Pappy64

On 2/7/2023 at 5:25 PM, BigKFamily said:

My husband and I just celebrated our 31st anniversary with an 8-day Southern Caribbean Cruises on Odyssey, our 7th cruise and the first since the pandemic. Here's a few observations ...

 

• Our assigned check in time was 1 p.m.  We (like many others) have tried to get there as early as possible in the past, so we weren't sure how strict they would be.  Since our check out time at our hotel was 11 a.m., we decided to take our chances and go early.  The electronic "Set Sail Pass" meant no stopping at the desk before going to the waiting area, and no one looked at our assigned time.  We were on the ship by 11:15 a.m.  What a breeze check in is now!
• Everyone always heads for the Windjammer when they arrive ... we headed for the Solarium Bistro.  This became one of our favorite places during the cruise.  A good selection at the buffet -- many of the favorites from the Windjammer -- but never crowded where you couldn't find a seat.
• Your Sea Pass is delivered to your cabin, you don't receive it before boarding the ship as in the past.  Cabins were ready at about 1:20, and were at our door when we got there.  We got lucky and our luggage was already there as well!  This also sped along the check in, I realized in hindsight, since we weren't waiting for our Sea Passes at the terminal.  It doesn't stop you from getting a drink beforehand, no worries!
• No more muster drills!  We were thrilled with that! (Our last cruise someone actually got sick from standing the heat for so long!) You have to watch a brief video in the app, listen to what the emergency siren sounds like, and then check in at your muster station sometime within the first few hours.  So much better!
• The Music Hall is a great addition -- a two-story nightclub, with great entertainment all week.  Two70 is also a beautiful venue.  Nice to have alternatives to the Royal Theater.
• The Royal app was brand new the last time we cruise 3 years ago.  We used it constantly this trip, since they are trying to get away from paper Cruise Compasses.  But it's glitchy.  It often had the wrong information about shows, which is somewhat baffling to me.  It should be pretty easy to keep that up to date in comparison to print!  The chat function was great -- made it easy to let hubby know where I was and vice versa -- and yes, it was free.  I've seen questions about whether you get notifications or not ... the answer is, sort of.  I can't speak to how things are with the paid wifi.  We used the free wifi and enabled notifications.  They would briefly appear on your screen sometimes, other times not.  And there was no badge on the app that ever indicated there was a message waiting.  However, if you opened the app, an icon would appear if you had a message waiting.
• I'm always surprised to here how negative people are about the Main Dining Room.  We have never had a bad experience with it, and this time was no exception.  We always opt for the later seating (it's so much easier on port days to have time to shower and change before dinner.)  We heard some people complaining about finding a good time for their My Time reservations.  The menu was a little shorter than in the past, and without the regular options that used to appear every night.  But each night had a great selection, according that night's theme (Italian Night, Mexican Night, etc.)
• Our ports were Labadee, Aruba and Curacao.  We lucked out with good weather the whole trip, and each of these locations were beautiful.  The night we left Curacao, we made an unscheduled stop at Aruba for a passenger to be medically evacuated.  It was at about 11 p.m.  It looked like everything was handled well, and we heard the passenger was doing well.  It didn't delay our arrival back in Fort Lauderdale a bit.
• NorthStar is a lot of fun and was very easy to schedule through the app.
• Arriving in Fort Lauderdale we asked for early disembarkation, as we had an 11 a.m. flight.  We were scheduled at 7:30 am.  Things were slightly delayed and we weren't allowed off until 8 a.m.  It was still plenty of time, but another instance where RC simply isn't using their app correctly.  They said you would receive a notification through the app when it was time to depart.  The notifications were simply coming in at the originally scheduled time, so people didn't know whether to listen to the announcements, or to the app.  There was a glut of people showing up at the entrance to the gangway saying "but the app says it's my turn!"

 

All in all, a great trip!

On 2/7/2023 at 5:25 PM, BigKFamily said:

My husband and I just celebrated our 31st anniversary with an 8-day Southern Caribbean Cruises on Odyssey, our 7th cruise and the first since the pandemic. Here's a few observations ...

 

• Our assigned check in time was 1 p.m.  We (like many others) have tried to get there as early as possible in the past, so we weren't sure how strict they would be.  Since our check out time at our hotel was 11 a.m., we decided to take our chances and go early.  The electronic "Set Sail Pass" meant no stopping at the desk before going to the waiting area, and no one looked at our assigned time.  We were on the ship by 11:15 a.m.  What a breeze check in is now!
• Everyone always heads for the Windjammer when they arrive ... we headed for the Solarium Bistro.  This became one of our favorite places during the cruise.  A good selection at the buffet -- many of the favorites from the Windjammer -- but never crowded where you couldn't find a seat.
• Your Sea Pass is delivered to your cabin, you don't receive it before boarding the ship as in the past.  Cabins were ready at about 1:20, and were at our door when we got there.  We got lucky and our luggage was already there as well!  This also sped along the check in, I realized in hindsight, since we weren't waiting for our Sea Passes at the terminal.  It doesn't stop you from getting a drink beforehand, no worries!
• No more muster drills!  We were thrilled with that! (Our last cruise someone actually got sick from standing the heat for so long!) You have to watch a brief video in the app, listen to what the emergency siren sounds like, and then check in at your muster station sometime within the first few hours.  So much better!
• The Music Hall is a great addition -- a two-story nightclub, with great entertainment all week.  Two70 is also a beautiful venue.  Nice to have alternatives to the Royal Theater.
• The Royal app was brand new the last time we cruise 3 years ago.  We used it constantly this trip, since they are trying to get away from paper Cruise Compasses.  But it's glitchy.  It often had the wrong information about shows, which is somewhat baffling to me.  It should be pretty easy to keep that up to date in comparison to print!  The chat function was great -- made it easy to let hubby know where I was and vice versa -- and yes, it was free.  I've seen questions about whether you get notifications or not ... the answer is, sort of.  I can't speak to how things are with the paid wifi.  We used the free wifi and enabled notifications.  They would briefly appear on your screen sometimes, other times not.  And there was no badge on the app that ever indicated there was a message waiting.  However, if you opened the app, an icon would appear if you had a message waiting.
• I'm always surprised to here how negative people are about the Main Dining Room.  We have never had a bad experience with it, and this time was no exception.  We always opt for the later seating (it's so much easier on port days to have time to shower and change before dinner.)  We heard some people complaining about finding a good time for their My Time reservations.  The menu was a little shorter than in the past, and without the regular options that used to appear every night.  But each night had a great selection, according that night's theme (Italian Night, Mexican Night, etc.)
• Our ports were Labadee, Aruba and Curacao.  We lucked out with good weather the whole trip, and each of these locations were beautiful.  The night we left Curacao, we made an unscheduled stop at Aruba for a passenger to be medically evacuated.  It was at about 11 p.m.  It looked like everything was handled well, and we heard the passenger was doing well.  It didn't delay our arrival back in Fort Lauderdale a bit.
• NorthStar is a lot of fun and was very easy to schedule through the app.
• Arriving in Fort Lauderdale we asked for early disembarkation, as we had an 11 a.m. flight.  We were scheduled at 7:30 am.  Things were slightly delayed and we weren't allowed off until 8 a.m.  It was still plenty of time, but another instance where RC simply isn't using their app correctly.  They said you would receive a notification through the app when it was time to depart.  The notifications were simply coming in at the originally scheduled time, so people didn't know whether to listen to the announcements, or to the app.  There was a glut of people showing up at the entrance to the gangway saying "but the app says it's my turn!"

 

All in all, a great trip!

This is all great information and helpful.  I saw the earlier question posted and your answer, but it sounds like maybe you guys did not stop at La Romana, Dominica Republic....is that true? or did  you just not get off the ship?

Thanks for the info. The entertainment reservations are open, and I just assumed it was all at the same time. We will keep and eye on it.

How far ahead of sailing do dining reservations become available?

Can anyone who is just off the Fascination recently please share what the current internet package offerings are?

Elegant Night!

Did you make use of any of the wifi services?

Do you recall which nights are "formal" for dinner?

Have you eaten at any of the specialty restaurants? If so, was it hard to make the reservations once on board. We have OBC that I want to use.

I have taken a cheapo brand ($15) on every cruise I have ever been on. I pack it in the checked bag. Never had a problem and have used it multiple times over the years. However, if it gets taken, I'm not out much.

Can someone please confirm if there is a hair dryer in the room or not? Would save us from packing 3 of them.

VERY true. And talk to hotel directly -- they've got a lot more latitude in making things work out than most central customer desks. Especially if you're a repeating customer.

Did not prepay the hotel, but did on a rental car. They just moved the date.

Also, don't give up on the airlines!!! We booked through two separate airlines. Each required a $200 change fee per ticket. When I called, I was flat told NO waiver on the fee. $800 in change fees seemed crazy for $630 of tickets. Then, my sweet wife called the next day, and was able to get both airlines to waive all fees and change the flights. Guess they did not want to deal with a grumpy old man. Both airlines apologized that our cruise was cancelled. However, she did give RCI a piece of her mind about the fee compensation. Don't know of many companies that still charge $150. In fairness the "supervisor" she spoke to, they agreed.

As one poster mentioned earlier, as long as you make customers whole on the air, who could complain about the rest?

As for lessons learned; 1) THE TRIP INSURANCE IS USELESS FOR SITUATIONS LIKE THIS. WE CHECKED. 2) We should have paid attention to the propulsion posts and stayed away from Allure (which makes me wonder why anyone would take one of the Allure options offered) 3) In the future, I'll book my flights through RCI. and 4) Folks are just more inclined to work with a damsel in distress than a grumpy old dude!

Latest disappointment on this issue. RCI offers $150 in change fees. We have tickets booked on two separate airlines so the total change fees are 4x $200 or $800 in change fees for $650 dollars worth of air tickets. The airlines tell us it is cheaper to book new tickets, but if so, we do not recover the $300 offered in change fee reimbursement. Anyone else encountering this issue?

Pappy64 change asap before others take up the cabins/sailings that you want. There may also be a price change now to a lower rate that you may able to get. It is official that your sailing won't happen because the Allure will be getting fixed. That rep didn't know the right info or is lazy to make the changes, I would change now.

Done... Got my email within minutes of my post. Did not call the number listed on the letter, but called the C&A number instead. They were super nice and very accommodating. We got booked on the Oasis in a better location. Full refund, $150 flight change to be paid upon proof of incurred, and $200 OBC. Already have show times and specialty restaurants reservations made. Only hassle left is a front end plane change.

I agree with Bobbye - don't wait for them to call you. Call Crown & Anchor and, if the agent doesn't know what you're talking about, ask to speak with somebody at the redeployment desk. They will have a list of cruises that qualify as replacement cruises and will tell you what compensation they are willing to offer.

 

They will be busy - some members of our Rhapsody 2015 cruise Roll Call have receive cancellation notices. RCI offered three alternatives or OBC to book any other cruise, or so I'm told. I haven't seen anything yet.

You may not have any option but to wait. We are booked for Feb 23 sailing. I just spoke to RCI after waiting on hold for 15 mins. The rep said there is an "inventory hold" on the ship for future reservations, and as far as he can tell "the ship is still scheduled to sail on February 23rd". Still sounds suspicious. He advised that we wait, and if there is a change, RCI will be in touch.

Further info: We are booked on USAir for the flight down. They will not waive the fee for a change because of a cancelled cruise. Booked on Delta for the flight back, and they will. I'll fly Delta from now on because of that and the attitude I got from both.

Finally, if you have the trip insurance, you cannot claim any loss on the trip cancellation policy until there is one. If you are driving, no big deal, but as we are flying, we have no option but to wait unless we want to take the risk and flush the air fare if there is no change in the departure.