gt_mustang_gal

22 minutes ago, lovescats5 said:

Those ideas only work if you have not booked a suite.  There is never a price drop with a suite.

We've received price drops on almost every suite we have booked. 

49 minutes ago, ONECRUISER said:

Taste, like has metal in it to me...and others on here. But this now also comes only in small Metal Bottles, not the large ones that Evian were.

When looking at the details of drink packages, I noticed "canned water" - is that the same as the small metal bottles you referred to?

We have booked Staterooms 8182 and 8184 on the Disney Dream, in hopes that we can request the divider to be opened between our balconies.  When looking at the deck plan, it appears that there is an extra "space" in between the rooms. 

Has anyone stayed in either of these 2 rooms?  If so, can you confirm if there's just a divider between our rooms OR is it an area that we will not be able to access?  I'd really appreciate your help!

Does anyone know if the smoking policy/areas will change now that Oasis has returned from the refurbishment?  We were just assigned to a cabin on the 14th floor, so I'm curious if we will smell smoke from our location.

Just off Freedom (3/17) and can confirm that we had issues with charges on our account. I had the Royal Replenish package, which includes cokes, frozen drinks, and bottled water. When I would walk up to a bar and ask for bottled water, they would always swipe my card but never ask me to sign anything. A few of them also decided to give themselves a TIP for handing me a bottled water. Of course, Guest Services argued with me and even printed receipts showing a $1 tip on them (that I didn't authorize). It was my word against theirs....they did remove the extra charges/tips. It just bothered me that the staff would actually add a tip like that.

As far as the sodas—-are they in cans? I like a Diet Coke, but during lunch. Wondering if I could grab one the evening before and stick it in the refrigerator? I drink about 1 per day, so I don’t want to buy the soda package.

If you're asking if you can grab one from the Diamond (or Suite) Lounge to take back to your room and put in the refrigerator...........YES.

Just off Freedom (3/17) and can confirm that I did this nearly every night. Just be sure to ask the bar staff in the lounge for a canned Diet Coke that is UN-opened. I verified with both the Diamond concierge and the Suite concierge that this was acceptable.

In hindsight, I should have never purchased the Coke package, but I didn't realize that I could get canned cokes from the lounges as a perk of being Diamond and staying in a Grand Suite.

 

We were also told there is a cold soup every night (like there used to be on the spice menus) - you just have to ask for it.

Just off Freedom (3/17) - we asked our wait staff about the cold soups, but were informed that we could "only" get it when it's on the menu. We had chilled strawberry soup ONE night out of 8.

Just off Freedom (3/17) - there was no dancing, no smiling, no laughing, no change for the jukebox, and JR's was VERY short staffed. It took nearly 2 hours for us to eat there and only 3 other families were in there when we were. Our orders came out wrong, we were unable to get refills on fries/onion rings, and it was one of the worst service experiences we had while onboard. Definitely not like is used to be..........and for SURE not worth the $23.48 cover charge for 2 people.

On our recent cruise on Freedom (3/17), the Freestyle machines ran out of Diet Coke. There was a sign up on the machines on Day 2. We were told to go to any bar to get a Diet Coke; however, they were FLAT and tasted so bad it was impossible to drink. There was definitely some issue with the Diet Coke....couldn't even get one in Johnny Rockets that tasted right. We were given conflicting answers from Guest Services, staff, Diamond Concierge, and even Suite Concierge. So....Diet Coke lovers beware!

I can confirm based on our recent Freedom cruise (3/17) that the table numbers can change! We went into the dining room as soon as we boarded to make sure we had a table for 2. When we came back a few hours later, the numbers on the tables had been moved around. We were still at a table for 2 by the window, but there were some MAD families who had already scoped out their tables, only to realize the location had changed a few hours later.

Yes, we learned this the hard way on our recent cruise on Freedom (3/17). We stood in line several times at Guest Services and had HORRIBLE experiences. Very confrontational and rude people at the desk. Then we talked to the Suite Concierge. She took care of everything for us and also coordinated with the Diamond Concierge to make sure she was also aware of what had happened. If you are Diamond or in a Suite, DO NOT waste your time at Guest Services!

We did Chops Lunch on our recent cruise on Freedom (3/17). We also reserved ahead of time at the $17.60 price. It never dropped any lower than that and we never saw it advertised any cheaper while onboard.

It's a limited menu. It wasn't the best experience we've had and we likely wouldn't pay to do that again if we had the chance. The salad was identical to the salad in the dining room. The side dishes were bland, with the exception of the Gruyere tater tots. We felt we could have grabbed the sides straight from Windjammer. Dessert also wasn't anything special and they were completely unwilling to substitute anything, even for food allergies. It just wasn't a "special" meal. The petite filet was very good and cooked to perfection, but a few bites of steak was not worth what we paid (just our opinion).

Yes, I always contact Special Needs in advance to request extension cord AND distilled water. On every cruise we've been on, they've been waiting in our room when we first arrive. On our most recent cruise on Freedom (3/17), we received an upgrade to a Grand Suite and the items weren't waiting for me. As soon as I told our stateroom attendant, she ran and got both an extension cord and a gallon of distilled water. NO PROBLEM!

There is no room service charge anytime for Grand Suites and better.

Yes, I can confirm this based on our cruise on Freedom (3-17) - no room service charge at any time for Grand Suite.

I have an update on my situation! At 4 days out, we have been assigned to a Grand Suite! YAY! We've never been in anything above a Junior Suite. Good luck to everyone else who is still waiting.

Also, make sure that you are actually linked together in their system. My husband and I were not - even though we had the same address - and luckily someone at RCCL caught it because he was showing as Gold and me as Diamond (I've been on more than him). After they "linked" us, his status automatically updated to Diamond.

Or perhaps someone recognized a person that was mean to them on Cruise Critic....... :confused::confused::confused:

Also, if you do happen to have some sort of emergency and need to cancel your cruise, you will receive a full refund of excursions that you purchased back to your card. This happened to us in November (health emergency) and we cancelled only 2 days prior to sail date. The refund of our excursions was processed within just a few days.

Per the rules of this board:

The mentioning of specific travel agents on the Cruise Critic forums is a violation of the Community Guidelines. This INCLUDES travel agencies that advertise on this web site. Also, giving hints of your travel agents name is prohibited. Asking someone to email you their travel agents name is also against the rules. Travel agent discussion must be general in nature. Violation of these rules can result in the suspension of your posting privileges.

I never dealt DIRECTLY with Royal Caribbean. I always dealt DIRECTLY with my TA; therefore, all OBC documentation is FROM my TA. While I certainly have the proof and am more than willing to post it on here, I am not willing to risk being suspended from the board just to prove to everyone that I am not lying.

From someone who has been VERY seasick (can't tolerate much motion in a car either)..........go with MID no matter what. Being forward on the ship is the absolute worst for me and where I can feel motion the most. I stayed Aft on a Disney ship, so not sure I can compare it to RCCL - I did feel motion, but it seemed like it was a different direction, so it didn't bother me....if that makes any sense.

As far as being high up, I always hear people say that you feel more movement the higher you go, but I cannot say I've been less seasick on a floor 6 balcony versus a floor 12 balcony. For me, the key is to have a balcony so that I can open it and feel air if I need to.

Hey, I literally JUST did this. I also had paid for the excursion with onboard credit. As soon as I hit cancel, the OBC went right back into my account and showed up at the top of the screen. Then I re-booked the excursion at the sale price and used the OBC. It worked perfectly.

One bit of info that might be helpful - the Evian bottles that you pre-purchase are 1 Liter bottles, so they're large. The bottled water that you purchase onboard are the smaller 16.9 oz bottles (not Evian). At least, I never noticed 1 Liter Evian water available for purchase? If I'm wrong, someone chime in.

So you got refunds last year and this year. 😱

 

FWIW, I thought my reply was fairly restrained.

 

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Forums mobile app

I am the definition of restrained with you right now.

Was the OBC exactly the amount as the price drop? So, last month the price dropped exactly $100pp? And how do you know that it came from RCI?

Yes, last month the price dropped by exactly $100 per person, so I called my TA. They put me on hold and "supposedly" called RCCL. How do I "know" that it came from them? I don't. That's why I said earlier that it could have been from the TA as opposed to RCCL.

So you are saying for all those dates,you got money back after RCCL's official final date(as opposed to paying it off prior):confused:

I called my TA and received OBC due to price drops that occurred AFTER the RCCL final payment date. This was in addition to any existing OBC. I still have the email confirmations that I brought with me on the cruises "just in case" the extra OBC didn't show up. My documentation is saved in individually named folders on my laptop, organized by year. In 2011, it was $1,200 in OBC. In 2013, it was $300 in OBC. In 2017, it was $600 in OBC. Last month, it was $200 in OBC. Do I need to send copies of those to you?