madforcruising

Hey all so excited we just booked out 10 year Anniversary cruise for the 12 day southern caribbean cruise aboard the Anthem of the seas Jan 2019. I've searched but couldn't find the answer but When can we purchase the beverage package or dining packages in our cruise planner? It says they are not available at this time when I click on them, so i'm assuming its not available till the cruise gets closer. Thanks for any info!

Whenever they (RCI) decide to make them available for your sailing. You need to keep checking.

 

Wondering why they would even put that on the setsail pass.

Just a guess, but it´s the one thought that crossed my mind for putting it on the setsail pass.

In the past you would get your seapass Card during the check-in and board the ship with the seapass Card in Hand having the Muster Station printed on.

Now with the new check-in procedure you won´t get your seapass Card with the muster Station on it until you get to your cabin.

I think they want you to know your muster Station from the second you get onboard, so they now print it on the setsail pass, which serves many of the pruposes of your seapass Cards until you get that one from the cabin.

Even though the ship has not sailed yet there still could be an emergency to call for muster.

Hi all, just came across this forum the last few days and have been enjoying reading through the posts and getting some tips!

 

I just wondered about luggage space. We are a family of 4 who are coming from Australia - we will be having some time at Disney before the cruise, and some time at Universal after the cruise (Freedom of the Seas). Hence, we will have 4 cases with us (not the massive ones, just regular size. Are there luggage racks in the rooms, or will we need to unpack everything and stack our cases in the cupboard? Is there even room in the cupboard for them?

 

I should mention we have a superior balcony room.

 

Any advice appreciated. Cheers!

There are no luggage racks and there would be no room to Keep 4 suitcases on luggage racks anyway, let alone when you are in the room with 4 People.

With clothing for 4 People in the closet I highly doubt you will be able to store your suitcases in there as well. Best place is probably under the bed.

Anyway expect tight quaters.

Thanks very much for your quick replies.

 

Unfortunately, there are not many cabins left and they are a long way forward. I've just had a quick look. The price has also gone up since we booked it.

 

I wonder, can I transfer to another cruise and cruise company through the same TA? We were considering Princess 29 January before we saw this one and it has a cabin definitely just over from the lift. Unfortunately, it would mean travelling to Sydney instead of Brissie - a bummer cause Brissie has great parking and cheap too! The cruise is very similar, but 2 days longer, and is on Dawn Princess.

 

What do you think? If we decide to do it, will we lose our deposit - we paid $500 and we can't afford to lose it. On their paperwork it says any transfer will cost $25 per head, but I'm not sure if they mean another company's ship. Maybe they've already sent the deposit to Royal Carribean. I can't find out till Monday and I'm stressing now :mad:

 

Thanks again,

ratacake

Unfortunately the set of stairs you are seeing on the deckplans are not public Access stairs. I´m not sure, there might be Elevators too, but it doesn´t matter, as it´s a crew only area.

I assume you are booked with a TA in Australia? I´m not 100% sure about the T&C´s in Australia, but I think as with most non-US countries you will lose your deposit if you cancel. The Change fee you are talking about is most likely something your TA charges, not the cruise line. It´s a bummer your TA didn´t tell you about your cabin and the stairs / Elevator, that´s of Course only if you talked to your TA about your Needs.

You can try to move Cruises, but this will only work if you move to another Royal cruise. You can´t move to a Princess cruise without cancelling the Royal one and most likely lose your deposit.

IMO the scooter rental is not an Option for you. The scooter won´t fit through the door of a regular cabin and even if it did you won´t have any place inside the cabin to store it. It can´t be left out in the hallway either.

Hi , could anyone please advise if Guest services are able to break big bills?

 

Only currency we could get in Canada for our MED cruise, were 3x500 euros.

 

If not, we may have to try the airport, but I would like to try and avoid any surcharges...

 

Thanks all!

Guest Services might or might not be able to break the big bills and they might not be happy to do so. However breaking the bills, if they do it, won´t involve a surcharge.

If you are talking about additional currency Exchange, this is mostly offered, but don´t expect it to be any cheaper than other currency exchanges. RCI might not apply a "surcharge", but they build it in the Exchange rate offered, which is usually bad.

I also have to strongly Support Verfai´s post!!!

Yes, but go to the casino instead, no lines.

 

Well, I assume so, they have no problems on US based cruises.

The Casino is USD only and they will not handle any foreign currencies.

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Deck 10 cabins on Radiance class mostly hace a huge overhang above. You will not be able to stand at the railing and look straight up. The overhang is way further out than your balcony.

I came home from a cruise the same day you left. I cannot imagine being away from home and finding out about 9/11.

Oh my gosh. I can't even imagine. What port were you in that day? I was at sea when we "declared war" on Iraq, but that's obviously totally different. Wow.

I´ve been on a TA on 09/11. We were in the middle of the Atlantic with no more ports of call until reaching our final destination Boston.

I happened to walk into the Internet cafe onboard about when the news came on of the first plane hitting the tower. At that time being in the middle of nowhere we had no TV reception. The Internet was the onlky source of information and besides me there were just two more people at the time following the news. I couldn´t believe what I saw at first. I then went to inform some friends onboard about what happened.

It took a while and some inquiring of the passengers until someone on the ship acknowledged the situation with an announcement. But I´m sure they were as much in shock as everybody else, not knowing how to handle the situation in the beginning. Later on they opened up the internet for all and those with relatives in the Boston / New York / DC area where given free phone calls as well.

Internet of course was hard to come by from then on. Mind you this was at a time without any WiFi onboard and all we had was the few terminals in the cafe to use. There were lines 24/7. I got up at 3am sometimes just to get to a computer and there were still lines.

Of course nobody knew what would happen once we arrive in Boston.

Debarkation was not a good experience, with all the added security and the ship arriving to the US for the first time after the european season we didn´t debark until 3pm. There was also a lot of confusion about where to go after being off the ship. They kept telling us no flights out of Boston and to go to the Boston Sheraton, which RCI booked Hotel rooms for everybody at. (RCI paid for those). Now waiting for debarkation we saw the planes coming into Boston airport all morning.

At the Sheraton Hotel they had set up a couple of RCI agents with laptops to rearrange flights (and with couple I really mean two!:eek:).

It took me a while waiting in a loooooong line to get there and was told numerous times along the way to check-in and come back later, which I didn´t as I thought the line wouldn´t be shorter later. Once I got to the front I was first told they couldn´t help me as I booked the Air/Sea package with RCI Europe and they would only help US folks:eek::mad:, but a few words from me later;) they took action to look into it, just to tell me - "What are you doing here? You should be checking in at the airport right now for your flight!":eek:

So off I ran to find my luggage, which was I happend to find out now they had lost - but I found it for them sitting in front of the Hotel sitting on the side walk unattended.:rolleyes:

Off I went in a taxi to the airport, checking in with plenty of time as my flight was delayed to past midnight and gave plenty of time to handsearch my checked luggage, strip search myself and send my carry on through the scanner like 10 times. They sent it through, opened it, looked for what it´s in there and send it through again to look what stuff looks like on their screens. I got the impression the were still learning how to look at things. BTW taxi costs were reimburrsed by RCI later, as I had transfers booked.

I don´t blame anyone for the rather unpleasant situation as I think they all tried their best to handle a one of a kind situation nobody was prepared for. It was not something I want to experience again and the vacation mood onboard changed for sure, but I still was able to make enjoy my vacation overall.

09/11 was a desaster for sure, but even with the after effects of it impacting part of my cruise - it was not a desaster for me. The way many others were affected by this in no way compare to some inconvenience I had to go through.

I was on with my entire family (all adults) when we hit a reef in St Maarten, had to abandon ship around 11 PM all 3000 passengers waited on the pier all night finally around 7AM we were put on a bus and taken to a resort; A NUDEST RESORT. RCI was great under the circumstances and we re-took the same cruise the next year.

Wasn´t that the best solution for a ships load of cruisers that had to leave in their jammies;):p:D

Local radio station in GERMANY????:eek: Wow.

Yep Paul is a star worldwide now:D

Hi Paul,

you can add our local radio station to the list.

They just reported about you today.:cool:

I just booked cabin 7170 on the Brilliance, it is not listed as an obstructed cabin on RCCL website, but my travel agent (not RCCL) said that it is listed as having a 30% obstruction...Does anyone know what the obstruction is?? Life boat?? Window washing equipment?? Wall?? HELP!!!! Any pics will be greatly appreciated. :)

7170 is the very last cabin on port side. That cabin has a wall (part of the superstructure on the outside of the balcony. I´m not sure how to describe it best, but the glass railing is not the full width of the balcony, but part of it will be a solid steel wall and not only railing height, but floor to ceiling. It can also have the windowwasher in front of it.

This is starboard side:

Even if it isn't really "secret" is there a less crowded area for sail way?

Your balcony;)

I guess the point I was trying to make is if the OP does get through to Canadian customs, there is only so much they can do for her because of privacy laws. She will not be able to discuss specifics of this DUI if her BIL is of legal age, which I am assuming he is.

Well I think the main question the OP has is if US Direct would work and that as a general question she can have answered without getting into details.

I dont understand why he would not be allowed to board at the next port. If a passenger misses boarding the cruise because say a delay with their flights, etc..... they would normally be allowed to travel to the next port and then board at that time. Why is this different? On this alaskan cruise Canada is where the cruise starts but the remainder of the crusie is all alaska - it is northbound from Vancouver to Seward.

 

kristin

This is different because all ports of this cruise are US ports except the embarkation and debarkation port. I´m not 100% sure but it might be allowed to catch up with the ship at the first port of call as the cruise ends in Vancouver, but as I understand your problem he can´stay onboard til Vancouver, as he would have the same problem at the end of the cruise - right? So he would have to "miss the boat" at the last port of call again. That would definitely raise a problem then with the PSA.

However I can´t help with US direct, but would think you are fine using it.

Here is an option we are thinking of, just in case he is not allowed to board the ship in Vancouver. If he takes a flight to the next port (Ketchikan) would he be allowed to board the ship at that point since he is back in the US and the remainder of the cruise is all Alaska? I have a call into RCCL but cant seem to get a clear answer on this. Say someone misses the ship - can they fly to the next port and board the ship then?

Nope that would not be allowed because of the Passenger Service act.

Ships can´t transport passengers between US ports without touching a foreign port.

SailorJack,

another great piece of writing

Your post got me worried. I'm due to sail on Voyager of the Seas in June, and have booked an Owner suite 1308, on deck 10, under the pool deck.

Looking at the deckplans, I think the Independence of the Seas has similar layout as the Voyager.

I have previously started a thread asking for people's opinion about possible noise from the pool deck. Most of the responses were reassuring. One person even said that the ceiling of the suite was not the floor of the pool deck!

I am a light sleeper, therefore I always book a room located on the floor with staterooms above and below. Unfortunately on this cruise, the suites are located on deck 10, below the pool deck. So I don't have the option to change suite now.

Could I ask the concierge to refrain the cleansers from dragging the loungers after midnight, so that I could get at least 8 hours of sleep? Or better still, contact RCCL and request thick gym mats to be laid on the deck above the suites? (Voyager is going in Drydock for renovation next month).

I bet I know who said this as she says this on every thread like this:rolleyes:. Of course that´s nonsense.

To me the cabins on the highest cabin deck, usually right under the pool deck is primary real estate and I try to book it whenever possible. I have had many cabins on that deck, being under the pool, under the Windjammer and I was even right under the table tennis. However my experience has been very pleasantly and there wasn´t a single day where I had noise issues. I´m not saying it can´t happen, but IMO it´s not the norm.

I´m not surprised if some information is not all correct. That´s the downside of those printed brochures, they are printed so far in advance and can´t get updated with changes like a website.:)

We were on Serenade in 2004 (Feb.) and it was doing the Southern Caribbean: San Juan, St. thomas, St. Maarten, St. Lucia & Barbados)

In the Summer the Serenade does the Alaska runs and has then end of season repositioned via Hawaii.

In 2000, we cruised our first two with Disney. I think that itinerary will be easy to find. ;)

 

Thought I would just post the cruises we have been on, and then maybe someone will have been on the same cruise and can help out. Thanks for the suggestions. ;)

 

Disney Wonder ~ 3/2000

Disney Magic ~ 9/2000

RCCL Vision ~ 2/19/2001

Ensenada, Kailua Kona, Hilo, Nawiliwili, Lahaina, Honolulu

Carnival Victory ~ 12/2001

Celebrity Millennium ~ 3/2003

Fort Lauderdale, San Juan, Catalina Island (Casa De Campo), St. Thomas, Nassau

RCCL Adventures of the Seas ~ 9/14/2003

San Juan, St. Thomas, Philipsburg St. Maarten, St. John´s Antigua, St. Lucia, Bridgetown

RCCL Mariner of the Seas ~ 7/18/2004

Port Canaveral, Labadee, Ocho Rios, George Town, Cozumel

RCCL Serenade of the Seas ~ 9/26/2004

Vancouver, Kailua Kona, Nawiliwili, Lahaina, Hilo, Honolulu

HAL Oosterdam ~ 2/26/2005

Princess Coral ~ 10/15/2005

Carnival Glory ~ 3/11/2006

RCCL Grandeur of the Seas 2/24/2007

New Orleans, Cozumel, Georgetown, Costa Maya

RCCL Grandeur of the Seas 9/30/2007

Baltimore, King´s Wharf

Celebrity Century ~ 2/4/2008

Miami, Key West, Georgetown

HAL Noordam ~ 6/8/2008

RCCL Liberty of the Seas 8/30/08

Miami, San Juan, Philipsburg, Labadee

RCCL Voyager of the Seas 2/22/09

I assume you can remember the one from two weeks ago;):p

Sorry, but I can't remember when I last had a cruise brochure. Probably my last 14 cruises were researched on the net.

 

Doesn't sound like I am going to get the answers easy, however I just thought of another way. Go through my photos and videos. I have made CD's and DVD's of most of my cruises, and I have some photo albums of the others.:)

I do my research on the net as well, but I still let them send the brochured to me and keep them.:o

However do you have a date, ship and maybe departure port?

I do have a 2000 brochure.;)

LOL ...and where would I find those??? :D

 

That just gave me an idea...I'll check some old Roll Calls and see if I can find something. ;)

Well I keep them all:o