gr82cu2

My sympathies!  I can totally relate to your husband's anguish.  Last fall we did a transatlantic on Regal Princess.  I tossed and turned for 4 hours the first night before I gave up and moved to the sofa.  We had a mini suite.  From then on I had the room steward make me up a little bed on the sofa at night.  We just did Alaska in May on the Crown and once again, the bed was absolutely horrible.  I didn't even try the first night.  I had the steward make up the sofa for me.  After about the 4th night she begged me to let her fold out the couch into a bed so I agreed.  It was actually much better than the sofa and especially better than the bed.  I don't know what Princess is so proud of with those mattresses.  They are really horrible.  Great I guess if you like sleeping on a pile of squishy marshmallows.  I used to really like their mattresses.

12 hours ago, prmssk said:

You still have the exact same drink package you booked which includes all alcoholic drinks up to $12.  The conditions and terms of the package itself has not changed.  They just gave it a new name and named the new one the same name as the old one (not a smart move in my opinion).  So there was no bait and switch.  

 

Drink prices could have gone up at any time even without the introduction of a new drink package.

I agree!  Keeping the same name for a benefit that changed is not good business.  I'm sure we'll still have a great time!  Thank you.

We booked our upcoming transatlantic in May, 2021.  At that time, Princess was running a promotion which included the Premier beverage package.  I have the confirmation email naming the premier beverage package as being complimentary along with the other perks.  Now, when I go into the Onboard Services section of my reservation it is showing the Plus Beverage Package.  I realized they swizzled things around but that makes me feel cheated.  I feel like I was baited and switched.  Does anyone have any experience in them doing something like this?  What happened?  Did you raise a ruckus about it?  Is it even worth calling them about it.  Our final payment is less than 2 weeks away.....not that this will make us cancel or anything 😄

Hi,

 

This is the first time I use Cruise Critic and am not sure if this is where I would post to find other passengers who would like to cost share some of the shore excursions. Our cruise sets sale on May 14th from Barcelona and arrive Rome on May 21st on Majestic Princess.

 

We are thinking of going on the Gibraltar Tours (Extended Tour 2 Hrs. 30 Mins.) one. Is there anyone interested in joining?

 

http://www.rocktoursgibraltar.com/packages/extended-tour

 

Thanks.

Teresa

Welcome to Cruise Critic! Here is a link to the roll call for your cruise. That would be the best place to find others to join in on your excursion. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2370942

Hi Dides, thank you for the great pics and all the info. Di they get the Landry open? What coins does it take...quarters?

On the Royal there were token machines mounted on the wall in the laundry. You swipe your cruise card and select how many you want. Also, there are machines that dispense laundry soap, etc. the same way. I don't recall the cost but it was a bargain compared to what the ship charges to do your laundry. I sure hope they get everything up and running by May 21 when we leave on our 28 nighter. We plan to only pack for 8 days and do laundry along the way.

Some final pictures now we are using a wi-fi dongle and not the ship's internet (patchy as usual):

 

 

Exercise equipment on deck 17 aft - what a waste of a good view!

 

 

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Oh man, we loved this area on the Royal. It was generally uncrowded, protected from the wind and great views. Didn't you say there was a smoking area on 17 aft? Surely it's not here by the exercise area? Such a waste of beautiful space up there with this configuration.

Can confirm it's on the ship, we ate there last night and they are aware they got missed out in the first patter!

Thanks for your live report! We'll be on the 28 night Rome - Singapore cruise. I'm so glad Alfredo's still exists. We ate there several times on the Royal. They have veal stuffed pasta that was to die for. I hope they still do. Yum! Yum!!

Hi,

As a Select member one of the benefits is to get one bag of laundry washed, dried and folded at a discount during the cruise. Does anyone know the cost or what the discount is?

Something similar happened to us in 2014. I had also purchased the extra leg room seats for our transatlantic flight. Except nobody notified us of the change. The way I found out was the charge for the upgraded seats was credited back to my credit card. So, I got to investigating and what happened was we were flying Rome to Chicago to Indianapolis. The flight from Chicago to Indy changed times by only a few minutes.....like less than 15 so the whole itinerary got changed to leaving Rome 2 hours earlier, connecting at JFK with less than an hour layover (on an international flight!) to Indy.

The original flight out of Rome to Chicago still existed with no changes so I called American Airlines and pled my case :) I got a very sweet customer service rep who was as counfounded as I was by the changes. She not only booked us back on the original flights but gave us the extra leg room seats free, which were still available thank goodness.

I say call the airline direct and be as sweet as honey pie :) They can make changes without charging you. Good luck!

Wow!! That is surely one of the best written and illustrated reviews I've ever read. Bravo!

We were on the Reflection in the Med last year and visited all the same ports except for Crete. It really took me back, looking at your pictures and seeing many of the same things we saw.

We must do this again, soon. The greek Isles have my heart :)

We thought Naples itself was abysmal. Fortunately, we spent the bulk of our day there at Pompeii. Maybe next time we'll also enjoy your speed boat tour to the island. Bookmarking your review now so I can refresh my memory if we ever get to go back.

Thank you for taking the time to write up your review. I know it's time consuming.

 

Wow, another TA cruiser. Think your cruise will have a lot of cc folks in it. How big is your meet and mingle? Ask around at the event how many people are going to join the “Friends of Excel” meetings? I have conversed with many folks on your TA the past few months. Can’t believe it’s going to happen this weekend.

 

As for the discounts, I had read in my research that some people didn’t get the discounts if they didn’t tell the servers about it. So I made sure to mention it when we gave our cards for the drinks and the server said,”I got you covered, Mon, no worries.” So think it may be up to the individual workers to press an extra key on the screen register to apply the coupon. Some are more up to speed and others maybe lazy. So I would just mention it to them “just in case”. Can’t hurt.

 

Maybe I will sue myself for plagiarism...:p

I'm almost ashamed to admit I didn't join the roll call for this one. Usually I do but also usually we book much, much earlier than we did this time. We only booked this cruise late in February when I came across the low, low, low fare. I did look at the roll call here and it seemed as though pretty much everyone on there was bonded and I'm not one to butt in :)

Thanks for the info. about the discounts. We'll have to remember to let the waiters know when it's sitting unused on our cards.

We are another couple that thought these mega ships wouldn't be for us but for a TA I think this ship will be perfect. Lots of things to do during 10 sea days! I just hope it doesn't get too cold out there in the middle of the Atlantic. We did a TA at this time last year and it got pretty darn chilly out there. We'll check out the not so secret secret balconies right away. We have a port side ocean view balcony so there will be lots of water gazing in our future :)

As for suing yourself for plagiarism, I bet there are a few lawyers around here that could help you with that. :cool:

I have email notification whenever someone post on this thread so I will always be around to talk to anyone that has any questions after the fact, matters not if it’s days/weeks/months later. Be happy to help.

Hi Harry!

It's me, gr82cu2 :) I just finished reading your trip report (up to this posting, anyway). I want to thank you for taking an incredible amount of time uploading pictures and telling in great detail all about your cruise. It's hard to believe it was only a 7 night cruise!

We will be boarding Allure this coming Saturday for the TA. Usually when I read trip reports I come away with more questions that I started with but that is not the case with your review, as you were incredibly thorough and descriptive. I have one simple question. Since there are no paper coupons for the C&A "perks" did you have to tell the waiter to apply the discount? For example, if we were in a bar and ordered 2 glasses of wine or beer, do we have to ask them to apply the discount or is it just automatic when they swipe the S&S card?

I was excited for this cruise anyway but after reading your review (it took a few days!) I'm even more excited. We thought we would never cruise on a ship this large but we got a fantastic deal and couldn't pass it up. We are combining the TA with an extended stay in Europe. So very excited!

You and your family are just awesome in every sense of the word. Truly awesome! We also have 2 sons but they grew into men who have married and have their own lives now. I wish we could have afforded (even a cheapo trip :) ) to have the memories with them that you have with your sons.

Keep on cruising! And keep on writing trip reports. I would read yours even if I had zero intention of going on the same ship or itinerary. You manage to combine informative and hilarious together at the same time. Thanks again!

Thanks for taking the time to write your review. We'll be on Allure in only 12 more days for the TA to Barcelona. In the back of my mind I've wondered if service might suffer with the crew being worn out and the ship going to dry dock. And on our cruise we have 10 nights, 9 days in a row at sea so they won't get much of a break from the passengers. She won't be out of service for long but I wonder if they are replacing the majority of the crew which would contribute possibly to some bad attitudes.

We selected MTD for this cruise too. Generally we have liked it in the past and didn't feel like the service suffered. As a matter of fact, the hostess (on Explorer) got to know us when we walked up and tried to seat us with the same waiters each night. I guess that can be good or bad, LOL! Luckily, on Allure there are plenty of other dining choices included if we aren't happy in the main dining room.

I was one who said I would never sail on one of those huge ships but here we are, about to do it and I can't wait! The more I learn and read reviews the more excited I get so thank you again.

D1 cabin will earn you 12 points. 1 point for each night of your cruise. Junior Suite and above you would earn double points. Have fun on your cruise.

Sue

At 52 points, you will still be 3 points shy of Emerald.

Well shoot! I guess we'll just have to keep cruising :cool:

I've looked and looked and can't find anywhere on Royal Caribbean's website or in the Crown & Anchor section. How do they determine how many points you earn per cruise. We are about to go on a 12 night cruise in a D1 balcony. How many points will that earn us. Right now we are Platinum with 40 points. I'm just curious if this cruise will get us to Emerald. Emerald doesn't earn us much in additional benefits but it is one step closer to diamond :D Thanks!

Yes, please continue :) We'll be on Allure sailing away 2 weeks from now and we cannot wait! I'm really enjoying your review and pictures. Thanks for taking the time.

Hi Janet!

 

Your review brought back great memories. I just got home Thursday from Germany. In Oslo we had overcast skies again, which broke into a little sunshine then it was raining again. Had a blast though, running around that very accessible city. Gothenburg - overcast in the beginning...I didn't care because I had my 2 hour massage there :D The skies did clear up for a very nice sail away.

 

I agree that the crew was so wonderful, friendly and accommodating. The dining room service was fantastic and the food good under the delightful Franco. Alfredo's was fantastic!

 

The only exception was one night in the IC after 15 days there was a substitute coffee guy who obviously was a fill-in for the wonderful Virgilio and Ameer (and was NOT enjoying the job). He did not want to give me my tea because I didn't have my coffee card in hand. I asked him which one I should go get because I have 4 already from this voyage by switching out my mini-bar set-up! He reluctantly gave me my tea..

 

I appreciated the Captains updates at noon everyday. The one thing I really missed was the navigational chart and the channel on the TV that showed the ship's progress with current weather conditions.

 

I loved looking at the 1000's of photographs taken by passengers that lined the hallways. Very nicely done & I wonder if they are doing this for the Regal?

 

As for my complaint: the deck 17 smoking area aft. It should be divided half smoking, half not (and enforced) as I love the quiet of the aft deck and watching the wake while I read.

 

So my cabin gave you the hebby-jebbies? LOL! :eek:

Haha! No hebby-jebbies! I just could never do it but am very happy for those that do and enjoy it.

We missed the navigational chart and progress too. Whenever I look for the progress on a ship's TV I'm reminded of a cruise where we had been around the Caribbean and Bermuda was our last stop. After we left Bermuda and for the rest of the cruise the progress went backwards, LOL. I think we were in the Bermuda triangle.

The problem with dividing the deck in half for smoking and non would be there would be no way to keep the smoke from drifting from one area to the other. Did you ever go up on the Horizon Terrace to relax and read? It was super nice up there.

Glad you got home ok and it was great to meet you.

Oh! I just remembered and wanted to give a shout out to Princess :D

At some point during the cruise we asked Emmanuel (our room steward) if he had been on shore at all during the trip. He said no because he had lost his card.....not sure what card he was talking about but probably his crew i.d. or something. We felt bad for him. He said it was taking a long time to get a replacement. On the last port day, Rotterdam, we ran into him up in the buffet and he had 5 family members on board. Princess had allowed them to come on board so he could see his family! Way to go Princess!!!! Just awesome! Who knew someone from the Philippines would have so much family in Rotterdam? But, we were so happy for him.

Let me know how you like it.

Heather, we're still traveling but I wanted to come back and let you know how happy we are to have bought the Bestek device. It has been invaluable for us. It has worked flawlessly. It gave us extra power outlets on the ship but has been especially useful now that we are land traveling in Europe. I will say though that not enough power flows through it here to run my hair dryer. It works fine for my flat iron but not the hair dryer. It wouldn't run it on the ship either so I had to use the US outlet for that. Since being here in Europe I've just used the provided hair dryers. They are weak but do the job, eventually :) I tried using my own dual voltage hair dryer here with an adapter but it ran so hot and fast I knew it would burn up so abandoned that idea. I say, get one of these devices!

I really enjoyed reading your very thoughtful review! If not a blogger, you should be! You're a gifted writer!

 

 

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What a sweet compliment. Thank you!

I have taken atleast a minimum of 15 cruises and always gotten a balcony. I have never had a problem with "soot" on my chairs on the balcony. Are you guys serious?????? I think that might be reason enough to have the cruise line give you a nice ship credit.

Chuck, it is ONLY the aft facing balconies on the stern that have had some problems. If your cabin and balcony are not back there you have no worries. And yes, there have been reports of them giving a "nice credit" to those affected. But, it would not have been enough for me! Seriously, they would have had to refund our entire fare and I still would have been disappointed. We love having a usable balcony. On this crossing I even bundled up and sat out there after dark. :)

Quote: "We also saw what is considered an obstructed balcony cabin. The obstruction only comes into play if the extra bed is pulled down out of the ceiling. This is not an issue if you don’t have anyone using that bed. The lesson here is' date=' do your homework concerning obstructed balconies. You could get a great deal and have no obstruction at all."

 

Do you recall where the good obstructed balcony cabins you saw were and if the beds were flat in the ceiling or protruded when not in use?...sorry I now see someone else asked the same question. With so many CC members having sailed the Royal by now, I would hope they would share their obstructed view cabin experiences with some pictures :)

 

Thanks.[/quote']

 

Sorry, I've finally had time to look it up. The cabin was E701. There was no lifeboat in front of the balcony. It was a clear view. There was no 3rd berth protruding. I guess it was up in the ceiling? Somewhere, I've not had time to look for it yet, GweninTX was doing a live trip report. It was her room. If you find her live report you will probably find more information about that cabin.

For trips, I have lost the ability to survive without tripit (tripit.com). You forward confirmation emails etc from an authorized address and it puts everything in your itinerary. The free version will be fine for most cruisers, and there are apps for iPhone and Android that store the info on your phone once synced so that you can pull it up any time.

 

Something to think about for your next 6 week run.

Good to know, thank you! That would have relieved me of a ton of paperwork.

And that is why the average age on the TA is 70.

haha! True! We're just used to being the "old folks" on the ship, LOL!

Was this one of the Emerald deck balcony cabins?

 

If so, the obstruction is supposed to be a life boat blocking part of the view, not anything inside the cabin itself.

I honestly don't remember what deck it was on. There was no life boat blocking the view though. I'm sure of that. She was upgraded at the last minute (cruise not sold out for the first 15 nights) and was thrilled with what she was assigned.