Wilde_37

We are due to sail this saturday January 8th 2022 on Apex.  we booked a guarantee balcony for this cruise - as did another couple.  neither of us has received any notification regarding our stateroom.  There is just 3 days to go before the cruise.  We have checked online and both bookings are still listed as GTY and the luggage tags are still blank.  I have contacted our online travel agent by email and have yet to receive a reply.   I have read that most guarantee allocations happen between 2-5 weeks before the sail date.  and it is very rare for it to be this late.  Anyobe else ever experience such a tight deadline?

The original plan was to do the transatlantic on Allure on April 24th to May 8th 2022 and stay onboard for a 7 night cruise around the Med.  Now the Wonder of the Seas is replacing Allure and heading across on April 20th and arriving in Barcelona on May 4th instead.  The next cruise is still going on May 8th.  So the ship is going ot sit in port for 4 nights between 4th and 8th. doing nothing!  I contacted my travel agent and he said that Royal are ignoring their back 2 back cruisers.  We have to disembark in Barcelona and book into a hotel for 4 nights at our own expense.  That is disappointing as I don't think I want to fork out another €700 for hotel and meals etc while waiting for the next cruise.  Royal are offering nothing!  Time to cancel the second cruise!

8 hours ago, Desert Cruizers said:

Daughter  & I were booked on the Allure for April 24th 2022 along with the Western Med and have a Balcony cabin on the 8 deck, now we are leaving on April 20th leaving us with 4 days between the TA & Med so have to disembark then re board on May 8th for our 2nd cruise. My TA said it will be Oct 13th or so before she knows if we will get the same room for both sailings. My Planner lists 1 cancelled & 1 6 day Caribbean which I told my TA about and had me concerned. She talked to her RCCL agent and said it was temporary ?

I'm also on the transatlantic and the following cruise in the Med.  I don't understand what is happening between the time we arrive in Barcelona on 4th May and the 1st cruise on 8th May.  Surely they do not expect people to have to book and pay for a hotel in Barcelona! What is happening to the ship for those 4 days? 

9 minutes ago, MADflyer said:

 

They have booked the 'Allure of the Seas' for the 7th of May at Palma  and it shows that she is coming in from Marseilles, France , so that would appear to be a 4 day sailing. 

 

I have done a similar sailing on Liberty one time and they filled it with incentive and other groups at that time. It was a very international group of passengers with groups from Korea and Japan among others.

Allure is in the Caribbean on 7th May.  Port of Palma no longer lists any RCi Ship visiting on 7th May.

9 minutes ago, pyrateslife4me84 said:

They obviously won’t have the Med cruises shift all summer long (and they’ve said as much). So the TA will either be 4 nights longer or there will be something filling those 4 days. Bright side: Barcelona is a great place to spend several nights!

Is it too much to wish that the TA would be 18 nights!  Barcelona is lovely but I don't want to have to pay for a hotel for 4 nights.

Waiting anxiously to find out what happens when Wonder gets to Europe.  I'm on B2B with TA and then 7 nights in Med.  I received two emails - firstly, TA is now going 4 days early - that means April 20.  Presumably it is still 12 nights and gets to Barcelona on 4th May instead of 8th May.  But the 2nd email has me confused... It says that my 7 night med cruise will be transferred to Wonder and will still be leaving on the same date!  If it is still going on the same date, i.e. 8th May, what is the ship doing between 4th and 8th?  Are they going to shove in a 4 night cruise and if so, what about those on B2B, we are forced to pay to stay in a hotel for 4 nights?  And if it is not going on the same date (as per the email) then every cruise for the summer in hte Med will be out by 4 nights.  I already have to rebook flights from Ireland to Florida to arrive 4 days earlier.  I hope they pay for my flight rebooking!

Hi, Gary from Ireland.  Booked on this crossing with friends from the UK.

Changed my flight to the following day.  Aer Lingus changed the flight for only €40,  Feel safer now!

 

What a bummer!

 

My flight from Barcelona is 11:00am.  Not a problem if we docked in Barcelona as I normally do a walk off and grab a taxi.    But Tarragona is an hour (85km) from Barcelona airport.  The shuttles don't run until 10:00am - which seem very late regardless!

 

SO choices...

Hire a private transfer for about $150 - do a walk off at 7:30am.

Pay €150 to change my flight - take the "free" shuttle, then get a taxi to the airport, wait until midnight for the next flight!

 

 

My partner may not be able to join me on an upcoming cruise. We have already paid his port charges and fees - but not his gratuities. If he does not show up will I be charged both these? Or do they only charge the port taxes and fees and gratuities for the actual people onboard? If not, will the pre-paid fees and taxes be refunded?

 

Cancelling the booking and rebooking is not an option as the price difference between the time we booked and now is substantial AND we won't know for a number of weeks if he cannot travel.

Can't see any cruises listed for Mariner and Voyager during the full summer of 2017. Any ideas?

Myself and my husband David, along with Ralph & Fred from Mississippi and Ed from Richmond Virginia are booked on this crossing. Really looking forward to it. This is my 7th crossing. 3rd time on Brilliance.

Just finished 2 cruise on Equinox - Istanbul to Rome and Rome on to Barcelona.

 

Both cruises had more kids on board then I have ever seen on a celebrity cruise. On the second cruise there was a very large (50+) group of kids from the USA - mostly mid teens. I thought they would be noisy but they were very well behaved.

 

The problem were the families where the parents have zero consideration for others and where they appear to have zero control of their kids.

 

In the Tuscan Grille we were seated at a lovely table for 2 until an Italian family of 9 was placed next to us. It was like a scene from "My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding". The kids and adults screamed at each other and the younger ones ran around the restaurant and around everyone elses table. I seriously object to paying $90 for this environment.

 

In the MDR Select one group was so large that they had two tables - one for adults and the larger for kids. The kids screamed and shouted all the time, played drums with the cutlery, one even leaned back on his chair and put his feet up on the table while another dug his knife into the cream cheese and continued to eat from it. NOBODY said a word.

 

The dress code was not enforced - short and flip flops in the MDR all the time (even saw one adult with a baseball cap on formal night - but that's another thread).

 

The solarium was over-run by kids at times and despite me pointing this out the a Pool Butler, nothing was done. I wrote a note to customer services but was ignored.

 

I have no problem with kids onboard any cruise - their parents or guardians pay good money to bring them onboard. But I seriously object to Celebrity advertising "Modern Luxury" and then not delivering on their own rules.

I just downloaded the itinerary of my next cruise - TA from Tampa to Barcelona - via Gibraltar. This is the official itinerary from the RCCL website.

 

Hopefully the captain knows where the heck he is going! He must be thinking of Gibraltar Road in Hull in England!

Trans Atlantics tend to be popular with gay travellers. So I suspect there will be a few dozen onboard. I also think the RCI will post a meeting on the community notice board near guest services. The time is always the issue. But we can see how it goes.

This day 5 weeks I fly to Tampa - looking forward to the cruise - to seeing good friends - to making new friends.

Haven't been on the Vision (sailing on it in April for transatlantic from Tampa to Barcelona). But have been on the other "Vision Class" ships and they all have sauna and steam room.

 

They are located at the back of the ship - you can enter through the solarium and then choose to go to the left and through the gym - or to the right and through the spa area.

 

There is a large steam room in the gents changing room, a relatively small (6-8 man) sauna and a couple of showers.

 

All free of charge.

Great to meet you guys. Hopefully as we get closer to the date we will find more and can have some decent LGBT get togethers.

Do you have to leave the ship at the exact time they call "walk-off's" or can you leave anytime after that, carrying your own luggage?

 

Our ship arrives in Civitavecchia at 5:00am so presume they will start with walk-off's around 6:00am. I am hoping to organise a private transfer to the airport for collection at about 7:30am.

 

I know I could arrange to be one of the first groups off by selecting an early departure. But I prefer to do a walk-off - Celebrity have lost my luggage before (between the ship and the baggage hall!!).

Really enjoyed the review Donal. We are doing an almost identical itinerary next July on Vision of the Seas and I was particularly interested in your review of La Spezia. I haven't been before but now I have a cunning plan!!

 

It is great to walk around the ship so early in the morning and have the place to yourself. I tend to only do it when I can't sleep but there is a special feeling about it.

Joined by Ed from Richmond Virginia.

I booked a cruise last week while on a cruise. Because I wanted to take advantage of a Future Cruise Certificate, they told me on-board that I had to contact Celebrity directly to apply the cert. No problem. So I decided not to transfer the cruise to a TA until I had sorted that bit out.

 

Now I'm wondering why I should transfer it at all. I got a good price, free drinks package, substantial on-board credit from Celebrity. I have no problems dealing directly with Celebrity (always did deal with them before booking several cruises through a large online cruise specialist).

 

So I'm interested in any reasons why I should now transfer it?

Just back from A cruise on Infinity. We were surprised to have a 20% surcharge for Vat added to all purchases from the on board shops. The explanation given was that we stayed in EU waters. New to me. Anyone else experienced this ?

 

 

First came across this on a cruise on century back in 2009. It was a closed loop from Barcelona which only visited EU ports. It was a nasty surprise to find that my spending power had been reduced by that percentage. One of the practices which i complained about at the time was that they were adding on the 15% gratuity to drinks and THEN adding on 20% VAT.

 

Anyway, since then I have always made sure that I only book cruises which take in 1 non-EU port. Croatia used to be very popular as a destination but since they joined the EU last year I notice that a lot of the cruises now stop in Montenegro.

To find the free WI-Fi spots in port - just follow the crew members. they always seem to know where the free WI-fi is ;)

[quote name='WestLakeGirl']Withdraw as cash from the casino, the fee will be 5%

If it is refundable OBC it will go back onto your credit card

The will use your non refundable first so if you have both kinds just withdraw the non refundable in the casino[/quote]



I believe it is all non-refundable. So I should just go into the casino and ask to withdraw an amount against my sea-pass card. They will give me the amount but charge me a 5% commission. Better than leaving it behind then! Thanks :D