What We Found Travelling

It’s simple, when you book online & pay the deposit you should receive a confirmation invoice.  You shouldn’t have to call up RC & be on hold for an hour just to request your invoice.  Come on Royal up your game!

Only if I’ll need the passport to fly to the next port to get back on the ship.

I believe currently RC won’t send confirmation invoices when making an initial booking unless you ask for one, because the pricing of cruises are extremely volatile.  I feel RC don’t want you to easily know for sure what price you booked the cruise at.  This is based on my experience booking 5 cruises with them over the last few months.

I actually drink less alcohol with the deluxe package, by never feeling obliged to finish the warm beer/wine or spirit at 2AM.  Now, if I had paid for them guess what I would most likely do?

Yeah… I have B2B next July & both are showing 55% off & they are different prices, the same with the beverage package 30% off but totally different prices… go figure!!!

4 hours ago, renza said:

Key is never worth it to me. Just another way to get money from people who have no idea they are getting ripped off. 

It is definitely worth it on a port intensive Med cruise with tender ports, more so, if you also want internet.

On 10/8/2021 at 11:44 PM, Biker19 said:

T&C from the Aussie site:

 

30. PRICE PROTECTION

Should a lower standard fare or different promotional offer become available after you have confirmed your booking but before the final payment deadline (75 days for standard cruises and 90 days for Holiday, Trans-Pacific and Asia Reposition cruises), then a request to reprice your booking to the lower fare or promotion can be submitted. The lower fare and/or promotion may be applied if proof of the lower fare and/or promotional offer has been provided in order to qualify the request. The lower fare and/or promotional offer must be:

• 1. For the same ship, sail date, stateroom category and numbers of guests
  2. Be available at the time of the price protection request and advertised and bookable by the general public
  3. The policy does not apply to promotional rates including, but not limited to, group rates, travel agent rates, friends & family rates, contracted rates & casino offers.
  4. The policy does not apply to guests booked within a contracted group

NOTE: If either the new lower fare or promotional offer does not combine with any promotion associated with the existing booking, or changes are being made outside of the promotional booking window, the existing promotion will be removed.

 

The Royal Caribbean Price Protection policy is available on all Royal Caribbean cruises booked on or after 11^th June 2020. If your booking meets the above requirements, then a price protection claim form must be completed. Our team will review the price protection request and where eligible, process the fare change and send an updated email confirmation with the new booking details.

Biker,

I called Royal today just before their sale ended & just happened to get the same consultant who knocked back my cruise reprice from the other day.  I asked him again very nicely.  After 20 minutes on hold he came back & quoted the CWC Best Price Guarantee cut off date of 30th April 2022 & said unfortunately he can’t help me with a reprice as my cruise is in July 2022.  I told him I have no interest in CWC, & quoted him clause 30 of Royals FULL Terms & Conditions.  After holding for another 45 minutes he told me he’s escalating the inquiry to his superior as he has never seen clause 30!  After another 30 minutes on hold he confirmed that I was correct & my B2B cruises are eligible for a reprice.  He did say this on closing… Royal will agree to the reprice as it’s listed in their Terms & Conditions, but, they intend to make changes to the clause in the near future.  Very strange… but happy days for me!

Royal told me today repricing is only valid on cruises sailing before 30th April 2022.  Any cruise sailing after that date can’t be repriced.  The “Best Price Guarantee” is only valid until that date, & normally cruises cannot be repriced only cancelled & rebooked. Hence, NRD & OBC will be lost.  

I’d like to know what the experts on here believe to be true.

Royal told me today the “Best Price Guarantee” is for cruises sailing before 30th April 2022.  After that date, it’s just bad luck… Royal certainly know how to piss their so called customers off. 

Certainly wouldn’t happen with P & O or Carnival.

I’ve booked b2b cruises in the Med for July 2022 with RC direct.  I booked one cruise in early September 2021.  I booked the 2nd cruise on the 30th September to take advantage of the double C & A points.  When I was booking the 2nd cruise I noticed my original cruise had dropped by $200.  So I rang RC & asked for a reprice which was given.  The next day, 1st of October I checked the price of both cruises & they had dropped by a further $500 each!  I rang RC & had both repriced.  RC told me with their best price guarantee I can get repricing right up until final payment, then, OBC will be given for any requested repricing thereafter.  

I just noticed in Australia, how after the BIG SALE ending at 5PM Sydney time 30th September (& double C & A points) that the Wonder of the Seas Mediterranean prices have now been slashed by 30%… cheaper than the original Allure pricing.  So much for the BIG SALE!!!!!  Strangely though, Odyssey pricing has remained the same???

Our hotel Electra Palace booked a taxi to take my wife & I to the airport at 7AM.  They told me it will cost 35 euros.  I was watching the meter tick over & when we stopped at the airport it was 28 euros, I thought good, I’ll give 30 euros, hence, a 2 euro tip.  As soon as he turned the taxi off, he pressed various buttons on the meter & the price jumped up to 52 euros.  I asked him why is the fare so expensive as the hotel told me 35 euros, he told me I had to pay for toll roads, airport entry fee & for 2 extra large suitcases.  I told him the suitcases aren’t extra large, to open up the boot & we’ll check the sizes.  As soon as the boot opened I pulled out the suitcases & then reluctantly gave him 40 euros.  He complained as he was 12 euros short & I said why don’t you call the police… I then shouted out to my wife “call the police” the driver then jumped in his taxi & sped away.  Moral of the story, always confirm the price before you put your bags in any taxi, there’s never a cheap taxi in a big city like Athens.

We use WiFi to check on all our arrangements we’ve made on port days & to do any other research/bookings etc. before getting into the next port.  WiFi for us is very important, we basically have everything at our fingertips.

10 hours ago, cot427 said:

I did order the Rick Steves Med Cruise Port book - it's coming today!

Download Rick Steves Audio Europe App… the general information & walking tours are sensational.  We do walking tours in every major city with Rick’s App.  Guaranteed you’ll love them.

I’m booked on Rhapsody for the 11th July 2022 with the identical itinerary as the 13th June.  I selected this cruise because of the start & finish in two fantastic cities where I can spend more time exploring.
I did a Vision cruise round trip from Barcelona in 2019 for 12 nights & it was fantastic.  Cannes, Livorno, Rome, Athens, Mykonos, Chania & Valletta. 

The real advantage of the key is jump the queue at tender port disembarkation.  Beats getting out of bed at 6AM & lining up for tender tickets.

On 8/19/2021 at 3:25 PM, Hlitner said:

As to having a rental car it is often our preference since it gives us maximum flexibility and does not cost much more then using taxis all day if you want to go to a few places on the island.   In our case we picked up our car and drive directly to Oia where we spent a few hours and then enjoyed lunch at a restaurant with a view (many places in Oia have good views).  We later drive back to the other side of the island (past Thira) and went to a black sand beach (it was a very hot day).  This can all be done with the local buses (at less cost but with the usual waiting and crowding) or by arranging for a taxi.   Of course one could also opt to take pricier excursions.

Hank, 

Can you tell me who you rented the car from & roughly how much the cost?  Cheers 🍻 

5 minutes ago, Kamehameah said:

Inside cabin

Looks like cabin 7420

We’re not too fussed about an interior or a balcony.  We love the interior for the total darkness, which means on sea days we can sleep in through to midday after coming in at 3-4AM.  We only use our cabin for the three “S” as all ships these days are destinations with so much to see & do.  We hardly ever use the balcony & if we do it’s for 15 minutes at the most.  If the interior is a lot cheaper we’ll book that & with the savings get the unlimited dining package.  
We only have one motto for travelling & that is ‘value for money’.  We’re quite happy to spend $10K if it’s value, & can feel ripped off spending $4K if there is no value.

We use Vodafone & never had a problem with cell phone coverage in any Med ports back in 2019. Spain, France, Italy, Greece & Malta.

We took the Royal Caribbean shuttle bus (7:30AM) into Livorno town centre, then walked about 100m to the local bus stop where the bus took us directly to the main railway station.  We then purchased return train tickets to Florence.  Total cost for two adults less than 40 Euro.  Total time from walking off the ship until the train leaving Livorno about 50 minutes.  We arrived at Florence around 9:30AM.  The last shuttle back to the ship left Livorno town centre at 6PM.  We had a good 6 hours exploring Florence.  

We purchased the Key & would again.  Lunch & breakfast in Chops, full internet, guaranteed seating at the shows & jump the queue at tender ports.

P & O the local cruise line in Australia have cancelled all cruises in Australia until the 18th December 2021.    
No chance whatsoever of RCI cruising to Australia before then.

3 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

Not only can you not tell between those choices if they were in the same market without looking at the bottom line price, it is even more difficult to do so between two different markets (and not only because of exchange rates).

 

Like with everything else RCI, ignore % off claims, look at the overall cost.

My point was the sales are identical, but, RCI is just playing their usual games with pricing sales, hence, there is never really a sale.  

On the US website 60% off 2nd guest.  On the Australian website 30% off both guests.  Which is the better deal?