hursttx

We were across on the starboard side in Radiance Jr Ste 1592 recently (late April). I'm not sure what was directly above us, but around 2:00 am every morning, we were woken up with what sounded like people tossing metal pans on the floors. The noise would persist for about 2 hours each time. Ear plugs didn't help. We didn't sleep well any night. I've never taken so many daytime naps on any cruise before. Unfortunately, on Radiance, there are no Jr Ste's with sleeping cabins above and below them. If I ever did it over again, I would opt for a regular balcony cabin on deck 8 or 9. 

We were on Radiance 3 weeks ago, debarking in Vancouver and flying back the USA. Tried to do the Emed test from our cabin and WiFi would not stay connected. I went to Guest Services and they let us use the Conference Center (behind the photo shop). The WiFi was good there and we were successful with the Emed test. 

We recently ended our cruise on Radiance and had to test to fly back to the U.S.  We carried the Emed test onboard and had the same issue several have mentioned...the ship's wifi was unstable and we kept getting knocked off while trying to do the test. I went to guest services and they let us use the ship conference center, which had a more stable wifi connection. We were able to get them done that way. Our other option would have been to test at the Vancouver airport. 

Now that my cruise has been cancelled by Royal Caribbean (due to Corona), I wonder what happens to the Visa Rewards points I redeemed to pay for a portion of the cruise and also used points for OBC?  I've sent an email to Royal, but not sure when or if someone will get back with me.  I would prefer to have the points reinstated, but I don't have high hopes that will be one of my choices.  I'm not sure if anyone has had experience with this?

We were looking for a Muir Woods tour while we're in port in San Francisco, that is not part of the big bus tours...something more like a small, private tour.  We are booked with muirwoodstourdotcom, which is led by Naturalists, Tom Martell.  The reviews were great and we are looking forward to the excursion.  He takes a maximum of 6 people and gets to the location before most of the tour buses, to create a unique experience.  Price was a little more at $100 pp, but should be well worth it.

We will be in Astoria in port on a May 2020 cruise and have rented a car from Enterprise.  Planning on taking a scenic drive to the northern Willamette Valley wine country to enjoy some tastings and the beautiful outdoors. 

The rest of the cruise was great. We had no problems with any other vendors/tour co's we dealt with. We even had a last minute cancellation for one person on our cave tubing excursion in Belize, and the tour operator adjusted the price on the spot with no cost to us. That has been my experience now 99% of the time.

Like I mentioned, I changed the reservation more than 60 days out, giving them more than ample time to sell the two seats I made available. The company I work for has policy's, but we understand it makes good business sense to look beyond a "policy" in an effort to be fair and reasonable to a person. They could have made it right, but chose not to.

I know there are many good reviews on Nochi, so I thought I needed to make people aware of a not so good side of this operation. They blatantly, knowingly stole money from me and discarded the multiple opportunities to correct their error and make things right.

We made reservations for 7 people, many months before our recent visit. More than two months out, I contacted Island Marketing to let them know we had two people drop out and our reservation was changing from 7 to 5 people. Unlike most private excursions in the Caribbean, Nochi requires an up-front deposit of 25%. Island Marketing acknowledged the reservation change and recalculated the deposit and total balance.

When we arrived on Friday morning at Nochi, their records were incorrect on the amount of money we had already paid. Our balance should have been $178.75, but they insisted we owed them $206.25. I even had both printed reservation acknowledgments with me. The girl at Nochi that settled balances was one of the rudest person I have ever encountered. I think she must be the resort owners’ daughter, to be able to get away with treating customers in such a terrible way. She was in no way willing to consider any of the facts. Her reaction was we overpay or leave the property.

The amount of money Island Marketing and Nochi stole from us was not a huge sum, but their handling of the situation was unbelievable. Upon return, I contacted Island Marketing to request a refund of the amount they owed me, but they stuck their nose up and said no way! Unfortunately, it was outside the time limit to dispute the deposit I made by credit card.

I know Island Marketing and Nochi will continue to book many reservations, but never again from me. There are too many legitimate tour operators out their to waste time dealing with the crooked ones.