onthewater51

51 minutes ago, swmichigan cruiser said:

Not for us. We like to book the Boardwalk balcony's to watch the water shows and now they added the two large purple tubes that block the view out the aft of the ship and replaced the small bar there with the landing area. I might be wrong but I believe when we started there was a no charge Mexican restaurant now it is a charge sports bar with food. The Mexican now is a buffet on deck 15  which is only open about 5 hours a day and no where as good. Also when we were on the Oasis the first times they had a nice two deck lounge for Diamond plus looking out the aft looking down on the Boardwalk. Now that is gone replaced by I believe the Music Hall and the Diamond Lounge is down on deck 4 with only about 50 seats and no windows. Just my opinion of course.

Agree, the Diamond Lounge is in a poor location.  It's like being in a basement with no windows.  But if I recall correctly that is also where it was on Harmony, I could be wrong.  I liked the Mex Food place on Deck 15 but like you said, the short open hours are inadequate.

While I'm in a complaint mood :),   what is the point of the library on the Central Park?  Its basically empty shelves, and the shelves are not really designed for books.  I wondered if it's just a temp library intended for something else.

We were also on that cruise. First off, we’ll never cruise from Miami again. That terminal is complete chaos for cars entering and exiting. It took us an hour to get a ride from the terminal and the Uber car was only 1-mile alway

Pretty much agree with much of your sentiments. It was  a much younger crowd than  we expected given the holidays just ended and schools were back in session.  The trip just felt flat, dull.  The house band that played on the Promenade (not the orchestra) was not very good at all.  I will say the Aqua show was outstanding.  The comedians we ok. Marcus Monroe, the juggler/comedian, was an absolute blast. We really enjoyed him. 

We enjoyed Harmony last year so we gave Oasis a try. We’re going to stick with smaller ships, and we love the Radiance class 

I honestly can’t put a finger on why this trip wasn’t that enjoyable. It wasn’t bad, but very forgettable 

Wife and I came off Oasis on 1/15 from a 10 day cruise.  We both got sick the day before it ended with coughing and sneezing.   As soon as we disembarked we both took a test.  She tested positive for Covid and I negative. Go figure   Neither of us wore masks.  

Very  few on board wore masks   This was  our 3rd cruise since cruising re-started and we had no issues on the other two, and very few wore masks on them. It got me thinking about demographics. We’re in our mid-late 60’s.  

This cruise was primarily younger. I’d say 30-40 years.  Seemed everyone was coughing or sneezing. The other two trips were a much older crowd and on smaller ships. I wondered if that had something to due with it.  

We just got off HOS last week. Menus and sea pass purchases didn’t show up until the day we boarded

have a great trip

bob

11 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

You may see me on ship wearing my UWC tee shirt. If you do say hi.

 

I will.  I dont  know what I’ll be wearing until my wife tells me what to wear 🙂

I concur with the OP.   We got here at 1030 and ended up on the top deck of the garage.  Everything under cover was full. Kind of surprised us 

Boarding went fast and smooth for us.  Windjammer has t felt overcrowded.  No issues finding  table.   We’re still exploring.   Wife and I are partial to small ships, first time on Oasis class   So far I prefer Radiance, but we’re here with our son and his wife. They love it.  
 

Most people wore masks the first hour, after that they disappeared.  Too hot with them on

The new safety drill for muster is a piece of cake. I like it this way 

4 minutes ago, NC State said:

If your April 3rd cruise is on the Jewel I do know it's a charter cruise....you may want to check on that. That's why we moved ours to April 9th.

No, we are on Harmony leaving this Sunday

Oh, I can top that

Our upcoming April 3, 2022 cruise was "cancelled" in the same fashion.  It took a week of phone calls to fix it.  This happened twice.

We booked this cruise in July 2021 with a FCC, and paid it in full at that time.  

Two weeks ago we booked an excursion over the phone with an RCL rep  & paid it via credit card as required.  The next day I got an email like you, stating we owed the FCC of $953, and if not paid immediately the cruise would be canceled.  Somehow booking the excursion deleted our FCC.  I spent one full day on the phone with them, plus two more half days.  I was told so many diff stories it was shameful.  One supervisor actually said, if they didn't fix it they'd give us another FCC. I finally got someone to correct it but took all week.  

Yesterday my wife booked the hair salon and this morning I see another email "cancelling" the trip if we didn't pay $53.  Again, we already paid that via credit card when reserving it. I called early this morning and fortunately that was easily fixed.

Like many here have said, their IT is horrible.  I have seen posts here they tell people ignore these emails as they are just IT issues.  I would strongly advise against that and follow up with phone calls.  The reason being, we were told by a supervisor if the system shows an unpaid balance your reservation will not be sent to the ship, and you may be  refused boarding. 

We've been cruising with RCL for 30 years and never experience these issues, so maybe its a staffing issue.  Who knows, but I personally would not ignore that email

We’re cruising Harmony on April 3. I ordered our tests about two weeks ago. They came in. 5 days and don’t expire until Dec 2022.

Their site does say shipping can be delayed due to shortages.  Im in agreement with SAMJR… better to have the tests than risk not getting them on time 

Thank you.  Finally found it.  Rather hidden I’d say… typical RCC website/app quality.  Def not an intuitive interface 

Ok, thanks...was hoping that that was the case

Regarding the vaccination card...

Earlier this morning I checked-in for our April 4 Harmony cruise.  I did it on a laptop with no issues.

I have the app, it shows our cruise, the Set Sail passes, and that are fully checked in.

However, I don't see link to upload the Vax card as the check-in instructed.

Any help?  Thank you

Regarding the vaccination card upload...

I did our check-in early this morning for an April 4 cruise on Harmony.  I did in on my laptop with no issues, but it said I need to upload the Vax card via the app.

I have the app, it shows us checked in correctly and our boarding passes are showing.  But I don't see a link to do that....can anyone help??

Thank you

I interpret it to mean you still must sail by April 2022, which isn’t new.   They have allowed you to book thru April 2022,  which is an extension of 4 months

Im any case, it’s another example of poor communication from RCCL.   We all read it differently and we aren’t all dumb 🙂

Help me understand, I just got their email and don’t see what’s different from what we’re were told back in May

In May we were told we must book by December of 2021 and sail by April 2022

This from today’s email:

”Not to worry though! We want to make sure your credits don’t go unused, so we’ve extended your Future Cruise Credit expiration date to April 30^th, 2022. Now, you’ll have until April 30^th, 2022 to apply your certificate to a Royal Caribbean International cruise that sets sail on or before the same date.”

What is different?

Bob

17 hours ago, yogimax said:

Not until there's an effective and safe vaccine!

That’s the way we feel.   As of now nothing has changed, so crusing under current conditions is not for us.  There are many other ways to enjoy our retirement 

24 minutes ago, yogimax said:

Thank you.  What's also frustrating is that there is no way to access your account online showing your credits.  I don't understand how such a large corporation wouldn't have that ability.

I completely agrre with you.  A FCC should show on an account.  No reason it does not.

On 8/13/2020 at 10:47 PM, yogimax said:

Hmm, I have never received an email confirming FCC.

 

Any others with this experience?

We cancelled an April cruise in late March while COVID was just starting.  While we did eventually receive tax and port fees, we never received an email confirming the FCC.   I called RCL twice and was told they sent it and could  not send another.   I was also told that our reservation numbers will serve as our FCC  We shall see we have not yet re-booked.   

30 years cruising with them and RCL was the worst of the 5 cruises we cancelled.  The best  was HAL 
 

Our Alaska cruise for  May 2020 was cancelled via Holland.  On 4/15 we requested a full refund and told it was about 45 days for the cruise portion, but excursions, fees, etc would be in a few days.  As promised we received the excursions, etc, in 4 days.   This morning we received the cruise portion refund.  That was apprx 50 days, including weekends.   I'm happy with their response.  Its certainly better than our current experience with RCL.

Ok good to hear.  Thank you 

FY....we never received our FCC email.  Coincidentally I called them yesterday to find the status having cancelled the cruise back on March 14

The RCL rep said our certificate was issued one week after we canceled and he told me the amounts we were expecting.   He didn’t know why I never received an email.   We asked for a confirmation email, which he could not do.  He said the notes under our reservation reflect the FCC and all we need to do when we re-book is give them our old reservation number 

we took down his name and made detailed notes of the conversation, but all in all, typical disorganized method as it has been with the entire cancellation process 

10 minutes ago, CentralNY1 said:

Question to those that have received refunds...did you get the entire refund all at once or was it broken into pieces and credited to you on different days?  The reason I ask is that this morning i received the refund of taxes, fees and gratuities (in three separate credits) but did not receive the refund of the cruise fare itself.  Just wondering if i should expect it in the next few days or if i should start to make phones calls.  The cruise was booked/cancelled through a big box TA but I don't think that should make a difference.

We are only getting a FCC for our trip, but the taxes and port fees were received as one total credit per reservation number.  We had two reservations booked, then canclled,  at the same time. Both credits came last night.  Hope that helps

14 hours ago, gdwest said:

Onthewater 51:

 

Could you please  update as to whether your credit card company tracked down your "disbursed" refund

with the transaction number. I called this afternoon..the rep. said they didn't have a reference number.

 

Our funds were also disbursed on the 19th....checked with Bank of America, they have not received 

any credits.  Some posters that cancelled after we did, have received their refunds.

Our refunds were received last night, Friday 4/24.    That was 40 CALENDER days from the date we cancelled.  I haven't heard front our credit card comp but obvousily no longer need their help.

Good to luck, I think eventually you'll get it.  I am still waitng on the FCC, which I was told I would receive by 4/30

9 minutes ago, gdwest said:

Onthewater 51:

 

Could you please  update as to whether your credit card company tracked down your "disbursed" refund

with the transaction number. I called this afternoon..the rep. said they didn't have a reference number.

 

Our funds were also disbursed on the 19th....checked with Bank of America, they have not received 

any credits.  Some posters that cancelled after we did, have received their refunds.

I just emailed the ref number this afternoon.  I don’t expect to hear back for a few days.  I’ve been in contact with Chase for this matter via email, not phone.   
 

but I’ll will come back and post when I hear something.  Maybe by then you will have had better luck.  Crazy isn’t it 

13 minutes ago, rolloman said:

Glad some have received a refund. As for me, I am still waiting for my cruise sail date March 14 full refund. RCCL says they refunded on the 19th of April.... As of today April 24th, Credit Card company says nothing received from them. 

Exactly same situation and dates as you 

I just got off the phone with them and got yet another story.   This rep said one of our reservations was “Disbursed” on 4/19. The other reservation hasn’t been completed   He did provide me with a transaction number for my credit card company to use for their research.

He apologized for the dates I was previously given and explained it is is a 3-step process 

1.  Customer requests cancellation which is then sent to accounting

2 it goes to accounting which takes the most time 

3. Funds are “Disbursed” to original form of payment 

Like you, it’s been 5 business days since it was disbursed.   So now I’m back to calling my credit card again 

Unbelievable nonsense