Starry Eyes

I hope your dogs recover and you can go on long awaited cruise. DH and I are on Wonder this week. If you just cannot go, one of us would be interested in staying on next week, even short notice. If one of your names stays on the reservation, the other name can change.

Duplicate deleted

I hope your dog is better. If not, which ship and how many passengers on the booking? Is it a casino booking or a normal booking?

So, you have two choices. You can do the logical thing: do not pay until final payment. Or you can pay $300 over the first month or two, then signing up for autopay.

If you really don’t like your stateroom, perhaps you ought to bid more than $110pp for an upgrade to a JS. A lot of people have the opportunity to bid in those JS cabins on a large ship like Spectrum

We have this one. We use the usb and sometimes use the nightlight function. We do not tend to carry 220v items, so we generally keep the plugs covered and unused. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CC5DVWVQ/ref=emc_b_5_mob_t

Many people choose to park at Port of Miami because they feel their vehicle will be safer than many other Miami lots. Select your Miami parking location with care. Saving money is nice, but having an intact vehicle at the end of the cruise is more important.

If the upgrade is only worth $140 (x2) to you, then that’s what you should bid. If you bud you have a chance. Remember though, there are a lot of other people in balcony cabins on your ship who will be eligible to bid on GS; some of them will probably bid more. There are also people in JS who are also eligible to bid on JS; their bids could beat yours, too. Decide how much the GS is worth to you and you can afford.

If you were able to select a cabin in a location you like plus get a larger balcony for only $44 more than your balcony gty price, you made good decision. It has nothing to do with being a chicken. An additional benefit to paying for that upgrade: you should get new RoyalUp offers in a few days that may include different options and new minimum bids.

Sometimes what I consider an upgrade/downgrade might not match what you consider an upgrade/downgrade or what PlusGrade has programmed their computer to say is an upgrade/downgrade. Let’s imagine a family of four booked an inside cabin and placed RoyalUp bid for a balcony. Two weeks later an Ultra spacious Oceanview cabin becomes available at a decent price. It does not have a balcony but it has a lot more interior space for their family of four. They may feel that cabin is better for them than a regular balcony; winning a balcony bid would “feel” like a downgrade to that particular family because they value space. PlusGrade lists balconies above all OV cabins, even ultra spacious (and plenty of families would agree…just not my example family because tastes vary). BTW, the change in cabins should cancel the old bids and give the above family a new set of bidding options with new minimums but it takes a couple days. In the meantime I’d still cancel my old bids if I were in their shoes to avoid any inadvertent, unwanted upgrades.

When my gty assignments have been minimal upgrades (booked a gty balcony on Mariner and assigned 4B balcony for example rather than 4D), my bids have been cancelled. Sometimes my assignment caused my bids to be cancelled even I was assigned a standard cabin. Nevertheless if I upgraded myself or if I received a free upgrade to a cabin I liked, I would take the initiative to immediately cancel any unwanted bids myself.

Nearly everyone gets a JS. Do not get your hopes up for a free upgrade to a full suite; those are truly rare now. After all, the company can make money selling those upgrades on RoyalUp

These are not just social media reports. It has been published in both the US and Australian press, including quotes from at least one of the impacted individuals. Royal Caribbean issued a response to the press. https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2023/11/30/royal-caribbean-passengers-denied-boarding/71749345007/

For cruises the rescheduling offer may be further out, but that does not mean it cannot be done. Some of us are quite flexible. For example, DH and I are retired and are scheduled to cruise Sunday on Wonder. We drive 90 miles from home to port. If perchance Royal Caribbean texted (or sent an app notification) on Saturday or even Sunday morning that there was an overbooking situation and they would compensate volunteers, we would probably text back that, yes, we would be willing to consider rescheduling for the right compensation…even last minute.

I agree that waving goodbye to fully satisfied volunteers is not a terrible sin. I think they should seek volunteers whether due to overbooking or cabins taken out of commission for some reason. Granted, the earlier the company knows about the problem, the easier it is to seek volunteers in an orderly fashion. Nevertheless with modern communications a text request for potential volunteers could go to appropriate passengers’ cell phones even the morning of the cruise with replies generating a quick working list for negotiations. Some of us wake up in our own beds on boarding day and could easily consider an attractive offer. It is better PR to have a happy flexible retiree or remote worker than an unhappy involuntarily bumped passenger with an inflexible schedule.

What hotels do not overbook? It is so pervasive, how do you find a hotel that does not overbook?

No we don’t excuse it. I clearly said it was wrong for all segments of the hospitality industry. I merely pointed out that cruiselines are not the biggest offenders. The others can destroy trips too. A hotel example: I made a six day reservation at a major brand hotel for a conference well in advance. When I arrived, I was told they were overbooked as was every hotel nearby. They canceled all six nights of my only reservation, arranged one night at their affiliate 15 miles away and were not concerned about that I had no place to stay the other five nights. That was my last stay with that brand.

Personally I think it is wrong for both cruiselines and airlines. The airlines knowingly overbook, much more so than the cruiselines. The do ask for volunteers and they do offer compensation. Sometimes nobody volunteers and someone gets bumped involuntarily. Depending on the airline and the route, there might not be an available flight soon enough for the passenger’s needs. A flight the next day, for example, may well cause them to miss their cruise or a special event. Recently, like the airlines. The current disappointing report aside, Royal has also asked for volunteers and offered compensation…except Royal made the offer in advance, not in the terminal like the airline…that is much better than the airlines.

I agree, but go after the big offenders first. Both airlines and hotels are notorious for substantially overbooking with the expectation that there will be no shows, allowing them to collect double revenue. They ruin trips, too. The number of incidents where cruise lines overbook seems pretty low compared to others in the hospitality industry.

Of course we do not know the whole story; one rarely does. One does suspect that most cruisers and the general public reading about this event on social media would be more understanding if the root cause was a last minute maintenance issue (or some similar unavoidable last minute problem). Note, however, letter posted on Reddit does not indicate such as issue. The OP on that thread stated they had no prior notice and had they were unassigned gty’s (13 couples). You and I know gty’s are ordinarily assigned at least 2-3 days before the cruise. Unassigned gty’s suggests Royal had at least 2-3 days notice…perhaps more.

I don’t understand why Royal Caribbean wasn’t proactive by asking for volunteers in advance of this cruise. Here on CC we saw copies of emails Royal sent for other overbooked cruises this year. That price protection offer might have induced 13 or more people to volunteer to reschedule to another week while others might have volunteered for the refund plus 25% FCC if they’ve had a recent financial setback. Those offers are only so-so for volunteers. I think the offers are really poor for non-volunteers bounced the day of sailing without notice.

Royal Caribbean has noticed when the lounges are most likely to be overcrowded. We know that due to concerns about Crown lounge crowding on some cruises D’s are excluded from the Crown lounge during cocktail hours. The obvious parallel action would be to exclude (non-suite) Pin’s from the suite lounge during cocktail hours. Suite guests would then more easily find seats during their free cocktail hour. The Pin’s in the SL at that time would be suite guests who then would not be scapegoated if it did get crowded.

Unless the adult son is also interested in accumulating points. He would get single points under your booking system vs double under the status quo.

I think you have been given good advice above. Nevertheless I will add that on some sailing on that class ship, the obstructed balconies (or guarantee balcony bookings that may be assigned obstructed balcony categories) can be much less expensive. While not optimal, people in obstructed balconies still have a private space with sea air and a view when standing (the degree of obstruction varies). If perchance budget becomes an issue for you or others reading this thread, with the correct attitude an enjoyable cruise can be had in an obstructed balcony on deck 6. Deck 6 would be a convenient deck.

One need not pay for a cruise or go to a bar if you’re into that. Just read CruiseCritic; somebody will post a moan soon enough🤣