StanleyandGus

Does Jewel have the roast beef sandwiches? My husband became addicted to them on Grandeur!

I have done exactly that- no problems no far, but we’re on the same cruise! Jany did say that there is a 5% surcharge.

Believe me, I've searched for this quick answer, and I'm not finding this info anywhere!

 

We will be on the Jewel out of Civitavecchia this fall. I'm setting up the transfers now, and I'm not sure what time to arrive at the port. Ship sails at 5pm. We always like to arrive early (10:30-11am) on our Carib cruises to be able to enjoy the ship on embarkation day.

 

Any idea what time the Jewel begins boarding?

 

Thanks!

We have asked to be picked up at 11:00 for the Jewel of the Seas. Our hotel is by the Pantheon. I’m pretty sure we will see you on board!

I would offer a lift, but there’s 6 people and the driver.

Thanks! I’m looking forward to this- I’m really glad that we will be in Rome on a Saturday.

I’ve tried e-mailing, but haven’t received any response from Co-op Culture. Is the site closed for September, or if just that the tickets aren’t on sale yet?

CruiseMom, I feel confident that you have done this!

No, I haven’t been charged anything, although I should have been. I have the Royal Caribbean invoice, which looking at it carefully, does show that. So l guess that’s on me. I figured that if I was handing it over to professionals, there would be no problem. Lesson learned.

I believe the problem was with Royal Caribbean. We have talked to our travel agent, who is taking it up with RC.

I just want to pay the original price, so I guess I don’t care who made the mistake. People make mistakes, but I don’t want to pay for it.

My husband and I are recent converts to cruising, we especially enjoy long, lazy days at sea. We wanted to do a transatlantic, and the trip from Barcelona to Tampa in November of 2019 (35th anniversary cruise!) sounded ideal, and the price was good.

Now, I know from reading this site that opinion varies on using a travel agent. We are experimenting with different approaches; so far we have booked ourselves through calling Royal Caribbean directly, booking through, um, a big box store that sells everything, and this cruise was with a more traditional travel agent (part of a large international chain).

This was the 9th of March. Life intervened- my husband got a surprise and short notice posting, which meant selling a house and buying another one. Meanwhile, I couldn’t log into the Crown and Anchor site (you may a heard about difficulties with that 🙄!), but wasn’t overly concerned because our next cruise isn’t until September.

Anyway, I was looking at the transatlantic on the big box store site (and congratulating myself on booking early- yeah, about that...) when I noticed my cabin was still available. Oh oh. I made the dreaded call to Crown and Anchor, where a very bored, but ultimately effective, young man got my password working again, and confirmed that our booking number was invalid.

It appears that when my travel agent gave my credit card number to Royal Caribbean it was incorrectly entered. My agent confirmed that she had copied in down correctly, and I pay it off monthly.

We now have a courtesy hold on a cabin, but I don’t want to pay the current rate. We have the official Royal Caribbean printout, not that it’s useful. I understand that these conversations are recorded, and the agent has a request in for the recording of the conversation between her and the company. I have a bad feeling about this. We aren’t anybody. We’re not Diamond Pluses, and the company can resell our cabin for more money. I guess I’m saying check everything, whether you use a travel agent or not.

My guess is that you should be able to drop a cabin without any charge since it's before final payment and there is a least one person in each cabin that isn't moving. Just out of curiosity, are the current fares higher or lower than when you booked the cruise? Do you have refundable deposits?

Much higher. We booked on the first day that the Med cruises were available, and yes, they are refundable.

No, my daughter and my brother will have their own cabins. One son was going to share with my brother, but the other son’s friend can’t make it, and the boys will be roommates again (as they were when they were little).

My family is pretty easy going, so I’m probably worrying about nothing! I like your suggestion of calling and raising the “what if” hypothetical scenario.

That’s good to know! I’ll probably leave things as they are.

Thanks....now if I could only login to my Crown and Anchor site :rolleyes:....

Can you just leave everything alone and have two no shows? We have done this but my pricing was really good so it made no difference.

I would, but one son would have access to his uncle’s room, but not his.

Unless there’s a way to change it on the ship.

In September, we are booked on a 9 day Jewel of the Seas cruise of the Greek Islands, with 3 adult kids and my brother.

Unfortunately, a couple of my children’s friends won’t be able to join us. I currently have 4 staterooms, but I want to juggle the occupants. That would leave my daughter and brother travelling solo and my sons sharing.

Is it safe to let Royal Caribbean know about this, or would they promptly reprice the rooms, (which I emphatically don’t want!). The only real move is one son into his brother’s room.

I could then, if I’m feeling generous, do beverage packages for them.

I have always wanted to see Ostia Antica, but it may require another trip! Not that that’s a problem....:D

If only the Domus Aurea opened on weekdays. I think I’ll offer the option of Ostia Antica or the Domus Aurea. Maybe the group will split for that day, which is fine.

I’m glad I’m asking what to see... everyone is being very generous with sharing their experiences.

Can’t see everything, can’t see everything.....but I want to!

Ok, got it! I appreciate your help.

Rome is hard, because everything sounds like it’s worth a look!

That’s a really good point about having a plan for the first day. I’m trying not to be too dictatorial, but then we waste opportunities. I’ll embrace my inner Julius!

I think we have to look at Saint Clement’s; thank you, trosebery!

Cruisemom, our tour is the Colosseum (including the ground floor), but it ventures into the Forum and Palantine Hill. I can’t imagine 4 hours being enough time to see everything, but I’m looking forward to finding out! I’m feeling more confident about my park and picnic day, and we will definitely use buses. I suspected CM’s tomb might be dull, but it’s all about the road. My brother is an engineer, so we shall make ourselves comfortable while he expounds!

Thank you for the help!

I have never been to Rome. I am travelling with my husband, brother and 3 adult children, plus a boyfriend. I guess they trust me, because every time I ask what people want to do, the answer is that they will do what I do!

I am turning to my Cruise Critic friends for advice!

We have 4 days in Rome before the cruise.

Day 1: our flight lands at 11:00. We are staying at Albergo Abruzzi, next to the Pantheon. I thought for that day, we could explore outside- Trevi fountain, Piazza Navona, the outside of the Vatican etc.

Day 2: possibly the Galleria Borghese (09:00 to 11:00) with a picnic outside after. At 13:45 we have a Walks of Rome tour of the Coliseum, which should last until 18:00.

Day 3: my husband and I think we will come back to Rome, and we will visit the Vatican museum and St Peter’s then. The kids may want to visit the Vatican.

I really want to see the Appian Way. My tentative plan is to take the metro for a picnic in Aqueduct Park, go see the tomb of Caecilia Metella, the Appian Way ( this will be on Friday, and I know it’s in use as a road),

the Domine quo Vadis Church, the Museum of the Walls, and the Baths of Caracalla. I’m not sure about catacombs. There will be buses involved, I think.

Is this realistic?

Day 4: hopefully, the Domus Aurea, as well as anything we didn’t get a good look at in the Forum area.

Any advice or comments are welcome! This is for September, so I’ll have time to change things around.

I am looking at this as well- Context tours sounds wonderful, but they don’t do the underground portion. Some of my party are set on doing this.

The Coop website is confusing, or at least, I find it so!

Thank you for a great review! You have a wonderful talent for writing.

We're going on the Grandeur in November, and you have just ramped up the excitement!

Following! I love reading entertaining posts, and yours ranks right up there!

Please, if you can, do lots of pictures of the public areas of the ship. We are doing our first ever Caribbean cruise on the Grandeur in November, and I want to know what to expect.

Biker, it's the looking-for-a-trip site.

There's probably another name for it.

I like it. The descriptions of the ports are good if you're unfamiliar with them. I think it's a cut and paste job from the main site, but it's convenient!

It keeps wanting to price my trips in US dollars (I'm more interested in the tundra peso!), but the old site did that as well.

I am no longer worried about gaining weight on my cruise!

Thanks everyone.

I guess I'll wait and watch. I appreciate the advice, but I won't tell the kids yet, just in case we're all wrong! (Although Bob never is 😏.) I thought I was doing well to coordinate 8 people with jobs and school, but I guess I might be doing it again.

I am sailing on the 9 September 2018 Jewel of the Seas from Rome. My roll call has apparently disappeared.

Not only that, but the ship has suddenly been sold out. There were quite a few cabins remaining this week; I was idly thinking about upgrading my adult kids and brother from their inside cabins on deck 10 to something with a sea view.

I know from reading this board that an entire ship can be chartered. Or maybe the Hell's Angels are having a convention.

I know I should phone, but has this happened before?