3kidsncats

For years we’ve been hitting Cabo Wabo but don’t find the drinks to be as enjoyable as they used to, although the shrimp tacos are really good and reasonably priced.  On our last trip we went over to the beach area south of the marina and tried a place called Corazon Beach Club.  More expensive but the cocktails were outstanding 

4 hours ago, not-enough-cruising said:

I agree with you, people have the right to use your personal account as you see fit, however:

 

1. when you give company news on your personal account, it becomes a de facto business account.

 

2. You’re right to say what you want on your personal account is in alienable, however, your employer can dismiss you for it; happens often

My point is less about employers — although that can be a significant component of consideration when choosing what to post, or not.  As you say, people have been fired over their social media comments regardless of whether said personal accounts contain anything relevant to the employer.

My point is more for the people that state things like “don’t post abc about your personal life because I’m just here for xyz business info” while engaging on someone’s personal account.  THAT is what irritates the you know what out of me.  We have had people who combine their business and personal lives in one account (a dentist comes to mind as someone we had a big issue with) who feel free to post quite aggressive political viewpoints on their page(ie, threatening harm to people of opposing views) then come onto my husband’s page and tell him he needs to stop any political or non-music posts, oh and keep your wife in line.  The one particular person I’m referencing was pretty egregious (even threatened us with his “mob” connections 🙄) but you get the idea.  Whatever the business someone is interested in following someone for, if it’s a personal account then you have to accept the personal along with the info you’re looking for — or don’t follow that person. 

3 hours ago, not-enough-cruising said:

Clearly you can not - as is evidenced by his current employment status. 
He was disciplined more than once before he was cut loose. 

Yes, you can.  You may not stay employed, but it is still your prerogative 

3 hours ago, not-enough-cruising said:

It doesn’t matter. You can’t espouse your personal political views on the same

social media platform that you give official company information. JVF’s downfall was his own doing, and this was t the first time. 

If it was his personal account, then yes, he can talk about his family life and personal views.  This is a huge pet peeve of mine. My husband is a performer, and he has personal accounts, and official work accounts.  People follow both, then literally tell him on his personal pages that they aren’t there to hear about his opinions, life, etc. — and that he needs to stick to his work content only.  Sorry doesn’t work that way.  They follow his personal accounts because it makes them feel connected (he has work history with some big national bands) but then complain because it’s a personal account.  Fortunately for him, he owns his company, so he has full autonomy on what he can and can not say- if Royal (or any other corporation) reasonably wants control over the content, then as was suggested by another cc’er, the company needs to create an official social media account strictly for that purpose — this issue is completely on them for not doing that in the first place.  Just because someone is in the public eye does not mean they don’t have the same right as everyone else to use their personal accounts as they see fit. 

6 hours ago, Biker19 said:

That poster is conflating two things. There’s no paying anything extra to bring more than the allowance on board - if observed, they (the extra bottles) will be detained at either the security checkpoint on the port or by the staff on board scanning checked luggage.
 

The corkage fee, which you would likely never pay, is if you brought a bottle you already have to a public venue for consumption. 

No, I wasn’t conflating.   I was mixing up cruise lines though — sorry OP and others for incorrect info.  Princess lets you pay corkage on the extra bottles (or they did, don’t know current policy).  Royal let’s you bring an extra bottle if you are doing B2B but holds the extra one until day 1 of the second cruise.  

5 minutes ago, cruiseat50 said:

So, do you get to bring on 2 bottles and not pay a corkage fee?  If you bring more what would be that cost?  I'm not a wine drinker but others who may go with us are and I have never sailed on Royal yet.  So are you able to bring soda or water as well?  On NCL for many years we were able to brink Cokes on but that has been taken away.

You can bring two 750ml bottles of wine per cabin, and only pay corkage on additional bottles beyond the two.  I think the corkage is $15 per bottle, but not sure as I haven’t checked the faq on the RC website lately. You can bring 12 sealed non alcoholic beverages up too … 17 ozs, again, double check the volume in the faq.  And yes, I used to sail NCL as my go to cruise line and we would bring water bottles and check them.  That was a change we weren’t happy with, and while it didn’t cause us to switch lines, it was part of the overall dissatisfaction.

You can bring more than two bottles, you’ll just have to pay the corkage for the extras

6 hours ago, Pandamonia said:

lol is this a joke?

 

yes everyone wanted sunbeds that’s why there were almost daily fights over them. 

why do I care about royals staffing problems? That’s their problem. I’m not surprised they can’t get staff when they basically steal their tips and redistribute them as royal sees fit. They reduced the room changes to make more money. That’s the reason. 
 

why should I pay for and eat a steak they cannot cook correctly?

Some of you people are hilarious. Weird corporate sycophants. 

 

No, not a joke.  Your viewpoint is valid for you, but not at all for me.  Maybe it’s a Brit thing, that everyone wanted a lounger in the sun.  I’m Californian, so it’s not an imperative for me, and having worked in dermatology/cosmetic surgery for a few years, I am well aware of the consequences of laying in the sun.  
 

I never suggested you care about Royals staffing problems — I pointed out that Royal is far from the only company to have them.  Maybe try reading more carefully.

I had no opinion on your steak issues, other than dissatisfaction with meals is not Anthem specific.  In fact, pretty much every point I made was that the issue I have with your review is the focus on this is an Anthem problem when all your complaints are pretty common across many cruise lines.  But apparently you are too busy being offended that someone dared to disagree with you to actually respond to what was actually written

5 hours ago, Pandamonia said:

 

Expectations not reasonable enough ROFL.

 

You mean steaks cooked as asked that they we paid extra for? 

Sun Loungers to be put where people actually wanted to use them?

To actually have chairs at the tables near the pool bars?

staff tax increased but room attendant reduced to once per day without notice?

8 year old shows never refreshed

 

Yeh seems unreasonable that. 

Yes, your diatribe seemed unreasonable to me.  
 

Yes, I think loungers should be put where people actually want to use them —both in the sun and in the shade— not sure why you think because you want to be in the sun means everyone else does too. There were plenty of chairs in all the bars when I was onboard, but obviously not enough for you. There are staffing shortages across all kinds of businesses, and yet you are vehemently complaining about once a day cabin service and implying it is an issue specific to this ship..  That seems kind of ridiculous to me.  
 

Eight year old shows not being refreshed, food not the way you want it— pretty sure these are also not ship or even cruise line specific.  Your “worst ship in the fleet being dumped on Europe” angle just doesn’t work, imo. 

46 minutes ago, cruisegirl1 said:

Why does it matter how someone wants to use their daily vouchers. 
 

m

What Ocean Boy said.  Especially when the coffee is generally considered to be one of the perks of the DL.  Plus $14 is about double the cost of a coffee, so I wouldn’t waste a voucher on the coffee, I would just buy it if necessary.  

On 6/18/2023 at 3:44 PM, nferr said:

 

For me, no way I'm using a $14 drink voucher for coffee.  A nice martini or Manhattan every time!

Agree!

On 6/17/2023 at 7:26 AM, twangster said:

Boarded Navigator and dropped by the SL to say hello to the conceirge.  A maintenance person was there working on the coffee machine.  

 

This morning it worked fine.  Not sure what he did, but the SL and the DL machine are working fine.   In the DL now as it serves other DL guests as I am typing this.  

We were on Navigator in February, and it wasn’t working the entire time in the DL, although the cruise after us the DL was being used exclusively for the actors onboard for the Star Trek cruise, so on the last morning of our cruise they had someone in there working on it so it would be ready for them.  

It’s the main perk for me, of the DL, so I was not super thrilled about it.  I do wonder if there is a supply chain issue on parts for these machines, because the club lounge in two different Hyatts had the exact same issue.  

Sorry to hear OP didn’t enjoy their cruise.  I have to admit that I couldn’t read the entire post because it just came across to me as if maybe expectations were not reasonable enough for me to bother reading more.  But I do respect that we all have different ideas of what we like and don’t like.

We had a great experience on Anthem out of NJ in early 2022 — excellent service, food, and enjoyed the ship. I really don’t think any cruise line is sending ships to the European ports as a form of dumping ground for their least favorite vessels.  There is actually kind of a routine to how ships are deployed, which in this case is moving some ships from warmer areas like the Caribbean, to Europe in the summer, just like they move some from Mexico up to Alaska.

I absolutely disagree that having sun loungers in the shade is useless.  Some people do like to sit/lounge outside in the pool area environment, but can’t or don’t want to be in the sun.  Chair hogging by the pool is pretty universal across ships and cruise lines.  It’s obnoxious, but reality.  

Yes, often the same band is on all week because it’s quite expensive to fly new bands in and out of ports all week long, and a part of the draw for a band to book a shipboard gig is getting to be onboard.  

That’s about as far as I read 

5 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

But the user5 did not see anything. Their story is all hearsay. And their is a ton of [inaccurate] assertions based on no fact.

 

For example, "the NCL staff was concerned enough about the gangway that they were only letting a small number of people go down the gangway at a time" asserts that NCL used a known dangerous gangway. A more plausible assertion could be "because the gangway was steep, they were only letting a small number of people go down the gangway at a time". This is what mainstream media does by taking bits of piece of information out of context and seam it together into an report to fit their purposes (a.k.a. fake news). 

Definitely second hand for me, since I wasn’t there, but our friends were, and they used the gangway twice. They felt some degree of concern both due to the morning restriction of how many were allowed on the gangway (as very frequent cruisers, they are well aware two at a time on a gangway is NOT the norm, so it’s reasonable to extrapolate that there was some kind of concern about the safety of the gangway).  They also described the experience of using it as being similar to a rope bridge— that it moved and they felt uncomfortable using it.  I think it is clear that the gangway was not safe enough for the way it was set up, and the passenger load it was used for — and the fact that  NCL crew severely limited the number of passengers early in the day is a very strong indicator that they suspected it was not safe.  

17 minutes ago, GeezerCouple said:

17 minutes ago, GeezerCouple said:

 

Whoa!

So they even recognized there was, or at the least might be, a hazard...!?

And then they ignored it?

 

What was wrong with the lower ramps, showing off to the side of the collapsed one?

We've used low ramps like that sometimes, especially returning to get back "on" the ship.

It is often labeled for "crew", but can be used by anyone who needs an easier entry, or for those with scooters/wheelchairs/etc.

 

Why didn't they use one of those!? 😠

 

GC

I guess if you want to know why this particular gangway was used vs any other options, you would need to direct that question to NCL. 

Our friends are on board — sure @mianmikewill post at some point.  He and his wife boarded via that gangway about 30 minutes before it collapsed.  Details they relayed briefly to us are: the dock is new, and not completely finished.  Main gangway was not ready, so this one was used instead.  In the morning, they restricted it to two passengers at a time to get off the ship, and it took hours for people to get off for their excursions, and outings.  In the afternoon, for re-boarding the ship, they didn’t restrict the number of passengers on the gangway at the same time — and you see the result.  They were aware of/saw many ambulances taking passengers away, luggage being offloaded, etc.  

On 10/21/2022 at 1:48 PM, OSUZorba said:

Really seems like this should just be handled with a credit card reader at the face scanners nowadays. IIRC my last cruise there wasn't even an opportunity to declare anything.

Same — last few cruises zero opportunity to declare anything — and I didn’t see anything in the ship departure notice, but admittedly didn’t  read every word.  When we flew in from Paris, the customs officer asked verbally, but they don’t ask in the cruise customs process.  Hopefully they come up with a better system for this, as no one should be put thru the kind of stress OP described for a simple tax collection on a purchase.

On 10/7/2022 at 10:59 AM, carlosalonsor said:

For me it's a strange situation. 

 

I booked directly with RC and I keep getting the 30 days error message, however there are other fellow cruisers in the same sailing who have been able to bid.   

Type your name in all caps, sometimes that seems to help

We never buy thru the cruise line.  Last year we bought an annual plan since we did a LOT of travel, this year we are doing only a small amount of travel, so booking trip by trip.  Keep in mind, if an annual plan is under consideration, depending on your policy/company you can designate the start date of coverage.  

59 minutes ago, Another_Critic said:

 

I think the point is if he put trip start date as cruise date, the insurance has an opt out.  I don't recall if OP answered what start date he put when enrolling for the trip insurance.

 

Of course reviewing the fine print is always a good idea ... before buying it.  🙂

I agree — I usually put the start date of our trip as the day we are leaving home, not necessarily the start of the cruise or flight - sometimes we drive to the port and stay at a hotel overnight, so I put that date and include the hotel cost in the total cost of the trip when purchasing the policy.  I did not see that OP specified one way or the other.  And I also agree reading the fine print is critical beforehand.  Many don’t seem to realize for instance, that if they had alcohol prior to injuring themselves, their coverage for that incident is potentially null and void.  But if they had read the fine print, they would know.  It seems OP is fairly well versed on this topic, but having worked in a field that dealt with medical coverage (not travel, just regular medical), I have first hand knowledge that insurances companies do deny coverage they are legally required to approve, and sometimes you have to dig a bit deeper into the fine print to determine if you have grounds to fight it.  

23 minutes ago, mjkacmom said:

I would think it would depend on the travel dates covered, did the insurance start on Disney day?

Which is why i suggested he review the fine print. 

4 hours ago, rimmit said:

Unfortunately, I called travel insurance and said since we didn’t take a flight, the trip starts at the cruise.  Also calling my CC company, they also state this is considered a trip cancellation and not interruption as we never got on the boat. The CC said I can still file the trip cancellation claim if RCI doesn’t get me an FCC.

I am guessing that travel insurance is much the same as say, medical insurance, in that they  routinely deny coverage for things that they are supposed to cover, knowing that a solid percentage of people will accept it and drop it and they then increase their profits.  I also have a feeling that given your insurance nightmare of the past 6 or so months, you may not be particularly motivated to bother with fighting it.  But I would at least review the fine print of your policy — because no reasonable person would think that driving from KY to FL is not starting your trip.  I’ve never heard that you have to get on a flight for travel to initiate.  Best to you, in whatever you decide to do.

We had the same experience — they brought out one of each thing for everyone at the table, except the entree.  One or two things that we especially liked (the potted shrimp) they brought a second round.  

1 hour ago, mjkacmom said:

So folks should be able to cancel a cruise last minute by saying they don’t feel well? Considering the amount of people who faked getting vaccinated, I don’t trust people to be honest. It’s not like it’s easy to fill cruise cabins last minute like hotel rooms, there is a reason different types of vacations have different policies. Many people choose to decline the insurance that is always offered.

I’m sorry, where did I say that?  And your trust issues are yours, and not necessarily shared by others.  A policy could include a medical evaluation requirement to qualify for any FCC within X days of sailing — and it could be a reduced (ie, not 100%) FCC.  Policies that show that the health of all passengers and staff matter to the corporation is appealing to me, as a consumer.  I do travel fully insured, but I still care about how it consumers and staff are treated, regardless of whether I’m the consumer involved.  You seem intent on asserting that I think anyone should be able to get a last minute 100% refund, when I have never said that.  I am much more concerned about policies that encourage sick people to board anyway.  This puts everyone on board at added risk.  If you don’t care, that is great for you.  I do care, but you continually trying to misrepresent my opinion is not getting either of us anywhere.  I guess If you still feel the need to do that, have at it, but I won’t be wasting anymore of my time responding to you.

I’ve never brought them, although sometimes use them.  They should meet the criteria of being allowed since they are factory sealed, non alcoholic and less than 12 ozs ( I think that is the cut off volume).  There is a limit to how many you can bring, which I can’t recall, but its at least 6.