Spurschick

Sorry to hear about your experience.

This is why we use Travelguard for our insurance. They track luggage down if it goes missing, and cover the costs of buying supplies (up to $xxx) to keep you going.

If you miss/ have delayed connections they cover hotel costs etc. They also give compensation for trip interruption, ports missed etc.

Have you contacted your insurance company to see if they can help you with any or all of the issues you experienced.

Best of luck

Just got the below message from RCI-Was wondering if anyone had any idea on why they are delaying boarding for Sunday:

 

Hello, this is Royal Caribbean International. We would like to provide you with important information regarding your clients’ sailing on March 29, 2015, onboard Adventure of the Seas. To enhance the check-in and boarding experience, we ask that guests arrive to the terminal based on the following times.

• Guests on deck 10 should arrive for check-in at 1:30 P.M.
  
• Guests on deck 9 should arrive for check-in at 2:00 P.M.
  
• Guests on deck 8 should arrive for check-in at 2:30 P.M.
  
• Guests on deck 7 should arrive for check-in at 3:30 P.M.
  
• Guests on deck 6 should arrive for check-in at 4:00 P.M.
  
• Guests on decks 3 & 2 should arrive for check-in at 5:00 P.M.
  

We invite our Suite guests, Platinum and above Crown and Anchor members, and guests with previously arranged transportation to arrive anytime between 1:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation, and look forward to welcoming your clients onboard the Adventure of the Seas.

We have recieved staggered boarding times before. It's a pretty standard message they send out every week. We turned up Normal time for jewel, had no issues boarding as normal. Remember this sails later than most other ports. Hence why they just bump back boarding times a bit.

Thank you for all the replies. We are UK citizens flying to US for holiday and then Bahamas cruise at end. On reading RCI confirmation it does state 6 months needed following disembarkation. I have emailed them but no response. Thanks for any advice

I know for name changes on UK passport for minors there is a number to call to process name changes. Have you tried calling them to ask what the best option is? I thought you could get a temporary extension in some circumstances. Could you change the name now in advance if it will done in near future anyway, and then just change the name on the reservation? Just a thought if you don't want to do twice.

Wondering if anyone can answer a question about the '6 months left needed on passport' dilemma...

 

I am aware that the USA have the agreement that UK visitors don't need 6 months left on the passport, however, at the end of our Disney holiday this year we are going on a 5 day RCI Bahamas cruise from/to Miami.

 

When we booked the cruise the email stated we need 6 months left on the passport when disembarking the ship. Our son will have 4 months left on his.

 

The thing is that when I next change my son's passport he will be changing his family surname on it too so if having to do it before the holiday then this will have an effect on all the other things booked so far... ..

 

If it is the case we have to renew it (as I'm worried we will be refused boarding) then it will mean getting a renewal in his old surname again as all the holiday is booked in this name , and then paying extra after the holiday to change his surname on it.....

 

I have emailed RCI but they have not got back to me. Wondering if anyone else done a cruise with similar issues...?

I assume from one of the above comments that this may well be on a UK passport. Are you in UK or US. When are you travelling? I can then give you better advice more specific to your situation.

Thanks again everyone.

No spurschick, it was ocean view not balcony I wanted.

I have also been looking at celebrity silhouette out of Fort Lauderdale for the same time period.

I know this is rccl forum but has anyone tried celebrity .

I have been on Celebrity. I assume you have children. Depending on their ages Freedom may be better.

I know it is not an ocean view, but have you considered two interconnecting promenade view rooms? They are not as claustrophic as you get light in. There are some interconnecting on the freedom for that sailing.they are slightly cheaper than ocean views as well and get $50 pp obc. Just a suggestion.

I found Celebrity food to be slightly better. DD enjoyed as had video games in kids club. Not anywhere near as many children. In February there are likely to be even less as I only travel with DD during school holidays.

Spurs chick

How do you get a d3, and what is that?

When I do a mock reservation it shows large outside or outside.

I do not understand how to get that?

Sorry for delay in replying.

When you do the mock booking, basically what I did was I entered two cabins with 2 in each. It then showed a box that you could select cabins must be connecting. When you go to continue it will then ask you what type of cabin you want, e.g. Outside, inside etc. so If you select balcony it will then pull up the different sub categories within that category, eg D1, D2 etc. It will list the interconnecting cabins that are available. D's are classified as ocean view but have balcony.

Note if you change from d3 to E category you need to select change cabin type. That way you can view all interconnecting cabins available.

The alternative is you could always call:D they might be able to view without having to keep coming in and out of pages like us!!!!

Hope that makes sense.

Seeing as you mentioned deck 12 and deck 6 they normally are balcony rooms so I assumed that was the type of room you were looking for.

That actually works out well. It may not sound much but the other thing to take into consideration is 10 years ago we didn't have the huge ships like oasis etc. .Whilst the average profit per guest has only minimally increased, it would be interesting to know how much more capacity they have now compared to 10 years ago. I am sure someone will have the figures.:D

Ps Oasis was released 2009 if my memory serves me correct.

Simply asking a question about protocol is not stupid at all. But beating a dead horse after it has been explained several different ways is.

 

If your daughter is a teen, she is old enough to understand orders and follow them. And I would be willing to bet she can understand why people are being ordered back to their cabins after a MOB announcement without "freaking out".

I was actually responding to other posters. As I was typing my next response other posters were responding. I apologize if you felt I was beating a dead horse. That wasn't my intention. I was just trying to reply as I tried to keep up with posts. It has been a pretty fast moving thread and I am not the quickest at typing. I have the point. Let's move on cordially.

At some point the CG should release Liberty from search duty,

not sure how that protocol works.

 

Our next cabin door neighbors are sad about this situation....but

now wondering about their flights home.

 

:cool:

Thanks for the updates. These last few weeks have unfortunately had many tragic issues for a number of cruise lines.

Does anyone know if RC will let a 12 year move down a group and be with the 9-11 year olds?

If closer to 12 and age group not maxed out then if you ask them nicely normally yes. They are understanding, but they normally ask they try the older group for 1st night. Our DD did and then moved down the next day. Really depends on numbers involved.

Ps whilst AO is not open first night, teen meet and greet is.

Maybe they could just have everyone walk through the Bridge and check off names.

 

Maybe they could just announce free everything at the Promenade and count the people as they arrive.

 

Maybe it's a good thing you're not in charge.

No, I'm not in charge, that was why I was wondering what the protocol was.

Whilst it may sound stupid to you there is actually a reason why I feel it is useful to know what standard protocol is. That's because the last cruise we were on there was a MOB call. It was our first cruise where DD was not in AO as she had turned a teen. Whilst we knew where she said she would be, first instinct as a parent is "what if it's her" I remember the second we heard the announcement DH and myself instinctively looked at each other, and made sure we checked she was safe. There was no roll call. There were no announcements for ages.

So whilst you might regard my asking questions about protocol and why they do things as stupid, perhaps think about why people ask questions in the first place.

It is to understand and be better educated. And also to keep our DD up to speed with protocol, so that I can explain to her what happened tonight, and if this tragic event should ever happen on a future cruise and passengers are asked to return to cabins, she doesn't get alarmed and freak out as to why she is being told to return to the cabin.

There is always more than one way to deal with a situation. Sorry if you felt like me needing to know the why to explain to my daughter sounds stupid to you. Not trying to be rude, just saying. The events of tonight are every parents worst nightmare.

No harm no foul. To me closing ALL the common spaces (bars) and ordering all back to cabins is the most efficient way to get an accurate nose count quickly. Minutes matter in these situations.

Thanks

I was just weighing up pros and cons to both scenarios. I like to over think things:rolleyes:

I think cabins are faster and they are going to use manpower to check all cabins anyway. People, knowing the ship itself is in no imminent danger, would not go from bar to muster station but go back to their cabin and make sure they have whatever they need or want for comfort at muster stations delaying the process. In addition you have some people in cabins and / or already asleep. Closing venues and sending all to cabins, to me, sounds like most economical use of time and resources.

True. I was just thinking that it is probably the cabin stewards that are designated with going door to door. As such they were likely asleep themselves, so hence why I though it may have taken longer to check.

I am not disagreeing in any way with going back to the cabin either, and was certainly not out to offend anyone. I was just curious about the protocol. as I say I have experienced two cruises with MOB but no head counts ever been done. Hence why I asked.

The video for MOB is not attached to an alarm. no one knows how long it was that a person went overboard before it was discovered...then the video needs to be reviewed. Further more those cameras that site down the ship probably work off a heat signal/IR and would not have any facial recognition capacity at all.

Thanks for the info.

It was the fact that the video is not alarmed that made me think someone had seen them go overboard.

Your sig shows you have cruised enough - that's exactly where your comment should stop. Aircraft or ship - the Captain is THE Captain.

 

I'm an old aircraft pilot - as pilot in command my attitude was always "my ship my rules" because I have my reasons and don't always have time to explain.

 

Cabin returns for a nose count makes 100,000 + tons of sense.

Firstly, I wasn't out to offend anyone and I wasn't questioning the captain. I was making a statement and askng a question that if the majority of people, given the time of day, are probably likely to be near muster stations would it have been quicker to get to the muster stations. My other rational was the distance involved in some people getting back to their cabins especially if people are likely to get stuck getting out of dinner on stairs etc.

I wasn't out for an argument or to offend anyone. I was just trying to understand the reasoning behind cabins opposed to muster station as either way they still need to clear public areas and go door to door.

That's very sad to hear. I am praying they find whoever it is. I think it's easier to have everyone in their cabins to get a head count and find who is missing. I feel terrible for the family that went to their cabin and that one person did not show up. Sends shivers down my spine.

Agree this is an awful situation, and I dread to think what the parents are currently feeling.

I only mentioned convening at muster station as technically that is the convening point for emergencies, and is specicifically set up to take roll in an organized and quick manner. I also appreciate that going to cabins is less stressful for passengers, I just felt that it may be more time consuming.

Whilst I am glad 2 of the 3 missing people have been accounted for, I still pray for the 16 year old.

You don't know who saw the person go overboard. If it is a 16 yr old, they could have been out with someone they met on the ship, not their family. The Captain wants to make sure he knows who is missing.

 

We can speculate all we want but the ship has a protocol that it is following.

Agree, just thought that if someone saw, at best they would at least know first name if friend hanging out with, at worst give a description. What I mean is if I saw a teen go overboard, there must be a way I could say to security, okay I saw teen rough age range and whether male or female. Surely the manifest could pull up all passengers that sex and age range and then look at pictures and identify? All pictures are in their system.

I agree each ship has protocol, and need to know who is missing. Just with video which I understand they have to have in case of mob, I would have thought that they have some sort of facial recognition on board, for security purposes.

waiting on 3 people to be accounted for

3:eek:

I am not an expert, but I am wondering if it would have been easier to have everyone go to muster stations and do a sweep of the ship, if they needed to do a roll call? Check cabins and public areas clear.

Like I say, in two sailings that involved MOB on neither did they do roll call, so this is new to me. But if most people are around the ship, the majority are likely to be around the muster station decks, in bars or entertainment venues. To me it makes sense that may be quicker identifying the missing person.

It sounds like they knew quite quickly someone went overboard, and they would have verified with the video cameras. At that point it is a question of who is missing. Once that is established it still seems strange to ask everyone else to stay in cabins.

Me too.

 

People are asked to return to their cabins because it's the only way to get a truly accurate headcount of everyone on board. If people are out and about, there's no way to figure out who might be missing.

I understand to a degree. But again someone must have seen them go overboard. my question was more that they sound like they know who they are looking for so why ask passengers to remain in cabins?

all guest asked to stay in rooms....coast guard looking for person

Firstly, sad to hear about what has happened. Hopefully the calm seas will help

I do have one question someone may be able to clarify.

I am Confused why guests asked to go back to rooms?

On our last cruise we heard call for man overboard, but no one was asked to go back to cabin?

Luckily it turned out to be a false alarm. A mother had been talking to her son on the balcony next door. She got distracted, heard what turned out to be a wave hit the ship, turned around and her son was gone. She naturally panicked and it turned out the son had gone to the bathroom and she didn't realize given that he was in cabin next door. It actually took a while to confirm it was a false alarm.

Seeing as they appear to know where this person went overboard, I can assume they have witnesses or video, which would identify the person.

A previous cruise we had a crew member who fell overboard whilst securing a lifeboat after a tender. Again no return to cabin.

So I am wondering the purpose of asking everyone to return and stay in their cabin. If they can't locate someone they normally just put out an announcement for them to contact GS?

Good idea. Thanks!

 

I also take the Downy Wrinkle Releaser, but sometimes it doesn't work.

No problem. I gave never tried the downy releaser since I do my self;)

Another trick we do is we take a carry on for clothes and pack tight. Check in case is for shoes, toiletries and outerwear. That way, with the clothes folded and unable to move it is rare that we get wrinkles in pants shirts etc. I found the more rounded/ a- line styles and pleated clothes harder to keep wrinkle free so I try rolling them and packing them around the edges.

Thanks everyone for your replies.

I am feeling much better that we would enjoy freedom as much as enchantment now.

 

Looking at a 7 day out of port canaveral on feb 21/2016

I cannot believe that it is showing I cannot get on connecting rooms.

I am looking for oceon view.

They only show deck 12 where there are a few cabins and deck 6 .

No connecting.

With a year to go, I am surprised that I cannot get more choices.

8320 and 8318 are available d3 cabins for those dates. There were also two other connecting cabins deck 8

8628/8626 cat e also available.

I did as mock booking and selected the cabins must be connecting option. It pulled them straight up.

Hope that helps

What about a steamer? Will they allow these?

http://www.amazon.com/PurSteam-Steamer-Commercial-Fast-Heat-Aluminum/dp/B00MG2OOHK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1427075168&sr=8-1&keywords=travel+steamer

Just checked

The answer is no

Here is prohibited items

What items are not allowed onboard the cruise ship?

A: Weapons, illegal drugs, and other items that could interfere with the safe operation of the ship or the safe and secure environment of our guests and crew are prohibited. The following are examples of items that guests are not allowed to bring onboard. These and other similar items will be confiscated upon being found. Alcoholic beverages, illegal drugs, flammable liquids, explosives, and dangerous chemicals will not be returned..

Prohibited items:

Firearms & Ammunition, including realistic replicas.

Sharp Objects, including all knives and scissors. (Note: Personal grooming items such as safety razors are allowed. Scissors with blade length less than 4 inches are allowed.)

Illegal Drugs & Substances

Candles, Incense, Coffee Makers, Clothes Irons, Travel Steamers & Hot Plates. (Items that generate heat or produce an open flame. This includes heating pads, clothing irons, hotplates, candles, incense and any other item that may create a fire hazard. NOTE: The only exception to this policy are curling irons and hair straighteners. Matches and normal lighteners are allowed onboard. However "torch lighters" and novelty lighters that look like guns are not allowed onboard. Torch lighters emit a powerful concentrated flame, and therefore are prohibited.

Baseball Bats, Hockey Sticks, Cricket Bats, Bows & Arrows

Illegal Drugs

Skateboards & Surfboards

Aerial Drones

Martial Arts Gear

Self-Defense Gear, including handcuffs, pepper spray, night sticks.

Flammable Liquids and Explosives, including lighter fluid and fireworks.

Hookahs & Water Hookah Pipes.

HAM Radios

Electrical Extension Cords

Dangerous Chemicals, including bleach and paint.

Alcoholic Beverages (Note: Alcoholic beverages that are purchased in ports-of-call or from shops onboard will be stored by the ship and delivered to you on the last day of the sailing. Alcoholic beverages seized on embarkation day will not be returned.)

What about a steamer? Will they allow these?

http://www.amazon.com/PurSteam-Steamer-Commercial-Fast-Heat-Aluminum/dp/B00MG2OOHK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1427075168&sr=8-1&keywords=travel+steamer

Wouldn't like to say for sure but I doubt it as it has a heating element in it.

That is why I put water on and use the hairdryer on it. My DH thinks I am crazy but as the water heats and evaporates it creates the same effects in essence of steaming (only not as hot;)) but the moisture and heat release the crease. It just takes a few minutes!!! Otherwise hang in bathroom and put shower on real hot. Just make sure you don't need to wear for a while after as the garment will have quite a bit of moisture if you use the shower method.

If it's a bad wrinkle I need to get out quick, I get cold water on the wrinkle and use the hairdryer to dry it out.