„Nickel and Diming“ questions

[starvenger]

I do sympathize with pp's point about paying for the kids' meal. I used the first night done right promotion on my last cruise, and booked the kids similar to what you did. But apart from a crappy web development team, there's really no reason that they cannot charge the kids pricing for the specialty restaurant, thereby reducing the number of things you (and the restaurant staff) need to do once you're onboard by one.

 

[crabbymom]

I do sympathize with pp's point about paying for the kids' meal. I used the first night done right promotion on my last cruise, and booked the kids similar to what you did. But apart from a crappy web development team, there's really no reason that they cannot charge the kids pricing for the specialty restaurant, thereby reducing the number of things you (and the restaurant staff) need to do once you're onboard by one.

That is so true!!! My only solace in this is SOMETIMES the staff have just let our youngest eat for free instead of dealing with just charging one kids meal...Serves the crappy IT folks at Royal right cause that little princess can put down some steak!

 

[lark]

The problem is that I don’t really know how hard it will be to book onboard at the times we want. This is for a holiday cruise and we want New Years and a birthday at a particular time. So, to book four of us at Chops, we pay $120 over the kids price. I doubt we’ll have trouble spending it if that gets credited as OBP but it is kind of annoying. Maybe I’m just being compulsive booking this far ahead. Still, I read some advice to book holiday cruise dinners well in advance. NCL seems way more laid back about this. But I’m sure it will be fine. Maybe I could use the $120 for cupcakes!

 

[lynch34]

I moved from DCL to NCL and now we’re getting ready for our first RCI cruise, and so far I’m not loving all the charging. You have to actually pay to making any specialty dining in advance, and you are charged the full adult price even with kids — supposedly you get the difference between the kids price and the adult price back as OBC but it’s reportedly a hassle. There are a bunch of activities listed in my cruise planner for a charge. $110 for a behind the scenes tour is ok, I guess, but $30 for cupcake decorating? That’s $120 for a family of four! I’m sure there will be plenty of things to do on board for free but so far I’m a little e concerned.

I get it but they could charge you a lot more than that and you still end up way better off. DCL's prices are outrageous compared to all other cruiselines. There's no debate about it. You can go hogwild on other cruiselines and still end up significantly better off than going with DCL.

 

[starvenger]

The problem is that I don’t really know how hard it will be to book onboard at the times we want. This is for a holiday cruise and we want New Years and a birthday at a particular time. So, to book four of us at Chops, we pay $120 over the kids price. I doubt we’ll have trouble spending it if that gets credited as OBP but it is kind of annoying. Maybe I’m just being compulsive booking this far ahead. Still, I read some advice to book holiday cruise dinners well in advance. NCL seems way more laid back about this. But I’m sure it will be fine. Maybe I could use the $120 for cupcakes!

And there it is. You want something very specific, and it's a New Year's cruise. In this scenario, I'd definitely go the route you've done. It just sucks to have to overpay at first, then work to get that refunded back.

 

[DisneyNurse19]

I moved from DCL to NCL and now we’re getting ready for our first RCI cruise, and so far I’m not loving all the charging. You have to actually pay to making any specialty dining in advance, and you are charged the full adult price even with kids — supposedly you get the difference between the kids price and the adult price back as OBC but it’s reportedly a hassle. There are a bunch of activities listed in my cruise planner for a charge. $110 for a behind the scenes tour is ok, I guess, but $30 for cupcake decorating? That’s $120 for a family of four! I’m sure there will be plenty of things to do on board for free but so far I’m a little e concerned.

We did the behind the scene ship tour and although it was expensive we loved it. For us it was a once only as you wouldn't really need to do it again.

 

[lark]

I get it but they could charge you a lot more than that and you still end up way better off. DCL's prices are outrageous compared to all other cruiselines. There's no debate about it. You can go hogwild on other cruiselines and still end up significantly better off than going with DCL.

Yeah, no question here. I really don't know how Disney does it, especially during school times. But, boy they have their market. More power to them.

One other thing that I noticed when I switched over from DCL to NCL (I've now done 3 DCL and 4 NCL) is that another extra "cost" -- sort of -- with doing disney cruises is that it's very very hard to out-compulsive disney fans. On NCL, you can get all sorts of little advantages, like knowing the first day to book restaurants, knowing the hidden or secret areas of the ship, gaming the times for water slides, etc. All the stuff that we talk about all the time on disboards. Even 6 months out, you can grab a cabin that has that extra 20 feet of balcony if you put in a little bit of research.

But on DCL, forget it! This is the same crowd that gets up at 6:00 a.m. for BOG and flight of passage fastpasses. You can't out-think disney fans, no matter how compulsive you are. Love that cruise to Iceland? You better be able to book the secret verandah 18 months in advance on opening day! There's a great tour guide at a port of call who gets great reviews on tripadvisor and is 50 percent of the cost of a disney excursion? You better have his cell phone on speed dial when you do a DCL cruise!

Obviously, I'm being a little bit tongue in cheek here. But I found that there is a bit of truth to it -- non-disney cruisers in my small sample of experience seem to have a much more laid back, let the vacation happen to me, type of attitude. So, us compulsives can eat them alive!!! :0)

 

[starvenger]

It is funny because it's true - Last time out I tried to book Cinderella's castle and/or BOG 180 days before and were shut out. Ended up doing 1900 Park Fare and had a wonderful dinner, but that's neither here nor there. The level of preparedness is impressive.

As far as cruises go, remember that DCL has only 4 ships. If you're not vigilant, it's hard to get exactly what you want. As the fleet grows, so too should the opportunity to get those advantages.

 

[crabbymom]

It's very very hard to out-compulsive disney fans.

But on DCL, forget it! This is the same crowd that gets up at 6:00 a.m. for BOG and flight of passage fastpasses. You can't out-think disney fans, no matter how compulsive you are. Love that cruise to Iceland? You better be able to book the secret verandah 18 months in advance on opening day! There's a great tour guide at a port of call who gets great reviews on tripadvisor and is 50 percent of the cost of a disney excursion? You better have his cell phone on speed dial when you do a DCL cruise!

Obviously, I'm being a little bit tongue in cheek here. But I found that there is a bit of truth to it -- non-disney cruisers in my small sample of experience seem to have a much more laid back, let the vacation happen to me, type of attitude. So, us compulsives can eat them alive!!! :0)

This is so true!!! And I consider myself a compulsive planner!! On Royal Caribbean, that means I'm pretty much first getting everything I want. But when I was the planner for Disney? Man...That's like Olympic level planning!!

 

[hertamaniac]

Wait, I thought you can put a luggage tag on a case or two of bottled water and they will deliver it to your room along with the rest of your luggage? I don't want to lug a case of water around if I don't have to.

 

[lark]

Wait, I thought you can put a luggage tag on a case or two of bottled water and they will deliver it to your room along with the rest of your luggage? I don't want to lug a case of water around if I don't have to.

From what I've read on this issue, this is not allowed under official RCI policy, but many have reported being able to get away with it.

 

[hertamaniac]

From what I've read on this issue, this is not allowed under official RCI policy, but many have reported being able to get away with it.

Actually, I just read the Celebrity beverage policy and nowhere does it forbid bringing a case of bottled water on board.

 

[msjprincess]

Actually, I just read the Celebrity beverage policy and nowhere does it forbid bringing a case of bottled water on board.

It may be different on Celebrity. On RCCL it's officially against policy but they rarely enforce it. The only time I've heard about it being enforced is for cruises over Spring Break.

Afterward

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Q: Can I bring liquor or non-alcoholic beverages (from home or from a port) onboard?

A:
Guests are not allowed to bring beer, hard liquor, fortified wines or non-alcoholic beverages onboard for consumption or any other use on boarding day or while in port. Alcoholic beverages seized on boarding day will not be returned.