HappyTexan44

Piggy-backing on this.   I booked through a TA for our Starter cruise in Feb.  My TA entered our passports already.   At least I think she did.   Are the TA's allowed to do the other check-in stuff that isn't getting a time slot or medical questions?   It would be nice to have that stuff done ahead of time in case the app is being flaky during our check-in time.   

Could the passport offices be extra efficient now because of the Christmas holiday?    Like maybe the office is promised extra time off once they process all passports received before X day?    

I don't know if this is still true, but at one time the best time to go to the DMV was in the last hour they were open.   There was a rule that anyone waiting before closing time would be processed.   Then there had also been fights on who got overtime.   So a decision was made that no workers could leave until everyone could leave.    So, the people that normally stayed in the back, not helping customers directly, would man all the booths and customers would be processed quickly.   

 

12 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

I see it as the severity of the cruise line response is proportional to the importance of the issue to them. RCI makes their policy on illegal drugs pretty clear. If someone is stupid enough to test the system and they get caught oh well.

I agree.   Putting myself in the position of a decision maker at Royal.   Would I really want as a customer someone that would bring skunk weed on a cruise?    No.   I also would permanently ban anyone that I could prove was smoking (anything) where they shouldn't be.   Also, anyone deliberately harming the ship.   With pot, and cigarettes and vandalism, you can't plead ignorance.   People should assume they are banned unless you learn otherwise. 

On the other hand, people that bring a clothes steamer on the ship, those you just confiscate the steamer.   

26 minutes ago, S.A.M.J.R. said:

How do we know the bolded?  Or are you saying "many people have been denied boarding"?  Sorry, I thought you meant many had been denied compensation. 

Boarding.   13 cabins of people got the letter at the port and 2 of those boarded.  I assume that all 13 got the same Too Bad So Sad letter.   So, of the 11, it was one that attracted attention.  

It might also be that there were so many that got the letter.  If they did one or two of those letters every so often, likely people wouldn't have noticed as much.  
 

17 hours ago, SUgwoz said:

There is certainly higher end cruise lines for adults, and a more expensive cruise line geared towards kids and fans of Disney.  Is there a higher end cruise line that caters both to adults (ie. casino) and kids like Royal does?

Maybe that is it.  I guess there are people booking those three-level family suites (or whatever they are called)   

People can spend their money however they want.  But, if they have that kind of fritter money,   I have to wonder why they aren't on another cruise line and not, well, on the same one as me.   

I wonder if sometimes the victims just go quietly into the night, and don't complain on social media.  Or if they do, only their friends see.  Royal would consider that a win. In this case it was only the one person's story that took off, and many people had been denied.  For me it was the pathetic resignation that I noticed.  

53 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

I don’t know where your are in the metroplex but for future reference check the universities.  UTD has a manned passport office now which I hear is a better experience than the post office

The post office was great, one of the joys of living in an exurb is the nice people.  Would UTD have been even quicker?   When I said we had to go to the post office, I meant we weren't able to do it online.   
Some friends of ours are waiting until their daughter is 16 before applying for a passport for her.  I will mention that to them.   

I am bowled over by how quick that was.   We applied, I think Nov 19th.   Non-expediated, and one was a new child passport.   The passport was in our mail yesterday Dec 9th.   DH was in the hospital so I haven't gotten mail in about a week, so it might have been there sooner.  It also came in a priority mail envelope although I hadn't paid for priority.   

1 hour ago, The Fun Researcher said:

One of these days we'll try one of those out.  We're happy sailing interior or Balcony.  Balcony really isn't that big of an upgrade to us.  I know, I know but we like the outdoor spaces around the ship rather than sitting alone on our balcony.  I do like being able to quickly and easily look out at port in the morning.

In our case, the promenade rooms were cheaper than interior.  I was booking for two adults and two teenagers and trying to get as cheap of a room as possible.   One 4-person interior was more expensive than two 2-person promenade rooms.  So, no brainer to go with the cheaper option that also had two bathrooms. .   

I really want to stay away from smoke.  

All this talk about skunk weed makes me extra glad for our promenade view rooms.   I'd be ticked if I'd paid for a balcony I couldn't use.   
 

Well, this is interesting.   We'd had to go into the post office.   For both DH and I, our previous passports were expired too long to just be a renewal.   Plus, I'd married since the last passport, and then we had daughter's first passport to do.   We did that shortly before Thanksgiving. 

 
At the post office, they told us that they'd send the supporting documents back separately and that they'd probably come a month after we had the passports.   I wasn't expecting any movement on the passports, but I've been checking the passport status every now and then.   I see this:

"We sent your supporting documents via First Class Mail on 12/01/2023 to the mailing address you provided on your application."

I had to reread it because my mind didn't believe it was still "processing."    That is amazingly quick.  Of course, I don't have the passports in my hands, but still.   We do live in Texas.   

One thing I kept remembering when reading the OP was the pamphlet that was posted here awhile back from 1984.   It had made a big impression on me because a similar cruise in a similar room was very close in price to what I paid for our Feb 2024 cruise.  The actual dollar amount, not converted for inflation.  I bet if someone paid in real dollars the same as 1984 prices then the problems listed in the OP will go away.   I am talking about normal pricing on a more luxurious line so not Royal.  

I think of that when I get seriously grumpy about the airline cattle treatment.   I think of what flying was like when I was a youngin' as the Grand Ole Days.    I could fly first class for the converted dollars that I was spent for the tickets.   

4 hours ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

I’ve only had to go to GS twice for smoking on the balcony. 

once when the neighbors were openly smoking on the balcony, and when I said it’s not allowed, they said so what…..so I took their pictures and went right down to GS. I heard a knock on their door a few minutes later. Problem solved.

 

Another time neighbors were smoking all the time on the balcony and were so comfortable they just left their ashtray on the table with the butts in it.  I took a picture to GS and soon after I heard a knock on their door.  They denied it was their ashtray, and said the room attendant must have put it there.  Problem solved

 

The reason I go to GS about this is I don’t want the ship to catch on fire. 

And that sort of people is even MORE likely to light the ship on fire than your average smoker.  

@YoupDeBoer  Thank you for that photo.  If the selection is reasonable and cans, then I'll keep the soda package.   

Just wondering this.  For someone renewing and a tight schedule, couldn't they send in their BC as their citizenship proof?   So, instead of using the BC to sail, and sending in the passport before the cruise, send a BC in for the passport renewal.    Not saying this would work, but maybe you guys know why it wouldn't.   
 

You would think it would be easy to catch people smoking in the public areas.   Don't they have every inch of public spaces on video? 
  
It really bothers my sinuses as does cigarette smoke.   If I see anyone smoking, I'll video it and report.   

17 hours ago, steveru621 said:

 

Have you provided sources?  It's a binary choice.  Just state your opinion!  Do you believe RCI is stealing?  You are simply hiding behind my posts.

 

Safe travels,

Well, Royal skims or doesn't skim, no one has a source so the statement "Royal Skims" has equal validity with your "Royal does not skim."   You stating it over and over and over again isn't a source.   

These are things that I think we can all agree on.   

1)  Royal isn't transparent about gratuities.  

2)  What the employees actually get is impacted by the surveys.  

I doubt they are actually skimming, as in I don't think an evil accountant is pocketing the money. 

But, using the gratuity to pay the wages of non-tipped positions, that is possible.  

Putting the gratuity money into a big pool and distributing it based on their formula without regard to who earned it.  Yup, totally possible.   So, I could totally see a cabin attendant that had a majority of their cabins with 4 people in each being overworked from all the mess, then getting a bad review in a survey and therefore getting the shaft in the tip distribution.   

I wonder if it was truly only GTY people that were bumped?    If it was, then it wouldn't make sense that it was a maintenance issue. Unless it just happened to hit in an undesirable area that no one would select.    

On 11/27/2023 at 12:46 PM, MichaelCMTX said:

Does anyone know if there's a FAQ or other list of who is and is not Freestyle?  

 

We sail on Voyager in 7 weeks and my motivation for getting the soda package is kinda hinging on the ability to get a Raspberry Coke Zero when the whim strikes. 

We are getting on Voyager in Feb.   If they don't have it by then I am going to ask for a refund.   It is such a no-brainer to have a machine that lets customers get just what they want without the need to bother staff.   For DH, we will be bringing Diet DP onboard.  

At the moment, everyone but DH has the soda package, but I've wondered the same thing about the refreshment package.  
DH drinks Diet DP, iced tea and beer so none of the packages will work for him.  

 

9 minutes ago, cruisin from florida said:

One other thought. Some on this thread have been a bit critical of the person who went wide (reddit, cruise critic, FB, etc.) when this happened. If Royal is going to engage at this level of customer disservice, they better saddle up. Going forward, this may be the only way customers can get the attention necessary to force Royal to do the right thing. 

 

If they hadn't, they would have been left with the Too Bad So Sad letter that they'd initially gotten.  
 

22 minutes ago, cruisin from florida said:

This thread and the ones in other spaces would have been entirely different if RCCL had been smart enough to do that in the first place. I guess saving a few thousand bucks was worth the bad publicity and lost customers. As a customer and stockholder, I'm not impressed with the decision making here.

I agree.  They had to pay the nice compensation, but they still got the bad publicity.   Maybe they are hoping the other 10 cabins that were bumped have the head in the sand and won't hear about his deal.  
 

58 minutes ago, SRF said:

 

Yes.  Some of the airline offers have been simply amazing.  Unfortunately, every time it has been offered for me, I had to be where I was going.

 

But a bit harder after most people have boarded, like a cruise situation.

Also, after boarding has started bumping people becomes a lot more expensive for the airlines.  The mandated minimums are pretty sweet.   That is why they'll delay boarding until they get enough volunteers.  

If the problem was that crew needed to be isolated because they were contagious, couldn't they have been put up in a nearby hotel for that cruise?  
 

1 hour ago, pcur said:

...

I am a make lemonade type of person:  I would have realized the cruise was not happening, I would be reimbursed, and said to myself, "Self, you have a NEW vacation in Australia instead of a cruise."  IF the cruise was a closed loop, I would book something until my flight left.  Or, if it was a one way cruise, I would have booked a flight out far enough that I wasn't paying huge amounts for it.  

(And, this is an example of why we should all have trip interruption/cancellation insurance)

Me, I'd so prefer a vacation in Australia over a cruise, that flying to Australia for a cruise just wouldn't happen.  But, I think someone said that this person drove to the port and lived somewhat near. A vacation a short drive away from home is NOT the same as a cruise, no matter where you live.  Just ask anyone that has worked in Hawaii for a few years.  

So, if that happened to me, instead of a vacation in Australia it would be vacation in/near Galveston when I live in the DFW area.  Galveston is really great, but I've been there and done that many times so would have been disappointed.  We'd have just gone back home and gone back to work.   

19 hours ago, cruisin from florida said:

I've just booked 2 guarantee suites, both of which will require international flights. Like everyone else, I have assumed that guarantee means guarantee. This is very concerning.

I would think you'd be the last ones they'd want to bump since they'd have to refund your flight.