kiska

We don't have any more updates right now beyond those already posted. To recap - man overboard search and rescue operation went on for 3 hours, person wasn't found. Now the ship is full speed ahead to Grand Cayman due to an unrelated medical emergency. 

If you were on the ship you also would have heard the captain say they were stopping, turning around and conducting a search and rescue operation. Captain came on around 30 minutes after the Oscar announcement. 

Hoping to watch some champions league games while stopped in port. Are there any soccer pubs or sports bars within walking or short taxi ride distance from pier?

Thanks in advance!

You need to look at the room you booked. Some rooms have bunk beds and that's specified on the legend on the deck plan

Isn't this equivalent to "missing" the ship and then joining it at the next port? In which case, you could make it happen, but you also have to hope there won't be last minute schedule changes and the ship goes to Haines as planned. 

I checked out cruisemapper, they have Allure stopping there on March 19th. I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed!

Booked on March 19th, with a stop at Puerto Plata. Was supposed to stop there on the December cruise, but they said dock wasn't ready and they swapped in Nassau instead. Was wondering if anyone knows anything, the itinerary on royal website still shows it as a stop, but the March 5th cruise is still going to Nassau.

Many many times. Hold up the bottle, point to the word wine. They're really not that savvy

On 2/7/2020 at 8:38 PM, milford_cruiser said:

 

You get "Expedited" if you have a photo and you scan your passport (instead of typing in the info).

Not true, I literally just did my check in for Symphony out of Miami, typed in my passport info and took the crappy picture, and got "Expedited".

Does anyone happen to know what is next to cabin 8411 on Harmony? It's an inside cabin on the end of the bank of cabins, but it looks like there could be some crew space or something next to it, wondering if i should be concerned about noise if it's a housekeeping closet or something like it.

Thanks in advance!

We'll be sailing on allure, and want to know if it's possible and how difficult it is to get an extra room key card, just to open the door. Mom and i both had offers, but hers was free only for her, so i booked dad in my room for no extra charge, but obviously he'll be staying in mom's room. Anyone ever need extra cards just to open doors?

Thanks in advance!

Royal already posted they're modifying itineraries for June 5th and 6th ... more info in 24 hours

Update #2!! This morning I noticed there's a guarantee that popped up for the Oasis sailing a few days prior out of Barcelona on the same ship. Called around 9:30 am EST, halfway through the conversation realized I got Jamaica. She kept claiming she couldn't see the guarantee, so I politely thanked her and hug up. Called back around 11:45 EST, and got very excited to hear that I'm talking to not Jamaica or Guatemala, so presumably Oregon. He saw the guarantee and booked it for me! Surprised that there were also a couple oceanview cabins that became available, and this would be around the 60 days before sailing mark, so I wonder if some people are cancelling to lose less money. Now I'm waiting to see if the original sailing on August 1 will get an inside available tomorrow or Saturday, which would be around the same timeframe of 60 days before sailing. Either way, this issue is resolved to my satisfaction, changing up to August 1 would just be icing on the cake!

So definitely seconding the comment above - if you don't like what you hear, keep calling back to see if you get another answer!

Small update! Got a much more helpful agent the second time around, who explained that they need to get in touch with the revenue department who can reopen the closed inside category for her to get the price. Unfortunately they're closed for the day, so I'll have to call back tomorrow, hopefully I'll get another knowledgeable agent!

I am prime (so qualify for an inside) and called to book my annual cruise offer with a paid upgrade to balcony, since that was the only thing that was left on Oasis out of Europe in August. The agent said because there are no inside cabins left they can't price it out for me, and therefore I can't use my annual prime offer, because they can't find out how much my upgrade would cost. Did anyone ever run into this issue, were you able to resolve it? Is it just a matter of calling back and seeing if another agent can do more leg work, or is this a done deal, no go on this cruise. Either way, painful lesson learned.

1 hour ago, Host Clarea said:

If a flight that was booked via Air2Sea was so late that ypu missed the ship, Air2Sea says they would make arrangements (and pay) for you to fly to the next available port of call.

Thank you! That's what I was looking to find! Unfortunately flying in the day before is not an option, I just want to know what would happen in the worst case scenario or the flight bought through Air2Sea being cancelled or delayed so much so that the ship would sail without us. I've read some conflicting thoughts online as to what they actually cover and pay for, so I was hoping someone with knowledge and/or experience on this board would offer their thoughts on the matter.

Hi all,

I am considering using Air2Sea to travel to Rome (from inside Europe) for a cruise the day of the cruise, the ship is Jewel. Flight offered by Air2Sea lands at 12:50 pm, cruise departs at 5:00. If this was Florida or Puerto Rico I would not even think twice, but knowing Rome traffic and how far the port actually is from the airport (about 65 km) I am worried. I understand and I have been on other cruises where they held the ship for passengers arriving late, but has anyone actually needed their help to rejoin the cruise at the next port of call? Would they be able to hold the ship in a port in Europe. Next port of call would be Santorini, so if they would need to arrange for us to travel to Santorini, would we be paying for the flights, or would Air2Sea?

Thanks in advance for the feedback!

On 3/6/2019 at 7:52 PM, laslomas said:

 

What about the health of their staff who are probably told the area they will be working so cannot decide to avoid the casino? The croupiers know it comes with the job on RCI, but there are bar staff and cleaners, etc. too. No-one should have to work in those conditions. There are lots of articles about ETS (Environmental Tobacco Smoke) and ETS exposure as an environmental illness. Possibly nothing will change until they have to start dealing with workers compensation claims.

 

No one has to work in those conditions. Employees are always making a choice where they work, the same goes for all the bar staff and cleaners. They can choose to go work somewhere else, whether it is a different cruise line, or land based something or other. No one is forcing them to work on the ships, they are choosing it. Why should they be dictating to their employers how the place of employment is run? I have to work Monday-Friday, 8 hours a day. Would you defend me if I complained that I don't like the work schedule and prefer to work Wednesday-Friday 4 hours a day? I realize it's the same argument that was used for waitstaff when restaurants went smoke free, but my argument still applies there - you don't like to work in a smoking restaurant, find another line of work, it's really not a complicated matter.

we have always opted for a guarantee if it was cheaper. Most of the times we ended up in the same general category (inside or oceanview) but a better level within that category, and once we got upgraded to a balcony from oceanview (only once). The way to approach this is to think if there is a cabin anywhere on the ship you would really not like to end up  on. For me, I would really not like to end up on deck 2 or 3 right underneath casino or dining room or shops, or the top most cabin deck with the pool above you, or very aft or forward of the ship if you suffer motion sickness. That said, you can usually call in and swap a cabin out within the same category if any are available, such as 3V to another 3V, once you've been actually assigned a cabin. I'm going to be on Adventure in a week, and we went with oceanview guarantee ("prepaid" casino cruise) since it was a last "free" cabin available. Couple days later got assigned a panoramic oceanview cabin on deck 12 all the way in the front. Cabin looks very cool, price level is more than I would have been willing to pay for it, but there appears to be a sun deck above it, which may end up with noise in the morning when they set up the area for the day. Will it bother me? I won't know until I sail, unfortunately, but it's always a gamble I'm willing to take. Most of the times if I didn't like the location of the cabin assigned I was able to call in and swap out. The other thing to note here, is that right around the final payment date more cabin will become available as people cancel, and thereafter there may be price drops, at which point you can call and ask to upgrade to a different cabin if it's within your budget, or on the off chance there is no price difference. I was actually able to get myself from an inside cabin to a balcony for only $12 more per person once, when a sale popped up. Other times you call and you think it'll be only $50, but you don't qualify for that sale as an existing booking and they want like $400 to upgrade. Just food for thought, and even with all the possibilities, I will still go for a guarantee EVERY single time, because it saves money I can spend on other things. 

I was looking at the deck plans on adventure vs freedom, and it looks like Freedom doesn't have anything above deck 12 forward, but Adventure has the sun deck up above. I only saw one post from all my searching that complained about the noise on deck 12 from the deck hands moving the loungers in the morning, really hoping they added better insulation.

Got assigned Cabin 1880 on Adventure from a guarantee oceanview booking. I no longer have a choice to upcharge to a balcony, but I can still swap down into deck 2 (I suppose it's a downgrade). So if anyone has stayed in these cabins on Deck 12 on Adventure, can someone advise on whether or not these cabins have a lot of noise from the deck above?

Thanks in advance!

They issued different ones via email and on the ships. Last time I called CR they affirmed it was from Jan 1, 2018 to March 31, 2019. If you ask the casino host, they tell you what you have attached. But for the most part the casino hosts are not to well informed about this program.

On the Serenade in early April. I was told by a casino host only the ships in Asia were participating in the program. I made him put it in writing. And after talking to CR and submitting what I had. They gave us an additional $300 OBC and an apology.

I'm not the only one on here that has the same information. July 31, 2016-Dec 31, 2017 for the current year. Jan 1, 2018 - March 31,2019 (for next year) April 1 - March 31 all following years.

They gave us 19 months for the rollout, Then 15 months for the second. After that it's 12 months.

So when I called CR a couple months ago they told me that the time period for the rollout was 12 months prior, definitely not July 31, 2016 - Dec 31, 2017.

It's always worth a shot to call the cruise line/travel agent and ask if there are any other rooms available in the same category you're booked at. I've done it a few times with a gaurantee, only once was I given a hard time by RCCL agent, but they still ended up switching me to another room in the same category.

The only issue I see with 8660 is that it's an adjoining cabin, which means there's a door connecting you to the next stateroom over (it's a double door that exists in both cabins, and it is locked unless you request it open). This may cause a tiny bit of noise from the next door cabin to trickle over to yours. I've been in cabins like that before, hasn't really been an issue for me, but I always prefer to have a non connecting stateroom

adventure canceled yesterday, got the announcement when we were leaving Curacao. No substitute port, heading straight back to Puerto Rico. Very choppy water today, ship is barely moving, but waves are 8-10 feet

Problem is on many ships you can not go around the Casino, you have to travel threw it on that deck...

Going up a deck is an option. I'm sure the lady I saw on the previous cruise with a scarf wrapped around her nose and mouth waving her hands while walking through the casino would have appreciated that thought.