mheinrich

I came here looking for info on this too.  Someone in our FB group posted this....

Just a heads up, this will kill my wife but we were just told by our TA that Carnival is cancelling orders and refunding WiFi packages because they can’t get it to work and it will be down the remainder of the Alaska season.

Is anyone else booked on a Journey's cruise and noticed something going on?  We are/were booked on the June 21 sailing which should have ended on July 3.  That cruise is now gone and there's not room in the schedule for it anymore.  Now there's a June 3 13 day cruise and the next cruise showing is a June 30, 16 day.

Has anyone heard anything????

2 hours ago, Shmoo here said:

That's because, on a round trip cruise that begins and ends in the same US port, all that's required is a stop at ANY foreign port.  Ensenada fulfills that requirement.

 

The question raised on this thread is whether a passenger can get on the ship in one US port (San Diego) and get off it in a different US port (Honolulu).  The answer to that is "no", because there's no DISTANT foreign port stop making that a legal cruise.

Ahhhhhh thank you for reminding me why I never post in this site.   

Not sure about getting back ON the ship, but I can tell you 100% that I just boarded a ship in Miami and the next port was Key West (US Port).  In the middle of the night, I had a family member pass away.  This was last Tuesday.  I went to guest relations, paid $758 per person to be able to get off the ship in Key West and go home.  However, I also had to show proof of my airline tickets home.  Without the airline tickets being purchased, they said I couldn't do it.  (not sure what would've happened if it was driving distance because I didn't ask.  I purchased my airline tickets, had the fee charged to my sign sail and they escorted me off the ship in Key West.

And in December I did a r/t San Diego/Hawaii and the only foreign port we visited was Ensenada.  

For everyone saying you don't go into the casinos because it's smoking....how much do you bet?  loose?  I've watched the non smokers.  Their $.45 bets.  I know my mom is a non smoker.  When she goes into a casino, she looses maybe $50 max.  I'm a smoker.  When I go into a casino, I'm willing to lose thousands.  Sometimes I do.  Sometimes I get lucky.  My point, the studies have been done.  They know that the loss of non smokers vs the gain of smokers is worth it to them.  Gambling is risky business.  Smoking is risky business.  Those of us that do both, yeah, we spend way more than those of you who refuse to go and spend $.45 a bet.  It will take a whole lot of you to make up for one of us that are dropping thousands and smoking our cigarettes.  This isn't a guessing game.  Every cruise line, casino on land knows this.  That's the reason they still do and will for a long time allow smoking.  

Verizon offers data, but it's $2.09/MB.  They don't have any plans for Cuba yet and no travel pass.

Kids can still push every button on the elevator. They just do it outside the elevator now and send it to every floor. Same game, new format.

I work on every single cruise I go on. I have no choice. It's a nightmare! The internet is horrible for work purposes. Luckily I don't have set hours, just need to get things done. If you work really early in the morning or very late at night, it's much better. During the day, all the kids are snap chatting away and trying to compete is next to impossible. Uploading and downloading is crazy if not next to impossible sometimes. But I will say, I do use my phone on wifi and have no problems at all with that. Biggest complaint is there's a delay in response so let the person know you're talking to when the conversation starts and it goes easier. Otherwise you both keep trying to talk at the same time with the delay. Good luck!

I do the car magnets for all of my cruises. I learned the hard way that sometimes they do disappear. So now I put our names on them and created a logo just for me and my family that makes them kind of worthless if someone wants to take them.

If I'm not able to put them on the door, they can usually be put on the wall by your room number with no problem. Have never had anyone tell me I couldn't have them so you'll be fine!

Thanks everyone. I leave in a week and a half so I wanted to have them before I left.

This is a work event for me, but it's a company event that we invite our past patients to cruise with the staff. What we do is plan to have each staff member attend an event that's already scheduled on the ship and then whoever wants to do it can do it, whoever doesn't, doesn't. (i.e., bingo with our nurse, slot tournament with our general manager, trivia with our coordinators, etc.) That's the reason I wanted the ship itin so I could give a time and place for everyone to meet if they were interested in doing them and to schedule the staff to know where they needed to be and what time. I was hoping to create the itin before leaving so everyone had it and could plan accordingly.

I'm doing a group cruise on the Imagination and need to schedule a bunch of things for staff and guests to do while on board. I need the 3 day fun times so I know times of everything that's going on. Any chance someone has those they can scan for me? Please :-)

Thanks everyone! Sucks, but oh well.

I did purchase it before the new rules went into effect. I'll try for shipboard credit for those two days instead of going through the hassle of cancelling and re-purchasing.

I get on the Sunshine on Thursday so I'll post back what my results were after I get home.

So the new rule on the Cheers program says you can't buy the program on the first day out of NY (New Orleans and Louisiana). But it doesn't say if you pre purchase it.

Has anyone sailed yet and pre purchased the cheers program know the answer? Can we use it on the first day if it's pre purchased? And did they refund the first day if not? I purchased it before the rules change and was charged for the full cruise.

Thanks!

Did anyone see this???

The article says she's sailing her first trip on May 27 and visiting Coco Cay and Nassau?!!??!

http://www.******************.com/2016/05/25/royal-caribbeans-empress-of-the-seas-returns-miami

I actually booked the first sailing on purpose. The Empress was ALWAYS my favorite ship. When they cancelled, I picked the May 28 sailing and rebooked just because I still wanted to sail on her and her first "scheduled" sailing at that time didn't work for my schedule. I'm pretty excited that I somehow managed to still be on the first sailing after everything that happened!

The folks on Empress first sailing didn't plan to be I'm pretty sure. ;)

Well than you for all your answers. That certainly cleared it up for me LOL

The phone call was an automated call from Carnival. My son got the first call and he's the one who said it was "mandatory." Shortly after I got a second call on my phone and it did not say mandatory. It was just a reminder automated call that said I hadn't done it and should go onto carnival.com to get it completed.

So the official answer (because I really did just want to know the answer) is no, it is not mandatory. I called and asked to speak to a supervisor. If you do not complete online check in, you should print your confirmation and bring that with you. That's what you'll show to get through security. As far as it taking long, he said no more than 5 minutes longer. They will have to verify your information (name, date of birth, etc.) and load your proof of citizenship. If you have a passport, it will scan so quick and easy. And I specifically asked about non us citizens, same answer...as long as they had the proper documentation.

Thank you everyone for you help.

I was always under the impression that online check in was not mandatory, but more a convenience for checking in. Just received a phone call for an upcoming cruise and was told it was mandatory. Anyone know the answer to this? I have a group of friends from Mexico that are coming with me and I've handled all the bookings and none of them have done the check in. I really don't want to have to explain all this or get all their information and have to do theirs for them. Help!

The information at the port, Dársena de Anaga at Tenerife states:

 

Planned Arrival : March 21, 2015 at 8:00 AM.

Planned Departure: March 22, 2015 at 18:00 PM.

 

Actual Arrival : March 24, 2015 at 12:40 PM

Actual Departure : none specified

 

Type of Stop : Embarkation for Cruise

Terminal: ship provided.

Berth : South 3

 

Most likely planned as a one night stop for embarkation of crew and staff.

 

Det Norske Veritas now reports the Bahamian registry for Empress of the Seas with the documentation, ownership and flag changes complete.

 

https://exchange.dnv.com/Exchange/Main.aspx?EXTool=Vessel&VesselID=G107404

This is from last year, not 2016. I

So its ok to cancel the cruise because some people can afford to make changes? Talk about envy, I bet michigan45 is green with jealousy. So if No one cares why did you post about it?

 

I would be upset too and I am not wealthy, so is my anger ok then? So sick of class warfare mentality. Name one person who doesnt want to be wealthy....

 

RCCL dropped the ball and making ANYONE change plans on the fly is bad and they should offer more OBC or a discount to reboom, that is just good customer service.

Thank you!

They were not on a B2B on Empress, they added a sailing when they booked Enchantment, therefore some of the $4800 is that extra sailing for 6 people.

Correct, the $4800 did include the additional 3 night cruise. We were not on a back to back originally.

It is $4800 MORE than the Empress b2b? Or is that what you had to lay out and are awaiting the Empress refund?

 

Maybe RCI just discovered the most clever sales tactic ever...

Total cost more for 3 couples to change to the Enchantment, rebook our flights and add the 3 night April 1 sailing. (we were originally only booked on the 5 night March 30 Empress sailing)

I was booked on the March 30 w/ 2 other couples (and I'm a travel agent). The choices, if you wanted to keep your dates, were next to ZERO! I couldn't get us on the Majesty March 28 sailing. Tried to get us on a 6 day carnival conquest sailing, but could only get one cabin.

Yesterday, we decided to book the Enchantment no matter what the cost. 45 minutes on the phone with Jet Blue to get the flights fixed. Then the wait with Royal Caribbean. All in all, it cost me 6 hours of my time (not kidding, total of 6 straight hours from start to finish) to get our flights and cruise rebooked.

While on hold waiting, I reserved the cabins on the Enchantment myself. At 7:00 Saturday morning, there were a total of 5 cabins left on the 28th sailing. I took 3. If I had to wait for them to answer the phone, I would not have gotten those cabins.

We decided since we were doing this anyway, we booked a b2b and did the April 1 sailing also.

Total cost for this mess.....$4863 additional of which we will get back a total of $540 in airline change fees ($90x6 people). Our flights cost us a fortune to rebook because it's spring break.

And I wasn't one of the lucky ones that got the early booking discounts that were offered because I booked after the prices had already gone up!

Have ya actually CALLED Royal Caribbean? 5 phone calls, 5 different answers. Was hoping I could find someone here who actually did it and had personal experience of it. There's no information on the website and I don't trust the answers I'm getting from them because I've gotten birth certificate and passport is fine, absolutely needs a passport, I don't know, let me check....mysteriously disconnects.

Does anyone know what type of travel documents are needed for an American Somoa who does not have a passport? It would be a Caribbean cruise round trip FLL. Thanks in advance!

They sell it in the fun shops to be delivered to your cabin on day of embarkation so I doubt it. At least not if you're playing by the "rules."