tigstoy

Back in 2019 when we booked our 2020 cruise we decided we would skip 2021 to do a boat trip on our own boat in the Great Lakes (just like we skipped and did in 2017).  In hindsight that was great planning.

Yet in March 2020 when we returned from our 7 (extended to 9) day cruise we booked a cruise for February 2022.

I will not pay a dime on it Until
1 - Odyssey is cruising not only from just Israel but another port.
2 - It is definitely planned and not just promised to arrive in Florida

3 - Restrictions on the ship are lifted that a cruise can actually be enjoyed and you aren't limited to RC only excursions so that the Island actually benefits from the tourism.

If Final payment date arrives and no ships are already sailing out of Florida, I will not pay for the cruise and just cancel.  It is better to lose $200 than tie up $3k.  I also won't risk Odyssey being canceled and us being pushed to a smaller ship without the amenities.  Anything smaller than the Adventure / Navigator would be a no go for me.  That already happened once.  Our cruise on Adventure got cancelled less than 6 months out and the cruises they offered as options ended up with us on the Jewel.  We had a good time but we were not very happy with the change of ship and itinerary.  We paid too high of a price for what the ship/itinerary ended up being.  Ok to do it once but not this time.

I also don't want my money tied up and pay a premium price on what is available or allowed for a future cruise.

I can take my same money and plan many other vacations that I will enjoy just as much.

Those are my personal decisions.  Everyone's life is different and different things appropriate for their situation.

On 1/24/2020 at 11:40 AM, jean87510 said:

I agree. I saw a lot of golf carts yesterday and it was so sunny, I couldn't imagine the heat and fumes. We got a car that was $80 for everything and I'd take that any day. You can see so much more. 

We were behind so many golf carts and couldn't pass because roads in some spots were too narrow. 

The golf carts were ALL booked by a travel agent the day we are visiting and we are looking at other options.
Was it easy to rent a car and was it easy to get around and park?

Looking for information on the car rental if you are willing to share.

We tried to rent golf carts for our stop on March 12, 2020.

A travel agent booked all the carts and private excursions.  We are looking for other ideas to do that day.

2 hours ago, sixesandeights said:

My opinion is that is was NOT a pricing mistake.  It was done intentionally.  They release a few cruises with the prices at $18.  They make a big deal about honoring the "mistake" and then stop discounting the package as deeply moving forward.  The masses don't look at Royal, but instead now "blame" it on the $18 mistake.  It is a brilliant strategy....

 

6&8

I agree it wasn't a "mistake".  I think it may have been planned as a marketing strategy to begin with.

Here is my reason why.

We purchased the package at about 10 pm that night.  Many hours after it was first reported.  I thought it had already been fixed.  We thought let's gamble.  If they don't honor it, we cancel and nothing lost.  If they do honor it, then it is a big Win.

I called a couple we are traveling with (March 2020).  He tried purchasing it but the website was being a PITA like it can be at times.  He finally gets it in his cart and the site locks up.  He gives up and says "Oh well.  I tried."

Fast forward to two days later.  He is out of town and misses a call FROM Royal Caribbean.  They leave a message.  The message says we saw you had the drink package in your cart but it did not process.  If you call us back in 24 hours, we will honor that price.

Hmmmmmmmmmm
Now do you really think they always monitor a suspended purchase in the carts?

IF he had contacted THEM and asked for it to be honored, they could have still said no and I wouldn't have been surprised.  But that isn't the case.  THEY contacted HIM to honor the sale.

I think Royal Caribbean may have had a very creative marketing strategy planned or turned it into a very cost effective marketing opportunity.

1 - They own their mistake
2 - They honor the price

3 - They come out smelling like a rose.

You can't put a price on the advertising they got out of everyone talking about it or the positive PR they got for honoring the price.

This probably could be one of the cheapest advertising and marketing strategies ever used.  They may not make a ton off the sale but can almost look at it as free advertising.

I make personalized ones with the names of the people cruising with us and the date.  I figure they are less likely to be stolen.

I design and then order them on VistaPrint.  Friends and family traveling with us have always enjoyed them.  I think it is $10 or $15 for ten magnets that are 4x6".

We just returned from a cruise on the Symphony.

Friends of ours had problems with their AC and room being hot.  I went to their room and as I was waiting the cabin next to them had their doorway open and I could see the balcony door was open and feel all the ocean air.

So I can confirm that the neighbors were very inconsiderate by doing this and causing our friend's cabin's AC to not run properly.

Please be considerate of the people around you and do not leave your balcony door open for extended periods of time.

You never know what situation you could run into dealing with boarding or Customs.

Better be safe than sorry and take birth certificate and marriage license to support the driver's license.  I wouldn't risk a delay in line and higher stress levels.

Today I tried to login to check on our February 2019 cruise.

It wouldn't let me login. I send for lost password. Email arrives I click the button that says reset password. It forced me to change my email.

I think OK no problem. I will go to settings once logged in and reset my email. WRONG! It won't let me reset email. I have to call and explain it forced me to do change email and I don't want my work email on my account.

She changes my email and gives me a new password and I make her stay on the line while I login. I say I can go to settings and change my password from what you gave me. She replies no you have to send for a lost password. I said excuse me that is what got me into this mess to start with. The email I was sent that clearly states reset password was incorrect and forced me to change the email.

She then changes and gives me a temporary password and I login with it and it prompts me to update my password and life is good.

Who in this day and age does not provide in settings a place for you to update and change your email and password? This creates more of a nightmare with people having to call in for normal routine changes.

Saw that but wasn’t sure how back to normal inventory was...glad the only lobster I’ll be having is at the formal dinner...

 

 

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Pretty much everything in Old San Juan was up and running. We walked the town pretty thoroughly and only came across one generator running.

There is a big CVS and Walgreens both across the street close to where the docks are for the ships visiting for the day. They were fully stocked.

The main shows were usually around 6-6:30 and 9-9:30 for each dinner seating. But of course they had the late night comedy and Love & Marriage gameshow, which we’re always 10:30 or later. This was the first RCI Cruise I’ve done that didn’t have The Quest though! We were disappointed!

They had the Quest.

It was held in the Safari Club.

I hadn’t thought about AirBnB as an option, I would love to know how this goes for y’all. We have never used them and know many people who have and enjoyed their experience.

 

I’ve been in SJU but it’s been 20 years. We went on our first cruise in 1998 as a port of call on the Sensation.

 

 

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We had a great experience with the AirBnB.

It was a 3 bedroom place that we shared with another couple and my sister.

The place was a block or two from San Christobal. Lots of restaurants within reasonable walking distance. We went to a small Italian restuarant one night and to Tijauana's Bar & Grill on the waterfront another night.

It was a great way to spend time in Old San Juan and see the sights.

We are on this cruise also.

We fly in Friday and are staying in Old San Juan at an AirBnB. We were in San Juan as a port stop about 6 years ago and then we left out of San Juan on the Adventure two years ago.

Looking forward to spending more time in Old San Juan.

We have an airBNB booked for early February in Old San Juan. It is located close to the San Cristobal fort.

This is our first time using airBNB. I hope it is a good experience and will try to let you know after we return in mid February.

We booked an air bnb before the hurricanes.

We don't cruise until February.

Hope to hear all good things between now and then.

Where did you rent the chairs and umbrella from?

We were stopped in Grenada Feb 2016. Our snorkel tour stopped at the beach. I don't remember seeing where they were renting umbrellas and chairs.

We went to the sculpture park recently on an overall bad tour.

Few comments not really water for just swimming in.

Water is crystal clear and sculpture park is interesting but the are not many fish at all.

We were there in February 2016. It was rougher that day. Water was churned up so was harder to see the statue and very few fish.

Maybe we had a bad day.

We were not able to apply our balcony discount to either booking we made in January and March due to the "promotions" they were running without choosing one over the other.

I think one had $50 onboard credit and the other had $100.

So now we all know what was probably going on with the pricing.

They knew the ship was going to dry dock.

We had a group of friends with 5 cabins booked -- two promenade rooms and three balconies. The three balconies were next door to each other and the promenades were just a few doors down the hall.

We already had rooms booked in San Juan for 3 of the cabins so ended up booking on the Jewel leaving the next day. We aren't real happy about it because we booked the cruise for the port stops.

So after 2 hours on the phone and waiting another 6 hours for them to return a call after getting approval. The two promenades were upgraded to Ocean View on deck four. The balconies were kept next to each other on deck 8. So while they were able to accommodate us as best they could we lost our hump cabins to be moved farther forward in the ship than we like on a smaller ship with an itinerary that wasn't what my husband had his heart set on.

But the bright side we will still be sailing and on vacation.

$200 OBC really doesn't seem that much for the stress I went through coordinating all this and still stressed hoping everyone is really ok with the changes I was able to make.

We had that cruise booked since January. The prices have almost doubled since we booked.

Now it will be back to the drawing board to find a 2018 cruise.

You will sail from the Pan American pier.

Agreed. We sailed from the PanAm pier in 2016 and have another booked for 2018.

The ships that come in for the day are the ones that dock at the Old San Juan piers.

Look forward to getting your lapel pin, it will end up being more valuable than the balcony discount which you will never be able to use.

 

EDIT: What I really use the most is the "buy one drink, get one free" offer loaded on the SeaPass card. And sometimes the "buy one photo, get one half price".

Agree

Those are about the only perks loaded to our SeaPass card that we use.

Again it confirms that unless you have hit Diamond and above that the Crown and Anchor has no value to it. The only people I have seen post that says they receive value is the Diamond level and above.

Believe me. I check the pricing and sales constantly as well as my sister who travels with us. One of us is probably checking daily if not more often between us.

The cruise we booked for February 2018 has increased in price by $900 per person so there will not be any sale to our advantage. We have a whopping $50 OBC.

The cruise we booked for February 2019 has stayed fairly stable in price but because they had a "Carib Escape Discount" of $150 we were not able to use the balcony discount. My complaint is that any 1st time cruiser gets the same pricing as we get. We have first time cruisers traveling with us so I can compare pricing line by line.

So Again my point is the Crown and Anchor has zero value because I would be paying the same thing if this was my very first cruise.

Anytime they offer a "promo OBC" or "instant discount", the C&A discount is not combinable. It usually serves as a way to exclude C&A members from a promo.

That is a big complaint of mine.

The Crown and Anchor "perks" are practically non existent because they always run some sort of sale the makes a balcony discount unavailable.

I just had a phone call with them about this yesterday.

Our favorite ship has been the Independence (been on it twice).

But we have been very happy with the Adventure and Navigator. We are going on the Adventure for a second time (this time it will have a flowrider!) in 2018 and we are booked on the Symphony in 2019.

2019 will be our first time on a big ship. I think even after that Indy will still be our favorite.

I would suggest the Indy, Freedom, or Liberty for you. They are still big enough to have many activities and a great kids area.

Significant amount...no

Favorite perk(Platinum level)...what perk?

Balcony discount v sale...haven't found the comparison worth effort

Exactly my point. The only real perk promoted to this level is the balcony discount and they make it where you can never use it.

Most valuable perk for us is the balcony discount.

 

The balcony discount is combinable with the fake sale prices, but not with any of the additional fake promos, such as "instant discount" or addtional OBC.

Agree. They raise the prices and exorbitant amount and then have a sale that might bring it down to the original price. They always offer something that is just over what the balcony discount is so that you cannot use it.

Crown and Anchor has very little value to their program.