Cruzn Fool

Just off yesterday and yes it was all still free.  We only used the dryers for our swimsuits a couple of times but the one on deck 12 had free machines and there was some detergents on the shelf that you could grab if needed as well.

3 hours ago, EDVM96 said:

My essential survial kit on Princess Cruises:

 

The corkscrewer is available on many ships in the Princess Shops.

And the wine bottle cap was a nice present from Juan from Peru, from the Vines Bar on Sapphire Princess.

Never cruise without! ☝️

Very nice, I may need to look at the gift shop.  Thanks for the reminder on the bottle topper too.  I just added one to my kit.

Thank you everyone.  I like the bathroom bag option, then I don't have to deal with the security check point and the carry-on bag.  You just never know who you get and how they may interpret the rules.  Unfortunately, these things sometimes vary from person to person.  Maybe screw tops for the next time but I already have the bottles ready for this trip.

Quick question that should be simple, but I haven't seen the answer anywhere:

I know we are allowed to bring a bottle of wine onboard with us but I haven't seen anywhere if we are allowed to bring a wine bottle opener?  We are bringing our two bottles for in room consumption, not for the dining room where we would pay a corkage fee and have them opened.  Do we need to get the stateroom attendant to provide us one?  Or, if we are allowed to bring one onboard, do we bring it through security at the terminal (I know for an airport that would be a no-no) or pack it in our checked bags?  We are driving to the port so anything airport security related is not an issue.

Let me know your past experiences with this.

Thank you.

I agree and share the disappointment. The service we received was by far the worst on any cruise we've taken as a family the last 5 years. It's hard that we just got off the Disney Fantasy in June and they set the bar so high, but this was bad.

 

Here were some of our issues. And I know some of them have very reasonable explanations, but it doesn't make it less disappointing.

 

Couldn't get off in GC. I get it, but the Carnival Dream worked around it and got it's passengers to shore. RC didn't want or need any more incidents of bad press last week.

 

The slides and flowrider were closed till day 3. Then, when they opened, only one slide opened and the one that did had intermittent closings throughout the week.

 

Service all around was poor. Not average, poor. The best service we received was in Adventure Ocean and Windjammer. We did the MDR the first two nights and not again till the last night. We struggled to find anyone at the pool to get us more drinks and had to the bar ourselves almost exclusively. The one server we saw selling drinks around the pool every day said if we wanted his drink we would have to go to the bar and get a plastic cup ourselves since the souvenir glass he was selling cost $3.95. Throughout the week we felt like we were treated differently because we had the drink package over those paying for each drink. One bartender we heard repeatedly tell guests how happy he was that he was on his last trip. The MDR servers were nice, but either extremely new or completely incompetent. In our 3 MDR meals, we either did not get something we ordered or had some other issues in regards to timing, etc.

 

Lastly, because we booked and paid for so much up front, we actually ended up with a negative balance at the end of our trip. On the last day we went to the photo center to use that on board credit to purchase pictures....BIG MISTAKE. It was an absolute disaster. We wasted an hour of our time trying to get the servers to work and we could never process our order. Not only did we not get our pictures and wasted an hour in the photo center, but we then stood in guest services for over 30 minutes to be assured they would refund the balance to our card to only find out later they couldn't.

 

It wasn't all bad and we had a good time, but had we not got the trip so cheap, I would be alot more upset. Cruise director was great. The shopping guy was a big help.

 

The ship itself was magnificent, clientele was still a step above Carnival but I'll gladly pay for Disney on my next cruise.

Sorry for the disappointment, I know how that can be when you are looking forward to something so much and then have a let down due to lack of service by staff. It would be one thing if it was the ship, which could be beyond control, but when it comes to something like staff, it is definitely within each of those staff members control to provide the excellent service they are paid to provide, and that you paid your hard earned money for.

I guess that most people reading this thread would be more interested in the new updates on Liberty and your thoughts or observations, maybe even some pictures if you have any.

What about the new Mini Golf, how was that? That was a surprise to me as I thought they were getting rid of it all together. Anything else new since dry dock that you could comment on?

I will add that in between the two half court games going on there is usually a game of soccer going on at half court with the soccer net on each side. Every one playing makes it work as smooth as possible. As always there is a show off or two, but someone better usually comes along and puts them in their place. :)

That's true. They also close it up on occasion for dodge ball or some other game but it's just open play 90% of the time. It's really a nice perk for those that like to play basketball and the court itself is also very nice.

They could certainly bring their own, in the manner suggested. However, I don't really see the need for it. My son plays basketball on the ship all the time and, while I wouldn't call him real picky, he does like better quality basketballs as well. I have never heard him complain.

I have also played and I can't remember the brand but the quality of the balls is quite good. Indoor/Outdoor quality and not the cheap rubber basketballs you might find outside at an elementary school either. That may be what your husband/son are thinking they would find and therefore are hesitant. They should be fine with what the ship supplies.

There also seems to be plenty of balls available most of the time, even on sea days. When the court gets real crowded there is usually a couple of half court pick up games going on. There are also plenty of times when it is not crowded and they can just grab an available ball and shoot around or play one on one.

When crowded, most of the balls are shared amongst everyone playing so they may not even get to use their ball the entire time anyway. I think I would pack something else in it's place. Hope that helps a little.

Well dang...he would not do this for me. I am going to send them a screen shot too. Where did you send it?

I started with the RCCL web site and clicked on the "Contact Us" link then on the email link from that page.

I got an auto reply right away saying my email was received but I am not going to lie, it takes about a week to hear back from somebody actually addressing your issue. However, since I wasn't in a hurry and didn't want to spend excessive amounts of time on the phone dealing with somebody who probably could not help me in the first place, I didn't mind waiting.

I also figured it would give them time to actually find out the answers to my questions instead of just trying to get me off of the phone.

You were smart to have a print screen of the pricing summary. I didn't think to do that, but you better I believe I will in the future! I hope RCCL honors both the discount and OBC you saw, since both were reflected online at the time. Let us know what happens. I'm glad this thread was helpful to you. So many people say, "Oh, your OBC will show up when you get on the ship" but I think this is a good lesson that that's not always the case.

Well, I heard back from RCCL last night and they reinstated the OBC in full and, as a goodwill gesture, also let me keep the balcony discount.

I felt that was a fair thing for them to do and am happy they made the decision to do so without me having to do any further arguing with them. I do believe it was because of the printout I was able to supply to them, not just because they felt like generous but the result is the same for me, this time :)

I was likely going to cancel the cruise if they did not at least reinstate the $400 OBC and remove the C&A discount so I am happy they didn't put me in that position to have to make that decision.

There have been a few threads on here about this in recent weeks and one of them made me check out the OBC for my cruise later this year. Sure enough, I had the exact same situation that you did, with the C&A discount overriding the OBC, but at least I had time to catch it in advance of the cruise and not while on the cruise (or after). My situation has been satisfactorily resolved. It took some time and some back and forth but I eventually got the OBC restored.

One thing that saved me is that I had a print screen of the page that showed the cruise fare, discounts and OBC so I definitely recommend anyone who books online print it out and save it for any future need.

The recommendation from other Cruise Critic members was to contact RCCL and ask them for an invoice for the cruise and that would list all financial data, including any OBC. This will let you know exactly what you have for OBC and the full breakdown of your cruise fare. That was great advice.

All in all it seems very sneaky on RCCL's part but I believe it is an honest mistake. The more of us that call them out on it, maybe it will help get whatever technical issue causes this to be resolved.

The consensus answer here on CruiseCritic (where a wrong answer will be quickly corrected:rolleyes:) is FAR more likely to be correct than a call to RCI. It is not unusual to call 3 times and get 3 different answers.

This is so sad, but so true:eek:

I was given a RC gift certificate for my birthday that I can't use because they need 2 weeks to redeem it and we sail on Monday. Needless to say I requested a refund to my friends card for the amount of the g.c.

I am curios if they have agreed to refund the gift certificate. My guess is they will not. But, you could always use it on your next cruise, assuming you want to do another RCCL cruise.

If not, I think I would find somebody who is doing one, have that certificate applied to their reservation and then just ask them to give you the cash. If it is somebody you know, I am sure they will be happy to do that for you.

Worst case is you can use it to have flowers, champagne and a cheese plate sent to mine and my wife's cabin for our upcoming cruise- still plenty of time left to apply it for that one :D

Enjoy you trip. Hopefully the worst is over now.

I wanted to report back to tell you what I found out in case it helps anyone else. The OBC did NOT show up on my booking invoice. Therefore, I believe jticarruthers is correct. When I saw the $100 OBC while booking, it was showing that and the C&A discount. When I actually booked, only the C&A discount was reflected (which was only $47 -- not as much as the $100 OBC). At this point, I don't know if I can get them to apply the $100 OBC instead since I don't really have any proof that I once saw it. Not real happy with what appears to be a little sneaky on RCCL's part, but not much I can do about it now.

 

Thanks again for all the replies and suggestions.

After reading this thread the other day I wondered if I might have the same problem so I requested the invoice. Sure enough, the $400 OBC was not listed and the $100 balcony discount was applied. The email I received with the invoice stated the two could not be combined, which I learned from this thread to be the case.

However, I had a print screen of the pricing summary from the RCCL web site booking engine which showed the details before clicking over to make my deposit and it did show the OBC and the $100 C&A discount so I really feel that RCCL is shady about this practice. If the offers can't be combined, then it is on RCCL to be sure their web site works properly, prior to their guest booking and depositing on a cruise under the deal they are displaying, not after the fact and definitely not by the way they mysteriously make the OBC disappear. I am sure it is not intentional but merely a technical issue they need to solve.

Anyway, I sent that print screen to them and am currently waiting to see what, if anything, they will do about it. Obviously, I would rather have the OBC but also feel, out of principle, that they should honor the deal I was signing up for. It takes about a week to get a response via email so I will let you know what happens.

In the meantime, I would recommend that anyone else who thinks this might be an issue to follow up as others have suggested in this thread.

Thanks to everyone for participating in the thread, I am glad I checked it out. I would not have been a happy camper if I got on the ship and found out the $400 was missing from my OBC.

I would definitely use the taxi in this case. Not only price but the convenience of getting the taxi quickly and getting on your way- both to and from the port-is worth more money to me. But in this case it is less money so it's a win-win.

This is an interesting thread that has taken a few turns from it's original intent but has got me to thinking about what I will consider on our cruise out of Galveston next year.

I think I will check with those on the roll call for our cruise to see if my pre and post cruise plans line up with others. Then, we can make some arrangement to share some sort of transportation. It might even be worth it to rent a car for the week and leave it parked near the port, if we can get a good deal on the car and split it multiple ways.

Anyway, thanks everyone for the input. I still have a year so I will look forward to everyone's input with the new terminal and any other improvements.

It would be a tough decision for me.

 

While I think Liberty is the better deal, I very much dislike flying to cruises out of Galveston. The transfer/hotel situation makes it more expensive and less convenient than flying to either FLL or MCO. Flying to Galveston would be a very large "Con" on my balance sheet.

 

I think you should look into the transfer/hotel costs compared to Oasis. You may find that the difference is less than $500 when you consider those costs. Plus, you are likely to be much warmer in South Florida than Galveston in December, so there is less potential to waste a day on the front and back end being cool.

Good points. I did have one cruise out of Galveston and it wasn't all that bad. We rented a car both ways from Houston and got a great hotel there as well. I have also had good luck going out of Ft. Lauderdale and Canaveral.

The weather in/out is a much bigger thing that I hadn't considered. We are pool and warm weather people so that may be a bigger thing to consider than even the changes to the ship.

And the more I read the Oasis reviews, the more I remember how much I really want to get back on it.

Thanks.

Bear in mind that in a year's time, Freedom could also lose the mini golf and get the waterpark.

I wouldn't give up the cruise day either. Only you know if mini golf and simulator is really that important to your overall cruise experience.

Good point about the possibility of Freedom also getting the water park. A lot could happen in a year.

If it were much closer to cruise time and we already had flights, hotels, etc then the golf thing wouldn't really matter much at all, definitely not enough to switch. Just because we had time I thought it would be worth exploring other options. What the heck else am I going to do for another year!

A few month ago I booked DW and I a balcony on Liberty for next December. We got it for a good price and we have been on it before so we know what to expect.

We are not excited about the changes that will be happening to Liberty in dry dock, and are least excited about losing the mini-golf and golf simulator. They are both something that we would use multiple times during the cruise and won't use the waterslides at all.

I know this is a minor thing and we are the type of people that enjoy the whole experience so we'll have a great cruise no matter what.

But, since we have plenty of time I thought I would explore other ship options. In doing so, I have come to an impasse on what to choose.

So I thought I would see what other thought and see if any of that pushes me towards one of the options. Feel free to weigh in if you would like, just thought it would be a fun Friday topic.

Options are:

Oasis

Cons- It is about $500 more in total-and that is most, if not all, of what our flights would cost- so this is significant.

Longer flight (East Coast vs Texas) (not sure of flight cost difference but likely not much)

Pros- Love, love the ship

Itinerary is much better for us

Freedom

Cons- Only 6 nights instead of 7 for about same price as Liberty cruise

Would give up Falmouth for Costa Maya

Pros- Have been on Freedom and love this ship as well (was what we thought Liberty would be when we originally booked this cruise)

Extra night we are losing can be spent in Ft. Lauderdale, which we enjoy

Keep current Liberty Cruise

Pros- Cost per night price is the best of the three

Better ports for us than Freedom itinerary

Half the distance to fly in/out of from Northern CA.

Cons- Dry dock upgrades not exciting- might affect overall enjoyment slightly

Anyway, thanks for weighing in!

All fans except LA Dodger fans are welcome as far as I am concerned :p

We are sports fans so when I go someplace new I try to arrange some sort of sports related venture.

In a short drive from FLL, there are the Miami Dolphins, Miami Hurricanes (College), Florida Panthers and Miami Heat. One of them might have a game during the time you are there.

We have also done a tour of the Miami Marlins ball park which was fun. We went to a horse racing track and a dog racing track the two times we were in the area, not sure if that is your thing or not but it is a cheap but fun alternative for you to consider.

There is also plenty of golf to be played in the general area and most places have loaner or rental clubs you can use.

Just my two cents on a few things that I have experienced while in the area.

Am I the only one sad about mini golf being removed? [emoji53]

No you are not. It's not the biggest of deals but I do enjoy being able to play with the wife to just relax a little in the evening. It was always something that made our cruse that much more special.

Losing a lot of the open space is not appealing to me either. We spend a lot of time out on deck.

I also enjoyed the golf simulator the last time we were on Liberty. I had planned on doing that again next trip as well.

None of the new changes are exciting to me and, in fact, I am even considering cancelling all together and picking a different ship. Luckily I have enough time until final payment to see how it all turns out and what everyone has to say about it. On the other hand, I did get a great deal so if can't book something else for around the same price, these changes won't affect me too much so I may just give it a look for myself.

You get your drink cup from the room? Now let's go fill it up and play some basketball, mini golf or surf :)

Again, thanks for all the encouragement! And sorry if I don't reply a lot, but I am posting my rear end off. I have over 400 pics (still going through to pick out the best for you all) and I have 9 pages of prewritten commentary ... and I am just getting started. :cool:

 

This review .... may take awhile. :p

I've got nothing but time. I don't get to cruise Liberty again for 500 days! Your review is bringing back a lot of memories though. Great job :D

I was wondering if Liberty had the freestyle Coke machines on board yet? I haven't kept up for quite some time but have booked another cruise on her so I wanted to check in on the latest. Last I heard, when Liberty was doing international cruises, they were not able to get the freestyle machine.

Thanks for all of the info.

You can buy the drink package for part of the cruise, but it has to be for at least 4 days, and it has to last until the end of the cruise. You are charged only for the days you buy.

Thank you for that information.

And this is the same for a 5 day cruise, a 4 day minimum? I know it's just one day less than the full cruise but that really makes a difference for me on this particular trip.