Camlott

Don't get me wrong, the people of Galveston are friends, fellow Texans and good people, but they do play their political games. Just sayin...:cool:

 

Frustrating.............but we are resigned to staying in Texas City if we decide to go down early,.

Glad I'm not the only Texan who is frustrated with way many Galveston businesses are run (as it relates to cruising).

By any chance are your future Nov and March cruises during Thanksgiving and spring break in Texas? You can understand why a hotel wouldn't want to book a one night Saturday stay during holiday periods.

 

For other weeks I can imagine the hotels don't want all their Saturday nights booked with one nighters when they can hope for the all weekend bookings. They are in business to make money.

The November sailing is post Thanksgiving (one of the lowest priced cruises and historically lowest hotel times of the year). Just for kicks I watched the hotels for the equivalent sailing this year. Magically, a week out every hotel suddenly had one night availability and at some of the best prices I have ever seen in Galveston ($100-150/nt at Hilton & San Luis) Yes, my March sailing will be spring break and I fully expect I will be staying in Houston the night before for that sailing (currently, most hotels aren't accepting 2017 reservations yet).

I often see people post that RCI is a corporation with the goal of making a profit as an excuse for their policies and pricing. Same can be said for hotels in Galveston. They are catching on that the market will bear the 2 night minimum.

You are 100% correct, as a business owner myself I know that these decisions are made with profit in mind. They must be satisfied with things as they are or they wouldn't be doing it. Doesn't make it any less frustrating as the traveler though.

My opinion of Galveston as a whole is that the tourism industry there is about 90% geared towards those vacationing on the island not cruisers. If the hotels etc. pick up some cruisers along the way, it's just a bonus for them.

I on the other hand plan ahead and I am usually booking 3 - 4 hotel rooms and 4 - 5 cabins. I don't see the price of the hotels as being substantially more than any Florida port. If you wait until the last minute you often find no vacancies or pay a higher price.

I think you misunderstood me. I am in no way complaining about the price of the hotel rooms. Like you, I am often booking multiple cabins and hotel rooms and typically do so 9 months or more out. I just booked November 2016 and March 2017 and the hotel search game has already started for the November cruise (most hotels don't open bookings more than a year out).

My problem the last few years has been I need 4-5 rooms for one night not two. It used to be just a few hotels required two night minimum or only during peak times (spring break comes to mind) now there seems to be a blanket 2 night minimum across the island even during the lowest times of the year.

The nicer hotels in Galveston want a minimum two-night stay on weekends.

 

This is just my option, but it appears that Port Canaveral and the surrounding area really want the cruise business while Galveston just tolerates it.

 

To say that Galveston only "tolerates" the cruise industry is way off base.

We cruise out of Galveston frequently because we can drive. But I have to agree with Bob on this one. We are about a 7 hour drive from the port, so an overnight stay is always required.

I think what Bob is referring to is that many of the businesses and the port itself make it hard to cruise out of Galveston compared to other places that may have similar difficulties (distance from port to airport, offsite parking disputes etc.).

The franchise owners for the hotels and car rental agencies seem to discourage cruise business. Year round sailings from Galveston have been going on for a number of years now, and it seems to get more difficult with each passing year just to find a room to stay the night before. I've always had to pay a pretty high room rate on the island, so I can't imagine they aren't making money from cruisers.

Our pick would always be deck 8! Can't beat being steps away from Central Park and park cafe for breakfast and lunches.

Thanks Swingphi Now I just have to find if I can leave my rental on their lot for a week.

They have you park your car on a sister property back parking lot. The shuttle bus will lead everyone needing to park their cars to the parking lot. This will be where they drop you off post-cruise (for those that left a car for the week).

On Rhapsody last month we had the one device plan. We found out by accident that we could both be logged in at the same time. Just for kicks, I tried three devices at the same time and had no problem.

As to be expected though, the speed was frustratingly slow!

1) Concierge Lounge - They Do Not Serve food during the day. They have a continental breakfast with some bagels/english muffins, pastries, cold cuts, fruit but not a full meal. Also between breakfast and cocktail hours they brought up Cookies/Lemonade and that was about it.

 

2)I do not remember them having a Suite/Pinnacle daily breakfast. But they did have a suite party one afternoon with Cocktails.

 

3) They also offered all suite guests complementary luggage valet. (Again, this was out of Seattle so it would depend on what airport you would use and if they support the program)

 

They did have a private area for suites for deck chairs but it wasn't the best area on the ship if you wanted to see antything going on near the pool.

Just returned last week from sailing in a suite on Rhapsody. All the above was true except #3 not available in Europe.

In addition to the suite party one afternoon, they also offered a brunch one morning in Chops when we were scheduled for a mid-day arrival in one of our ports.

The lounge was never full like you hear about on other ships. Not really sure what the reason is for this unless its just not as popular on Mediterranean cruises?

Next September when we finish our cruise at Civitevecchia, we've got flights back to the UK at around 12 o clock.

Will we be able to make it to the airport for 10:30? What time should we disembark. Planning to hire a private transfer.

Other alternative is a flight around 8:15 p.m.

We just almost this exact thing last week. We carried our own bags off around 6:45 to meet our driver we had arranged for 7:00. Driver was early and we made it to the airport around 7:45ish.

We were on a direct flight back to US so we had to go through the T5 mess in Rome. That being said, we got there too early and they wouldn't let anyone in the terminal until exactly 3 hours before their flight. This shouldn't be a problem on UK flight though. In hindsight, we probably should have met our driver later or even taken the RCI shuttle.

Thanks for the review and pics. We are staying in the same suite in just a few weeks. It's been hard to find many good recent pictures of Rhapsody.

What ship are you looking at? A few ships have a limited number of balcony cabins that actually have a connecting door with an interior cabin. Check out the furthest back balcony cabins on deck 9 on some Voyager & Freedom class ships.

If available these are a great find! Not sure if any other ships have this setup, but a thorough study of deck plans can sometimes find some real gems!!!

If the OP was able to get the $500 moved over to OBC, what would happen if she didn't spend it all? Does it go poof, go back to being points, or show up as a credit on her CC?

In the end it all worked out. I got the $500 credit back to my CC and my TA didn't reduce their OBC. She didn't say whether or not their commission was reduced. Regardless she has earned my continued business.

What I don't understand is that from reading your post -- did you try to redeem them AFTER final payment and therefore after your cruise had been paid in full?

On the advice of the redemption department... I paid my cruise in full (final payment date was just two weeks away and has since passed) and then they were to apply the discount which would result in a credit for $500 being placed on my card since my cruise would be overpaid.

I waited a month and never received the credit and when I contacted them about this they said to have my TA call in and they would get it taken care of. She called them today and they immediately applied it and informed my TA that it would reduce her commission.

Many of us here have experienced that same frustration.

:D I knew better!

Thanks Bob & Patti for the advice.

Thought I had all my bases covered to protect my existing OBC from travel agent. Couldn't be reversed because they applied it finally today after she contacted them. I'll still come out way ahead.

Oh well, I got a steal on our room and I cashed out the remaining points for OBC and will cancel the card soon after my sailing. I have other cards that are way more lucrative. We got round trip business class to Rome for this trip on points from sign up bonus on a card I signed up for last year.

I don't have any room to complain, just frustrated with myself for thinking that a RCI rep for once knew what they were talking about. :rolleyes:

Anytime the cruise fare is reduced for whatever reason, the commission will be reduced. It would be the same if RCI reduced your cruise fare due to a price reduction.

 

When redeeming points off a cruise, you are supposed to notify your TA before redeeming them.

 

Adjusting an OBC given as a perk from a TA is nothing new and is a question that should be asked before booking.

My TA was aware beforehand and she and her supervisor made a call to RCI to verify. It was explained to them that the commission would not be reduced. That redeeming my points was the equivalent to me making a payment on my booking.

Is it too late to change the redemption (done on 6/17) to OBC instead?

I'm positive this has been answered before, but the search function wasn't much help today.

I used some BOA points that were about to expire for $500 off on a cruise that was already paid in full (and past final payment date now). I was under the impression that using these points would not reduce the commissionable fare and my TA was told the same before I redeemed.

They now seem to be telling her that her commission will be reduced so she is telling me that she will have to adjust the OBC provided by her agency.

Anyone know what the truth is on this? Has there been a recent change in policy on this or was I mistaken? Otherwise I would have just used the points for OBC. Since I already have a substantial amount of OBC from my agent I decided for the price reduction instead.

I'm pretty sure I am cancelling this card after this trip. Redemptions aren't as good as they were when I signed up and it's too much to hassle with unless I am not using a TA.

Didn't want to start a new thread...

Back in June I redeemed 50k points for $500 off our currently booked cruise. My points were days away from expiring so this was the best use of them I felt since we already have more OBC than we will likely use.

Our cruise was already paid in full at the time of redemption and the reward redemption department told me I would just get a refund. It has been over 30 days since then and I still do not have a refund. Does anyone have experience with this? How long does it typically take and who should I call first? Royal or the reward redemption line?

Well, after reading many posts regarding aft cabins, we finally decided to give them a try. Just booked 2 corner afts (7388 and 7688) on deck 7 of the Explorer for Alaska next summer.

Those are the two best aft cabins in my opinion. I can't imagine a better balcony for Alaska! Great views and cover for the inevitable rain you will experience while sailing in Alaska. Good job!

From: http://www.mfa.gov.tr/frequently-asked-questions.en.mfa

Question: I am taking a Mediterranean boat cruise with my family. Our ship will also visit Kuşadası. Do we need visas to enter Turkey?

Answer: Foreigners who are travelling to Turkey by cruises are allowed to enter Turkey without visa for a maximum period of 72 hours, with the permission given by the local security authorities.

Any credit from Royal to the Royal Visa card will lose you double points on that credit.

I called the redemption number this week to use some points that were about to expire. The rep advised me to pay the cruise in full since final payment is due in a couple of weeks. She said I would earn double points on the entire cruise price and they would refund the $500 from points I used. She said I would be able to keep the points even though there would be a refund to my card.

I thought it sounded fishy, but she assured me I wouldn't lose the points for the $500 refund. I've never known of any type of reward card that lets you keep points when there is a refund. Guess I'll found out soon. I don't hold out much hope she was right.

If they stick with Mr. Fain's word of no more discounting cabins close to sailing... I suspect that pier upgrade opportunities might become a possibility again. But I'm not holding my breath on that!

I'm sure this has been answered already, but my searches have turned up nothing.

Can someone tell me if the specialty dining credit currently being offered can be used to purchase the UDP? We had planned to purchase UDP but not sure how to handle that now that we each have $75 specialty dining credit.

We were in a non-Haven suite last summer (2014), no invitation.