Questions about future cruise certificate and arcades

[lauritagoddess]

We have future cruise certificates that say that the cruise must be taken by 1/8/25.  Does that mean that the cruise must depart no later than 1/8/25, or that the entire cruise must be completed by 1/8/25?
 

Also, which ships do you think have the best arcades?  Two of us have kids (one a young teenager the other a young adult) with autism and love arcades, so it is something we’d like to take into consideration.

 

Thanks!

[smokeybandit]

Arcades are always hit and miss as to what games actually work.

[njkruzer]

Usually the NextCruise certificate tells you when you have to book by. This is usually 1 year from when you purchased it.

[lauritagoddess]

20 minutes ago, njkruzer said:

Usually the NextCruise certificate tells you when you have to book by. This is usually 1 year from when you purchased it.

We didn’t purchase the certificates.  They were given to use as a goodwill gesture by Royal Caribbean because of a screw up on their end.  We were issued the certificates on 1/8/24.  The certificates state “Cruise must be taken by 01/08/2025”.  This is why it’s not clear to me.

[smokeybandit]

It does mean you need to have taken the cruise by then. 

[njkruzer]

3 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

It does mean you need to have taken the cruise by then. 

Sounds right.

[Another_Critic]

1 hour ago, lauritagoddess said:

We have future cruise certificates that say that the cruise must be taken by 1/8/25.  Does that mean that the cruise must depart no later than 1/8/25, or that the entire cruise must be completed by 1/8/25?

Sail (departure) date, not completion date.

[lauritagoddess]

1 hour ago, Another_Critic said:

Sail (departure) date, not completion date.

So now I’m confused again since the responses above implied completion date rather than sail date.

 

I guess I should call Royal Caribbean to clarify, but I’ve been given inconsistent information from them before.  Ugh.

[Ourusualbeach]

2 hours ago, Another_Critic said:

Sail (departure) date, not completion date.

Exactly, departure date is all that matters

Edited March 22 by Ourusualbeach

[Ourusualbeach]

1 hour ago, lauritagoddess said:

So now I’m confused again since the responses above implied completion date rather than sail date.

 

I guess I should call Royal Caribbean to clarify, but I’ve been given inconsistent information from them before.  Ugh.

As long as the cruise departs by the day on the certificate you are good

[lauritagoddess]

So good to know it’s the sail date, thanks!

 

Anyone else have an opinion on the arcades?  I know that they’re mostly not great, and are way overpriced, but it’s something that both kids love and it would make this trip easier for all of us if they had something they can enjoy doing together part of the time.

[T-2]

Just a personal observation as I haven't been on every RCCL ship but I can compare maybe 14 of them, the one arcade that really stood out when we saw it was Wonder of the Seas, will be on Icon in a couple weeks so that one I haven't seen yet... but the Wonder really was a nice surprise. Maybe there are some images or its in someones youtube review? 

[I Love RCI]

On 3/22/2024 at 5:40 PM, lauritagoddess said:

So good to know it’s the sail date, thanks!

 

Anyone else have an opinion on the arcades?  I know that they’re mostly not great, and are way overpriced, but it’s something that both kids love and it would make this trip easier for all of us if they had something they can enjoy doing together part of the time.

It is too variable. For the most part, around half the machines/games will not be working. Even on the Icon inaugural, there were around 3 machines/games that were already out. It is really rolling the dice whether you will find an arcade with a game that you will want to play and that is working. Reviews will be almost meaningless since the game may work on one cruise, and be out for the next one. We did a year apart repeat sailing on the same ship and the games that were not functioning during the first cruise were still not working a year later (and included more games/machines that were down). 

 

The only other thing to consider is that on ships that have Playmakers, they often have their own games/machines so you should check those out too. Some of them include old school games (think Pac-Man, Galaga, Donkey Kong, etc) and they are often free to play.