BekkaW

20 hours ago, exm said:

 

I believe they 'force' you to get a refreshment package, right?

Yes that’s correct

On 1/31/2022 at 10:27 PM, leaveitallbehind said:

I believe the classic is listed at $52 pp / day and the premium is $62.  What you actually will pay might vary depending on promo's, etc.

Royal Caribbean does not have different levels of alcohol drink packages. There is only Deluxe 

16 hours ago, scorpluvsdolphins said:

The conversation, to my understanding was about smoking from ships sailing from USA ports, not Europe. 
 

The conversation moved on to discussion of whether banning smoking reduces casino popularity and revenue. My experience both in ship and land casinos over multiple continents is that it doesn’t 

18 hours ago, scorpluvsdolphins said:

Interesting. 
I was on the Harmony on 1/9. There were only two people on the slots on the “smoking side” and no one at the tables when I went in to play. I was one of the two. 
 

There was no smoking side in Europe. Whole casino full 

56 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

Which section of the RCCL accounting section do you work for?

 What an odd question when this is not fundamentally a cruise ship issue - the fact that casinos operate successfully in countries which have banned smoking is obvious evidence of this fact 

9 hours ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Casino was rather empty on our Anthem sailing but we only had 1623 passengers.    There was maybe one hour each night where it seemed busy; otherwise it was dead.    Our casino bartender said it was really dead during the day time not just our sailing but sailings prior to ours.   He said he definitely noticed a drop off of people after the mask mandate / no smoking policy went into effect for the casino.

 

and no one was winning either.   

This is the opposite of our experience on Harmony. Casino always busy and actually difficult to get a chair at a table game 

16 hours ago, NYcruzzer said:

Did the Casino seem less busy ? I know there has been past discussion that a non-smoking policy in Casino would result in loss of revenue. Not sure if I agree.

I can say with 100% certainty that making casinos non smoking does not result in loss of revenue. Having sailed during the covid protocols, and also having sailed from Australia pre-covid where the casino is always smoke free due to local laws, the casino is still always busy. 

7 hours ago, Spunky946 said:

What I can’t stand is the inconsistency of some players.  We all occasionally may go “against the book” occasionally.  Every once in a while I’ll not hit a 16 agains a face care or higher card, which the book says to hit.  Or something similar.  What I can’t stand, and yes I’ll get up, is when they are super inconsistent with their play.  Hitting here, not hitting there,  yes if a shoe is going well, it can ruin the shoe.   I know not everyone believes it’s, but it’s what I feel.  There are certain plays I will never understand, like not hitting on a soft 16 or soft 17.  Never hit against a 5 or a 6 when you have a bust hand, let them bust.  And never ever split 10’s.

Generally I agree with everything you said, but I will split 10s in a tournament 🙂gotta get that chip count up! 

We used Civitavecchia Shuttle Express from the ship to the airport, and were happy with the service and price 

https://www.civitavecchiashuttleexpress.com

I was also going to say craps…it’s amazing how us blackjack players  think alike!

On 1/22/2022 at 12:50 PM, d9704011 said:

Are you saying that your tipping is dependant on whether you win or lose and not so much on the service the dealer is providing?

Blackjack player here. Absolutely it is!  Tipping when you win, or making dealer bets, is basically a way of sharing your good fortune with the dealer. We also tip when leaving the table if we have enjoyed playing with that dealer. 

9 minutes ago, Jasukkie said:

I get the feeling a lot of Diamonds are not tipping on these drinks. Bartenders seem surprised when I do. I wish they would put out a tip jar. I guess people could say it's included in your daily gratuity charge??

 

 

We certainly always tip on our diamond drinks. To my knowledge it has always been regarded as the correct thing to do whether it was in the lounge, or the first run they had at the 3 vouchers during happy hour times, and now these more flexible vouchers. 

If it’s the type that has your name on it then yes. Some pre paid cards do, and some don’t. Historically they would not take the kind that didn’t have your name 

11 minutes ago, Tree_skier said:

Are you supposed to get the new pin on the cruise you reach that status or on the subsequent cruise?

On the subsequent cruise, which is when your new status takes effect. You cannot reach a new stats mid cruise because all points are awarded at the end. Pinnacle is the exception. 

I have a soft spot for Voyager. We have sailed her a few times around the Pacific, and the Singapore to Australia repositioning. We did a crossing the equator ceremony which was a highlight. 
 

We’re next booked on her this August for Northern Europe and Norway. 

To answer your question, no -  the bars do not give out soda water for free. An option might be to load as OBC the amount you would otherwise spend on the 2 refreshment packages. This will give you the data of whether a package is worth it or not, with the benefit that you can get back any unspent amount if you don’t spend it all.

1 hour ago, Airbalancer said:

They should just included this service charge into the basic price of the cruise 

 

In some markets, Australia for example, they do exactly this. It’s rolled in with the cruise fare and cannot be removed 

7 hours ago, taglovestocruise said:

Not sure how secret they are anymore but they have awesome off menu Indian dishes. Let your servers know and ask to dish them for a different little side dish every night. 

I was going to say this as well 🙂

2 hours ago, firefly333 said:

I was wondering how people book shows without the app. We plan on booking as soon as we board on the app.

This summer we boarded in Rome on Harmony and the app only works for those who board in Barcelona. We booked shows as soon as we boarded, at the table in the promenade that is set up for people to book shows at. They also have a table to book specialty restaurants, and another for drinks packages. While I typically do use the app there is no actual need to. 

We pre booked transfers online with Civitavecchia Shuttle Express, from our hotel in Rome to the ship and then from the ship to the airport. It was hassle free and reasonably priced - I personally would not attempt the train with 2 toddlers and luggage. 

15 minutes ago, PerferWarmWeather said:

Is this something new?  The reason I asked is I was told if one adult in the cabin wanted a deluxe beverage package, then both had to have one.   I haven't purchased one since my wife doesn't drink alcohol.  

No not new, this has always been an available exception. To note, you must call them to book this way. If you book online it will make you buy deluxe for all adults in your cabin.. 

9 hours ago, chill6x6 said:

So I was going to book the Chops +1 dining package.  When selecting the days to dine, cruise planner would only let me pick day 1 or day 2 at Chops even though if I were to pick ONLY Chops instead of Chops +1 I could pick any of the seven nights of the cruise. Maybe this is one of the conditions of the "deal."

Yes - along with the lower price comes some restrictions. You will be able to do the +1 on any night though 

On 11/24/2021 at 3:00 AM, Blauelini said:

I couldn't figure for the life of me how to book the second, specialty dining reservation when I purchased this for an upcoming cruise. We wanted Jamie's for the +1 but will have to wait I guess to book once on board. We paid for Izumi for a third night as well. Going to bring my invoices as I have a feeling they will think Izumi is our +1 and will to go to guest services. 

With all of the multiple restaurant packages you need to make your reservations onboard. It says in the description something like “a courtesy reservation will be made for night 1” - once you get onboard go to any specialty restaurant, they will be able to tell you what’s already pencilled in for you (which you can change if you don’t like it) and they can book your additional nights 

1 hour ago, Terpsfan1 said:

Do they ever have a sale onboard on the drink package?  I know you can buy packages for a portion of the week, if you would like.

Usually on boarding day they will have a sale of “buy one get one half off” for the deluxe package. BUT that’s at onboard prices, usually at least $85 for the first guest  then $43 ish for the 2nd, so you’re looking minimum $64 (averaged) plus 18%.
 

You can usually get it cheaper than that online esp in a sale 

Beverage packages were reduced more than $10 per day on my next cruise. Unlimited dining was $20 less per day.