Sittin'OnTheDock

I usually wait until the last five days of the cruise and then use my wife's card for two free days and by then I can get three free days with my card (remainder of the cruise).

No Seat saver here. Thanks for the info

Show up early...we go about 30 minutes early and get good seats. You don't have to go 30 minutes early to get good seats, but seats are comfy and a drink helps pass the time.

There are a number of odd things appearing on Royal's website right now. We had a cruise appear that we didn't book that last less than 24 hours...and they want payment.:p

Are you booking with Choice Air? Because they are tied to Royal, I think they look at the schedules and determine if you can make it...plus if something happens, they are good to help. I have found their prices good.

I saw a great deal on my ipad while on a Royal cruise (for another Royal cruise). So I wouldn't forget it, I did a screen capture and then went to Next Cruise the next morning.

I told them what I wanted and they couldn't find it. They kept looking while referring to my ipad. Finally they found it and we booked it.

It seems their system may not always take them to best deal for you.

Now I make certain I do my own searches and have my information handy.

Might be a good idea to make a decision quickly and get the paperwork going.

You are dealing with the federal government and if there is any kind of hiccup, you can lose a month easily.

My wife's passport renewal was rejected because they said her eyes were not open enough, but she has big beautiful eyes and her eyes showed MUCH better than mine.

A month later her passport was approved with a new picture.

You might want to hold up for a bit. Royal has changed their website completely and there are some kinks to be straightened out. Give it a few days if you have the time to spare.:)

Only the $100 per person is forfeit, and remaining deposit will apply to your new booking.

 

And you can use the OBC for anything. Once it shows up in your Cruise Planner, you can use it to pay for anything booked through the Cruise Planner.

 

TA OBC does not show up until on board.

We had the $200 deduction and also received a Future Cruise Certificate in the mail worth a total of $300. And there are restrictions...cruise fare only...not used for deposit...must be used before sailing..use by certain date.

I did finally get in and got our Celebrity numbers also.

Everything looks ok except Royal is showing our having a "one night" cruise leaving on Jan 1, 2019 and returning the next day. It show a GTY room with a reservation number. I didn't book anything around that time.

Our other two cruises look fine.

I'm going to give them a few days to see if this goes away before calling...I bet their phones are busy.

We didn't get any perks by booking (but then it was a discount rate to begin with.)

 

I'm just struggling because of our split family situation. I'm not quite sure that anything is going to help with that short of simply canceling the trip altogether.

 

I did call back in and they told me to have the travel agency send an email on company letterhead relinquishing the reservation. I bought insurance through the TA as well so I just don't want more issues.

 

The fact that I am getting quoted a 50% loss instead of $100 per person is disheartening. My husband suggested that perhaps they kept the difference between those two numbers.

 

I have one reservation listed as My Family Time Dining and the other one listed as Traditional Dining. I don't even know if we are going to end up at the same table.

 

Blah. I'm just so used to handling everything myself.

When I called Royal, they told me the agency had to agree...BUT when I sent the email (to my above link), the change was made within minutes...even before I had a chance to tell the agency.

Thanks for the replies. This helps us greatly. Our going on a ship thinking it is like the pictures would give us a false impression. But knowing it is a little worn helps us to start to off on the right foot.

Cheers:)

Send an email to:

Agencychanges@RCCL.com

Tell them what you want. I have done this (removed from an agent and transferred to Royal) and it was handled quickly.

Tell us if this worked for you.

Cheers

This won't work for a proper ID, but we are always fearful of our passports being stolen or getting left by the ship, so we take a photo of our passports on our iphones....so if we are ever left by the ship, we at least have a picture of our passports with us.

Like I said, that won't work for proper ID.

We have never cruised on Celebrity but have an itinerary that looks attractive.

I just want to know if folks think this ship is tip top or bottom of the barrel.

We will probably go on the cruise anyway, but I haven't booked yet (Sep 2019).

Cheers:)

Call Celebrity's Captain's Club with your C&A number handy: 844-418-6824

Thank you, thank you, thank you...that was so easy. We are now both Elite members with real numbers.:D:D

Thanks for the help...I believe Royal's "Crown and Anchor" prices are sometimes better than the published prices so I was hoping Celebrity would also give a better price with the Diamond Plus equivalent.:)

I am at the very early stages of planning a trip to europe. It will probably be in 2-3 years. I was thinking about possibly doing a cruise while there. I have heard that the food is different. Any orher differences? Tia

No, Europe is just like Texas.:):):):)

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Really, you name it and it is different.:)

We have never sailed Celebrity and we have found an itinerary we like that Royal doesn't do.

On that note, these help lower prices! I've not so shamelessly taken advantage of price drops created by bad news. My upcoming Jewel cruise is the cheapest 7 day balcony cruise I have ever done. Costa Concordia got me a room upgrade and Carnival Triumph breaking down got me a low cost upgrade.

That's smart of you.

On the other side of the coin, we were enjoying our cruise to Alaska on Princess last summer when our neighbor a few doors down decides to beat his wife to death while their daughter was in the room with them.

Princess was wonderful to everyone. They did everything right as far as I can tell. I can't say enough good things about Princess.

With all that said, we will never sail on Princess again...nothing against Princess...it's just that memory will never go away.

This is a really good thread for me. I have used "guarantee" a lot in the past. I don't plan to ever use "guarantee" again except in Galveston...a few hours driving from my home.

I don't think it's exactly Non-Refundable.

I am looking at our letter from Royal stating they were deducting $100 per person and giving us $150 per person Future Cruise Credit to be used within one year.

So I suppose we only are risking $200 total by cancelling because we always plan on having one more Royal cruise.

I don't remember the savings by using NRD. I plan to always use NRD.:)

Being from Canada we also felt the friendly vibe leaving from Texas and commented on it to others. Would do Liberty again too and this is a contributing factor.

Canadians are batting a 1000 with me. I never met one I didn't like and that includes Liberty, Hawaii, and Florida cruises. I guess you guys are just happy to be warm.:D

We use a magnetic white board with an attached pen. Works great. Sometimes the pen is stolen, so you might want to have everyone in your party to have their own pen.

Plus strangers decide to leave you notes.

All in all, we like the white board when traveling.

EVERYONE: You are on vacation - leave your phone in the safe and talk to each other. Use sticky notes on your doors. Plan times to meet up. Use the house phones. Be on vacation and leave technology in the room.

 

Sorry...just my opinion. :)

We also enjoy using a magnetic white board on our cabin door. We also get some unusual notes left from people we don't know.

Cheers,

:)