fragilek

hoping to do the same with soya sauce

Do Royal Caribbean have any special line for wheelchairs I am boarding in Rome if that makes any difference.

Asking because last time I waited in the normal line for a while before being spotted and pulled out to get into a different line- As you can imagine in a busy queue that was pretty tricky (I am sure I went over a few toes) so want to avoid making the same mistake next time.

There is a list of about 30 countries who do not require the 6 months - I will try and find a link to the list. However, I think your biggest issue may be the fights as my brother and his wife were refused boarding (wrongly) as she only had 4 months left on her passport (she had not wanted to renew as they had married and she would now have a different surname than her tickets had been booked in) They were trying to fly to mexico via the states. - The airline admitted their mistake and eventually compensated them - but they still lost their holiday. I would be loathed to try it - but if you need to I would get an email from the airline stating that they will allow you to fly and take it with you to check in.

so... Basically an expensive miles out club?

:d:d

No. They still had to get to port for turnaround day.

no expert- but I believe they would carry out whatever orders came from the us coast guard

This is exactly what has happened.

 

For all the horrible people you will be please to know RCCL will offer nothing in compassion. Just somehow I thought a double fatality of both passengers might have called for something. Not even a credit out of the non-refunded portion.

 

AND I may ad if its fine for all the hotels/airlines to refund 100% of non refundable bookings what makes a cruise line any different?

sorry for your loss

I did not read the all comments as I was loosing faith in humanity-

You should post what has happened on facebook if nothing else it may shame the company into being more compassionate in the future. I know they do not have to be by law but we have had other companies refund to us after a death.

After that try and not think about the cruise refund to allow yourself more time to concentrate on healing - I wish you all the best.

OK from a wine lover

Europe has some of the best wines in the world.

A few name to look out for

French- (REDS) chateauxneuf du pape, Touraine, Corbier, Fitou (WHITES)- Chablis, Vouvres (need a good one)

Spanish - RED My favourite wine - Rioja- a good one of these cannot be beaten - very different to any other red wine and by far one of the smoothest tastes you will get. White - Cava - Needs to be good - there are some cheep try FREIXENET. Also white Rioja - ok but not a patch on the red

Italian- Red- Barolo, Chanti (needs to be Reserva). White = pino grigio (light and Fruity

Also on the ship you may get New Zealand - white Malborough - savingon blanc- My favourite White- especially if its Cloudy Bay (or Oyster Bay as a close 2nd)

Not sure if you mean on the ship or off.

Here in the EU the majority would not go site-seeing in a town or visit a city to shop in shorts but would wear a sun dress or skirt and top with sandals - I would wear casual trousers if cooler. Shorts etc are beach/ around beach area only. (unless under 20) even my eldest would not wear them now away from the sea front and she is 22, trainers (sneakers) are avoided unless on a long walk or doing sport - some do wear them all the time but it is not the norm . On hols even in a hotel we would always change for diner into slightly dressier clothes.

I wonder if it depends on who's waters it is in as it is against the law to smoke in side in any place of work (if you employ others) in the uk, so may apply in UK waters.

This was great fun we booked ourself and just took a cab to the marina then after the boats we swam and had a cocktail at the beach right beside it then cab back to the ship - cost about half the ships price

We did this for our celebrity cruise no grats on the wine bought as a gift so I have ordered 16 bottles and saved a lot of money, I don't know if it's the same with rccl we have also bought OBC at an exchange rate of $1.67 again if you can with royal its a good buy

wow-:eek: how did you buy the on board credit? -

I am going back and forward between this and 1 person drink pack and 1 person pay as we go - I would like to reduce the on board $ costs especially as the £ is low. So I think it may be better to pay ahead due to the exchange rate.

Did you recognize any of these wines if so any recommendations

Can any one here help get a list of good/bad gluten free choices going-

MDR

starters

mains

sweets-

BUFFET-

Breakfast

lunch

yip it is in my cruises - cruise planner- gifts and gear- drop down to culinary collection in top box then choose strawberries in 2nd drop down

total novice here so I may be wrong but I am sure I saw this on line - under gifts - there is a drop down box to select treats and I think it is in there- I will log in and check

Let me tell you our experience with RCI and a disabled stateroom.

 

We booked a cruise through a TA for Independence of the seas in 2013.

The travel agent sorted all our reservations for us, chose our stateroom etc.

We looked up our room on the deck plans as you do and it we appeared to have been booked into a disabled room.

Thankfully neither of us are disabled and we never expressed a wish for this type of room.

Here is where things got very silly.

 

We requested that we could change rooms so any disabled person would and should have better use than usthan our booked room.

Because we are from the UK, the option given, were to cancel and loose our deposit!! And rebook paying another deposit.

Passengers from the UK do not have the option to cancel or change staterooms without a financial penalty.

As loosing the deposit appeared unfair and not an option we kept the disabled room, but felt disappointed that RCI couldn't help.

 

Fast forward to embarkation day, we again offered to change staterooms if it would be helpful to another fellow passenger. We went to our staeroom , obviously larger than usual presumably to accomadate a wheelchair.

In the very next stateroom was a disabled child in a wheelchair on holiday with her parents, they were struggling to get through the door with her chair.

We offered to swap rooms , which after going to guest services they allowed us to do with no charge as we were on board.

Due to this we have met 3 wonderful people from Florida who are now great friends with us and we have met 3 times since :)

So I can sympathise with the problem you encountered..UK cruisers do appear to be at a disadvantage at times

Good for you! I bet you made their holiday soooo much easier. Your story was even crazier than mine- they wanted to charge you to help someone else out - insane!! It is like they are robots an can not apply common sense to any issues. The UK booking conditions are unfair we will not book through the UK again. (if we ever decide to use RCI again) Lesson well learned use a TA in the USA. May be if more UK people did this they would start to supply us with a level playing field both wrt prices and conditions.

1. There were no disabled rooms available when I booked - I even checked when I phone RCCL - if there had been I would have booked one

2. Only the very small OV were left so the RCCL agent (direct with RCCL) avised that I may be best to go gty as there was a chance bigger room that way The difference in price at the time was very little and not why I chose the gty.

3 thought that as in the usa once my room got assigned if a disabled room came up I could swap - This is only for north america - And I admit it is my stupid fault not to have check to see if the uk bookings are different to what I had read on here.

4. I was hoping that RCCL could at least check my booking call (they say they are recorded and see I was badly advised and they could also check what non GTY was at the time and at least allow me to pay that)

5. They will probably now sell that cabin to someone who doesn't even need it - and that is what anoys me most.

6. I am new to RCCL and in fact this will be only my 3rd ever cruise - so l am learning and now know that I should book through the USA as prices and conditions are better.

I booked a gty cabin and waited until my room was assigned then tried to do what others had said they can do in the usa. Which is change once the room is assigned Special services have confirmed that this would not be an issue with a usa booking but cannot be done with a UK one copy of their email

"We are truly sorry that you been feeling discriminated by the fact of

terms and conditions are being handle in the US Market. However there is

nothing we can do at this point since every market has the right to have

their own policy and in this particular case UK Market is quite clear

regarding terms and conditions of guarantee staterooms.

One more time, we are sorry for any inconvenience that this matter may

cause.

If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact us.

today."

When I booked there was hardly any difference in price between gty and assigned - I chose gyt after speaking with RCCL on the phone as they said there was a chance that some of the larger OV rooms may be assigned to us that way - none were still available to choose (and a slightly larger one has been). I had read stuff on here about changing after assignment and made the mistake of not reading all the small print that would show that the UK is different.

I know that this is my mistake but it still seems mad that they would prefer to keep me in the non disabled room - give me a shower seat, provide a fridge for meds rather than swap me- I wouldn;t even mind if they wanted to charge me the diff in price between what I paid and what an assigned room was back then.

They must even have a recording of my phone call where I asked if any disabled rooms were not loaded on yet and available for me to book for at the assigned price, they would then also here their agents say no and then advice to choose GTY as I may get more room that way.

Are you saying a lateral move is not allowed within the same cat? Does not seem right.

 

How do you get around in a regular cabin and bathroom?

Yes the move is not allowed under uk booking conditions (this is my first RCCL booking so it didn't realise that so I have sat checking on for a disabled cabin in vain). As far as coping - I have requested a shower seat and will have to bring my trolley with me to aid me in the cabin. In RCCL defense I did know I would have to do this when I booked but I was in under the false impression that if I was lucky enough and a disabled cabin became free I could change .

Just really upset that they would rather now sell this cabin to an abled bodied person than swap me into it - I feel it is a bit disrespectful (may be I am wrong in thinking this as it is in the UK small print unfortunately I read stuff on here and not that online small print so in a way I am a bit to blame) BUT I AM STILL MAD as its moving would make a BIG difference to my holiday - we cant afford the $1000 now wanted.)

Take note if you are a UK passenger -

When I booked no disabled cabins were available now one has become free in the same cat as my room. But to change to it will cost me a small fortune as I will have to cancle my current booking and rebook at todays prices.

However , if I had booked through the US using a TA I could have done this at no extra cost -

We in the UK already have to pay more to cruise.

- This is outrageous discrimination and as the disabled cabin is now up for open sail meaning that anyone can now book it - it is also shocking treatment of a disabled passenger who will continue require lifting from their chair in and out of their room when a cabin is sitting there available that my wheelchair can fit into unfolded. And if I was american I could change to it!!!!!

I think this has put me off RCI I will look else where for fairer treatment of UK Guests and for a more understanding and common scene approach to disabled passengers.

i could sit here and make a case and argue against all of this but at the end of the day we are each going to think what we are going to think.. all i can say is that while I am not a verteran cruiser, RCI seems to have no real beef with the way i have used my drink package in the past. when they do, I will have to change my practice or find another cruise line. until then everyone, let us enjoy our cruising and complaining of our first world problems.. carry on.

I only have one comment - what you do is up to you as it is to everyone - but if you plan to continue,may be wise to change our photo thing on here to that someone else :D

what does the robot do with the 18% gratuity?

best question ever!!!!:d:d

Hello, fragilek, thank you for your question. As long as DH has your Seapass when he orders your drink, he shouldn't run into any issues. We hope this information helps, and we look forward to welcoming you onboard.

Thank you for responding - that will help with my decision as I have mobility issues and would find getting too/from any bar hard.

Now may be you can help with an earlier issue I asked about too. I have assigned my gyt room - when we booked there where no disabled cabins available so we booked gyt- now one has become free in the same cat as I have been assigned so I requested to change as I am a in wheelchair but I have been told that it is large cost to do this as they will cancel my gyt booking and do a new booking at todays cost- This is much higher than when I booked for choosing actual cabin. Others on here have said this should not be the case. Can you clarify for me seems crazy that this cabin is now up for open sale for anyone and I am having to request shower seats and arrange storage for my scooter and be carried/ helped in and out of the room as my wheelchair will not fit.

Ok we still can't decide if both/ one or none of DH and I will buy the beverage packs. If we do I will get the prem and DH only the select. Now here is my problem/question.

If only I get a package and he pays for beer/ wine or get the select only one will he be able to go to the bar with my card and get my drinks - (I have read that a wondering waiters were in short supply). Is there a chance we would get pulled up doing this.

Is the main dining room open for lunch?