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Royal Caribbean’s New Pricing Policy

Written by T.I. Cruiser on September 30, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Traditionally, Royal Caribbean has had one of the strictest policies when it comes to passengers benefiting from price drops (after final payment has been made). Thankfully, that is no longer the case. Recently Royal Caribbean has announced a new “Best Price Guarantee”. What this guarantee does is allow passengers to book a cruise with Royal Caribbean without fear of missing out on a price drop after final payment is made.

Many passenger like to book their cruises early in order to finalize travel plans, get the exact cabin they want or a myriad of other reasons. The drawback to booking early (with Royal Caribbean) was their strict policy which basically left you S.O.L. if the cruise line decided to drop the price of the cruise after your final payment due date.

“Best Price Guarantee gives guests peace of mind, allowing them to plan ahead, book early and get the staterooms and excursions that they want with no worries that a better deal will come along after they’ve committed,” says Royal Caribbean marketing chief Betsy O’Rourke in a statement. “We want our guests to know that they received a good deal from us.”

Enter the new policy

Effective immediately the “Best Price Guarantee” gives you the freedom to book early while maintaining financial peace of mind. If you book early and then find a lower advertised fare for the same ship, sail date and category you will receive the full difference in the price in the form of an on-board credit. The best part is the Royal Caribbean “Best Price Guarantee” is available up until 72 hours of your cruise departing.

Now, one thing that passengers must be aware of is that Royal Caribbean won’t automatically credit your account. Passengers must find the new deals on their own and will also need to contact either Royal Caribbean or their travel agent in order to get the credit (passengers outside of their final payment date can request a reduction or refund).

To read the full “Best Price Guarantee” in Royal Caribbean’s own words, click here.

My Freedom Cruise: Final Two Days at Sea

Written by T.I. Cruiser on September 24, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Due to our change in itinerary we were set to finish up our 8 day Carnival Freedom cruise with back to back days at sea. For some spending the last two days at sea is less than ideal, but this was a welcome change for me since many times I need a post cruise vacation to catch up on all the sleep I miss out on.

These last two days were your typical days at sea (which I love). The days were filled with lounging by the pool watching the games being played and many trips to the buffet. Any weight I gained during this cruise can mostly be attributed to this portion of the trip. I did a lot of relaxing and not much exercising. I did manage to accumulate a few more trivia trophies the last couple of days, almost to the point of being ridiculous. At one point during one of the last pool trivia sessions Steve (cruise director staff) didn’t even bother with his usual routine of building suspense. He just asked us how many we got right and then asked the crowd if anyone could beat that number.

I spent more time in the Casino than normal since I was actually winning a small amount. Although, since I was only playing penny slots my winnings never added up to any appreciable amount but the goal of having was was definitely accomplished.

There were two more feature shows planned for the last two evenings. The first which was a production show was called “Ticket to Ride”. As you can probably guess it was a Beatles tribute show. Once again the performers didn’t disappoint. This particular show also seemed to get the best reaction from the crowd (imagine that from a Beattles tribute). I would be willing to bet there wasn’t a single person in the audience that didn’t have an amazing time.

The very last show of the cruise was the Carnival Legends show. All week Carnival had been holding open auditions where passengers could try out to be one of the legends. This show was a chance for those passengers who won to get up on the big stage to perform in front of everyone. Although none of these performers were professional a couple of them did surprise with one in particular being really good. The others weren’t very good singers but it wasn’t that kind of show. The legends show isn’t a competition just one last chance for passengers to enjoy eachother for one last night.

After the show was over we took one last opportunity to walk around the ship making sure we etched every nook and cranny into our memories. The last night of a cruise is always bittersweet for me. Part of me is saddened due to my cruise coming to an end, while the other part of me is anxious to file away the memories I have made.

My Freedom Cruise: Tortola Part 2

Written by T.I. Cruiser on September 22, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Tonight we dined in the Sun King restaurant. I’ll have more on that at a later time as it deserves a full entry on its own. However, I will say it was well worth the service charge. Tonight would be another quiet and relaxing night highlighted by one of Carnival’s signature production shows; Jump, Jive and Wail.

Jump, Jive and Wail was set to begin at 8:30 which was perfect for us. It gave us enough time to have a leisurely dinner in the Sun King and still make it to the Victoriana lounge with just enough time to not win at bingo. Luckily, the show made up for the losing.

I had seen this production show a couple of times on other ships, but the Freedom pulled it off the best. For those unfamiliar with this particular show it is a 40′s swing tribute complete with costumes and tons of energy. Even those of you who don’t normally consider yourself fans of that particular genre will get a kick out of the show. Who knows, maybe some of you will even get to be part of the show. At one point in the show a few of the dancers came out to dance with a some members of the audience. I have no idea if these audience members were pre-selected (maybe from dance classes), but they did swing dancing a lot better than I would have been able to pull off. Normally, when I am done watching a Carnival show I am left unimpressed. However, I must say on this particular cruise I left very impressed with its performers. I know I have said it before but this cast of singers and dancers were the best I’d ever seen on Carnival.

After the production show we headed up to the lido for a deck party. Music was provided by the band “Motion” and everyone particularly the kids on board had a blast. There was a buffet that took place at 11:30 but I didn’t bother with it since I have an aversion to the late night cruise buffets. I do like taking pictures but I’m not a big fan of grazing with the herd. Since this wasn’t the sort of buffet you would take pictures of it was the usual for me, two slices of pizza.