CruisinNole

38 minutes ago, davekathy said:

Glad you agree with me. 🤣

Actually, I do agree that's what the OP should. All they can do is say "no". As my dear mother used to say, "the squeaky wheel gets the grease". Or in this case, "the broken wheel".

I received one for $98 on Royal Carribean. No idea what it's for. I couldn't apply it to a current booking because my TA has to do it. She's MIA and since I have until the end of the year to use it, I'm not pressing the issue. Maybe they're doing audits?

We were on a charter on Royal Carribean and received our Diamond perks. I tried to find out ahead of time but got the same responses as the OP.

We're 74 days from our Equinox August sailing and received a Move Up email today. 

2 hours ago, greeneng said:

 

Personally, I never book international flights to board a cruise with less than two hotel days and never more than one for a domestic flight.  As a personal experience, flying in late the day before, my luggage was not on the carousel.  It arrived to our hotel about 4 AM of boarding day.  I was prepared for a few hours of intense clothing shopping before boarding time, but did not need it. 

 

 

This is something else to consider when booking flights with a short connection time -- you may make your flight but your luggage may not. 

1 hour ago, leaveitallbehind said:

Actually the hurricane season is June 1- November 30, so just a bit early for that. 🙂 But your point is of course correct.  If at sea, the ships will just adjust their itinerary as mentioned and avoid the storms as much as possible.  This, however, just looks like a rain event - not likely there will be any changes to itineraries.

I live in south Florida and our local news meteorologist reported last night that a change to hurricane season may be made to have it begin in May. We've learned to not get too hung up on that June 1st start date.

19 hours ago, Tee & Chilli said:

How does Royal address guests who wear head coverings for religious reasons?

My experience is that they are not required to remove their head coverings. I cruised with a friend who boarded with a head covering due to chemo hair loss. She was told she had to remove her head covering for the photo and if she wore her wig ashore, she would have to remove it upon reboarding. Her husband talked to the head of security and asked specifically about head coverings for religious reasons. My friend was a very private person and while everyone in the large group sailing together knew that she had lost her hair, none of us had seen her without her wig or head covering. It was very painful for her. 

15 hours ago, 5waldos said:

I already had booked an excursion with Celebrity so hopefully that will count. I did complete the form as required. Didn't see anything that said it had to e a new booking. But I am so far away from the next level that it is really not big deal.  

Me too. I'm going to give it a try. If it's a no go, it's not a big deal. I'm Elite+ and certainly not going to make it to Zenith.

1 hour ago, ev8876 said:

Does anyone know if you can split the final payment due on 2 different credit cards online?  I know you can over the phone.  Thanks.  

I just paid my final payment online but didn't see that option. I wonder if you could make a partial payment on one credit card and then go back in and pay the balance of the final payment with a second credit card. Do two separate transactions.

13 hours ago, Sunshine3601 said:

OP said she has to drink coffee from a cardboard cup  I guess like the ones you get in the DL.😇

Room service food is different than going to MDR not sure what you menu looks like for the Red zone quarantine area.

The OP said that the coffee came in a cardboard soup container. If true, that's a little different than a cardboard coffee cup. 

I feel so sorry for those going through such a stressful and totally avoidable situation. We were on the Century 12 years ago on a 12 night Mediterranean cruise that was cancelled on the 2nd night due to broken rudders. It was poorly handled by the ship's personnel and Celebrity. This brings back a lot of bad memories of the frustration and uncertainty we passengers experienced. Hope Celebrity does right by those affected.

You might check with AAA or a travel agency to see if they have any. Haven't seen them in ages.

47 minutes ago, zap99 said:

That's one of the downsides of cruising.😥

Isn't that the truth!

Thanks all!

I know this sounds like a new cruiser question but this is the first time in over 30 years that I am making final payment for a cruise and not using either a TA or Celebrity Vacation Planner. We booked a cruise while on a cruise and since we've not been pleased lately with our long time online TA decided to not transfer the booking. And we haven't used a CVP in years. Anyone have issues making final payment online knowing that Celebrity's website leaves a lot to be desired. Or is it best to call?

TIA

6 hours ago, TrueCruiseaholic said:

 

For all those guests who have no concern with loyalty, how would Sky Suites like losing Retreat Lounge access or being upcharged for access? How would Royal Suites and above like losing Unlimited Specialty restaurants? These all can happen if Celebrity keeps tightening its belt. Between inflation and the guaranteed end of "revenge travel," the next shoe will drop. I'm sorry if some guests losing benefits doesn't affect some other guests. The entire concept of Celebrity removing benefits from anybody should scare every Celebrity cruiser. If you are not scared, you should be.

You are comparing apples to oranges. Maybe the answer is not to compare loyalty benefits with suite benefits. Loyalty benefits should be unique -- something not available to suite guests. Suite benefits are part of the cruise fare, not dependent on how many cruises you have taken or what loyalty level you've attained.

45 minutes ago, TrueCruiseaholic said:

Taking away benefits from guests. I'm sure there is some benefit you receive on Celebrity from loyalty or stateroom category. Would you like those benefits taken away?

 

Am I the only one who cares when guests are treated more poorly now than in the past?

 

I am probably going to stop posting in general because the CC community seems unfazed by the spector of loss of perks.

I guess my experience with the loyalty program on Royal Caribbean has taught me that nothing is guaranteed. We began cruising on Royal over 30 years ago before there was a loyalty program. Shortly after we made Diamond, Diamonds were kicked out of the concierge lounge. Shortly after we made Diamond+, most of the larger ships kicked D+ out of the concierge lounge. We were on a President's Cruise on Royal and Diamonds and Diamond+ were kicked out of the Diamond Lounge so the Pinnacles would have a nice place to meet. No one promised us that the loyalty perks would never change. 

17 hours ago, cruiseguy1016 said:

I haven't read all of the responses so If this has been said, forgive me. Go to Walgreens right now and ask for your printed results. We had a problem getting our emailed results from Walgreens in Galveston 3 weeks ago. They said they had a "glitch" in the email system. We went inside and asked for our results. They printed them for us on the spot. No issue at all!

We had to do the same thing at our Walgreens. They messed up my husband's email address. They told him that they could not correct the email address and resend the report, but if he returned to the store they would print out a copy. We had no problems with check in. 

1 hour ago, Beachin2 said:

 

The last straw for me occurred in the Concierge/Suite lounge on a sea day, early in the afternoon, in a nearly empty lounge while quietly reading a book.  I was sternly ordered by a very self important P that "I  was in the P lounge and he had a group of people on their way and that I was in their seats and that I needed to move immediately".  Well, that didn't happen, and I actually stayed much longer than I had planned because of it. 

 

Quietly mentioned the incident to both the Loyalty person and the suite Concierge and was basically told that they were P and could pretty much do whatever they wanted.  That was the last time we set foot on an RC ship.  We cancelled our remaining bookings. It wasn't just this incident that drove us away, I have others from over the years, but this is the one that broke the deal for us.

 

We are long time Royal cruisers and have experienced this more times than we can count. Since we mainly cruise the smaller ships with smaller Concierge/Suite lounges, the Pinnacles who expect to have "assigned seating", as I call it, are much more noticeable. We've gotten the stink eye for sitting in "reserved seats". I personally think that it has less to do with their loyalty level and more to do with the type of person they are. We have never experienced this behavior in the suite lounge on a Celebrity ship. We have one last cruise booked on Royal and plan to cruise only on Celebrity, not because of this issue but because the suite benefits are so much better than Royal unless you sail on the large ships.

1 hour ago, Biker19 said:

I seem to recall others with cancelled cruises having them listed in their account until just past the sailing date. All the other related messages are just RCI IT on automatic pilot.

I canceled a January cruise two weeks before departure and the booking stayed on my account until after the cruise departure date. I'd already canceled my cruise planner purchases but did not receive credit to my CC until after the departure date. I also received Royal Up emails. My refund for cruise and cruise planner purchases was credited to my CC 3 weeks after the cruise departure date. 

We were in an Infinite Veranda on a Caribbean cruise and the only time I was aware of the the window being closed was during the two very heavy thunderstorms we had. It was a very different experience to be able to sit on the veranda during a thunderstorm.

I'm experiencing sort of the same thing. If I look at my balance on the "Manage My Vacation" page, the amount is incorrect. However, if I click on "Pay Balance", the amount is correct.

1 hour ago, SRF said:

 

It is not up to RCI, it is up to CDC.  And they seem to have a bad attitude towards cruising.

It's just not the CDC or the cruise lines. Some countries require visitors to be vaccinated and possibly, boostered.

2 hours ago, Garmy4 said:

I am on the west coast of Fl and they show nothing near by. 

I live in North Port and there are many appointments available for the next week, including this afternoon. This is for the Rapid NAAT which is accepted by Royal.

This is so strange. I have not been able to access my Tiers and Points from the drop down box for at least a couple of weeks. After reading this thread,  I logged in and tried to access my Tiers and Points from the drop down box. As usual, nothing happened. I then clicked on Manage Reservation and got error code and "page no longer available". Same thing happened when I clicked on Settings. So, I closed the window, logged in again and now I am able to access all three. No rhyme or reason.