trajan
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Posts posted by trajan
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On 12/20/2019 at 2:21 AM, MizBlueyez said:
Is there anyone else who would rather not pay the prepaid gratuities?
I hate prepaid gratuities. Defeats the whole purpose imho. It’s gone from a tip to a few.
Cruise ship gratuities have become like hotel resort fees; a way to make the upfront price look lower.I typically opt out right away and tip out of hand. If service is good I end up tipping more than the fee would have been. If it’s truly excellent I’ve tipped directly very generously and then also had the fee put back to my account. If service was poor then I hang on to my money if nobody cared to earn it. But paying it upfront or by default, no thanks.
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UPDATE: Worked out fine. New KSF promo released today covers our cruise. Phoned and added our 2 kids. Price went from $2275 to $2605.
And now we wait... :)
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We are on the Dec 9th Crown sailing. Final payment is due 9/25. The itinerary includes 3 totally devastated ports and one very badly damaged port. We are also booked on the Jan 13th Circle Caribbean on the Caribbean which also includes 2 devastated and one very badly damaged port.
The following islands have been totally devastated:
Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos; St. Martin; St. John; St. Thomas; St. Barts; Barbuda
The following islands have significant damage but not total devastation:
Antigua - bad, but not as bad as Barbuda; but being used as a relief/recovery staging location for Barbuda so not exactly an attractive vacation spot; St. Kitts/Nevis; Puerto Rico
Princess HAS to make some decisions soon because many people like us have final payment dates approaching and would like to know what we'd be paying for, ie., what ports will be on the itinerary. I spoke with Princess Customer Relations (on their direct number) yesterday and again today. I was told:
1) They are not extending final payment dates.
2) They may or may not change itineraries (this is nonsense -- they absolutely have to for many of these islands).
3) If they do change itineraries, no decisions have been made as to where.
I asked them, as I also posit here, in what other situation in life would you toss a few thousand dollars over to someone and not know what you're going to get in return for that money? I doubt there would be any such situations where any of you would be willing to do that. It is ridiculous for Princess to hold hard and fast to non-refundable final payments without advising people where they will be going. It is also disingenuous on the part of those of you who see no problem with it.
In my opinion, it is not acceptable to be put on a Western Caribbean itinerary for the same money as a Lesser Antilles itinerary. I don't necessarily want to cancel; I’d just like to know where I'd be going BEFORE I pay for it. If they say, for instance, Barbados, St. Lucia, Guadeloupe, Martinique, etc. as replacement ports for our itineraries with St. Kitts, St. Martin, Antigua, Turks and Caicos and St. Thomas, that'd be fine. Montego Bay, Cozumel and Costa Maya, wouldn’t. At least not at the current fares we’re paying for the cruises.
For those of you who are saying that we have to go to these islands to spend money to support them, I ask simply: how? Spend money on what? And where would you spend it? There won't be any stores in which to spend money. There won't be any restaurants in which to eat or bars at which to drink. It is a nice sentiment to want to support them, but not realistic.
These islands have been totally wiped out, not just damaged. Most of them will not be re-built within THIS Caribbean season and some maybe not for a season beyond that. Certainly St. Martin, St. John, Barbuda, and Grand Turk will not be “open for business” this year. These ports don't have, and won't have for a long time to come, any electricity, running water or working sewers. The airports and hospitals were wiped out. All the materials they need to rebuild have to be shipped in and the shipping lanes may need to be re-dredged.
And, I'm sorry to say this, but it is already the case that widespread desperation is setting in for the residents of these islands, and violence is already breaking out. It may very well not be safe for well-intentioned, but vulnerable, tourists.
We live in Southeast Florida, the original anticipated target of Irma’s wrath. So, unlike most of the country, we've had nothing but wall to wall 24/7 coverage of the hurricane on every station (even on PBS) for over a week. All we watched as we shuttered up our homes and did the final prep of our hurricane kits was what was coming our way and what it did to these islands. If we were aware of what took place in these islands, so was Princess.
Good post. Very realistic pov.
We are visiting Florida Dec 2-16. I was tracking a couple cruises and was just going to pick something last minute that was a good deal. Usually easy to do that time of year.
But there's too much uncertainty right now as to where ships will be going. Ports might be open but in a condition that I would not want to visit. Too many ports that might be closed so other ports will be more crowded.
We've committed to staying in Florida. Next Caribbean cruise will be Dec 2018.
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I don't mind the concept of people paying more to get more perks, but Royal is not doing a great job with stratification. Other cruise lines have the ship within ship concept and keep high priced areas separate and distinct from "run of house" areas. With Royal, you don't really have that arrangement so they have gone more and more towards limiting access to what was commonly public areas for all to use.
As far as the sales pitches, I have usually managed to avoid them (don't use the spa services for instance) but they do irk me. Finding services and pricing is easy. If I want it, I will seek it out. I do not appreciate constantly being approached to spend more money. It erases the fantasy of being on a luxurious vacation and cheapens the experience for me, personally. I do not have a problem politely saying no, rather not be in that position to begin with.
Well said. Agree 100%.
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Not a fan. We had a family promenade on Freedom. Nice size, good price but I missed the balcony. Give me the ocean over the promenade any day. It's like looking at a mall. And our cabin was near the bridge where a band would set up, very loud in our room and couple nights they played late.
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Am pretty surprised Princess did not notify the embarking passengers that the ship was going to miss the port. That's pretty bad. Medical emergencies happen. I get it. That's a shared risk. But sending out a message in that situation should be standard practice.
I won't boycott Princess but I appreciate the words of warning.
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There may well be public swimming pools that allow these diapers. But things are different at sea. Any illness would spread so much quicker through a ship's environment.
Have you EVER seen a "washy washy" in a restaurant on land.... I haven't. same principle
I am not going to tell anyone how to parent, but if a person prepared to ruin 5 other vacations just because their 1 year old might throw a tantrum then this parent is going to have a horrible 20 years or so going forward.
? If you are replying to me I was not debating whether it's needed or not. I read the whole thread before posting and I don't think I saw anyone suggesting it's not necessary.
And I think everyone, myself included now, has agreed that cancelling like that was an over reaction.
I am trying to remember now if an agent has ever told us up front that our little one could not use the pool. I think a NCL agent did that once but the RC agent this last time did not.
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My my maybe they would be interested in bartering selling a certificate to someone who may have intentions
of combining with another and offering less than fair value for the solo certificate.
What is wrong with providing information that may or may not be beneficial to others in similar circumstances ?
Who knows the Trajan folks may reconsider a 6 day cruise after all - they have three years remaining to make
a decision on the certificate use and if not what to ask for in a fair return.
It is good to keep in mind. If I did use it and a double certificate promo was going on I'd now look for a second to buy.
Am still checking 6 day+ cruises but based on personal preferences am a little leery of the newer NCL ships. The 5 day from our home port seems like a good way to test those waters.
Tempted to try the suggestion to just call and book it.
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Ok. So because you read cruise critic, or because the person who posted before you shared the FAQ's, this means everyone does the same? I beg to differ, I think very few cruisers actually read forums such as these. That goes double for people who use travel agents; they aren't spending a lot of time researching online, since part of the purpose of using a travel agent is to save time and help with planning and explaining the rules and requirements of where you're going. I realize a lot of people on these forums also use travel agents, but I am talking about the general population.
When my daughter was a toddler, smart phones didn't even exist, the Internet existed but using forums and chat rooms and such was kind of a "quirky" thing to do, and I was certainly not an early adopter of such things. I didn't find cruise critic until a decade after my first cruise. I'm not even certain that all businesses even had websites at that time.
I get it that the information is out there, but people are making a lot of assumptions about the general population vacationer that doesn't apply to any of us on this board, since we all clearly like to research the heck out of everything. Not everyone does that. And assuming that a pool on a cruise ship is the same as the pool in our communities isn't that odd of a behavior. It's a pool.
But I digress...it's still a waste of a vacation to walk out on it over a pool.
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Good post.
Same as others have noted our local pools have allowed swim diapers. Been to resorts in Caribbean, North America, Mexico, Middle East, all allowed swim diapers. I still check before hand but like coloradogurl mentioned I'm another of those people who over plan. I can see how some might assume it'd be ok and I think RC could be more upfront or even proactive in sharing that info.
We did take our then 15 month old on Freedom in March and except for a patch of bad weather everybody generally had a good time.
And side note from experience imho people should be way more concerned about what some adults are doing in the pool than kids in swim diapers. It was very noticeable at some of the all inclusives we've been to where you'd have a group activity at the pool, people are drinking for hours and hours and some of them just never leave the pool to use the washroom. Ugh.
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Yes, seriously. We have other cruises planned but based on our wants and costs just worked out that none are with ncl.
Did a quick search and yeah, I see people selling them thru various venues.
I called ncl just now and nice lady said very firmly but politely no. She said they had no issue with me transferring it to somebody else.
Ty for the feedback.
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We have a $250 cruisenext deposit that we have had for a year. Looking ahead we don't see any 6 day or longer cruises with ncl that work for us. We were interested in the Dawn 7 day out of San Juan on Dec 10, 2017 but that's not ksf so that kills it for us.
We do very much like the 5 day Pacific Coastal on the new Bliss next October. Obviously the cruisenext deposit is for 6 day cruises or longer. Has anyone had any luck getting it applied at say a reduced value for a shorter cruise? Any other way to get value out of this? Do they ever just refund them less the credit we got?
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Another vote for the Great Outdoors. Sailed RC Freedom of the Seas a few months ago and they had nothing like that. Was sorely missed.
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Disney has em too.
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Just a fun thread, what do you like to do on sea days? They are my favorite part of the cruise! :D
Me, it is like something like this:
sleep in
have room service breakfast on the balcony
get a cup of coffee from Starbucks if the ship has it
walk a few laps on the jog tracks
check out the flow rider or the wall climbing if the ship has them
go up to the solarium before it gets too warm
time for lunch!
have a dip in the pool
lounge around the solarium if not too crowded yet
check out the gym or the spa
go back to my balcony to read
take a shower and get ready for dinner
dinner time!
check out the shops in the Royal Promenade if the ship has them
go back to room to change
walk a few laps around the outer promenade deck
soak in the hot tub
go back to my balcony to watch the stars
We actually do a very similar routine but when we are with the kids we add time at some kids activities. And we always try to make it to an evening show.
I think we learned on our cruise on the Freedom in March where we had a Family Promenade view that we have to have a balcony and bigger the better. Missed having meals out there and play time and relaxing time on the balcony.
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Tyvm! Very helpful.
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Appreciate the concern and the advice but it's actually not causing me any worry at all. I can see what capacity is like right now and if by some grim miracle it does fill up in the next few months so be it. There's plenty of other cabins and itineraries I'm interested in.
Re my sig doubling up, that is wierd. My previous posts were done on the app and I was definitely not manually adding the sig a second time. Looking at it on the desktop now I see it. Will tinker with the app and see if I can fix that. Ty for the heads up.
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Clarea, interesting and ty. I think we will stay with booking direct as I just added a $250 OBC via myvegas. As mentioned earlier will add kids in a month or two (or earlier if June sale is a ksf that covers that) and then post how it went.
Ty again all!
Crown Princess 2007
Emerald Princess 2008
RCCL Mariner of the Seas 2010
Ruby Princess 2012
NCL Jewel 2013
NCL Jewel 2016
RCCL Freedom of the Seas 2017
Emerald Princess 2017
RCCL Navigator of the Seas 2018
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Booked the Navigator Dec 7 2018 direct with RC yesterday. Bought $250 OBC reward today. Sent in my info. Got a call saying I was eligible because I had made the booking in the past 14 days. They said I could reprice and keep credit but could not change ship or date. Credit now shows on my res.
Crown Princess 2007
Emerald Princess 2008
RCCL Mariner of the Seas 2010
Ruby Princess 2012
NCL Jewel 2013
NCL Jewel 2016
RCCL Freedom of the Seas 2017
Emerald Princess 2017
RCCL Navigator of the Seas 2018
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Thanks zack, yeah, we've done ksf before and you are totally right. Good to keep in mind.
Another question, I booked last night direct with RCI. Today I see a big online TA has same cabin opposite side for $170 less plus a 5-7% cash back after cruising. Company has a very good rep. Should I consider transferring or cancelling and rebooking with this third party TA? Have only ever booked direct.
Crown Princess 2007
Emerald Princess 2008
RCCL Mariner of the Seas 2010
Ruby Princess 2012
NCL Jewel 2013
NCL Jewel 2016
RCCL Freedom of the Seas 2017
Emerald Princess 2017
RCCL Navigator of the Seas 2018
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Thanks for the heads up mac tlc.
And side note I had to correct my sig as I had thought we were on the Navigator in 2010 but my wife just reminded me it was actually the Mariner. Regardless it was a great cruise so looking forward to 'coming back' to the Navigator. [emoji3]
Crown Princess 2007
Emerald Princess 2008
RCCL Mariner of the Seas 2010
Ruby Princess 2012
NCL Jewel 2013
NCL Jewel 2016
RCCL Freedom of the Seas 2017
Emerald Princess 2017
RCCL Navigator of the Seas 2018
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Thanks much for all the info.
We have decided to confirm the booking for two and add the two children in the next couple months.
I did confirm the cabin occupancy; I first noticed it on cruise.com searching for cabin for 4 and RC confirmed it now accepts 4 in that cabin.
Hopefully ksf does come available at some point and if it does I will post how it worked out.
Crown Princess 2007
Emerald Princess 2008
RCCL Navigator of the Seas 2010
Ruby Princess 2012
NCL Jewel 2013
NCL Jewel 2016
RCCL Freedom of the Seas 2017
Emerald Princess 2017
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Hi, We are looking at booking the Navigator for Dec 7, 2018, 9 night Southern Carib. Price for 2 right now is very good. I put a hold on cabin 1688 as it looks like a fantastic setup. My question is if I book for 2 now and later this cruise becomes eligible for a kids sail free offer can I then add the two kids for free without changing my price for the first two passengers? Or do I need to put them on now and py the deposit for 4 people?
Would just like to get some info on this before I run it by RC. Thanks!
Crown Princess 2007
Emerald Princess 2008
RCCL Navigator of the Seas 2010
Ruby Princess 2012
NCL Jewel 2013
NCL Jewel 2016
RCCL Freedom of the Seas 2017
Emerald Princess 2017
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Hi, we were on this cruise in D410, Club Class mini suite celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary. Appropriate as we honeymooned on the Crown and loved it.
As others have noted our embarkation was terrible. They were calling 43 when we arrived at 1:30 ish, we were given group 70. 2 hour wait just to get called for check in and only then could we use a preferred boarding line that saved us maybe 2 minutes. We did have nexus and as mentioned the nexus line was very poorly marked but we found it which saved an hour or two of further waiting.
This sucked but for background people should be aware that that day, Saturday May 20 was the busiest day for passenger volume by far for that port this year. I had reason thru my work to attend a security presentation about the port and they gave out a calendar that listed volume by day. And that was the busiest day by a big margin. Not an excuse, just FYI. I'd hoped preferred boarding would save us a big wait but nope.
Once on board I was thrilled with our cabin. It was beautiful and spotlessly clean. 1 day cruise but our half bottle of red and white were there and the steward brought us a couple glasses of champagne.
We had an excellent dinner and breakfast in the Club Class dining area. Tried the buffet around 11:00pm and it was terrible with poor selection and cold tasteless food.
Did sail away in the rear hot tub on deck 17 having drinks with new friends. Fantastic view and no blaring music.
Went to the late show for the comedian and he was dynamite; not sure of his name (?) as he was a last minute replacement act.
Our notice said to disembark at 9:25 from Wheelhouse Bar. We ignored it, sat on deck till 10:00 enjoying the sun and walked off with no hassles.
Beautiful ship and cabin. Great crew and fun night. Planning to do reverse in September and hoping embarkation goes much better.
Is Coco Cay worth the cost?
in Royal Caribbean International
Posted
Best post today.