Starry Eyes

Yeah, but that does not necessarily stop “stupid” you thinks, “Oh, my bag must have been damaged so, someone put duct tape on it.” It is really hard to stop stupid. A few years ago we were on a 9:30 shared shuttle with an extended family that arrived at FLL at 5:30am on a red eye and claimed their luggage. They sat in the airport with the luggage for 4 hours until their scheduled shuttle. Half way to POM, a phone rings. A woman is told by the airline she has the wrong bag. “Impossible, I picked my bag because it is an unusual color. Plus I have a distinctive luggage tag,” she says. The airline says they have her bag and another passenger looking for a similar bag. Our shuttle returns to the airport. The woman acts indignant. Turns out she just purchased the bag at a major retailer with that “distinctive tag” attached to every one of them. There are lots of bags like hers.

Will your next set of luggage have a scale pattern? The airline baggage handlers can probably add gill openings.🤣

https://www.portcanaveral.com/PortCanaveral/media/Communications/2023/CPA-Website-Schedule-Aug-Jan-2024.pdf

I just realized it’s probably Radiance and Feb was mentioned. As mentioned by the PP, MTD reservations won’t begin until 6:45. Those early reservations times were probably already snapped up by others months ago. Now that your cruise is only a few months away, the pre-cruise reservation options for a party of 10 in MTD are probably very limited and maybe later than late traditional dining. If you stand in the no reservations MTD line, it would be tough to get a table for ten. I think you are better off staying in traditional dining.

What ship and cruise date?

The incident occurred in Cape Canaveral. I’m not an expert, but I think that is the jurisdiction if the belongings are not returned. Hopefully the errant passengers will do the right thing and return the luggage they took to its owners. If not, the OP’s sister could try to file a police report. She could send a demand letter if she has the name and address. The couple would probably rather pay the mailing fee than deal with a lawsuit in Florida. Basically though, I think the OP and her sister need to concentrate their efforts on the people who actually took the luggage rather than blame the porter or Royal Caribbean.

OK, though when we do something stupid we may need to pay a “stupid tax.” This time the “stupid tax” is the time and cost of shipping luggage to rightful owners. The “stupid tax” is higher if “stupid” does not buy insurance and that luggage is lost or damaged in shipping.

You are not alone and I’m glad you are able to enjoy traveling extensively. I am glad that you have found another line that is taking you to new ports in a style you enjoy and can afford. I do tend to wonder, though, if your perception of Royal’s deficiencies (I am not denying deficiencies, LOL) is more acute because you have recently taken so many more and longer cruises. Almost a “familiarity breeds contempt” situation. Plus occasional or young cruisers might be more apt enjoy an over enthusiastic CD, the belly flop contest, the on board sales, art auction, etc that a mature, highly experienced cruiser might not.

OK I looked at your signature. I note a substantial increase in the number of Royal Caribbean cruises per year (roughly 4-6 per year in 2011-2019; about 10-13 per year in 2022-2023).

Anything is possible, though if one enters 3 guests there are still cabins available in several categories, including a fair number of 3D balconies. It must be harder to sell them, though, when your lead page says “sold out.” 🤔

It was the passenger’s fault. The rest is nonsense. Maybe the old lady is confused; more likely she is just shifting the blame. After all, if ribbons marked damaged bags, shouldn’t she have stopped and checked her ribbon-bearing bags for damage before leaving Port Canaveral. If she had, she would have found, no damage and someone else’s tags.

That passenger took other people’s property. She’d better promptly return that property, at her expense, before she is charged with theft.

And/or to the lower level of cancellations as the covid situation evolved.

Relax. I merely asked your point of comparison when you said Viking cost a bit more up front. Clearly you were comparing Viking to your GS on Royal Caribbean. Obviously the vast majority of Royal Caribbean’s passengers sail in lesser accommodations, so they perceive a greater price gap between the two companies. For most of us, Viking is more expensive now. And it is a different style that suits some people better than others right now. I’m glad you are enjoying it.

OP, the check in date for your December cruise is approaching. Once you check in and have a set sail pass, you’ll be able to try the “bar code trick” (assuming you don’t get an assignment by then). Royal may have already set aside a stateroom for you, even though it has not officially been assigned; if so, the bar code trick will suss it out.

It is fairly uncommon, though Royal did over book a few cruises as this year as mentioned by a PP. in those oversell situations, an email went to multiple customers asking them to respond if they wanted to be placed on a list as possible volunteers for nice move-over deal or refund. I think they received enough volunteers with flexible plan. Our plans are pretty flexible. If they made the right offer, we’d move to another ship or departure date.

“A bit extra upfront” Do you mean a bit extra upfront compared to Royal’s current full suite prices? If do, that would be a lot more upfront to those accustomed to Royal’s cheapest cabins.

I do not why you were given 5 credits in 2011 (credits from suite, solo, long cruise, being linked to a person with more credits, clerical error, etc), but it was not because of your Celebrity cruises.

Nope. While has been some reciprocity, Celebrity points definitely did not count towards C&A 20 years ago.

Yes. You’d pay the difference between the current price for the suite and what you paid for the balcony. It does not help you if the balcony price has risen since you booked (some people have thought/hoped they pay the difference between the current balcony price and the current suite price)

There’s a Cruise Critic Chaplain? I didn’t think we needed one. OTOH I could understand the need for a referee once in a while and perhaps the need for a laugh track for some of our inside jokes and ongoing, good natured debates.😀

Your genie should take care of your arrangements.

Like you, I’d like to hear the announcements, but I can image others complaining an announcement into the cabin awoke napping babies or children and perhaps some adults.

It would be nice if they would post the Captain’s announcements on the app so people who are unable to hear (or discern) them can read them (or replay them if they want to do an audio file)

Mariner-new style this month