wowprincess

Welcome back!! Yes it is. I even booked a couple of cruises knowing I was not going to take them as the LA was encouraging that telling me that they could be changed with no limits (OBC taken cruise cruise).

 

Guess I will see what happens next year when the new sailings come out and I try to move them.

We have done the same thing - booked a cruise we knew we wouldn't take because the one we wanted was out yet. Once it was, we called, make one change to the right cruise sailing and we kept our OBC. We've done this twice now on two different cruises (and bookings). Both times reps confirmed we could make the one change.

We are casual dressers. Jeans, capris - whatever is comfortable. On our last cruise we skipped the first formal night and the next night our waiters asked why. We told them we don't dress up. They said it didn't matter - what we wore was fine and to come the next formal night. So we did. And it was fine.

 

Android may have something similar, but this was a pretty big change for iPhone.

Android had this long before iPhone. It was great for when I worked in Canada before TMobile included Canada in their normal plan pricing with no additional charges. I had wifi calling on my Galaxy S2.

To answer someone elses questions, as long as you have a decent wifi connection it should work. The weaker the signal though, the quality of the call will go down.

Royal has told us that we can change once without losing the future OBC. However, I've not seen more than one or two reports that confirm this.

I can confirm this. Booked a random cruise in Sept 2015 with future OBC because the cruise we wanted wasn't opened yet. Changed it a few weeks ago when the NE/Canada cruises for 2017 opened up. Good to go - can change one time, kept OBC.

Sorry, attachment too large

Thanks for the this information. Is Grandeur still sailing out of Boston in Fall 2017?

April Fools?

Please tell me what hotel rooms this weekend are under $100..I would love to hear this. I have lived in NYC all my life and KNOW this isn't true. I currently live in Manhattan. Even hotels that charge by the hour on the west side get close to a hundred bucks after 3 hours. LOL but true.

The Doubletree on Wall Street is $110 a night for Thursday and Friday nights.

The Roosevelt is $118 a night.

Row NYC (Times Square) $114 a night.

The Lexington (Midtown) $97 a night.

The Franklin Hotel (upper east side) $98 a night.

Seton Hotel (mid town) $103 a night.

A quick search of Expedia found quite a few choices for around $100 a night for Thursday and Friday night.

Yes, but if you have opted to take the OBC on the future cruise, they reserve the right to reduce the OBC to that of the Open Booking.

On our TA in April 2014 (after the rule changes) we booked a cruise out as far as possible that we knew we wouldn't take to get the benefits because the cruise we wanted wasn't open yet. We were assured we would be able to keep the OBC, etc. We were skeptical. When we called RCI last summer to change the booking to our Hawaii-Sydney cruise for Sept 2016 the rep assured us we could make ONE ship/cruise change to our booking and retain the benefits. But if we moved it again we would go back down to the future-cruise benefits.

Not sure how consistent that is, but that's how it worked for us.

"Ourusualbeach" thank you so much for understanding what I posted.

 

I am perfectly willing to pay the additional $200 and asked for absolutely no special compensation whatsoever.

But you are asking for special compensation. You're asking for them to ignore the cancellation rule. That is asking for special consideration that they aren't required to do.

All of this information is very helpful, but I just wanted to emphasize that we have 2 cabins. Right now one of those cabins has only 1 person in it. So, I really think this scenario is unique in that we are already paying for 2 people, less the taxes, already. We would just be adding a name to this reservation.

 

I'm assuming that we only have to pay the taxes ( and tips at the end) if we add a person. Also, we don't said until January 17 so plenty of time.

 

In any case, I will let you all know what happens. We asked them to decide a few days before final payment, just in case.

 

Cheers,

 

Koohiichan

It doesn't matter if you're already paying for the 2nd person in your single supplement. They aren't counting that as a berth in the life boat. You are only taking up 3 berths. If the berths in the lifeboat for your section of the ship are full, it doesn't matter if you could add another person to your room because they won't allow it for muster/lifeboat purposes.

That's why you're being encouraged to book earlier rather than later.

There were priority lines on our cruise in September (not Serenade).

I wonder if the last minute change in piers has anything to do with it. Royal can't control those types of changes and can only do the best they can do with the space they are given.

Interesting question. My cruise next September will be dealing with this as we'll be heading to Australia from Hawaii.

Can people have a little bit of class ..... Its an evening out , people dress well, you are in a dining room, Is it that hard to dress up on occasion ??? Wear your jeans in the Windjammer and you are in the Caribbean... Its HOT....:p

I'm on vacation. I don't want to dress up. On Jewel in September I wore jeans every day in the MDR for My Time Dining. We actually skipped the first Formal Night because we didn't want to "dress up" and our waiters told us there was no reason to skip the next one, how we were dressed was fine no issue.

We were on the Jewel from Vancouver to LA.

We were on Deck 7. Our room steward told us that all the flat screens were on board, but they started on the highest deck replacing them and were only to Deck 8. Or as TVs needed replacing of course.

So the TVs are being worked on.

As for the specialty coffee, they had a section of the dining room (on the starboard side) that was only for Diamond and higher where you could get specialty coffee, but only in the morning I think.

I don't know about the cookies, but the treats at Cafe Lattetudes were YUMMY.

Our MTD from last week on Jewel was taking at the very most 1 hour and 25 minutes. Sometimes a little quicker. That was for a table of 5.

I just got off the same cruise as the above poster - and honestly, it just proves that it's all in the "eye of the beholder".

We had a great time. I had cook to order eggs in the Windjammer most mornings and didn't find it all disorganized - you gave them your order, they gave you a number and you came back a few minutes a later to a complete order. Easy peasy.

Our only complaint was the food in the Windjammer during lunch and dinners. We did My Time Dining on this cruise (usually eat all meals in the WJ) and we actually really enjoyed the Dining Room food. Much better than the WJ.

We didn't have any issues with bartenders or bars - the staff everywhere in fact was extremely friendly and helpful.

We had a great cruise. I'm just sad my next one isn't for another year!

Having just got off a cruise yesterday, here is our must have for next years cruise:

Bathroom spray

Battery powered travel size alarm clock

Watch

Flashlight

And not room related, but over the counter cold type meds. Most of our party ended up with head colds on this last cruise - nyquil/dayquil and cough drops.

Those fees don't apply to on ship - but on short in foreign countries. The OP is correct.

When we were in Europe last year on our TA we were able to text for free in every Country we were in (Portugal, Ireland, Belgium, France, Netherlands, Denmark).

Everyone around us was jealous - they couldn't believe we were texting and on Facebook posting pictures. It was just part of the plan. No additional charges or fees.

Like the OP said, 20 cents a minute for calls, but that's it.

It's not just a UK thing, it's an entire rest of the world thing with deposits. Only in US and Canada is a deposit refundable. (unless there is a special being offered in a specific could.Try) Also, only in US and Canada can you get price drops before final payment. All of us on all the rest of the world have non-refundable deposits, and no option of price drops. We pay whatever the price is at the time, and that's it. If we have to change or cancel, no refund of deposit. Enjoy your US/Canada perks. Maybe some day cruise lines will make the rules the same across the board.

I would imagine this isn't based on what the cruise line would like to be able to do, but about the laws in each country. I'm sure if the cruise line could get away with non-refundable deposits in the US and Canada, they certainly would do it. I'm just guessing, but I would imagine there are some consumer protection laws in place in these 2 countries that the rest of the World doesn't enjoy for one reason or another.

Again, this is just my guess.

Did you ever hear back from Adam's office?

We live on the west coast of the United States (Los Angeles). I wear nice jeans to work every day, sometimes shorts during the summer (office job). I see jeans, shorts, sandals, in "fancy" or high end restaurants here all the time. That's really why this question is being asked. Dress standards are very different depending on where you're coming from.

I completely understand where you're coming from. I work in a very laid back environment.

Personally, if she's comfortable, I'd wear what she wants. It's very unlikely anyone will say anything to her and she'll just have to ignore any other diners who believe she's under dressed.

For the life of me, I can't figure out why someone really cares what other people wear to the MDR. If your table mates clothes are ruining your meal, maybe that says more about you than them.

I find it a bit interesting that there is so much controversy about allowing the TSA to profile passengers for screenings in airports but ICE can profile solo cruisers? I really hope there were other reasons that triggered the search.

I agree. Something he did somewhere must have sent off a red flag to have officers ready to go when they arrived back. Being a solo traveler can't be the only thing here.

I would fight this one. I can understand them repricing for a new level attained (although I think it's bad customer service) but there is no reason for them to deny a discount that was valid when you booked.

My guess is that they don't want to apply that discount because they got a heck of a deal on that FOS Christmas Cruise. I *think* (could be wrong) that they got that $300ish per person deal earlier this week, which was WAY off the going price on that cruise for a few hours.

Is it possible that your reservation will be repriced if they apply the discount and it would make it not worth it???

The only dining option where they charge gratuities onto the price of the cruise for final payment is My Time Dining.

Otherwise, unless you purposely prepay them (which you can if you choose even without MTD) then they daily rate of 12.00 pp will be charge to your state room Sea Pass account.