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TTraub1250

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Posts posted by TTraub1250

  1. Here is the website for US Customs and Immigration.  It has some great Q&A.  If this does not meet your situation, then call the office of the port you are leaving from to be totally informed and have the right documentation.  I use to work with this people alot during importing and exporting of chemicals and always found them to be very informative and good to work with.  In traveling extensively foreign, I also went through the Global Entry process and can not say enough good things about these people.  My suggestion is do not go by the possible exception some of our cruisers may tell you about, go by the rule of law !  

     

    https://www.cbp.gov/travel

  2. Does anyone have experience with the Mystery Dinner at a specialty restaurant on any class RCCL ship ? We are sailing on Adventure of the Seas this January and they are holding the mystery dinner in Giovanni's.  They want $80 per person and will probably add 18% tip, so it is rather expensive if it is a dud !  We have been to some very good mystery dinners, so the caliber is important to us.  Just dinner at Giovanni's is $30.  

  3. One of the issues I see, is taking it off to give to the bar tender or other ship's personnel to charge your account, thus the sea pass card is easiest to use at the bars. RCCL needed an Industrial Engineer in Human to machine interaction to get a better design. 

  4. With all the changes to the loyalty programs at RCCL, Celebrity, NCL, and Princes, in order to determine what is the best deal/value for what we want, I created a spreadsheet to see the bottom line based on all of the gives and takes of the balcony rooms when I take family, the suites ( Haven on NCL) and what we get on each of the loyalty programs.  Real pain each time they take away something vs charging us when not in a suite.  At the end of the day, I feel comfortable with my choice and yes there are variables I can not control, but using my project management skills helps, because you know what they say.... if you fail to plan,  then plan on failing !  

  5. 12 Pains of Cruising, sung to “ The 12 pains of Christmas”.

    The first pain of cruising that is such a pain to me, is finding where I put that dam passport !

    The second pain of cruising that is such a pain to me, is taking off my belt and shoes for security and still setting off the alarms!

    Chorus:  Such a pain to me …. That dam passport, taking off my belt & shoes and that dam security alarm!

    The third pain of cursing that is such a pain to me, is waiting for the elevator, oh I forgot my belt and wallet back at security!

    Chorus: Such a pain to me…. That dam passport, taking off my belt & shoes, that dam security alarm, waiting for the elevator, and Oh I forgot my belt and wallet back at security! 

    The fourth pain of cursing that is such a pain to me, is my key card does not open the door! 

    Chorus: Such a pain to me…. That dam passport, taking off my belt & shows and that dam security alarm, waiting for the elevator, and Oh I forgot my belt and wallet back at security, my key card does not open the door!

    The fifth pain of cruising that is such a pain to me, is how do you turn on these dam lights in the cabin? 

    Chorus: Blah, Blah, Blah,

    The sixth pain of cruising that is such a pain to me, is I left me key card in the light switch and now I am locked out! 

    Chorus: Blah, Blah, Blah,

    The seventh pain of cruising that is such a pain to me, is waiting for my luggage which is lost !

    Chorus: Blah, Blah, Blah,

    The eight pain of cruising that such a pain to me is, waiting for the bartender with my deluxe drink… when I spent a fortune for the deluxe drink package!

    Chorus: Blah, Blah, Blah,

    The ninth pain of cruising that such a pain to me is, finding an open table in windjammer and there is a little dog sitting in the seat!

    Chorus: Blah, Blah, Blah,

    10th Pain of cruising that is such a pain to me, some kids little toy floating in the French Onion soup ! 

    Chours:  Blah, Blah, Blah,

    11th Pain of cruising that is such a pain to me,  picking up my jelly filled donut to find some kid sucked out the jelly and put it back on the tray ! 

    Chorus:  Blah, Blah, Blah,

    12th Pain of cruising that is such a pain to me, is being hung over and missing the expensive excursion !

    Chorus:   Blah, Blah, Blah,

    This is called a vacation !   

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  6. We have the "Key", so one of the benefits is lunch at Chops or Jamies on Sat, that is unless the ship comes back late as the Anthem OTS is doing this weekend, due to the two ill passengers they had to return to Nassau to get to the hospital. Very sorry for the passengers falling ill and family, as it has to be scary waiting all that time to return to the dock, once the ship has sailed. At the same time, a ship being so late to the next sail date with all of the logistics of a delay of more than 24 hours.  I might assume some passengers showing up at the dock and no ship in sight. I would have to believe being a customer service agent at this time, dealing with the  public that can be very unforgiving, has to be super stressful.  From the reports it seems like RCCL is being very generous with the compensation. 

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  7. One of the great tips: Sign into the RC site and click on "Order History" and take a screen print on your PC and send it to your phone. Down load the PDF on your phone so you now have it without carrying paper ! Also another proof of something, take a photo of the paper with your phone and you will have it with you. Many take a photo of their drivers license and passport with their phone. The only paper I carry is the "Sea Pass" to hand to the RC person checking us in. Some people even take photos of their luggage so it lost they can show the agent. On my phone I have the bus & ferry schedule for Bermuda, along with the map. Suggest you also take a recent picture of all your family, so if one of the kids is missing on the ship, they have a recent pic to help find them.  Some people take pics of their receipts also.  Did that once without the waiter knowing it, and the waiter "added" in the system an extra $10 tip for themselves, thus easy to prove you did not leave the extra tip !  Any other good practices that people can suggest to protect themselves ?  

  8. It is not called supply & demand pricing anymore.  The Universities have a new name for it and they have a whole course on " Marketing Analytics".  They teach this new generation to use real time data to adjust pricing much quicker, respond to competitor pricing changes, and be able to counter whip sawing in the market place with statistical analysis, instead of flying by the seat of your pants market pricing.  

  9. The ship is Anthem OTS and it has both the Royal iQ and "The Key".  Spent the money for "The Key" and now wondering if I need to have the Royal iQ app also. This if for the summer sailing with the full family.  I was on Anthem in the fall and the Royal iQ was just o.k.  spotty at times in its functionality !  

  10. When you read the benefits of the Key, it does talk about having WIFI (VOOM & Stream), so the question is, with the Key do you have to have the Royal iQ app to get the daily cruise compass, book your Shore Excursions, reserve your evening entertainment, manage your dining reservations, schedule your times for onboard activities, and modify existing reservations? Anyone have experience with this ? 

     

  11. Response from RCCL:.  

     

    Thank you for your email. We apologize for the delay in our response.

     

    The following entertainment is currently scheduled for the June 1, 2019 sailing of the Anthem of the Seas in addition to our Royal Caribbean Productions:

     

    Darrell Joyce / Comedian

    Private Stock / Vocal Group

                   

    Please note that the onboard entertainment is subject to change. For more specific information regarding times and locations, please consult the Cruise Compass once onboard.

     

    Tom, thank you for choosing Royal Caribbean International. We look forward to welcoming you aboard in the future.

  12. We did this cruise in Oct 2018 and the reservations for the show can be done by your Royal Planner or wait until 75-90 days out then do it on line. Doing it on line gives you the ability to look at your schedule and decide which time you want to go.  Our royal planner put the times in for us and then we ended up changing them about 50 days out. 

  13. Yes as of April 1, 2019 there is no longer a contract between Dreamworks & RCCI.  And now for the rest of the story as Paul Harvey would say:  Dreamworks is owned by NBC with GE & Comcast in some sort of JV>    In the corporate world that could change while this is being written and there maybe more companies under some of these names, where Disney is the parent company of the company that bought the other company.   

  14. Disney bought "Dream Works" and of course does not want a competing company to use their product to bring customers away from their ships.  So the question is who dumped who ?  Did Disney cancel the contract or raised the price so high it did not make sense or did RCCL dump Dream Works ?  My guess is Disney was the deal breaker !  

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