Cruzin-K

On 1/28/2024 at 8:28 AM, not-enough-cruising said:

Just contact your credit card company

and file a fraud claim on the $50

Why on Earth would anyone do this without at least giving Royal Caribbean a chance to make it right?

The credit from Royal hit my card this morning. It took about 8 business days, but I got the refund. No need for escalation.

7 hours ago, shofer said:

Contact you credit card, they can tell you if it's bogus.

It was LITERALLY a charge from Royal Caribbean.  

I never even mentioned the charge to my credit card, but for those who don't understand, the credit card charge EXACTLY matches the final folio total from Royal. Exactly. To the penny.

The problem was that the last time I looked at the folio total on the ship, it was $250.  Then a few days later, they emailed me a revised folio showing a total of $300 which included the BS towel charge.

So far, the refund hasn't shown up. I'll give it a few more days, and then call C&A, since the rep at the main number customer number didn't exactly give me a good feeling that she knew what she was doing.

1 hour ago, cruisinconniebean said:

Same thing happened to me from my recent Odyssey cruise.  Just called Royal to dispute the charge and hopefully will see the refund in 7-10 days. I wonder how many get these charges and don't dispute it--must be a pretty penny they are 

Just a few hundred passengers per cruise, for each ship, could add up to millions 😳

I was finally able to reach someone and she said the $50 would be credited to my credit card in 7 to 10 days.  I will be checking it 👀 😁

7 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

I'm not really sure why someone thought a laughing emoji was appropriate for this post.🤔

Well, he's probably perfect, you know, and for sure would have checked his statement at the crack of dawn on departure day, giving himself plenty of time to wait in line at Guest Services before having to leave the ship. I mean, I must deserve this for assuming when the nice crew member literally scanned my sea pass card to check in the towels, that they got checked back in. 😜

25 minutes ago, Beer Belly said:

There has been a scam going around where it looks like an actual charge from the cruise line, instead is a scammer fishing for victims. Hopefully this is not the case, and a mistake that can be reversed.

It's a charge on my final statement that was emailed to me

7 hours ago, Coralc said:

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/are-beach-pool-towels-provided-onboard

 

If you returned all checked-out towels but still received a charge, please call our Post Cruise department at 800-256-6649 for further review.

Ugh. The website says post cruise assistance is 24 hours a day Monday to Thursday, but then I hear a message to call back during business hours and the call disconnected.  Guess I'll try back after 9 and see what happens.  Gosh, they have terrible customer service 😡

Ugh. Off Explorer on Sunday and just got my cruise statement emailed today, and there's a BS charge for pool towels that I returned. I literally stood there as the staff member scanned my card, and I heard the computer beep.

The charge was NOT there when I left the ship. I checked.  Glad I hadn't completed the survey yet.  Now I have to waste time tomorrow trying to get this fixed. 😡  I'm wondering which number is best to call, and if I should expect a hassle.

On 10/28/2021 at 10:06 PM, DELTABLUE said:

Have not heard who will be taking over from John on Serenade.  Hopefully, someone will report back soon.

Word from the ship is that it's Bill (Brunkhorst??). 

The Serenade of the Seas will be the first cruise ship to sail out of Tampa since the lockdown.  I'm hoping they will do something special, like a fireboat water salute, but even if they don't, I still want to go see the first cruise ship to sail from Tampa in 2021.

Any suggestions for the best place to watch? I just moved to Tampa so am not totally familiar with that area yet. I've only been to the Riverwalk once.

I want to be able to get some good photos of the ship.  Would Sparkman Wharf be the best place?  Any suggestions on where to park?

3 hours ago, Host Clarea said:

Pool big screen for sure.

Thanks Bob. I also confirmed with people who were on last week's cruise.

If I don't die of seasickness overnight, it will be a great day for football. 😁

Strong winds sailing out of San Juan tonight. 🤢 Tomorrow's water based excursions were all canceled in Tortola. Hope the winds die down soon.

Can someone tell me if the NFL Playoff games have been available to watch on the Vision of the Seas this year? If so, where on the ship?

2 hours ago, mahdnc said:

 

I would book now and then check on board and re-book if it works out better for you.  Here is Celebrity's promotional calendar with links to the offer details.

Thanks for the link. Looking at those flyers it seems that you can only get ANY of the deals if you book a non refundable fare. So needing a refundable fare will mean paying literally thousands more? Can you change anything about a cruise with a nonrefundable deposit without penalty? sail date? Ship? Anything?

I spoke with my travel agent who told me to book on board, and she will be able to move me into her group later, for some additional on board credit and more perks, if I were to book with one of the one perk deals. I'm not sure if anything will be able to be changed with the reservation, like including me in my travel agents group, if I have a non-refundable fare.

It's my understanding that you can book a Celebrity Cruise while onboard Royal Caribbean, for a reduced deposit. Right now, Celebrity has what appears to be a pretty good sale going on with 4 perks included in the price. By the time I'm on my Royal Caribbean cruise next week, the sale will be over (presumably replaced with some other "spectacular" deal) Any thoughts on whether it's worth waiting to see what deals might be offered next week, and get some additional on board credit and a reduced deposit.

Or, should I just call my travel agent today and get this thing booked while the four perks deal is being offered. I know that will come around again, but if I wait and book onboard to get OBC, and then change to a better, lower cabin price deal later, I'll probably lose the OBC, correct?

https://www.thesun.co.uk/travel/10146455/royal-caribbean-passenger-balcony-selfie/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sharebarweb

On 5/4/2019 at 6:27 PM, CruisingJoe09 said:

Harmony update - Marc is returning September 29th (not sure of the date he leaves yet). It was already said that Mike would be on SY until August 17th so if Dennis is doing the HM/SY vacation rotation, then he's double booked.

 I noticed that too. Of course, Cruise director schedules are always subject to change. There are still a few months to get schedules synced up. Maybe someone else is going to fill in for part of someone's vacation, and then someone else will take over for the next part. Who knows

I didn't get exact dates. I've always liked Dennis. He's been my cruise director on four different cruises now. Yes, some of the jokes get old after a while. But he's a very nice guy and full of energy.

I spoke with Dennis Charles on the Anthem last week. He is going to be doing the fill-ins for both Harmony and Symphony after he comes back from vacation. I guess he will be alternating between those two ships when the regular CDs are on break.

I feel really bad for those who had their cruises canceled, and NO, the refund and 100% credit does not even come close to making up for a vacation planned and anticipated for months or even years.  It would be especially bad for those who flew a long distance to sail on Oasis. Luckily, some of the canceled cruises are far enough out that people won't have started their journeys yet. 

Last year, my Radiance cruise round New Zealand from Sydney was canceled with three days notice. I (and many others) were already in Australia when we got the news. Would you have just flown home the next day on another 24 hour journey and given up a vacation you'd been planning for OVER TWO YEARS?  I chose to try to salvage my trip.  I had insurance, but because the cruise being canceled had nothing to do with going to/from Australia I was out of luck with airfare - technically I still got a "vacation". All Royal would have done would be to pay change fees - still out the cost of the ticket, or in my case, all my frequent flyer miles.

End result - I was out roughly $1,800 - $2,000 more than the cruise would have cost me by paying for hotels, sightseeing, and additional airfare - that's over and above anything refunded.  Then my "free cruise" was not free. I was supposed to be in a corner aft balcony on Radiance. My credit did not even cover the cost of an outside cabin to the Caribbean last year. I was out an additional $200 or so, plus the cost of airfare/hotel to get me to that "free cruise".  

Please just stop telling people they've "hit the jackpot" by having their vacations canceled. Ugh!

30 minutes ago, zitsky said:

 

To be fair to Viking, aren't they giving each pax a refund and a free cruise?  Pretty good customer service.

Not necessarily.

Don't know how Viking does it, but when my Royal Caribbean cruise was canceled at the last minute we got a full refund plus a future cruise credit equal to what we paid, less taxes & fees. So those of us who booked early at lower rates got a MUCH lower credit than the ones who  booked later at higher rates (almost double), for the same class of cabin.  So, not everyone was treated the same when it came to the future cruise credit (not a "free cruise").  We were all out $0 for cruise fare, but people in balcony cabins probably received anywhere from $1100 to over $2000 each in the form of a credit for the same class of cabin.  If I'd had a working crystal ball, I'd have booked and paid for a suite and would have been sitting on a $5,000 credit for being out of pocket nothing for the original cruise.  Then I could have had four "free" cruises instead of one that ended up still costing me $200 out of pocket (plus my FCC) for an outside cabin. Royal Caribbean's compensation sucked. I hope Viking does much better considering what those passengers went through.

Scary situation. Sounds like it's under control though. Hopefully the rest of the evac will go smoothly.

From Marc Walker's Facebook. Yay! So happy for him.

CD schedule update: 
I’ll now be permanent on Harmony. Back on March 29 in Miami then I bring her to Port Canaveral in May. This means I can see the kids every Sunday !! BingBong is back in town.

6 hours ago, 138east said:

Once you check into  the Doubletree, you have two choices - Uber to Liberty State Park or light rail to Essex Street, walk west 2 blocks to Warren St, and then South 2 blocks to the Liberty Landing ferry ($2), which runs every half hour on the hour and half hour - http://www.libertylandingferry.com/documents/SC_Liberty_Ferry_Schedule_09114967.pdf  If you take the light rail to Liberty State Park, you will have to walk over a mile to the SOL ferry, so you really don't want to do that.  Uber to the Warren St ferry would also work.

 

My  suggestion for Saturday is to return to Battery Park in lower Manhattan (this is a free option from the SOL), walk up Broadway to Ground Zero, and return to NJ on PATH from the WTC - on a Sat any train to Grove St and transfer to the opposite track to pick up the 33rd St train one stop to Newport.  You can also just get off PATH at Exchange Place and walk the .8 mile or take the light rail for $2.25.  https://www.njtransit.com/pdf/LightRail/sf_lr_hblr_map.pdf

 

This takes care of seeing ground zero.

Thank you for the great info. I think I'll probably just take Uber to Liberty State Park. The other option is good, and I hadn't heard of the $2 ferry, but Uber will probably be quick and convenient, and less walking (considering I'm once again leaning towards climbing up to the crown). 

Assuming I'm done at the Statue of Liberty with enough daylight left, going to Ground Zero Saturday rather than trying to cram it into Sunday (when my main destination is in the opposite direction) would be a better option. 

I appreciate all your help.

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