zeridan

1 hour ago, TexasPirate said:

to take other peoples kids on vacation!

 

We are taking my daughters BFF with us on our cruise in December and I am now getting around to making sure we have all our paperwork in order.  I called Royal this morning and was told that all we need for the minor child to travel with us is a notarized letter from both parents granting us guardianship for the duration of the cruise.  My history with Royal tells me I need to call 99 more times and then average the answers to get the most probable correct answer.... but I figured I would search here first.  I did not find the answer so I am asking... 

 

Everyone in our travel party including the BFF will have a passport.  So is a notarized letter really the only other item we need?  (I can be the only person to have ever tried to do this right?). 

 

Part of the agreement with her parents for this trip to happen is that they will be waiting by the phone just in case we need them to fax something else at the last minute when we are trying to board.  We also will have travel medical insurance for each person.

 

Ok - folks what have I not thought of?

Attached is a form a customer service rep on the phone sent me. It was explained to me that you want there to be specific info about the ship and date of sailing as well as permission to make medical decisions. We've used it twice. Once they examined it and another time they never even asked for it. If you are uncomfortable with attachments I've cut and pasted it below as well.

Affidavit - Authorization for Minor to Travel

We, (First, Middle, Last Name) ________________________________ and

__________________________________ hereby accept the conditions for my minor child


(First, Middle, Last Name) _______________________________ to travel out of the United

States from (date) _____________ to (date) ____________ traveling to the country of

_____________________ , on the cruise ship _______________________, under the custody

of (First, Middle, Last Name) ______________________________________ who will be

responsible for my child during the trip. Furthermore, should my child require routine or

emergency medical treatment during the trip, I specifically authorize the above named person to

make all necessary parental decisions concerning any and all medical treatment that my child

may require.

Signed: _____________________________________ Phone ___________________________

Signed: _____________________________________ Phone ___________________________



County of: _____________________________ State of: _______________________________

on this _________________ day of _____________, year ___________.

Print names of above signatories: ___________________________________________ and

____________________________________________

appeared before me and, having duly sworn by me, stated that the contents of the foregoing application are true and complete, and signed the application in my presence.

Notary Public Signature ______________________________

NOTARY SEAL My commission expires: ______________

Notarized Letter For Minors.docx

Pretty much the same size as Oasis.

1 hour ago, phillygirl2400 said:

Can you book voom with the Prime discount prior to the cruise or only onboard? Thanks. 

Only on board.

Yup. You can, you just pay the difference on the pricing that THEY have. Give them a call.

With cash accounts. Keep in mind on a 7+ night sailing the put a $500 limit and on a shorter sailing a $300 spending limit. Which means each time you spend that much (be it automatic gratuities, purchases, excursions, casino etc) you have to go on down to guest services and give them more cash. So you will want to get a big enough OBC  for all your spending if that is the way you go. Keep in mind, they are going to give that back to you as cash at the end of the cruise if there is surplus. 

31 minutes ago, Sizzlechest said:

 

Yes, but wire transfers are costly ($20)

The fee on even just $1500 would be $75. If you are planning to spend less than that in the casino on average, it is unlikely that you will find yourself ever getting rated as Prime unless you cruise a lot. I'd just bring the cash at that point. If they ever bring back the ability to pre-purchase chips/play that could be a solution as well.

You can wire money to the ship as well.

You are correct, you cannot earn MLife tier points from your play on RC. Also, if you are on an MLife comps/reward cruise, although you may earn points, they will not be used in tallying your Club Royale status.

Simply not true. Sorry.

Can you please clarify this statement? We will be sailing on a cruise that is a comp/reward from MLife. While we are in the casino on the ship, all points earned will go to the Club Royale program, right? I have assumed that any gambling on board will only affect status/benefits in the the RCCL casino program and will have no bearing whatsoever on MLife points/status. (It's the "although you may earn points" part that I didn't quite understand.)

You will absolutely get points towards the Club Royale Tier Program. The only way to get Mlife points in addition would be to use the MGM Credit Card for your on board spending.

I just received proof that when you call the casino to book a cruise you aren't talking with anyone from Casino Royale. You are talking with someone from direct sales. I called the casino number few days ago to book my Signature comped cruise and spoke to Danielle. Today I received this email from Royal. (not the casino) No wonder they have no idea what going on with casino points, certificates or tiers.

 

At Royal Caribbean International, your opinion about the experience you have with our Service associates is a key component of our commitment to continuous improvement. As such, I invite you to take a short survey regarding your most recent interaction with Danielle from our Direct Sales team. In addition, we would appreciate any feedback you have on Royal Caribbean. We value your feedback and appreciate your comments.

That is how the survey verbiage has always been worded. I have called and spoke to two different Danielle's at Club Royale and they have always been great.

If you booked via MLife, that mean's you booked with Club Royale. Call Club Royale at 888-561-2234.

Who knew CC had so many CEOs and accountants that knew the market better than RCI themselves.:cool:

Like!

Actually...a larger size ship (than previously) can now navigate through the larger locks. Second, the location is within the Caribbean area. Third, offering a new route with new ports would seem attractive to a cruise line that already has plenty of duplication on those fronts.

Things change, but companies are often slow to respond. The cruise market 10-20 years ago is quite different than today. Also, the China market's sudden avalanche of ships going there actually could result in a saturation beyond original market forecasts. With 40 Million people in California alone, and another 10 Million within driving distance to the larger ports...there's plenty of opportunity.

Do tell which Royal ship will now be able to cruise through those locks that could not before. If doing an all the way through cruise you still have bridge clearance to worry about.

Yes, the market changes, fortunately for us shareholders royal has professionals who are consumed with doing nothing but monitoring and reacting to those markets. The level of expertise and operation is so far beyond what the average cruiser can wrap their head around it always cracks me up to see this sort of armchair "Board of Directoring".

Thank you for taking the time to share the information you received. Enjoy your cruise.

 

Specific to a couple of points....

 

1. RCL will not sail through the Panama Canal in the near future. Cited economic reasons, i.e. $250K governmental crossing fee.

Interesting...other cruise lines already service this, and with the larger new canal available...this would seem to be an attractive market that they could leverage existing ports. Furthermore, other cruise lines pass on the fee within their rates.

 

7. No plans to reintroduce itineraries from CA. Cited low demand.

We don't live there or have any vested interest ourselves, but from many friends of ours on the West coast...they report a solid cruise business for Carnival and others serving those ports. With all the folks in California...find the remark "low demand" puzzling, especially with the opportunity to perhaps introduce a differentiator ship like a Quantum class perhaps.

.

1. Their primary market is in their namesake, the Caribbean. This is their cash cow. The company is obviously doing quite well. Just trust that their people know what they are doing. ;) In addition, the new expanded canal, as covered in other posts, does NOTHING for Royal. It is a modest upgrade that will not allow even one larger class of ship than they can already run through there.

7. Again, I trust the bean counters at a company as large as Royal know what they are doing. If you look at studies that show the travel market for various regions of North America you will see that those in the west coast states spend the majority of their travel dollars in Asia on land based travel vs cruising of any type.

They have tried both itineraries in the past and obviously made an educated decision to discontinue them.

Hi Bob. I was curious, which sailing was this that you saw the menu on?

I love seeing "case reports" of the actual ping/speed. Thanks for all the info all!

I will throw in my 2 cents however. World of Tanks has a very unreliable system so I might recommend an alternative target for your ping and tracert tests. I have a rock solid internet connection at home and World of Tanks is routinely unplayable for me in a completely random fashion. I have no issues connecting to any other network.

Don't book 7091. It is the closest cabin to the centrum. The music from the centrum blared every nigt. Our TA actually recommended this room as it was close to the elevators and had a larger balcony. It was larger but one side was a solid steel wall and it seemed like you were in a tunnel.

I'm not familiar with 7091 on this ship. Do you mean 7092 or 7094?

Call the Crown and Anchor at 800 - 526-9723, they are extremely helpful and will help you sort this out.

 

Jonathan

First off, no. Just no. The OP is not a Crown & Anchor member yet, there is zero reason for someone who IS to call that specific number unless they have a Crown & Anchor program-related question as they have the same policies and same procedures. They are in fact the same call center.

My suggestion to the OP would be to access her Cruise Planner without logging in, it works so much better. To do that click on the link at the top of the main page that says "Already Booked", then click on "Cruise Planner" and then "Reserve Now". At that point the OP can put in your reservation number and some other identifying information and it will give you direct access to all the things you can book without the need to "log in".

Good luck OP.

I couldn't find a Cuba magnet anywhere!

Hey now, easy on the magnet hate! lol

RCCL have 19 D1 on it's own website and the Suite's the OP has said.

This ship has 1038 staterooms. 19 + a few random cats does not a 50% full ship make so a bit of an exaggeration there I am afraid.

Never hurts to ask for an upgrade at the ship though! If it is reduced in price however, no extra C&A points for a JS usually. Good luck OP!

The policy is non-refundable OBC is not useable in the Casino. However, as others have stated here their system has no way to differentiate between the two and you will be able to take it out in the casino with the usual surcharge with no problem. They give notice in the terms to simply discourage it because naturally, it is not ideal for them.

I apologize for delay in reply... I appreciate your help. When I call Royal though they are completely clueless, which I don't understand. I feel they should atleast be able to tell me what this family needs to board their ships and what they will need to get off in ports. If they don't know, and it's their ships being boarded, then who else would...

Cruise line representatives are actually disallowed from advising you on visas. They will refer you to the sight that Bob linked to above, if you are a US citizen (to my knowledge visa central can not advise those with alternate citizenship, but other countries have their own 3rd party agencies).

It as and always has been the responsibility of the traveler to verify this type of info. I wouldn't trust anyone from a travel-provider to advise me. They will need to do their homework or use a Travel Agent that they trust to advise them.

They simply need to contact the consulate or other government agency that handles this in each port of call. A basic Google search of "X citizenship traveling to X country visa requirement" will provide the information you need in the first few links.

I was on the same sailing and our original service team in MDR was so bad we moved tables (first time after more than 50 cruises). Our new waitstaff was great but I am not a fan of My Time-we waited an average of 40 minutes for a table.

Definate drop off in MDR experience. But we love the Allure and will be booking the Harmony soon.

I had the My Time dining and never waited more than 5-7 minutes (perfect amount of time to grab a drink or glass of wine from the waiting lounge). I also had the same waitstaff every evening. Did you have My Time reservations or were you just doing walk-up?

We are just off the 12/6 Allure. The crowds in the Windjammer and the other lunch venues seem much bigger and lines longer than when we sailed on her 4 years ago. MDR tables were so close together we could hear all the conversations at the next table. And MDR service seemed to go down a bit. Our food was often cold and sometimes the wrong order.

 

I was told they added 100 more cabins. Can this be true? I always told people you could not believe you were on a ship of 6000 people. Now I don't think I could honestly say that anymore.

 

We are booked next December on the Harmony and not sure if I really want to go. Maybe I should try something smaller.

They did add cabins but such a small amount will make no major difference on a ship of that size. We were on the same same sailing and with the exception of breakfast in the Windjammer on disembarkation day I can't say we shared your experience. However if you disliked what you saw/experienced I'd have to assume Harmony will be similar.

Because your children are minors you cannot get a separate cabin for them. I have heard of people getting one in the husbands name and one in the wifes. There are some connecting balcony cabins. Also, the Family Ocean View cabins are quite large with a separate bedroom for the kids..

Fortunately this is not true. Minors may absolutely be booked in their own stateroom provided they are adjacent or directly across the hall.

The Family Ocean view rooms are great but you generally have to book a minimum of 5 in there to obtain one. The 2nd "bedroom" in the Family Oceanview is really a closet with a curtain and bunks inside. it is nice but not quite as private as a 2nd room.

In addition they have only one bathroom, not to be confused with Family Royal Suites that are two bed/bath accommodations.

As mentioned by someone else earlier a popular option is the Balcony room for the adults and an Interior for the kids, however at this late hour (for Alaskan sailings, high demand and all) those options may be very limited.

Good luck and I hope you enjoy Alaska!