Tinkerbellcgy

Merion Mom, now you've done it! :D There was nothing of interest in the RCI deals so I made the mistake of heading over to the Celebrity Exciting Deals and I think I may be cruising next month. See, the power of persuasion works sometimes. :)

Thanks so much for the information. I will be able to register both my Crown and Anchor and my Captain's Club data although I think I'll wait until after my next RCI cruise when I will have advanced to the Diamond level before doing so. :)

I have been absent from anything to do with cruising and/or cruiselines for quite some time. I noticed in another thread there seems to be some correlation between RCI and MSC when it comes to loyalty reward points. How and when did this come about?

Please enlighten me and bring me up to speed on this.

A big thank you to clarea and Merion Mom for your quick replies.

I feel that some of my questions may be looked upon as ....well.....dumb but I really need to bring myself up to speed and get educumated :D on what is happening in the current world of cruising. What better place to do this than the CC forum boards.

I have not sailed Royal Caribbean for over 8 years but I am hopeful to remedy that by sailing at the end of 2016.

Since I last sailed RC, there have been some revisions to the C&A levels which bumped me into the Emerald Level. Yay!

In reading some of the threads, I've noted that another revision/change is that solo passengers paying the double occupancy rate are now awarded 2 points per night sailed. [it's about time!!!!!]

My questions are:

When did this change/revision of 2 points per night sailed take place and if, on the off chance, it encompasses any of my past sailings, would I simply call C&A to discuss this?

Does this revision/change encompass any Going, Going, Gone rates that may be 150% or 175%? In other words, must it be a 200% across the board booking or are there exceptions?

What, if any, further revisions/changes have been made for the benefit (or detriment) of solo passengers that I should be aware of?

Any help in bringing me up to speed with booking and sailing Royal Caribbean is greatly appreciated. :)

Thanks clarea and goncruzn. The info you have provided is very helpful and I will refer to it when the time comes for me to actually book my next sailing.

It will be interesting to hear how much of this you can get from Royal, but at the time you purchased your NC cert, you could:

 

Get price drops up to 72 hours before the cruise, as a credit to your credit card.

 

Combine shareholder benefit OBC with C&A balcony discount and Next Cruise OBC.

 

Transfer bookings to a travel agent up until final payment date.

Awesome! Thanks for posting.

The only "perq" that I would utilize is the price drop up to 72 hours before cruise but it's definitely worth noting the other two.

When it comes time for me to book, would I do better to book through the Crown & Anchor office if that is possible or to simply book through one of the cruise representatives at the 1-800 number. <--- might be a dumb question but I honestly cannot remember if the C & A office actually will take a cruise booking.

You must remind whomever you are booking the cruise with of the date you "created" that booking. Deposit is still reduced ($100pp) unless you are booking a GS or above and then a full double deposit is required.

 

The structure of the OBC prior to March 14, 2015 was

 

$25 for sailings of 3-5 nights

$100 for sailings of 6-9 nights

$150 for sailings of 10-14 nights

$200 for sailings of 15+ nights

 

OBC now is

 

Length of Cruise

5-7 days ........... $25

8-10 days ......... $50

11-14 days........ $75

15 + days...........$100

 

Unfortunately creating an Open Booking today does not have all the benefits that it used to several years ago.

This is opportune information and I'm glad this issue has been addressed. I purchased 2 Next Cruise Certificates on April 7, 2008. Due to being diagnosed with a major illness twice since that time, I was not in a position to take advantage of either of those NC Certificates. I believe that I may see my way clear to finally using one of them on a sailing at the end of 2016. Yay!!!

I seem to recall the terms under which I purchased my NC Certificates are the same as those set out in the "Prior to March 14, 2015" structure but I'm not 100% certain. My question would be, were there any other changes between 2008 and 2015 that might have an affect on my utilizing my NC Certificates?

Does anyone have recent experience with Choice Air. The Choice Air sticky is very positive. But many postings are not. We personally used it once. The only problem was I could not get assigned seats until 24 hours. Worked out ok but there was a lot of anxiety about being in a middle seat on a nine hour flight.

<snip>

I have recent experience with Choice Air. I utilized this service when booking my recent April Constellation cruise. I booked the cruise and the air last October. I chose which flights and which seats I wanted. I was required to pay my airfare in full when I booked it - not a problem for me.

I was given a Record Locator and was able to go in periodically to check and see if any more desirable seats became available (not that there was anything wrong with my original choice of seats on all four flights).

Any and all dealings with the Choice Air representatives were nothing short of being professional and helpful. I had booked with American Airlines and my outbound flights were scheduled at the time that Dallas-Fort Worth was in the aftermath of 8 or 9 tornados that had gone through a few days before I was scheduled to fly through DFW on my way to Fort Lauderdale. On the day before I was scheduled to fly out, I logged into my AA account to complete my online check-in only to discover that AA had cancelled all flights from Calgary to DFW over the next several days.

I was on the phone immediately with Choice Air. This was the Easter weekend and most flights were nearly fully or completely booked. They went above and beyond to ensure that I got to Fort Lauderdale with as little inconvenience to me as possible and they succeeded. (And no, I did not get seated in those dreaded "middle" seats on my rerouted flight!) Although many posters on here haven't a good word to say about Choice Air, I have had nothing but stellar experiences with them and would definitely use them if I choose to cruise again.

We are booked at Hyatt Pier 66 and I see VERY MIXED reviews on TripAdvisor. Can anyone give a recent update of the condition?

I stayed at the Hyatt Pier 66 on April 6, 2012. I acquired this room through Hotwire. I was given a west-side groundfloor lanai room. It was very clean and quite comfortable. It is a lovely resort-type property. Would I stay there again? Absolutely!

Some friends also stayed at the Pier 66 that same evening and, in chatting together about the negative comments we each had read on this board about the Pier 66, we wondered what all the negative fuss was about. We found nothing to complain about.:)

"I was accused of insulting the staff. "By the way, on our credit card after the cruise blocked amount is greater than it was in the long run. The reason, of course, are not reported."

 

This is also standard practice in the cruise industry as well as travel industry. A hold of a minimum amount per person in the cabin PER DAY is placed on your card. That amount is released when the actual charge is put through at the end of the cruise. That is why it is important to check the amount of available credit you have. You will not be charged more than what you owe.

The gist that I got from the OP's matter of the credit card is there were charges to his credit card that may not have been charges that he accrued but nonetheless were charged to his credit card. He got no explanation as to what these extra charges were for and/or why they were charged to his credit card. If this is what the OP is trying to say, I would agree that he has a right to know what these charges are for. I have had discrepancies / errors on my onboard account and after a visit to Guest Relations, these errors were quickly reversed. But then again, I secure my onboard account with cash and not a credit card so there are no surprises before I disembark or when I get home.

As for the rest of the opening post, I suspect it was a comedy of errors that snowballed into an unpleasant situation: English as a second language, different customs and different cultures.

Our flat rate charge from the airport to the port was $12. And the flat rate charge the other direction was $20. We felt had both times. Just added to a distaste for cruising from Ft. lauderdale.

This may be a dumb question but why would the fare be different going to the airport as opposed to coming from the airport? That's just plain weird!

I breakfast in the MDR at a large table most mornings. I also lunch there on the days that it is open. If I eat at the buffet, I like to start conversations with those in line with me. I look for every opportunity to start conversations whether it be in a line-up or with others sitting at an adjoining table or sitting next to me in the theatre whilst waiting for the performance to start. There are multitudes of ways to meet people. One need only be creative.

...AVIS has a location at the Hyatt Pier 66 and i THINK they have a shuttle..though i took a cab as it was around $10 and i didn't want to wait for the shuttle...

I don't know if AVIS has a shuttle but I do know the only shuttle that Pier 66 has is to the beach and not to the airport or the pier.

Hi,:) Not sure what you mean about the deposit being witheld? :eek:

Is that a Canadian thing? I sail Celebrity all the time and if you

cancel before final payment is due they credit back anything you

have paid. (well here in the states they do).

That cruise is on my bucketlist..........

Hi Lois, no....it's not a Canadian thing. It works the same in Canuckland as it does in the USA. I have absolutely no idea why that particular poster would lose their deposit if cancelled within the 100% refund allowable time frame.

I have a FLL accommodation question which I would like to get an answer or opinion on. I am currently booked at the Gallery One for Good Friday at the rate of $253.00/night including transfer to pier. I will need to cab it from the airport to the hotel which the nearest I can figure will cost me about $25.00 for a total of approximately $278.00.

I am contemplating changing my accommodations over to the Hilton Marina which I can get for $211.00 but I would need to cab it there from the airport and then to the pier the next day. I have no idea what the cabs from the airport to the hotel and then from the hotel to the pier will cost. Does anybody have any idea?

In any event, is it worth my while to change my reservation? Is the Gallery One a more superior accommodation than that of the Hilton Marina? Would I be saving enough in taxi / transfer fares to warrant changing this reservation?

Any thoughts on this? :confused:

Just like Dr. Cocktail, my very fist cruise was on the MV Azur in 1988. At that time, I thought I died and went to heaven. I had no idea until my second cruise which was on a RCCL ship, that my first cruise was really on a "bottom of the barrel" cruise ship. Talk about ignorance being bliss!!! LOL

I didn't sail on the Amerikanis but I did sail on Chandris' MV Azur. It was my very first cruise leaving Barbados on April 1, 1988 and sailing northward and then returning to Barbados.

It was my first cruise and I thought that I died and went to heaven. I was just blown away by all the glitz, glamour and everything. That is, until two years later I sailed on Royal Caribbean's Viking Serenade and it was then that I realized that the Azur was the bottom of the barrel. LOL But, having said that, that very first cruise still holds the fondest memories for me.

I'm heading off on my 8th cruise in November and I owe it all to Chandris Cruises for making me want to cruise again.

Tink, Calgary