skohrs

I will attempt to post pictures and answer some questions while aboard this week. This is not exactly going to be a trip report, but if you have any questions you would like me to find out for you I will try to do so.

We are just arriving at the ship at 10:30 AM.

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I guess I waited too long to book Park N Go. Cruising tomorrow. parking at the Port is $15/day. Park and go is $12/day if I pay in advance. Not worth the $3/day savings. I guess you need to book early for better rates, and NOT OVER SPRING BREAK. [emoji12]

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Argh

That cake is so ugly.

It looks like Eddie Van Halen's guitar:

BUT IN YELLOW:

Several on the roll call for our Freedom cruise leaving tomorrow (3/18/17) received an email from RCCL last night that said (in part):

"We would like to provide you with important information regarding the upcoming sailing of Freedom of the Seas departing on Saturday, March 18th, 2017. Prior to cruise check in, there will be a required U.S. Coast Guard inspection.

To enhance the check-in and boarding experience, we ask that guests arrive at the terminal after 12:30 p.m. "

Is this something that happens every week between sailings and a standard email, or is this actually something different? If I arrive at 10:30 as I was planning, am I likely to have to wait several hours for this "Coast Guard inspection"?

We are taking our daughter's friend with us this weekend on Freedom. We got a notarized document from both the mother and the father. RCCL said we only needed one, but they don't make those decisions. It is US Customs/Border Patrol, so we got one from each parent just to be on the safe side. From what I've read, we may not be asked for the documents at all, but I don't want to be stuck without an option if they do check. If you can get both, then do it.

Do they no longer have the better brands on the ship at all, or just not with the drink package? If it is not on the ship at all, how would paying a la carte instead of buying the package help? I can't believe that you cannot order Patron at a bar if you are willing to pay.

We bought the refreshment pkg at $26, then it went on sale last month for $18 and I cancelled and rebooked.

In light of the recent erroneous cancellations of entire fully paid cruises by RRCL's IT "glitch" I would be wary of cancelling and rebooking anything. ;)

My March 18, 2017 on FOS has the card available to purchase on the cruise planner for $31 for 15 drinks.

That makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

 

I wish they would train their reps better so they would cut down on misinformation causing pax undue angst.

 

Bill

I don't think it is the training of their reps that is the problem. The RCCL website says:

"Please take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with the required travel documents. The requirements described below are required by government regulations and policies. They are subject to change without notice.

Royal Caribbean International strongly recommends that all guests travel with a passport that is valid for at least 6 months beyond the end of the cruise."

In this case, it seems their reps are saying exactly what the cruise line is telling them. Note it says "strongly recommend" and not "required" that the passport be valid for six months. The birth certificate policy isn't RCCL policy. US Customs and Border Patrol allows children under 16 to travel without any photo identification with only a birth certificate on cruises that begin and end in the same US port. It does make no sense though. I could use the same birth certificate with different children on every cruise i take, as long as the child looks to be about the same age as the birth certificate says. It would seem that a photo ID should be required. Anyone over 16 is required to have the birth certificate as well as a government issued photo ID. I guess children under 16 usually don't have a government issued ID.

I am a U.S. Citizen traveling on Freedom on March 18. My 14-year-old daughter's passport expires in May. RCCL told me that her passport must be valid for 6 months after the sail date, so I need to bring her birth certificate with us. I don't think that there is any law requiring the passport be valid for 6 months longer than the cruise. It seems RCCL just "recommends" that in case something happens while you are overseas requiring you to stay longer, you will have a valid passport to get back when you need to. That seems a bit ridiculous to me. If something happens while in a Caribbean country requiring me to stay for longer than 2 months, then getting a new passport from the consulate/embassy is likely the least of my problems. That being said, I will still bring the birth certificate with us.

Can you choose your own toppings at Sorrentos on FOS? I believe when we were on Allure we could design our own pizza, but not sure if it is the same on FOS.

if we didn't ask repetitive questions, how could someone get over 5000 posts? :cool:

rotfl :d:d:d:d:d:d:d:d:d:d:d

They were for sale on adventure. Same cost as online.

 

And on adventure in December they insisted it was per shot. Which makes absolutely no sense why anyone would buy it. Get a grande iced latte each time and instead of 15 drinks you're now getting 7.5 drinks on the card. That drink was 3.75 on the ship so buying a $31 card to pay for it is just silly.

 

If you're on adventure make sure how they are punching the card before buying. Dh had meetings with the beverage manager and he wasn't budging on it charging per shot. (Btw it was 3.50 for a tall hot latte with one shot vs a grande with two. Why they couldn't punch one and let me pay 25 cents plus 18% grat I do not know.)

 

 

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Hmmmm. I guess I'll find out onboard next month. If they do want to count two punches for a Grande, then I'll just have to get the tall so I get all 15 drinks. If I need more than a tall, then I'll get 2 talls for 2 punches and get much more than 1 grande.

iMessage will use only wifi (not your cellular data) if you are connected to wifi and have your cellular data turned off (in airplane mode). If you are not on wifi and you have cellular data on, then it will use your data. Therefore, just make sure you have airplane mode turned on so you don't get unexpected international roaming charges.

You can also text using Skype and many other apps. You can video chat on the ship's wifi too using Skype, FaceTime (on Apple products), and many other apps.

How about iMessage? Thank you

iMessage should work, as long as all parties texting have iPhones using iMessage. The best thing to do is to put your phone in airplane mode at home, turn on the wifi, and test it out. If it works on airplane mode with wifi at home, it should also work onboard the ship in wifi as well.

CVP means Certified Vacation Planner, Royal's internal booking staff. I can't explain why the bookings look different, but it should not make a difference in website functionality.

Thanks Bob. You're fast. I had a feeling you would be the one to answer first.

I booked two adjoining rooms for our FOS cruise over the phone with RCCL (and got 2 different reservation numbers). When I went on the RCCL website on the "vacation summary", one reservation shows status as "Purchased" along with the purchase price and the outstanding balance. The second reservation does not list a "status" or purchase price and outstanding balance. Under the reservation number it just says:

I didn't use a travel agent. I booked on the phone directly with RCCL on the same phone call as the other reservation. Does anyone know what that means?

I see these cards available to purchase in advance on the cruise planner. Does anyone know if they can be purchased on board as well? I plan to buy one in advance, but if we go through it quickly, I might want to buy another. Also, does it use one of your punches for each drink, or do they use two punches for the large size drinks that take 2 shots of espresso?

Who remembers this?

Nothing gets between me and my Calvins.

Nothing!!!!

People at RCI's call center know nothing and if you call 3 times you'll get 3 wrong answers. Stick to a higher standard and you'll be fine.

 

https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/268/~/children---child-traveling-with-one-parent-or-someone-who-is-not-a-parent-or

Perfect. That's exactly what I was looking for (and why I was suspect of the answers given by RCCL). Customs is the agency who would be looking for this documentation. I glad you pointed me to this document directly from the source. Thanks!!!!

They may never ask for it (especially on a cruise), but I believe the reason it is technically required is to try to prevent situations where one parent "kidnaps" their child to take them to live in another country.

We booked Sabor for night 5 on our FOS March 18 cruise at the new $15 rate. Seems like a great deal to us. We also got the BOGO deal for the first 2 nights. On FOS there are only 3 premium restaurants (Giovanny's, Chops Grille, and Sabor). The BOGO is only a good deal if it does not include Sabor. Hopefully, we will get Chops and Gios for the first two nights. If not, I hope it is not too difficult to get it switched since we already have Sabor booked for night 5.

They can definitely sign separate forms. I'd rather have the two forms and not need them than have one form and need both!

True.

We are traveling with our daughter's best friend (14-years-old) on FOS this March. We know that we need to have a notarized consent form for traveling with a minor, and I know what needs to be included in that form. The question I have is whether both of her parents need to sign the form or just one of them. Two different people at RCCL have assured me that only 1 parent needs to sign the form. I hope this is the case because her parents are divorced and getting them both to sign a form in front of notary will not be easy to coordinate as they do not get along (TMI?). The only reason I hesitate to believe what RCCL has told me is because I have seen others on this board post in the past about possibly needing both parents signatures, especially since my daughter's friend has a different last name than her mother (who will be signing the form). I assume it is the customs people who will be looking at the form, not RCCL personnel, or I wouldn't be second guessing what RCCL told me. Has anyone else ever had this situation arise?

If I do need both parents to sign the consent, do you think it would be fine to have each parent sign a separate form and bring both forms with me? That would be much easier to coordinate. Thanks for any insight.