Cabana Girl

Have booked the Rome cruise tour as a pre cruise option on the May 9 2024 sailing of the Epic.  Booked it to simplify the planning and ease an ailing husband into the trip.  So far it has not helped!  We were told that we were to stay in the Ih hotel Cicerone, near the Vatican.  Turned out we arrive a day early so I booked one night directly with that hotel.  Also have family going now and they booked a hotel close to the Cicerone.  Then Cicerone cancelled my reservation because the hotel is closing!  Have spent days trying to convince NcL that the hotel is closing and get them to give me new hotel name/location.  Finally learned that we are booked now in Hilton Eur La Lama which is 5 miles from the original hotel in a business district called EUR.  Not near anything except a metro station. Seriously?

I think NCL has a tour operator in complete control of the cruise tour and they just don’t want to be bothered.

I would so much like to cancel the cruise tour but will incur the same penalties as cancelling the cruise.  Ugh.

We are on the Wonder and only impacts two of us.  Not a casino booking but part of a group booked by an agent. We don’t know anyone else booked.

We are still having a random doggie cough, but not much. It is possible that the 2nd dog coughed today!  Ugh. Overall it is still a possibility that we can go if these two super healthy knuckleheads will stop with the random coughs!
 

We booked thru an agent and it is apparently part of a group booking. It is very hard to contact the agent and only thru email. Never again.  Talking to RCCL loyalty desk and group bookings….there may have been some possibility of a resolution if we booked directly with RCCL.  We’ll never know. 

10 hours ago, PoorNC said:

We were supposed to be on the October 22 Harmony cruise.  Flew down to Miami  on the 21st, went to dinner, and when we got back our pet sitter called to say one of our dogs had gotten very sick.  She took her to the emergency vet and the vet was pretty sure she knew what it was and fluids would probably “fix” the problem and that we could go on the cruise.  Couldn’t do it!  Maybe if my daughter was around to take care of the dog but she was with us!  So we flew back home Sunday morning and kissed our cruise fare goodbye.  Got our drink package, internet, excursion, tips, and some fees back immediately after the cruise was completed.

 

We’ve been cruising since 1986 and this is the first issue we’ve run into.  If you cruise without insurance you need to be willing to accept the loss.  And you are correct - you would need “cancel for any reason” since other policies don’t cover sick pets (just booked a cruise for 2025 and was looking into policies but haven’t bought any insurance yet).  😀

Oooo sorry!  I hope YOUR dog is better now!  We bought insurance as usual, but this policy did not offer a cancel for any reason clause.  We have cruised at least 85 times and have never had this happen….we have also been very fortunate.  
 

We have two dogs and the second one has not developed a cough or sneeze yet.    We are proceeding as if we will be able to go, we’ll see.  
 

We are not comfortable with a pet sitter.  We just don’t know anyone well enough to leave them in our home with our babies and all of our stuff/info when we leave the country.  
 

thank you for sharing!

We are hoping her ailment will pass in time, we’ll see.  Thank you so much for your responses. 

The vet will not board her because of their fear of contagion in light of a new mystery disease.  I am still looking for options.  Thank you!

We have insurance, but there is no “my dog is sick” excuse.  One of us cannot go for other reasons and we will probably just be out of luck. I’ll call TA tomorrow and see if there is any hope.  

We are booked on a long-awaited cruise next Sunday.  Sadly one of our dogs is coughing - which is a big problem now with the threat of this new mysterious dog flu and we may not be able to board here anywhere.  We booked thru a travel agent. Are we just looking at a complete loss of our cruise fare?  Any experience with this or advice will be greatly appreciated.  Thank you.

Did not hear the captain’s announcement but it has been about 3 hours and the search continues off the port side. One spot light and a small boat searching. Hope some help arrives to help with the search. 
 

Heard an Oscar Oscar Oscar Port on Wonder during dinner this evening. A crewmember told us it was a child. Don’t know if this is true but there are spotlights and a boat down searching. Very sad if this true.

Thank you for such quick responses!

Hopefully a simple question here.  Our original family group of 6 adults booked into 3 balcony rooms on the Wonder.  At the last minute, my sis decided to bring along two grandsons (ages 20 & 16) and they were booked into a room that can accommodate 4 pax.   Our other 2 balcony rooms accommodate 2.  Sis’s plan is to shift one of the teens to one of the other balcony rooms when onboard.  Will RCCL allow this when onboard?

Thank you in advance!   
 

You’ll be fine because check in is under the parking garage and then you enter the building.  Storm is coming thru in bands, if it’s bad just wait 20 minutes for it to pass.  Happy cruise!

I hope you enjoy all of your cruises!  Pls don’t assume I am insulting or judging you or your choices.  
 

we have been NCL cruisers for years and still have NCL cruises booked.  We have only recently sailed on RCCL (because they were sailing out of Port Canaveral) and were pleasantly surprised.  I was excited to book the NCL Escape…..then realized the NCL pricing is so out of kilter.  I was sitting there with credit card in hand when the cost and pricing made me stop.  Disappointing, but it’s time to explore new choices!

Bon voyage!

NCL has left us bewildered.  These pricing games are distasteful and annoying.  Their total prices are adding up and leave me scratching my head.  RCCL, for example, is much more straightforward in their pricing and they do a surprisingly good job.  RCCL gives me four free drinks per day as a Diamond, NCL gives me little to nothing as a Platinum Plus.  Comparing balcony bookings on the NCL Escape and the RCCL Harmony of the Seas - out of Port Canaveral - how can NCL be almost twice as much?

We are sitting on 4 cruise certificates and they don’t make much difference.

we are booked in a Haven room on the Star in April and we are thinking maybe our money would be better spent on a Viking cruise.  
 

I hope NCL pays attention and stops “nickel and diming” their passengers.

We are happy to reward good service with gratuities, but enough with the built-in tipping and service fees.  Add this in as part of the price and pay the crew properly.

Still have not seen RCCL’s promised link.  I searched for “binax now ag” and came up with this link to OPTUM. Ordered 3 tests for $99, 2 day shipping included.  I did not want to buy 6 tests with looming exp dates.  
 

We live near Port Canaveral.  In our area it seems that testing is primarily (if not only) available thru CVS and Walgreens.  Appointments must be made online (a time consuming goat roping) and there are no appts for at least two days.  These pharmacies are overwhelmed. Testing at the drive thru window and vaccines at the inside counter - both time consuming processes with the requisite paperwork.

  I became aware of this mess when we tried for days to pick up our prescriptions.  My Walgreens has no additional staff to handle all of this.  I would be very appreciative if the cruise lines could work out an option on testing.

8 hours ago, CalTexCruiser said:

 

For someone from Vegas, you don't like crap shoots?

Vegas was a crap shoot, or just crap.  Tried to live there....so much crime.  Need to update my profile!

8 hours ago, kirtihk said:

It is not scaring, it is a rejection of the invitation to go to an extremely expensive multi-day field trip to a hospital. Why anyone would enjoy it? I see zero reasons.

Thank you, well said.  Who needs the stress and worry?  Vacations are supposed to be fun, not worry and annoyance.

We are (were) frequent cruisers and cannot wait to get back out there.....but this is nuts!  We are vaccinated and just moved to Florida.  I have been within a hair of booking voyages on the Allure and the Edge.  So happy that I did not.  
 

I will not be booking any of these crap-shoot voyages.  Testing, contact tracing and potential quarantine.  Sounds super fun.  
 

Thanks for posting the info, much appreciated.   Sooo want to get back to cruising.  My family group has been considering booking a Royal Caribbean cruise in July, but cannot determine their policy for vax, testing, etc.  I called Royal Caribbean and they tell me that that info is not available at this time.  Seriously?  
 

I would not call myself “coronaphobic”, but I am concerned because we would be investing thousands of dollars in a vacay that might be terminated and rendered miserable  if someone is believed to have covid.  Guess I am “costly-disappointing-cruise-phobic.”

Are they waiting until the last minute to decide who does and does not get on the ship?  

Celebrity’s IT department seems to be staffed by a group of prisoners in a third world non-English speaking country who have never seen the ocean or a cruise ship.  With a sprinkling of gremlins.  

Accomplishing anything on on their website is such a challenge.  Then.....before I complete a transaction.....it all disappears.  When will I learn to just call 🥴?

On 4/9/2019 at 6:56 PM, Redtravel said:

I feel completely left out. I have started to get emails about new cruises and excursions for my upcoming cruise.  However, I never got any notification from either Azamara or my TA about the new bidding upgrade procedure. If I didn’t read cruisecritic boards, I would never know that they had changed the upgrade procedure. Booked a July cruise almost a year in advance, submitted the $398 upgrade request form shortly after booking, have paid in full for my cruise, and have read on this thread that people on my cruise have received the upgrade offer. Just wondering how many other people haven’t been contacted.  I was also shocked when I read the posting from the person who was told that their TA opted out of the upgrade and would not be allowed the opportunity to bid. Perhaps, my TA is also a non participant. Although I doubt it since I did get an upgrade bidding offer on my last Celebrity cruise.  

Redtravel, you summed up exactly how I feel - left out and cheated.  We also booked many months ago and are Discoverer level.  This whole system changed since our final payment was made.   We are about a month from sailing and it would be  a downer to continue to fight for the opportunity to participate.  

The lack of notifications and transparency of Azamara’s upgrade system is frustrating and disappointing.  It is way too difficult to get the system to function and too time consuming to understand if you are truly ineligible and why.

We booked a veranda and we will enjoy our vacation in our veranda room.  

Very confusing and complicated by the run around over the last week and Azamara web issues.  

Why would the agents need need to be involved at all?   To issue new final docs?   It is a very large firm, don’t know if it is OK to post their name(?).  

Wanted to close the loop on my experience with the upgrade system.  

I called Azamara again to ask about when I would see an upgrade email and this time they told me that my agent had opted out of the upgrade process.  Suggested I call them to discuss.  I did and was told that  Azamara insists on a 24 hour response regarding these upgrades and my agent’s organization cannot commit to time limit.  

Disappointing all around.