditions “dire” I see them as a huge improvement compared to crew communication options 20 years ago. As satellites continue to be deployed, I expect continued improvement. The last time I was on NCL their internet was really slow. Has it improved?

It would be nice if the breakfast hours and room surrender time was adjusted for the late arrival. As guests are strongly encouraged to use self assist disembarkation and (so far) have been told to vacate cabins by 8am, the public areas may be jammed with people pulling full size luggage by 7:30 tomorrow morning. If people leave luggage in cabins until 9am and breakfast venues stayed open later, the public areas might be passable. There is little point opening all breakfast venues super early when ship is substantially delayed. The crew hours could have been adjusted.

Oops, that last sentence should obviously say expect your embarkation to also be delayed ☺️

Here’s the letter to those on the current sailing. They hope to begin self disembark at 9 am. From the Captain’s overhead announcement, they are making the best possible speed toward Port Canaveral, but he expects to encounter some some adverse weather enroute. Obviously the spaces in the parking garage 5 will not be available to those on the next cruise as early as usual tomorrow. As our disembarkation will be delayed, expect your disembarkation to also be delayed.

The official assignment can happen as soon or as late as the cruiseline decides. Do not get too attached to the idea of switching cabin locations. Lately by the time my cabin is officially assigned no more available cabins remain in my exact category. Consider yourself lucky if a nicer cabin is still available when your cabin is assigned.

I’ve used that bar code trick multiple times. So far it has predicted my cabin perfectly…unless I took action to change it (successfully bidding on RoyalUp, intentionally switching cabins, etc.). The cruiseline has the right to change a gty assignment, but it rarely happens. I’m glad you are happy with the cabin number in the bar code. If you already bid on RoyalUp offers, go back and reassess your bids with that cabin number in mind. Since you really like the cabin, you might want to cancel or lower some bids.

What starting and ending categories?

Congratulations on your win. On an upcoming cruise the minimum bid for gty inside to OV balcony is $395pp. As we spend very little time on the balcony, that’s more that minimum is more than we are willing to pay this time, though we might on a special cruise.

It won’t influence me. I’m going to bid the amount the upgraded cabin is worth to me and mine on that particular cruise. Tales of past success or failure on different cruises would not help me.

I looked at the UDP for an up coming Wonder cruise Jan 2024. The rules look the same on my recent one. For restaurants with ala carte pricing, UDP guests may only use the credit once per day. So, I could only use my UDP at Playmakers once per day. I did not see a rule that would stop one from going to Chops for lunch and, Izumi for sushi, then Wonderland for dinner the Playmakers for late night snack…I could not do it, but I don’t see a rule prohibiting it. Does someone else see different rules on a different cruise?

Same here. I tend to just assume by the time I make Pin, the Pins will no longer have any Concierge Lounge access.

🥱

Mariner’s lounge has a nice view and that undoubtedly contributes to its popularity. Even CL’s without views can be busy these days. Most seats were filled in Wonder’s CL (no view) when we dropped in a couple times; D’s were excluded.

The Diamond/Crown Lounge on Mariner has not been a ghost town. In fact, on some of my Mariner cruises there were no seats in the lounge on multiple occasions. There aren’t a terribly lot of seats in that lounge.

I laughed when I read your post. We are about 100 points from Pinnacle and sometimes (actually, more and more often) I feel the pull to design bookings to reach P as quickly as possible. That fever generally passes quickly and we go back to booking cruises for the joy of cruising in the manner that makes sense for that cruise. We’ll get there when we get there. It will be soon enough. If the OP just wants to climb the loyalty ladder (as you do), that’s fine…enjoy. The OP now understands that crown lounge access may or may not be a D benefit in the long run. The rest of us know Lucy has a history of pulling the football away from Charlie Brown. Now the OP knows Lucy’s history. The OP can now make an educated decision whether to take a run at that ball or not.

In the previous incarnation, MTD folks could dine from roughly 5-9 pm. Now MTD does not open until about 6:30-6:45. It does not take a rocket scientist to see why people previously liked going to MTD early (for example 5:30 or 6 pm, often with reservations) would feel the change impacted them negatively. They were seated promptly under the old system. Others probably just miss the flexibility of dining from very early until very late (MY time dining vs Royal time dining). On some sailings there a long lines at MTD opening, especially if the kitchen is slow serving the early dining guests. I realize some MTD folks report approaching the podium early in hopes of being seated before the official MTD start time. That may or may not work out depending how many early diners attend, how many MTD use that stray and the size table needed. I am glad your experience was fine; not everyone has had reported the same on every ship/sailing.

There has been a lot of negativity about the changes to MTD, and I am not a fan of the revamped MTD scheme. That said, I think the new MTD scheme has more impact on people who tend to eat earlier and less impact on those who tend to dine later.

Currently Diamonds are only being excluded on some cruises for a few hours during the evening cocktail hours. Even on those cruises D’s have access the rest of the day (coffee machine, continental breakfast, concierge, relax).