NewYork8048

Any suggestions on the best place to park at the Galveston Port?

For us it starts with dates: when we think we can both get off work (there are certain times of the year when one or the other of us are required at work) - then itinerary - then price

I don't think the last minute deals anger anyone. It's these fake sales and opaque pricing that upsets people.

 

Everyone knows they try to fill all the cabins, and if you don't get the price drop, you can often get an upgrade (which frees up your cabin to be resold to value-conscious cruisers). No big deal.

 

But fake sales where the prices are the same or more expensive than before the sale....BOGO sales that really aren't...WOW sales which are just discounts off a jacked-up price....these are what people get angry about. Please, NO MORE SALES! Just show us the REAL price on the web site. Keep it simple. Make it easy for customers to buy your product.

I agree - the "sales" that are not really "sales" made me mad!! Especially when I got an ad in the mail from RCCI for a BOGOHO and since I had my eye on a certain cruise - I went on-line thinking I was going to see a "sale" and the bottom line price was more that the original price I had seen. Really bummed me out!

If I reserve and price goes down I want it. After I pay in full I quit watching

 

 

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I feel the same way - if the price drops before final payment, I want that price. I don't think there is anything wrong with wanting to get the best bargain/price for my cruise up to the date that final payment is due. But after the final payment date goes by - I don't expect to get the last minute deals that the ship runs trying to fill up the remaining cabins.

We were looking at cruises for the end of the year and a couple of the itineraries we are looking at for Junior Suites (we prefer the JS when possible) only have Junior Suite Guarantee - you cannot pick your cabin. I have never seen this before, we have always picked our cabin from what is available. We have never done a JS Guarantee and was wondering if anyone knows why there would only be Guarantee's?

Good for you! Nice to "hear" about a happy ending!!

The only thing about DD is that I don't want to have to make reservations nightly - I am hoping there will be an option where I can just indicate I would like to eat dinner every night at 7:00 pm and they can just assign us to the various DD restaurants and give me the itinerary once I get on board the ship. But I do like the idea of several different restaurants that are part of the cruise package. We may eat at a specialty restaurant once, but we don't plan it out - if there are seats available fine, if not we go to the MDR or in this case DD.

I mentioned this very thing a month or so ago and was ridiculed for mentioning it...becareful

Same here..back in June when the so called "sale" priced our cruise more than it had been the month before, I definitely felt ridiculed for mentioning it...Now that same cruise is $800 more than it was in June with the increased June pricing! so I am glad I went ahead and booked the cruise in June anyway.

I have noticed lately that there are fewer people jumping on the new people posting comments about these ridiculous sales, I think it has become a little harder for people to defend this practice.

We have mostly cruised in the fall after kids are back in school or January/February after the holidays. No kids - so we don't have to plan around school schedules.

I was told by a RCCI rep that this is what I should have done in May.

Beginning of May a saw a big price drop on the cruise we wanted to take in 2015. I e-mailed the travel agent, who sat on the info for 4 days - by the time he called, the cost of the cruise had increased and the great deal was gone. When I called RCCI to see if they could do anything for me, the rep at RCCI told me to do a 24-hour hold next time to hold the pricing.

I no longer use a travel agent, cancelled with him and I am doing it myself now.

I don't even think these are actually sales anymore - this is just how RCCI advertises the cruises now.

I have just been watching one cruise - the one we are taking next year - and the prices keep going up. I just don't think it is a "sale" when the prices keep getting increased - never going down.

I like that we can go to several different ports for the day and not have to pack and unpack to get there. I like trying new foods in the dining room. I like that if my husband is on a hot streak in the casino and does not want to leave the table I can usually find a show going on somewhere and feel safe going by myself. And vice versa (if he is on a losing streak, we can find some type of entertainment and get him off the table)!! AND I love just relaxing, either out by the pool or on our balcony.

Our next cruise will be more towards the middle of the ship closer to the stairs. The cruises we have been on, the elevators are usually very crowded so we take the stairs most of the time. One cruise we had a room at the end of the hallway that I LOVED because I felt that we were walking off some of our food and I could feel the sway at night when sleeping. The husband smokes - so he likes to be closer to the stairs to get to the smoking areas!

Didn't receive any cards on my May NOS cruise, so I sent a letter to Corp. with name of the WOW person, for their file.

Good idea! That was a very nice thing to do!

For those people that are new to cruising, they will be thinking they did indeed get a good deal.

I agree...I think new cruisers are the target customers for RCCL at this time. I know we would not pay the current prices our next cruise is now advertising at...the prices have been steadily increasing... So someone must be buying! I understand prices going up for in demand cruises...I just HATE that RCCL increases the pricing, then runs a BOGOHO sale and the prices are now actually higher than before the BOGOHO! But it does allow new cruisers to think they are getting good deals and I am now just happy that I reserved our cruise when I did (even though at the time I was not happy that the BOGOHO sale had increased our cruise significantly from the week before, but now it is about $800 more than that).

I am not quite sure exactly how it is supposed to work. MTD did not appeal to me because on our last cruise we would see long lines of people waiting to be seated in that area. I like knowing that my table is ready when I go to dinner and we can just go in and be seated (maybe a little spoiled that way).

If it is an easy reservation system that works and does not take a lot of time and hassle cutting into prime vacation time, I think I will be fine with it.

I would like for there to be an option whereas we can just indicate: schedule us for dinner at 7 pm every evening and just tell us which restaurant to show up at!! As long as a table is ready and we don't have to wait in long lines - that is our criteria.

This is that typical RC cruise critic response when you say something less than flattering about RC.

I ignore those postings...

Thanks for the heads up. Better book tonight before the " sale " kicks in. :)

That is funny - SO TRUE - but also so funny!!

LOVED this review

It's very aggravating!

 

I am going to start looking at other cruise lines.

I understand your frustration....for the first time we are looking at other cruise lines for next fall! We have only used RCCL but I think it is time for us to start comparing the various cruise lines. After we try one or two we may find that we only want to use RCCL...but until now we never had the desire to compare.

I was watching the price on independence for oct. 25, 2015. before the recent bogo 50%. total price for inside promenade was 1415.10. With the bogo 50% off second person. price is 1414.10. a one dollar decrease. is it me , am i missing something here. :confused:

This is exactly what happened to me with the last so called BOGO "sale". the price was increased to cover the 1/2 off and there was only like a $49 difference (not close to half off the pre BOGO pricing)

I was upset about this in June when I realized that RCCL was increasing the cost of some cruises to cover the SALE price...but now I realize this is just the way RCCL advertises their cruises...if they had never sent me a flyer with the BOGO sale in June I would not have checked the pricing in June and would never had known that this was happening....BUT I will have hope that someday on some cruise we want to take we will actually get a real Sale price!

Thanks for the info and it is good to know. I did wonder how it converted, but I just assumed they converted my credits however they wanted and didn't even really give it much additional thought. I just tried out this computation and it worked to the exact amount on our C&A account!!

Good to know if we ever go to Bermuda

We took our first cruise this past January with the new auto tipping rules.

At first I did not like the idea for a couple of reasons (1) I was afraid it would discourage the great service we had gotten in the past (2) We almost always tipped more than the recommendation. And I was irritated enough that I decided that since RCI decided to control what I tipped, then that would be all they would get.

However, we found the service was still great and we ended up tipping additional in cash at the end of the trip anyway.....for us, part of a good cruise is the service staff and we do not mind paying for service that has enhanced our vacation experience.

As for people who do not go to the MDR on the last night - we have on occasion skipped the last night in the MDR, BUT if we do, we always go by the last night around the time we would be eating and distribute the tips and thank the dining room staff.

We have noticed that on the last night, there are a lot more empty seats in the MDR than on the previous nights and we have often discussed if that is because people are avoiding tipping that last night. We have even speculated that people may have overspent in the casino or at the various ports and now do not have the funds to tip.

Summary: I went from not liking the idea of auto tipping to being okay with it. If for some reason we ever got bad service (and it would have to be pretty bad) we would go to the front desk and ask them to reduce the auto tip.

I myself would not mind if RCI increased the cost of the cruise by the recommended tipping amount and doing away with auto tipping altogether (as long as they pay a decent wage with those funds and not keep any part of it as profit). I am sure there are many cruisers who would still tip on top of that, but at least the staff would receive a decent wage no matter what.

I am in the minority here - we prefer the short cruises. We think the 5-night cruises are the perfect amount of time for us.