GigiK

Haha! I deleted all that! I thought I was recovered enough to read about going on another cruise, but I'm not! I got triggered and started typing. Always a bad idea.

On 8/9/2019 at 10:47 PM, John&LaLa said:

They treated us to a preview of Hideaway Heist. Lots of diving and synchronized swimming. 

We loved Hideaway Heist. I wish they sold Big Daddy's Hideaway Resort beach towels in the souvenir shop. It would have been a great memory at the pool. So cute!

7 hours ago, ryano said:

September 2nd at 9pm is also the exact day and time I also have Grease booked? 

 

Dear Guest, Please note that the showtime of 1887 Ice Show schedule for September 3rd at 9:00pm has been moved to September 2nd at 9:00pm. Your reservations have automatically been moved to the new date. If you would like to change the time of your reservations please visit www.royalcaribbean.com or onboard at the box office or through the RCL App. We look forward to seeing you onboard the Harmony of the Seas.

 

 

Same thing happened to us a couple of weeks ago  on Harmony. I assumed it was not unusual. We didn't have any conflicts so no problem for us, but I did wonder about people who had reservations for dinner - especially if it was a for fee restaurant.

On 7/29/2019 at 9:41 AM, johnjen said:

- ZERO rules effect on keeping children out of the solarium (this isn't new, but seriously, start enforcing it)

We cruise so infrequently that I can't comment how things usually are, but the observations are accurate. I will say that the one I quoted surprised me. The tweens were using the Solarium as their hangout and really having a ball. Singing loudly as tweens will, using the steps as their stage for their social media account videos - just generally being tweens. It went on for a good while and no one addressed it.

Admittedly, there were not very many adults in there as it was HOT. But it was definitely not a relaxing environment. I only went there once, not because of the tweens, but because I felt like an ant under a magnifying glass. Of course, that was not Royal's fault. Haha! It was July. The cabin balcony had a breeze and was much nicer, but I was surprised and disappointed because the Solarium is beautiful. I wish its design had a way to create more breeze.

It was an unpleasant experience for sure. But there didn't seem to be anything to do except wait and see. We assume he went to talk to the head waiter. The lesson I guess would be that just because you made reservations and it shows up on the Royal app in the calendar, you don't necessarily actually have reservations. Nobody contacted us except for the business card sized notice we found later in the room. It didn't even say that it was changed, only that we were confirmed for 9pm. And that was in only one of our rooms. That was the only reservation we had, so don't know what would have happened with more.

1 hour ago, venicia said:

I have friends that returned from Harmony about one month ago and they were very disappointed with MTD times.  As soon as dining opened they reserved 6 pm for every night.  When they boarded they were told their time was changed to 6:45 because there were too many persons with early fixed dining and they transferred many of them to the American Icon, the MTD room.  So persons that initially requested MTD and wanted to make reservations early got bumped.  Needless to say this caused issues with their reservations for the shows.  When they  dined at 6:45 the dinner took 2 hours and they missed their show that evening.  They had the same problem the next night even though they went around 6 pm, they had to stand in the no reservation line which was long.  They ate in the Solarium Bistro and Windjammer the rest of the week.

 

I have sailed Oasis class 8 times and this is the first I ever heard of this, but I as well cannot book anything before 6:30 for MTD for my cruise on Harmony in January.  I am with a group and a few of us wanted to have dinner together so we made reservations together in the Solarium Bistro.  The other evenings I will be in the Coastal Kitchen.  

This happened to us as well a couple of weeks ago. It wasn't very pleasant as we weren't aware of it until we were seated and had already been served appetizers. The server then returned and addressed us by names not ours. When we said it wasn't us, he literally said we weren't supposed to be there and wanted us to leave. We just sat still and said nothing, waiting for what I don't know. He left, came back, and continued serving the meal. Much later, we found a card in one of our rooms that said our reservation had been moved to 9pm. We talked to a person with a clipboard, a person who looked us up on a computer, and then were shown to the table. Not a word was mentioned until the server called us by the wrong names. He was unhappy.

2 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

 

In the past, it's been the best employees that get MTD, because they can make more money there. 

Interesting. How so? We just prepaid them all and left the room steward a little extra because he was so nice and helpful. We have gotten the survey, but haven't filled it out yet.

14 hours ago, icsys said:

 

Yes, the quality of the food is, apparently, the waiters responsibility.

I've been told that several times and my reply was:

You didn't cook it, so why should you be expected to take responsibility for it?  We bring more until you are happy.

That explains that. I didn't care for the dish that I ordered, but didn't want to order another one and the server was even more irritated. I don't think they like people who are on Any Time Dining.  Do new employees or people with low scores get assigned to Any Time Dining?

11 minutes ago, Desert Cruizers said:

Hello, anything I add off the Cruise planner is not reflected in my Invoice, that all goes to the Credit Card used. The Invoice should only reflect, cruise price, Taxes & Port Fees, any cruise line insurance you may have added or pre paid gratuities and all payments thus giving you a balance owed or no balance if paid in full. I do my own Online check In and print all documents, my TA knows I like to do that. As stated above, once final payment is made, the Print Set Sail pass Pops up within a day or two. I also will check my Credit Card Statment to see when the Payment was posted. 

Thank you for responding! It doesn't make any sense to me. What you stated is what I would have thought, two completely separate things. All funds have been taken out of our account - the Cruise Planner purchases by Royal and the cruise fare by the travel company. And the numbers don't match anyway.

I am assuming that if it wasn't paid in full at the 90 days the reservation would have been canceled and you wouldn't be able to print out Set Sail Passes? I do not know!

13 hours ago, Mr. Candyman said:

I'm glad to hear it all worked out

Thank you! Me too. So excited about getting to go on another cruise.

Wanted to add one last (hopefully!) piece of information related to some of the posts that might help (confuse, inform?) other people in our situation. Yesterday because we never heard back from the TA and probably never will, we called the customer support line of the company to ask about getting the guest booking invoice and got another shocker. The Royal invoice showed we still owed a substantial amount of money! However, Royal had assured us and told the customer service rep that we were paid in full; and in addition we were able to update Check In and print our Set Sail Passes.

We asked her to call back and ask why - which she did. The answer she got was that those charges reflected extras we had purchased in Cruise Planner. But we have already paid for those - in Order History, on Calendar, everything. Plus, we logged in to Cruise Planner to add the charges up and they don't match.

So she called back again. They said - That's just how it works and the reservations are paid in full. Has anyone else had this happen? Is this some kind of accounting quirk? I don't know.

This whole thing has been aggravating! I'm assuming that if you can print your Set Sail Pass, you are good to go.

11 minutes ago, Sancho_proudfoot said:

Things appear to be different this side of the pond. We have used the same cruise-dedicated TA for a number of years now.

 

They ask us for final payment 12 weeks out. At the normal 90 day point we usually find online checkin open.

Thank you for replying. That seems to be another important point for positive experiences - using a TA that you have known for a long time. My main question was about the website and how or whether it changes when you have paid in full. The answer seems to be that the only change was in the Check In button, and the payment and Check In happened on the same day - 90 days out.

1 hour ago, grandgeezer said:

 

To level the playing field, when you book through the cruise line, how many of them will call you with a price drop?? I would guess one in a million would be too high. 

A friend of my husband always books through Carnival and he gets alerts when there is a price drop on his cruises. We have never gone on Carnival, so I don't know any more than that.

3 hours ago, Arzeena said:

I hear you!

Just keep logging in and checking often. You will be sipping that Mango Tango on your cabin balcony!😁

And only one (ok may be 2) in a million TA's will actually call you and inform you that "there is a price drop and I will adjust your price for the new lower one"!

Yay!! Haven't heard from the TA about the Royal invoice, but... We called Royal back today and the rep immediately answered that we were paid in full and said that for some reason our account was locked but that she would unlock it and did. Off work today so filling out the Check In information and printing out Set Sail Passes. Yay!!

So - What happened to the website is -

   The Check In button turned into a link, but it said Locked and then it changed to Update Check In/Set Sail after we called.

   The Pay Remaining Balance button stayed gray and didn't change.

   The Cruise Planner button still works with no change.

Thank you for all the great information that I didn't know yesterday! Keeping it in mind for the future. 🙂

Sipping Mango Tangos and watching the sun rise over the ocean on our cabin balcony in July! So happy!

10 hours ago, Mr. Candyman said:

I guess I've been lucky but good to know that price watching isn't their normal practice.  I just know the couple of times the price went down, he called me before I called him.  I think the only reason I oped for a TA is because I didn't want to mess something attempting to make my own booking.  The more you do the more you learn right 😁    

Yep - it was the reason we switched because we had heard people comment about TA's watching for price drops - and she said she did. I guess I thought that it was an automated process and I wasn't thinking about the business conflict for them. So my third lesson - not the TA's job to save you money after you have purchased your cruise!

However, my problem here wasn't that, though, as we had hoped but not counted on it. We could not tell whether the cruise had been paid for or not. And I wondered whether there was some indication on the website that it had been paid; and then after hearing more here, whether using a TA affected what you see on the website. When I know the answers to these questions, I will post them and hopefully move on to looking forward to the cruise. 🙂

It looks like the person on here who hopefully provided me the path to finding out is a TA. Thank you!!

11 hours ago, Iamcruzin said:

I wouldn't expect a TA to watch for price drops. It's a conflict of interest. Macy's doesn't call me to tell me that the pants I bought a week ago are now on sale or automatically credit my account. Why would a travel agent be willing to take a cut in their commission. Those who claim that their travel agent watches for price drops are either TA's who booked their own cruise, have a friend or relative who booked their cruise or have given the TA so much business over the years that the TA is compelled to watch their reservation. I promise you that this is not a normal practice.  

Thanks for replying. Live and learn. This aspect really did not occur to me until the problems started, but from their perspective it's not a money maker for them to pass on discounts to you! We have only cruised maybe every six years or so as just getting to the boat is a huge part of the vacation budget, so this had been an experience.

6 minutes ago, grandgeezer said:

We use an online travel agency. They keep our credit card on file (if we want to use a different card we just call them) and they are 43 for 43 in making our final payment before the deadline. And yes, our credit card is charged by the cruise line not the TA. I leave all the heavy lifting to them and take my 12-20% in perks or price deduction with a smile on my face.

Lucky ducky! No perks, no price reductions, no smile (yet!), just aggravation. And I have learned here today that having a TA that charges through the cruise line is the key. In our situation, if something has gone wrong, it has literally nothing to do with Royal. And I learned on the phone today that Royal will tell you zero if you used a TA. Hopefully, we will know  something tomorrow. It's 90 days and we have requested a Royal guest booking invoice from the TA as recommended above. We'll see.

1 hour ago, h20skibum said:

Many times, you may not get a reminder from your TA to do online check in, book shows or excursions, until about 30 days before the cruise.

Hopefully, you have started that process at your 90 day check in, or before. Otherwise, some times may be gone.

I would hope your TA got you some perks, over and above what Royal offers. If not, it is time to find a new TA.


Past Reviews post 184

Thank you for responding! We have booked a couple of excursions and the refreshment package. The Entertainment section isn't up yet - but maybe that's because of the situation we're in? Didn't really expect any perks. Hoped for a price drop, but that's okay. She just keeps saying it's paid for and Royal did this and Royal did that. But she also said we should have been able to check in today, and we can't - which is what led me to ask about the website here. 90 days  payment was tomorrow. We'll see. No TA for us anymore. I think we just don't travel enough for that to work out for us. If/when we get to go again, we are using the website. This has been too much.

14 minutes ago, Arzeena said:

Check your credit card charges on line.
Mine shows up as soon as Royal Caribbean charges the card via my TA.

Thanks for replying! It shows up - just as paid to the TA. I learned above that you should really use a TA where the charges show up from Royal Caribbean like you said, not to the TA. My main question was whether it shows up on the website that you have paid. It still says Pay Remaining Balance. From what I can gather, it stays that way? The customer service rep did not know - he said that I could keep paying through that button as much as I wanted to and laughed. I wasn't very entertained! He was aware that he could not tell me the status of our payment, but not that the button becomes inactive when you use a TA. It has been very frustrating. But, live and learn. I just hope we're not spending a week in July drinking Mango Tangos on our patio instead of on Labadee!

2 minutes ago, Mr. Candyman said:

All TAs do not operate the same.  You will find some that are wonderful and you will find some that will do nothing after the book your cruise. I did all the leg work and made the job quite easier for my TA. 

Thanks for replying! I was just pointing out why we switched and that even if this hadn't happened, it wouldn't have been worth it to us to have changed. The concern for me now is that if you book with a TA and have a problem, you are at the mercy of your TA because Royal will not tell you anything. Not even after it is all over. Not even if it has been paid. I fully understand their not making changes during the process, but I would have thought *afterwards* they could at least tell you if it had been paid. I have no idea how we are going to know what is happening. But they don't and won't. Painful lesson learned!

2 minutes ago, katiel53 said:

I would be worried then too.  I will not use an agency that has the charge made out to the agency instead of the cruise line.  I'm sure you didn't know that initially, so I understand your concern.  Years ago I used an agency that employed a friend.  I found out that when things were charged to the agency, the owner floated the money and many times didn't pay for tour .

Thanks for that information! I thought if you used a TA, then the money always went to them first and then they paid the company. Good to know - wish I had known it in October!

1 minute ago, Saman said:

I am in Europe and booked direct ,i received a reminder about payment and was told when paid i would receive my sail pass etc , 3 days after i paid sail pass was available on the app . 

Thank you! And I fully plan for that to be us next time if this all works out. 🙂 Book it directly through the website and just keep an eye on it.

2 minutes ago, Bee Guy said:

 

Using a TA will not prevent you from doing online check in.

Thank you! That is good. I was gearing up for my next worry. 🙂

2 minutes ago, molsonschooner said:

we use a TA. I always do our on line check in. 

Thank you! The last cruise we went on was years ago and the whole online vs TA situation wasn't even a thing.

16 minutes ago, Bee Guy said:

Are you able to print a set sail pass?  If so, perhaps that would be an indication that it has been paid? 

 

Edit to add:  I just noticed that tomorrow is 90 days out, so then you should be able to print the set sail pass.

Thank you for replying. I was kind of thinking that as well, but if we can't check in online because we used a TA, then we will still be stuck with the grayed out buttons even if it has been paid.

3 minutes ago, katiel53 said:

Did you use a credit card?  Do you do online banking so that you can  check your credit card bill to see if there is a charge to the cruise line?  If I didn't get a confirmation, that's what I would do.

 

If I saw the charge posted or pending, it is paid.  Simple solution.  

Thanks for responding! The charge has been taken out but to the TA not the cruise line. That is the sticking point. We made final payment last week which was debited, but now we are kind of in limbo. We are going to request the Royal Guest Booking Invoice mentioned above.