SoonerDan

does anyone have a link to the right tests to buy online?  I am nervous to get wrong one as well

We booked on Adventure for 11/17

I could have sworn the other day check in was open but I didn’t have my passports. Today, I can’t check in.

When is check in typically opening?  Just worried we will be to late and get late boarding time. 

Thanks for the help.  Was confusing to me because what I was reading on the site wasn't matching what it said in the email that accompanied the credits that came literally last Saturday.  I am thinking it was the old template since that was when credits would have originally been issued

Hello!!

I am confused on our Future Cruise Credits we received as part of the cancellations we received from COVID

- some of our certificates didn't get reissued after a second cruise cancellation.  We called and they were reissued after a few days with manager approval (this was a few days ago we received the email).

- the email we got with the certificates said cruise "must be taken" by 4/30/22.

- we also have some certs under our kids.  Our understanding is we can transfer them to us (parents)

Questions:

Cruise we booked is for 4/24 seven night eastern- it returns 5/1/22..is this ok with the cruise taken by 4/30?

More confusion was when we called the agent said oh no you just have to book by 4/30/22 as long as it's taken by Sept 22

He also said we needed to draw up a letter asking to transfer kids credit to parents.  Have it notarized and then call and ask where to send it

Is any of this correct?  Do we need to call again? Can someone help me with my confusion??!

I was wondering if I would have to do it on the phone versus online to do this.  When I was trying online it was requiring a deposit

Hello friends

We have been cancelled on two cruises. One we had paid in full, but they allowed us to use a FCC from our first cancelled cruise to pay for it instead (still waiting on that refund)- our FCC has now been reissued as our second cruise was cancelled.

We had a promenade room booked, our total FCC is $1,430

We are looking at booking and using our FCC.  The new cruise we are looking at (also promenade) is $1,158 total

Am I seeing right that I am going to have to spend $500 of new cash to make the deposit even if I want to pay in full right now with my FCC

That seems ridiculous since the $1400 FCC was new cash at the time and included a deposit.  Plus they are sitting on another $1600 they are yet to refund

Bottom line- does using an FCC that is over the new total still require a new infusion of cash?

Ok... we are confused but trying to figure it out 

1- was booked on May 10 freedom. ($714) plus taxes and fees 

2- we didn’t think it would go so we cancelled and wanted to book cruise for good price in June. Same route. Got a ($714 cruise credit)

3- were told they Couldn’t move our booking but we had to pay cash for June sailing. Get credit in week or so. Call in. They would refund us cash and apply credit. 
4- called after cert. they acted like they had never heard this but finally we got it done. New date was $649. So they said refund of my cash. Apply $649. And have small cruise credit left 

5- RCI cancels my June cruise. Says refund or 125% cruise credit. But all jargon makes me

confused if I’m going to have a cert for 125% or not. 
 

I should be getting

1- refund of June cruise fare

2- refund of taxes and fees for June cruise

3- cruise cert for who knows what and who knows when. 
 

any guesses?!!?

34 minutes ago, Merion_Mom said:

You misunderstand. Your FCC will not include the taxes  and fees because they will be refunded back to the original form of payment. 

Thank you. By the end that was what we finally thought we understood!  Thanks!

Hello

we have a cruise on May 10. We feel it is safer to move it back a little. Have a date picked out.  Royal is telling us they can’t just switch us. We have to cancel one, wait for credit and then rebook. 
 

They are saying we will lose taxes and fees for cancelling. Does this sound right?  How do we lose port taxes and fees for a trip we didn’t take. When they don’t dock we are credited fees back. And fees and taxes are based on occupancy. This sound right to anyone?

We are passed final payment.  I noticed a price drop today that was fairly significant for a balcony gty.  We were in promenade.  Called and they got us changed.  Took a few times on hold, but it all worked out! Glad I came across this thread today! It changed our view for the upcoming cruise

Is chef’s table included in the package?  We are going on freedom in May 

Hello!  We are considering doing three night dining deal for our family on our upcoming cruise. DW would actually prefer to do two nights and one lunch. Can I use one of the nights on the plan for a lunch at one of speciality places that offers lunch?

Thanks everyone! I have junior foodies so I am not sure they are gonna love kids menu..we shall see!! hehe

Wondering how Unlimited dining works with kids.  I had heard like the adults have it and then kids are charged a lesser price?  Can someone help me out.  DW and I did unlimited on Mariner in May and it was great, but trying to sort out if it is worth it with kids

Thanks

1 hour ago, molly361 said:

 

 

And $200 total or $200 per person

3 day and $200 per peson

It made the total we had invested still less than they were selling balconies at final payment.  So I feel like we got a great deal!  We are excited!

We just won a bid.  Bid $230 to go from balcony to Grand Suite on Mariner.  Minimum was $200 and max was $350

We are really excited! Wife has sailed in JS before but for me my first suite experience.  Always balcony before

With a Grand Suite we will get concierge access even though we got it through royalup correct?

Looking for some help

We have a Balcony Guaranty.  I put in a bid for a JS and a GS...since then, I got a fraud alert on my credit card and the card had to be cancelled.

I can see modify on the page, but it only allows me that I can see to change the bid amount.

Can I change the card somewhere or do I need to cancel the bid and do a new one?

Hey everyone!!

Taking family on a cruise this fall.  6 of us total. Interested in doing Atlantis for a day.  The excursion through ship is like $199.  Seems that for six getting a room is easier.

Looking to make sure i know which hotels i will get wristbands from.  Any hints or tips.  Appreciate any help.  Taxes and fees seem high.  Know we will need to do 2 rooms likely since we are six. 

Appreciate help!

Am I crazy though? I swear we booked for $50 and it was refundable and we could switch it to other ship if we changed or sometbing. I assume that's just gone away

we have booked on board before and I think deposit was $50 a person or something.

Wife is on enchantment currently and they are saying $250 a person to book.

Has this changed recently? Why would you book on board now? I see no advantages

Can anyone tell me what time we can show up in Miami for boarding of Enchantment? Thanks!

Does anyone know the best way to contact Royal about a medical situation on board that I had? It was ok and the medical care was outstanding just could have been easily avoided.

Did they have the show Now you see it on this cruise? They have said that it will be on our 11/6 cruise and I am wondering and hoping it is the same show we saw few years ago. Was great

I'm in for Eastern! haha

We have just returned from the 9-13 sailing of Independence and wanted to give my review of the ship and the sailing.

I am 35 and traveled with my DW (38). We are your average midwestern couple, who left the kids at home for a week abroad. This is our 7th cruise, all having been on Royal Caribbean. We are loyal to Royal I suppose, and booked two more cruises while on board.

Want to lead off by saying and making clear we had a FANTASTIC week. Want to make sure that is clear because while we had a fantastic week, we didn't feel this cruise had the same wow and perfection that we have come to expect from RCI in the past.

We arrived in Ft. Lauderdale Saturday night and stayed at the Cambria Suites near the airport. We got it for $64 for Hotwire. Was listed as a 3.5 star. Had free shuttle from the airport and also had a shuttle to the port available for $10. Hotel is all suites and we found it to be spacious and very accomodating. We ended up taking a taxi instead of the shuttle and it worked out fine.

We arrived at the port around 10:15. Checked in on the platinum line and were in the waiting area by 10.30 and on the ship just after 11. Seemed that boarding was slightly delayed from what we have experienced in the past, but was smooth and efficient. Lunch in the Windjammer and fun around the ship for the day. We were booked into balcony cabin 6628 just in front of hump. It is a connecting room, and we did notice significantly more noise than in a non-connecting room. It was either noisier or our neighbors were deaf and yelled at each other the entire trip. Could be either one. For those that care, 6628 is bed near the balcony room. Bed on right as you enter.

For dinner we had table 283 which was 3rd floor near window. Great table and location. Our server was a young man named Karan from India and he was fantastic. Fun and energetic. Gave really good service. It was his first contract on Indy and he goes home next week i believe.

We settled in for a great week.

Instead of day by day- let me hit you with some high points and low points and then will love to answer any questions or comments you might have.

Cruise Director- a cruise director shall not a cruise make or break...but we really don't care for Ricky Matthews. This is our second time to have him. Had him on Oasis couple of years back. And while I think he has toned it down some, I just don't find screaming a main source of entertainment. When he did tell jokes and the audience didn't laugh, he would make condescending comments to audience. Now, some would disagree with me but when we had Graham Seymour on Freedom, I walked away saying that is exactly what i want in a cruise director. Host great events, have good jokes, be spontaneous, and book great headliners.

Chops- we booked Chops twice on this cruise and felt it was really really good both times. Got incredible service both nights and food was really good. Our only regret was that we couldn't eat there every night.

We didn't try Giovanni's because unlike Oasis and Allure, it isn't open for lunch.

We bought more than our share of pictures and felt photographers on this ship were really really good. And really friendly in service. Even offered to reprint and touch up a photo that we loved but wanted different lighting.

In seven cruises we had never done trivia and decided to give it a go a few times this cruise. Was a lot of fun, though we never won. Staff did a great job making it fun and keeping it light. Loved the theme trivias too.

Ports:

San Juan- really don't understand this port for this trip. Docking at 4pm we arrive when the city essentially shuts down. So many people on the ship wanted to do the fort and you just couldn't. We have done it once before and it was fantastic. Doesn't make a lot of sense to get here at 4 unless RCI does it simply so you HAVE to purchase an excursion through them. We got off the ship,went to starbucks, walked around for a couple of hours..back on the ship.

Really wished we could have done Labadee or something. I am certainly no expert in ship schedules and which ships are where, but we heard much grumbling around the ship regarding this stop.

St. Marteen- has historically been our favorite place to stop. We love going to Maho Beach watching the planes and hanging out at Sunset Beach Bar. When we arrived at Maho we noticed most if not all the sand directly in front of runway was gone. Just the big rocks. Taxi driver said storms and surf had taken it all out to sea now but it would return it in a couple of months. We have cruised in the fall every time and never seen this before but apparently that side of the island had been hit pretty hard.

We watched a few planes come in then grabbed another taxi and had him take us up to another beach not far away. We started at Cupecoy and hiked the canyons and rocks. Beautiful beach but be ready for full nudity. It is more of a local beach we found out. Beautiful but be prepared. We then hiked along the cliffs and trails to Mullet Bay Beach and that was nice. Real long beach with great sand. One end has loungers and umbrellas you can rent. We then hiked from there back to Maho watched couple of more planes and grabbed a taxi back to the ship. Still love St Marteen

St. Kitts- we truly believe this is going to be one the new stars of the Caribbean. We had a wonderful time. Booked excursion through the ship because we think that when RCI comes to town all the private operators seem to shut down for the day. We booked KT98 which is catamaran and snorkel. Was a great trip. Snorkeling was great. Saw 6-8 ft. across Eagle Ray, saw two sea turtles, thousands of fish, beautiful and massive sea shells, squid, jellyfish. One of best excursions we have ever done. Water was a beautiful emerald green. Can't wait to make it back to St. Kitts and explore more. Happy to see next year Oasis and Allure are going to start making a few calls there.

Entertainment:

Headliners were mediocre at best. El Guacho we didn't really enjoy at all. Other guy something Tillman was ok. Comedian was actually really funny. Marcus Monroe. I totally get he wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea, but we really enjoyed him. Ice show was good, didn't feel storyline was as good as other ships, but the skating was great. Love and Marriage was fine, Quest was the quest. Always one of our favorite parts.

Food: Chops was great. Dining room was adequate, but we honestly felt the menu is getting a little tired. We seemed to remember the food being closer to what Chops is now when we started cruising (2004). Wish it were a little better quality, but can totally appreciate the challenge of preparing meals 2,000 at a time. Johnny Rockets was its normal self. Although we probably won't return as cover is up to $6.95 a person.

Staff: This is where i think we were most disappointed. It seemed the ship was understaffed. We also for first time in cruising had challenges in speaking with the crew multiple times. Our waiter would work in dining room at night but was in Sorrento's and Cafe Promenade during the day. We don't remember this happening on other ships. We know they worked a day or so in Windjammer but he said they are having them cover those as well now. I may be wrong on my recollection. Also, just seemed the crew was doing there job, but wasn't the joy and laughter we remember. Now, Captain Pero didn't seem to be a box of laughs, and perhaps his stern demeanor is the tone he wants on the ship, but it was just different in our mind.

Maintenance: This was another thing we noticed. We noticed lots of rust, bannisters needing attention. Dirty and fogged up windows. Other cruises it always seemed like as soon as we were in port, you would see window crews, and crews painting exterior of the ship. Saw none of that this time.

Again, we had a FANTASTIC time because we will always have a fantastic time. We didn't feel like RCI added a lot of extra stuff to our cruise and that's ok, just not what we have expected. We wonder if more resources and best employees are being diverted to the Oasis and Quantum class ships. That makes sense, but if that is found to be true will certainly affect which ships we book in the future.

Ask away