One of the many differences is the booking of excursions and on board stuff. With Disney, you book/reserve an excursion or cabana and it comes out of your shipboard account once you're sailing. The convo with a Royal agent indicated that I'd have to pay upon booking a cabana. (Is this accurate?) Which is fine...however, I'd like to know if the cabanas are still available before I select a date. It seems like there are a lot, unlike CC cabanas. Unfortunately the pricing seems to vary for everything depending on sailing so I have no idea what to expect for drink packages, upgraded dining packages, etc. Very excited to check out Icon and PD@CC. Is there any way to find out pricing for extra purchase items for particular sailings? My Royal agent didn't seem thrilled with answering so many questions during a shop call. Any help would be appreciated! We are 2A/3C (will be 12, 10, 8 at time of sailing in 2024)
Get an online account and the app with your sailing loaded. Then you'll be able to see what's available for your cruise, see how much things are, and make your bookings that way.
There's also not the PIF requirement, or even a specific date as far as I could see, before you can book things.
Yes, you pre-pay for everything you book ahead of time. Most things will have a 24-hour cancellation for refund, and it's easy to cancel. Once on board, if you cancel something, it goes immediately into your onboard account as a "Refundable Credit," so it will offset any onboard charges or be refunded to your credit card after the cruise if you don't use it all.
They run sales on stuff like drink packages, dining. Book now, but keep checking and if you get a better rate, you can cancel and re-book at the better rate (you can cancel online, I don't think you can cancel in the app).
Pro-Tip: They kept telling me to book shows as soon as I got on board, but I discovered that I could book on the app way in advance of our sailing. Check back regularly.
Also look at booking The Key. This allows you lunch in the main dining room on embarkation day (limited menu from Chops Grille); you can drop your carrryon bags with them at the MDR and they take them immediately to your room; sit-down breakfast on debarkation day; priority boarding; better seating at shows (you still have to make your reservation on the app). It also includes internet package. We thought it was worth it for the lunch alone--getting onboard was crazy-chaotic, and it was so nice to sit down somewhere quiet to eat lunch, log on to ship's wi-fi, etc. By the time we finished eating, our rooms were ready.