123funcruiser

8 hours ago, Samanthac25 said:

 

🙄🙄🙄

 

Table clothes are changed between each seating, tables and chairs are wiped down. I’d rather not share a table with complete strangers that may or may not have washes their hands and could touch/contaminate something I’m consuming. It’s about lowering the risk of getting sick since clearly so many don’t take precautions for themselves. Plus I really don’t care for small talk with strangers, so not sharing a table is a win win for me. 

Table clothes might be Change between seatings in the MDR. Certainly tables and chairs are not wiped down in this process. There´s usually no table clothes in the buffet and chairs are not wiped down between guests.

12 hours ago, cujosmom said:

...The cruise line we have been sailing on most lately is Princess and the silverware, in the cloth napkin, is already on the table when I sit down. ...

It´s interesting you Mention Princess here. The way they handle the silverware Thing is the most unsanitary IMO (Talking About the Buffet only here). They have the silverware and napkin on the table already, which on the first view might be a good Thing. But the sivlerware is just put in a folded napkin and not rolled up tightly like on RCI. As there is no self Service silverware to be found People will frequently look for just a fork or knife or spoon and simply go to an empty place and open the napkin, take what they Need and close it again. The Server of Course know this and when Setting up a new table they will NOT Exchange everything, but just open up the napkin add whatever is missing and close it again. Also when whiping down a 4 top that has been only used By two, they just move around the napkins with silverware while whiping down and place them back to the proper place (literally whiping down table with the napkin while doing this. Of Course they will again check if they have to Refill silverware in the napkin. 

I´ve frequently seen napkins and silverware remaining on the table for the next guest that has actually been handled (though not used) By previous guests.

1 hour ago, MotownVoice said:

Then you won't  mind if we also count you in as the person to point at and blame when the entire ship is vomiting and racing to the lavatories because you were the one guy we spotted not washing his hands before sitting down to eat and is now responsbile for all of us having Norovirus.

It's called "socialization" my friend.  Like it or not.  We will bring you in to line.

I won´t mind it at all, as I will be the one still sitting down and enjoying my meal, being fully healthy. 

You would be free to Point at me, though I wouldn´t understand why, other than to applaude me for still being healthy and obviously Performing better Hygiene than themselves with that Hand sanitizing joke.

It´s called personal Hygiene "my friend". Like it or not. It will Need a bit more than you to bring me in your line.

3 hours ago, Frankmac said:

Should it be a condition of entry to dining areas that you disinfect your hands? I believe it should be. On oasis last week I lost count of the number of arrogant passengers who ignored, not only the dispensers, but also the offer from a bottle by a member of staff.

No it should not. Count me in with those that will never use the Dispensers and who will Always answer the offer from a bottle with a cheerful "No Thank you". 

I will Always use a Hand washing Station if provided, even though I´m Always getting my Hands washed before going to eat.

However knowing how to correctly disinfect your Hands and knowing the "washy washy" nonsense has Nothing to do with proper Hand sanitationI will Always refuse to do it. It´ not only giving a false sense of safety it´s actually worse than doing Nothing.

I´ve had very few cases when they really forced it onto me, which I have simply dealt with in heading straigt to the next available napkin and get the stuff cleaned off my Skin. 

3 minutes ago, ZiggaZagga17 said:

I guess when we travelled westward, the process must have been easily forgotten, I simply can't remember it - or like I said earlier, my other half went on our behalf!

Everybody has to present themselves to Immigration officers. 

I´ve been on many TA and Repositioning Cruises when the US Immigration had to happen on a port of call and not on debarkation day. 

Without any exemption it Always happened on the first US port of call. 

As for the procedure, it can be hit or miss. I´ve had everything, from it being a breeze to lines that crawled the entre ship length over several decks - I´m not kidding - and taking Hours. 

Yes I´ve seen times when ship tours could not wait for the last ones to clear Immigration and just left and yes there have been times when some People had no time left to go ashore. This is not the norm, but it certainly happened more than once.

To the OP, it seems you have a lot of stuff planned for St. Thomas - I recommend to not set your heart on doing it all. Have back up plans in place if Immigration is a Nightmare. A lot will depend on the Immigration officers and the number of non-US People having to clear Immigration. 

Who are you going to corrupt? There would be a number of People being responsible to guide you where you don´t belong.

Here´s a few suggestions:

Seriously work on your Patience.

Don´t arrive so early, Arriving after Boarding has started will save you from waiting for Boarding to start.

Book a Suite.

Buy the Key.

37 minutes ago, Thorben-Hendrik said:

Who cares if staff is happy or not🤔

Humans !!!

13 minutes ago, banderboo said:

I've had luck getting dining type changed when we've linked the reservations but that may not happen in all cases.

As the OP stated their Family is waitlisted for their (early) Dining time. So it´s not possible for them to Change Dining times at this time and thus they can´t be linked, at least not until they clear the waitlist. 

Internet on the ship certainly has improved a lot over the years, but there are still times at sea without a Signal. So be prepared for Downtimes of Internet. 

I Need to get some work done sometimes on a cruise. It´s a couple Hours that allows me to get the time of, so a good deal to me. I frequently Experience bad times with being disconnected every few minutes. At other times it just works perfectly. It´s just a heads up to you, that you never know what you will Experience once OnBoard. I don´t know how time sensitive your Tests are.

1 hour ago, banderboo said:

Call Royal and ask them to link your reservations together. With linked reservations, they 'should' be able to just seat you at a bigger table. (at least that has been my experience when linking reservations together even when they weren't booked at the same time)

This doesn´t work when they are not on the same Dining time. 

54 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

 

They say they will be able to do the injections but there will be a fee. It is not going to be free like at home which I believe we all knew on this thread. That does not answer OPs question of whether it will be an enormous fee. Enormous is subjective. To someone used to free any fee might be large. 

I didn´t say they answered how much it will be. 

Just to be clear they did not say they will be able to do the injections. They said in General the medical Team onobard is capable of doing injections, but they did not confirm if the medical team OnBoard will do it in the case of the OP´s friend.

Sounds like Special Needs said About the same Things that have been said on this thread.

I don´t quite get the Point About tips. 😕

I agree you should speak to the head waiter / Maitre D´ and ask for permission. If permitted you should inform your waitteam and yes I think you should tip them some extra for it.

Other than that I don´t see any issues.

On 9/11/2019 at 2:24 AM, nathanb2 said:

Thanks for the input everyone. The reason why I mention the jurisdiction is that she can't learn to self-administer (even if she wanted to) because self-administration is not allowed in our jurisdiction for this particular condition, so there are no classes for it and you can't buy the materials (needles, etc.).

 

I will send an email to the special needs department.

 

Worst case she can go without the injection for one week and/or plan the previous and next injections right before we leave and get back. Telling someone to not cruise because of this seems a little excessive.

Whatever the answer from Special Needs is, you should have a plan B. The ships dr´s and nurses are not RCI employees. So RCI´s Special Needs Department is not in a Position to have an ultimate answer. As I´ve said before in this thread a responsible Health care professional will not inject a drug without knowing what it is and why it is prescribed. As we all know, two dr.´s three opinions, if the ships dr. doesn´t think this is the Right Thing to do there is no Special Needs documetation that could make him/her administer the injection.

All of this might be a non-issue, but as I don´t know what we are Talking About, I say don´t rely on a Special Needs answer.

11 hours ago, wendychloecruiser said:

 

 

Yes, an IM injection is technically easy though you must know a little about anatomy to get the location correct.  You can do a lot of damage if you get it wrong.  

This is correct!

14 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

 

Second guessing and attributing ulterior motives to the health care provider is not helpful. You don’t know if the provider is paid per service or is salaried. OP explained that self injection is not allowed there for the condition. People here want to second guess cause they have nothing better to do. OP needs a direct answer from Royal Caribbean and then go from there. 

All this doesn´t matter to me. I was simply saying that there is no free Service. Those People do this for a Living whatever their payment plan is. Someone has to pay for it. 

42 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

 

You must have missed the post where OP said it is injected for free. OP is in the Netherlands. Different health care system and different laws. 

Nothing is for free in any Health System on this planet. The Patient doesn´t pay for the dr.´s visit and the injection, but that doesn´t mean it´s for free. The dr. is still being Paid for it - so it´s not free. 

36 minutes ago, jannray said:

This line I am speaking of was to get to the check in counter, after a long line to the security scanner, not physically walk onto the ship.  That is what I am asking about.  Will THAT be shortened substantially with gold C&A status?

Highly doubtful that it will be significantly Shorter, at times it can be even longer than the regular line. 

3 hours ago, Tin can said:

 

I genuinely didn’t know they owned Tui although I know Splendour Of The Sea ended up at Tui.

 

Tui probably turns over more than the cruise side of the business as they are a massive company here in Europe. You Learn something new every day.

 

 

RCCL does not own TUI. RCCL owns 50% in a Joint venture of TUI Cruises, while the other 50% of TUI Cruises are owned By TUI. 

4 hours ago, BigHouseFootball said:

Ok I’ll say this for the 10th time.

 

Not telling Royal to let them on. Telling Royal to refund the family. 

 

But it then again I’m asking a big corporation to have a heart over making their bottom line. The only major company I know of that does that consistently is Disney. And that’s why they are the best. 

I don´t know About Disney being the best, but one Thing I know for sure, cruising with them is much more expensive and Maybe that´s the Price I would have to pay for such Goodwill from the Company. It´s certainly not the Price I want to pay. I rather have it the way RCI handles it. 

RCI certainly didn´t do anything wrong here and I don´t see it as bad PR either. Every rational Person will see this.

13 hours ago, BigHouseFootball said:

So? Royal is in the hospitality industry, something they regularly forget. You make exceptions in hospitality. And I doubt families would be lining up because their safe was literally tipped from their hotel room. 

 

Again, an exception. Not the new normal. Think of the positive PR Royal would of gotten from this. It’s like when a baby is born on a plane and the airline gives the kid free flights for life. 

There wouldn´t have been any positive PR, because it wouldn´t have been an interesting enough Story for the media to pick up on if Royal had issued a full refund. 

The "negative" PR is still a good PR for RCI. I for example applaude to a Company who does not give away freebies for People who decided to not take out insurance. I don´t want to be hit with higher cruise fares for such "exceptions" you are Talking About. 

This Story is not really About RCI.

39 minutes ago, travelplus said:

Heck I got a Bingo Shirt on a Free Spin To Win in the Casino, baseball hat for winning the Quest etc. I feel bad for Stevie. I'm not sure why they could not have given Stevie something better. I mean if the game was an entire cruise game then the Grand Prize should have been one free dinner at a specialty restaurant. 

 

Thoughts? 

Great Prize for a 13yo.🙄

I hope the OP will come back and tell us how the kid felt About their Price and what he thinks a good Prize would have been.

13 hours ago, yogimax said:

Sorry, but the lesson he learned was

 

Work hard... Excel... Do your best...  Strive for perfection...

 

Understand that the corporation cares little for your excellence and is laughing all the way to the quarterly profit statements!

 

Yes, that's cynical but I care for kids who seek to be their best and deserve a better reward!  C'mon, this was a 13 year old.  Give me a keychain for winning trivia.  I don't care.  But don't take it out on the kids!  They are your future, RCCL.  Encourage them!

Well if that´s the lesson he learned, then it was a good lesson for life he learned, as that´s exactly the way it is.

Maybe they thought giving him the bottle of champagne wasn´t a good idea.🤣

11 hours ago, doones2 said:

I remember when winning  a key chain was  coveted. We still have ours.   I personally think the reward for the young man was in the hunt and the win.  Sounds like fun to me. Some rewards are not tangible.

11 hours ago, Merion_Mom said:

 

This, this, always this.

 

Not everything comes with a "prize".  There is too much, "What's in it for me?" going on in the  world today, particularly in young circles, where it is the most damaging.

 I´m with doones2 and Carol. You said the hunt was the highlight of his cruise. Why was it the highlight of his cruise? Because he had fun all cruise Long doing it or because he was Looking for a big Prize at the end?

More important was the Boy smashed and disappointed About Winning the Bingo Shirt, or was that your Impression  of the Situation. In other words - was he still happy at the end and was it still the highlight of his cruise, or was he just frustrated not being rewarded enough for all the effort he put into this? 

The journey is the reward!