BVILady

We had to cancel our cruise due to Covid and I called Royal Caribbean to inquire about refund of our prepaid shore excursions since we had booked and paid them directly on their website and the gentleman answering promised for us to get the refund for the prepaid shore excursions within 30-45 days, which did not happen. After calling them I had called our TA we booked the cruise with to cancel the cruise itself and she gave us an e-mail-address for a gentleman at Royal Caribbean to send the positive Covid results too and she stayed online waiting for him to receive the results. I have meanwhile received the refund for the cruise but not the excursions. I have been e-mailing the person at Royal Caribbean I had sent the covid results too and the TA inquiring about my refund. The e-mails to the TA bounce back that she is not listed on their employee list (either she is not there any longer or their e-mail account is experiencing problems) and I get no response from Royal. Have been on the phone with an agent from Royal yesterday for 40 minutes to inquire, she took my phone-# in case we get disconnected. We did get disconnected and that has been it, no call back, no refund. That is about $ 2000 - what to do next, not willing to write it off. Why charge these services to the credit card before delivering them. I am booked on a World Cruise with Costa and only will have to pay on board when I do take the excursions.

It must be that I am just always in too cheap a cabin category but every time I went on an excursion on HAL, Princess, P+O we had to pay for our bottled water. Only on MSC we didn't because we were on a drink-package. So to me that seems that if you have no drink-package you pay for water, having a package you have already paid for it. So not sure why everyone is making such a big deal about Costa charging for water, when the others do it also.

this has been posted previously by a member, very helpful, hope it comes through https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2872828-my-drinks-plus/#comment-63871809

Just read Oceania has cancelled India from their itinerary for March 2023. I am scheduled to be in India in January 2023. Is India still closed for Cruisers?

that makes a lot of sense combined with the move of 2 ships to the US where fuel will be cheaper. Also I do understand the concern with Russians not being able to cruise.

It might be 6 month before departure that the excursions are released, maybe due to cruise lines re-organizing. I am booked for the 2023 World Cruise and there are still ports the excursions have not been posted yet. There are certain excursions available on the excursion package but it will be enough of them for you to be able to choose. I am perfectly happy with the one's which were available for me. The selection was pretty extensive and I was able to book excursions I was booking anyhow.

That is the reason I ended up on the World Cruise with Costa 2023 since it visits ports I have not been to before especially around Africa. It also goes around South America and even I had been there before I am happy to go there again and do different excursions for example Iguaza Falls which had been on my bucket-list anyhow. I have always been booking according Itinerary not cruise line, so 2024 I ended up with Costa again due to a stop in South Korea which is on my bucket-list also.

sorry to hear that, this is definitely a step backwards instead of forwards. SMH

a minibar (even though I have heard there is none on board Costa Firenze). This cannot be correct, every cruise-line has a fridge in their cabins which they stock with drinks - so a minibar. I would re-check that information.

My son would say to that "If somebody need to continuously push an overpriced item they just want to convince themselves as well as others that the item is NOT overpriced but actually does deliver value for money."

how did you change your direct booking to an agent?

Cupkayke: "Next year, in March with Costa, we have an overnight flight from Miami to Argentina and we arrive in Argentina at 4:50am on embarkation day.... with a 7pm sail time." for times between flight arrival ad boarding and after disembarkation and flights I have used Dayuse for Hotels. www.dayuse.com - there are also similar websites. Best time to book a dayuse Hotel is 7 days prior or less, when hotels do have a better insight on departure and arrival time of their regular bookings.

I am pretty sure it is drinkable, I have seen people fill up their own bottles from the water-dispenser on the buffet and doubt that water is bottled water filled into the large containers. Will be checking it out when onboard 🙂. It might be desalinated filtered water, as long as it is drinkable and tastes good I am sure I will enjoy quite a few bottles during the 4 month cruise.

Thank you, that was exactly what I was looking for, now I know what to expect.

my cruise offers the following option to book: Bottled Mineral Water Package: A reasonable and very convenient package with 13 bottles of mineral water (1 lt.). To be enjoyed during the meals on board or at any time of the day. On a Costa cruise we think of everything: even helping you to select healthy options! Ideal for: Guests who like to drink water at mealtimes and throughout the day and want the convenience of a bottle to take with them. at Euro 39.00 - so that will make it Euro 3 per liter bottle as a special price. I think I have seen a drinks-pricelist and it was Euro 3.50 on there.

Just got off MSC. The gratuities were not included in the fare, which resulted that one party of 3 was holding up one guest-service person for the entire time we were in line to check out arguing about getting the Euro 70 gratuity taken off their bill. It is listed on your confirmation that you will be charged for gratuities, so please read. It is easy to calculate all your surcharges. The staff was hard working and very friendly but have never been on a cruise so poorly organized. I have gotten a great deal with drink and internet package, so will not complain, but better communication and organization will really go a long way to improve the product.

I hear you CupKayke. I am only cruising Costa again in January on the World Cruise. There are going to be quite a few sea days and I had surgery on my wrist and am supposed to do exercises with small weights but naturally have no intentions bringing weights with me,. enough luggage to schlepp as it is. Also had hip-surgery 2 years ago, so stretching exercises will be great for me. Due to Covid it has been a while I have last cruised and did forget when and what classes were offered. I do love to plan ahead. Otherwise, walking for exercise on the upper deck will be great.

Does anybody have a daily activity sheet for Costa Cruises. I have been just on MSC and am going on Royal Caribbean on Thursday and see that gym-opening or stretch classes are at times not suitable for me, just wondering whether Costa will be any better. Also interested in other activities offered for sea-days. Thanks in Advance.

not sure about cheaper. I had booked 3 cabins on Costa for 2020, two through an agent and one direct. When I needed to cancel because of Covid, Costa refunded our deposit within a few weeks, the Agency kept a portion as Service Charge. I am booked directly on a World Cruise now and my friend booked through an agent. I learned to call first thing in the morning calling a lady whp's extension I have and get everything answered and solved right away. She is constantly waiting for call-backs. I got really reasonable fares, since 2024 World Cruise is the one I had booked for 2022 and I got the same rate as 2022 and 2023 I had booked right after it was released, If you want to take a chance you might get a really good price for late bookings,

Thank you.

INCL − 600−MINERAL WATER AND COFFEE IN DINING ROOM − 07/16/22 0.00 INCL − 446PRS22−EASY PLUS PACKAGE − 07/16/22 0.00 this is included in our package, - For some reason when I go to manage your cruise it does not show the Easy Plus as included and when I check on the Easy Plus it does not show me what is included, rather confusing. Can anybody kindly assist me with what is included in the Easy Plus Drink Package - Thanks in advance.

Similar happened to me with Costa, they changed the embarkation port to a city which had been impossible for me to reach and disembarkation also impossible for me to get back to Trieste in time to catch my non-refundable not changeable flight out of Trieste. I cancelled and got refund and actually that is how I ended up with a booking on MSC since they had a similar itinerary of our original dates. So Poster might take the refund and look for a different cruise fitting his dates out of his original port. Good luck - we actually ended up with a bargain.

Booked before April also but between my TA and Royal Caribbean I did not get a price adjustment nor an OnBoard Credit. Needless to say losing about $ 2000 that Royal Caribbean is off my list of cruises to book. Also noticed that their price for Internet and Excursions is more then MSC or excursions on Costa (not aware of internet-rate on Costa), so all-around NO for Royal Caribbean - not that they will care 😞😀😞

Are excursions available on the ship at the same price as when booked before departure? I am not sure about a few excursions since the information provided isn't clear enough to me and the call-center only reads off the same description as is online.

On the World Cruise the MyExploration Package (2 Halfday and 1 fullday) was available to book but the Passepartour (5 halfday) was not bookable. It says now "The Passepartour package consists of 5 half-day excursions (Please note that the Passepartour packages are no longer bookable)." but I have never seen it available and was looking into booking tours from the day I had booked the cruise. On the WorldCruise the MyExploration Package also comes with discount on all other tours booked, so could not be happier about it. Things also seem to constantly change, I had booked the MyExploration package before tours themselves showed available, that had been cancelled then by Costa and was later available again to book.