HLN500

You can (and Should) use your TA. Easy to redeem through Bank of America. First place a deposit and tell TA you'll be using credits. Apply credits toward cruise itself.

Taken 3 free cruises but now use credits towards balance due.

You can also open up X credit cards to get the $100 bonus for OBC.

Got pulled out for screening at Miami. WE were with a large group but the bus waited for us. Customs wouldn't let us use our cell phones. bummer.

WE were also lucky at Barcelona. Seems at least 10 percent of passengers had to go through extensive screening.

It's been trading at $100+ for a while now and no movement toward a split.

Thought I saw something months ago that corporate was looking to buy back some of it's stock.

It'll be nice if they split but they would probably change ownership requirements for obc.

We're on the 12/4 sailing....6 days. Anyone know the entertainment schedule.? Thx

Anyone have the times for the 6 shows for the Eastern Caribbean sailings?

In several ports X opens the ship to locals..e.g. Travel industry people and citizens interested in cruising.

WE were invited to tour a ship from another line in Miami and were offered deluxe dinner and several cruise deals

We are on the cruise before you. We just flew pbi-ewr on a 3pm flight that was so delayed we didn't get to jersey til 8:30.

We could have booked the early flight but don't need the aggravation. booked the flight after 2 and will linger on the ship then hang out in the United lounge. No price difference but less anxiety......supposed to dock early but from experience things happen.

Very interesting thread.

We too booked this as a last minute B2B only due to Israel.

We were concerned by the nightly news reports preceding our upcoming cruise.

Were we surprised when we came on-board and found out no Israel? Disappointed yes but not that surprised. Any person following the news would have realized the dangers to tourist in ALL the places we would have visited if we made these ports.

Were many people disappointed? Yes, but we found that most we spoke with understood X's decision.

In speaking with mid-level staff who just boarded this cruise, THEY were told up til the time they got on board that the ship was still scheduled as planned.

Regarding choice of substitute ports. Do people think docking a cruise ship is like parking a car....see a spot and pull in.

On this same ship in June we were not allowed to dock in Wales at the last minute. X apologized and wanted to go to another UK port but none was available...so we spent 2 days in Leharve instead.

Management first had to see which ports might have docking space, how far;near each one was and whether the tour operators could accommodate us. If anyone thinks this is easy just recall how much planning you did for this trip with excursions, flights, shuttles etc and magnify that by the size of the ship.

If X couldn't inform us til the last minute it probably was due to trying to sort out the logistics...which included resupplying the ship at the new ports.

As to the person yelling during the Captains toast... This was while Captain D was readying to toast the voyage and he remained silent during the tirade while the audience booed the heckler. He got off at the next port of his own accord.

Senior staff were totally visible throughout the entire cruise.

We were supposed to continue onto the TA but since my wife was not feeling well we decided it was not worth the risk and so flew home from Barcelona.

While some form of recompense might have been nice I don't think X is obligated to do anything more.

In all the years X has done our laundry they've only ruined 2 items and never lost anything.

We were fully reimbursed for the cloths that we discarded...one of which was my formal shirt during dry cleaning and they loaned me a formal while still on board.

What happened to Martin Fowler? Just saw his engagement video.

The RCL website is confusing and customer service is useless.

It says Grand is formal every-night while Silk & American Bistro have fixed menus w/o rotation.

Can any recent cruiser clarify dining? And for those who choose classic where do they seat you?

Any info appreciated.

Thanks to all who responded.

We've traveled the world and have tipped but I sometimes felt we were overgenerous especially when i see fellow pax from Europe line up at guest relations to delete the auto tips.

But that's an entirely different topic.

Since Europeans and people from the U.K. are not tippers, what do Americans do regarding this on private excursions?

What difference...

To those of us who've cruised many times we get to know the staff. X senior staff are very visible and you can speak to anyone...even the captain. Some are more personable then others and for me, to know a certain officer on board adds to the anticipation for having a good time.'On our Century cruise, we saw Raffale get on board before our cruise ended. We enjoyed sailing with him on another ship and he told us he'll be on our Silhouette sailing. He invited us to eat with him when we sail next week.

My question for you is, if you don't care why bother going on this thread?

You cannot stream anything on ship...and other video like skype etc.

While on our S Pacific?Australia cruises, The Captain invited B2B passengers to lunch with a # of staff officers.

Yes Raffale Berndini got on the Century several days before Lisa boarded and Confirmed he'll be on the Silhouette when I'm on in June. Will be having dinner with him then.:D

John Grantham will be taking a break and wasn't sure which ship he'll get next.

See that Martin Fowler now HD. Sailed with him when he was F&B and he was sure he would be HD shortly...wanted to try various positions to know what each entailed. Great guy.

Right Don.

Anyone whose been on Century recently knows if they ever converted the slots to paper as they've done on the other ships in the fleet?

Have you ever sailed with Captain Speaking? He's very popular and sails on many lines.

We had to cancel this and the next cruise because of Barbara's illness.

We had gotten a great gaureente price as well as inexpensive choice air. First now putting in for insurance refund which we hope wont be a problem. Following the troubles you've had and hope the cruise improves. Glad we can follow this cruise that we wanted to be on.

WE were also supposed to do a river cruise in August...and our insurance made us whole except for $200 air line fees.

While on the Allure during winter Olympics, CD said that because they picked up FIFA they couldn't afford the Olympics on any of their brands. This even though they had lots of commercials broadcast during the games with their Caribbean Cup Challenge featuring Olympic athletes.

When I wrote Adam Goldstein regarding this I received a contradictory statement from his office.

Royal Caribbean International will televise certain mayor sport games such as NFL, Super Bowl, NCAA, and World Cup among others. At times we may not be able to show full or portions of matches, live or taped matches. We regret that in some parts of the world satellite reception may not be as strong and depending on the location of our ships, the signal may fade or be lost. In addition local government rules, regulations and broadcast rights may prevent the showing of live matches while in port or transiting in and out of international waters.

As far as the Olympics, I am very sorry that it was not televised on our ships; however, our staff was to present information such as medal counts, news and general information around the Olympics. I am a fan of the Winter Olympics so I can understand your disappointment. Your observations have been submitted into a database which is regularly published to our operational teams for review. The insight that you and other guests share with us is a key piece in our continuous improvement.

We never saw onboard ANY Olympic updates or coverage.

Tom Brady some time prior to Dec 10 sailing)

Tom took over on November 16 Solstice cruise.

She is absolutely fantastic.

Last sailed with her on the Millie in April and she and her fiancé were hoping to go 'down under' on the Solstice.

With all the problems on the Millie not sure if they've been reassigned or what.

If anyone has an update as to what ship she's on would appreciate a post.

Thx