Spurschick

We're planning a Pacific coastal cruise in the fall and the two real choices are Princess - Crown Princess and RCI - Explorer of the Seas.

 

We've both sailed plenty on our own, before kids, and thus we have good Princess "points" and I do like the itinerary better, but it seems Princess does not have baby sitting for our 1yo.

 

RCI seems like it would be better for our daughter (seems more kid friendly) and they do have baby sitting, but the itinerary is less desirable (though very similar!) and less desirable departure date. Only one of us has been with RCI before and 20 years ago. It might be the more 'new' experience?

 

Any help would be much appreciated!

 

Thanks!

Have not sailed Princess, however have sailed with daughter on RCL since she was very young. We always had good experiences with babysitting in cabin. First night is hard to get someone and I recommend booking as soon as you get on board for the other nights.

You might help readers with an answer if you give more of an idea of the age of your daughter, what you might like to on the ship, differences in ports, etc.

They state she is 1:confused:

Bobs email should work. You can always call them at 1-888-561-2234

Just MHO of course, but yes RC should be responsible to make people whole when RC makes decisions that cost their customers money.

 

Think about it, put yourself in the O.P. shoes. Would you not expect to be made whole ? I know I would.

So if they prepaid a non refundable hotel room at $400 per night because they don't like the refundable/easy cancellation rates, you would expect that to be refunded too?

Why? Because the right thing to do is to make the customer whole.

 

The O.P. is out of pocket because of a decision made by RC.

 

There is no dispute about this fact.

 

If RC wants to live a culture of fairness and responsibility for their business decisions then they need to cover the O.P.'s out of pocket expenses, and yes indeed they should not only do it for this customer but all customers who have been impacted.

If RC reimbursed everyone for things not covered because people didnt get travel insurance, guess what it would do to the fares of everyone else:eek:

The op had two ways they could have avoided this

1 - travel insurance, which would have covered cancelling and reinstating the miles

Or

2- pay a fee and change the flights and get reimbursed for the change. (Which was a valid reimbursement)

We have had cruises and flights cancelled on various trips in the past. That's why we have insurance. You never know what's going to happen, and the further out you book the higher the probability that something could change. Because we have had insurance we have always received full reimbursement of the additional costs involved.

IMHO if you are prepared to fly half way round the world for a vacation you get insurance. If they were taken ill halfway round the world would they/you expect RC to foot those expenses as well? Things happen. It is the traveling parties responsibility to know the implications (including financial) if changes happen. The problem is too many people have never had issues in the past and get complacent that it's never going to happen to them. Then when it does they have the attitude that its not their fault they aren't covered.

Yes, I sympathize with the op that their trip was cancelled. However that doesn't mean RC should be liable for all costs incurred either.

Yes...they can during the cocktail hours...however this seems to be a concierge decision. It seems we've seen more well behaved ones in the DL than in the CL.

Only on certain ships and certain sailings. It can and does change ship to ship and at times sailing to sailing. More often than not we have been on sailings where the answer is no. It is rare we have been on a sailing that we have seen children. My understanding is it is somewhat dependant on how many D and D+'s are on the sailing.

I did see the thread recently that stated they were told the new policy was yes, however others were still saying their ships / itineraries were no.

My advise would be to be prepared for them to say no. If they say yes then great!

Sorry not sure if you meant yes they can go in or yes they can be denied;)

How does it work if the kids have earned Diamond status in their own right? Can they be denied entry during cocktail hour if accompanied by their parents?

Childs status does not matter. Like others have said either all allowed or none dependant on ship.

For group bookings do you not have to have names confirmed and additional deposit in before final payment or the cruise line reclaims the cabins.

 

Whatever the case I would call ASAP. I would even try calling C&A today to see if they can help.

I'm reading it the same as you. If you read what was posted closely it wasn't cancelled due to not paying FINAL payment, but because the full deposit wasn't paid.

Adding - surprised given deposit was due 2015 they only just emailed?

Op can you prove you paid the full deposit? I hope it all works out for you

I would try calling the C&a number rather than general number

I wish they had the ice cream bar in the WJ like they have in Celebrity's ocean view cafe (or at least they did the last time I sailed X so I assume it's still there:D)

Do you not have travel insurance?

Do you really think Early Dining is booked nine months out! I bet if they wanted a suite they would have gotten the early dining.

I have booked plenty of Suites more than 9 months out and had occasions where I couldn't get the dining choice I wanted beforehand. Also had issues getting dining with linked reservation and had to wait till on the ship to resolve.

It happens regardless of cabin booked or loyalty status. I certainly wouldn't have cancelled a cruise over it. Like others have said they could have been resolved if given a chance. There will be plenty of people that cancel between now and final payment date. They don't even look at a cruises seating chart for dining onboard until the cruise prior.

They will resolve issues/requests with closest sailing dates first. 9 months out is not a priority. You can't even start to book most specialty dining or mtd until 3 months out.

Hopefully your friends will reconsider their decision to cancel.

Hey cruisers. On May 14, 2016 my wife, daughter, and I missed embarkation on Oasis of the Seas due to egregious errors and miscalculation by *this guy*. I wrote about our experience here.

 

The sympathetic and constructive feedback was truly appreciated and typifies what it means to be part of a community.

 

After stewing for a couple weeks we decided to give it a shot again and booked Harmony of the Seas for Feb'17. It gets better. RCCL issued a letter of credit out of pure compassion and mercy over our misadventures. I won't get into detail about this benevolent act nor how it came to fruition. Just know you want to do all you can to avoid the predicament of being mere steps away from the gangplank only to be sent back from whence you came. Show up early and enjoy the ship.

 

AND....if something were to happen, be sure you have a standard US passport and not the puny passport cards my daughter and I sported. You never know when you have catch a last-minute bird to the Bahamas for the interception play.

 

With that, we look forward to being on the Harmony. Hope to see some of you there!

 

Chris

So pleased this worked out for you. I really hope you enjoy your new trip:)

Great news! So happy for you and your family. Make sure you arrive a day early and just hang out at the hotel and stay local.

The OP arrived the day before when they missed the ship:D goes to show anything can happen!

I don't recall if it's ever been announced, but it's been reported by cruisers out of Seattle for a while now. Unfortunately, it's fairly common for Royal's website to have incorrect information.

Yes, the website is not always up to date :rolleyes:

We generally don't use the luggage valet, but have seen it offered on several recent sailings. Unfortunately I can't recall which ones did/didn't offer it. We did Alaska last year and I thought we had been offered it then (out of Seattle). However I must add a disclaimer my memory isn't as good as it used to be :eek:

They have discontinued the luggage valet in Seattle.

Out of interest but when did they announce that? Seattle is still listed on the webpage I have:confused:

After a 10 day cruise in March of 2015, playing Blackjack for a few hours each evening, I was asked to join Casino Royale VIP by a casino host on the last night of the cruise. I was given some paperwork to fill in some personal information, and was asked to contact Casino Royale a few weeks after we returned to verify that I was in the system. It was the same phone number listed earlier in this thread.

 

After a few weeks passed, I called Casino Royale and I was given a players number. At that time they were offering cash rebates based on play, but as mentioned earlier, the program was in flux and the rebate was supposed to be used by March 15th of 2016. Since none of the cruises on Royal Caribbean fit my schedule, I was able to book a Celebrity cruise right before the deadline and redeem my rebate at the cage in the casino since there are arrangements between the casino programs for both cruise lines.

 

Fast forward to May. My wife and I had a cruise booked next March but needed to move it due to work obligations. I had been reading about the Suite Class program and was interested in booking our first Crown Loft Suite on the Allure, moving our trip ahead to May of 2016. Looking online, the cost was still a little higher than I would have liked. Then I thought to call Casino Royale as they had mentioned about booking through them as most often they could beat most listed prices.

 

Well the price they quoted was outstanding, so I asked if a Sky Loft was available for the same cruise (Star Class), and the price quoted was almost 50% off the price listed online even adding my dad as third person in the room. I booked immediately, and now counting the days until the trip.

Out of interest but were you able to get casino rates for celebrity as well?

Thinking of doing another X sailing.

Sunday past (05 Jun 16) through these pages I found out that the Raphsody's sailing on the 23 Oct 17 was cancelled amongst others. Within 30 minutes I am sitting with my TA to sort it out.

How wrong was I.

TA calls RCCL UK 's office, who refuse to acknowledge that the cruise is cancelled, asking for 48 hours to sort it out.

No problem says I, bearing in mind the cruise is for 2017.

Wednesday 8th I go back to my TA who shows me an email from RCCL to the effect that the cruise was not cancelled and that there had been no notifications to that effect sent out.

TA back on the phone to RCCL with no success.

Having heard nothing from either my TA or RCCL ,yesterday, I go back to the TA, who in turn calls direct to the Redeployment Team in Miami, I will add here, it was at my request.

Result, Miami confirm that the sailing is cancelled and that she will inform the UK Office accordingly. This is all happening whilst my TA hangs on the line.

Miami supply the name of the contract to my TA and they are connected.

Here is the outcome, the UK representative of RCCL refuses to deal with this matter as they are not in possession of written confirmation that the cruise is cancelled bearing in mind, she has just been told that the cruise has been cancelled . My TA was abruptly told not to continue with call as no matter how long she is on the line for, nothing is going to change.

I have never heard of such diabolical customer service in my life, in fact, I felt sorry for my TA.

Who can I turn to, as it has been my experience in the past, if you complain to the top the faster things get sorted.

My patience is getting rather thin with RCCL LO

When our cruise was cancelled it took several weeks for a formal announcement and any correspondence from RC even though we knew it was cancelled.

It takes time but they will contact your TA once alternatives are available. They will offer to price guarantee some alternative cruises and also offer you obc. Even if you go to the top, this is unlikely to be resolved any quicker until they have a formal announcement. Just be patient and in the meantime start looking at alternatives so when they contact you, you will have an idea of what you want to do instead.

How about reaching out on your roll call to see if there is someone trained (for the year) on this procedure that is going that can stand up for her.

 

Pat

Not sure if Royal will allow this. They did tell her there aren't any exceptions . It's worth a try. I will let her call again and ask. At this point she has nothing to lose . Anyone else have any suggestions or experience with this situation.

We were on a cruise once where we met a qualified nurse that was traveling with a group of people that needed dialysis to do all their administration.

I know this may be an expensive route to go, but it may be worth seeing if RC will allow her to travel with a registered nurse to do the dialysis. I am sure with 35 in the family traveling if everyone contributed a little, this may be an option

Good luck, I hope everything works out

Allure and Jewel were the two I recall being inside.

Our Allure muster station was guest services:D

Jewel we were the entrance to Schooner bar and everyone met at the muster sign which was by the seating in the bar. Everyone then got unceremoniously told to stand up and line up along the wall entering the bar. (Right at the entrance connecting schooner to atrium). This left little room for those turning up trying to get from atrium into the bar area, and the other muster stations in the lounge, specialty restaurants etc that all had to walk through our entrance to get to their stations.

Why they didn't check people as they entered the area and point them to the correct location I will never know.

I think that was the worst musters in terms of communication and people understanding where they needed to be ever. Blocking off everyone else didn't help either:rolleyes:

Which post are you referring to as "Disney"?

As others mentioned, post 1:D

Is Gold considered priority? I think I saw somewhere along the way that Gold got priority boarding.

Priority order is

Suites/Pinnacles,

D+

D

Emerald

Platinum

Gold

Sorry you did not enjoy, as we were pleasantly surprised how much we enjoyed the ship - we were hesitant to try a larger ship for a while.

Please explain how you felt like it was trying to be like Disney? There was nothing that struck me as trying to "be like Disney"

We did not utilize WJ that much, but didn't have an issue with seating. We were on Spring Break cruise, so it wasn't as though it was a quiet cruise, and were surprised to find we rarely had a queue anywhere all week.

I am another that spent some considerable time in the casino and didn't notice any obvious issues with the carpet.

We were offered the nutty trailmix every night at the Schooner Bar.

Thank you for clarifying. That's the one bar I normally don't end up in :D

I think they are unwilling to provide dedicated personnel to staff it and can't/won't provide snacks. There was no food provided at the Top Tier Event. My SO asked for peanuts or crackers at several bars. He was told "No" and, once, "Maybe later." Our table mates were very outspoken about their unhappiness with a lot of the food issues and, surprisingly, on the last day somebody went into the back room and produced a container of trail mix for them. I don't think they can handle the fews extras that a Diamond event would require.

The majority of Top Tier events I have attended have not had food provided, even on bigger ships. Also nuts on most cruise lines at bars have been diminishing over the last few years, predominantly due to the large amount of people with nut allergies these days. (From what I have read from other threads that have discussed this) I do not recall ever see crackers at a bar.

I keep getting mixed answers to my question. So I will re-state. We are Pinnacle so have access to SL and CK. White card, Purple card, Gold card, whatever card we get: is there complimentary wine, soda and beer in HOTS from 11 AM to 11 PM in the SL? The above posted letter does NOT say so, only that you can purchase drinks from the SL bar.

Post 9 clearly answers this.

I found Bermuda very easy to do by myself. I got buses and just asked the driver to let me know when we were at the closest stop. I would recommend the caves. They were beautiful when I went there. Also did the Dolphins with my DD. You don't get in with them but you can touch them, feed them and interact with them. DD loved the experience.

I would recommend seeing what you want to do, then see if you want to do as an excursion or by yourself.