dubaihammer

I think that people need to take a bit of a reality check!

I suggest that you look at http://www.worldatlas.com/articles/most-dangerous-cities-in-the-world.html and then tell me how many of the most dangerous cities in the world are in Europe.

I was reading that a lot of shipping is now taking the longer route around the horn rather than through the Suez canal. They say that it is cheaper to use the extra fuel (with fuel prices as they are at the moment) than pay the exorbitant fees that the Egyptians are charging to transit the Suez..

I have just booked online and paid the $900 deposit requested, but got a confirmation email stating that I had paid $690!

The RCI website is an absolute disgrace and has been for some time.

We sailed on the Radiance for Christmas last year and were severely disappointed. There was not even a hint of turkey in the dining room on Christmas day. We certainly will not sail the festive season with RCI again!

I contacted Crown & Anchor and this was the response that came back on 1st June:

"We are currently having online difficulties with the preferences area of the website. Our technical team is working on this situation; regrettably, we do not have a time frame when it will be functional. In the meantime, you may contact our office directly at 1-800-526-9723 and a Crown & Anchor Society representative would be happy to update your choice. Optionally, if you know what you would like, you may also submit your request via e-mail to this address. Requests must be received at least 11 days prior to sailing. We truly regret any inconvenience or frustrations this may cause and appreciate your patience and understanding while we work to resolve this issue".

That was two months ago and nothing has changed for me since then!

This is the response I got a few days ago from Crown & Anchor:

We are currently having online difficulties with the preferences area of the website. Our technical team is working on this situation; regrettably, we do not have a time frame when it will be functional. In the meantime, you may contact our office directly at 1-800-526-9723 and a Crown & Anchor Society representative would be happy to update your choice. Optionally, if you know what you would like, you may also submit your request via e-mail to this address. Requests must be received at least 11 days prior to sailing. We truly regret any inconvenience or frustrations this may cause and appreciate your patience and understanding while we work to resolve this issue.

Our Gift and Upgrade Preferences-

we are not able to choose anything right now as they are upgrading the web site or something for the last week or so.

I got this response about the gift preferences from C&A yesterday:

We are currently having online difficulties with the preferences area of the website. Our technical team is working on this situation; regrettably, we do not have a time frame when it will be functional. In the meantime, you may contact our office directly at 1-800-526-9723 and a Crown & Anchor Society representative would be happy to update your choice. Optionally, if you know what you would like, you may also submit your request via e-mail to this address. Requests must be received at least 11 days prior to sailing. We truly regret any inconvenience or frustrations this may cause and appreciate your patience and understanding while we work to resolve this issue.

There are no drop down menus available for me!

Its been great reading such positive feedback about The Rhapsody as we are on this ship in under 2 weeks! Is anyone else on this cruise? Would love to meet up! :)

We are on this cruise with you.

Anita is right, there is a very active roll call thread (over 100 pages!): http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1947672 with lots of information and tips.

Why not call them on 800-533-7803?

Special menu in the MDR. Decorations on the ship.

We sailed on the Radiance last Christmas and there was definitely no special menu. There wasn't even Turkey on it. My wife was extremely disappointed as I had said that she would be able to get a traditional Christmas dinner.

One thing to note I was a little disappointed with Christmas onboard. In the dinning room for tea there was no ham or turkey on the menu (the turkey was on for the last night of the cruise). I don't think there was any ham in Windjammer or turkey either. It didn't really feel like Christmas day to be honest, with the atmosphere around the ship also being down. You couldn't complain about the decorations and the ginger bread houses as they were great, but I think people on board maybe were right into the swing of relaxation by this stage.

This was a huge disappointment to my wife as I had assured her that there would be a traditional Christmas dinner available on Christmas day. We talked to the dining room staff and expressed our unhappiness but nobody actually seemed to care!

We will definitely not sail on another Christmas cruise with RCI.

Well, that is pretty big news. I think he knew his time on RD was about up. Hopefully, the choice was his. :)

We were in the lounge when he got the news and he seemed pretty happy with it!!

There's more to cruising than just the Caribbean!

We had 1600 on the Radiance last year.

Our main problem was that a lot of the storage cupboards were not able to be opened.

I would not book it again.

I have checked my Rhapsody reservation and I now have the following text on the vacation summary page:

Prices shown reflect the Exclusive Rate that you have selected. A valid driver's license or state-issued ID; U.S. or Canadian military ID; or U.S. or Canadian local, state or federal law enforcement, fire department, or EMT employment badge or ID must be presented at the pier to validate eligibility for the applicable Exclusive Rate. If eligibility cannot be validated, you will be charged the standard rate or otherwise will be denied boarding.

I did not book claiming any exclusive rate. They really do have a problem with their charging systems at the moment:(

The website is now available but I still cannot make a payment:confused:

As we are taking exactly the same trip in August (Cruisetour #13 followed by the southbound cruise), I would like to thank you for such a comprehensive review. I have had difficulty finding any detailed information on the land tour but you have managed to answer all of my questions.

I hope that we enjoy the trip as much as you have.

Capt Ryan left the Voyager on the 19th October while we were in Bangkok. I'm not sure who has replaced him.

Just got off Brilliance yesterday and can confirm that Betsy is back for today's cruise - that can only be good news for all those sailing on the Brilliance!!