franl24fan

I have always left them in the room, but I try to "organize" the dishes to make it easier for the cabin steward to remove them (empty any liquids, put all paper trash in one area, etc). I guess my thinking is a little selfish, but since I am a solo who makes no mess and the cabin steward only spends 20 minutes a day in my cabin, it's not a lot to ask of them. I hesitated about calling room service to pick up, thinking they were pretty busy still delivering trays, but I guess if they know about a pick up they can swing by on the way.

 

IMHO putting them outside the room is a hazard to everyone, and could be a safety issue in case of an emergency.

I really like the Enchantment and would like to go again, however they have not been offering any solo discounts, even last minute, and paying almost $700 inside cabin for 4 days to Nassau does not seem a good value. Last February I jumped over to the Carnival Fantasy, had a large ocean view, and paid only $300, was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed that ship, despite all of the Carnival bashing I'd heard. Would do it again.

Glad to see you focus on the per person per day rate. IMHO that is best indicator of a deal. I almost always book an inside cabin, otherwise as a solo it is more expensive than I want to pay. I consider a few factors, in addition to the per day, such as the itinerary (I'll pay more for something unique, and less for a short cruise to Bahamas), the ship itself (not necessarily the largest but whether it is mid size) and obviously the time of year. All that said, I aim for less than $200/day for a unique itinerary on my preferred ship size. If it is the same old 7 day Caribbean I drop down to $150 per day. The per day rate also clears up the confusion on solo pricing, which can be a full 200% or down to 150%. When the BOGOHH first opened in early May I quickly booked several unique cruises that would have been quite a bit more, and those have continued to go up since.

 

I'm sure others will have their own "benchmark", bottom line is to be ready to jump on special deals.

Wow, they are so different it's like the old apples & oranges. I've done two Hawaii repo cruises on RCL, Honolulu, the islands, back to Vancouver. I absolutely love Hawaii, can't get enough of the natural beauty, a few days in Waikiki is enough for me, but I get out of the tourist area and take tours to other parts of Oahu. I loved Kauai's Weimia Canyon and Maui's Halakela Crater. Yes, the weather is like back home in Florida, but I find the locals so friendly and fun. In Alaska I've been there on the first cruise of the season in May and the last one in September, weather was all over the place. Next year I am finally going to do a cruise tour from Fairbanks to Seward, then RCL cruise to Vancouver. Yes, you can certainly do the land portion of Alaska on your own, but they have such a short season the hotels etc are super expensive and difficult to find openings with all of the cruise lines tours. Wish I had done that when I was younger and could have done more outdoor stuff.

 

I guess in the future I will be more likely to do a Hawaiian repo cruise again. I fly out of Orlando and rather than do the 14 hour to Honolulu I fly into Seattle, stay overnight (or longer) then fly to Honolulu. Surprisingly it's been less expensive than the direct flight.

When nothing else appeals to me in the main dining room I order from the childrens menu, love the mac & cheese :-). The waiter never questions this senior lady when I ask for that menu. I too am waiting to hear the details about DD, Sir Adam has often been wrong and we all know customer service is an oxymoron :-).

Sadly, inexperienced cruisers do not know how to really see if it is a deal and many just "assume" it must be and go ahead and book. Same thing happens on any other type of travel. The same pricing "smoke & mirrors" occurs on every cruise line sale, not just RCI. It is up to the consumer to do their research , as you did. As Bob said, they find it easier, and more profitable, to overprice the cruises they don't want to be on sale, if someone books it so much the better :-)

Yes, it used to be a good time to book. for the past 10 years I've booked a cruise from about Dec 10 to Dec 16, maybe 5 months out, and even when they had the Diamonds in December promo the rates were great. Of course that was also before they started hitting solos with the full 200% surcharge. Now the rates are the same as the holiday sailings, some cruises for around Dec 12 are actually higher than New Years Eve sailings. I guess more people are booking, hard to imagine that families want to be away from home during this time, or RCI is playing what I call "chicken" pricing, throw a ridiculous price out there and see who blinks first :-).

I actually lose a pound or two because of the increased activity level. At home I am a slug, on a cruise I use the stairs most of the time (not because of exercise but because I get tired of waiting for elevators), line dance and walk around a lot in ports. Oh and all the exercise of hitting the buttons on the slot machines, really builds up my arm muscles :-)

 

After so many cruises I find I don't eat as much in quantity as when I first started cruising. I've learned that is acceptable to customize the dining room menu, I ask for smaller portions and make up my own meals if there is nothing I want on the menu, which is often because I don't like "fancy" foods or a lot of sauces drenching mystery meat. A good standby meal for me is half a salad, a baked potato, and whatever plain veggies are available, with sherbet for dessert. In the WJ I take smaller portions, and again make my own meals, hamburger patty without the bread, some potatoes and a salad is fine for a dinner. Fortunately my favorite food, pizza, on cruise ships is not the kind I like so I have no problem skipping it.

 

My friends & I smile when we spot the newbies with plates piled sky high with 3 entrees & 3 desserts. We have learned to pace ourselves :-).

Recently for 3 cruises I completed very detailed comment cards and surveys, and never received a call. I had sent an email to Goldstein on another matter and when someone from his office called me on that I mentioned the fact that negative comments or positive suggestions were no longer acknowledged. She was adamant that was not the case, another example of how out of touch the home office folks are with what really goes on.

 

So on my next cruise I turned in a comment card and answered the email survey form with a large capital letter "SINCE ROYAL CARIBBEAN NO LONGER HAS THE COURTESY TO RESPOND TO MY COMMENTS I SEE NO SENSE IN COMPLETING THIS." A week later I got a call, again told they always respond to any negative comment or suggestion for improvement. So on the next cruise I gave them the benefit of the doubt and filled it out. You guessed it, no call back. So I will go back to my refusal to complete the survey :-).

 

I have always given the ship staff a chance to correct something during a cruise rather than just writing a negative comment card. Now I will escalate to senior officer level onboard since home office does not seem to care.

Not sure if they are on every cruise as a formal ship event. I've been on a cruise over Veterans Day & the CD organized one with light snacks. Was nice to hear as each veteran told a little about their service, I actually met a gent who had been on a submarine in the squadron my sub tender was in. On other cruises the CD at a show has asked veterans in the audience to stand.

 

You can always post an informal group meeting on the bulletin board outside guest relations, where they post the bridge clubs, purple hats etc

This was posted on the roll call for the oct 19 2015 snowbird migration:

 

http://hotelguides.com/attraction-maps/quebec/map-hotels-near-quebec-cruise-terminal-pq.html

 

The Port Royal is the least expensive of those shown, with excellent reviews.

yes this is another part of the wonderful RCI computer system :-).

 

No idea what causes it, agree with the above poster for possible reasons. I've been told it's also a way for RCI to handle an overloaded computer system, the system just shuts folks out but uses a message that should say something else. I have noticed it happens more often when a sale comes out or If you can't wait a few hours for it to resolve itself, hopefully, you can go to your internet options and clear out cookies and history, that sometimes will allow you right back in.

 

Hope this reassures you :-).

I've been doing some mock bookings for 2015 and so far all of the cruises I have looked at have been pricing out at 150% for a solo, which reflects the BOGO sale. Unfortunately, for some cruises when you enter 1 person you don't see the same cabins available as when you enter 2 persons, despite RCI adamantly saying that never happens. If you are not seeing the BOGO on line suggest you talk to RCI, there might be a glitch, I know that is hard to believe.

 

Other than the BOGO sale, and sometimes the weekly sales, pricing will almost always be 200%, even on last minute sailings. And yes, due to demand, the few studio cabins are actually pricing out sometimes at more than a 200% inside cabin.

Be sure your dining preference is shown as My Time Dining, it is down in the lower left corner on the online reservation. One cruise I had asked for MTD but for some reason they changed me to late seating, caught it when I couldn't make reservations for MTD online. If you don't select that and prepay the tips you can't switch to it onboard.

I too am on the Feb 26, which I thought was not the last one, unless they've changed the schedule. I expect they will be doing some things behind the public areas, might see some other minor repairs.

 

We were on the Legend of the Seas Panama Canal last Nov and actually had more inconvenience on it. Crew was getting it ready for Caribbean sailings, they had brought half the dining room staff on in San Diego, they ran out of food on Thanksgiving and during the cruise, some rest rooms were closed, and the casino was a joke. Half the machines were down, one tech puttered each day for a few hours to change out a machine then pulled another off line. So going into dry dock is not the only time a ship might be less than best :-)

 

With a military discount, inside cabin, for a solo I booked this cruise for less than $150/day, so I can put up with minor issues, which I don't think will be the case. This is an excellent itinerary that has not been available from PC, only by driving down to Lauderdale. But each person knows what they expect on a cruise and should book accordingly.

I use that same "unnamed" site and what happens sometimes is that RCI puts a price on the wrong line and Titus automatically uploads it. Often RCI puts the price for the 3rd passenger on the line for the inside cabin, that has happened to me several times, especially on the Thursday preview of the Going Gone sale. RCI has found that having TAs and all of us being their accuracy checker saves them manpower :-). Since you can't book it until 12:01 AM on Tuesday morning they have lots of time to correct it.

As soon as bookings opened I booked the Quantum for Dec 1 2014 & was initially excited, although having to fly to Cape Liberty in the winter was a concern. Then RCI started releasing more details and I reluctantly came to the conclusion that the ship was just not for me. Although I had a super deal for a solo, in one of the virtual balcony inside cabins, I cancelled (transferred my next cruise certificate to the BOGO sale and got an Alaska cruise tour at a great price).

 

As someone said, Quantum will probably not appeal to "traditionalists", which I guess to RCI means cruisers who have been their most loyal customers. Goldstein plainly said they are changing their focus to families and younger cruisers, although I'm not sure where they will find enough cruisers in those categories to fill these huge ships at huge prices. Seems as if it is the "old folks" who have been filling up the RCI ships.

 

As the details on dynamic dining came out and sample menus were posted I was underwhelmed. I do not want to make dining reservations a year ahead of time, in one of 4 free dining rooms, or wait until I get on the ship and line up with all of the other cruisers who do not have an iphone imbedded in their hand to use to make reservations. I do not want to pay $50 or more to eat in a specialty restaurant when I realize the new menu choices are not what I want or I can't get a reservation. I also don't want to pay for specialty entertainment (they are leaking that out slowly so as not to upset everyone). I was a little concerned when in a podcast Goldstein mentioned that the shows and announcements would be in Chinese, although they have not officially said if that would be before it goes over, you might assume they would be practicing before. I understand about pulling out because of Bermuda not coming thru (they don't want to say that & get Bermuda upset with them). I understand they think the Asian market will be more profitable, that is why the Promenade deck will be full of shops and no food outlets. Not sure if their marketing folks will be correct, I've spoken to several Asians who say they don't want to go on a ship that offers what they have at home. And they are insulted that RCI thinks they are gamblers & shoppers.

 

As an experienced cruiser I know that my opinions or preferences mean nothing to RCI, they only look at the bottom line. I will take my travel dollars and spend them where I get the best experience, cruise or land tour. I know I prefer the older smaller ships so I will book on them. If the existing Allure & Oasis cruises continue to drop in price (wonder what is causing that??) I will go back on them. And if RCI is wrong about their huge profits in the Asian market and bring new ships into US ports I may go on one, if it goes back to traditional dining and entertainment.

 

What makes cruising a great travel option is that there is still enough of a variety of ship options and itineraries to please everyone. And other cruise lines more than willing to market to the folks RCI has decided are too much of a bother :-).

This is one thing that I don't like on RCI. If you push the beds together to make a double, they are under the window, so to see out you have to climb on the bed and stand on the end, not easy for us older folks. On Carnival Sensation, the ocean view double bed is placed sideways, so you can walk around it and look out the window, much nicer.

When RCI changed the solo pricing last fall, one of the big things was telling us how studio cabins would be available at no surcharge. As time went on, we learned that on some ships there were just 4 cabins located off of the centrum, which some folks have said were fine, others said they were very noisy. Then we started noticing that these studio cabins were usually pricing out at more than a normal inside cabin even with double price. Another bait & switch from RCI. It seems the demand for the studios by folks who didn't do their homework in researching prices drove up the prices. I was on one roll call where a lady was excited she had managed to book a studio, we hated to tell her she paid more than an oceanview at double rate would have been.

It all comes down to knowing what is a good price, and not being fooled by the various marketing ploys RCI is using. It has been documented numerous times on cc that for some ships and some dates the 50% off sale was actually higher than the previous full pricing for 2. Same with the 3rd passenger sails free, again the total price of the cabin was much higher. Add to that the very confusing and inconsistent application of discounts and onboard credit being reduced, and you really have to be on top of it.

So how does the casual cruiser get a good deal?? Have a very knowledgeable travel agent who does a lot of bookings, have a friend who knows, or spend a lot of time on cruise critic. Those of us who cruise a lot and are on cc a lot get the word out when there is a really good deal and when you need to be more cautious. It's also important to be active on the roll call for the cruise once you book, that is where you'll find out about price drops for existing bookings, group activities and group excursions.

Most folks start thinking about a cruise a long time ahead of booking, so there is time to track the pricing for a month or so before booking. You can do "fake" bookings on the website and see what happens during the various sales. That way you can reduce your odds of booking at a higher price than you really need to pay. Just be ready to book quickly when you see a real deal. I have friends who hem & haw when I tell them of a great deal, then are upset when the low prices are no longer there. Snooze you lose :-).

Yes the 200% is now normal, even on last minute cruises. I had this discussion with Goldsteins office back in Feb, at least on a last minute cruise there should be a price break for solos, the ship was going out with empty cabins but no breaks for solos. Their answer was "oh well" . So I booked with Carnival, no surcharge, less than half the price for a better cabin and was pleasantly surprised how great the cruise was.

As one poster noted, different cabins are available depending on whether you put in 2 passengers or 1, another area of discussion I had with RCI, who are adamant that never happens, despite numerous folks providing examples.

I am only booking cruises now that have a per person price low enough to make paying double still a good deal on a per day basis. Also was able to jump on the BOGO sale and get a 150% rate. I will certainly not pay $250/day for a 4 day cruise to Nassau.

The only thing that will change the double pricing is to walk with your cruise dollars. Yes most lines do charge the double for solos. But Carnival has many cruises with no solo surcharge.

I cruise during hurricane season but take some extra preparations. For example, I take extra supply of prescription meds in case of flight or cruise delays. I also take a little extra cash, again in case of delays. I make sure my home (in Florida) is a little more "buttoned up". Back in 2004 it was a little humorous to watch the cruise ships try to find a Florida port to come back to as the storms moved up the coast, reversed, then reversed. My friends ship had sailed out of Port Canaveral, it tried to come back into Miami, then tried Jacksonville, back to PC, finally ended up in Ft Lauderdale where they bused folks back to PC. Her 7 day cruise became 12 days.

 

Other than that, you just watch the weather channel.

I have noticed fewer excursions, whether I look far out or closer to, and prices much higher. My last few cruises what has been even more annoying are the large number of cancelled excursions close to sailing, sometimes it says the vendor cancelled a tour, but usually there is no explanation. So I have paid 6 months ahead of time, now at the last minute I have to try and find a substitute that is still open or have no excursion in that port. Yes I do get a credit back to my credit card pretty quickly (or on my sea pass card if it is cancelled after we sail) but it is still very inconvenient to have to find something at the last minute. I really feel sorry for folks who booked an excursion that was their primary reason for going to a particular port and then have it cancelled. Sometimes you can find a private vendor in that port, but not always.

For our tour we arrive at denali about noon, leave the next morning. I didn't pick up on that when I booked 6B, the info on the website was unclear, or I would have booked a different tour. Hopefully we'll get some nice views coming down from Fairbanks and then looking back on way to Anchorage.

 

The info provided for the tour portion of the cruise tour is terrible, no specific details until you get to Fairbanks and check in. My TA says that is intentional, so that they are not held to anything, but it's certainly different than any other land tour I've taken. Choice Air quotes are also not possible on the website, they will only show flying into Anchorage for the cruise portion.

 

I booked my cruise tour by transferring a next cruise certificate from another cruise and using the BOGO sale, so trying to change it would I'm sure cost me a fortune. I'll make the best of it and take notes for going back on a regular land tour sometime.

I am doing tour 6B southbound from Fairbanks next June. Your info was really helpful. I've done other land tours (Grand Circle & Road Scholar) so it was a little odd to be told that I won't know the hotels or the daily schedule ahead of time, or be asked to fill out a form ahead of time with my room preferences ( smoking or non, low floor or high etc).

 

I think there is a definite error on the limited itinerary already shown for our tour. We leave Fairbanks, and as on your schedule get to Denali around noon. Yet they show us doing the Wilderness Tour, which is an 8 hour. It seems pretty obvious we will be doing the shorter tour. I know that nature lovers prefer the longer tour, but I was dreading the long hours on a bus with limited rest stops :-). My goal was to see the highlights of this part of Alaska then go back in the future to specific areas. In hindsight I maybe should have booked the 8B, but it's too complicated to change it now.

I posted earlier this year about my conversation with Goldsteins office about the disappearing cabins for solos. The rep was adamant that it did not happen, ever, no way. At the time I didn't have a specific detail,although I knew it had happened. Sounds as if someone has run into it again. Suggest you contact whoever is in charge (if anyone) of RCI now. It is blatant discrimination.

 

I have had my OBC prorated after a price drop was applied to a current booking, but the savings has been so much more than the lost OBC I let it go. Have to pick my battles.

 

What has us frustrated is the lack of consistency in policies, and as someone said, the customer service reps also don't know what is going on. As someone pointed out, taking away my $37 OBC is actually only a few dollars to them (except in my case I use OBC for the casino, so they are actually losing it).

 

It continues to amaze me how a large company like RCI can have such an awful IT department, it is certainly costing them business, never mind the loss of revenue when they have to pay people to handle the calls. Is the head of the IT department related to the president of RCI??