pennielz

Loved the Soverign class ships. Hate to see her go! Need to book another cruise on her....maybe her final voyage. :rolleyes:

We're on the Indie this weekend and plan to dance in Boleros. I hope they have a live band like they did on the Majesty in May. They played some good Salsa and Merengue and we enjoyed it.

Will be getting on when you're getting off. Have a great trip!

Thanks, everyone! We are planning to visit Boleros and will check out The Pyramid Lounge.

For the record, Gustavo goes by the name Butcher. He's a terrific and friendly concierge. He is unable to give a cabana number because it's not the job of a concierge to assign them. Cabana assignment is the job of shore excursions the last I heard and they assign them after you board, you can request a specific number but there is no guarantee you will get that one. It's possible you won't know your number until the day before you arrive at port.

 

Remember most concierges also don't have English as their first language. They are all literate but their writing skills in general aren't as advanced as their spoken language skills. Please go easy on them.

For the record, his emails have been signed Gustavo A Butcher. Since I have not had the pleasure of meeting him yet, I could not be aware of what he prefers to be called. I am sure he is terrific as is the majority of RCI crews.

Second, I was just surprised by his response. Based on your explanation, ihis response could have been simply that ithe cabana will be assigned by the Excursion Desk or on board. I only asked him because others on CC had said their concierge gave them there cabana number prior to the cruise. I am just excited about this cruise because it is special occasion for us and wanted to locate it on some of the pictures of Barefoot Beach. Thank you for enlightening me on the process of assigning cabanas.

Lastly, this is not my first cruise. I am aware that for the majority of the crew, english is not there first language. In fact, we always go out of our way to learn about their home and language. We want to make them feel as comfortable as they make us. I do not feel I was being "hard" on my concierge. I'm sorry if you thought I was.

Thanks!

Pennie

Who are the concierge's?

Currently, it is Gustavo Butcher. I will be sailing the Suite Life so I can answer any concierge or suite questions. :D

Bob, that is my point exactly. What has happened to others, may not happen to you. You should always check with you bank or credit union to see what their policy is when deciding. I just hate everyone telling someone they are going to get this long hold for possibly weeks when it may not be true for them.

Thanks!

Pennie

How miraculous... ;) Backs up what I said but regardless, I am pleased you can get the type you wanted. Still, that being said, make sure you get on to him confirming the cabana number etc as soon as you are on the ship.

 

Have a great cruise :)

I decided I would like to know my cabana number now ( a little excited :rolleyes:) so I emailed Gustavo back asking if he would tell me my cabana number so I could look it up on pictures of Barefoot Beach. This is the response I got back.

I want you to start the day in a good mood.

I had a cancellation and now you have an Over The Water on Barefoot.

He couldn't give me the number? Or....he is waiting to decide who gets which one? :confused: Either way, seems odd.

:cool:

For everyone saying. Debit card gets a very high hold on it for weeks, when did you experience this? I sailed in March and September using my debit card and did not experience that situation!

Thanks, Bob! I really appreciate the info! ;)

We will be onboard the November 30th sail date. Can't wait!!!! :D:rolleyes:

My memory might be bad, but I don't recall a bar that had ballroom dancing every night. I would check the music section of the Cruise Compass. For example, they usually do a Jazz Set at least once per cruise.

 

By the way, Royal changed the format of the Cruise Compass and brought back the section that highlights the music around the ship, so it's much easier to find these types of events now.

Thanks! I'll check that out.

Pennie

I have used a debit card on my last three cruises with no problems. I have never noticed a hold on my funds and the charges do not hit until the end of the cruise. Since we buy the drink package, we rarely go over $400 in total on board expenses.

This will be our first cruise on Independence of the Seas. Can anyone tell me which bars are the best if you want to go dancing? BTW, I am not looking for the nightclub scene, I'm looking more like ballroom dancing.

Thanks!

Pennie

I wouldn't rely on that too much. Had a very unfortunate recent encounter with Gustavo, which also included a huge quantity of mis-information. It is of course possible that they are all booked, however, on embarkation he said the same to us when we asked about Coco Cay (after emailing us 2 weeks earlier to say he had reserved us one) but mysteriously 30 minutes later we were the only people on the list and had one! Call him as soon as you get on board and be persistent. Good luck.

I agreed to a Hilltop cabana last night and, amazingly, an over the water came available this morning! Interesting.... 😏

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I, finally, got a response from my concierge on Independence, Gustava. As information, we are two weeks from embarkation. He said all of the over the water cabanas at Labadee for Barefoot Beach were already booked. Is there another way experienced suite passengers have to book things like this early, such as a shoreside help desk for suites?

Thanks!

Apparently, there is something other than the concierge to book Barefoot Beach cabanas. I finally got a response from my concierge. FYI - we are two weeks from embarkation. He said all of the over the water cabanas at Barefoot were already booked. I don't why this option is not made available to all Grand Suite and above passengers.

I think it may also have something to do with the financial institution you use. I have used my debit card on several cruises with no problem.....hopefully I haven't jinxed myself. :eek:

Oh, and is there a formal night on all cruises or just ones of a retain length. I believe DCL was 7 days or greater.

3 - 5 days have one formal, 6 - 9 have two. I believe there is one every three days but, don't for sure after seven days. :rolleyes:

Cruise documents, including luggage tags, are issued. At 49 days before cruise.

I went online at RCL and clicked My Cruises and checked all of my cruises. Everything is correct! :confused:

I just called the Crown and Anchor desk and asked about this. They could not find any information on it. They said all cabanas on Barefoot Beach are booked directly with the Concierge. :confused:

What is the "other web site" you are referring to can you send a link?

CC won't let me post the site. All I can say is..the next time you Cruise, try to Fishwith a Net. ;)

If you book with RCL and a promo comes along before final payment is due, they will reduce your rate. The only exception is if the promo is for "new bookings only". We always book early to get the cabins we want and then keep an out for lower rates using another website that sends us an alert. We did pretty well on that this past summer, over $1800 off three cruises! It allowed us to book a fourth.:D

Is that the cup you have because newer ones definitely hold less than the ones from just a year or two ago.

It is one I got in September on Majesty. It was for the Freestle machine.

Nope, no luck what-so-ever.

 

If you find it, please forward a link.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1956034&highlight=independence

Here you go!