NuggzMa

It's paid off....no worries! The "final payment date" is your only obstacle. Not the date you pay it off.....so you can still cancel or change if you are before "final payment date".

Nah I’m good lol it’s paid off and the best part is it’s out of my. He king so no credit card to pay! Cheers to that!,

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Refunds from RC typically take 5-10 business days.

Thanks. Think I’m just going to let it go and just be cautious lol can’t believe I did that.

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Hi! I accidentally paid my cruise in full instead of partial payment. Already called Royal and they said they can’t do anything about it until later tonight. Has anyone else had this happen to them? How long does it take to be refunded back to their account?

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Dzibulchaltun was good, perfect weather in December too. We've booked Uxmal for New Year's day:)

 

Some recommend Uxmal over Chichen Itza as there's supposedly fewer vendors there. We'll see!

Guess I will just have to keep booking cruises to see them all! Oh darn lol

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My cruise isn't until next September, but RCI has already started loading excursion options in their website. Will they keep adding more over time or what they put up initially be it for choices? Thanks as always!

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We sailed on Enchantment out of Baltimore before it was replaced by Grandeur.

 

I agree, the vision class is beautiful and although they don't have anywhere close to all the amenities of the larger/newer ships, you will enjoy it for your first cruise.

 

The only downside of the Enchantment was that after the stretch (Google it if you don't know what I'm talking about ;) ) they added a lot of staterooms (and therefore a lot of passengers), but they didn't also expand many of the public areas...so they can be crowded at times.

 

If there was one piece of advice I would give you, it would be to avoid the Windjammer at embarkation. Most people, on every cruise, tend to hit the buffet as soon as they get onboard, but because of the additional passenger load on the Enchantment vs what it was originally designed for, the Windjammer was absolutely insane. Consider an alternative like the Solarium Park Cafe - I believe it was open at embarkation as well.

 

A little secret specific to Enchantment - on the port side (I believe it was) as you exit Windjammer toward the pool deck there is a separate enclosed seating area that looks like it might be restricted as the doors were sometimes closed. This was the only additional seating added after the stretch, but most people don't know it's there, or think it's restricted - It is not restricted or limited at all, and for the first few days (until people found it, and realized they could actually go there) it was very quiet. When the Windjammer was packed full with nowhere to sit, we always found tables empty in there.

 

There are a few speciality restaurants on Enchantment that are only on it vs others in the Vision class because of the additional space from the stretch, but honestly, don't fall for the upsell speciality restaurants on your first cruise unless you don't care about your budget - you will be wowed by the MDR. ;)

 

Any other Enchantment questions, let me know, I know the Vision class ships like the back of my hand as we sailed on one of Enchantments sister ships many times after Enchantment left Baltimore.

I love this and my mom and I actually already decided we are going to skip upsell restaurants our first time and do everything basic. Then we will decide what we want the next time around. Thank you so much for this!!

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Hi! My mom and I want to see the ruins and have decided to book excursion through our ship. My question is what are the best ruins to see in Progreso? Has anyone toured the sites? Any opinions are gladly accepted as RC today just started uploading excursions, Uxmal was one of the sites. I'm holding off from booking until some more choices are loaded onto the website. Thanks again for any insight!

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Has anyone booked excursions through this app? It looks amazing and it guarantees getting back to the ship on time. Just curious how dependable they are as they have tons of excursions already listed and my cruise isn't for almost another year yet. Thanks for any insight.

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I agree with this. Maybe I would use a TA if the internet wasn't available. I just don't trust anyone to do the legwork I am willing to do to plan a great vacation. Plus, I never go to third party sites. My sister did that for flights. She paid more than we did on the same flight same day, paid for assigned seats that did not exist (she argued with me when I told her the plane did not have seats in "h" on our flight, unless she was seated out on the wing!!). To make it worse, I paid less than she did for her "h" seats than I did for first class. The 4 of them were split up on the plane while we enjoyed free mimosas! Hotel sites are the same. Maybe cruises are different, but I like to retain that control.

I booked my very first cruise through RCI, it couldn't have been any smoother if I wanted it to be! I already knew what I wanted and had no problems using the filters to find the exact cruise. It could be the software you are using? Not sure but my experience with Royal was fabulous! Just waiting for the cruise planner to open up for excursions and dining and such, but I have some time for that as I don't sail until 9/12/18. Sorry you had such a bad experience!

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Thanks everyone with the insight so far! I think for the first time, to be safe, I'm just going to book through the cruise line and then take it from there for the next cruise. Little nervous with it being my first cruise but I learn quick after I get to experience something like this. I'm sure even though a little more expensive they're still fantastic tours. But definitely keep the suggestions coming on what to do! Especially in Cozumel. What's the hot spots for food and shopping there?

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What is there to do on this ship, besides the trampoline and Solarium? Are there shows?

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Many people, like arlogdog above, book their own shore excursions. The benefits are that they are much cheaper, much smaller, and usually far more enjoyable. I like to do research on the cruise's destinations almost as much as the trip itself. Since this is the Cozumel thread, I'll tell you that one of the things I learned is that there would be five big cruise ships in port the day that we're there. A total of almost 18,000 people. And that's before the itinerary changes due to the hurricanes.

 

 

 

I learned that lots of people found the long historical/architectural tours hot and boring. Since I've been to Greece, Egypt, and Peru, I decided against any of those. While going through this thread and others, I found that the Cozumel Bar Hop kept coming up. The opposite side of the island, four bars, no kids, almost unanimously positive reviews. We have a winner!

 

 

 

The primary selling point of buying excursions through the cruise line is that they will wait for cruisers delayed -only- if they purchase an excursion through the cruise line, but they will leave those who don't. This almost never happens, and sometimes seems like a slightly comical kind of blackmail to get you to book through them. That stated, however, in Guatemala I was on a bus which developed engine trouble and had to be replaced. It was a ship sponsored tour, and the ship did wait. Since then, if there's any logical possibility that a private tour could be delayed, I go with the one sold through the cruise line.

Thank you so much for this! I appreciate it!

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The excursion operators you mentioned are options, we've never used them because we prefer to book an excursion with an operator who has great feedback and is a local and so is more intimate with the area and not run by a larger company that provides excursions throughout the Caribbean and the world. And there are tons of very reliable and trustworthy independent excursion operators you can get recommendations for here and on other forums like trip advisor, just depends on what you are interested in. If you don't want to read through the threads here for ideas, look at the excursions offered through your ship, then look for independent excursion outfit recommendations here or go with the ship.

More important to me than any guarantee is travel insurance, and many policies include coverage for delayed excursions if you are really concerned about that.

This is fabulous. Thank you!

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So my two cruise stops are Progreso/Yucatán and Cozumel. I have a wonderful book about cruising that I purchased that gave the names of two third party companies to use, Shore Trips and Cruising Excursions, both of whom are guaranteed to get you back to the ship on time. Has anyone used these or something similar? As far as what we are interested in, the Mayan ruins for sure and then maybe some snorkeling and shopping. I think our longer port is Yucatán.

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What's the best way to score them? Third party with guarantee of back to ship on time? The cruise line itself? Looking for any help, thanks!

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Hi! First time cruiser here and decided to go with a smaller ship and then go from there. My mom and I want to see the Mayan ruins in Mexico, so we chose this ship for the itinerary. It stops in Cozumel and Yucatán. Who has been on this ship? What did you think? What's the best way to buy excursions, through RCI or through private parties? Super excited for my first cruise and any insight is greatly appreciated. Thank you! Woo hoo!!

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Yay!! Just booked my first cruise EVER with RCI. I understand this is not one of their fancier ships, but that's ok and chose it based on where my mother and I wanted to go and wanted to also make sure we liked cruising and wasn't going to be overwhelmed. Doing five day Western Caribbean to Cozumel and Yucatán, Mexico. Has anyone been on this ship? Was there a lot to do? What excursions did you all like? We are looking at doing the Mayan ruins. I'm so excited for this cruise!!

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Hi there! Getting ready to book my first cruise and it appears in previous posts here that holding off on last payment in case of cancellations is the wAy to go. Can this be confirmed? What worked best for all you cruise lovers? Any help is appreciated, thanks!

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