brillohead

A friend was supposed to be on Wonder, but getting his visa and passport renewal from the Phillipines took too long, so he's working on Symphony now instead. (He was already vaccinated and boostered, from his previous contract with Royal.) The Loyalty Ambassador on Explorer told me just two weeks ago that they'll be expecting 30 crew from the Phillipines, but only 10 will get visas. They have workers who want to work, they just can't get the paperwork to get them out of their home countries to come here and start working.

Yes. Friends ate at Chops on Explorer last week, said there were only two waiters for the entire restaurant. Izumi on Explorer is only open for lunch -- not open for dinner at all. Johnny Rockets on Explorer two weeks ago had one employee who it was her first week there, and two employees who it was their second week there, and that's all that was working in the entire place -- three people, all newbies.

This is where I totally fault Royal. I'm "loyal to Royal" but I also admit when they screwed the pooch on something, and they definitely should have coordinated their booking levels with their staffing levels. I had friends who booked B2B on Explorer just two days before it sailed (April 30th sailing)... I was glad to see my friends in person again, but no way did Royal have any business booking more rooms at that point, when they already knew how many of their staffers were at the end of their contracts and leaving, and that they weren't able to get more staffers in to replace them.

I know there has been a problem getting passports and visas for crew members, too, particularly from the Phillipines.

You can change to it, but it will be at whatever the market price is at that time, which may be more than what you paid for it. FWIW, I always go with a NRD, because I never intend to cancel a cruise, and if I do, I'm only out the $100 change fee, because I'll use the FCC for the balance on a different cruise.

No charge to add funds to a slot machine from your room account. Fee charged for table games.

Gotcha. As I said, I'm not a gambler, so I'm not up on the points/dollar situation (obviously).

I thought the points were per dollar, not per button-press? So a $20 buy-in with 50 people would be $1000, so 1000 points, no? My last few cruises have had 1-3 slot pulls organized, with at least one of them being a $100 buy-in. (Not sure how many people participated, because I don't gamble with anything other than the free $8 that Royal gives me each cruise.) With the current casino offers, I think you get a free cruise at 1500 points... doesn't take many high-dollar slot pulls for the organizer to get a free cruise (or two!).

I'm just going to leave this here....

Even when I only booked 1-3 cruises a year, I still booked with a TA when I knew I had one that was good to work with. (I'm the first to admit that not all TAs are the same; I'm incredibly thankful that I have a wonderful one.) My TA almost always gets me a slightly lower fare than I can get by booking directly, and almost always includes a little bit of OBC, even though I book dirt-cheap rooms at dirt-cheap rates most of the time. Even if it's only once or twice a year, if I can save a hundred bucks on a cruise, you can bet your sweet bippy that I'm gonna save a hundred bucks!!!! I may be ugly, but I'm not stupid, and a hundred bucks in my pocket is a hundred bucks I can save towards my next cruise! LOL And even with all my many post-COVID bookings (this number of cruises is not my norm -- I'm only taking advantage of the low rates and the double points promotion right now), I still did all the planning myself for every single sailing. I picked the itinerary, ship, date, and room number, and emailed the information to my TA, who then processed the booking and sent me the booking confirmation. The only difference is that if something does go wrong, or if I want to move from one room to another, I don't have to deal with sitting on hold -- the TA handles it all for me.

Never did I say that you didn't get the issue resolved, so I don't think I am the one with a reading comprehension issue here. If you enjoyed the phone calls and hassles, then why did you create a rant thread here about it? You either enjoy the legwork and the hassles, or you don't. Part of doing the legwork is dealing with hanging on the phone for issues that may (or may not) come up. I'm glad your issue got resolved. I'm also glad that I don't have to deal with these problems. The two are not mutually exclusive.

They have Pina Colada, Margarita, Mango Daiquiri, Peach Daiquiri, Strawberry Daiquiri, etc.

The peach daiquiri mix is to die for....

I also choose a later arrival time for consecutive cruises to leave earlier times for others. If you want to go into town on TAD, request an "In Transit" card before leaving the ship. This card allows you to bypass the check-in line when you return to the ship. If you leave to tour on your own, you won't be allowed to board until they start General Boarding later in the morning, but it doesn't sound like that's an issue, as you won't be returning until later on in the day. With the "In Transit" card, you'll still need to go through the security line, but you won't have to wait for any particular arrival time, and you won't have to wait in line to check in. Just show your In Transit card to everyone as you enter the building and workers should direct you on where to go.

But it sounds like you DON'T enjoy "all the leg work".... because part of the leg work is dealing with any problems that crop up. Like @John&LaLa, my TA handles all the headaches for me. Lift-and-switches, FCCs, etc., I've never had to call Royal for any of it. (And as you can see by my signature, I'm not a casual cruiser lately... we're talking a significant number of bookings.) I still do "all the leg work" of looking for a ship/itinerary/date/stateroom that I'm interested in, and then I simply send an email to my TA and he takes care of it. I typically have an email back from him within a few minutes that it's all booked, with the booking confirmation attached to the email. He keeps my credit card numbers on file, and I tell him which card to charge when the time comes for final payment. And because of his organization affiliation, he's able to get me a cheaper "group" rate and/or some OBC that I wouldn't have been able to get by booking directly on my own. Every time I've heard a report of these "changing balance due" incidents, it's always someone who has booked direct, rather than through a TA. Royal's IT department is notoriously incompetent, and I'm guessing that there's a problem in the computer coding that is only affecting direct-booked cruises versus cruises booked through their TA system. I agree that these incidents (and others associated with Royal's inept computer programmers) shouldn't be happening in the first place, but something to keep in mind is that if you book through a TA, you aren't the one who has to deal with it if it does happen.

I do the online check-in most of the time, because I prefer a real keyboard versus texting on my phone.

I prefer printed test results and SetSail Pass... much easier than flipping through phone screens, waiting for apps to load, etc.

Two different sounds. The alarm is different than the ship's horn.

The captain will come over the PA and explain that the alarm will sound but no action is necessary, so you'll know when it's going to happen.

I've been cruising with a similar product to what the OP posted (the block on mine is about half the size). I wrap it around my laptop with the power cord for the computer, and it's never been noticed/confiscated (looks like part of my computer cord, I imagine). And before anyone gets on my case, no, my unit does NOT have a surge protector in it, and yes, I checked to be sure. I've noticed that the people running the scanners for checked luggage seem to be focused on "not allowed" items while people running the scanners for carry-on luggage seem to be focused on "weapon/booze" items. My scissors for cutting hair were the subject of much debate by the carry-on checkers, but always go through the checked luggage just fine. On the other hand, my extension cord for my computer never gets a second glance at the carry-on scanner.

You didn't read that properly. You still have to show the test result and the vaccination card, but only one time, to the check-in person. Previously, you had to show them the text and vax card to be allowed inside the building, now they let you in the building without stopping to show paperwork, and you just show them one time as you're showing your passport, etc. Nothing lax at all, other than your reading skills.

All of the Oasis ships have one handicap-accessible Crown Loft with an internal, 1-person elevator. I have friends in wheelchairs, and they've gotten that room on Allure a couple times.

I haven't seen it open at all.

Sorry to hear that 'rona got ya. May have to cut that deal to marry a Pinnacle after all!

I don't know, I'm happily single.