condorchristi

2 hours ago, not-enough-cruising said:

This is true, however how the lifeboats are assigned by blocks of rooms (muster stations) can and will determine the max capacity of berths available to that station on a given cruise. 

Good to know….

2 hours ago, stevea36 said:

When you add an additional person to the reservation the total cost of the cabin can be repriced at the current rates, therefore it may be quite expensive.    I would call and tell them you want to add the person now (the 5/5 answer is bogus) and see what the pricing would be, both for the 3rd person and the original 2.   Based on that information I would either book the third person with you or come up with a different arrangement (maybe a separate cabin for the 3rd person) that comes out cheaper.

On the phone with them now….  I am sure it will cost more.  Their story is that to get a 3rd person on the reservation, I have to change cabins and it will be 3X more.  They do not acknowledge on the phone the information their website is presenting.  \

update…at the 25:20 mark of the phone call, the “escalation specialist” has acknowledged what their website is showing.  

5 hours ago, purescottish said:

 

Sorry but how can you insist on adding a 3rd person at a later date

You don't know how full the ship will be when sail date comes, it could be there is no room at your muster station for another person, You probably should have added them when you booked, then cancelled them before final payment.

I do agree however you should not have to wait for a price, call them back , no doubt you will get a different person and a different answer

A fine distinction but I insisted on being able to add a 3rd person.  

Hello and good morning.  I am set to cruise on Symphony of the Seas on 5/28 of this year and am having a problem.  I wanted to see if anyone else is having (or has had) this issue.

When I booked the cabin I insisted that I be able to add a 3rd person at a later date.  Our 3rd person's availability was questionable but now it appears that they will be able to go.  So I called RCI just now and asked them how much it would be for the 3rd person.  The first call I made, I was told there was no way to get a 3rd person into the cabin and to set up a 3rd person would be 3X the costs of the original balcony room that I booked. 

That didn't sound right to me so I went onto the website and found that there was a sofa bed in the room (I have one of the cabins with the triangle which indicates there is a sofa bed in the room).

Anyway, I called back and talked to another person and they confirmed that a sofa bed will be in the room as of my sail date. 

The problem I'm having and am hoping someone can help me with is this; the telephone representative could not tell me how much it would be to add the 3rd person.  She advised that we will have to call back on 5/5/19 and make the reservation at that time (23 days before the sail date). 

This sounds really abnormal to me--that the pricing cannot be known until three weeks prior to sailing.  It could be $500, it could be $3,000 dollars...who knows? 

Anyway, has anyone else ran into this sort of issue? 

Yes, Hobby has only one terminal. I was actually referring to Terminals 1 and 2 at Galveston. The traffic officers were holding up those trying to get to Terminal 2 in favor of those going to Terminal 1. She waited in traffic about 15 minutes. Since she's doing us a favor ferrying us to/from Galveston, I'm trying to get information as to what is the best time for her to pick us up.

 

Thanks, Pat

apologies :o

As far as I know—I stand to be corrected—Hobby has only one terminal. I used to work for the Houston Airport System but that was 2003 so do your own research. Hobby is pretty good as far as passenger throughput. Small airport. It’s a straight shot up 45 from Galveston and isn’t that far off the Interstate. Houston Traffic is legendarily bad but on a weekend debark, you’re primary obstacle may be construction; not congestion. I would look into investing on the TSA express pass. It’s like $85 bucks for 5 years and you get preferred security clearance.

As for the Galveston Cruise Terminal; I have nothing to compare it to but I was horrified both times I left out of there. It seems incredibly spartan, needlessly cumbersome, and above all else, the officials seem to be doctrinaire in their methods. I did the same itinerary as you did and another where we just went to, of course— Cozumel. There didn’t seem to be any difference in the customs clearances.

So, you wouldn't be able to do 9 day or longer trips currently?

 

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Not without getting docked at work (no pun intended). A lot of things would have to go right and they often do not.

If one cruises a lot in Southeast US , you will soon be looking for overseas destinations. With creativity how many times condochristi will you be happy with cruising to Coco Cay , Nassau , St Thomas , SanJuan , Cozumel , Cayman , southern Caribbean. Roatan , Belize , Jamaica , Cuba.

 

Under your theory Florida also would need to be more creative with itineraries . Corpus certainly could not compete either with more creative itineraries.

 

If you want variety out of Galveston and Florida , try cruising the many repositioning , transatlantics to from other parts of the world. Or just cruise overseas. We have done many and are happy every now and then , along the way being in Cozumel , St Thomas and Nassau .

 

Besides it’s usually more important who you are with , not where you are at .

You’re right about that…

Much more important who you’re with than where you’re going.

I love Cozumel but is it necessary to hit it on virtually every trip that leaves Galveston? I checked the 3 cruise lines that leave from Galveston. About 220 different cruises visit Cozumel between now and the end of the year. About 10 do not. They are all week long cruises which pretty much rule out our participation :(

Maybe someday.

I'm sure someone has asked this before but I can't find the thread so here it goes....

Are there any cruises from the major cruise lines (large boats, plenty of amenities) that leave Seattle/Victoria/Vancouver and go directly to the glaciers and return to the embarkation port? The problem I'm having from Texas is that, from what I have seen, the cruises that go into the glacier area all seem to be about 7 days. I'm in Texas and that means that unless I want to risk flying in on the day we sail and fly back on the day we finish the cruise; I have to budget more days into the trip. I'm not especially interested in Ketchikan and Juneau and Skagway; I just want to see the glaciers.

So what I'm hoping is that there will be a cruise on a major line that is 3-4 days and just goes from Seattle/Victoria/Vancouver to the glaciers and back without the stops in these towns along the way.

Does anyone know if there is such a cruise? Thanks in advance.

I think the demographics of the Houston metro area are now vastly different from 10 years ago. I’ve been here 5 years and seen it change a lot. Hopefully they will give it consideration, now that we seem to be meeting the criteria for an Oasis class ship.

There is plenty of money in Houston as well as South Texas. My biggest issue with sailing out of Galveston is that it seems as though if you get onto a passenger cruise ship in Galveston, you'll go to Cozumel. Not that I don't like Coz; it's just that I have been there a few times now. Time for more creativity in their itineraries

Since Florida has all three of the current Oasis class ships and will eventually be getting the new Symphony of the Seas, what are the chances of Galveston getting an Oasis class ship in the near future? Any speculations or rumors floating around? :cool:

 

Our first RCCL cruise is coming up in September aboard the Liberty of the Seas but Oasis is on my bucket list. Here's hoping that Galveston will be her new home in the next year or two.

https://cruiseradio.net/oasis-class-ship-potentially-headed-to-texas/ Good News.

Lived in the area for 45 years. About 40 minutes to get to the ship. What I would suggest is that if you're departing on a weekend, the non-cruise traffic on Interstate 45 will be prohibitive. Highway 3 is a convenient back-way without that many stoplights. The only problem is that you get deposited onto I-45 just before you hit Galveston Island.

I have a question that may or may not be appropriate for this thread....but here it goes.

I'm booked on the Symphony OTS leaving out of Miami in May 2019. When I made the reservation, I was on the Vision OTS and told the "Next Cruise" rep that I wanted to make sure the cabin I booked could hold 3 people; no ifs, ands, or buts. So she put me in room 9###. I looked at the deck plan and my balcony cabin doesn't have a sofa bed. I called customer service and asked them to confirm we can get 3 people in there and they confirmed; yes 3 people can occupy this cabin.

My question to the Cruise Critic community is this; how do they do that when there is no sofa bed?

Carnival Panorama...that's exactly what I was thinking too, and for the same reasons. :)

I like it.

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carnival majesty

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Hello, I have a friend who has booked the same cabin. How was room 4000 on EOTS?

Sounds like you are not coming back, but if the room does not accommodate 3, then you have to book some other room. Can you try and change to a different room before adding somebody that can accommodate 3? You could have made it much easier to begin with had to started the booking process with 3, so it would only show rooms that could handle it, and either just booking that with 2, or book 3, then just drop the 3rd if they decided not to go.

Certainly doubtful I’d give RCCL another crack at me. Then again, the grass isn’t always greener on the other side of the hill. Who knows?

Carnival seems to be a much better value for the same destination, larger suites, and more consistent customer service. Looking ahead to 2019 and the Bahamas.

Wish me luck.

That's why its always best to check the deck plans yourself. Or when booking put in 3 people see what is available and book that for 2 and if 3rd person decides later then your cabin can accommadate them. And even then if the 3rd decided to late they still might not get in if they have already enough people for the lifeboats in that area. But I agree they need to have 1 set of deck plans and not decription one. I never deal with RCCL because I never get the same answer or usually correct answer. Frustrating.

Great advice. The old “assumption” euphemism (sp) applies except I’m the only “a**” in this scenario. LOL. My fault; I shouldn’t have assumed I suppose. But when there is a discrepancy in their platforms that even they acknowledge…you’d figure I’d get some sort of comp or dinner or something.

As for your “never get the same answer”, you’re preaching to the choir. As a new cruiser who got married last October, our honeymoon was my responsibility while my lovely bride brooded over every detail about the wedding. So I was on the RCCL website 3 days a week going over every detail I could think of. For weeks, there was this show featuring Saturday Night Fever being advertised on the rotating major picture on the homepage. Then nothing. I figured it was cancelled. At the newlywed dinner they graciously held for us….two or three of the other couples mentioned this oddity. On the last evening, they had the show which was not advertised much if any.

Cynicism is usually a product of experience in my view. Short story.

Our upcoming cruise on VOTS will be the last one we take on RCCL. Why? Complete intransigence on their part. Details...We booked a Junior Suite. I did so thinking we could add a 3rd traveler since our previous booking was a balcony that could take 4 passengers. Additionally, the JS would give us more room with 3 people. So time comes where the 3rd person gets off the fence and says she will go with us. RCCL's response; nope. I point out that the description of a JS says there is a sofa bed in addition to the two twins that form a King sized bed. RCCL's response was that the deck plans "clearly" point out that my suite doesn't have a sofa bed. "There is no triangle on your suite so you can't have a bed." They want us to plop down another $1000 for an upgrade/another room. Apparently the triangle means "no sofa bed" in some languages. So on the deck plans RCCL provides, it says one thing and on the description RCCL provides it says another. Thought hey acknowledge that they gave me two conflicting stories, they were willing to do absolutely nothing to make amends...dinner at Chops? No. Sightseeing excursion in Cozumel? No. Pictures on board? No. Heck; Taco Bell gave us a free taco on my birthday a few months back. Live and learn I guess.

Anyway, as I wave goodbye to RCCL, I'm now looking at alternatives since we love sailing. But I'm definitely going in with this episode in the back of my mind.

You do not have to carry the cup around with you. I never used the cup at all on any of my cruises. Just go to any bar or WJ and they will be happy to put your beverage in a regular cup .

Good to know!

Again, my experience is very limited. I bow to your greater experience.

Thanks everyone. Looks like it's all over the board regarding when and if they provide a discount. I'll just wait it out and purchase before the deadline if it doesn't go on sale.

Disclosure; I've been on one cruise on RCCL; just one. So I don't drink and I have very little experience sailing. Even on land, I'm not much of a drinker of alcohol so I'm probably coming at this from a far different point of view. "When should I purchase a drink package?". In my view; never.

If you're going to go off the boat to eat at the nice restaurants in port, you're still paying for a day's worth of drinks you're not drinking....while paying for drinks at the restaurant. And then you have to carry around this cup with you??? Maybe I'm missing the upside but I don't see the huge benefit. Pay as you go is my view.

I will say this, the one trip I took was on the LOTS and everything was state of the art. Which made me very curious why the few vending machines that had Dasini were suspiciously out of commission. :rolleyes:

Just one note about drink packages; they charge per day regardless of whether you use them or not (at least they do for non-suite folks like me). If you’re planning a lot of shore excursions, you’re getting billed for drinks when you’re not on the ship and likely getting billed for drinks you’re actually consuming on land!!!! I’m a novice traveler but that much became apparent to me right away. I’d think long and hard before I paid for a drink package.

As for being overwhelmed…I know it sounds cliche but just get on board and go with the flow. I don’t see how you can have a bad time on these boats!!!

BTW…Chops Grille is very good in my limited experience. The portions are massive.

How are the beds post retrofit?

 

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They make into a king sized bed with an unusual “point” at the middle end by the feet. Plenty of room underneath. I found the bed to be fabulously firm. They put an egg crate on there in our room at least.

Just one quick note about the LOTS…I think one of the hidden gems on the ship is the Card Room. I think it’s aft on the 10th deck??? Anyway, it’s a game room for board games and such but I found it to be the most comfortable place on the ship in terms of seating and solitude. I brought my YETI on the cruise ship with me and simply got some coffee and a danish from the buffet and retired to the game room to sip the coffee and surf the ‘net on a rainy morning. Pure bliss. :)

Anyone? I've searched the Web. I hoped someone on CC might have it.

 

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I’m sort of new here so forgive my ignorance if this isn’t what you mean. Are you talking about the buffet (i.e. Windjammer)?

If you are, here it goes. As I recall it’s on the 11th deck. When you walk into it, there is Chops on the right and Giovanni’s on the left. Directly in front of you is a bar with some seating that is partitioned off but accessible to buffet diners.

Behind the bar on either side are buffet choices then an off limits kitchen area then more buffet choices and finally a carving area on the back of the kitchen. It is ringed by 5 buffet bars that allow for passage on both sides.

The seating in the back is tiered downward meaning you have a few steps/ramps to the seating (all seats as I recall—no booths or bankettes).

One note about the seating. They are very high end wicker style chairs with ample cushions and arms that loop from the back to the seat itself. I’m, how should I say it…larger than the average man (i.e. I’m a fatty) and I found these to be VERY uncomfortable. My fault for being large I guess. However, the area in front of the bar has different seating. If you’re in my condition…he he he…you would do well to make use of those tables and chairs.