szymon

I too would appreciate a concrete answer to this (ideally documented somewhere publicly).  We have previously lost out big time to this.  We had a large FCC which we used to pay for a cruise, and on that cruise we had serious issues on board (not going into details).  We were promised "50% of the cost of the cruise" as compensation, however we received exactly nothing -- because we had paid for the cruise using the Future Cruise Certificates.  Now part of our booked TA is paid for by an FCC, and I don't know whether it would be refunded or not if we cancel under the new policy.  I've tried calling Royal but you just can't get through here in the UK at the moment (I guess everybody is calling!).

 

Please be very careful if you accept FCCs from Royal having paid with FCCs.

 

On a related note -- if you have on-board credit (promotional or compensatory) and you cancel under Cruise with Confidence, does anybody know whether this OBC will be reimbursed?

I always get seasick, and the adventure back to back we just did was the same...until our waiter suggested I drink Ginger Ale. It's magical stuff, works better than the tablets I was taking. I sipped on it all the rest of the cruise and was fine!

You guys are awesome -- many thanks!

St. Croix has a beach within walking distance from the ship. There is no entance fee, but it does cost a few dollars extra if you want loungers and/or an umbrella.

 

I think you will find most beaches charge for loungers and umbrellas. Most often we pay around $20 for two loungers and one umbrella.

 

Thank you for that. We're happy to pay for loungers and umbrella and so on, there's a world of difference between that and £100 per port :-)

 

Anyone else have suggestions for the other ports on the list?

Hey there,

 

We are a family of five going for a two week (back to back) cruise on the Adventure of the Seas at the end of March/beginning of April. I was wondering if there is a list somewhere of Royal Caribbean destinations where it is possible to access a free or less expensive beach from the ports. For example, a beach within walking distance, or a short bus or cab ride, which works out cheaper than paying RCI for their "beach delivery service". I have searched through the forums but I've not been able to find such a list.

 

I know that some people will say this is penny pinching, but the cost works out to something like £80-£100 for our family of five for each destination, which is an awful lot when all added up and we'd prefer to spend the money on one or two "proper" excursions and do cheap beaches if possible at the others.

 

The list of destinations we will be visiting over the two weeks is:

 

ST. CROIX, U.S.V.I.

BASSETERRE, ST KITTS & NEVIS

PHILIPSBURG, ST. MAARTEN

ROSEAU, DOMINICA

BRIDGETOWN, BARBADOS

SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO

CHARLOTTE AMALIE, ST. THOMAS

ST. CROIX, U.S.V.I.

ST. JOHNS, ANTIGUA

CASTRIES, ST. LUCIA

ST. GEORGE'S, GRENADA

 

(San Juan is where the cruises start and end, but we will have a whole day there during the changeover for our back to back).

 

What knowledge does the CC collectively have from their own experiences? Any suggestions welcome!

 

Many thanks,

 

-simon

We were on the same cruise, our first cruise ever, and we absolutely loved it! We have three kids, and the Ocean Adventure club was a big bonus for us. The first day our kids were crying and didn't want to go in - but from then on they didn't want to do anything else! It meant we could sit back and relax and enjoy everything else, while the kids did their own thing looked after by a great team of people who were really enthusiastic and fun. Very impressed.

 

The last show at the end was indeed very good, as was the ice skating show. Other than that we didn't really go to many of the organised activities, preferring to swim and sunbathe and read (how refreshing to have an actual library with real paper books -- I chomped my way through five random novels). I loved the fact that the internet was ridiculously expensive, as I decided not to buy it and did no work at all (I am a workaholic and would have spent the whole time working otherwise).

 

The food and service in My Time dining were very good, we had the same waiters and table every night even though the times changed dramatically, and they really made it special (even bringing us a cake for our anniversary on the 10th, the travel agent must have put a note in the booking since we told them why we were booking the cruise -- this is about the only useful thing our TA did).

 

My wife is a doctor and got talking to one of the on board medical staff on the last day, apparently there were three separate medical issues; one lady gave birth on the last night (premature labour but mother and child OK), one person had a heart attack but was revived, and the blood was for someone who had to have open heart surgery -- they were the reason the ship had to speed up to get to port early (helicopter evacuation was deemed to be higher risk). That they managed to deal with all of this, along with the rescuing of the Cuban refugees (who apparently were later returned to Cuba for some reason?) and the norovirus while making all of the problems mostly invisible to most passengers was a really good show.

 

All in all we were extremely happy with our first ever cruise, and will definitely book with Royal Caribbean again.

 

 

 

 

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The Independence "special bag" is now $30 for as much as you can stuff into it. With two adults and three children, ours was bursting at the seams, and was pretty good value IMHO :-)


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