Ken076

I aready booked but is there a way to purchase travel insurance later? After I have paid in full?

If you're already booked and you're past the Final Payment date, RCI may or may not sell you their Policy (their Policy is worded to the effect that they "may" sell you a policy) - you'd have to contact your booking agent to see what they can/will do. .

You should be able to purchase most any of the so-called 3rd party policies up to the week/day of sailing, but you generally won't be able to get "waiver of pre-existing conditions" or be able to purchase optional, added premium "cancel for any reason" .

Most policies state that they do not cover pre-existing conditions; most 3rd party policies then go on to state that if you purchased the policy within 14-21 days (depending on which insurer) of booking, they will "waive" this "pre-existing condition" exclusion. The cruiseline policy does not include/offer this waiver and has a lookback window of 60 days for a pre-existing condition (from time of purchase of the Policy).

A pre-existing condition is a condition that newly occurred during the Policy's lookback window (which usually varies from 60 to 180 days prior to Policy purchase, depending on which Insurer). If an existing medical condition was under treatment with no change of treatment, no new Rx for the condition, no doctor/Hospital visits to treat the condition, then it is NOT a pre-existing condition and is covered; if a condition occurs for the first time during that lookback window, then it's a pre-existing condition and isn't covered. You can read this definition in any of the Policies. Having "waiver of pre-existing condition" included in your policy should also cutdown your claim processing/time as the insurer won't be spending time and requesting documents so as to try to exclude your claim as being due to a pre-existing condition.

The pre-esisting condition exclusion generally does not apply to MedEvac coverage.

Ken

The cruiseline insurance is pretty pricey compared to so-called 3rd party policies; it DOES include "cancel for Any Reason" albeit a 75% future cruise CREDIT - it DOES NOT include or offer a "waiver of pre-existing conditions" and the Medical coverage is IMO inadequate and the MedEvac coverage is IMO marginal. If you're USAA member you can choose several TravelInsured Policies that include some increased coverages, at a slightly reduced premium. CSA has IMO good policies.

Especially if you're younger, the 3rd party policies generally offer lower rates and higher coverages than the cruiseline policy.

kEN

ken

If you do a mock booking on Royals UK website it will list EVERY cabin available in a particular category and not just the 15 that he US website lists.

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.co.uk/

And why would I post it if it didn't work? Give it a try.

Wow! Never knew this! I just compared the UK site listing versus the US site listing for Allure 17 Jan 2016 "Q" Inside Cabin; UK site showed 40+ cabins, US site showed 15 cabins.

Interestingly the other referenced site only showed 22 "Q" cabins for the same cruise.

Thanks!!!!

Ken

Don't bother fill those CLIA forms out ahead of time to avoid having to fill them out at the counter. On a recent trip on the Liberty the agent said we must fill them out and sign them in their presence.

This was also our experience on Allure in Fort Lauderdale earlier this year.

ken

Our Compass Day 1 from February lists:

Royal connect Device Rentals

11:30AM to 3:00PM and 5:00PM to 7:00PM Card Room Deck 14

ken

I think there's a rule that each cabin in allowed to bring 2 bottles of wine on embarkation for their cabin (and you must drink it in your stateroom or pay a fee in the dining room). What about beer?

 

And then what if we want to bring back some guavaberry liqueur from St Maarten?

You're allowed to bring 2 750-ml bottles wine (or champagne) only, per cabin, in your carry-on. No hard liquor no beer. supposedly no sodas/waters to be brought on board, but other than Spring Break They are pretty lax about letting you bring sodas/waters.

Liquor you bring onboard in ports is supposed to be held for you and delivered to your cabin the final nite - but many bypass turning the liquor in and some repoert being able to bring (local) beer on board in ports.

ken

Hi everyone, quick question.

My parents are going on Freedom of the Seas on June 1st. They called Royal to see if they could get an upgrade since the prices had dropped for a balcony ($1800) cheaper than what they paid for an inside room ($1900). Royal stated that they would end up paying $106 since the prices on the site are for the going going gone sale not the actual price that they could get. Am I missing something?

 

Thanks a lot,

Sara

Is the sale specifically stated "for new bookings only"? ken

Hi Ken,

 

I have more, my medical problems kicked in so I have't been on here the past couple of days, but I try to write more tomorrow.

 

We are considering either Alaska next year but also Oasis as she goes into dry dock this sept/oct she be all cleaned up. :) I am not sure whether the cold weather be good for my medical conditions.

Alaska is very relaxed and very scenic. Consider a Anchorage to Vancouver itinerary (or reverse) with a few pre or post days in Vancouver - we did three days there at the Fairmont Waterfront and used the Hop-On-Hop-Off Trolley for transportation. We did August and the only COLD was in the Glacier Bay Day (and it was COLD). It's a LONG day flying from (Tampa in our case) Florida to Vancouver and to Anchorage!!!

Again, thanks for taking the time for the review!

Ken

lyndamr - Thanks for taking the time for a very detailed review - there was a lot of useful info! I found myself agreeing with many of your observtions!! We'll probably try allure again after it's next refurb. Ken

I guess you and some others posting are really not understanding my point of frustration. It is not the conflict between smokers and non smokers. It is that I booked this cruise line after verifying With TA and RCCL that their policy allowed smoking on balconies. Now with that said... If you and other non smokers had booked this line because they did not allow smoking on balconies and then in turn did not get notification that they were now allowing smoking - I believe you would be equally frustrated!! Because you would have paid for a trip with the intention of not having smokers on balconies near you... Have really gotten a lot of good information and tips from these boards; however I am finding some cc posters to be unnecessarily harsh , I think we are all on these boards to get and share information to make our trips fun

This topic does heat-up as the thread continues!

As mentioned above, this is probably the direction most cruiselines are headed. It may end-up that the European lines, like MSC will be the hold-outs and eventually maybe your only choice.

When did you book this cruise?

ken

I always read through the terms and conditions of my policies and I advise others to do the same. I understand that some policies do not cover things like mysterious disappearance but as she said a security report was filed, it could be considered theft.

WRT the Cruiseline Policy - as I interpret, only theft of baggage is covered - not personal items. You'd have to rely on Homeowner's Policy and maybe Credit Card coverage as someone mentioned above. ken

....I guess you didn't have any trip insurance? Also, some cards like Chase Freedom cover your purchase if it is lost due to theft. I ask about insurance, not to make you feel worse, but because sometimes you really don't think of it. My son had some property damage and I was all set to eat the cost, then I remembered I had insurance for him. It literally took me days to remember this. duh.

 

I thought they had cameras in the hallways as well.

 

Sad.

Another one for the don't assume or become complacent list -- a number of Trip Insurance Policies (specifically the Royal Caribbean Policy) cover only loss, theft damage to baggage and have specific statement that they do not cover "mysterious disappearance"! ken

If you book through a TA, should the taxes fees and port expenses be any different to the amounts quoted on the RCCL website?

The item "Gov't Fees and Taxes" itself is the same for TA and Royal. However, TA's also separately break out "Port Fees (aka NonCommisionableFares)" and sometimes lump these with the Govt Fees and Taxes. ken

I think I got it lol lol

Yes!!!!!!

Pre-Cruise you were concerned about where/how to make Specialty Restaurant reservations when you boarded; did you find any wandering reservation takers, or a kiosk? It was my impression that you could go to any of the Specialty Restaurants (at least in Central Park) and they could make reservations for any of the Restaurants?

That seemed to be the smallest ship bathroom (and sink area) ever, but the closing glass shower door is NICE!!

(At least in our Cabin) there's also another wall outlet literally hidden behind the mattress, such that you have to pick-up the mattress to see/access the outlet.

We weren't taken with Chops and in retrospect would have chosen Giovanni's.

We voted Allure our best cruise ever!

ken

The day after we returned from Allure Eastern. ken

lyndamr -- Regarding your photos - In PhotoBucket, alongside the photo you want to post, of the four possible choices, did you click on the fourth choice "IMG" for the link? As someone suggested abvove, it does look like you're displaying the thumbnails for your photos?? this should generate an ~ 800x500 pixel image.

If you're interested, at the end of your review you could display a link to a PhotoBucket slideshow of your photos (you might want to put only the desired photos in a separate PhotoBucket album and generate the link to that album)?? I don't think anyone has done this yet.

ken

I have photos under my pictures area how do I download them?

Check my summary instructions (using PhotoBucket.com) in your other "How do I post Photos" thread.

ken

Set-up an account with PhotoBucket at http://www.photobucket.com.

Upload your Photos to Photo Bucket, using the orange-colored "Upload" button in top center of the page, and the PhotoBucket displayed "Browse" function to browse your photo files and select images to be uploaded .

When you go go view your photos on photobucket, double-click on the photo you want to upload and when displayed there will be "Links" to the photo displayed to the right - use the" img " link; paste same into the location on your post that you want the photo to appear. That is how below pjhoto at St John's - Cinnamon Bay was posted!

Post if you want more detailed instructions?

Looking fwd to your photos!!!!!!!

ken

Generally one name from the original booking has to stay with the booking. You'd want to confirm this with Royal Caribbean. ken

SRV Fan - Worst case (and not the solution you're looking for), you might call and have them e-mail you a so-called Guest confirmation, which should show OBC and payments? ken

I'm debating between booking directly with RCCL and with TA.

My TA offers OBC, but they charge revision fee of 25.00, so whenever there's a price drop and I want an adjustment, I have to pay the fee.

All in all, OBC could be higher than the fee(s) as there's no guarantee of price drops, but as I'm booking pretty far out I'd like to see my chances.

Does RCCL charge a fee if there's a price adjustment? Thanks.

RCCL does NOT charge a fee for a fare drop; some TA's do and some TA's don't.

If booking with a TA you need to determine if the TA charges a cancellation fee, if the TA charges a fee for price drops, and if you're getting OBC/percs, does the TA reduce/eliminate these if you get a price drop.

ken

As mentioned you have 60 days to make the transfer. Also, check with the TA to see if they take back some/all of the percs if your fare drops and you ask them for a corresponding price reduction. ken

With the May sale, I booked 2 cruises online (one for '15 and '16). I typically go through a TA, but thought I would try direct this time.

 

I wasn't asked to book any trip insurance and I thought you had to purchase within a few days of booking to cover pre-existing conditions. How is trip insurance handled when booking directly with RCI?

 

Thanks.

The cruiseline policy does not offer or include "waiver of pre-existing conditions" which IMO is (for several reasons) a large negative.

To get "waiver of pre-existing conditions" you need to purchase so-called 3rd party policies offered by major insurers like CSA, TravfelEx, TravelInsured....either direct from the insurer/site or via broker sites like insuremytrip.com. You have to purchase w/in 14-21 days of booking with cruiseline or TA in order to get the waiver, or to purchase optional "cancel for any reason".

ken

I think it depends on the TA, some honor it and some do not. I would ask when you book.

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Use the Water Taxi to do a little sightseeing then have dinner at one of the water taxi stops (including Bimini BoatYard or 15th Street fisheries at 17th street).

Check the Water Taxi websites for participant restaurants that give a discount with your Water Taxi ticket!

ken