pennielz

Yes, I believe it would affect the adult booked in that room. The Grand Suite has a full size sleeper sofa.

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I always wonder about the number of people on the CC RCCL forums that are so negative. If you dislike RCCL so much, why are you on their CC forum?

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Unless I see the bartender put the Patron into the drink, I will assume that they are putting in low grade tequila. Next cruise, I will go to the bar and request Patron to be sure what I'm getting. If the bar menu states that top shelf is being used, and I'm paying for the top package, shouldn't I be getting what the menu says I should? I'm doing my part, Royal "C" should be doing theirs...

Who said they weren't pouring what was ordered? I've never had a problem getting top shelf on RCCL.

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I would recommend the West Bay Loop bike tour in Grand Cayman. It's a very easy and fun ride.

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I need to ask what did you get for 'donating' $150k+ to RCI? I assume many cruises with food and beverages included didn't you? That's not donating in my book. Donating in my book is giving money to a worthy cause for no reward. You SPENT money on cruises on which you wished to sail and enjoyed the facilities provided for the money paid. Don't make it sound as though you did RCI a favour and now expect something in return. Your benefit from RCI is a bonus not a direct result of a donation.

Well said!

Ok thanks for the quick response. So I can buy 1 premium package and use for 2 people. (Going back and forth)????

 

 

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No, you cannot buy one package and share between two people. You will get caught. More importantly, people trying to do this will force RCCL to change packages, creating limits on drinks and type of drinks, as well as, forcing everyone in the cabin to buy a package. Please, don't be cheap and a cheat. It will ruin things for the rest of us!

Quote:

Originally Posted by FLACRUISER99 View Post

I hate to tell you this but the room still can be entered even if you use the deadbolt.

You do want someone to be able to get in to your room in case you have an accident, sudden illness, or heart attack. There is a valid reason for a ship's officer to be able to by pass the deadbolt.

This is a terrible thing. I know.

One of the signatures on the Sign And Sail form is for any charges you have on board. You will not need to go by Guest Relations to sign for the charges.

You will get a mixture of sun and shade. Even if you are cruising in the winter, you will appreciate having some shade during the heat of the day. It will make your balcony more enjoyable as the sun in the Caribbean can be very strong.

We were on the Nov 30th sailing. No Mystery Dinner Theater.

Brilliance is a beautiful ship with wonderful views of the ocean. The crew is awesome! We love this ship!

We just love the $10,000 coffee machines in the Diamond/Concierge Lounges. The 'free coffee' is not that good unless you mask it with lots of cream & sugar. MDR free coffee seems a little fresher than WJ coffee.

 

Remember, the 'half life' of brewed coffee not in a vacuum container is only about 20 minutes.

I think the Concierge coffee tastes like Nescafé. The free coffee is made for the non-Starbucks masses. MDR is the best free coffee.

No you can't make it on time if you have if a child that needs medical attention and have to stop at a medical clinic.

I'm thinking you are not from Central Florida. Unless the child came down I'll suddenly after lunch, there is plenty of time to visit a medical clinic I the morning and still drive from Orlando to Tampa after lunch with time to spare.

We always get the premium drink package. You can get any alcoholic beverage up to $12. That's most everything they have. You can get wine by the glass in the MDR or specialty restaurants.

Order dinner, then walk out to the nearest bar to get your beer. Although, I din't why you have to have it BEFORE eating your cheese.

Also, we've had a great experience with MTD. No horror stories here.

There is a website that will tell you. I always just google Cozumel port schedule.

I would like to add from our OBC if there are standout employees that we'd like to give more to. We have $850 OBC for a 1 week cruise and I'd rather not leave the ship with a large amount unused

 

Best-

 

Steve

Other than the bartenders, I do not know how to add it to your room. Check with Guest Relations on board.

With prepaid gratuities, it depends on who you want to give additional gratuities to. Bartenders, just add it to the slip you sign for your drinks. Stateroom steward, you can leave in the envelope provided towards the end of the cruise. We like to leave an additional tip in a personally written thank you card. The same for our wait staff in MDR.

The OP says his family was traveling from Orlando to Tampa. I live halfway between the two cities. In worse traffic, it takes an hour and half to drive from Orlando to Tampa. I, also, know there was no major traffic accidents that day closing I-4. I do not understand why they couldn't have planned their day better in order to get to the port on time.

Walk-in clinics are a dime a dozen in this area and normally don't take long to get into. What time did they go to the clinic? First thing in the morning or after noon?

I feel sorry for them not making their cruise. However, being familiar with Central Florida, I feel they made some poor judgements in planning their time to the port. Missing a cruise is a hard lesson to lose.

Independence has Gold Card breakfast in Chops each morning. Diamond and Diamond plus are not included.

What a rude and unnecessary post. Maybe you can address why 3 of the past 4 Freedom cruisers got compensation but one cruise did not and the company will not even address it. A child being ill has nothing to do with it; the company is the one repeating the line and saying that is the reason when clear as day to anyone that it is not. Are you on the payroll???

No, I am not on the payroll but, I wish I was. I stand by my "rude and unnecessary" statement. Get over it.

Here's the issue I have had the vessel been at 100 percent, it would have still been in Grand Cayman when the fell ill. I also have an issue with the Captain he told me personally that there was no helicopters in Cayman Islands available for airlift.

 

I just don't understand why RCL would tell so many non truths. Then they put the blame on the child so sad

P

I'm not sure how you can make the claim that the ship would have still been in Grand Cayman. Do you KNOW what caused the child to fall ill? Was it something that happened on ship that would have happened on ship anyway if the ship had left at the scheduled time? Unless you are a member of the child's family you don't KNOW what was or wasn't untruths! Just get over it and quit blaming an ill child for your lost port charges!

Did anyone here even care how the family would feel if they read some of your comments? No! Of course, not! All any of you are worried about is what you think you are owed for YOUR losses! Your loss was minimal! A few dollars that you would have blown anyway! You had a cruise vacation! Get over it!

I'm just thinking....a suite booked every week, normally with two guests minimal per stateroom, 7 night cruises.....over a three year span will begin to show some wear towards the end of three years. Particularly, when many passengers don't care what damage they may cause during their stay. And Allure is due a drydocking.

I think when you've reached the point that you notice these things it's time for a break. Try some land vacations and another cruise line, then come back. It may feel more exciting after a break.

I know a lot of people like JS, extra room, bathtub, etc., and the double C&A points are nice, but they are not really a true suite - no real suite privileges. So I would not pay extra for a JS.

 

Much prefer to get an aft balcony - especially the corner ones - on the Independence class the corners on deck 10 are as big as some JS.

Junior Suites do give you double C&A points. :D

To whom it may concern,

This is a letter that I had wrote Royal Caribbean about our (group of 7) cruise experience and their response was im sorry there is nothing I can do to help you. If we gave you money back we would have to give everyone on the ship the same thing. I was hoping you could give me some advice or assist me in any way possible. . Thank you for your time.. Melissa

Where do I begin! Let me first start off by saying my husband was so agents taking a cruise saying it was too structured (did not like being told when to eat dinner and times to get on and off the ship). I finally talked him into going in Jan 2014 on the Oasis of the seas. Let’s just say he LOVED it ranted and raved about it to his parents and his sister. We loved it so much we booked another one right away WITH them. We were so excited to show them what we had experienced.

My father and my husband dropped us off at the cruise on departure day and then headed back to drop off the rental car (budget) after running into traffic and arriving at budget at 3:40 they were closed. So the drove to port and paid $120.00/day to park, they went to get on the ship at 3:55 and were told they could not board the ship. We were standing on our balcony watching them getting turned away. My children were standing there crying as the ship sailed away without them. Both children climbed into bed and said they did not want to do anything without their dad and grandpa there. To make a long story short it was devastating for them and also me. They then flew back to Detroit after there they realized if they could get a one day passport they could fly into Jamaica and board the ship. We my husband let the ship know they would board the ship with the flight numbers. When we arrived in Jamaica we were trying to meet a location to make the best of the day. We ended up meeting up in a not so nice beach area. After the little bit of time there we went to board the ship. There my husband and father took over 3 hours being passed back and forth from customs on the gangway to the service desk. After a long flight and all the confusion it was frustrating for them and us.

After the boys missing the first port we were looking forward to getting off the ship at the Cayman Islands but with the propulsion problem that the ship was having our trip was cut short. With this being said we were really looking forward to Mexico but an announcement from the captain saying there was a life or death situation on the ship and we need to turn around and we would not be going to Mexico. I called to guest services inquiring and they stated “the family could not afford a helicopter”. When she said that my stomach turned and I thought they are taking away a port from so many people because “the family could not afford the helicopter” That was a huge disappointment for our family. My husband and father paid a fortune to fly into Jamaica for a crappy beach there, a short visit at the camion island and a missed port. They will not let a passenger board the ship 45 min before sailing but will let a passenger dictate where the ship goes because they don’t have the funds for an air flight.

Now we can move onto the cruise itself.

I loved that we had an 8:00 dinner time but have to say the quality of food was dramatically different from when we traveled on the Oasis of the Seas. Our Steaks were fatty and the tiger shrimp was dramatically smaller then before just to list a few. With my grandparents being Diamond members and saying the smaller ships are more personable and attentive to you we were excited travel on this ship. Another disappointment! The waiters were slow and had to wait for drinks, even refills on the kid’s drinks. We were sat at the back of the dining room and witnessed one of the waiters getting into trouble by one of his managers and other staff member were coming to the one waiter’s defense. It’s something that a guest should not have known about or even witnessed.

Broken propulsion:

We were not notified of the ships broken propulsion until the second night as an announcement was made then. Our dinner table was on deck 3 at the back of the ship. We felt the ship rock and sputter more there then anywhere on the ship. It was so bad that both my children felt sick the whole trip even while taking motion sickness medication. (Never needed in prior cruises) The vibration at the dinner table was so bad my sister got sick every time at the dinner table she was not able to eat and even vomited 2 out of the 6 nights we went to dinner. If we would have known about the propulsion problem on the first day and known then that the Cayman Island was going to be cut 3 hours and the Mexico trip being shortened as well my husband and my father would have not flown into Jamaica for little bit of time on the island. We could have/would have saved the $1000.00 flight and just booked another cruise. I feel Royal Caribbean knew about the issues and failed to mention it to us until later in the cruise. If we would have known we would not have flown into Jamaica. With that being said.. if the cruise was working properly( as we thought when we got on) we would have still been in the Cayman Islands when the little girl stopped breathing. Our Island was cut short 3 hours! We turned the ship around 2.5 hours after leaving.

Internet:

I called to inquire about the internet before booking this ship as I need to log onto my work server and work from the ship (as I did on the oasis). I arrived to the ship paid for the internet and could not log onto my server. I talked with the front desk who was talking to the it department who said it was impossible; apparently the Oasis of the seas has a different band width then the freedom. I had to try and work from my cell phone which was very time consuming. Because I was not able to log onto the server I had to make calls from my cell phone (I hate to see that bill). Very disappointing to know I was told one thing and then when I get there it’s something else.

Air in the room:

I noticed in the room that the air was not working properly but it was no big deal for me as my mom’s room had extra room for us to sleep.( my dad was not on ship) So we just bunked together in her room. When my husband arrived he had to call the maintenance crew to come and fix it. (They were able to)

Wheel chair:

My sister had food surgery in Sept and was able to walk but after all the walking required a wheel chair. We went down to the service desk and they were great and said they would send one up quickly. After an hour one was delivered to the room. It would have been great if it would not have been broken. We called down to the service desk and they said they didn’t have another one available at that time. So we kept trying to use the broken one stopping ever 100 feet or so fixing it again and again.

Shower:

Our shower had a gap in the door and no matter how you showered or pointed the sprayer a puddle of water ended up on the floor. See attached photos.

Leaving:

Because my husband and father arrived in Jamaica we were pulled to the side when trying to exit the boat(understood) We were placed in a room(photo) were we had to wait over 1.5 hours for a security guard/customs to escort us off the ship. Because of the wait it caused us to miss our flight.

I have to say this was the worst vacation that I have gone on. We call it the cruise from HELL. We were on the ship so long we could not wait to get off. This cost of vacation time, time off school, loss of work that I was not able to get done on the ship, the cost of airfare to get back home. This is something that you took from us.

Im hoping that you or someone in your department can help me. We are your average family who booked a cruise a year in advance who made payments. This was something that we were looking forward too. I am hoping you can assist me in compensation or money off another cruise. Thanks you so much for your time. I hope you have a wonderful day. 

 

Melissa Bernal

First off, what time did you arrive at the terminal the first time? If it only took 15 minutes to return from Budget to the terminal, traffic couldn't have held them up that bad if you had arrived at the terminal early enough. Your cruise from hell was the result of your family not planning their arrival at the terminal properly. Your family's mismanagement of time is not RCCL's fault or problem.

Second, how a mother can be so cold hearted about an ill child is beyond me! What if that had been your child? If I had been on that ship, I would have happily given up the rest of my cruise if it meant your child would be safe and well!

Really?!?!