malacajo

Yes, our cruise is FOS Eastern in Sept....Trying to figure out if we will go out on our own to St John, but we've never snorkeled so I almost hate to do this...

I had this excursion suggested to me, heard it was great. However, cannot seem to get any info on it, when I go on their website and punch in RCCL, it takes me to a page with no info...Do I have to book this by calling RCCL?? Can this not be booked privately?? Forgive me if this post is in the wrong place..

We went against what we had planned, we planned on a PR but ended up booking balcony instead-E2. Any suggestions on good locations?? Another question, I keep hearing people say to not get an adjoining room unless you actually need one, which we don't-do I need to specify to not get one?

Thanks in advance!

So glad this question was asked, but I have a more specific one...For a 7 day cruise for 2 of us, how much do you suggest as an extra tip for dining room servers?? I just have no idea, anyone have guidelines??

You can still buy OBC on your own.

Ok Clarea, had to ask-I saw on your signature that you've cruised RCCL several times-which is your favorite ship?? Have you ever cruised anything besides RC??

Quick question....Since I'm booking our cruise through a TA, can I still buy OBC's on my own, or do I need to do it through him??

We took our first vacation alone when my oldest child was 15. We left for one night so I understand what your feeling. We left for a weekend the next time and when he turned 18 we got on a plane and headed for Florida. It was whole nother vacation without kids! Lol. We felt so young and free!!! We actually got to do what WE wanted:) Did "stuff" ever happen when we were gone? Yes. And everyone survived. When my kids were 19, 17 and 11 we left them alone for 5 days. We did not have a family member to stay. However, they are mature and responsible. We were on a sailboat when I got a call. Mom the oven is on fire what do I do? I said turn it off and unplug it! Where is the plug? He yells. I was panicking. Lol. It turned out to be the element in the oven and he turned out to be a volunteer fire fighter. We had a snowstorm and the oven repairman couldn't get there for two days. They managed just fine. I learned that if anything happens they can actually deal with it and I don't have to be there. For my peace of mind I always make sure everything is in order just in case something happens to us. Your kids will have fun too while you are gone. They will miss you and that's a good thing! Now we take a few weekends and a couple of week long trips without kids. We only have one left at home now. It's the best thing for reconnecting with your spouse. As the kids get older they begin to understand. Your never promised tomorrow so go have a guilt free great time!

 

 

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Thank you GoldGirl!

Unfortunately, about 90% of the time when RC has a 'sale', they jack the price of the cruises up right before that sale. Hmmmmm....

 

It's kind of like at Disney, every time you exit an attraction, you have to be dumped into a gift shop with memorabilia from that attraction. Hmmmmm... (we always just kept on walking)

 

Very irritating on both counts...

:p

This is a great analogy, love this! Very very true......

That's exactly what happened to me...I did put a 24 hr hold on a really great GTY OV for Freedom, dropped the ball and went to book about 36 hrs later (totally my fault), and the GTY price is gone baby gone...Now the OV price has jumped from $1315 to $1800 and I am so upset with myself over this..The WOW ad says that I can upgrade to balcony for free, but this OV price is what the balcony price was a couple of days ago....UGH

Thanks so much for the responses! I'm driving myself insane thinking about it, but honestly I keep thinking that if we felt that "bad" we wouldn't have decided to do it, right?? I do have a friend that cannot fathom doing this-she got to me at first, now I'm just ignoring, LOL.....Our kids are 17 and 14..My mother is 84 (very active), she will stay half the week at our house, then a good family friend who is 21 will stay the next half so I know they'll be fine..I think somehow it just made me feel better to get encouragement:) Yes I do have to say that being married for 19 yrs has to deserve a week away:) We will definitely have to look into the ATT plan, I will have to be able to check in

We have decided to take the plunge for Sept 2014--Booking FOS Eastern. Celebrating 19th anniversary and leaving kids for the FIRST time ever. We are so excited but feel SO guilty.....Any advice on "adult" things to do? We have two teens and won't know what to do w/out them......Sighing......:)

So glad to have read this post, when we go on our cruise in Sept, we are leaving our two teens, first vaca w/out them-these calling/texting plans are really important to us. One thing I do have to mention, of course the US Virgin Islands are considered "home", St John sometimes is not because of the tower, we had several people telling us that St John will pick up a different tower and they were charged accordingly..Just thought I would pass that info along-we will be in St John for our cruise, but will call our kids from St Thomas, before heading over...:)

Glad I read this post-I would not have known! On DCL we made ressies for specialty restaurants prior to cruise but paid with OBC on the nights that we ate there, no CC requirements necessary...I think we have a lot to learn about RCCL:)

Just a quick question...When we sailed DCL, instead of using a CC, we used cash when we boarded, when we got down to using a certain amount, front desk just nicely reminded us of what we had left, then we went down and put more cash---anyone ever done this on RCCL?? I'm assuming it'll work the same way?

Welcome to cruising!

 

One thing first timers usually get a bit of a shock from is their final bill when the cruise is over. There are things that are not included which can really add up: tips for the staff, adult beverages, specialty dining, gift shop purchases, spa services, shore excursions purchased on board, etc. just be prepared so you aren't unpleasantly surprised!

Sunsetbeachgal,

I'm from just a couple of hrs up from you---Atlantic Beach way...! Saw that you were going on FOS in March, we're doing that cruise in Sept-first RCCL cruise....:)

After looking at pricing on our Sept FOS cruise, we have decided to try an OV GTY--Price is awesome and even better than PR rate. Our TA is on vacation for a couple of more days but while he's been gone, I emailed him and told him when he gets back, I'm ready to book our cruise. He said that OV GTY cabins look like they're on a wait list..How common is this?? I'm so bummed, the rate is so good and was really hoping for this...Suggestions??

Shipboard your best bet is to sign up for one of AT&T's cruise packages, which is much cheaper than paying per minute or per text charges.

 

You can sign up for one of those three packages for one single month - i.e. a total charge of $30, $60 or $120, depending on which one you pick. If you don't pick the $120 package, then you SHOULD turn off cellular data in your phone's settings, to keep from being charged when your phone's various apps automatically connect to the internet periodically.

 

EDIT: OK, that didn't format well!

 

For $30 you get 50 minutes of voice, no texts, no data. Additional minutes $1.00 each.

 

For $60 you get 50 minutes of voice, 100 texts, no data. Additional minutes $1.00 each, additional texts $.50 each

 

For $120 you get all that plus 100MB of data, additional data $10/10MB

Thanks so much, this is so helpful!!

I know there are people who need to keep in touch for business or personal reasons.

 

Aside from that, are we the only ones who look forward to shutting off the phones and putting them in the safe for the week???:)

We have two teens that are not going on cruise with us, so just being able to get a quick check in a couple of times is necessary for us! Other than that, the world could melt away and I wouldn't care while I'm on vacation....:)

Does anyone have any ballpark idea what AT&T charges for international minutes?? We are leaving our teens (a first), I know that we can call from St Thomas for free, but will want to check on them, even if only by a quick text, a couple of other times but have no idea what we're in for?

On our FOS this coming Sept, it looks like GTY is running about $200 less than booking a non-GTY....We are going to try it, booking an OV GTY but hoping to upgrade later to a balcony....Fingers crossed!!

If you want a comprehensive tour of the island, with a nice balance of beach time (Orient Beach - clothed part), time in the French capital, and time on Maho Beach to see the planes land (look this up on youtube to see what the excitement is all about), then you can't go wrong with Bernard's tours. It's a great value for the price, and it's a reputable and highly recommended private tour company.

I just started looking into Bernard's Tours a few min ago! Wow, great reviews there...I think this is what we'll do! Last time we went on our own, people were not friendly, it was not a good day at all...This sounds so much better, thank you so much!

Thanks for the feedback. I am torn as how to proceed. I am sold on Royal as a great line, but this cruise is pricing out quite a bit higher than our last cruise even after adjusting for 5-day vs. 7-day. I am being quoted over $2,800 for my wife and I and two kids all in one OV room. That is:

 

2 adults at $659 each

2 kids at $399 each

4 taxes/fees at $98 each

4 gratuities at $84 each

 

All 4 line items above are a higher than our last cruise on Carnival out of Galveston. For that crusie, the adult rate was $70 per day vs. over $90 per day, the kids were 50% of the adult rate vs. 60%, taxes and fee were only $30 per person vs. $98. All of those increases add up. I know Royal is preferred by most to Carnival, but we may need to cross our fingers for a better deal 30 days prior to sailing.

Hope it all works out for your family!! Will keep fingers crossed for RCCL:)

First of all I apologize for starting a new thread, I searched and it kept taking me to posts that had nothing to do with St Martin....We did St M in 2012 and did not have a good day. We did no excursion and swore that next time we would have to have something planned. Ideas?? Thanks in advance:)

We are looking at the exact same cruise as the OP -- the Freedom sailing from PC on Sept 21 -- and asking ourselves the same questions regarding on when to book. We have limited cruise experience that includes only two cruises:

 

Royal Caribbean Inside Passage Alaska in 1998

Carnival Western Caribbean in September 2011

 

We have a different set of circumstances from the OP. My wife and I will be cruising with our two children, ages 11 and 13. We will travel from AZ to FL by RV and book a single, oceanview room for the four of us. We followed this same format in Sept 2011 when we cruised out of Galveston on the Carnival Triumph to the Western Caribbean. We had a great cruise and are looking to do the same thing with an Eastern Caribbean cruise from 5 to 7 nights in length, preferably 7. We would also prefer a different line than Carnival since our last cruise was on Carnival.

 

For the prior Carnival cruise, we booked about 6 months in advance. We are debating on whether to play the waiting game this year in hopes of getting a really good deal. We have the benefit of having some flexibility on timing and departure port since we are mobile with the RV. At the 30 days out window which everybody seems to be talking about, we could book a cruise out of any of the FL ports then alter our RV travel plans to land us in the right city at the right time.

 

At the moment, the best deal that I see for a RC Eastern Caribbean is the Freedom from PC on September 21. One on-line cruise site has an oceanview room for $659 along with a $400 on board credit. Even with the OBC, however, this is still about 20% more expensive per night than the Carnival cruise we took in 2011.

 

My questions:

 

What is the magic to the 30 days out window regarding pricing?

 

Given our flexibility, should we just get ourselves to FL in early September then look for a last minute deal?

 

Is September from FL ports typically a window that offers good last minute deals?

 

Earlier in the thread, multiple posters stated that RC is not a good line to play the waiting game with. Has anybody out there landed a good deal on RC or other lines for a Eastern Caribbean sailing in September in the prior years?

 

Thanks for any guidance.

Homeschoolin,

The only cruise our family has ever done was on Disney Fantasy, 7 day Eastern, in Sept 2012. So many people played the waiting game (we made friends with some wonderful people that we still keep in touch with) and booked 30 days out-they got fantastic OV and balcony rooms at a steal. We found out that we would have saved literally $1000 on our OV room had we waited. However....From what I'm finding out here is that RCCL might be a bit different-I'm going to go ahead and book this cruise by end of Feb. I'm booking a promenade or OV but going to hope for a balcony if the price drops. I have researched a lot about cruise lines, RCCL or DCL would be the only way to go for our family-the price on this cruise and the "awesomeness" of this ship probably cannot be beat-I've read very very few bad reviews here....Good luck to you, I hope it all works out well for you-everyone that has responded to this post have almost all been together with the opinions to go ahead and book, so I am for sure..By the way, we homeschool too:) Let us know what you do!

In Sep. we were on Oasis and found out 2 weeks prior to going that the parents of very good friends would be onboard. Met up with them several times.

 

Many years ago we were on a Princess cruise. While looking at photos of the 1st Formal night we saw a photo of a Coast Guard Captain and his wife in Mess Dress. I am former Coast Guard. He looked like an old friend but wasn't sure. Turned around and there they were. Hadn't seen him and his wife for 20 years. Spent the rest of the cruise catching up.

 

Best story: A friend and her family were on a Carnival cruise during Spring Break. Her 17 year old high school son went up onto the "topless deck" (go figure). Much to his surprise, he saw his English teacher topless sunbathing! Worst part...his mother was Chairwoman of the School Board. :) Don't think he ever told her (whew). Probably because he was more afraid she'd be mad he was on the topless deck (she would have honored the teachers right to privacy anyway). :)

My first response is.....There are "topless" decks on cruises??? Ha ha