njm5378

Eek, even more restrictive than I thought! I can't imagine trying to plan with teen kids and young adults and if they cannot go, than an OBC stays in their name and not in the purchaser's name, Wow, its unlikely they will be booking on their own :rolleyes:

We have always traveled with our children (now 21,17,12). I usually book when itineraries are released, often 2 years out. We have never had to cancel. Our kids are very active in competitive sports as well as the arts. We have been threatened to lose positions on teams due to missing practice or games for vacation, but that has never happened. The bottom line for us is these are kids and there is no sport, job, or activity that can replace the experiences that kids will get from traveling the world with their family.

It does help fix one problem. There are a limited number of GS cabins on a ship and they sell out early. There were people who would book a GS on several different cruises far in advance and figure out later which one they actually want. Usually they would do this through NextCruise so they would pay very little deposit.

 

Now with mandatory NRD for GS that won't be happening and it will be easier to book a GS if you want one.

This is why I love the NRD. More suites available for those of us that actually know what sailing we want. No longer competing with those that book place holders. I completely understand where others are coming from but I hope they keep suites this way from here on out.

On Navigator they provided prize tickets, but I did not see any name tags.

I just don’t understand what is meant by ‘greedy’. The word gets used a lot but I don’t see how the definition fits. Couldn’t it be said that consumers are greedy for wanting more but pay less?

 

You say you choose not to demand more from your customers, how does that matter? If your customers do not find value in your services at the price you ask are they not free to go elsewhere? There are plenty of cruise lines to choose from and the per dimes really aren’t rising all that much. Obviously these changes are no longer meeting your expectations for a cruise, just take your money where you get what you want.

People think that businesses that test the threshold of consumer spending are gouging them and are thus greedy. They feel that a business should not try to increase profits at the expense of some customers. What people don't realize is that RCI is fairing much better in the market than CCL or NCL. Their share prices are rising nicely and they are sailing at capacity. They are doing exactly what their shareholders expect. On the flip side people fail to realize that given inflation, cruises today are a much better value today that in the 70's and 80's. But everyone wants more for less, kind of like a business. You make the best point, if their product no longer holds value for someone, they should take their dollars elsewhere.

I'm waiting for someone to say this to my daughter on our upcoming cruise. She's a teenage with brightly colored "mermaid hair" right now and I'm just waiting for some uppity person to think she has no business on the "suite sun deck". Hell, they will probably give me the side eye with my cargo shorts, beat up SciFi t-shirts, tattoos, and piercings. :)

We are younger and we get it all the time. Last week on NOS we were checked twice in one hour and none of the older couples around us got checked. When asked by Nadja, the concierge, how things were going I explained that I was a bit fed up with this. She must have said something because we were not asked the rest of the trip. I get that the check sometimes, and I am fine with that. Just make it applicable to all.

Did you said something? I would not have been able to stop myself!!

 

 

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I did not. In my younger days I would have, but I have learned to relax. I had the satisfaction of knowing that she wanted to crawl under a rock. That was good enough for me.

I get your point. However, I could charge more for my services and I'd get it too. But I make a comfortable living and don't feel the need to get more out of my patients just because I could. Maybe there are people on this board that see the world from that type of view point. It does not invalidate your view of how a corporation works because that is, for the most part, exactly how they work. It also doesn't necessitate a snarky response from you.:)

No snarky tone meant, we just consistently read comments from people that seem to not understand the business goal of a large corporation with a large number of shareholders. I too wish that a decent margin would be acceptable for shareholders but anyone at the top of a large corporation knows that the only acceptable margin is "more".

When sitting down to use the suite sun loungers we actually had a woman say "there are for suite guests", like I did not fully understand the many signs nor the benefits of my suite. I responded "I am aware" and omitted the many things I wanted to say to her. About an hour later the pool attendant came around checking sea pass cards. When they checked her she oddly could not produce a gold card. She had many excuses so they asked for her name and cabin number and they would simply verify and not bother her any further. She gathered her belongings and left. We did not see her again.

What do you mean by greedy?

People often confuse being greedy with trying to maximize profit. What they need is to find an not-for-profit cruise line.

Thanks for your review. For the 9-night Navigator cruise to the ABC islands, do you remember what day they had the bag laundry special? Trying to plan ahead for packing purposes. Thanks for your help.

Day 4. The sea day after Labadee if I recall correctly.

Its only the rock wall, there may be a chase there for wiring for the show lighting but no service area that will cause noise. On deck 12 or 14 there is a control room with spotlights for the aqua show, but nothing on deck 9. We were in 11330 and had no issues.

How busy was the pool deck? And was this an older demographic cruise as others have reported?

RCL will be your best bet. I believe the kids club on Celebrity is age 3 and up and the child has to be potty trained. Royal will allow as young as 18 months. Celebrity has in room babysitting but only certain hours and it will be an additional per hour fee.

Just remember that on every cruise you take there are likely people that paid far more than you and others that pay far less. You always have to book at the value that is best for you. Value comes in many forms. It could be price, perks, or piece of mind. While some wait until the last minute to book, there is always the chance that it sells out and there are no cabins available. At least you got the sailing, cabin, and location you wanted. There is definitely value in that.

We had the same experience on Oasis. Bar tenders, room steward, dining room staff. Across the board rude and unhappy staff. This was two years ago. Never had this experience on our other 11 RCCL cruises.

Ditto. We will stick to the smaller ships. Kind of wrecked Oasis class for me. Just seems too big to be personal.

Honestly now that Adventure has waterslides, I see much less difference and more similarity. Epic is larger and appears more modern if that is your thing. NCL has a more relaxed feel for dining and dress, but again Royal is getting more similar than different. Price would drive my decision.

I am just looking for opinions on the least desirable ship on the RCCL'S. I see a couple of itineraries that interest me, but do not want to commit to it yet...because I don't know a lot about the ship. (I don't want to name the ship because I want to see what everyone says) I hope this makes sense.

The ship is irrelevant to us. We have found the shorter cruises on any ship less enjoyable. I think the shorter cruises, being lower in price bring in a different clientele. We have notices less courtesy, more visible disregard to staff, rules, and others on shorter sailings. We won't do anything less than 7 nights now. Not that we have not experienced any issues on those, it just seemed more prevalent to us on the shorter sailings.

With 3 people the extra bathroom would sell the CL for me.

The only two places photo ID has routinely been asked for, in my experience, is San Juan Puerto Rico and Nassau, and that is without exception.

And it always tells you in the cruise planner if you need to take them with you.

I have a color photo of the signature page from my passport. I take that with me at ports of call and I leave the real passport in my cabin's safe even if I only require the ship's card. Of course where required by that countries customs authorities, I take my real passport.

This is our process also.

Well.. After 90min with united, they changed the flight with no change fee (just flight difference) and another 90min with expedia where United essentially told expedia 'customer is paying, we already waived 1 change fee'

We had 2 separate bookings as originally was just wife and I, then she decided to bring the kids.

 

Anyways, a simple mistake costs $1300cdn extra and we wont have to rush.

 

Thanks all for the input.

 

Merry Christmas, happy holidays!

 

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Glad they were able to help you out.

Cafe Promenade and Sorrento's are open for late night snacks. Johnny Rockets is open till about 10pm, but there's an $8 charge.

 

Room Service is also available 24 hours, extra charge.

I always forget about room service.

yes, i'm aware of flights/pricing at later point but what does pride have to do with it?

 

anyways..i'm leaning on the change

Didn't mean to offend you, I just couldn't logically connect any other reason why you would not already have made the change. I am just really nervous for you and cannot imagine ending my vacation with the amount of uncertainty that this situation will bring. I am glad you are leaning on the change. I think your situation sucks. I hope for the best.

Yes and Yes. Restaurants and WJ have set hours. Adventure Ocean capacity is set by staffing and fire code occupancy limits, Either one can have an impact first.

$75/p same day flight change fee + fare difference.

 

what a mess up by me. :-(:(

Please, please, please listen to all of us on here. You are assuming that you will find availability on a flight the same day and that the price will not go up from today's prices. Your cruise is over a month away. Flight prices WILL rise and availability WILL dwindle. You made a mistake, as we all have, but don't make another one for the sake of your family. This is a snowball and it will only get bigger the longer you let it roll downhill. Swallow your pride and make the change.