Miamia65

Does anyone know how you tell which cruises are eligible for the discount? I don't fancy making loads of dummy bookings!

Go into the Crown and Anchor Society section of the website, login and then go to the specials section. There is a link to all of the exclusive rate cruises, you can then do a search and it will display them.

Having said that, I have noticed that when searching from the home screen of the website whilst being logged in, most of the searches I have done yield a extra discount, but I think it depends on your C&A status level. So don't rely on just the list via the C&A section. But it might be useful for you.

karateman

Those photos are amazing, my legs go to jelly just looking at the photos of the infinity pool at Marina Bay Sands.

We are planning on spending 4 nights in singapore prior to our cruise in november. We will definitely spend 1 night at Marina Bay Sands and 3 other nights either on Orchard Rd or near Chinatown. Just trying to narrow it down... although I do like the Pan Pacific.

Have you stayed at any of the Millennium brand hotels in singapore?

Orchard or M Hotel???

Thanks everyone for your replies. It's really informative and helful for me going through all your examples and airline recomendations. Susie2shoes - what area is it you would recommend for pre-cruise stay??

 

If anyone's interested, we have narrowed our cruise options to 2.

- 10 night eastern voyager on Royal Princess

- 14 night eastern plus western B2B on Regal Princess

 

We where thinking of doing a 7 night Royal,or,Regal plus 7 night oasis,or,allure ots b2b to experience both cruise lines flag ships while in that part of the world, but were a bit concerned we would find the RCCL big heavy weights a bit too family friendly for our relaxing tastes.

 

So there you go - lots of planning still to do.

Any more advice big or small, any little thing, is most welcome. :)

Lanwood,

If you are considering eastern or western caribbean cruise, I would chose eastern over western destinations... we went to Nassau (Bahamas), St Thomas and St Maarten ... wandered around Nassau as we only had 6 or 7 hours, hired a private catamaran in St Thomas and swam with turtles, hired a private taxi in St Maarten for 5 hours who took us around the entire island (dutch and french sides). You must stop at Maho (Airport) Beach - look it up on youtube ... the planes take off right by the beach... amazing and people do crazy things there. Mid afternoon is the best time, as flights land in the morning and take off in the afternoon (which is when crazy people hold on to the fence and get blown away especially by the bigger jets).

Come back and tell us what you decide re: your flights.

Lanwood

I should add we stayed at the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina Hotel, the room was a tower double with intercoastal views. It was on the cruise ship terminal side so we got up early and watched the ships come into port. The princess ships dock really close to this hotel and the RCI ships are further away. I remember seeing a princess ship that morning but they are dwarfed in size compared to oasis/alllure. The Hilton was central and again only a 10 minute drive to the airport with gas stations on the way. In the US you have to pay before you fill up the car and be careful at the rental desks even if you have prepaid/prebooked they try to sell you the option for them to refuel the vehicle and say you won't find a gas station ... you will they are everywhere.

The Hyatt pier 66 is also on the same road as the hilton and has views of the port. You should check out the webcam for port everglades there are a few cameras and if you time it on weekends you can watch the ships come in and out of port. Here is a link to the webcam, but be careful its addictive -

http://www.portevergladeswebcam.com

Are you going anywhere else in the US while you are there ??

do not use the water taxi, I agree with other posters, not reliable and they make you wait until its full before they depart. The one we went in wouldn't start, they guy had to climb down inside the hull to start it and then the alleged tour guide handed a hat around wanting a tip claiming he wasn't paid by the water taxi company. A terrible sham.... after than experience from the port to atlantis we caught a land taxi back...

The only rules I am aware of is if you leave your 15 year old on the ship if she tries to depart without an adult she will be stopped by security, ie. they will keep her on the ship.

I left my 15 year old son on Oasis last year and he was fine. He understood the rules both mine and Royal Caribbean's, ie. he couldn't get off the ship.

Lanwood

We are from Brisbane, late last year we flew Brisbane to Sydney, Sydney to Dallas, Dallas to Orlando - all with QANTAS and ticketed all the way to Orlando, Florida.

We cruised on oasis ots B2B 7 night cruises. Absolutely loved Oasis of the Seas, everywhere we went throughout the caribbean, people would ask - what ship are you on? when we said oasis ots they would say oh we wish we were on that ship. I remember being in one of the ports next to another cruise line and people would just stare at the ship - it is awesome. You can find a spot anywhere and not be crowded or disturbed by other people. It is amazing how royal caribbean manage crowd control - they really have it down pat on this massive ship. You really should try it, forget about the size other people are very envious.

Although we drove from Orlando to Fort Lauderdale after spending 10 nights visiting Disney World and Universal Studios, crazy shopping etc, we then flew Jet Blue (after the cruises) from FLL to Washington DC. I booked Jetblue myself online and they were amazing - I bought the extra space / more space and paid the extra to choose seats.

If you are travelling after your cruise and decide to go on oasis, Royal have a luggage valet service for $20 per person where they take your luggage from outside the cabin on the last night and the next time you see it is at your next destination, for us that was Washington. So we got to spend some time in Miami, South Beach area. It's a 40 minute drive from FLL airport to Miami and very easy to find. The cruise ship terminal in FLL is a 10 minute drive to FLL airport, again very easy drive and is the best place for car rentals.

To be really honest, all four of us were feeling the air sickness by the time we got to Dallas - 15 hours. It was really too long and we were stuck in the middle seats.... having said that if you can handle a long haul flight like this, Dallas is an amazing airport. 8 miles wide and as other posters have said there is a monorail that takes you from one terminal to another. You will have to collect your luggage and go through customs as its your arrival airport and then take your luggage and place it on the transfer belt. Then you catch the monorail to the domestic terminal. We arrived around 1.30pm and there was no other flight arriving in the terminal that QANTAS uses, so it was very quick getting through customs/border protection. Dallas airport also has a 5 storey high escalator and all the BIG souvenirs. Amazingly, the have little carts that drive around the airport to take passengers to McDonalds , yep McDonalds .... Our connecting flight from Dallas to Orlando was American, not impressed with them at all, we paid QANTAS fare and expected a meal as we were flying at dinner time but NO meal, no drinks, nothing. If you can do the research yourself, I would fly Sydney to Dallas and then by your own domestic flight from Dallas to FLL.

Just getting back to Oasis / Allure of the Seas, the entertainment is AMAZING, from broadway shows to Ice Skating Shows .... the aqua theatre with olympic level divers, and a lot more entertainment is something you should really consider.

Happy planning....

I only take out travel insurance when I have booked my flights as they are non-refundable. Whereas the cruise lines have rules that indicate you can get a full refund for any reason up until a certain point. Royal Caribbean gives a full refund if you cancel more than 151 days prior to travel so you don't need travel insurance in that instance. Usually you can't book flights more than 1 year out as well so I don't think you should worry about it so long as you are aware of the terms and conditons for refunds with the cruise line.

Hello Michelle

Don't be afraid, you can ask anything on here and there is so much information. You have chosen a great ship for your first cruise - Rhapsody of the Seas. Once you do your first cruise, go into the Crown and Anchor Society section of the Royal Caribbean website and become a member - you will get cruise points - 1 point for every night of the cruise.

Also check out the Roll Call section, you can find your cruise and join the roll call. You can also register for the RCI meet and mingle you will find the link on the roll call screens.

Happy researching on CC.

AirBnB is illegal because it is against the laws of NY city to rent a private apartment for under 30 days. Some friends had an apartment booked through airbnb over christmas last year and 2 days prior were advised that they could no longer rent the apartment. They did get a refund but airbnb is very high risk.

Radio City Apartments might suit your needs, or try the Affinia brand hotels.

Are you sure it can even make it to Portside?

 

Rhapsody can't, and is their marketed sister ship. Legend is technically smaller though. Most of the difference comes from being shorter. As best as I can find, the height difference is only 4 ft - 1.2 m between the two. It is 14m shorter.

 

I'm not sure whether it's height, or turning length (or both!) that are the issues for Rhapsody, but given there isn't a lot of difference between them, Legend may also be stuck at the Grain wharf.

 

Also, both are longer than Sun Princess, which is the longest able to make it through, so it could be that they are both too long.

Yes Legend can fit under the gateway bridge and RCI have announced (and this is in the video that is included earlier in this thread) that it will cruise from portside, hamilton wharf. There is even a digitally engineered image of what is suppose to look like legend going under the gateway bridge in the video.

Just wondering what changes will be made to Voyager during the drydock in November?

Flowrider? Restaurants? cabin upgrades? etc etc

I also have had problems using the NCC and would NEVER purchase again. Just too many T&C associated with them.

I was able to use one with the BOGO sale. It does say they are combinable but it all has to be done manually and some consultants are just too lazy (I think) to do this. I stood my ground on this one with two phone calls one in the morning and another 1 hour on the phone yesterday afternoon

my invoice finally arrived all correct. The only problem was that the consultant said the OBC would not be applied until 2 weeks before the cruise, which I thought was strange.

I have used Princess and P&O FCC many times and the process is simply. Certainly not with RCL and I will be saving my money and never purchase again.

I have had some problems as well, so I cancelled the courtesy holds and got my TA to rebook them for me. I also asked for a refund for the NCCs and agree with you will never purchase them again as it appears that they are unable to be used with a promotion/sale.

I was on the phone for 1 hour 20 minutes and converted my courtesy holds to bookings, have to wait 24 to 48 hours for the pricing to be amended and C&A discount/OBC to be applied.

I can cancel my Rhapsody cruise and get a full refund because it is more than 151 days out from the sail date.

I could not use by next cruise certificate that I purchased on Oasis last year, the rep tried many ways to apply it but it wasn't accepted. He said because it is an open booking with a reservation number it was combinable with the BOGO sale. I have tried to use this certificate twice now but it isn't combinable.

So I just wonder does anyone know when these can be used? Is it only able to be used for non-sale/promotion bookings?

Great news thanks for the replies

I have done courtesy holds on weekends and they don't expire in 24 hours ... usually about 3 days.

As C&A members, if I book 2 cabins, one of which has my 17 and 16 year old kids in and they are both Platinum C&A members will the price be reduced due to the C&A suite/balcony discount of $200 for a 13 night cruise booked more than 6 months in advance?

Follow up to this, is RCL don't work on the weekend, so am not sure whether our booking will drop out by then! I really need to speak to them before proceeding. Could not believe I could not speak to someone today.:confused:

I am going to change cruise, different ship different date .... so I put a courtesy hold on and the rate was more than $1000 dollars cheaper plus it applied the C&A society suite and balcony discount because I booked a JS. Just have to wait for my TA to sort out the cancellation of the rhapsody cruise and we will be going on Voyager from Singapore to Sydney .... Voyager will come out of dry dock, do a 4 night cruise from and to Singapore then head to Australia. Hopefully, they will have any issues sorted out as a result of the dry dock but who cares.

I am a C&A member and I purchased 2 NCC's in December last year on oasis.

Today I put a courtesy hold on 2 cabins at C&A society membership pricing under the current BOGO sale. Both of the cabins are on hold at the same price (based on BOGO 50% discount and C&A discount). The RCI computer system has put mine and my daughters name on both bookings.

One of the bookings is for a friend of mine and her daughter.

My daughter is 17 and is a C&A member as well.

The people travelling are myself and my daughter and my daughter's friend and her mum - hence the 2 cabins. My daughter's friend and her mum are not C&A members, they have never cruised with RCI, only Princess.

Sorry for all the background info ... but my question is ... and I know I an use the NCC for booking up to 3 cabins and I also have 2 NCCs.

My question is, how can I ensure that the 2 cabin prices stay the same, once I ask my TA to allocate travellers to the 2 cabins. The cabins are interconnecting and both of the girls are under 18. We are cruising from Singapore to Sydney.

Would I be able to keep the cabin prices the same by putting myself and the other mum in my cabin. AND my daughter (who is C&A member - platinum status) and her friend in the other cabin?

I was thinking this because the discounted pricing is based on both the BOGO and our C&A membership???

Also, can I just use 1 NCC and get the OBC for each cabin? Or do I have to use 2... the Ts and Cs say I can book more than 1 cabin!

Sorry this is a bit complicated !!!! Well to me anyway ....

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

After seeing this on CC I emailed my TA and he is looking into it for us - thankyou CC family!

 

Fingers crossed we will get a discount :)

BeccaW

If you are asking your TA to get a price adjustment on a current booking and he/she is successful can you please post on here and let us aussies know

My TA tried twice today and got through to the call centre that is overseas somewhere and got told twice that they can't adjust the price. The Terms and Conditions in australia are different to those on the US website!!!

good luck, I have been reading the RCI thread and all of the american folk are calling and getting their current reservations adjusted to the promotional pricing ... they don't have the same Ts and Cs as we do in australia whereby you can't change a current booking.

My TA called through to the call centre today to try and adjust my booking but NO was the answer. The TA is going to query the RCI rep next time they visit the office as it's very odd that we have different terms and conditions, especially when you read about the great discounts US citizens are saving on current bookings!!!!!

What do other people think about this?

Do anyone know why this happens in australia?

I wonder if you book a room as a double and one person cancels, will they reprice it to the single promo rate? or will you lose the promo rate altogether?

you could always book as a double and the second person just doesn't turn up..... what are they going to do? they won't stop you and its too late to do anything about it

Also, if you are a Crown and Anchor Society member this promotion is combinable with balcony and suite discounts (it's unclear about OBB Bonus) and you can find some of the cruises with the BOGO 50% deal in the C&A society login area of the website. Of course you have to be platinum or higher to access the exclusive rates.

New sale started today, awesome pricing on some cruises. check it out!!

http://www.royalcaribbean.com.au/dealsandmore/featuredCruises/selectLandingPromo.do?promoCode=131528