UK/Ireland Cruisers-Questions/Ideas/Suggestions Please

[jenrie]

[quote name='Guienevere_Arianette']On our side of the pond, most debit cards are backed with a CC logo, like VISA or Mastercard; that's why we get away with it, I think; do the debit cards in the UK have CC logos or no?[/quote]
Barclays Bank connect debit card has definately got the VISA logo on. I have just checked ours.

Good luck tomorrow Liz

Jewel

[wakelover]

Dont know whether anyone has asked this yet...I did try and look through all the posts ...but...

...what about Senior Discount? I see that on the RCI website but when I asked my TA about it they said they didnt think they did it. Anyone know??

[little britain]

[quote name='wakelover']Dont know whether anyone has asked this yet...I did try and look through all the posts ...but...

...what about Senior Discount? I see that on the RCI website but when I asked my TA about it they said they didnt think they did it. Anyone know??[/quote] Hi - yes RCI do have senior citizen specials - one person has to be over 55 in the room and both guests will get the reduction in price. However they are not on every ship and not on every stateroom on the ship so they are hard to spot! If there is one though your T/A should get it applied (if you qualify!)

[wakelover]

[quote name='little britain']Hi - yes RCI do have senior citizen specials - one person has to be over 55 in the room and both guests will get the reduction in price. However they are not on every ship and not on every stateroom on the ship so they are hard to spot! If there is one though your T/A should get it applied (if you qualify!)[/quote]

Well my parents should get this then:mad: My TA claimed they didnt know anything about it....I asked her to get me a quote from RCI but she said that they didnt do that.

Bother!

[Elaine0138]

Wakelover

try doing a phantom booking on the royal Caribbean website, there is a box to tick if you have someone over 55 sailing. On the page you where you have the cabin choices if the senior rate is offered on your sailing there will be two prices the normal one and the senior rate. As somebody else mentioned they don't offer a lot of them and not every class of cabin has them on a particular sailing

[Marley-Bop]

Hi, just a quick one that may have already been asked (sorry), but are UK cruisers able to claim a residency discount and if so how does this work. I live in Hampshire and am cruising from Southampton, Hampshire. If this discount applied in the UK, would it be applied to towns, city's or countys or do we just not get it anyway. Thanks??

[Albert Ross]

[quote name='wakelover']Well my parents should get this then:mad: My TA claimed they didnt know anything about it....I asked her to get me a quote from RCI but she said that they didnt do that.

Bother![/quote] WakeLover - as LB and Elaine said, they do not apply to every ship and every sailing. They are pretty rare and tend to come up on TransAtlantics/Repos or on ships that do the same sailing every week for the whole year. I doubt if Navigator which is soldout on some trips would have any reason to put in a price reduction to tempt people on board!

I have never heard of Residency discounts - that would be a good one if people in Hampshire paid less than those in Devon!!

Another thought - do they offer Military Rates in the UK for our servicemen - have never heard this mentioned.

Oh, and my Barclays Connect also has the Visa sign on - so I doubt if the onboard staff would know the difference between that and a credit card when you came to pay up at the end anyway.

[Marley-Bop]

[U][COLOR="Red"][U]"[COLOR=blue]I have never heard of Residency discounts - that would be a good one if people in Hampshire paid less than those in [/U]Devon!!"[/U][/COLOR]
[/COLOR]
Albert Ross - I only asked the question about Hampshire as this is a thread comparing UK/Ireland with the US. In the US THEY DO get residency discounts so I just wondered how it applied in the UK?????

[Albert Ross]

[quote name='Chubbas Nanny'][U][COLOR=red][U]"[COLOR=blue]I have never heard of Residency discounts - that would be a good one if people in Hampshire paid less than those in [/COLOR][/U][COLOR=blue]Devon!!"[/COLOR][/COLOR][/U][COLOR=red]
[/COLOR]
Albert Ross - I only asked the question about Hampshire as this is a thread comparing UK/Ireland with the US. In the US THEY DO get residency discounts so I just wondered how it applied in the UK?????[/quote] Sorry - should have been precise and written 'never heard of residency discounts being applied in UK' - I know they get them in the USA but not sure how they vary from State to State (as I believe they do) Apologies for lack of coherency this morning!

[Marley-Bop]

My apologies, I did not explain myself very well.

I suppose the best question would be the most basic, Are RRCL planning on having an overall worldwide policy so that we can [U]all[/U] benefit from the same pricing (with currency conversion added), discounts and structures???? Life would be so much easier XX :confused:

[Elizanessie]

Good morning everyone.:D

I firmly believe there should be a worldwide policy for all RCCI cruisers...hence my meeting on the Liberty tomorrow.....oh heck..tomorrow.:eek:

Thank you all for your comments and suggestions.I will be online for another hour and a half so if anyone has any other questions/issues/suggestions please continue to post.

Royal Caribbean is showing their faith in Europe/Med by sending over lots of great ships to sail here....but they need to recognise they need to rethink some of their policies for UK/Europe so their cruises will sell out.

[wakelover]

[quote name='Elizanessie']Good morning everyone.:D

I firmly believe there should be a worldwide policy for all RCCI cruisers...hence my meeting on the Liberty tomorrow.....oh heck..tomorrow.:eek:

Thank you all for your comments and suggestions.I will be online for another hour and a half so if anyone has any other questions/issues/suggestions please continue to post.

Royal Caribbean is showing their faith in Europe/Med by sending over lots of great ships to sail here....but they need to recognise they need to rethink some of their policies for UK/Europe so their cruises will sell out.[/quote]
You can tell them from me that I am delighted they're here!!!!!!:D

[Willum UK]

[quote=Sue's Mom;9766632]Jetscot - you are right in thinking that a US TA cannot book you flights for you. We use a US TA and have to book our own flights. But there again, I have found that a return flight from the UK to the US is way cheaper than the other way around.[/quote]

We have always taken a cruise-only price from RCI when cruising from the US because we can arrange flights from the UK so much cheaper . Generally the difference between a fly-cruise price and a cruise-only price is around £6-700 in November; whereas booking a flight seperately can cost around £350. What annoyed me most this year however was that I was quoted £569 for a D1 cabin on Jewel, whereas an American TA got me the same cabin at $888. With the dollar rate at about 2:1 right now the saving is significant, AND I got an onboard credit thrown in. When I ask my UK travel agent why they cannot match the US rate I can never get a realistic answer.

[coxswain]

I remember being sent CA coupons in Euro's even though i live in the United Kingdom - to be fair they did settle out of court !!




jj.....

[SylviaB]

[COLOR=Magenta]Elizanessie, any updates please? :)
[/COLOR]

[Elizanessie]

Sylvia

Sorry for delay in update.

At this moment in time I cannot give any real updates as Robin Shaw was extremely busy on the Liberty and we didnt have time for long chat BUT....I did have the chance to put forward 3 of the questions at the common Ground event which Robin attended along with Adam Goldstein etc.

Questions raised were-

Cancellation Policy....sad to say at this moment in time there are no plans at all to change this it simply cant/wont be done.

Promotions- Again sadly we wont be getting ones like they have in the US the reason given being we have our own Promotions as in Early Booking Discount.

RCCL Visa Card...:D .This is the good news...they are very hopeful that they will be able to introduce this for the UK.I suggested that as American Airlines had recently joined Citibank with a Credit Card for UK people then perhaps RCCI could do the same.

Robin has a copy of all the questions with him just now which he will study while on the Navigator C&A members cruise and will get back to me when he returns to the UK office which I will report back to you all here.

The Visa Card question did raise a cheer from folks at the meeting.:o

Robin was very impressed by all the questions/suggestions raised by the members of CC.

The good thing about raising the questions at this event I beleive, was that Adam Goldstein and Susan Hooper were in attendance, I raised the questions as being from UK/Europe Cruisers on Cruisecritic.

There were a lot of UK TAs at this event and I am hoping that they will have taken note of the questions also and perhaps they will take them back to their managers etc for further discussion.

I did say that although we are delighted that next year there will be 7 RCCI ships in Europe/Med, we really feel that RCCI Miami could perhaps listen to what we in the UK/Europe feel/think could be done to make the company very successful on this side of the pond.

Sorry I cant at this time give more of an update....I have to say I was never so nervous in all my life as then, having to stand up in a theatre full of people and infront of all those from RCCI and speak into a microphone :o

[38anchor]

Elizanessie,
Just found this thread, and I have to say thank you very much for your efforts in trying to standardise UK vs US policies.

I am booked on my first cruise (FOS this Christmas), and having read these boards avidly I have to say I have been a little disappointed in some of the benefits our US residents get compared to us.

With the $ rate being so good at the moment, I was hoping to pre-load my sea pass account to take advantage, but apparetnly I'm not allowed as I'm UK based. OK, fine, then I'll purchase some Sea pass gift vouchers to use - again, not possible. OK, I know I can get TC's and pay off my sea pass with these but its still frustrating!!!!!!!

Anyway, well done for putting forward many valid points. Its no good people like me complaining about certain things, as it takes individuals like yourself to actually get things done. Well done and thank you :D

[debs1204]

[quote name='38anchor']Elizanessie,
Just found this thread, and I have to say thank you very much for your efforts in trying to standardise UK vs US policies.

I am booked on my first cruise (FOS this Christmas), and having read these boards avidly I have to say I have been a little disappointed in some of the benefits our US residents get compared to us.

With the $ rate being so good at the moment, I was hoping to pre-load my sea pass account to take advantage, but apparetnly I'm not allowed as I'm UK based. OK, fine, then I'll purchase some Sea pass gift vouchers to use - again, not possible. OK, I know I can get TC's and pay off my sea pass with these but its still frustrating!!!!!!!

Anyway, well done for putting forward many valid points. Its no good people like me complaining about certain things, as it takes individuals like yourself to actually get things done. Well done and thank you :D[/quote]

Here here!! I was there with Liz on Monday and she did a fantastic job of putting the questions to Robin and co.

Thanks Liz :D

[38anchor]

Debs,
we are virtual neighbours. I actually live in Lytham but work Preston/Leyland. Small world :D

[SylviaB]

[COLOR=Magenta]Thanks Liz! I really hope the credit card will become available to the UK along with all the benefits!
We just booked our TA on Independence this week and we with all the discounts we got like early booking and agent's discount it's actually [B]CHEAPER than the listed US price[/B] (taxes included). Not complaining :D
[/COLOR]

[ILoveScotland]

[B][color=purple][quote name='Elizanessie:[/COLOR'][/B]

[B][COLOR=purple]I firmly believe there should be a worldwide policy for all RCCI cruisers...quote][/COLOR][/B]



[B]Liz and everyone else in the UK count me in as one on this side of the pond who totally agrees. Good luck with all your efforts.[/B]

[B]As for the exchange rate right now - great for all of you, terrible for us. :([/B]

[Elaine0138]

Thanks for being our voice Liz, you have certainly given them food for thought. Maybe one day UK and European cruisers won't be discriminated against, by American companies.