Spurschick

We booked tour GCC7 Catamaran Sail and Stingray city . this was one of the worst tours we have taken in my 58 cruises, 1st we were stuffed into a very uncomfortable bus with no leg room ( I am 6' 4") then Catamaran was way over crowded for the amount of people ( approx. 40) and staff on boat was just 3, and one of those was the photographer , when we got to stingray city there was no one supervising getting on and off the boat, I cut/scraped my head getting back on and was bleeding quite a bit, crew had me fill out a report for RCCL about the injury. I was very surprised that no one from RCCL inquired on what happened or how my health was after getting back on board.

 

This was my 1st excursion in many years with RCCL ( did not do any last couple of cruises) , if this is typical might need to rethink my 12 day Europe cruise that we just booked, send e-mail to RCCL and waiting for a reply

If you emailed RC about an excursion, the excursion department is a seperate entity and not very forthcoming responding to emails. I am still waiting for response from last year::rolleyes: hope you hear back, but it probably won't be quick. ;)

Many shore excursions are bad. RCCL, NCL, Disney it makes no difference. These tour companies are all independent contractors working in 3rd world countries. Think about that for a minute and you may never go on a shore excursion again. I am surprised more tour buses don;t crash and kill people. Sorry for the OP bad experience but it is not RCCL fault. They do the best they can to "approve" these contractors but as I said...these are 3rd world countries and islands. I would also submit that banging your head on a boat is normal wear and tear for going on said boat and trip. Accidents happen.

GC is hardly a third world country/island:rolleyes:.

Transport in general on GC is small, so yes I can see an issue with leg space, especially if you are tall.

In general we have had good, bad and indifferent excursion experiences.

Our European excursions have generally faired better than caribbean excursions. Even then we have had buses that have broken down. Issues can happen regardless of who you book with.

In caribbean a lot of vehicles don't even have AC. My point is whenever you travel don't expect standards to be the same as at home.

If I ever have an issue with an excursion, I do deal with it on board. Once back you will not be referred to the excursion department which is a seperate entity and I am still waiting for an email from them from a year ago;)

For our cruise on the Oasis of the Seas, we are taking two small roll-away bags that we plan on carrying onto the plane.

 

During embarkation, what are the advantages/disadvantages to skipping the porters and just bringing our bags ourselves to our stateroom and leaving them outside until the room is ready?

 

Isn't that what porters do anyway? What are the advantages/disadvantages of using porters for our two roll-aways?

 

Thanks.

Advantages for doing it yourself.

1) you can pack everything and keep it with you at all times.

2) when cabins open you are guaranteed to have all your belongings. You can unpack and be ready for the rest of the cruise before muster even takes place.

3) you don't accidentally put something in luggage to be delivered later and then realize you needed it sooner than you thought.

4) you have a full wardrobe to chose from first night:D

5) you don't run the risk of getting called to the naughty room;)

Disadvantages,

1) You have to wheel the case around. We go for the 4 wheel variety as easier to move.

2) You have to keep with you, we overcome by getting a table, one person staying with bags and the others getting food, having a walk around the ship etc. until rooms ready. Not a big deal to us.

Advantages:

You don't have to schlep those bags through security, through the port, up the gangplank, and around the ship (which will be crowded, people milling around everywhere). I didn't see ANYONE - not a single person - who carries their own luggage on. Off, yes, but not on.

 

Disadvantages:

None that I can think of! Tip the guy $5 and be done with the bag until later that day.

I have never seen any parties checking in without at least 1 roll on in tow or being weighed down by a big bag without wheels. :eek: At least with wheels it rolls and it doesn't hurt your shoulder in the process;)

A bit surprised that Priciest of the Seas wasn't reserved for the Quantum class. :D

I take it you missed the thread on the cost of Harmony:D;)

I am the OP and wanted to update everyone, I got my room back! The email to the office of the President did it. Of course, he did not respond but someone else did. It took 3 weeks but she apologized and said it was a weird glitch in their system which should have alerted them that something was not right when the room was released. They did contact the new occupants of my room and they agreed to move. They probably got a big upgrade!! lol Still frustrating that the new occupants had to agree when I was never given an option but all's well that ends well! 44 Days and counting.......

Congrats on getting it resolved.:D

At least with RC getting the consent of the moved party they were aware of the circumstances so we're unlikely to come back demanding the cabin they had booked back as well;). Hopefully it turned out for all involved as a win win.

Enjoy your cruise:D

when is this meant to happen - my summer sailing just reduced by a quartered- In fact we were able to get 2 OV (2 in each) cabins for $868 less than the 1 cabin for 4 we originally booked. It was $1298 less than the original price for 2 equiv cabins (I had that previous price written down -but we booked the cabin for 4 due to cost,originally priced in feb). So that to me still feels like a very large last minute price drop.

 

Also found out that if booked through TA or agency (the main way the UK book) it would have been paid in full yesterday but we are not due to pay in full as direct with RCI for a week or so. Not sure if that is why the price changed today.

If you are not at final payment date yet then it is not last minute price drop:rolleyes: last minute pricing is normally cruises within a couple of weeks at most.

It is not unusual for TA's to have an earlier final payment date as they need to receive and clear funds and then get those funds to RC by their final payment date.

FYI : Alex at RCI called us this afternoon and made everything right for us.

 

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

Glad it worked out

Kids Coupons changed? I would like this info as well...

 

Anyone?

They were the same in November. Will post back after our next one:D

Don't know if they've changed, but we found the accuracy of what was on the cards was sporadic at best. Had to go to guest services for my son to be credited his extra arcade credits. The BOGO milkshake at Jonny Rockets was on my card, but the BOGO ice creams at B&Js that were supposed to be on my kids were not, so two more trips to GS, where they confirmed the coupons were there on each of their cards. The crew member at B&Js swore they were not - even the second time on the other kid's card. 10% off youth spa was on my daughters card as expected. But the internet credit that was supposed to be on mine was not. I ended up carrying the list around and made friends with one of the guys at GS because I saw him so much. I almost felt silly having to go for 10% here, and $5 there, but they add up and it was like they were trying to wear me down! Grateful for the discounts, but ugh.

 

So the moral of the story is - be prepared for glitches and carry the lists. I'd rather have had a coupon book but I guess that doesn't save a wave.....

We always have to spend time at GS for acade credit without fail. One coupon is for an amount that isn't an option to load:rolleyes:

I guess that's why the system doesn't kick it in.

FWIW you can get a list printed at any bar of the coupons on a card. That's how we normally check what we have left to use.

Ohh just realized it is a perk for C&A!

 

I was asking for someone else, our GD did get the coupons on her second cruise in August (we signed her up for the C&A after first cruise)

But, to anyone asking about gifts in the room, she did not get one, she did get a lanyard when we registered her in the kids club though.

 

Have a great day!

Donna

I have found on several cruises I have not received gift for DD and had to go to LA to ask for and get. For her age it is normally a bag. I know we have loads of them but they are good for packing all the extra stuff we bought:D

This is something I have NEVER understood.

 

On previous cruises, seeing people sitting (or lining up) waiting for a representative from the "Future Cruise" department just confuses me. We walked by to pick up a catalog to look through...but some people were in there, wheeling and dealing. Later on there was an actual line!

 

Why in the world would you waste ANY valuable vacation time on your current vacation booking your next one?

 

I really, really just don't get that, especially when you can get "perks" and OBC from home. :confused:

Perks and OBC are great if you use a TA. However I never use if I can help it. I like control of my own booking and RC won't even talk dining with you if you have TA reservation.

If you get onboard knowing exactly what you want to book, it takes no more than a few minutes to do. I do it for OBC that I wouldn't get otherwise. Is it wasting valuable vacation time? In my opinion no. If I know what I want to do, I get a bonus for it, and I spend the rest of my vacation knowing I just booked another vacation I enjoy it more:D

On boarding day what am I missing other than unpacking which I leave to DH and DD whilst I book a cruise:D

This confuses me as well.

 

The on board bonus is fine. My problem comes in when the LA states that changes cannot be made. If I book far enough out, and a price drop happens.. well I want the new price as long as it is before penalty period. Seems like that cannot be done with these bookings.

 

On your point, I feel I can spend more time researching at home and would feel rushed on the ship, as I do not want to spend an hour of my cruise doing something I can do at home.

Changes refer to ship, sailing date or named passengers sailing, not standard price drops. If price drops in general than yes you can apply. If price drops due to a special that is only available to new bookings, then you would lose the obc.

We just completed our third cruise with Royal Caribbean and booked our fourth while on board. We were satisfied with our vacation and have no serious complaints about our onboard experience.

 

Our displeasure stems from some misinformation we were given concerning our future booking. I will not go into detail but will just say that we do not feel valuable to RCI. We were on the phone for over 3 hours yesterday trying to resolve our issue. Nothing was accomplished. We were given lots of empty apologies but not even the smallest token of appreciation or understanding was granted.

 

I am a veteran, a Crown and Anchor member and we paid full catalog price for next cruise. We were told by the future cruise desk representative onboard that the cruise we booked qualified for a particular discount. However once we got home and reviewed the booking we discovered that this discount was not applied to the total. Which started our phone conversation.

 

In the end the call was escalated to Mathew who works in the Loyalty Resolutions department, and he only accomplished ensuring that we do not sail with RCI or its subsidiaries again. He assured us that if we had booked with a travel agent there would have been more that he could do but since we booked directly with RCI that there was nothing he would do.

 

We split our time between Royal and Carnival and I assure you that Carnival would have handled this better, more professionally and certainly we would have not felt undervalued as a customer.

 

Lessons learned:

 

1) book RCI cruises with a travel agent

2) RCI does not believe in the customer is always right mantra when it comes to customer support.

3) loyalty means nothing to RCI, (maybe if we were pinnacle status it would have been different?

4) never expect outstanding customer support pre or post sailing with RCI.

 

I know many will have had different experiences with RCI. I am only ranting about our bad experience and will end this with two thoughts. 1) we were warned that Royal Caribbeans customer service was poor. 2) we are sharing our poor experience with Royal Caribbeans customer service.

As others have said, RC will only match their best price. Some TAs offer better packages, but RC will not match those.

Whilst onboard you can get free internet access to RC page to check pricing.

If you book onboard then NEVER leave at the end of the booking without having confirmation of price and that discounts have been applied. Until resolved don't pay the deposit. It is much easier to get them to resolve then trying to go through customer service after the fact with no evidence to back up what was said. If the next cruise consultant wants your business they will fix it. You will also recieve a printed copy delivered to your cabin whereby you can review and check details whilst still onboard.

Without trying to sound rude your lessons learned should have included to check reservation on board, not when you got home.

I agree to either cancel and rebook with TA, but you will lose whatever OBC you received, or see if you can transfer to a TA the existing reservation and get the discount applied. At that point RC won't deal with you and everything gets handled by TA.

So, just to be clear -- you can book a future cruise on board and get the OBC (for the cruise you are currently on) and then go home and cancel it without any sort of penalty? I have to be missing something here --- Admittedly, I've never booked on board.

Amount of OBC you received is deducted from your deposit and non refundable if you cancel.

That would just provide extra entertainment. It would look like this if we wrode together. :D;):eek:

 

Can't wait to see you pull off those tricks next march:D

If I need to call RC about my reservation, does it matter if I call the regular customer service or can I call Crown and Anchor? Does C&A only handle certain issues? Or can they help with reservations as well?

I only ever call C&A to make or discuss bookings I i can. If I have to call outside C&A open hours then I call normal reservations, but if I can wait for C&A desk to be open i wait:D

Shoot. That stinks. So our son is diamond and now his coupons allow him to purchase a discounted coffee or a discounted spa treatment, but the laundry discount and free internet coupon is gone. Sheesh. He's not getting any coffee or a spa treatment. Wonder why at diamond level, it's just a 10% discount instead of free.

 

Thanks for posting the link though. For some reason, on all his past cruises, he's always gotten coupons matching ours. Maybe we were just lucky?

Sounds like you were lucky. We only had wrong coupon book for DD once. Happened when they don't check ages closely enough. Minors not allowed coupons that contain alcohol or gambling. As such kids coupons were introduced ages ago. Even when books issued and not on card they had a seperate book geared to them, free minutes arcade, discounts for shops ashore etc. Technically you have not lost his laundry or Internet coupons as technically he wasn't entitled to them in the first place.

Other thing to remember with kids coupons is benefits the same regardless of level, hence why no free internet. I do agree the kids coupons could be better, especially for teens.

That's great. But if the D1 rooms were sold out, how did you know there wad a price drop?

Just call them and they will happily look at for you

Yes you can get a price drop even if category sold out. We have done it a few times. Once on RS and there is only one of those, but we noticed a downward trend on ship and they can tell you reprice cost without amending your booking. If it applies then they can adjust the pricing.

Not all schools are back in August.

Not all, but the vast majority go back last whole week of August.

Hi all

I've set up our online account and input credit card details opting for all passengers to pay by one card. When I printed the set sail pass it says my account to be paid on credit card but my husband says 'cash'?!? Bit confused I've gone back and checked the online account and it's defiantly set up for my husband to pay on my card..... Can't understand why the set sail pass says something else??

They can fix it at check in.

Check August 22nd for this year and I saw a few weeks for next year. Not sure why you can't see them.

I assume op is looking for sailing during school vacation. End August schools will be back.

Op try entering two for cabin. If cabins show then what is likely is that multiple occupancy cabins are full. It is not unusual for there to be cabins available that hold more than two people but can not be sold for more than two. Is it down to control for lifeboat capacity etc.

Unless we book well in advance for peak dates, we struggle to get cabin choice we always want.

Good luck

Yes you can call to try to get connecting cabins, that might be your best option.

A year :confused:

 

Then this policy change slipped under my cruisedar :o

Been policy for a long time. Most people that booked early got a better rate by leaving their existing bookings. Unfortunately, when you book far in advance you book at those rates based on your status at that time. If you want to hold off for additional discount it will be based on price at that time. If price of cruise had decreased I am sure the op would have no issue with repricing at current rate. However cruise prices fluctuate, but if cruise price falls then no issue with op repricing and getting cruise at reduced rate with new discount.

Basically you could hypothetically book lots of cruises over the 6 months out, get all the extra obc for booking further out on current cruise (if booking onboard) then try to get higher discount as you move up, but then obc reduces if now within 6 months anyway and then people would complain their obc is reduced!!

At the end of the day, you book further out because you are hoping you get a good price and if the price falls before final booking (and you did not book in UK!) you can reduce the price. If you want to amend discount then it is at prevailing rate. Just like recent Bogoho on drinks package offer you had to reprice cruise if you wanted to add. You can't keep adding discounts to long standing reservations and expect the price to stay the same. Otherwise everyone would just keep adding all the good discounts:D

At the end of the day rules are rules. It is their program and any discount I gratefully accept. They already took away the extra savings certificates so happy to still get something!!!!

Oh, ok. My bad. Sorry for the confusion. :eek: I'm going to still let myself feel kind of special that I'm not the last one off the ship. :D

No problem :D

You won't be last unless you want to be;) hopefully you will make diamond soon:D

What ships are allowing D+ or even D members off early? Every ship I've been on we could get an earlier number but anyone can at guest services. Only once on the Jewel years ago did they have express departure for C&A status. I just assumed it was another benefit that went away.

If you want it you need to ask either the suite concierge or diamond concierge. The benefit is mot made obvious, but is available upon request.