2chiefs

On 5/9/2020 at 12:23 PM, Wine-O said:

 

I also think the self serve option will go away.  At least I hope so.  🍷

That's the way it was when we first cruised in 1996. You walked through the line with a tray and they served you. 

I agree, they will probably go back to this.

T

Cruises out of Puerto Rico are typically port-intensive. Not sure about no sea days any more but many itineraries have only one sea day. Like others have indicated on this thread, we also like to stay on board or just get off for a short time on port days to enjoy the relaxed atmosphere of the ship. We've cruised extensively in the Caribbean so there are many ports that simply do not interest us anymore. The ship is nice on port days. We have a B2B scheduled for December on the Harmony and the only time we plan to leave the ship is on Coco Cay since we've never been there.

T

4 hours ago, goldfish65 said:

 

What happens when you have a cruise booked say next year, but they sell the ship before then?

You would be ship out of luck!

13 minutes ago, Mary Louise said:

Hi,

 

My final payment is due early April. Most likely we will be canceling our cruise as it is a European one. If I do not pay the remainder of my cruise, what happens to my deposit? Will it be applied to a future cruise?  I do not think I could get a refund as it is a nonrefundable fare. What happens to my RCCL OBC?  Will that move over to my next cruise? 
 

Carnival has made the decision to cancel their European cruises up to June 11th,  I wish RCCL would do the same. It is just so sad what is happening to Italy. I do not see how cruise ships will be able to return to those ports anytime within the next few months. 

 

Thank you

 

ML
 

 

If your final payment  is due in April, I assume your cruise is scheduled in the month of July. If so, you can get future cruise credit now so I'm assuming you'd get the deposit in the form of future cruise credit as well. Good question though. Why not give the deposit back. Interesting question about the OBC as well. Our next cruise is scheduled for April 24 and is fully paid and we intend to cancel  but are hoping they cancel it for full refund vs future cruise credit as they are for current cruises through April 11.

T

1 hour ago, TheTruthCanHurt said:

 

 

AS a D+  my friends and I hate the lounges.  Mostly full of unhappy complaining people. The thought that someone will plan their day, go to the lounge at 4:30pm and save ten seats for their "friends" coming at 5:30  is laughable.  We simply have better things to do.  We think the 3 drinks are great.  We can do what we want, sit where we want  and enjoy our day.  Unless I am in a suite on the oasis class, I simply am not interested in a lounge.  

Really? Not my experience.

1 hour ago, squadron said:

If I have the  figures correct there were between 1200 and 1300 diamonds and diamond pluses and 123 pinnacles on the Snowbird Migration.  The overflow lounge had no seats within minutes of opening.   Maybe needed tow overflow lounges?

LOL! Yeah it was a mess. That's for sure. Service was awful...

2 hours ago, DaniDanielle said:

Other than the first night, we have enjoyed the Diamond Lounge.  After people leave for first dinner seating it empties out quite a bit.  We like having a quiet place during the day to go also.  I think people should stop suggesting changes!!!!

Agreed!!  Don't change it.

3 hours ago, George C said:

As already said there are so many people that stay for entire time, this goes for diamond and concierge, suite lounge normally isn’t bad. I also like lounge but normally stay less than a hour. 

I guess I haven't experienced what you have for the most part. I never go there for the entire time so I can't say there are so many there for the entire time. I guess you must be one of those that stay for the entire time to be able to say that?

17 minutes ago, George C said:

If you get the drink package this is not a concern, wine served in lounge is really pretty bad, would be nice if we could limit people to a 90 min time period , still 3 free drinks with card is nice. 

I like the wine. Why would there be a 90 minute limit? That would hurt the normal "two groups" that normally go (early & late diners). If we had the drink package, we would still attend because we like socializing with the folks that go there.

52 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

That has some bearing on your experience, and not typical of her routine sailings.

I agree. Our last Adventure Snowbird Migration cruise was like the OP described but our experience is that it's the exception, and not the norm. We like the diamond lounge, especially being able to use it during the non-social hours. 

1 hour ago, springfire said:

Future bookings are down!   Many cruisers are not booking future cruises until everyone gets a handle on this situation.  

Source?

When checking cruise prices, they seem to be the same or going up like usual. Typically, if bookings are down, price goes down. Anecdotal yes, but it seems to be a good indicator to me.

T

We haven't cancelled any cruises and will continue to book...

T

4 minutes ago, Balsam12 said:

Am I worried about it?

 

From the view of being worried about actually contracting the virus, absolutely not. The number of people contracting it on cruise ships is extremely low, and for most people, it's not going to kill you anyway. If I had immune system issues, or were elderly, or had very young children, I would probably be more concerned. As a relatively fit and healthy adult, at worst I would be ill for a while.

 

From the view of it impacting on my cruise, maybe mildly concerned. Our cruise is in 25 days. It is from Sydney, Australia to New Zealand on Radiance. The ship has not been to any countries of concern for at least a month, as the stop in Bali last week was cancelled. Australia and New Zealand don't have major concerns about the virus. Worst case scenario, we sail and are denied disembarkation at NZ ports, so we have an 11 night sightseeing cruise (with a beverage package). Not what we paid for, but still a cruise and a lot of fun.

If we were cruising in some other parts of the world, my concern would definitely be higher, especially if this is declared as a "pandemic", which would mean travel insurance cover is null and void if the cruise is cancelled.

Thank you for posting this.

I think this is the best answer to the OP's question. We have 4 cruises booked and have no plans on changing any of them. 10,000 people have already died from the common flu this year and people aren't panicking about that. I'm not saying to take this lightly but I can't see living in fear and not enjoying life either. 

T

13 hours ago, cruisingcasual said:

Should have been more patient!

 

I booked at 349 a person after it bumped up from 319.  The next day, and still is, went down to 299.  I called my big box travel agent, who called Royal Caribbean, and they did absolutely nothing.  I'm still happy to be cruising, but I'll need some time to sooth my purchasing guilt.

 

 

No need for the guilt in my opinion. 

I look at it this way. If you thought it was worth $349 when you purchased it, it's still worth that much to you regardless of what somebody else pays for it.

Enjoy the cruise!!!

3 minutes ago, NavyCruiser said:

 

For that price, could've booked another wk-long cruise...

Yes. I agree.

t

8 minutes ago, NavyCruiser said:

For us poor peasants... What are Cabanas...? 😎

8 minutes ago, NavyCruiser said:

For us poor peasants... What are Cabanas...? 😎

Overpriced "houses" to protect you from the sun while you are out in the sun enjoying the sun.

I don't get it... I'd rather be on the ship sitting at the pool for no charge. Or simply on the beach for some sun, also no charge.

T

2 hours ago, stevea36 said:

When you book the cruise your "Taxes and Fees" (Port fees) are locked in based on historical pricing.   If they go up they will not adjust your pricing.   If they go down or you miss a port you can request that they refund the difference, but not until after you sail.  If current, interim, costs are lower it will not affect your pricing unless you cancel and rebook.  Once they sail and know the true, final, costs they will refund the difference if you request it.  (my experience has been that, lately, the port fees and taxes are higher than the historical pricing but YMMV).

 

Many years ago on the Majesty we received an unexpected OBC during our cruise. When we went to the services desk to inquire about it they told us it was credit for some port taxes that were lowered. There was no change in our itinerary so we were a little puzzled but happy about it. I guess they don't make those adjustments anymore if they don't have to. I can see where it would be an administrative burden for small amounts. Seems to me that if they are changing port taxes that there would be some sort of law requiring the cruise line to at least refund any differences in lowered tax rates since it's not really their money to keep.

T

12 hours ago, ONECRUISER said:

Agree. Know many times Serenade still does Lunch in one of the Specialty Rest, inc my last one 3 months ago. Few when there was many B2B passengers was in MD... Havent been with Officers in at least 3-4yrs

Thanks. I was beginning to think my memory was failing LOL. I'm not the only one that has had the B2B lunch with officers present.

T

17 hours ago, davekathy said:

We did a B2B on the Freedom March/April 2019. No officers at the consecutive cruisers lunch but we had wine. Red and white. But this hasn't always the case on our B2B cruises. 

Good to hear!! My fingers are crossed for our upcoming B2B this December on Harmony!!

The stories are fun with the senior officers but the wine is better!

As Merion_Mom has experienced, it's probably the exception. Especially with the huge success of RCI's loyalty program.

T

9 hours ago, ZiggaZagga17 said:

yeah we're the complete opposite - never had one in the MDR (yet! we've our next B2B in October, but again on an Oasis Class) but they've always been in a 'speciality' restaurants! Maybe it's the class of ship that defines the venue - ie more choice on an Oasis class and the number of passengers too?

Maybe they also take into account how many B2B'ers there are. Perhaps a small specialty restaurant for a small crowd?

T

15 hours ago, Merion_Mom said:

 

hhmmm…………..I don't know when your first B2B was, or how many you have done, but I have never had officers attend a B2B lunch.  They are quite busy on turnaround day.

I went back and looked at our cruise history and it looks like we've done 8 of them. Only one had senior officers which was in December 2012 on the Mariner out of Galveston. The hotel director was at our table and there were others at other tables. Most of our early ones had wine but none lately. Good to hear from davekathy that some ships are still serving wine.

T

B2B's used to be a little more special. A long time ago, we had B2B lunches complete with senior officers at our tables and free wine. We haven't seen the senior officers or wine on recent B2B cruises so I guess they don't do that anymore. Our lunches were always in the MDR. Someone mentioned some being done in specialty restaurants so I guess anything can happen!...

We are on a Harmony B2B this coming December...

T

Maybe all prices are dropping on all cruise lines? We got significant price drops for our Harmony B2B cruises this coming December. 

Perhaps the Coronavirus is causing people to cancel and the algorythms are causing price drops?

T

13 hours ago, cindivan said:

I’m normally not a doomsdayer, but metal straws freak me out. 
 

https://www.livescience.com/65925-metal-straw-death.html

 

I know that is not the norm, but I much prefer the reusable plastic tervis straws. I’m sure there are other brands - I have just grown accustomed to these. My sister had a metal straw on our last cruise and I made her promise to never drink and walk! 

I never use straws.

Simple solution.

14 hours ago, Welly9 said:

Fold away bicycle for the running track is a must! 

 

I think Poo-Pourri takes #1 in everyones hack! 😆

Shouldn't Poo-Pourri be #2?