keishashadow

Update:  checked CC activity.  I have the full amount of the “new/cancelled/courtesy hold” cruise pending on my CC.  Good thing I have an ample credit line on that card.

 🤯

CC said I couldn’t dispute for 30 business days or until it would switch from pending to an actual charge.

called RCCL.  To their credit, did appear to do a thorough investigation.  Turns out when they cancelled the “new” cruise yesterday, they applied the refund to my original cruise booking.  

as it was already paid in full, has a huge OBC.  Sigh

they were in agreement, my CC should never have been charged.  Said they easily could’ve just done a 24 hour courtesy hold.  No idea why the agent & her supervisor proceeded as they did.

supposedly, it’s been escalated and I should see the pending charge removed within 10 business days.  The OBC should fall off the cruise before that time.

After being assured this scenario would not happen yesterday; more than a bit nervous my cruise is somehow going to go poof in this mess.  

I’d like to think this is a fluke on their part.  When I asked “why” it happened, told they had no explanation other than it was a series of events/errors on their part.  they did profusely apologize, still SMH and hoping all is good when dust settles.

you can be sure I will check my reservation every day between now & the cruise to make sure it’s still in place 

1 hour ago, Biker19 said:

That is normal so not sure what you saw for 3.

This is all that showed up this AM.

have seen connecting balcony categories (not guarantee) in the past on this sailing.  

In general, I’m very happy to cruise and not be expected to cook!

My take on food over the last year of resuming cruising again:

5/23 Adventure 8 night sailing:  food was very good. Among the best we’ve had on any cruise line.  Service in all areas was exemplary

6/23 Indy, 3 night:  they tried.  Had waitstaff come to table twice, saying there would be a delay with them re-ordering entrees as what was sent up was not up to standards.  

11/23 Allure, 4 night:  Oy, it was a “cold” mess.  WJ for dinner one night was lacking to point we grabbed sandwiches and pizza on the promenade.

note:  even tho the food was gosh-awful on the November allure sailing, we still booked it again for upcoming sailing in June.  

Why?  Only because we wanted the GD to experience her first Oasis ship and it coincided with our annual WDW trip.  Our expectations are set so low re food, we will surely be pleasantly surprised 🙂.  

Discovered it’s easy enough to speak to them and order grilled chicken and a large salad.  Surprisingly, well done.  Thinking as it’s less mass produced.  I will settle for decent food court quality at this point & will order the add on filet/lobster one night in the MDR

2 hours ago, Biker19 said:

That doesn't sound right. The initial push back may have been due to the GTY booking being limited to new bookings only.

Ah, that could be, although it was never mentioned.  

All the reps & supervisors I spoke to insisted they could not see a cabin for 3 “adults” on their end open in that category.  

Tried to convince me that I was seeing a category for a cabin that slept 3, however the 3rd berth was a crib…not a couch, or bunk.  My 3rd adult is a 13 y.o.

it never specified anything other than it slept 3 adults on their website.  

Perhaps was inputted wrong on their end and they didn’t have the particular inventory for the original balcony category.

know I didn’t see anything pop up in online search when I searched for a GTY connecting OV for 3 pp.  

Not sure if this is new procedure that I missed.  Have always been able to upgrade our cabin after final payment date.  Sometimes multiple times as the pricing dropped.

Just noticed an OV balcony GTY come up on website today for cruise 6/28, less than what I paid off for a neighborhood one.  

Had to arm wrestle RCCL for it.  Didn’t request credit or anything, just wanted the category I saw on website.  Was refused, told the cabin was not available despite me seeing it on the website.

I escalated it.  First time I’ve run into pushback from RCCL when modifying cabins after final pmt

An hour later, they said the only way they could accommodate me was via me booking a new reservation on the website, complete with putting down full payment.  They promised it wouldn’t hit my CC and that it would be a placeholder.  Ummm, ok, i guess.  A few tense minutes there.

They did immediately cancel it after transferring that cabin # to my original booking.  Then, they cancelled the new reservation ???

Not sure what’s going on there.  The CC charge for the 2nd cruise never did hit my CC.  Will be watching that carefully for a few days.

Haven’t been on the boards much lately, have they stopped this sort of upgrade practice that I’ve enjoyed in the past?  

Thinking maybe they want to save more cabins for last minute bookings or Royal Up

FYI, Wound up in a connecting balcony GTY category. Sailed this same ship in the past in another connecting (along with other RCCL ships), no noise factor.  Conversely, on DCL sailings you could hear people’s conversations.  

3 hours ago, not-enough-cruising said:

Purchase with the mobile APP also works onboard 

Ok, good option.  She had charging priv last cruise, didn’t buy a thing.  I know she’d be more likely to use the GC

Thank you!

Does the Starbucks kiosk on the Allure accept SB gift cards vs charge back to cabin?

also, wondering whether “stars” also will accrue to reward account for purchases via linking the card.

I thot the refreshment pkg coffee offerings were fine at the cafe on the Allure in December.  

Was just going to get the refreshment pkg for GD for upcoming sailing but, realized she doesn’t do coffee, so a bit of a waste there.  She likes the other ‘fancier’ SB drinks the cafe doesn’t offer

Thot it would be a bit easier to control the $ spent on those drinks if i would pick up a $100 in SB GC, vs having her charge it back to the room.

49 minutes ago, leaveitallbehind said:

....unless you cancel the current booking (with whatever penalties may apply) and rebook as a new booking at the full new booking fare.  That would likely not be a prudent move.

Never expected to do that.  Did so for upcoming Dec res on Utopia.  Even with the penalty, the much lower price of one week later basically negated the penalty.  

Last cruise (Dec on Allure) it was rather shocking to see the pricing drastically drop (multiple times) a couple of weeks after final payment date.  so many nice OV cabins opened up too.  We wound up moving up the food chain multiple times for a few $ more.

exact opposite on cruise on Adventure last May, things just kept increasing in price up to sailing date.

guess you can’t really predict it one way or the other.

8 hours ago, leaveitallbehind said:

If you booked a neighborhood balcony GTY (XN) then that is what will be issued.  Very unlikely they would upgrade to an OV (XB) as that is a different category.

I’m honestly not 100% sure which GTY I Booked. My first GTY and so excited it was approx price of inside in place. Had hoped to see the code on website vs calling in like the GTY noob I admitted am lol

Booked directly thru RCCL

assume whatever assignment will beat the inside 

however, if I do see that another category opens up

after final pmt date; can I still

pay the difference in price & upgrade to a higher category even tho I’m booked via GTY rate?

On the website my res only indicating 

no specific mention of neighborhood or OV.  Maybe will get lucky & get OV lol 

1 hour ago, LisaLisa87 said:

For whatever reason, that just seems to be the way they do it. I did call again to verify it’s correct on their end.

thanks that’s encouraging 

Several months ago, switched an NR inside booking (made by phone on a late June Allure cruise) to a Neighborhood Balcony GTY.  Called in as I saw it was in same ballpark.  first GTY I’ve booked.  Will be happy with whatever, have GD along who is eager to hear where we will be bunking.  Will try the bar code trick after checkin date.

Made “next to last payment” and noticed the confirmation of it didn’t make any reference to a balcony.  Hoping not a problem brewing.  Deleted the original email by mistake, can’t remember if it initially made specific reference to a balcony.  

Gave up on hold twice today with RCCL after long wait time, trying to verify we do indeed have a balcony pending.  Hoping somebody might know what the standard wording is on GTY neighborhood booking statements

also, trying to figure out what/where neighborhood Obstructed cabins could be on the Allure.  have sailed it recently, only thing I can think of is perhaps one of the upper decks with an overhang?  Maybe a possible support blocking view in Boardwalk area?  

There was no referenced # in the obstructed view percentage section of the invoice.

Stateroom: GTY

Description: Stateroom Obstructed View Percentage Pending
ALLURE OF THE SEAS
3 NIGHT BAHAMAS & PERFECT DAY CRUISE

 

3 minutes ago, Wheels Up said:

I'd really like to get the Unlimited Drink Package for Wife and myself, but holy cow! They're "on sale" for $77.99pp/pd plus 18% gratuity. Do they ever actually get less expensive than that? If not, I'm likely to pull the trigger on the Refreshments package that's down to $23.99pp/pd right now.

That’s been pricing off & on for awhile. Maybe a buck less. They just raised them before this ‘sale’ on cruises I’ve booked 

that said, you can always buy yourself the unlimited drink pkg and get the Mrs the refreshment pkg 

Re The cooler with the bud light, can you sub it out for another brew?  

If so, how does that work!

site says:  

• Beverage brand and size is subject to availability. Substitution can be made for similar product and size.

5 hours ago, cruiseguy1016 said:

If you have a cruise already booked, the gratuities do not have to be paid before Nov. 11th to get the old $16 rate. I just emailed my TA to verify this and his reponse was "As long as the booking was created prior to Nov 11th, 2023 gratuities can be added at the old rate up to 48 hours prior to sailing." 

That wasn’t mentioned earlier when I booked a new cruise today and prepaid other gratuities 

since one sailing fell thru the cracks can take my time to prepay that one then vs calling back in before the 11th

Booked a new cruise today with rccl

agent asked if I wanted to prepay gratuities as ‘the price is going up’.  
 

surprised he actually mentioned it, referencing the price increase 

told him tO go ahead and prepay them for every upcoming cruise I have booked.  
 

somebow, one didn’t go thru.  
 

anyone know if I can just pay them online for a cruise that hasnt been paid in full?

Update did book the XN - Neighborhood Gty balcony for the 3 of us @ $2,155 thru RCCL.  

Agent offered a Gty OV balcony for $2,315, even tho it wasn’t listed on the website.  

agent did say:

watch the price, if it drops for XN call back in and they will adjust

also, said I could upgrade either before or after final payment to a higher category (assigned neighborhood balcony & up) by paying the difference.  

Wasn’t aware of either options.  Hopefully, our 1st guarantee booking will go smoothly 🙂

5 hours ago, orville99 said:

More likely just because so far they have been able to extract a premium on all 2024 sailings.

IDK 11/22 booked a 9 night on allure 5/5/23 sailing, inside for $1,700.  It never did drop

Meanwhile, upcoming allure sailing dropped multiple times after final pmt.  Least we went from inside to big balcony:)

maybe will get lucky again for utopia Dec cruise in ‘24  lol fat chance. It’s gone up several hundred $ since I booked a few weeks ago  

12 minutes ago, orville99 said:

With July 4 occurring on a Thursday in 2024, it creates a really long weekend for people in Florida and typically becomes one of the most popular weeks for getaway cruises out of Port Canaveral.

Yes, we e been going last week of June & first one of July for over 10 years with the GD to parks.  Cruising that time period just last year tho.
 

Will likely go with end of June one as it’s a bit less. Think more people will

migrate to first weekend in july

just realized allure is then headed to Miami. Could be Orlando locals want to squeeze in another short sailing beforehand that is a factor 

1 hour ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Did you check off 55+ for senior discount, if applicable?  

Yes, military too.  Thanks 

10 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

you limited to the 3 night sailing for that week?   There is some better pricing for longer cruises.   Plus July and August cruises usually come at a higher rate.   

Yes, GD is participates in competitive sports. Has tight schedule, not much wiggle room there.  
 

the current GTY options seem best at this point for that time frame

glad we are retired and generally have flexibility. Surprised to realize how much prices can vary 

I will to call & have them price it out, factoring in the C&A number as not seeing any difference when I signin online and add it to search

26 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Maybe check boardwalk or central park balcony instead of OV balcony.

Yes, good idea.  Inside came up so high, didn’t really dig further.  We do like those far aft BW ones.  

Now that we’ve reached platinum, does any/the associated balcony discount automatically populate for us if available on the sailing.

1 hour ago, LobsterStalker said:

FWIW , 

A balcony guarantee is showing for closer to 2200$ US

I will take a look at that thank you!  

We do have 3 adults, might be why it didn’t show up in the search?  Not sure

fyi for upcoming allure sailing end of nov for 2pp inside, initially pd just under $1,200.  Total
 

price dipped after final pmt to point we are in a large OF balcony with change left over 

did you catch the cabin is for 3 ‘adults’? Although I can argue 13 yo is not an adult in the real world 

for this year summer cruise on Indy inside 2 a & 1 child our rate was $1,860

Multiple Current group rate quotes I gatherrd not worth hassle for less than $100 difference IMO