Hanzo

12 minutes ago, Old Fart Cruisers said:

We had our own personal 'karaoke room' in our cabin😉.

 

We're going with a group of about 10 that would be interested. How many people would you say fit in there? lol

Watching an overview of the ship trying to decide if it is for us and they mention karaoke rooms that were built when the ship was supposed to cater to Chinese passengers. Do they still use these now that is a US Carnival ship? If they don't what is the space used for now instead?

Thanks for any information.

17 minutes ago, Paulette3028 said:

Personally, singling out leisuretraveler223 isn't right, but that is my POV.    I will agree with you that if someone doesn't like how a business operates they have 'every right' to let that business know directly (take it up the corporate ladder if necessary) and as you say 'let their voice be heard' -- by the appropriate people.  

 

I work for a corporation that has policies and customers have a belief that 'they can have any policy changed to suit their personal situation', because our society has adopted a theory that "The customer is always right" --  well the 'Customer is NOT always right'.  A company isn't 'egregiously anti-customer' automatically because of a policy or practice that they utilize.  

 

In our cruise experiences which now total 27 cruises, we have had TWO situations, that came up that caused stress for us.  Once was a cruise that was turned into a charter (similar to this thread) and the other was when Royal 'cancelled' our paid in full cruise 'by mistake' after final payment had been made.  The 2nd situation was more difficult to remedy and I had to go up the corporate ladder for immediate help (my TA couldn't even solve it), but Royal corporate -- got it done and compensated us for the stress and aggravation (we were less than 60 days from sail date).

 

In the long run, when thousands upon thousands of cruises/cruisers are being managed --- we have had 25 cruises that went off without headache or aggravation.....I believe that is a phenomenal track record....just speaking for our cruise history. We have 3 more booked and expect the odds are in our favor that these next 3 will come off without a problem.

 

 

If they don't want to be directly responded to they should probably not condescend to multiple people in this thread. One thing of note, in all these instances the cruise lines gives some sort of compensation which is nice, but that is also an indication that they know what they are doing is wrong, despite having the legal right to do it. Again, I am glad you don't mind the inconvenience, I take more issues with people telling others what should bother them and what shouldn't. The OP seem to put substantial effort into this, who are we to say how they should feel/react?

In case anyone ever wonders why some companies seem egregiously anti-consumer or have terrible customer service yet still remain popular remember to thank people like @leisuretraveler223 that gladly bend over with a smile for them. In the meanwhile for the rest of us, if you don't like something about a business's operations, be it legal or not, don't be afraid to let your voice be heard.

Cheers.

4 hours ago, leisuretraveler223 said:

 

LOL! Don't ever try and survive in the business world.  And entitled customers garner ZERO sympathy.  "I want my refundable booking so I can cancel right before final payment with no consequence!  But, if you DARE cancel on ME well before final payment, you will incur my irrational wrath FOREVER!!!"

 

Do people even get that cruising BARELY qualifies as "travel".  It's a creation so devoid of culture, adventure and variability, it's barely a step up from watching Golden Girls reruns on your sofa.  The fact that people complain like this only underscores that fact.

Being upset something you planned and paid for potentially a year or more in advance is cancelled so they can make more money is considered entitled? Alrighty then.

And it sounds like you don't like cruising, any reason why you are on a cruise message board?

1 minute ago, Paulette3028 said:

 

 

To Hanzo:  your reply makes little sense to me, as you were commenting on SRF's "It is not always to make mor money".

 

Ships go into dry dock on a schedule, unless unfortunately an major problem occurs which can't wait until the next dry dock.  But turning a scheduled cruise into a charter, IS a financial decision....and one the cruise line can and does make.

Good lord, I don't think I can spell this out any clearer.

Yes, I understand the cruise line will do what is in their financial interest.

Yes, I understand these things do happen.

Yes, I understand it is legal and it is covered in the cruise contract.

Yes, I understand dry docks are scheduled, outside of emergencies.

All that being said, cancelling a cruise that someone already reserved so the cruise line can make more/easier money sucks, and it is a shitty thing to do. Nothing you can say is going to change my opinion so let's just agree to disagree.

13 minutes ago, Paulette3028 said:

DH and I were not happy when our cruise was cancelled and turned into a charter and we had to choose another option for our vacation.  It does have a financial impact on the bottom line, with the OBC's handed out to cruisers for their inconvenience (you can say it is 'paper money' all you want), and some people just cancel and may not return at all.   

 

The reason Royal or any cruise line does it, is because they can 'make more money'.....what other reason would there be?  There has to be a financial upside to doing it or it would not be done.  

 

To me, life is short -- make the best of it and MOVE ON.

To be clear, not everyone has that level of flexibility with scheduling, especially when organizing and traveling with a group, this is why people book so far in advance. It's great you don't care about the cruise line cancelling, but scoffing at people that see this as a major inconvenience and essentially telling them to just get over it isn't helpful to anyone.

58 minutes ago, SRF said:

 

It is not always to make more money.  

It shouldn't need to be said, but there's obviously a huge difference in dry dock for maintenance/upgrade/repairs and just taking more money whilst disappointing all the people that already booked.

2 hours ago, SRF said:

 

And this DOES happen.

I am not sure I can write it any clearer, I am not saying this things don't happen, they do. That doesn't make it less shitty. Being bumped after you have reserved anything so more money can be made in any industry should be met with backlash, not "oh well, it's in the rules so I am fine with it". There is a difference in legal and ethical.

I am really liking seeing all the "it's super easy" and "it's a breeze" type posts as this will be our first time using this port. I assumed was going to be way more expensive, so that's a nice surprise as well. 

4 hours ago, clean1owner said:

 

 

Just go to guest services on day 1 or 2 and ask them to remove auto-tips. They will do it no questions asked. 

 

They recommend $6.25 per person per day for Dining Service (they don't break down Waiter / Assistant Waiter, and $3.55 per person per day for Stateroom Attendant.

 

I fully endorse removing auto-tips and getting envelopes from Guest Services to tip cash at the end of the week. Don't listen to those claiming you are "stiffing" or "shorting" people by doing it this way. They usually don't have a clue about who gets what from Royal.  A tip is recognition for good service, and if they provided no service to you, why tip? 

So you're saying "Don't listen to other people's opinions about tipping, listen to mine"? Got it.

The point is there are people behind the scenes that share that pool, but out of sight out of mind right?

Warning: my 2 cents incoming!

Why would you want to have to worry that everyone that would have gotten tips if you left auto gratuity on actually got tipped? You're liable to miss someone. Leave auto on and if someone goes above and beyond give them extra. Seems pretty plain and simple. We're already spending thousands on a cruise, what's a few more bucks? Let's be honest, a lot of people turn them off and then tip substantially less, maybe not you fine folks, but don't pretend that's not happening.

58 minutes ago, Sizzlechest said:

 

Not every safe as an administrator code. Some have a key hidden behind a plate that can be picked with a bit of wire in some cases. Some safes can be bypassed with a magnet. Safes that use a magstripe can be bypassed with a master "key" code. Regardless, all safes can be opened by staff otherwise they'd have to replace a safe every time someone forgot their code. Not everyone has valuable stuff in their safe. Most criminals don't want to steal your passport or wallet full of credit cards. It's not worth the risk. Large amounts of cash and jewelry is another matter assuming someone knows it's stored in there. A smart crook won't take ALL your cash. Just a hundred here and there. Most people won't notice. They're on vacation, drinking, partying, and gambling. While the ship is in port, it's relatively empty. Some ports have security sweeps looking for drugs like Bermuda. It's not unheard of to have people open rooms while you're out for a number of reasons.

Right, most of us understand how public use safes work. No one is saying it couldn't happen, we're just saying it's way more likely to be something else, like the person just misplacing it, it falling out of a bag etc than the steward (that would be prime suspect #1) cracking into this persons safe to steal a still unknown value item. That's a lot of risk with potentially little reward.

1 hour ago, Sizzlechest said:

 

Are you implying this issue is limited to that particular hotel with that particular brand of safe? I've got bad news for you son...

Not sure what you are getting at here. Are you insinuating RCL is still using the default admin codes? I can understand a $20 a night motel skipping that step, but I assume there is some level of competency in the security at RCL or you'd see a ton more of these safe theft stories no?

Geez, I was looking forward to checking out the robot bar on my upcoming Anthem cruise. Do you all hate all robots, or just ones that serve drinks? 😛

You mean to tell me it's less likely that security is in cahoots with the stewards robbing guest rooms than it is this person just not keeping track of their stuff and losing it somewhere?

One thing I notice in this thread is despite this person booking way in advance to ensure they got what they wanted on the cruise, they now have people telling them why it shouldn't matter to them. I hope there are no hypocrites in here that mind others telling them what they should and shouldn't care about when it comes to their own good time on a cruise.

Is anyone arguing they can't do it? No. We're just saying that just because they can doesn't make it less crappy.

7 minutes ago, suesnake2002 said:

I can understand cancelling someones cruise for "technical" issues. But just to cancel you and give your room to someone else is just plain shady. Try another cruise line would be my advice. 

 I know cruise lines gave alot of latitude on what they can do. But just because you can do something doesn't mean you should. 

It is extremely shady. It would be like booking a hotel and them calling and saying, oh, hey, there's an convention in town that weekend and your room is no longer available. It may be covered by policy/legal, but it certainly is a crap thing to do.  

Ah, gotcha, thanks for the info!

Figure I'll piggyback on this. If you don't get the lessons (either individual or group) how does this work? Say I book a spot and show up. Do you just ride until you fall, let's say for me about 5 seconds. That's it right? Then you have to rebook another time slot? Or is there just a perpetual line you can keep getting back into?

One thing that is scaring me about our upcoming RCL cruise is the regimented bookings for activities.

We're doing Royal Caribbean, we dock in Bermuda at 9am, stay overnight and leave the next day at 5pm, I'd like longer but I think that's a solid amount of time there.

That's what I like to hear!

Thanks.

I may be overthinking this. The beach where I live has a max temp of 75-80 degrees in the dead of Summer and we swim fine, so if Bermuda is even in the 75-77 degree range like both sites seem to say it should feel just like home to us in Summer. I was just worried because after looking at pics of Horseshoe Bay I couldn't imagine not immediately diving in.

I may have goofed on my research and as I read some older posts it looks like people are saying the water will be way too cold in October for swimming. More specifically October 21st and October 22nd. Based on several sites I came up with 75-77deg water temp, which according to other sites puts it as comfortable to swim in....but some posts here are contradicting that. Now, I understand reaction to different temps is subjective, but I want to make sure I am not totally off base here. This is the site I was looking at that talks about water temp.

https://www.bermuda-attractions.com/bermuda_000157.htm