buddylover

15 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

I've stayed in a couple for around $100/nite.  In all frankness, it's been about a year since I stayed in Miami, so prices could (and do) change depending on time of year.  But, I try to stay around the Whole Foods Market around "Bricknell" (sp?).  

 

I can get really good meals at the Whole Foods (and a nice cold beer) without spending $$$ eating out at the restaurants at some of those trendier places.  Plus, I can walk to Whole Foods, negating the need for Uber/Lyft/Taxi.

I think it is probably longer ago than 1 year.....look again....especially Bricknell near the port.....hardly anything under DOUBLE that....Please state hotel name and date of stay.....those days are over and I am a good shopper for 'value'.

55 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

So, sounds like the real thorn in your side is the flight to and from Miami and the hotel stays?

 

Not sure where you’re flying from.  But, this far out, you should be able to get some pretty decent fares flying in and out of MIA.  Not sure the hotels you’re staying at, either.  I know I can stay pre-cruise in MIA for around $100/nite.  No, not the 4 Seasons, but decent enough hotel to spend the night before the cruise.

 

Give us a little more info and we might be able to help.

We cruise in and out of FLL and MIA multiple times a year and haven't seen $100/nite in MIA for a Long Long time.  What time of year and what hotels do you stay in pre-cruise for $100/nite in MIA?  Just curious as I have 2 more booked cruises for FLA and can't find a hotel for under close to double that??

8 minutes ago, nissach said:

So I spoke to Carnival today and it seems that the change can be made with no penalty.  😍

Not an early saver penalty......but if you had any perks they could change to the perks "of the day" upon your booking change.....be aware!!

23 hours ago, Cruzaholic41 said:

 

Nope. You are spot on.  I like cruising new ships, so I just returned from Bliss. As I said earlier, the entertainment blows Carnival away. But the food - it’s terrible. Worst in the business. 

I agree completely with your assessment.  Not only is NCL's food the worst in the few 'free' venues, but it is awful in their upcharge  restaurants which are plentiful.  NCL most certainly 'nickels and dimes' the pax far more than CCL.....it's why they call themselves "Freestyle".....meaning you can pick many different food venues, but at an extra fee/cost.....not our favorite cruise line.

We have rented a car from MCO from Budget/Avis as well and dropped off at the Atlantic Ave location (the Atlantic loc is considered cruise port shuttle), then took the Budget shuttle to the port/ship......easy peasy and then we had a car to go to any hotel or anywhere we wanted to eat, shop etc.

We have been on both ships and classes and I would choose the Magic hands down.  The Horizon is a Vista Class ship and they are our very least favorite.....will NOT go on another.  The Vista Class crammed more cabins (thus MORE pax and MORE crowded), very poor layout with the Comedy lounge off a packed crowded hallway, the theater is an abomination multi-purpose room with flat main floor, pole obstructions,  unattached seats that move all over - just awful and difficult to see the stage from just about anywhere.  The Magic is a great ship with far better flow and much less crowded feeling, windows to see the ocean from promenade etc.....just our thoughts!!

Yes, please......post your answer and the link.....I am looking for the link as well in this new redesigned CC format!!

Falaimalandro,  WOW!! Kudos to you for asking!  1st sea day mid morning typically works out if it does not conflict with other Top Tier events.  Ice breaker games are always great to get the group going.  The best M&M's we've been too were those that encouraged 'mingling'.  Going around the room and asking everyone for CC name, real name and where you are from is always fun and helpful.  Having officers of the ship (as other lines do) come to the M&M and introducing them selves and telling a little bit about their 'history' with the cruise lines is always fun and interesting.  Offering drinks and some finger foods also helps to 'loosen' the crowd.  The raffle gifts are a  great idea, but some have been better than others (I now have 4 RCI memo pads/pens......not a totally useful gift) - although anything as a freebie is nice to receive.  BUT, the most important piece is making sure that the pax know WHEN and WHERE.....RCI has not been good on all ships in communicating this and attendance has been quite low on some ships!  THANKS for caring and for asking....says a lot about YOU!!

2 hours ago, Iamcruzin said:

Royal could have offered to put the OP on a waitlist for the desired Ocean view balcony at the original price agreed upon. This wouldn't have cost them a dime and perhaps created some good will. We all know the passenger cancelation rate so this would probably had worked out being it was 2yrs out. They could have also offered the OP the cruise they rebooked at the same rate. Maybe if they were bringing an emotional support animal to defecate all over the ship (see Dog peeing on Anthem thread) they would have been treated better. Royal Caribbean is riding on a high right now because they are the top flavor so they can get away with poor customer service at land level. I hope the OP keeps their word and books another line. 

EXACTLY!!  That is the only point.....Royal could price protect their fare on the same ship at a different sailing date.  Thank you!!  This is exactly what happened to us, the cruise was cancelled due to a charter, but Royal only offered us one identical cruise (ship + itinerary) to "price protect", but 1. it was 2 months earlier - date didn't work  2.  any other sailing Royal would not "price protect" - since we had booked well over a year earlier, guess what?  Prices were appreciably higher for same cabin (no center hump cabins even available) and Royal wanted us to PAY THE DIFFERENCE!!    I was flamed pretty well by the folks on these boards who probably have never had this happen to them and could not understand why we were upset??  Bottom line, we have jumped cruise lines and found a competitor's cruise.....which fit our original price point and dates.  Totally agree, Royal has very poor to no "customer service"...like others have said, "it is a big business" and humanity is taken out of the equation on their end....only the greenback is considered at that moment.  OP, I am sorry for what you are going through, we  and others have been there as well.  I totally understand what you are saying, we all understand cancellations, charters happening etc, what we DO NOT understand is lack of empathy and help on Royal's end when their greed boots us out!  It costs them NOTHING to transfer your booking at the same rate you contracted with them for....just bottom line greed covered and touted as a "business decision" which makes it OK???

We went on Harmony when she was rather new and did not hear any tips about long sleeves and pants before we left......thus my 6'2" DH and DS both went on Abyss - both had skin burns on elbow and knees as well.  When travelling at a fast rate of speed fearfully for the first time, it is hard to remember to hold up head, keep elbows tucked in and knees away from the sides.  Needless to say, they only rode it one time and I decided to take a 'pass'!!

2 hours ago, runner15km said:

Is escargot available every night ?  And yes I soak my bread in the butter & garlic sauce. 

Not on CCL, but it was offered daily on Royal Caribbean........

On 3/23/2019 at 9:46 PM, forgotmyCCname said:

To OP and anyone who has experience with this sociopath- TWITTER @RoyalCaribbean . That is their Twitter handle . Post comments, pictures- I have used Twitter twice when I had an issue with a company ignoring me. Amazing how fast the problem was solved. One was with British Airways and on with Enterprise Car Rental.

I posted pictures and BAM! Issues resolved. 

Totally agree!  Had an incredible run in on American Airlines......my son posted pics and comments on social media.....he was responded to in under 10 minutes from AA!!  He gave all pertinent info then we were called from President's office....they wanted the negative social media proof to stop.....very powerful.   Not sure issue was truly resolved (involved an very 'out of line' power abusing male flight attendant) but we were assured verbally that offending employee would be 'handled' immediately (if he still has a job, which we don't know, then to us it was NOT resolved...LOL)!  But an immediate response we did get.....OP absolutely post your pics and story!  You will be seen and heard by RCI for sure!!

When 2 person cabins are sold out, we have booked 3+ pax cabins and have never been kicked out.  Call and ask for a different rep.

We have found the Oasis class in general, to be the least crowded of any ship on any cruise line we have sailed!  Been on the Harmony and the Allure and other than Windjammer on embarkation day lunch and disembarkation day breakfast,  we always commented on how 'uncrowded' these ships felt.  There are 6000+ pax, but there are so many different and large venues for everyone to be in (Promenade, Central Park, Boardwalk, Pools, lido etc) that no one area ever felt crowded.  It blew us away, but it is our favorite class as well.  If you time when you go to Windjammer (off peak times), it can be quite easy to find seating and not too crowded - but at peak times it is quite busy so you have to 'plan'.  But otherwise, these ships are "masterfully" designed!!

On ‎3‎/‎3‎/‎2019 at 7:36 AM, ATC cruiser said:

They say this is a way to reduce waste. I’d be willing to bet that the vast majority of waste comes from the buffet, not the MDR.

Totally agree.....the buffet is where the majority of 'wasted' food comes from.  This is not to 'reduce waste' as they are trying to sell the public, but about making more $$ on the bottom line....and maybe even the first step in removing a FREE MDR......?????

22 hours ago, evandbob said:

 

 

We pay less for an annual policy that covers 12 months of travel and as many trips or cruises we do in a year.

May I ask, what kind of policy this is? and the cost?   It would be something we would be interested in!  Thanks

Just be sure you understand the coverage.  There is "primary" and "secondary" coverage on these policies.  Carnival's policy is for "secondary" coverage", which means you must file paperwork through your own insurance company first, then the balance may or may not be covered by the "secondary" policy you bought via Carnival.  When we purchase cruise travel insurance, we always make sure that it is "primary" coverage, meaning that the policy you purchase for travel covers your insurance needs FIRST, without the need to file tons of paperwork through you own insurance companies/policies first. We sometimes purchase them and sometimes we are 'risk' takers.

26 minutes ago, molly361 said:

At least you got a year's notice. I feel bad for the folks that got less than 2 weeks

Me too!!

1 minute ago, Biker19 said:

Dry docks often have issues - in this case, RCI may have wanted to give themselves more cushion based on recent ones. Would it feel any better if they cancelled due to a charter (which is more common but same end result)?

No, not at all....both are poor business decisions....PERIOD!!  and hurt the booked pax equally.

2 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

For context, the Feb 24 THIS YEAR sailing for Navigator (also in dry dock) was cancelled last week.

WOW....can't they figure these things out???  Not like a mechanical issue or "Mother Nature"....that is totally understandable.

Got an email yesterday cancelling our February 23, 2020 Freedom OTS sailing due to RCI's decision for an "Extended Refurbishment"???   Bookings on this ship/sailing have been open for close to a year??  To cancel a sailing for reasons NOT OUT of RCI's control is mind boggling - to make a corporate decision impacting thousands of pax that seemingly could have been 'pre-planned' (like to extend a known refurbishment) is staggering.  RCI cheerleaders, please back off if you were not impacted on this sailing. Just a bad 'customer service' statement in totality in my family's estimation.

3 minutes ago, EKRAFT22 said:

 What about the entertainment? I'm not very worried about the announcements.. it was more the entertainment/music we couldn't enjoy.

Never been on a ship where entertainment was in Spanish (foreign language), but sailed out of Puerto Rico many times (all 7 day or longer) and yes, all announcements were in both English (typically first) and then in Spanish.....and there was a good mix of both US mainland cruisers and cruisers from Puerto Rico.

50 minutes ago, TBone2K said:

Slightly off topic, but I'll share a story about that.. First cruise after I purchased a Playbook to use as an E-reader, we were sitting in the solarium on Indy and I was complaining to my wife that my new tablet wasn't working. Even forcing it to shut down and restart yielded no results. The black casing had gotten quite hot while we were sitting in the sun and I was wondering if the heat had fried it.... My wife looked over, took the tablet out of my hands, rotated it 90 degrees and handed it back to me and to my amazement I could see everything. Turns out when holding it vertically like an ereader, the polarizing screen protector was the same direction as my polarized sunglasses. Thus blocking all the light coming from the tablet, rendering it blank to my eyes.

Very interesting, never thought about both the screen protector and sunglasses blocking out the light.....however, my screen does not look blank, it just is so light that it is hard to read.  Have to dig out my old Nook and start using that on my cruises - or of course, just take paperbacks with as well, which is what I have been doing!!

49 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

 If you don't want to know people are having trouble reading you no problem. It's all good.

I don't believe I ever asked if people were having trouble reading my posts??? I was responding to ONE CC reader who commented (off topic no less) - didn't ask for your snarky response.  So, yes, it is all good for me!

16 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

No.

So sorry, Ocean Boy.....but my question was NOT posed to YOU!!!!