pennielz

I pulled one out of the cabinet and measured! No ice, it holds exactly 16 ounces of liquid!

Simple economics! When demand increases, the price goes up. Holiday periods are a popular cruise time, Thanskgiving, Christmas, New Years and Spring Break. If you want to cruise then, be ready to spend more. If you're not, there are 10 people lined up behind you who will. :D

While you can't order a bottle of rum for your room, they do have a pretty good selection of rum in the bars, including Ron Zacapa (our favorite), Pyrate, and 10 cane. With the premium drink package, those rums are included.

If you do a search on the forum, there are compass and menus for the 8 night cruise on Independence.

We always do MTD and have never been given anything but a table for two. You should be fine.

Royal doesn't normally open that up until around 60 days prior. At least, that is my experience. Just keep checking.

Just recently off Jewel during her Southern Caribbean out of San Juan (have cruised on her before on a 12 night Northern Europe/Baltic)..she's a favorite but sad to say she is looking a bit tired and other than cosmetic needs I too will miss the SeaView Cafe..but will be taking another cruise on her (Northern Pacific) before she goes into drydock.

We will be on Jewel in May for the North Pacific cruise. Can't wait! Love the Radiance class ships!

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

You should check out the port of call thread for the Caribbean. It will have a thread for Jamaica with lots of information about this.

Sheesh! I'd rather book another cruise for that price!!!😱

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

If you a search on this forum, you will find lot's of info. 😊

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

That's a tough call. Both have extended balconies. You will probably some noise in both of them. Deck seven's noise will be from the club below and deck nine will be from the Centrum. We were on deck 8 on the hump on Brilliance and could hear the Centrum but, we were so tired by bedtime we fell asleep with no problem. Deck seven will be a longer walk to elevators than nine. I have never had a aft balcony, but I hear they are great. We will have one on Jewel in May but, I believe we're on deck nine.

Have fun choosing!

Pennie

Here are my items that I didn't see on your list.

Binoculars

Magnetic flashlight (to put on wall in bathroom as a nightlight)

Storage bags (to put extra cookies or snacks in from WJ)

Clothes pins to hook swim suits and towels to chairs on balcony to dry

Travel air freshener

Travel size wrinkle release spray

Magnetic clips to post compass, invitations, or excursion tickets on wall so they don't get lost in clutter

If I duplicated something already on your list, iI missed it!:o

Thanks!

Pennie

If this works, this is a picture of the cup we got at the end of September.

Since apparently there are people who have not read about (or experienced) what took place on this voyage, let me mention a couple of the biggest issues we faced.

 

1. The biggest problem by far was the lack of service and attitude of the staff. In any business things go wrong. How you deal with them is what makes the difference in a service oriented business. When the embarkation problems in Rotterdam and then Southampton occurred, there were NO RCI to be seen anywhere. When lines occurred for events during the cruise, it was the same and finally when we disembarked in Fort Lauderdale and the situation was even worse, the staff was still in "hiding". Any attempt to discuss the problems with "Guest NON-relations" was met with defensive replies.

 

2. Construction in progress - RCI did not allow sufficient time in dry dock to complete their renovations. So not only were there several venues closed (which added to the overcrowding), but there jackhammers being used, the smell of paint in many parts of the ship. Personally we experienced an even more blatant example as they decided to shampoo our carpet while the cruise was still in progress. All of this occurred without any notification to the passengers or even to their travel agents (as I am one).

 

Of course there were more, but I truly do not want to rehash them here as there were also lots of things that I liked about the ship. You can read them in my "live" thread. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2114373

 

That was not the purpose of my original question.

 

What I was asking is whether you believe the 20% credit toward a future cruise was an appropriate response. What would you do if your company did not perform as you hoped it would and your customers did not receive the benefits from your product that you hope they would.

 

Here is what Ellie suggested:

 

1. First acknowledge your mistakes. Don't try to whitewash them and blame the problems on everyone else.

 

2. Offer compensation for what took place. Remember the size of the company we are talking about, the amount they spend on advertising and the goodwill that could be created.

 

3. Offer a discount on a future cruise.

 

What do you think? Is that too much to expect?

My first question is "have you ever sailed before?" Lines to disembark at port calls are normal on cruise ships. Everyone wants off at the same time.

Second, my experience is you get from the staff what you give. We're you the angry American yelling at the staff? And what did you expect them to do about the situation anyway?

I think the fact they gave you anything for your complaints is more than enough! If you don't want the discount, I'll take it!

Whatever you think is worth your time to call. RCCL will adjust the rates for sales until the final payment date. I have had adjustments for as little as $76 and as high as $700. I have even had multiple adjustments (3 to 4) over the booking period prior to final payment date.

Pennie

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Your husband is very original, I've never heard anyone say that on this forum or on a cruise before! If I was married to your husband I would brag all day about how funny and original he is and tell everyone I know, see and meet how he won me over with his witt and banter. I can only imagine what he has to say about Airlines like Southwest and JetBlue. I wouldn't even wanna mention the Holiday Inn cause I'd fear dying from laughing too hard.

 

I don't really get that statement though. If Carnival is Walmart, then RCI is Target? It's ultimately the exact same thing except one charges a little bit more. Regardless where you buy a toaster from, it's still going to toast. It's not like were comparing Carnival to Princess, Celebrity, HAL Those would be the Macys, Dillards, and JC Penny in my analogy since Carnival was cleverly said to be like Walmart.

 

.....

 

Just my thoughts, take them for what they're worth.

Wow! This is one thing I don't get about posters on forums, the need to attack another person because their thoughts and opinions differ from yours. :confused: After all, you ended your own post with "Just my thoughts, take them for what they're worth". There was absolutely no need to go off what you may or may not think about my husband's humor and try to insult him and me. :mad: Lighten up, please. You'll be happier and so will the people around you. ;)

Pennie

Royal Caribbean all the way! My husband calls Carnival the Wal-mart of cruise lines!:p

I FINALLY heard back from someone today!!!!! :D In the email they stated that they will be back in contact with me 7 days prior to sailing.

 

Good luck!

:D That's great! Clarea is probably right about the delay being because they are busy with a trans-Atlantic crossing. :rolleyes: I'm sure I'll hear something soon.

Have a great cruise!

They are in the middle of the transatlantic cruise now, and perhaps the concierge is pretty busy with the large number of suite guests and high point C&A members that are usually on board those type of cruises. There is also one cruise before yours. I'd try again after the 15th when they will be on the cruise before yours.

Thank you!:)

I've tried several times over the last couple of weeks to contact the Oasis concierge via email regarding my upcoming cruise with no response. :confused:

I am having the same problem with the Concierge on Independence...no response.:confused: I am three weeks from embarkation. Is it too soon to try and contact them?

Thanks!

Pennie

RCCI recommends passengers stay on ship time to avoid missing the ship!

We always book with Royal directly. We used to book online but, prefer doing it on board or over the phone. We've gotten nice on board credits and great rooms. And if want to make change, absolutely no problem when we call Royal and ask for a change.

My husband had one and really liked it!

I love the Cucumber Fizz!!! Very refreshing!

Taxes do not apply whether you buy on board or before. Gratuities are charged on Tier 2 ships wither way.