Just off the Allure. Some observations, thoughts and experiences including quarantine

[TinyPinkBug]

We sailed on the Allure last week, we had two connecting ocean view balcony rooms for our party of 5. Let me preface by saying we had a nice vacation! Lots of things went well and as expected, but this is a compilation of things that I feel are worth sharing with fellow cruisers.

 

Let's just start with the worst part, my 7 year old daughter came down with gastrointestinal illness on day 3. I will confess, we did not take her to medical right away as I should have, one of our traveling companions who is a frequent cruiser thought they would quarantine our entire group for at least 72 hours. My daughter had been swimming in the ocean at Labadee hours before her symptoms started and we thought she may have swallowed some salt water combined with a morning of sun which is rare for us as we live in one of the gloomiest cities in the US. We kept her in bed in the cabin until I finally took her to medical as soon as it opened on day 5. Our trip to medical was quick and easy. They told us if it was gastrointestinal illness, the exam and treatment would be free, anything else we would be charged. She was seen quickly by a very nice doctor who diagnosed her with gastrointestinal illness, they are super efficient because she was then examined by a second doctor who wandered in while the first was getting her meds! I tried to tell the second doctor she had already been examined but he continued anyway! I thought it was funny when he walked out and asked for her paperwork and they told him already being treated! They gave her Zofran, Tylenol, Imodium and pedialyte all at no charge. She was also quarantined to the cabin for 24 hours after her last symptom which was right before we went to medical. As part of quarantine, they provided a list of recommended foods, free rooms service and bottled water, as well as free movies. They also called the room a few times to make sure she was there and ask if there was anything we needed, at one point I asked if she could get some ginger ale or Powerade and they sent couple bottles of each at no charge. It really wasn't as bad as we thought it would be. Dining room staff went above and beyond making sure the person staying back with her was well fed, on lobster night someone delivered my mother in law two lobster tail dinners, then our server insisted we take her two more! So she got to have 4 lobster tails for dinner on our balcony one night! Not a bad deal for her, but good thing we had a balcony because the food smell bothered my daughter. To our surprise, we received a letter on the last day stating my daughter would receive a future cruise credit for her time spent in quarantine, they will send a letter to our travel agent with the credit amount once they determine a value for time lost.

 

A little about medical. Like I said, they were nice and efficient. I went down the day she got sick looking for sea sick bags when medical was not open. There were sea sick bags on the wall was well as free sea sick tablets! There was also single dose medications like Tylenol in a dispenser for something like 50 cents a dose. They also had a large vending machine with full size drug store items like medications, lotions, lubricants, etc; the prices were a bit higher than drug store pricing. All these things were accessible at all hours including in port.

 

It is also worth noting that no one else in our party has gotten sick. But while sitting on our balcony we over heard a lady telling her neighbor she had been up sick in the bathroom all night the same night my daughter came down with her illness. We purchased trip insurance from a third party, I called when we got home to see if we could file a claim for trip interruption, but was told that since we did not incur any costs and she never lost access to the room we paid for there was no loss of vacation. I will tell you though, my daughter would greatly disagree that she didn't lose any of her vacation! I would think when paying for a cruise we were also paying for access to all public areas of the ship in addition to the room, but I guess that isn't how the insurance company sees it. I am going to file a claim anyway and see what happens but I am not going to lose any sleep over it.

 

This took longer than I expected to write, I will come back later because I have lots more to say about pool towels, room service, embarkation and kids programming!

[hucifer]

Aww, sorry about your daughter. I can certainly understand your hesitation about bringing her to the ship's doctor for fear of quarantine! But it sounded like RCCL handled it well.

 

Looking forward to hearing more.

[Pratique]

Glad to hear that you all were well cared for. On my recent Allure cruise, one guest who was injured in St. Thomas gave effusive praise to the captain during Captain's Corner about how well she was cared for by everyone from medical to food/beverage to housekeeping staff.

[cxm38]

Glad your daughter is feeling better. I am sailing next week and look forward to hearing more...especially regarding the kids programs.

[Gloworm2]

Glad to know medical took good care of her

 

 

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[actuarian]

We purchased trip insurance from a third party, I called when we got home to see if we could file a claim for trip interruption, but was told that since we did not incur any costs and she never lost access to the room we paid for there was no loss of vacation. I will tell you though, my daughter would greatly disagree that she didn't lose any of her vacation! I would think when paying for a cruise we were also paying for access to all public areas of the ship in addition to the room, but I guess that isn't how the insurance company sees it. I am going to file a claim anyway and see what happens but I am not going to lose any sleep over it.

 

When my wife was quarantined about 5 years ago, the insurance company did reimburse us for a portion of the cruise fare. They divided the total cost of the cruise by 2 (because I was not quarantined) and then by 7 (because it was a 7 night cruise). They then reimbursed us that amount times the number of days she was quarantined (3) so we received a settlement equal to 3/14 of the total cost of the cruise. We had purchased the insurance through the cruise line, which was Disney for that cruise. I guess this depends on the fine print in the insurance policy and that will in turn will vary with who you purchase the insurance from.

[bmac1]

Royal Caribbean is going to give you a credit for the time that your daughter lost due to illness yet you think your insurance should also pay you for the same time. Sounds a little greedy to me.

[TinyPinkBug]

I forgot to mention in the OP that we had a shore excursion scheduled to at meet on the pier just over an hour after she was scheduled to be released from quarantine! The medical staff told me that if I felt like she was not up for it, to call down and they would speak with customer service about getting us a refund for our excursion which I appreciated because it was one less thing to worry about. Fortunately, she was better and we had a great time at our dolphin encounter at Chankanaab. FYI- my kids loved the swim up bar!

 

Pool towels. Before we sailed, there was a post debating whether or not RC actually tracks pool towels. We completely disconnected on our trip and I don't have the desire to flip through 2 weeks of posts to see if this was settled. But I can tell you with 100% certainty that on the Allure this past week, the pool staff WAS ABSOLUTELY tracking pool towels! The scanner they used had a cord attached to a laptop computer at the desk, they were scanning and adjusting numbers as they checked them out. Not only that, but when I returned 2 of the 4 towels we had out, they told me I had 2 more out. Then another day, my DH had one out and I had one out, when I returned mine, they informed me that we still had one out for our room under my husband's name. So they are tracking them by both room and person. This is our 3rd RC cruise and had never noticed this level of tracking towels before. In the past it looked like they were fake scanning. I know some had claimed they only track them on port days, but they were tracking them through the entire cruise and tracking lasted over the entire cruise since we had a couple towels out for several days. Maybe it is a new system or maybe they are just testing it, I don't know, but they were without a doubt tracking them! It wasn't really an issue since we turned them all in.

 

Room service. For anyone not following the room service post with its 1.2 billion responses, the Allure does have the new $7.95 service charge, it is listed on the menu. Room service was incredibly inconsistent this sailing! Our first morning, we put out the door hanger out with a 7:00-7:30 delivery time. At 6:15am we were awoken by the phone ringing to let us know our order was on its way, sure enough at 6:25am our order was at the door. It was over a half hour early but at least we had breakfast, right? Not so fast, our order included 2 coffees and 1 tea, they only sent 2 cups! But it turned out it didn't matter because the coffee wasn't coffee, it could better be described as hot water with a hint of coffee flavoring! It wasn't just weak, it was transparent! I have worked in restaurants for years and have seen weak coffee from accidental double brews or grossly inaccurate measurement, but this was a whole extra special kind of weak. And my fruit plate consisted of not a single piece of fruit, but instead was full of CHEESE which wasn't even an option on the breakfast menu! I must say, the cheese was tasty though! Day 2 same order but with a 7:30-8:00 delivery time, I was not getting woken up at 6:15 again. This time the coffee was better, super strong but at least it was coffee. We had enough cups, the fruit platter was actual fruit, the toast was slightly burnt but edible, but my daughter's frosted flakes were bran flakes! Luckily I grabbed an extra box of frosted flakes from the buffet the day before in case someone needed a bedtime snack. Day 3 was another super early delivery, the coffee was mildly flavored water again and this time instead of a fruit plate, they sent 2 fruit yogurts! At that point, we skipped a couple days figuring it wasn't worth bothering. But we did order for day 7, and that order not only was perfect with great coffee, but it was delivered at the requested time, nicely presented and the server took a couple extra seconds to go over the order item by item to make sure it was correct! YAY! I wish I'd had a couple extra dollars out to add to the cash I already had out for a job well done!

 

As I mentioned, my daughter was quarantined so we were told to order all her food from room service for 24 hours free of charge. The level of service I got from the room service staff was so inconsistent. The first time I called, I explained the situation and asked for some rice, toast, broth and asked what they could send to drink. The server seemed annoyed at having answered my call, she said they couldn't send JUST broth and that it had to be soup, she said they MAKE them send one free bottle of water but that is it. O... K.... Broth was on the list given to us from medical but who am I to argue. The order comes and it is sloppy mess, I was most annoyed that the soup which had spilled all over the tray and just consisted of noodles and chicken by the time we got it. Later when the front desk called to check up on us I asked about getting some ginger ale or some sort of Powerade, they happily sent us a couple complimentary bottles of each and said the ginger ale should be free for quarantine and if not they would remove the charges. Later, I reluctantly placed another order after not having any luck finding her soup on the buffet. This time, room service was exceptional! The server was very polite when I explained I just wanted some broth out of the chicken soup. She delivered a nicely presented order with a bowl of JUST BROTH AND a bowl of soup just in case my daughter wanted to try to eat some noodles, and this time the soup cups had a lid to prevent spilling and wrapped in a napkin to absorb any spillage, she sent extra crackers, a ginger ale, a glass with ice and she even came equipt with a smile. I am amazed at the difference. I can't help but wonder if some of the staff don't feel like guests deserve decent service if we aren't forking over the $7.95 service fee because I had never experienced crappy room service like this in the past. And before anyone pipes in and claims maybe we were flagged as non tippers, I tipped for every delivery. I worked as a server for years and even managed a restaurant in a hotel with room service so I know how it all works and compensate accordingly.

 

I will try to come back later tonight to post about the kids club and embarkation

[TinyPinkBug]

Royal Caribbean is going to give you a credit for the time that your daughter lost due to illness yet you think your insurance should also pay you for the same time. Sounds a little greedy to me.

 

 

Yes, thank you. I knew there would be some Royal Caribbean cheerleader criticizing me for something. Do you feel better now? Or is there anything else you would like to add in an attempt to make me feel less than? I only wish I could be so perfect.

 

And for the record, RC is offering a credit for one day for one person for a future cruise to be used within one year, which I did not ask for. It is very unlikely we will use it. We cruise no more than once a year and not always on the same cruise line. Maybe you are fortunate to cruise several times a year, but we simply cannot. Not only that, but I purchased insurance through a separate company. Any credit RC offers should be separate from what my insurance plan covers, which is reimbursement for 150% of trip interruption of the traveler and companions.

[bmac1]

I feel great thanks for asking. From what you said Royal Caribbean bent over backwards to help you and your family out even though your daughters unfortunate illness was in no way their fault. Some people are just never satisfied regardless of what you try and do to help them. Yes I do think you are being greedy .

[JessGavSC]

I've enjoyed reading about your adventure and wondered what would happen if one of us got sick on the cruise. Thanks for the observations, looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip.

 

The old saying if you can't say something nice then don't say anything at all has become a way of the past....

 

 

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[LadyShiva]

Yes, thank you. I knew there would be some Royal Caribbean cheerleader criticizing me for something. Do you feel better now? Or is there anything else you would like to add in an attempt to make me feel less than? I only wish I could be so perfect.

 

And for the record, RC is offering a credit for one day for one person for a future cruise to be used within one year, which I did not ask for. It is very unlikely we will use it. We cruise no more than once a year and not always on the same cruise line. Maybe you are fortunate to cruise several times a year, but we simply cannot. Not only that, but I purchased insurance through a separate company. Any credit RC offers should be separate from what my insurance plan covers, which is reimbursement for 150% of trip interruption of the traveler and companions.

 

Cash is better than a coupon you can't use.

[TinyPinkBug]

I feel great thanks for asking. From what you said Royal Caribbean bent over backwards to help you and your family out even though your daughters unfortunate illness was in no way their fault. Some people are just never satisfied regardless of what you try and do to help them. Yes I do think you are being greedy .

 

So glad I could help make your day a little better. ;p I both agree and disagree with you. I completely agree that Royal Caribbean bent over backwards in an unfortunate situation which just as easily could have happened at home and was in no way their fault. I think the future cruise especially was generous. However, it shouldn't matter how Royal Caribbean treated us in the matter of filing a claim with the completely separate insurance company with which I purchased a $200+ policy which covered trip interruption due to illness. Greed would be asking RC to also provide credit to the adult who had to stay with the quarantined minor or further compensation.

[Cuizer2]

We sailed on the Allure last week, we had two connecting ocean view balcony rooms for our party of 5. Let me preface by saying we had a nice vacation! Lots of things went well and as expected, but this is a compilation of things that I feel are worth sharing with fellow cruisers.

 

Let's just start with the worst part, my 7 year old daughter came down with gastrointestinal illness on day 3. I will confess, we did not take her to medical right away as I should have, one of our traveling companions who is a frequent cruiser thought they would quarantine our entire group for at least 72 hours. My daughter had been swimming in the ocean at Labadee hours before her symptoms started and we thought she may have swallowed some salt water combined with a morning of sun which is rare for us as we live in one of the gloomiest cities in the US. We kept her in bed in the cabin until I finally took her to medical as soon as it opened on day 5. Our trip to medical was quick and easy. They told us if it was gastrointestinal illness, the exam and treatment would be free, anything else we would be charged. She was seen quickly by a very nice doctor who diagnosed her with gastrointestinal illness, they are super efficient because she was then examined by a second doctor who wandered in while the first was getting her meds! I tried to tell the second doctor she had already been examined but he continued anyway! I thought it was funny when he walked out and asked for her paperwork and they told him already being treated! They gave her Zofran, Tylenol, Imodium and pedialyte all at no charge. She was also quarantined to the cabin for 24 hours after her last symptom which was right before we went to medical. As part of quarantine, they provided a list of recommended foods, free rooms service and bottled water, as well as free movies. They also called the room a few times to make sure she was there and ask if there was anything we needed, at one point I asked if she could get some ginger ale or Powerade and they sent couple bottles of each at no charge. It really wasn't as bad as we thought it would be. Dining room staff went above and beyond making sure the person staying back with her was well fed, on lobster night someone delivered my mother in law two lobster tail dinners, then our server insisted we take her two more! So she got to have 4 lobster tails for dinner on our balcony one night! Not a bad deal for her, but good thing we had a balcony because the food smell bothered my daughter. To our surprise, we received a letter on the last day stating my daughter would receive a future cruise credit for her time spent in quarantine, they will send a letter to our travel agent with the credit amount once they determine a value for time lost.

 

A little about medical. Like I said, they were nice and efficient. I went down the day she got sick looking for sea sick bags when medical was not open. There were sea sick bags on the wall was well as free sea sick tablets! There was also single dose medications like Tylenol in a dispenser for something like 50 cents a dose. They also had a large vending machine with full size drug store items like medications, lotions, lubricants, etc; the prices were a bit higher than drug store pricing. All these things were accessible at all hours including in port.

 

It is also worth noting that no one else in our party has gotten sick. But while sitting on our balcony we over heard a lady telling her neighbor she had been up sick in the bathroom all night the same night my daughter came down with her illness. We purchased trip insurance from a third party, I called when we got home to see if we could file a claim for trip interruption, but was told that since we did not incur any costs and she never lost access to the room we paid for there was no loss of vacation. I will tell you though, my daughter would greatly disagree that she didn't lose any of her vacation! I would think when paying for a cruise we were also paying for access to all public areas of the ship in addition to the room, but I guess that isn't how the insurance company sees it. I am going to file a claim anyway and see what happens but I am not going to lose any sleep over it.

 

This took longer than I expected to write, I will come back later because I have lots more to say about pool towels, room service, embarkation and kids programming!

 

You need to read the definition of "trip interruption".

[Gloworm2]

I don't blame the cruise lines for tracking towels. If guests in my home start taking towels, I'm getting a tracking system [emoji23]

 

 

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[TinyPinkBug]

You need to read the definition of "trip interruption".

 

Fair enough. Like I said, I am not going to lose any sleep over it, but I am still going to truthfully file a claim and if it is denied I will be just fine with it.

 

I really thought I was going to get called out on not taking her to medical as soon as she had symptoms, which I confess was wrong on my part. I am surprised to get called out on my mention that my insurance policy said they wouldn't cover it. I bet there are others here who might appreciate me bringing it up.

Edited May 10, 2017 by TinyPinkBug

[Gloworm2]

I'm with you. File the claim. If they say no at least you tried

 

 

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[TinyPinkBug]

I don't blame the cruise lines for tracking towels. If guests in my home start taking towels, I'm getting a tracking system [emoji23]

 

 

 

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Me either! In fact I appreciate it since it will probably discourage chair hogs. :D I shared it because I bet inquiring minds want to know!

[Cuizer2]

Fair enough. Like I said, I am not going to lose any sleep over it, but I am still going to truthfully file a claim and if it is denied I will be just fine with it.

 

I really thought I was going to get called out on not taking her to medical as soon as she had symptoms, which I confess was wrong on my part. I am surprised to get called out on my mention that my insurance policy said they wouldn't cover it. I bet there are other here who might appreciate me bringing it up.

 

Who said you shouldn't mention it. If you read your policy before you write your letter, you'll have a better understanding of what to say. The term "trip interruption" should be defined. If not, you've got a better chance of getting coverage. You also have a better chance of getting coverage if you understand what is covered by trip interruption.

 

As to your daughter, I would rather see what she has to say before I comment on your delay in getting her medical attention.

[TinyPinkBug]

Who said you shouldn't mention it. If you read your policy before you write your letter, you'll have a better understanding of what to say. The term "trip interruption" should be defined. If not, you've got a better chance of getting coverage. You also have a better chance of getting coverage if you understand what is covered by trip interruption.

 

As to your daughter, I would rather see what she has to say before I comment on your delay in getting her medical attention.

 

Thanks, that is helpful information. I confess I didn't read the entire policy.

 

My daughter did NOT want to go to medical! She doesn't like going to the doctor and repeatedly told us she was feeling better. She did seem better as she was symptom free for the most of the second day and she was whining that we wouldn't let her go anywhere, but she woke up on the third day vomiting and was not happy when I dragged her down to medical as soon as they opened.

[splash_in_the_water]

Fair enough. Like I said, I am not going to lose any sleep over it, but I am still going to truthfully file a claim and if it is denied I will be just fine with it.

 

I really thought I was going to get called out on not taking her to medical as soon as she had symptoms, which I confess was wrong on my part. I am surprised to get called out on my mention that my insurance policy said they wouldn't cover it. I bet there are others here who might appreciate me bringing it up.

 

 

I like this approach. The ship and the staff seemed to mostly come through for you. But then again, why not give ins. a shot? If they decide you deserve compensation,m then what the hell, take what you can get I say...Good luck :D

[TinyPinkBug]

Kids/family programming. Many great programs to enjoy. The Move It parade is fun, even the 3rd or 4th time around, even though I wish they would integrate some of the newer characters they have on board into the long running parade. Loved How to train your Dragon on Ice! I was excited to see Poppy and Branch from Trolls appear in two meet and greets! I am sure it has been discussed before, but it was great to see the balloon twisters and face painters return to the ship after having been gone for a period last year. They made my daughter a super awesomely impressive balloon dog on our last sea day! The carousel, FlowRider, rock climbing, minigolf and splash pad were all great, my kids especially loved the carousel and FlowRider this cruise. However the family activity schedule was horrible! There would be no kids activities/shows scheduled all morning, then at exactly 12:15 they would schedule 3-4 activities at the exact same time then nothing again until around 5 in the evening when most (not all) families with younger kids were getting ready for the 5:30 dinner seating. For example, one sea day there was nothing scheduled all morning but at exactly 12:15 they scheduled the family talent show, family art or science class, and the single performance of Let You Entertain Me which is the kids aqua theater show all at once. Then another day they scheduled the only 3D showing of the movie Trolls at 4:30, while also scheduling the Trolls meet and greet at exactly 4:30! You had to pick just one! It would have made so much more sense to schedule the meet and greet at 4:00 and had the movie at 4:30 following the meet or even having the meet immediately following the movie. Plus the kids movie easily ran into the 5:30 early seating. We missed a lot of programming we wanted to see because we just couldn't be in two places at once. I didn't keep the daily planner but having to pick and choose kids activities happened many times because of poor scheduling. We ran into this in a previous sailing but not to this extent.

 

My other beef with kids programming has to do with the kids clubs, AKA Ocean Adventure. Each day they would put out a planner with a list of scheduled activities which would sound great. Unfortunately, they either followed the activities loosely or not at all. When I asked about why they bothered putting out a list of events when they don't follow it, they said they try to but can't always follow it. It was our experience that they rarely followed it. My gripe is that Royal Caribbean has advertises themselves as being an autism friendly certified cruise line, but anyone with experience with autistic kids knows that sticking to the written schedule best as you can is extremely important to these kids, they would be better off just not putting out a schedule if they had no intent on following it. I also think they play way too many elimination games for such a diverse group of kids, I saw kids struggling with the rules because of language barriers. Of course this is a topic that everyone is going to disagree on, kids who are good at these games probably had a blast winning dozens of little Inkies, but kids at the bottom of the age range who have never heard of these games or couldn't understand the rules because of language barriers causing them to get eliminated right away every single game probably hated it. Kids programming is an area where Royal Caribbean could make huge improvements with very little effort and almost no cost.

[Gquie]

Im with Gloworm2 and with you TinyPinkBug. File the claim and I hope you get something back. Insurance companies are a blood sucking drain on humanity so you should milk them for all they're worth because they wouldn't hesitate to milk you.

[SG65CB]

With regard to the towel tracking, did this mean that the crew did not go around taking towels off of chairs that were obviously not in use and just saved for future use ("chair hogs")?

[TinyPinkBug]

With regard to the towel tracking, did this mean that the crew did not go around taking towels off of chairs that were obviously not in use and just saved for future use ("chair hogs")?

 

Not that I saw. Personally, I would think twice about leaving an unattended towel for long periods of time if I was going to get charged $25 for it. Especially considering someone else might be looking to replace a $25 towel that they lost. As it was, my sunglasses disappeared by the side of the pool as I swam one day. I can't believe I didn't see someone take them as I was right there in the pool!

 

This is my second Oasis class cruise, I never experienced a time when we couldn't find an unoccupied chair near where we wanted to be and saw many unclaimed, unoccupied loungers even at noon on a sea day. We did however have a couple times where people were sitting in chairs with out stuff on them while we were in the pools, it was kind of awkward to go over and have to take your cover up off a chair someone was sitting on. We had this happen near the kids pools and again near the flow rider.