alane10

On 7/28/2020 at 8:58 AM, cruise wizard said:

 

Please let us know if you contact Shareholder Benefits with your questions and what their answer is. Thanks.

They said my son’s name needed to be on the custodial account, but sounds like it should work!

Last I had heard the shareholder benefit didn’t stack with C&A benefits, so this is really exciting. My husband and I share our brokerage account, so assume we could only receive the benefit once (regardless of # of shares). However, we have a separate custodial account for our son (under 18). Anyone know if he could also receive the Shareholder benefit? Sometimes he’s in a separate room with my mom, if that matters...

I called back and got someone who understood. Saved a significant amount with the the additional discount applied.

i will definitely try DP340 next time!

3 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

It only excludes, summer and holiday cruises

 

Call the C&A number and press 9 to book.

Thanks. It’s the end of October, so definitely not a holiday. I booked it through #9 on C&A but I don’t think the guy understood what I was saying, so will try again through there. 

I have over 340 cruise points, so should have the following member benefit:

Single supplement cruise fare reduced to 150% from 200% for members that have 340 or more cruise points

However, I just booked a cruise via RCI phone reservation, and they charged me the single supplement was 200%. I was clearly not getting through to the person that the single supplement should be reduced to 150%, so I called back to ask someone else. That person told me the single supplement was not available on that cruise (Oasis at the end of Oct). 

I was not aware that the single supplement benefit was only available for certain cruises. Does anyone have any other info on this? Have others struggled to receive this benefit from Royal?

When I spoke with them a couple weeks ago, I had a cruise payment quickly coming due, and FCC not yet received, as promised. I asked about applying multiple FCCs as some of the new cruises are more expensive than the ones cancelled. They said I might be able to get an exception, but didn't sound promising. 

59 minutes ago, sdude said:

Great suggestions. I would make sure about the time restrictions on the cruising date. I believe it said that it must be taken within 6 months from the date it was issued.

One, also need to remember that all C&A discounts, OBC credit as well as any other perks will be taken away. It also applies to your TA perks. Select the cruise with the least perks otherwise your credit might go down up to half of the amount.

As long as you pay one dollar you also will collect your points. Taxes and fees do not count for payment to receive C&A points.

 

Thank for the advice. I’m going to go check the cruises we have booked after our pinnacle cruise to figure out where we have the least amount of perks already. 

6 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

 

With regard to points, it does not matter who pays, it only matters who cruises.

Ok. Thanks! 

6 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

 

You get a $2400 credit at 700 and 1050 points (and $3200 every 350 points thereafter) for your booked cruise.  In typical Royal fashion, they take away the balcony discount when you apply the Pinnacle free cruise credit.

Oh that’s good to know! I was wondering if I should save it for a more expensive holiday cruise, but sounds like it doesn’t matter if it’s a credit.

Any idea if my son will receive cruise points if we are fully paying his portion of the cruise fare?

Thank you for the quick responses!

@Host Clarea Great news that they can be applied to an existing cruise. 
 

@itsmeagain Sorry to hear that you missed out on yours - I’ll be sure not to wait to hear from RCI!

We will hit Pinnacle in a little over a year.

5 hours ago, CruisinCrow said:

 

We were just around the corner from you, 4th cabin from the back.  I'm surprised I don't remember seeing your little boy but I do remember hearing someone get called to guest services.  I'm glad he was ok.

We typically used the hallway on the other side since our room was slightly closer to that side. 

And didn’t realize there there was an incident on the first day! 😳🤢

37 minutes ago, CruisinCrow said:

 

I wonder if we were neighbors.  We were in 8576, also under the spa on the starboard side.  Which cabin were you in?

 

I didn't notice any bugs personally.

We were in 8086 in the aft. Maybe being in the very back made a difference 🤷‍♀️

Glad you didn’t have to deal with the bugs though!

10 hours ago, Carol28 said:

Thank you for the review and terrific pictures. Your review about flies and bugs concerns me greatly. Why do you think that happened? Did other cruisers have this experience? And, did you hear noise from Deck 9 while you were in your cabin?

 Not sure on the bugs. It was especially bad on the last night when we were on the Chesapeake once it was dark with our cabin lights on and curtains open. Maybe the Chesapeake is just buggy this year...not sure.

Our room was right below the spa, so we didn’t hear anything from up there.

1 hour ago, dkitty said:

When docking in Bermuda - is it better to book a room port side or starboard side ?  I’m looking at an ocean view room and wondering how the ship docks - thanks!

Unfortunately, they book in different directions, so hard to tell. On our last cruise, port side faced the dock. 

On 6/3/2019 at 10:18 AM, SRF said:

WOW, low numbers.

 

So only 2 Pinnacles?

Actually, only 1 pinnacle. It was a holiday weekend, so higher rates than normal.

3 hours ago, biomedbob said:

If you remember the D+ perks on the paperwork in your cabin,  was a discount for the Delux Bev package?

 

I am pretty sure there was not a discount for the deluxe beverage package. You could get (I believe) 20% off a beverage, but I doubt RCI would let you apply to the package.

4 hours ago, Pumbaamd said:

Did you three top cruisers  couples have dinner with John Denton?

No, but maybe the Pinnacle did. The meal with a Officer was lunch and the Loyalty Ambassador, Diane, joined us as well as someone from Guest Services (but I don't remember his name =/)

5 hours ago, CruisinCrow said:

Thanks for the review.  We were on that same cruise!  You wrote your review so fast.  I'm still working on mine but hope to have it done in a few days.  

 

I hid 6 ducks on that cruise but haven't seen anyone post any pictures of them.  I don't think the one you found was one of mine.

We had a whirlwind weekend to St. Louis to watch the Blues play, so wanted to get it in before the crazy weekend! That's awesome that you hid some ducks. This one was on floor 8 way on the aft wall.

4 hours ago, zooma said:

Thanks so much for your review! Have enjoyed your Anthem ones as well. Can you do a quick compare between the Anthem and the Grandeur in terms of quality/condition of accommodations, ships venues/features, and just generally things to do on board? We'll be on an Anthem 5-day soon but are also thinking of sneaking in a Grandeur sailing at some point. 

 

Also, about how long did it take you to drive from the BWI area to Bayonne?

 

Thanks!

Anthem is clearly a newer, cleaner ship, and has the bells and whistles (and more to do) of a newer ship. However, Grandeur is known to be one of the nicest ships, which I totally believe. The crew is just super friendly and accommodating.

From my son, I am sure he would give Anthem the nod as it has the Seaplex and he LOVES basketball, it also has an arcade (which is super cheesy but amazing to a 4 year old), and more pools (although, no splashaway bay).

We like both a lot for different reasons. Grandeur is just a super chill vacation. We really don't plan to do anything, and just appreciate not having much of a schedule. Anthem is a bit busier...since there is more to do, but still a lot of passengers, you have to plan your time more (i.e. iFly, Seaplex open basketball hours, Northstar).

Anthem wins food for sure. More options including some of our favs like Wonderland, Jamie's, and Coast Kitchen (for suites and pinnacles).

We are about 50 minutes south of Baltimore, and it takes us about 4 hours to get to Bayonne. However, we tend to leave super early before the traffic gets too bad. I think we leave around 5am, have breakfast about 1-1.5 hours into the trip, couple random potty stops for the 4 year old, gas up right before getting off the highway, and we typically are there around 10am.

19 hours ago, mets123 said:

How many c&a points did you have that qualified you for third highest on the ship ?

After this cruise, we have 549 points. The second highest was in the mid-600s.

19 hours ago, Cru1s1ng2009 said:

Is Fun Golf within walking distance of the ship? I have never seen it the times we were there. 

thanks for the review. Getting on her in a couple weeks. 

Yep. If you head right off the ship and follow the green footsteps, it takes you right there. It’s about a 5-8 minute walk with a 4 year old.

We got back yesterday from our 5 night cruise to Bermuda. We didn’t really have much planned, but had a really fun trip.

https://familytimeadventure.com/grandeur-5-night-bermuda-5-25-2019/

Let me know if you have any questions from our trip!

On 5/22/2019 at 9:34 PM, SportsFanatic said:

 Here’s what Matt from Royal Caribbean blog posted so he said he asked the lifeguard and they told him adults can go on the slides so maybe they changed it? 

 Nice! I’m going to hope this is accurate and doesn’t change!

I am way late on this review, but figured I should get it out before our cruise tomorrow 🙂

https://familytimeadventure.com/2019/05/24/grandeur-9-night-se-coastal-cruise-3-28-2019/

Let me know if you have any questions about our cruise!

17 hours ago, SportsFanatic said:

 Not sure, but I did read on the Royal Caribbean blog that adults are able to go on the slides  at Splashaway  bay on CocoCay

This provides some hope. Thanks!

Yes, I saw the above where it says Max 42”  with 200lb max weight, which is why I was hoping to see if anyone knew for sure.

When I reached out to RCI via FB messenger, I was told it was maximum 42”, but it seemed they were just reading off the above chart...and we all know how accurate their online info can be...

On the website, it states that the slides at Splashaway Bay on Cococay are a MAXIMUM of 42".

The Splashaway Bay slides on the ships are a MINIMUM of 42".

Knowing how often the website has mistakes, can anyone who has been to Perfect Day at Cococay confirm what the restrictions are for the Spashaway Bay slides?

5 minutes ago, Queen of Oakville said:

I am also doing intermittent fasting so the big challenge for me will be forgoing breakfast.  Easy to do at home, but i'm sure it will be more challenging on a cruise.

I IF 5-6 days a week. I feel like it adds a lot of flexibility when cruising. My hubby and son will go ahead and eat breakfast and I'll just have my green tea. If I am worried that we have a shore day or excursion where lunch is questionable, I'll go ahead and have an omelet. 

Overall, I find keto extremely easy to maintain while cruising. The only problem has been when my husband arranged for a "keto cake" for my birthday, and based on how bad we felt the next day...not keto...

We will also splurge on wine...but as others have said, any weight gain is gone within a week. 

22 hours ago, HOSKI said:

Thank you, where do you see the dolphins?

Once you enter the museum, there is a big open courtyard. If you head to the right, you will see the signs for the dolphins. There is a playground with a big slide right near there too.