chiguypaul

I have always had the earliest arrival time. So are you saying that if I come at 11:30 and boarding has already started, I should be able to walk right on in a typical scenario?

Thanks and I've actually done that before with a different previous sailing!

I have an 11:30 arrival time for the Wonder of the Seas on the Dec 31 2022 sailing. I grabbed that time pretty early after the times were opened. I was expecting 10:30 or 11 to be available. Given that the Christmas sailing the week before is probably massive, do you think that 10:30 and 11 arrival times are not available? Or did I likely just not get those slots? Thanks

@crewsweeper, you had UDP and were allowed to make reservations on the Royal app once on board? I didn't know that was possible. Can you please confirm. Thanks.

Good question. This was a four night cruise. No issues. I found myself less frustrated with passengers on this ship compared to our typical seven day sailings during New Years.

Just wanted to provide some comments on my recent 2022 Thanksgiving Freedom cruise. For context, I am a Diamond member with 16 Royal cruises under my belt. I thought the ship looked great. Only issues were 1) there were multiple bathroom doors in common areas where the automatic door system did not open and close properly and 2) there were multiple elevators where the touch panel didn't work properly. Other than that, like I said, ship looked great. Overall crew were friendly and helpful. A few things that I think deserve mentioning: 1) The shows were absolutely terrible. The broadway show needs to be retired. The singer is an old Las Vegas has-been. No comedian. This is probably the worse entertainment we've had on Royal and was really disappointing for a Freedom class ship, 2) the Internet service was dreadfully awful, 3) The spaces used for thinks like karaoke and trivia were way too small and it made it impossible for many people to participate, 3) We had three issues where drinks were charged to our account, with additional gratuity added, that were not ours. The dining room management and front desk staff corrected these without issue, but I've never had even one drink incorrect charge with all my cruises. Three times in one trip felt like a lot, 4) Love itineraries with Coco - best stop ever!, 5) RCL food continues to rank as average for us. Some hits like Osso Buco, but there were many misses. Rack of lamb was listed on the menu, but they no longer offer it and provided lamb chops instead, 6) one night we went in for dinner and our table cloth had multiple stains - it was gross. Not sure how that wasn't spotted. It was taken care of immediately after I point it out. Overall my family had a great. This was our first Freedom class in a long time and we much prefer Oasis and Quantum class. Ask away with any questions.

I just wanted to provide a data point for those who use Travel Guard insurance. I called them about this situation and it does not qualify for Trip Interruption, but it does quality for Trip Delay. The Trip Delay benefit is significantly less than the Interruption benefit for the mid-tier policy we have and covers $200 per day per insured with a max payout (of amount I can't recall). Every policy is different and just using this to illustrate one scenario. While $200 per person may not cover the full cost of one night of hotel and additional airfare, it does lower the amount and provides some benefit for the $350 in premium we paid.

Got off the ship. Went right to the taxi line. 15 minutes and I was out with no problem.

Left the ship at 8:30 AM. No more than 10 minute wait for a taxi.

I’m on the RCL freedom returning 11/25/22 to Miami. RCL is saying it could take one hour for Uber pickup due to port construction. Does that sound right?

I’m on cruise now returning to Miami tomorrow. RCL is saying one hour to get an Uber for pickup. Does that sound right?

I did this and it was not a problem.

Thanks everyone. Decided to fly back from Miami and not risk the 10 flight.

Uber

I have a Freedom of the Seas sailing that returns on Friday, November 25th. Ship is expected to dock at 6 AM. I'm trying to figure out if I could make a flight in Fort Lauderdale at 11:15 AM. Do you think there's enough time to get up to FLL if I'm off the ship early on the 25th? A lot of people should be off for the 4 day Thanksgiving week so thinking that highway won't be as busy. Appreciate any insight.

Kudos to you. Followed your method to find it. Appreciate that.

Different sailings. My JS post was about the Oasis. This is about the Wonder. The ship is not sold out and the C&A rep could not explain why it was available for her to book and not on the web site. She looked on the web site as well and could not find it, but confirmed she could book for me.

The Wonder sails on April 2nd 2023, yet it is not online. I called C&A and they also did not see that specific sailing on the public website, but confirmed it was available and the rep was able to quote me out a room. From time-to-time, I've seen this happen where ships will not be visible and then return in search results later. Has anyone else seen this and know why that happens?

So odd. I just tried as well after seeing your post and see the JS as well. I just got off the phone with C&A providing me the information that they were not available to book. I did not see it earlier today. Weird.

I was looking at the Oasis for the April 2 2023 sailing. Specifically looking for a Junior Suite and they were not available. Given that so many other categories were open I found it odd that JS cat was booked out. When I called RCL reservations they said that Junior Suites are being held from booking at the moment for cruises during that period of time. I've never heard of that before. Anyone know why they might be doing that? Could someone like a group have a short term block on the rooms? Thanks

“Cancel”… “switch”…. I understand you that technically different but I see the same - just a move to a different ship. In my situation the benefit to switch with celeb is that even if I lose the deposit they said I would keep my credit from booking onboard. Anyway. Decided to cancel with celeb and am working with c&a on the onboard credit transfer since I booked on RCL with Nextcruise.

That is not correct. You are able to switch to a different sailing for a very small transfer fee. Know your facts.

Non refundable does not always mean that despite what all of non-refundable experts say. As a consumer I have been successful many times in getting companies to make exceptions especially in cases where I continue to do business with them. So while in this case I may not be successful there are others who may have been and I was simply trying to understand other’s experiences.

Because they are both owned by the same company and I am Diamond with 15 cruises under my belt with RCL Group.

I have a $400 non-refundable deposit with four people from Celebrity cruise I booked while on a Royal cruise. Celeb will not let me transfer, will not transfer the deposit and will not let me transfer the credit I received from booking onboard.