mklions

Why do Oceania take so long to cancel cruises?, that we all know will not happen.

Today P&O decided to cancel sailings until October.

3 weeks ago I had to pay my final balance for a baltic cruise sailing mid August this year.

My TA  advised me that If I defaulted on paying my final balance I would have lost my £2000k deposit, which was a no brainer!

So now I have to wait until Oceania cancel the cruise for me to wait a further 90 days to get my monies back.

I know they know the cruise won't happen so why not cancel cruises sooner? Rather than take peoples money?

Mkilons

The question is when will she sail again?

I’m booked on her for mid August ( this year) and each day we hear positive news about the lifting various restrictions, only yesterday they said pubs and restaurants could possibly start to reopen in June .

Just maybe and fingers crossed we may start sailing again earlier than first imagined.

Why not be optimistic!

mklions.

If you see a huge price drop on your pending cruise and have already paid in full can you go back to your TA and get the new price?

mklions

Last week I paid the final balance for a cruise on Marina In August this year which  I know will be cancelled. 

My options were , ( spelt out from my TA,) either to lose my £2000 deposit for breach of contract/ cancelling the cruise or pay the balance of another £6000 and claim it all back in full through either the cruise company or my credit card company or ABTA ( the association of British travel agencies)

I know I will have to wait 90 days for my refund, but better than losing the £2000 deposit would you not agree?

mklions.

Ah, bit of a balls up actually on my post, our sail date is mid August not mid November.

Anyhow many Thanks for all your replies..

mklions.

Hi fellow shipmates,

We are booked on the Marina going to the Baltics mid November this year, sailing out of Southampton.

 Very good possibility  this will not happen, for obvious reasons.

I have paid through our TA the deposit about 15% of the total cost of the cruise, with the balance due any time now. Should I pay in full when the balance is due, or should I cancel beforehand or what?

Sorry if this question has been posted before but any help in answering would be very much appreciated.

Thank you in advance,

Mklions.

Looking to book a Baltic cruise next summer on Marina. The offer showing gives us 6 free shore excursions. Reading the above posts I believe this is up to a value of $199 each. My question is can you use OBC to pay for a excursion that exceeds the $199 limit?

millions.

Hi all fellow cruisers,
Just had a email from RC asking me if I wanted to bid for a upgrade from our balcony cabin to a junior suite on our Jewel of the Seas  cruise of seven days starting next week.

 I decided to take the plunge and bid one of the  lowest offers of 200 Dollars per person, so 400Dollars in total for the chance to upgrade.

I am interested to know if this is common practice and what fellow CC members have experienced in the past?

The offer shows a meter on the web page and my offer is deemed as week? So my question is also what are my chances?, and what would others pay for the upgrade from a balcony to. Junior suite?

kind regards,

mklions

22 hours ago, Norwich Cruiser said:

The diamond lounge was absolutely rammed the first night ran out of food by 17.15 and ran out of drinks by 19.30 there are 700 diamonds 500 Russians on board announcements both in English and Russian.

Second night they’ve got there act together and sorted it completely closed off the Vortex lounge plenty of drinks and food being replenished all the time.

Bahrain today an industrial port $20 pp each way for ships shuttle.

Waste of money takes 1hour 20 minutes each way the dearest rest room you’ll ever have.

Weather though is very good hot and sunny.

 

 

 

Why so many Russians? we are flying out to join The Jewel on Sunday.

Mkilons

Hi All,

With the current US airstrike in Baghdad how safe would you feel sailing on an American cruise ship around the middle east?

Next Sunday we are sailing on the Jewel of the Seas around the Persian Gulf with my family of nine and with todays news I cannot help but feel a little trepidation.

Mklions.

Thanks for all the great advice and tips, you can always rely on cruise critic members to come up trumps when needed.

I now feel confident that our family will have a fantastic cruise.

kind regards,

mklions

Hi All,

My wife and I are cruising with our two children their partners and our three grandchildren as a party of nine next month. Sailing on Jewel of the Seas around the Emirates for a week.

On booking we requested 3 balcony rooms together, only to find we have been assigned 3 balcony cabins on three different decks!.

Spoke to our TA today and they have said because we booked on a "guarantee basis" they have no control on cabin selections. So a bit disappointed in this, as it would be nice to have joining cabins and feel a bit annoyed that our request has been overlooked.

My other questions is about dinning with children in the MDR do they have a area for families in the MDR? Our grandchildren are 6,4 and 18 months and although relatively well behaved in general they do get fidgety after a while, and I would hate them to disrupt other dinners.

It is our first cruise with children and any advice would be very much appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Mklions...

We are also on this exciting TA cruise, travelling out of Heathrow 8.15 Wednesday morning, fingers crossed we should be at the cruise terminal around midday. Unfortunately In work tomorrow and Tuesday but can’t wait to join up with you all.

Mklions.

Dave and Jackie..

Does buying the drinks package give you a better choice of wine at dinner?

mklions

Hi All,

just read that Royal Caribbean discount there drinks packages on Black Friday and cyber MondayIs this correct ? 
Mklions.

Toying with taking out the “Essentials Package” on our 17 day Lisbon to Rio cruise in November.

I’ve read somewhere that it’s best to book on embarkation because the crew benefit from taking the booking?, that sound fine but by booking on embarkation does not give as much time to use up the 300 USD the essentials package provides on a excursions.

My wife tends to use the internet quite a lot, so that provides another reason to buy the package, although we get some free minutes by being in a CC suite.

Finally the drinks, we both like a wee drink or two, gin and tonic for my wife, beer and wine for myself. Does the essentials package provide with better gins and wine?

Thanks in advance for all reply’s 
Mklions.

We are staying on the QE2 for one night prior to our cruise, which incidentally is permanently moored at the cruise terminal.

mklions

I

19 minutes ago, CORKY_Q said:

Din't know your exact situation, I am in The States, but here we can notify Royal of extenuating circumstances.  If any of our party cannot drink alcohol (age or medical considerations) we are allowed to purchase a non-alcoholic beverage package.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Sea ya!

22 minutes ago, ZiggaZagga17 said:

you can book now - and then if it drops, cancel your packages and re-package as such!

 

it's a lottery on the price from my experience!  did you get the £199 deal i saw advertised for a balcony yesterday?

I probably did get the £199 deal but with the added emirates flights the balcony cost came in at £699 per person. With only a £50 discount for the three children.

Still I think it’s a great price for a weeks balcony cruise.

mklions.

Just booked yesterday for a week sailing on the Jewel in January around the Emirates.

We are travelling in a party of six adults and three children.

Just looked online at our booking and see the ultimate drinks package is £41.80 per person per day. Multiplied by six adults and then by seven nights this is a whopping £1,755.60 for our party.!

My question is will the online/ booking price likely to drop nearer the date? Or will it be better to book when we board? 

Thanks in advance for all your responses.

Mklions.

Thank you HGC,

It maybe worth adding to your "tips" spreadsheet that you can have dinner served in your cabin on any evening  from the MDR menu. Thats a pretty good tip IMO.

Mklions.

Fantastic, thanks for that!

We are fortunate enough to have a cc suite would the dinner be served course by course by our butler?

That would be the icing on the cake!

Mklions.

Hi all,

We are sailing Lisbon to Rio on the Pursuit in November and sometimes (as on other cruises) we like to chill out and have dinner selected from the main dinning room menu served to our cabin or even on our balcony, is this an option on Azamara?

Kind regards,

Mklions..

On 27 July 2019 at 12:08 PM, LucyTanya said:

Hi, we really enjoyed it, the suite is huge! It has the most comfortable bed I have ever slept in. The small kitchen has an American style fridge which is great for storing drinks or snacks you are saving for later. Other than the Clarins supplies (they replace them when empty) you don't get any extra services or goodies) but you do get to sit in your own Hot tub  on the balcony as you sail away! Some parts of the decor are a bit old, and I think the curtains were once switch operated, but when I you look at the cost compared to other lines this is easy to forgive. I hope you have a great time - we did.

Thanks Lucy,

The balcony hot tub sounds great! Do you have to fill it each day and can you set the temperature?

Hi Lucy, 

we have also booked the royal suite on the Explorer 2 sailing out late August.

how did you find the cabin?, and can you give me any helpful advice on the added benefits of a suite. 

Thanks in advance.

mklions

54 minutes ago, Catlover54 said:

You could BYO, at least a couple bottles, if Hendricks et al do not suit you!

No fee.

I am not sure how buying our own would work to well, as we do not tend to drink in the cabin and carrying a bottle of gin from bar to restaurant to bar each night would be looked upon very strange indeed!

Mklions