wallyj

There may be an exception on the last night. My experience on the Navigator last March was I stayed up till about 00:30 and went to a bar and was told the drink vouchers were not reloaded yet. So it could have just been a one time delay or ? Also the Plaza Bar up in WJ, as of early February stopped having alcohol available on disembarkation morning. I am currently on Navigator and had breakfast in the MDR on disembarkation day and could order alcohol with my vouchers.

Thanks Ken @Ourusualbeachfor answering my question. I am not surprised NextCruise gave me incorrect info. I remember reading a thread not too long ago where the OP stated NextCruise gave them a booking with OBC and it was not honored and a subsequent post in that thread stated NextCruise was a third party operation and NOT Royal employees.

Hi Ken @Ourusualbeach, I am currently on the Navigator and talked to NextCruise and they are saying you need to have booked AND pre pay by Sept 7 to lock in the current/old rate. I have a sailing in November that was booked long ago as it is a L&S from 2020. As it was booked prior to Sept 7 2022, your quote leads a person to think they can prepay before sailing date and NOT September 7, 2022 and still be charged the current/old rate? NextCruise is saying you need to prepay by Sept 7, 2022. I believe the earlier mistake cruise docs for August sailings stating the increase in gratuities mentioned a book by date AND a pre pay by date. As a side note, a previous thread alluded to NextCruise is actually a third party company and not Royal employees. The agent at NextCruise said indeed he is a Royal employee and not a third party/contract employee and the only contract employees/third party on Royal is the Shops and the SPA. I was surprised as on most ships I have sailed the Casino and Photography department are third party. Ken, can you confirm?

I believe YGIAGAM, you guess is as good as mine

As of February this year 2022, on Navigator, disembarkation morning, no alcohol available at PlazaBar in Windjammer so no champagne. I do not know if MDR is serving alcohol drinks on disembarkation morning. Coffee drinks and non alcohol drinks are still available. Previously while doing B2B’s, I was able to use D+ vouchers to get canned beers to take back to cabin, but now will have to settle for canned or bottled non alcoholic drinks.

@Braves Sooner girl, I will keep a look out for your group. I am booked on the Navigator for the 8/19 sailing and will make some inquiries on board and report back here and the ‘roll call’

@Ourusualbeach, thank you for your reply. Since they are many passengers not here on Cruise critic to see this discussion , it will be interesting to see what happens when they board on Dec9 and purchased the UDP at the ‘low’ fare not knowing it was a mistake. If the ship honors it, great. I also understand just because Royal honored the Drink package pricing error years ago, it does not matter.

@Ourusualbeach, Thanks Ken, for you quick and educated reply. I am on the Dec9 sailing and saw since early July when I booked the sailing showing the ‘low’ UDP price, but did not know till I saw a roll call where someone posted Dec9 used to be a 3 day sailing and when Royal switched to combine earlier this year, what options were offered to booked passengers. Believe the UDP pricing was ‘updated’ yesterday with the usual 7 day pricing, but was showing the lower price for at least 1 month. Still interested in knowing if anyone has seen written policy regarding ‘pricing error’ on website. A few years ago, I got a really good fare on a Holland America 28 day sailing. A few days after booking, I received an email from HA acknowledging the ‘error’ but they said they would honor it but I needed to pay in full within a few weeks and cruise was 18 months away. Cruise did happen and I had a great cruise.

Pre Covid, the ‘Diamond’ and above drinks were always loaded on your seapass card to be used at any bar during ‘happy hour’ with the limited bar menu, for those who did not want to attend the ‘event’ or would like to drink at a bar with other passengers who did not have access to the DL or not deal with crowd or whatever in DL. Your drinks can now be used at any bar, few exceptions like Bionic Bar, for any drink valued at $13 or less till midnight, when your vouchers expire and get reloaded for the next day, on disembarkation morning, ships used to have alcohol available, but my sailings on Navigator after February 2022, only non alcohol drinks were available disembarkation morning at Plaza Bar in WJ. I do not know if MDR has access to Bloody Mary, Mimosa’s, etc. on disembarkation morning.

I believe Royal’s mistake was originally the Dec9th sailing was a 3 night cruise but earlier this year they combined it with the four night Dec12th cruise to make it a 7 night full Mexico cruise with Cabo, PV and Mazatlan. Royal IT probably missed Dec9 was changed to a 7 night sailing but did not update the pricing for the UDP. What will they do? Yes, your ‘calendar’ entry for day 1 says 3 day Unlimited Dining Package, but pretty sure if you click on order history description it displays ‘Unlimited Dining Package’ not 3 day Unlimited Dining Package’ . I read Royal honored the Beverage package pricing error years ago, but who knows what they will do for this situation? @Ourusualbeach, would this be considered a ‘pricing error’ that Royal usually ‘honors’? Calling C&A desk might get you an answer. Anyone know if there is a written Royal policy on website regarding ‘pricing errors’?

Yes, you can transfer a coffee package to another passenger and it is ‘on’ their medallion. I have traveled solo and traded in my ‘elite’ minibar for 2 coffee packages. I was traveling with friends so I asked guest services to add the other coffee packages to one of my friends who were in another cabin. All you need is the passengers name and cabin number. Guest services says the coffee package is loaded by charging it to the passenger, then the charge is credited back.

Hi @DiRonT, noticed you caught you typo within a minute, did you know you can edit your post within a certain amount of time instead of typing your corrected post? I think you have 10-15 minutes to ‘edit’. Just click on the 3 ‘dots’ next to the post # in the upper right corner, it will then have a drop down option to ‘edit’.

I called C&A this morning regarding another issue, making dining reservations and because one party booked in Canada, no can do, because currencies are different, even though there is no charge for my time dining reservations. I asked about my eDoc for a late August cruise showing the higher ‘tips’ amount. The agent said Royal Corporate sent an email ‘blast’ on Monday to hopefully all cust service agents, they are to share the notification of increased ‘tips’ is a mistake, no change ‘yet’. C&A agent said they will notate your booking, so there should be no issue on board. Guess we will find out, once passengers are on board these sailings where eDocs showed an increase. Someone did not get the email?

I have friends on this sailing, Caribbean Princess, August 31, 2022. I can also confirm the same situation where some past passengers were ‘targeted’ with a really good low fare. These friends have traveled together before, so they did the passenger booking swap thing, so all cabins got the great fare, so Princess is still doing target marketing to certain past passengers and the answer to the OP’s original query would be, Princess has offered certain passengers a promo and unfortunately, you were not included. As Canada has some of the highest airfare taxes, some of the friends waited and Princess did reduce the return sailing back to New York, so they are doing B2B and total airfare wound up less since roundtrip NY flights were less than doing the 2 one ways, one to NY and a return from Quebec. @movinout, good to hear you were able to get an even better offer, but you would think, the ‘system’ should automatically apply any ‘offers’ or ‘promos’ when you search on Princess and return the lowest fare you are entitled. Nice to hear it worked out.

Royal’s policy is to ‘post’ your earned/sailed points about 7 days ‘after’ your completed sailing, so you do not officially meet the number of days while on a sailing. If you are on a B2B or S2S, talking to the LA on board if you will advance tiers on first segment almost always gets you recognized at higher tier for 2nd sailing. Not sure if they manually post points or just internally notate on ship till it is officially updated on RCL. On the Navigator earlier this year, I had friends who would reach Diamond when that sailing points would posts. They asked the LA if they could get their Diamond pin and were told they would get it on their next sailing, so some Ambassadors are sticking to, until the points posts, you are what the system currents says you are.

Depending on how ‘good’ friends you are with this couple, you could book one of them with one of you, since it appears they are getting the ‘better’ fare, then switch on board to your respective mates. Seems to be more than just ‘past passenger’ rate, as you would be entitled.

I have done a few B2B’s on the Navigator earlier this year and believe the process is most likely still the same. Your stateroom account for the first voyage will be closed and you will start with a ‘fresh’ account for your second sailing even if you are staying in the same cabin. You will be given you ‘new’ seapass card at the meeting place noted in your turn around day letter/instructions. The ship was not consistent regarding if we needed to watch the safety videos again, sometimes they said they would check us in automatically and other times they asked us to re watch while waiting to be taken off ship to meet with customs. They will let you know. A luncheon in the MDR for consecutive cruisers may be scheduled, it depends on if the minimum number of passengers has been met per the F&B Mgr. At Los Angeles, you will be led to customs to show your passport or be ‘scanned’ off the ship and most likely then be corralled to a holding area in the terminal till the ship has been cleared and the ok for re-boarding has been given. This process takes about 1 to 1 1/2 hours , you will most likely board back around 11-11:30 am.

I finally received my eDocs for my upcoming Navigator sailings. For my Aug 26-29 2022 sailing, the eDocs say the gratuities are $16/day with the verbiage if booked by July 15, 2022 you can pre pay at the old $14.50 rate which has been previously reported by others who have received eDocs with the ‘new’ rate. What was strange to me was the eDocs for my B2B sailing for Aug 29-Sept 2 say the daily Grants are $14.50/day. I checked the date the eDocs were generated and the Aug 26 sailing is dated July 27, 2022 and the Aug 29 sailing is dated 4 days earlier at July 23, 2022. I called C&A this morning and was told, sorry yes we know about this, it is an ‘error’, gratuities are ‘NOT’ increasing, which will be true until RCL officially announces otherwise.

I am assuming the OP is not looking at the Coffee AND Soda pkg, as his reply to me said he was looking at the soda/coffee package(s)? Depending on the length of sailing and how many specialty coffees are needed/anticipated, it may be more economical to buy the soda pkg and one coffee pkg(old coffee card)? The price tag for the Coffee and Soda package at $19.99 /day seems high, considering you could get the ‘plus’ amenities for $50/day which also include daily gratuities and 1 device WiFi and 15 alcohol drinks for those who indulge. If you add the total price with the 18% gratuity of the Coffee and Soda pkg @23.59 and the minimum daily cabin gratuity of $14.50 you are at approximately $48/day already, so for $2 more you would get 1 device WiFi and alcohol going with ‘plus’.

Yes

Sorry, I guessed incorrectly you were asking about the ‘adult’/alcohol beverage package. Any bar or the international cafe will be able to add the soda or coffee pkg. I do not believe there is any discount to pre purchase the soda or coffee pkg , so waiting till you board is fine. The ‘plus’ package/amenity is not offered thru the cruise Personalizer, Princess needs to add this amenity manually and can only be done pre cruise, not on board or thru the cruise booking process as you are usually now offered upgrading to ‘plus’ or ‘premier’ package at $50 or $75/day .

When is your sailing and which ship? Unless you are booked on a special promo, most bookings you should be able to add the ‘plus’ package which includes the beverage package, the daily gratuities and WiFi for 1 device at $50/day. I believe the Beverage package alone if bought separately is easily over $70/day with the 18% gratuity. You should be able to ‘cash out’ OBC thru the casino, see other threads on this process. If booked directly thru Princess, call direct, else if you are booked they a travel agent, they will need to verify pricing and add the ‘plus’ amenity.

Prior to February 2022, I was on Navigator during December 2021 and January 2022 and the Bar in the Windjammer had alcohol and I was able to get unopened Beers to take back to my room as I was doing B2B’s or make my own Mimosa’s getting a glass of ‘Chandon’. When I was back on the Navigator in February 2022, bartender told me no alcohol available in the morning on disembarkation. I do not know if you could get mimosa’s or Bloody Mary in the MDR. Also, not sure if this policy is ship specific. You still have your D, D+, or Pinn vouchers to use, but limited availability of drinks on disembarkation morning. I also tried staying up late after midnight on last day of cruise to see if vouchers ‘reloaded’ so I could take some ‘drinks’ back to room. Went to a bar at about 12:30am and bartender told me vouchers were not ‘reloaded’ yet, so not sure if the system does this intentionally on last night, or ? Vouchers were eventually reloaded as I was able to get soft drinks(cans) after breakfast at WJ.

Hi @RCCL Fan, enjoying your review and looking forward to future installments. @Sea Dog, from reading your post, do you realize OP is not on the ship currently and has been home and is now just releasing review, piece by piece. Your question, do you see…infers present tense opposed to ‘did you see’…, so asking question that might require poster to check location are not realistic unless poster happened to notice such things like the available bourbon and whiskeys.

Hi @ronjoh, the price for internet for platinum and above if purchase before cruise and for entire voyage would be $5/day so for a 7 day cruise it would be $35. If you feel you do not need for entire voyage, you can purchase on a per day basis for the discount rate of $10/day, normally $20/day but as platinum or elite you get 50% discount. So you can plan how much internet you will need for your particular voyage. You cannot buy ‘minutes’. Minimum is one day/24 hours. You should be able to buy the whole voyage plan on the APP before your cruise and it will know your discount if you are entitled to one.