Rotherham_Cruiser

11 hours ago, MoFarbs said:

Hi everyone!  Celebrating my 40th (!!) birthday on the Allure this weekend with friends and family, and I can't wait!  Our group members have a relatively late check-in time of 2pm, but were hoping to try our luck arriving at the port at 11am to see if they will let us on some time earlier if there's a break in the crowds.  I'm seeing mixed reports online -- both of people being sorted into groups by check in time and of people being able to get on early.  Does anyone have a recent experience they can share?

I got off Allure 3weeks ago, at about 09:00. The line for.the new passengers had formed outside the Terminal, and at 09:30 they called anyone with a time before 11am.

Our embarkation a few days earlier got us on the ship an hour earlier than booked, so I guess the message is get eealy, and chances are, you'll get straight on

Walked through the 1st time and ended up with a hand carved jewellery box, and 2" longer arms where we were dragged from stall to stall.

Waited for a seat on the tram the next time we visited, and will do the same if we go again.

That said it was a bit of fun at first, but the constant haranguing got tedious after 20 mins.

Couple of points re photos:

The offer applies to each member, and not cabin, so don't assume like I did that it was only one free per cabin.

Also, If you don't want a personal pic, the pictures of the ship itself are included in the offer, and make a lovely addition to my cruise folder, containing Cruise Compass, etc.

Both a bit obvious I know, but this idiot (me) missed out on a couple of cruises before he realised 😁

7 hours ago, Another_Critic said:

I've been on 10 TAs and never paid any attention to which side when booking.  My next west to east (Spring) is port side and my next east to west (Fall) is starboard side.  😄

Same here. Every TA we've booked there's been no consideration for which side of the ship we are on because its the same view on both sides, bar the odd oil tanker 😁

Also, the "sunset on our balcony" factor doesn't come into play, because at 6pm, we're in Schooner Bar busting Trivia 😄

I'm wanting to use the facility next January for an Allure cruise, but we are driving from Orlando the day of the cruise.

Bit concerned that we arrive to a "parking lot full" sign and nowhere else to park, given we can't pre Book, and this news makes that fear even worse.

Looks like a 5am start to get to the head of the parking line 😁

Over the years I've been lucky enough to go on 20+ cruises, and love to collect the memorabilia from each trip.

Unfortunately on two of my Cunard cruises they kept the cruise card as we left the ship at the end of the trip, and for my 1st cruise with RCI , I appear to have mislaid the card. 

Is there anywhere / any business who would replicate the.cruise card to complete my collection again.

I wrote to Cunard with no response unfortunately. 

29 minutes ago, kernow said:

We much preferred the new system, any drink anywhere was much nicer than a small choice crammed into 3 hours. 

 

If you are going on Anthem we found the same drinks ordered in the D lounge with a voucher were weaker than the ones ordered at a bar around the ship. The lounge was a quieter place to chat with friends though, most of the other bars had pretty loud music most of the time in the evening.

Don't get me wrong, we aren't big drinkers, and 4 drinks per day is more than we would normally enjoy anyway. The thought of packing into a room downing watered down drinks doesn't appeal either. Just wanted a detailed list of what is available.

I suspect they'll get used before and after dinner,as we have a soft drinks package purchased for cokes/coffee's during the day

Yes we are on Anthem ( 1st time Quantum class)

Just now, molly361 said:

There is still happy hour but you have to use vouchers for drinks there .  The vouchers are no longer in addition to the 3 that were previously loaded onto your Seapass card  You get 4 free drinks per day that can be used in the DL or any other bar

Thanks. My plans to become a Friend of Bill W as a diamond member might need to be put on hold 😁

2 hours ago, smplybcause said:

It's switched to Diamonds getting 4, D+ 5, and Pins 6 that can be used throughout the day up to $13 each drink - but are use it or lose it each day. If you order a drink in the Diamond Lounge it counts now though. They do still have some apps during happy hour in the lounge though. 

To clarify, the happy hour has gone now, then?

I thought the 4 vouchers was as well as the open bar in the DL, not instead of.

We are newly qualified Diamond so we've not tried any of this yet.

Our 1st Cruise as a Diamond member is  tomorrow so would appreciate a detailed list of what we get. The Web site is a bit vague to be honest.

1 hour ago, sgmn said:

My cruise on Allure on 20th September is still showing for sale. Wish they would cancel it so I could get my deposit back in cash 

Best of luck with that. 😂

We are still waiting from March for our cancelled cruise refund

40 minutes ago, CruisinNole said:

Also, I don't know if this is true or not but I was told that it would be 30 to 45 business days to process the balance of my refund.

I'll take that.

85 days and counting and not a hint of a refund from Royal.

2 hours ago, kruisey said:

Although this is now  'Off the subject' I just had to butt in.

Nobody has come up with another reason why a Doctor works on a cruise ship.

Could the reason be he/she love their career and also cruising and the sea life ?

 

 

Well the doctor in Love Boat did it to meet ladies 😁

Don't know if it's still there but the BEST meal we've ever had at sea was at the SS United States on Celebrity Infinity

2 minutes ago, Love my butler said:

As an independent adult, I am always on my own when I travel.  I live in a free and independent country that doesn't rely on liberal, socialist policies to 'take care of me'.  I do have my mommies phone number that I can call and cry to if things get too bad.....

😁 Best I drag my pinko subversive snowflake butt outa here 🤠

2 minutes ago, blcruising said:

Of course it won't. Never said it was an order. 

Safe travels to you, mate, wherever you plan on going.

Hope he doesn't need insurance whilst he's away. Or repatriation. Or medical treatment.  

Once you ignore a state advisory, you might still be able to go, but you're on your own

Compare those prices to the charges on Indy when it was first "amplified" last year.

Good to see Royal showing a bit of common sense

Any one aware who will be CD on Anthem for the TA in early April?

14 minutes ago, joand452 said:

Thank you for this.  Thought for sure we'd have Dennis again!  We liked him back in 2009; 2019 -- a little tired.  We've never Marc as a CD; thoughts?

I vowed to hate anyone who ended every message  with Bing bong. We surprisingly found him warm, funny, enthusiastic and professional and overall enjoyed his efforts

On 8/28/2019 at 4:56 PM, kimala said:

We have had Mike Hunnerup before and he was one of my favorite CDs. Will be happy to see him this October on Allure!

 

Mike was the CD on our 1st ever cruise on Explorer in October 2003. We are on Allure next year, so lets hope we get the chance to meet up with him again, now we have cruised many times and can compare him with others.

We were "wowed" with the entire experience that 1st time

7 minutes ago, FlorenceItaly said:

An update of sorts.  Our $700 was refunded but still waiting on the $200 to show up.  In the meantime, the credit card we used for the $200 on board deposit was compromised so it may be the reason it is taking awhile to show up since we were issued a new cc number.  Although, I wouldn't be surprised if IN ERROR they kept the $200 due to the NRD.   It will get sorted out eventually, but, it is frustrating.

It's more than frustrating though.

THEY instigated the cancellation because there were bigger bucks to be made elsewhere, and yet they can't show the common decency of treating their displaced and disappointed customers with an ounce of respect and ensure they at least got their money back pronto.

Shocking customer service. 

My this IS fun. Travels agents blame Celebrity Cruises. Celebrity Cruise blame the travel agent and piggy in the middle here still doesn't get his deposit refunded

😡😡

If people from Celebrity read these boards, be aware that my wonderful Hawaian island cruise 15 years ago will now be the first and last time I cruise on your ships. A shame, but your entire conduct regards Constellation and the switch is nothing short of shameful.

10 hours ago, kruznkanuk said:

We were booked B2B on Nov 9 (Mediterranean) and Nov 19 Suez transit)on Constellation in a Royal Suite. Got a very VERY confusing email from Celebrity about getting the best price on India and SE Asia and several phone calls from various people, some of whom said the Nov 9 Med. cruise was cancelled and the Nov 19 Suez was a go. The person we settled on talking to clearly said we'd get 'price protection' if we changed to various sailings, including Australia and South Pacific and we spent tons of time trying to find B2B sailings with Royal Suites available for the same # of days.  When I called back to book the best new options, she wasn't available and another guy said the price protection was ONLY for the India/SE Asia options which are of no interest (been there, done that). The initial person didn't return any of 3 messages--probably because she didn't want to admit she screwed up. We've rebooked as close as we can get to preserve various OBCs... but it's nearly $20,000 total more money so we're unlikely to take the new cruises. The current prices are very high for fall 2020 and X isn't willing to do anything beyond the $500 per suite credit. We sailed the old Galaxy class ships back in the 1990's and about 50 X cruises since... and boy, are we looking for other cruise lines to try! 😖

We booked Royal Caribbean ovation of the Seas Tokyo to Seattle for £1800pp instead of the £2500 we were paying for Constellation. 

Pleased in the end

Anyone having problems with their refund for a cancelled Dubai cruise? We were booked on the Dubai to Singapore cruise with a deposit of £300 paid. Nearly 3 weeks later and my TA informs me that they can't refund the deposit because Celebrity haven't paid them yet.

I suspect this is a TA issue because my contract was with them, but before I unleash the big guns (😁) it would be interesting to know if this is a general thing from Celebrity.

44 minutes ago, Billy Baltic said:

 

Depends on the size of the crowd. If there’s a large crowd in a lounge around half can actually see what’s going on. I know because I’ve been there. Studio B isn’t ideal but everyone can get the same enjoyment. 

We watched The Quest in Studio B on Indy. After 10 minutes a woman got over excited, leapt over the rail at the front, landed on her back on the boarding covering the ice rink and ended up stretchered off to the sick bay with the ships doctor in tow.

Some people really took it seriously 😁

If anyone wants a tip, a sock already has a hole in it 😁