Chip and Dale

We just did Brilliance March 12 to 17 out of Tampa. We had a good time, we always have a good time when we travel, however, we really wound up regretting going on the cruise rather than spending the money we spent on the cruise on land and going to the beach or going to more spring training games.

This was a spring break cruise, and we knew it when we booked it, so nothing shocked us in that regard.

Brilliance does some things exceptionally well, and other things not so well.

We had our first D1 - 1104 aft - large balcony, very nice - 2 loungers, 2 chairs, one small table. Loved the size of the cabin ( we usually do hump E1, E2 or E3 depending on the ship). We LOVED the balcony until the last sea day (I will get to that part later) and spent a lot of time reading.

EMBARKATION - We arrived and parked across from the ship about 11:30ish. They need signs so that people know which ship is Brilliance and which one is Vision. I knew that Brilliance was across from the lot, but there were many confused people wandering about. We went through security and it went well, busy, but it was typical. We went in to get registered and noticed that the line we needed to be in was for Suites, Pinnacles and D+ which was nice. There was no one in line:D. When we got to the front there was a woman in the next line yelling at the attendant because the line beside her and our line was going more quickly. She kept yelling that she was Diamond and this was totally wrong. So when Allan at the desk waived for the next guest, the attendant put her arm in front of us to stop us from moving and told the woman who had been yelling to go. The attendant turned to us and said "she is upset". Allan was quite surprised and put his hands up questioning the move. When we went up to Allan after the screamer received her cards, he asked what had happened and kept apologizing. We had to laugh, honestly, we probably got on the ship 3 minutes later, so I think we were ok. Allan was a sweetheart and probably the fastest we have ever seen!

BREAKFAST - We are D+ and were pleasantly surprised that on Brilliance Breakfast is in Chops for Suites, Pinnacles and D+. It was great!!!!! The service was incredible, absolutely incredible!!!! The bacon was cooked perfectly :D. DH had omelettes each day and said that they were excellent, he tried the waffles one day and it was great, mine was cold when it arrived, so I didn't eat it. Not to worry, I did not starve , I ate a bacon sandwich every day YUM!

We did breakfast in the dining room on debarkation day and it was pretty good, no complaints. They did seem incredibly disorganized though.

LUNCH - We ate in the dining room on the 1st sea day. We both had the Tutti salad and DH's salad was excellent, mine did not sit well with my tummy and I believe that the ranch dressing was the problem, not sure why, but it was very runny on this ship, so I stopped eating it (I ALWAYS have ranch dressing and it is normally relatively thick on RCI). The dessert we chose was cookies and cream cheesecake and it was to die for!!!!! We were at a table for 2 and our waiter did his best but he was taking orders, serving and would have been responsible for clearing as well since the assistant did nothing but periodically fill water and run for drinks for people, actually he crawled, he didn't run at all! The head waiters were excellent at standing around chatting and doing nothing. Our waiter complained twice to the head waiter in our section that he needed help and kept pointing to the dirty tables that surrounded us, but nothing was done. He was so annoyed that he rushed clearing our plates and cutlery and dumped a dirty knife on DH's shirt leaving a nasty mess. He apologized and told us it should be fine. It took a very long time to get dessert and in that time, some of the other tables had left and we were surrounded by even more tables full of dishes, cutlery, used napkins, glasses, etc. and no one in sight was coming to clear. The white shirts were standing around chatting with each other, often laughing. They did nothing, absolutely nothing!

We spoke with the hostess on the way out and told her about the tables that needed to be cleared, and that it was disappointing to see the filthy tables left in our area and it reflected poorly on the head waiters that they did nothing whatsoever to assist.

NOTE: We did go to Guest Services to see if they would dry clean the shirt to get the stain out since we weren't going right home after the cruise. The Guest Services Manager was very nice and did up a form with his card stapled to it to attach to the laundry bag and form so that it would be done at no cost to us. We left it for our Cabin Steward Janet and she took care of it, it was returned by Janet personally on a hanger, nicely cleaned and pressed the next night which was greatly appreciated!

DINNER - We had late seating in the MDR. I have severe food allergies, therefore, I always request a table for 2 if we travel alone so as not to inconvenience others at the table. They placed our table for 2 right in between two tables for 10 full of frat party boys who were enjoying themselves immensely. The table was actually surrounded by a mix of either all boys or girls enjoying spring break. Our assistant waiter came over and all we said was "Seriously???????". She spoke with the dining room MGR. and found a table for two that was with many many tables for 2 at the side of the MDR. She deserved a medal!!!! In the new section the Waiter Kingsley and Assistant Waiter Stacey were very good. Most ships insist that the Head Waiter handles the orders and supervises when a guest has severe allergies (3 of mine can cause anaphylactic shock - seafood, tarragon and mushrooms). Suffice it to say our head waiter was not the most efficient and when he told me he would do something I learned quickly he would not follow up. The food the first 2 nights was excellent, loved loved loved the lasagne night 2!

Day 3 was a Sea Day and that is when the food was not great the first time at dinner. We received a visit from the Dining Room Manager that night because we had spoken to the hostess about tables not being cleared at lunch. He also apologized for what happened with my food that night.

We were in Cozumel the next day and we always go to Palmeras for lunch. Somehow they recognize us and as soon as the one waiter saw us he said "Welcome Home". I had the ribs and DH had burritos by what I recall (we have had fajitas, nachos, burgers, everything on the menu really and loved it all!!!!) and frozen strawberry margaritas. We tried their cheesecake (shared) and WOW was it amazing, we will always save room for cheesecake from now on at Palmeras!

The dinner the final night was pretty good, other than the dressing with the turkey. I was told I couldn't have it because the chef had put tarragon in it. We never did receive cranberries which is a bummer with a turkey dinner, but we survived it:p. The turkey and mini red potatoes along with the gravy were TO DIE FOR!!!! Very tender!!!!!! I tried the pasta dish, it had a cream sauce which was great, however, the pasta was waaaay to hard to eat.

ROOM SERVICE - We got back to the ship after Cozumel and went directly to the balcony to read. We didn't even go to the lounge that night, we were still stuffed from lunch and lets say that the margaritas were probably more tequila than strawberries :Dso we didn't need wine that night. We watched some really dorky movies on tv and loved them, so we ordered what should have been honey stung chicken with yam fries, spinach dip and a pepperoni pizza along with 2 lemonades. The fries were kind of mushy and barely warm, the chicken was cutlettes and not honey stung - they were good though, and the little bowl that should have had ranch dressing in it was on the plate, but they were both empty. Kind of funny really. It took about 40 minutes, so they must have been busy.

SHOWERS - So here is where it gets interesting. The first morning we had hot water for both of us in the shower. The toilet flushed and didn't do anything weird (we've had problems on Serenade and Brilliance before so this was great!!!!) so we thought life is good!!!!! By the way, I brought magnets (dollar store) as I always do, and since we had the shower curtain that has a mind of its own, I put magnets down the edge that stays fixed on the left and kept one magnet inside to put on the other side of the curtain and it worked like a charm. No wearing the shower curtain. NOW the fun. On the 2nd day that I climbed into the shower there was NO HOT WATER, I cranked it up to full and got a mildly luke warm stream of water which provided intermittent blasts of cold water. I called maintenance and they said that they would check it out. 20 minutes later when DH showered it was hot so we thought it was fixed. WRONG!!!!!! Next day, same issue freezing cold with intermittent warm jolts, not hot warm. I called AGAIN. I got a phone call from maintenance saying our do not disturb was in the door and the guy needed to come in to show me "how to work the shower". SERIOUSLY???????!!!!!!! He did come in and turned it on full holding the shower head partly in the sink running full and covering the bathroom with water and had me put my hand under the running water and told me see it's hot. It was barely warm and it was turned on hot all the way. He left and said that they would meet us back there later, we told him no we would like to be out on the ship, so please come in with or without Janet and solve the problem this morning. We went to the desk and said please see that this is fixed and were told that he would ask the manager for a credit for us. I told him that is nice, but we really really want hot showers, so please solve the problem. We spoke with another couple down the hall who were on the 2nd week of a B2B and they were plagued by cold showers both weeks with no resolution. They received the attention of the Hotel Director since they had just made Pinnacle. There seems to be a problem with the area we were in. On Debarkation Day I had a hot shower and thought hey they fixed it, but poor DH wound up having the cold shower that day poor guy.

BALCONY - We got on the ship and got into our cabin at 1:00 instead of 1:30 which was very nice. We did sail away with champagne on our balcony which had it's very own swimming pool and as soon as the ship started moving, the water pooled on our balcony right in front of the glass where we were standing. I was glad that I had taken my sandals off since the water ran over my feet as I stood there. I thought maybe they had hosed the balconies down or maybe the glass and that was where the water came from but NOPE. We found out where the water came from as we were sitting on the loungers on the balcony on the last sea day. I could hear a hose above us and figured, ok they are cleaning the open area of the WJ. The most surprising part of this activity was when they either went whole hog with the water in the hoses wide open or squeegeed the area off and all of the filthy water came over right on top of me, my book, my DH and what was at one time a dry balcony. Thank goodness I hadn't changed into my evening outfit and I was wearing black. I yelled that there were people on the balcony, and YUP, they did it again. We went out to the open area and yelled for them to look over. They said "oops sorry". Well this kind of did it, and sorry didn't cut it!!!! We went up to the WJ and spoke with the Manager, who apologized and got our cabin # and went to report it to guest services as well. We were told that they wanted to do something for us. We came back after dinner to find a plate of petit fors and a note from the WJ Manager saying that they were sorry for the "misunderstanding that occurred in the WJ that day". Now honestly folks, I was angry, really angry when I spoke with the WJ Manager (this was definitely the fault of someone not paying attention in the WJ) and also with the sweet girl at guest services (not her fault). I did apologize to the girl at guest services for shooting the messenger but I was standing there soaked and my book was also dripping wet! She said it was too late to clean my clothes since it was the last day.

DEBARKATION - We have cruised out of Tampa 3 times including this one. The first one was smooth getting off, the 2nd one was pretty bad and took forever to get off and then go through immigration and this one shocked us in a big way. We were some of the first in the dining room for breakfast. We did what we always do - we have breakfast, go back and shower, get ready, pack up our little duds and get off between 9:30 and 10. This cruise we were in a hurry since we were going to a ball game in Dunedin. At about 8 a.m. someone knocked and then tried to come in the room (the do not disturb was in the door), then Janet came knocking on the door and we told her we were about to leave, about 8:15 someone called the room, we didn't answer since we were trying to hurry. THEN they started calling names over the intercom, not cabin number, NAMES. They must have called our names 20 times and were telling us we needed to exit the ship immediately because immigration wanted to see us. We have been on many many cruises and do exactly the same thing for disembarking on every single one, with the exception that we were targeting being off the ship earlier than usual at 8:30 for this one, which we were. When we got off at 8:30 we were very sternly told that we were the last people off.

DIAMOND LOUNGE and CONCIERGE LOUNGE - We went to the CL most nights. We walked into the DL the first night and met the Concierge, he was very nice. We loved the bartender in the CL - he told us he was the "Chocolate Tsunami". We always referred to him as the Chocolate Tsunami and he took excellent care of us. He was so much fun and very efficient. The Concierge in the CL (cannot remember her name) did practically nothing. We are so used to seeing them running around and she sat at her desk the whole time or was gone whenever we were there. It wasn't really busy in either lounge and the tables were filthy. No one cleaned them after people had sat and drank and eaten. The last night it was busy in the CL, so we went into the DL. When the waiter came over we asked him to clean the guck off of the table. He brought our 2 glasses of wine and a napkin. He wiped the area with a napkin and left most of the guck on the table, the wine was actually warm white wine. So we went back to the CL and found a table near the bar. The Chocolate Tsunami was horrified at warm wine and brought us cold wine and took those away, he was pretty upset about it.

CABIN STEWARD - Janet Samuels was our cabin steward and she was great! Our robes, champagne, glasses and chocolate covered strawberries were in the cabin when we arrived. We aren't difficult to take care of (although I'm sure Guest Services may disagree :p) we are pretty neat and organized and don't make much of a mess. We did receive one towel animal. Janet gave us the Suite amenities which was very nice. She was a sweetheart and one of the best cabin stewards we have had on a cruise.

All in all the cruise was ok, it was great until the first sea day which would have been day 3. We loved Key West and Cozumel as always. There was the beer chugging one night in the dining room, but it was spring break, so ok. We did not use the buy one get one coupons for Specialty Restaurants on this cruise since we felt we didn’t want the extra food we feel compelled to eat. We did consider it since the breakfast in Chops was fabulous, but no we decided to try to eat less on this cruise.

We received a 15% discount on a future cruise for the cold showers and a plate of snacks we didn't eat for being half drowned on our balcony with dirty water, go figure. We became that couple that everyone talks about on CC who seems to be at the Guest Services desk frequently. What can I say, things went wrong. We were not sad to disembark, especially after feeling like we were being thrown off of the ship! That was a totally new experience for us and not in a good way. We did not book another cruise onboard. We have a 3 nighter booked for NYE 2016 followed by an 11 night on Serenade with a group of friends. I will think long and hard about booking another cruise for a while.

EDITED to ADD - The WJ food was good the first day for lunch. On the last sea day it was really bad, probably the worst I have seen in regular food. The dessert, however, this day was many many large apple pies. The crust wasn't great (I make really good pie crust) but the apple filling was amazing, beautifully spiced! They had vanilla ice cream to go with it. I really would love to teach RCI about how to serve food in an efficient manner sometimes. The fact that one person was cutting and serving the pie in front of the table and then had to go behind and serve the ice cream meant that there were huge lines most of the time and it could have been avoided. It would be sooooo nice if they did pie like this on all of the ships!

Dee

I am British and I like my tea made with boiling hot water and cold milk.

 

RCI seem to have great difficulty in :

 

a). Sourcing decent selection of tea

 

b). Providing water hot enough to make a decent cup / pot of tea

 

c). Providing milk

 

Biggest disappointment on recent cruise on Oasis was the quality of the tea. Anyone else agree?

I completely agree with you!!!!! After our first cruise I started bringing my own tea with me. I am a total green tea snob. I buy organic green tea leaves and make up little tea bags to bring on cruises, actually on any trip we take. I don't use milk since I drink mine clear and I always ask for two pots of hot water. The hot water has been slow to come, but it has usually been hot enough in the dining room.

They seem to have Lipton teas (YUK!!!!!!!) on most of the ships we have been on. At times they have Tetley, but it has been rare so I don't count on it. My solution has been to bring my own green tea.

Dee

Hi Kelly

Thanks so much for the excellent review, it was very informative!!!!! :) We will be sailing on Brilliance March 12 :D.

So glad you had a great time on the ship! Hopefully your next cruise will find you with calmer seas and warmer weather.

Thanks again!

Dee

We've got Dollar everything but "ama". They're all handy for travel items.

We have many different versions as well, but Dollarama is pretty good and carries items up to $3 whereas Dollar Tree is everything at $1.25.

I use a hanging jewelry organizer instead of a shoe organizer. I have smaller items so the many smaller pockets are more helpful to me. I got it at Marshall's for under $10

Great idea! Our dollar store has them for about $2 I think. I'm in Canada so we have Dollarama as well as Dollar Tree, I'm not sure if Dollarama is in the US.

I just bought the Belkin on amazon for like $9, very reasonable I think....then I couldn't help myself but I bought some luggage tags and some beach towel clips so I can lounge all day by the pool without fussing with my towel :)

 

Im going to look for the shoe organizer at the dollar stores here in our area!

Excellent deal!!!!!! My bet is that you will love your new Belkin! I haven't ordered luggage tags, I still use packing tape to cover the paper tags and then tape them on. We cut them off in the cabin, so no worries that they will be yanked off :D.

I bring little dollar store magnets and hooks to hang up invitations, the daily compass, our calendar if I have a lot planned in advance and any other things we need to keep track of but want off of flat surfaces. We put these on the wall beside the cabinet with the tv. All of the walls are metal so perfect for magnets. Sometimes when we are traveling with friends we all decorate our cabins (most recent was Halloween....what a blast!!!!) so the little magnets from the dollar store take up very little space and weight to pack and are perfect for putting things on the walls. I have little hooks to hang hats and jackets near the door. When we travel with friends we always have a magnetic write on wipe off board and marker on the door so they can leave us notes. We get some pretty interesting notes at times :eek::p.

I have a super lightweight hanging thing that I use in the closet for my evening bags and shawls. When we are doing a B2B or a longer cruise it helps immensely to keep things neat and organized. I got it on clearance at Wal Mart.

Dee

that's a great idea!

Thanks :) it works great for me! PLUS it helps with my obsession to gather things long before a cruise which helps me with the excitement :D.

The Belkin is also available at Home Depot, that is where I bought mine. Probably cheaper to buy it in the US (I'm in Canada).

I'm kind of obsessive with organizing and tidying. I am hooked on the KonMari method (books by Marie Kondo).

Dee

clear shipping tape around it all

Ditto! Works perfectly!!!

We will be on grandeur in April and it will be 4 of us in one room (two kiddos two adults)

 

What is a cheap over the door shoe organizer we can put on inside of bathroom door?

 

 

and what outlet adapter would be good to charge a couple cell phone and a couple tablets?

 

thank you kindly :D

I own the Belkin that is in the link in one of the posts. It is plugged in in my kitchen right now, it has surge protection. Two USB's in the end, 3 outlets and you can push a button on the side where the plug is and turn it to whatever way suits you best. The only thing that limits plugging in 3 items is whether or not the plugs are large. Right now I have my computer and a phone plugged in, a normal small plug would still fit in the middle, but not a larger one. It always goes in my carryon, I haven't had an issue taking it on the ship, but I have heard of people having problems taking on a power bar. Hope this helps.

I bought my organizer years ago at Wal Mart but I don't think that they carry them now, mine is clear, it hangs on the little knobs on the inside of the bathroom door. Our dollar store has organizers for $2 and they are really really light fabric, made for shoes, but it works really well. If the plastic one wears out I will start taking the fabric one with us. Right now I keep the fabric one on the back of the spare bedroom door and when I'm gathering things for a cruise I use the pockets to gather my evening bags, shoes and accessories. Then when I am ready to pack I just pull the stuff out of the pockets and pack with the outfits.

Dee

As Rogers does not provide any kind of package while at sea, how do you stay in touch with your travelling companions? It's a non-issue when I travel with my husband but this time, my 16 year old grandson (virgin cruiser) is my travel companion. We were going to do the post-it notes on the mirror in the stateroom if plans change for meeting up but it's not that convenient and I can't imagine that either of us will remember to check the phone to see if there are messages. So, is our only alternative to buy the ship's internet package for our smartphones so that we can text or use Whats App?

I have FIDO but they buy services from Rogers, so same thing. I pay for a US pkg. when we will be in the US ports or traveling throughout the US. As long as the ship is in port I can use whatever the phone service has picked up (in the US, it is often A T and T) and there are no additional charges, even if I am on the ship. I haven't tried texting onboard with the wifi, we have used email only. I'm not sure if it would cover texting or not. Wifi can be spotty at best, it can depend on the ship, where you are on the ship and where the hot spots are. I have seen horror stories from people who have used their phones frequently on ships and received a huge cell phone bill the next month.

Lots of families use the little walkie talkies,I'm not sure if that is a good solution for you or not.

Dee

Hi Darlene

I do not have diabetes, but I do have serious food allergies so I notify RCI before each cruise so that the dining room is aware. It is a good idea to notify your waiter and the head waiter in your section of the dining room as well. Due to my allergies, they provide me with the menu for the next day after my meal, they may do the same for you, I'm not sure. You can email RCI at: special_needs@rccl.com and rcldining@rccl.com to notify the ship regarding your diabetes.

From my experience the menu items are what is available for room service breakfast. They do a fruit plate, however, they may be able to provide you with a banana each day. It is probably easier to simply go to the Windjammer and procure the bananas there, keeping a few in your cabin and replacing as required. I'm not sure if the WJ has cheerios, or if they can be ordered on the breakfast card, someone else may be able to confirm this information. I typically bring some food items that I know that the ship does not have on hand just in case I'm hungry and can't get what I want. If you absolutely must have cheerios you could bring along a container of cheerios, it is fine in your carryon or checked bag.

I hope this helps.

Dee :)

Scotiabank has a no fee Master Card that earns cash on purchases and does not charge the fee (exchange rate only) on foreign currency purchases.

So far so good with the card.

Dee

I am currently on Freedom for a B2B and with the internet connections so-so, I didn't read all the way back but noticed some comments that I have heard before,,,,,,,,,,,so I will just make a couple of comments.

 

If anyone has a problem while on a cruise - contact the appropriate person / department to have it corrected. Don't wait and complain later.

 

If someone doesn't like a product or it is beneath their expectations - don't use it anymore - save your money and go elsewhere.

 

If someone's personality is always on the negative, introverted and sort of an isolationist - how can they enjoy cruising which is an event for sociable people.

 

Cruise lines are like automobile manufacturers...........if you desire luxury or status - there are several to choose from...........if you want utility and convenience - there are lots to choose from............so don't expect more than the brand delivers. You won't get a Lexus ride in a Chevy, Jeep or a Smart Car.

Very Well Said my dear Wizard friend :)!!!!!!! This is exactly why we choose to cruise with people like you and Mean Mary :D

Hope you are having an amazing adventure!!!! Watch out for the frogs :eek::p

Dee

So going on our first(of many I hope) cruise and trying to decide if we should use our credit card or cash for our on-board account. So I thought I would ask on CC what do you prefer and why?

 

Also anyone that has used cash how does it work? Do you give them cash at the beginning and you get balance back at the end or do you just settle up at end?

We are Canadian and have had issues with Royal Caribbean charging US to our Canadian Credit card, so we starting doing a cash account. We do not need to keep a balance on the ship board account. When the account reaches a few hundred dollars (this takes time since we usually have an onboard credit), they leave a note in the cabin to come down and post some money to the account. We bring US travellers cheques with us (we get them free of charge at the bank) and pay the account off the night before the cruise ends in US dollars.

The only problem we have ever had, believe it or not, is one cruise we were flagged getting off the ship and had to return to Guest Relations to get a refund of the equivalent of a bottle of water that we had used, but they had neglected to charge us for. It was pretty funny really, we simply could not get them to understand that we had used the water and were trying to be honest so we left it on the account thinking that it would be charged late on our final night. NOPE, something like a $6 refund at Guest Relations and then we were allowed to leave the ship.

Dee:)

In our JS on the ROS last year, the cabinet above the TV housed the safe. Generally with DH & I we have no problem with our clothes and storage, but with a 3rd person, the daughter & I maybe sharing drawers and know I can keep small things in a packing cube and put in the drawer. The end tables are very small however. I also utilize the shelf under the sink. Shoes aren't a big problem because I don't take many, maybe 2 pair of evening shoes, rest are tennies or couple pair of sandels. Melissa, I use the cubbies in the closet more then my husband.

I found an amazing lightweight hanger with many pockets on each side on clearance one year at Walmart and have starting bringing that to store things like shoes (I am a shoe and evening bag addict!!!!), evening bags and shawls. We always clear out the desk drawer and put the stuff somewhere out of the way like in with the lifejackets or on the floor in the closet. It is usually divided, so I keep our glasses, my hair clips, whatever will fit since it is not very high. If you have the glass table in the cabin with the shelf underneath, you can store books, magazines etc under the table and use the top as well. Perhaps one of you could use one bank of the drawers and the other could use the cubbies in the closet. We usually clean whatever we can out of the closet and use the top shelf as well. We leave one suitcase designated as the laundry bag at the side of the room or behind the curtain (hump cabin) and toss the laundry in as we go which gradually creates space. You are so organized I'm sure that you will figure it all out! :)

Dee

You call those goodies? I was also annoyed at people who complained about the baskets, which we greatly enjoyed, but those bags of tasteless cookies and stale almonds are just awful. I wonder how many times they recycle those to the next guests?

 

I do like the vouchers, but it turned out that we didn't use many of them on Jewel last week because we had a great group in the DL/CL overflow (they kept switching the signs around, so it really didn't matter). We got a few sodas, tried some Pinot Grigio in the Schooner Bar and decided that we'd rather spend money on the good stuff in the Champagne Bar instead.

 

 

 

Not if you don't drink. Just sayin'.

We did have a fabulous group in the DL now didn't we:D!!!!!!! Didn't spend too much time in the CL since my presence was requested in the DL each evening, however, the 1 time I was there it was fabulous....mind you I do recall seeing you in there that night:D

I agree about the little baskets, I loved them and used them to keep things in. I find the almonds are stale at times, and other times very good. So far the cookies have made me happy since they are kind of "shorbread-ish" when I have eaten them OR perhaps I was desperate for cookies!

We did not use the drink vouchers on this cruise, we just did our fun in the DL and had our bottle that we brought on with us along with our freebie bottle of champagne (actually we had that in Vancouver) and two mini bottles of wine:eek:. We also enjoyed the buy one get one free dinners in Chops and Portofinos....that is excellent!

All in all, we were pretty happy with the D+ benefits on the Jewel that we experienced. But I think that it had the most to do with all of the NUTS that we were with:). That is the best perk of all and if we hadn't done a Royal cruise years ago and found CC, then we wouldn't know so many very NUTTY people who are so much fun!

Dee:)

Hi Bill and All of our Friends (NUTS) from Jewel

You did an amazing job!!! It was so nice to have you and Marie as next door neighbours on this cruise, you were both very well behaved:).

It was so nice to FINALLY meet you both in person!!!! I remember our conversation about someone crashing your thread, looks like those posts are gone which is great, since this was an amazing cruise and I cannot imagine a complaint about anything. Stuff happens and I'm pretty sure that the captain had no intention of being delayed by a bad engine.

I tried to quote your post about Sha Na Na, but quote is not working for Dee today:rolleyes:. All I can say is that I had the time of my life. They were so very sweet and I had a ball on stage. Bowzer is such an incredible human being and a gentleman. He remembered me and Sarah (she won the hoola hoop contest at the early show). He even remembered my last name. I gave him my business card and told him to call me when they will be in Ontario and we will return the kindness. I haven't loaded my pics yet, but will let you know if the video turned out of me onstage with them. Our friends were snapping pictures and tried to video on my camera, fingers crossed that it turned out:)

Thanks again for doing such an amazing job on this blog. Never mind any negative comments, you do an incredible job and you and Marie are simply amazing sweet people!

Thanks again!!!!

Dee and Dennis:)

mad::mad: Hi. I am currently on-board Radiance of the Seas a C&A Diamond Loyalty Member. I wonder how many of you cruise lovers have got up three mornings in a row and found your cabin toilet full and overflowing onto the floor. The cabin doesn't smell too great!! Yes they apologise, yes they clean it up and sanitise the floor But frankly I don't think they give a ****. At the end of this cruise I'll be one night off being a Diamond Plus Loyalty Member - somehow I don't think I'll be reaching it. I've pm'd RCI and sent emails to Michael Bayley, but no reply. Never thought I would be so disappointed with Royal Caribbean.

Hi

I knew exactly what you meant when I read your post and don't blame you in the least for being exasperated by the situation.

We had toilet problems on Serenade, the sister ship to Radiance (these ships seem to be plagued by toilet issues and trust me it is NOT all due to people putting things in the toilets - some of it is design) and went through something similar to you. We did a cruise with friends to celebrate our anniversary and wound up wishing that we had stayed home. It was a port intensive cruise.

Day 1 - toilet would not flush - maintenance fixed it.

Day 1 - AGAIN - the toilet would not flush - maintenance fixed it.

Day 2 - We wake up to a strange noise and realize that the toilet is flushing non-stop and looks like a cyclone - Maintenance cannot fix the toilet in the cabin, so they open up the cabinet in the wall outside of the cabin and adjust a pipe so that the toilet stops flushing

Day 2 - AGAIN - now the toilet won't flush and is beginning to overflow - maintenance comes and fixes it just in the nick of time

Day 3 - You guessed it we suddenly have the never ending flushing AGAIN and maintenance comes to fix it in the cabin and cannot, so they open up the cabinet in the hall and make another adjustment and the toilet stops flushing.

Day 4 - We go into port and return for lunch and to use to washroom in the cabin and when we flush BAM a pipe in the wall opens up and gushes water into the cabin at a force that looked like Niagara Falls.

DH called maintenance immediately while I moved everything off the floor onto the bed, including lifting the bedskirt, drapes, anything that could be affected by water. Maintenance didn't believe us:rolleyes: so they said they would get to it when they could. Now honestly if I am maintenance and someone calls to tell me that water is gushing into the cabin and almost ready to overflow the lip in the bathroom, I think that I might just check it out! Long story short - I went to Guest Relations - they didn't believe me and said well what can we do, you called maintenance go wait for them in your cabin. DH ran down the hall and found a cabin steward (not our own) and begged him to come help. HE DID! He was a sweetheart and called maintenance and apparently the language that came out of his mouth when they doubted him about how serious this was, was a shocker. By the time maintenance arrived the water had flowed out into the cabin and had a wonderful river running to the balcony door, which we opened and for a few minutes the water flowed over the lip, over the balcony and out into the water at the port.

We were told repeatedly by numerous officers including the Hotel Director, that it was an unfortunate situation but we needed to realize that most passengers exaggerate so they don't always react quickly when they receive maintenance calls. They did offer to move us from our balcony to an inside and by this point we had endured such rudeness and lack of concern we said NO, please fix the cabin we are in. They do carry carpeting on each ship for such situations and replaced the carpet and dried out the cabin. It took the rest of that day, and we lost our time in port that day because we were fighting with people to resolve the problem.

As someone else posted, you work hard for your money and when you pay for a cruise you expect that if there are problems, that they will be addressed and resolved. We were Diamond at the time, so no special treatment required, but this was definitely NOT our first rodeo, so we had seen how situations like this had been handled on other ships. The crew and especially the officers on this ship handled things very badly and were quite rude at times on top of it. The handling of problems varies greatly from ship to ship although they are the same line. Once again we know this because this was not our first rodeo!:)

OP I agree with the others who posted helpful suggestions, request a meeting with the Hotel Manager and try to express your concerns as calmly and rationally as possible. I would ask what He/She can do to help you and see what they say. If they can move you and you are happy with the move, great, if not then they will need to devise a solution to help you. If they are smart, they will automatically offer something to you - small shipboard credit for the nuisance you have endured or a nice bottle of wine or dinner in a specialty restaurant. You may feel that they should offer you something, or nothing as long as the problem is solved, this is up to you and no one else. We allowed the problem to continue with disastrous results thinking that maintenance knew what they were doing and found out after the fact that the adjustments that were made in the hall cabinet caused the flooding.

I wish you a resolution to this problem very soon! I hope that the rest of your cruise is wonderful and much more enjoyable!:)

Dee

We put a courtesy hold on a cabin that we're going to book tonight for an 8-night cruise on Freedom of the Seas in 2017.

 

On the confirmation screen, it reports:

 

2017 must be a super-anti-leap-year to get 8 nights from March 4 all the way to March 16. :)

Like I told RCI when I called, I am not crazy, you really need to fix this stuff. Resolution department told me it is because the dates are so far out:rolleyes:. Seriously come on RCI!

I wish I could get a courtesy hold trying to book 8 cabins in January 2017. Been waiting since this morning for them to call back. The groups desk said the dining wasn't loaded in the system. They said it would be 20 minutes. That, my friends,was four hours ago. I don't think they should have released itineraries unless they were ready to rock and roll!!

I have been told many many times that they would call me, including today and I have never ever received a call. I spoke with Resolutions today and found Joanne to be quite abrupt with me actually. She swore up and down that her supervisor Sharon would definitely call me and that was you guessed it, 4 hours ago!

I don't believe that their "IT glitches" as they love to call them are anything more than an excuse which always means things go in their favour. How sad. We are gradually moving more and more to land trips. They are becoming too expensive with their ludicrous raise the price to double and then discount the 2nd fare by half. Give me a break!

I did 2 Courtesy Holds this morning for Serenade Jan 2, 2017, 11 night out of Fort Lauderdale and somehow RCI's wonderful website changed the dates to December 12, 2016. This is not my first rodeo, so I know very well to check the dates and the details before confirming the courtesy hold. I went back in and had it happen 5 times in total, it changes January 2, 2017 to December 12, 2016. There is no mistaking that I clicked on January 2, 2017 for that particular cruise since it is on the website all by it's little lonesome, no other cruises in the same spot.

Naturally the prices were less when it converted to Dec 12. I noticed the dates were wrong when I looked at the Reservation Summary. So I double checked my other courtesty hold since I had booked a 3 nighter for Dec 30, 2016 on Enchantment out of Miami, and although it states a 3 nighter, the dates are "Dec 30, 2016 to January 6, 2017" which is definitely NOT 3 nights!

I spoke with Resolutions and they don't believe that there could possibly be a problem with the website, but did tell me to call in to do Courtesy Holds in the future. I did explain that rather than wasting our time as customers, it would be even better if they corrected the problems on their website, or at the very least try not to treat us like we have 12 heads when we contact them about problems with the website :rolleyes:.

We aren't fooled by the BOGO either!

Dee

Does anyone know if you are allowed to take your drink out of the lounge. I was just on Explorer and we had no problem taking a glass of wine out of the lounge. Just wondering if the same policy on all ships

We were on the Dec 1 and 6, 2014 sailings and there were sooooo many Diamond and Diamond + members that many had to sit in the Viking Crown Lounge on the 1st week (had to either go to the bar, or go in and out of the DL for drinks) and the 2nd week the Concierge opened it up to the entire Viking Crown Lounge. They were so good to all of us, very generous with the drinks and worked their butts off to serve so many people. I have never seen so many people constantly sitting with the Concierge asking for help! Some PAXwere not very kind, or very patient. They did an amazing job and it was a full house each and every night:)

Enjoy your cruise! Wish we could join you!!!!!

Dee

ALSO make sure that there is time left before expiry of the passport according to the rules of the country that you are visiting. Some require 6 months:)

Dee

chip and dale, I'm so sorry you have to deal with all that. I do believe we have to be our own advocates and I am not a push over or a pushy person, unless I have to be!!! All the replies have been super helpful as this is something I didn't think of booking the cruise, allergies are a way of life right!? Whenever I have traveled before I research the local restaurants and pretty much have them planned out, but this is totally different for me!!! Even port stops i will have to be very vigilant!!

Thanks:) It isn't so bad, I'm used to it and going into anaphylactic shock a few times really makes you pay attention and become smarter!

I think my allergies in some ways are easier to deal with than so many peoples' allergies to nuts, mine are pretty obvious, nuts can be hidden components in soooo many recipes, it can be quite scary.

Good luck. Lots of good advice on here. If you are vigilant you will enjoy your cruise and the ports:)

Dee

Thanks so much everyone. I do not need the whole table changed for me but I am anaphylactic to tree nuts (almonds mostly) and Honey. I will have my epipens on me and will do all the above as well.

 

Someone else mentioned a gastro food issue which I also have to Corn, slight crohn's disease, so I just learned to maintain myself by eating what i know i can handle. My son cannot eat pasta, diabolical I know for a 9 yr old, BUT I have educated him very well and he knows what he can also manage for his gastro issues.

 

Thank you ALL!!

I have very severe serious allergies and also carry epipens at all times (serious - all seafood, mushrooms, tarragon and severe - wheat) . I always notify RCI before we cruise and receive the same email warning about the the Windjammer and have always been told to speak with the maitre d in the MDR on boarding which I used to do, but now find it is better to coral the head waiter and insist that he takes it seriously. My allergies are severe and limiting so on some ships they will make different foods for me and others they honestly don't know what the heck they are doing! We have cruised a great deal and have found that it is extreme opposites at times where one ship is uber-cautious and another is nonchalant and the wait staff don't understand and don't seem to care. I have actually had waiters make mistakes and bring me a seafood dish by accident , put mushrooms on my food which looked like onions (this was not a good time, even tho I ingested only a tiny piece and spit it out) and one of the dumbest was the head waiter on the last cruise telling me his suggestion for the next night was for me to have shrimp cocktail and a seafood entre. When I reminded him of my allergy to seafood, his comment was "well then don't eat that".

I am vigilant and cautious and watch out for myself. On our last cruise our friends could see how frustrated I was getting with the poor food choices and they actually contacted the Diamond Concierge to help me and this was the best idea ever! Things changed dramatically from that point on. I wouldn't automatically go to the Concierge straight away, they have enough to do, but in the future if I have difficulty in the dining room or a specialty restaurant I definitely will.

If we are traveling alone I request a table for 2 ( at reservation and I email RCI just before the cruise to request the table for 2) since my food is often slow and is ordered the night before, this won't slow others down. If we are traveling with friends, they are wonderful and have been incredibly patient with my needs. At times they are the ones insisting that I get something when there seems to be nothing available.

Be vigilant and when in doubt don't! If the wait staff does not take your problem seriously ask the maitre d for help, don't delay, take care of things ASAP.

Dee