seatraveler1

I have noticed comments about a 2 night media cruise on 11/04 out of Bayonne and some travel agent cruise contest winner for the 2 night 11/08 cruise after Anthem arrives in Bayonne, but nothing else.

I know last year Quantum did several pre-inaugural cruises before the inaugural cruise, the cruises to "no where" aren't going to end until 2016.

It appears that there will be three 2-night U.S. Pre-Inaugural cruises. Invitations have already been sent out for the November 4-6th PI.

Interesting, I wonder what they're doing with the other possible 2 night cruises as I haven't heard of any chatter anywhere on this.

I just reported on what was told to me, so please don't read into the Pinnacle part as it would be terrible for anyone to experience this crime. So if I said it was a passenger, would I then have comments about why I mentioned a passenger?

Just heard from a friend sailing on Allure out of Barcelona that a male Pinnacle member was attacked on the street 1 block from the ship in Naples Italy. 2 guys on a scooter cut him off and ripped his jewelry off while draging him down the road. I didn't find out his name, but was told that several police cars came out and he was taken to the hospital. I was told that he had blood all over his legs and hand from the road burn. Apparently this Pinnacle member has been on board for several weeks now since dry dock .

Security told my friend that this is a very common crime in Naples and a lot of people are starting to find out on the ship in the suite lounge since it just happened yesterday afternoon. Why do they even stop there if this crime is do out of control?

It's very shocking!

Any other questions. I did notice the builders are still in the side wing rooms of the old crown and anchor lounge. Suites lounge and coastal kitchen for suites are the Middle 2/3rds and I think it was the old pinnacle chapel / card rm where ladders inside and windows are covered over

Thank you for the report. The middle 2/3 as you say was the old Viking Crown lounge and it's now the Suite Lounge and Coastal kitchen. The side rooms being converted to Royal Suites are the old Pinnacle Lounge (Port side) and the Pinnacle Chapel (Starboard side).

I was on FOS last October and had a great cruise. We saw bartenders, not as many but enough. The crew was upbeat, friendly and helpful. The CDC health inspection was a perfect 100. Looks like something happened after dry dock, I will be anxious to hear other reports as we are doing the Eastern route in November.

Here is the report after your October cruise, wasn't dry dock January 2015? It did receive a 100 4/2014 though.

Freedom Of The Seas Royal Caribbean International 11/23/2014 86 All Scores Report Corrective Report

Here is the link if you need it:

http://wwwn.cdc.gov/InspectionQueryTool/InspectionResults.aspx

I sent an email to Mr. Bayley last night. I'll let you know if I get a response. :)

Good, between the letter and surveys, they should definitely know how that ship is run, awfully!

Not sure how the app distorts pic but Diamond Lounge is deck 11/12

The old Concierge Lounge is now the Diamond Lounge

Wow, that's not the Dexter we know. He must have been having a really bad day to say something like that. Not good.

Have NEVER EVER heard or seen Dex do anything like that If it is true, I'm betting there's another part of this story, from his side. He is very hard working, and this is not his usual way of interacting with people.

 

 

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I guess anyone can have a bad day, but you have to find a way to handle things diplomatically when you're in a position as his in a room FULL of people. All he had to do is walk over to the guy and find out the story behind taking the drink out without yelling and threatening him from across the room, the guys mother was real upset at Dexter for doing that. The Diamond lounge was held in the "Disco" by the Ice Rink since there were so many Diamonds and above on board and there was even a person standing at the entrance carding everyone.

We are 2 guys together, so our interaction with him wasn't the best, perhaps he has a problem with that?

This was on Allure.

We've been on Freedom twice now and it will be the last, it's an awful ship starting at the top with the Captain and officers. It's no surprise that they received an almost failing grade with the health inspection, the worst in the fleet.

Our impression is that the crew lives in fear from the ship officers and their hard line or mismanagement approach I should say.

Lol, Dexter doesn't call me MOM, he calls me trouble !

He was one of the worst unfriendly concierges we have ever met! Another passenger said the same thing. The other passenger walked into the lounge to see his mom for 1 minute with a drink in hand since he had purchased the beverage package and then walked out. Dexter yelled at him from across the room saying he would kick him out of the lounge if he took a drink out of the lounge again in front of all the guests. He embarrassed him about talking his drink out! Dexter has no class at all.

Adventure OTS - Bobby Brown began on March 1(until when? then who?)

 

Allure OTS - Jerome Sueur began March 1 until April 12. (Who will be CD for the last FLL sailing of the season on April 12, and for the TA on April 19?) The ship goes into dry dock on May 1. Jerome will be CD once the ship returns to service on May 19 for all of the European cruises thru Oct 25

 

Anthem OTS - Joff Eaton joins the ship on March 18 until September 1 or 15. Ken Rush will also be onboard for the first 6-8 weeks doing behind the scenes duties to provide a smooth take out

 

Brilliance OTS - Clo O'Connor started on March 9 (until when? then who?)

 

Enchantment OTS - Jeff Arpin from March 13 through April 17 Marc Walker returns on April 17 until May 18. Who is covering Marc's vacation May 18 through July 13? Marc returns from his vacation on July 13.

 

Explorer OTS - The ship is in dry dock. Mike Hunnerup will be CD when the ship returns to service on April 24 through May 15 (then who?)

 

Freedom OTS - Casey Peltier from February 1 for 4 months.

 

Grandeur OTS - Dan Whitney from February 3 until April 28. Mitch Merucci will return from his break on April 28 for 4 months..

 

Independence OTS - Ricky Matthews February 22 through April 5, then Jamie Fentiman April 5 until May 10, then Leigh Xuereb May 10 through September 8. Leigh is the new permanent CD on Indy!

 

Jewel OTS - John Blair starts on March 14 until July 17, then Dennis Charles for 2 months

 

Legend OTS - Keith Williams started March 30 until June 11

 

Liberty OTS Luke Aerowsmith March 28 for 4 months

 

Majesty OTS - Simona Ferraiuolo started January 30 until the end of March or beginning of April then Carlos Torres returns for 4 months. (need exact handover date)

 

Mariner OTS - Gordon Whatman started March 15

 

Navigator OTS - John Perry November 16 until April 18. He will be returning for another 4 month contract in June Jeff Arpin will be covering John's break April 18 through mid-June

 

Oasis OTS - Drew Devine January 24 through May 23, then Ricky Matthews returns May 23 through July 25

 

Quantum OTS - Jimmy Rhodes March 29 for 4 months.

 

Radiance OTS - Thomas DeCell March 14 through May 15, then Amy Fickert returns May 15 in Vancouver (Amy is getting married May 9)

 

Rhapsody OTS - Graham Seymour March 29 through early August.

 

Serenade OTS - Carly Boileau started Feb 21 for a 2 month fill-in, then who?

 

Splendour OTS - Michelle Pimentinha for the Brazilian season.

 

Vision OTS - Steve Davis from December 12 until April 26, then Mercedes LaFuente (until when?) Former AM on Jewel Elvis Pinto reported on FB that he has been assigned to Vision upon his return from his break in May. Sometime ago, it has been announced onboard Jewel that Elvis would be promoted to CD, but at this time, it is unclear if he will be the AM or the CD on Vision when he begins there in May.

 

Voyager OTS - Chris Brown (former activities manager) started December 7th until ship returns to Singapore in mid-March then Lixin Fang

 

Carly Boileau has semi-retired, but will return as a fill-in CD from time-to-time

Rich Edwards is currently recovering from surgery and resting at home. He will be returning in June 2015.

Allan Brooks left Royal Caribbean to take a position in Celebrity corporate office.

Richard Spacey is a CD with Celebrity

Becky Thompson works for Celebrity Cruises in their corporate offices in Miami.

Dave Chapman has left RCCL. He is taking an extended break, and then he will be moving over to another cruiseline.

James Andrews is a real estate agent in Sydney

Mike Szwajkowski is a Canadian Mountie

Leo Papa at Cornell University working on a Master's degree in Hospitality Administration/Management

Anna Bass is now Client Services Manager at ISS London

Abe Hughes is Director of Port Revenue Operations at Royal Media Partners and sometimes works onboard as the port and shopping guide

João Pereira is studying Portuguese/English education and translation at Faculdades Metropolitanas Unidas in Brazil

Kirk Detweiler is now CD with Silversea cruises.

Simeon Baker - married a dancer, had a baby girl and is a sales exec at a Porsche dealer in Saskatchewan

Matt Baker - Sim's brother - recently married and living in Wales. They bought a pub called the Tiddley

Kieron Buffrey - CD with Holland America

Tom Canosa - teaching 6th grade science in North Carolina

Peter Benfield and Johnny Osborne have emigrated to Thailand

Anthony Richards is living in Miami with his wife, and is working for Royal Media Partners as Manager Port Revenue Operations

Rico du Breil is now a CD with NCL

Paul Lancaster is no longer with RCI, and resides in England

Abel Jeney is International Manager at Kingswood Education and Adventure in London

Parker Cristan is living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin - staging/choreographing for local theater

Ashley Kerr - married and living in Vancouver BC, working as a marketing rep for a PR firm

Karen Maybury - has a consultant/pr/entertainment agency

Jannie Cloete - leading expeditions on small ships

Where is Warren Allen? (aka Warren Melhuish)

Majesty: Carlos Torres started his rotation on March 27 and is currently on the ship until when I don't know.

On Majesty, I believe Simona Ferraiuolo is leaving in the end of March beginning of April, then Carlos Torres will resume... yuck

We are not able to book our cruise at rccl.com anymore after the site update - we get redirected to rccl.no. The norwegian site is bad….We can not see vacant staterooms to choose the one we want, you have to "take what you get" :( and its very slow loading pages.

It's terrible here in the USA as well. I wasn't frustrated until I tried to look at some cruises, it's simply just awful. Who are the idiots running their IT department anyway?

Each time I click on their "New" website search criteria, it re-directs the form to the top of the screen, then I have to scroll back down to click on something else, over and over and over.

I would rather NOT book a cruise now!

Well, I guess we still don't know based on the conflicting accounts posted here!

I'm sorry to have to tell you that my best guess about this was WRONG! :(

 

There is only continental breakfast in the deck 11 concierge lounge and snacks at lunch time. There is no more cooked food and no beer or wine either in the CL.

 

The cooked to order breakfast and lunch is considered a suite perk and therefore is only available on deck 17 for suites and pinnacle club members.

 

This is the current information as of this week. I know this is a disappointment for many.

Interesting, so do I take it from this statement that the evening cocktails are gone as well in the CL, or am I reading too much into it? :)

edit: I just realized that you were only responding back to the breakfast/lunch question and not the evening cocktails.

Was that the group that had to respond by Sept 9th?

 

We're hoping that they will invite all Pinnacles ......we're at the "light "end ....in the 800's.

The one person told me that they had until the 12th to respond, that seemed kind of odd to me since it was over a week to get back to them.

We are Pinnacle Extra Light (less calories :p) since we only have just under 800.

What point level are they at now for inviting people for the pre-inaugurals? I know some Pinnacles at the 950 point level and they got invited on 9/4.

I just wonder what point level they are going to stop inviting people :(

I don't see a specific restriction against the shareholder benefit in the BOGOHO terms. However, the terms of the shareholder benefit are vague enough that it can go either way.

Thanks, but I did find this link:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2041719

I thought I read this somewhere, but now I can't find it. If you have an inside cabin through BOGOHO, can you apply the stock OBC?

I think one of the reasons for cost cutting is the cheap @%! people that steal from the ship and try and sell the items on eBay. Just go to eBay and type Royal Caribbean and you'll see what I am talking about.

Now I don't care if people buy a souvenir glass and sell it since they paid for it, I am talking about people stealing robes (assumed), pens, brochures etc. and trying to sell them on the internet. Why do you think they take the stainless steel salt/pepper shakers from the table right away after eating, people were taking them.

Ditto. Politely inform them of the rule then escalate to Guest Services if ignored or challenged.

It seems good to say that, but confrontation usually doesn't work. It happened on a Majesty 3 night cruise even talking to them nicely and when they wouldn't stop, we called guest relations and they sent security. Three young Mexican guys from Mexico City in their late 20's sharing a JS next to us harassed us the next two nights by prank phone calls all night, they threw dirty underwear on our balcony, sprayed coke all over the balcony and then threw their shot glasses against the glass sliding door breaking all over the balcony floor.

I heard a loud bang during the night and didn't know what it was until stepping out in the balcony the next morning and having broken glass along with the other items under my bare feet. Security came and knocked on their door and told them to stop, but the next night they did the same thing. Security said video showed them nothing from outside of the ship to prove that they did it.

The passenger code of conduct meant nothing on that cruise and security was a HUGE disappointment. I would have insisted that they get kicked off of the ship the next day, but we just happed to be in Miami (only a 3 night cruise) so they were getting off of the ship anyway.

I'll never confront someone nicely again, but good luck if you do. That was the worst cruise we have ever been on and very disappointed on how it was handled by security.

We paid an extra $500 to upgrade and still got poked in the eye with a reduction in the balcony discount.

 

 

 

This isn't about price drops - it's about any re-faring on a reservation. If I book an OV and then within 6 months of the cruise decide that I want to upgrade to the Royal Suite, RCI will take my extra $5000 in cruise fare and then poke me in the eye by taking $25 off the discount. I don't see that as a sound business practice.

Hi Jean, I agree with you on this one IMHO. As a side note away from this thread, someone told me that you had Blake E's email address because I would like to contact him. Is this true? Much Thanks!

Thank you for all of the replies, and yes I was proactive, BUT, when I called again several months later the next person told be completely different information, thus you can't really plan ahead that much.

Now I am told that you can pick a longer cruise and they pro-rate the cruise and you can just pay the difference. Also, you can upgrade to a higher category and pay the difference as well.

I also found out now that the cruise that you turn Pinnacle on or the one immediately after that doesn't have to be your free one. As others have said, they told me that it is on a case by case basis on when you can select your cruise based on all factors. At least they are willing to work with you.

Before I could copy Brittney's info, all posts regarding that email address were removed. I assume it's against policy to post it. I guess I'll just do it through the D+ desk.

I wonder what the next C&A person will tell me.:D

If you wanted an answer from an actual Pinnacle, I'll get back to you in about 10 years! - maybe.

 

In contrast to much of the mish mush written for many of the "rules", this one seems pretty clear. That said, it doesn't seem to make any sense to penalize a super loyal cruiser just because they have chosen to book lots of cruises far ahead. If it were me, I think I'd try the D+ desk again and see if you can be connected with someone with the authority to bend the rule a bit.

BTW, on the recent RC survey I completed, there were two questions pertaining to the importance of having a dedicated Pinnacle desk, so if they establish one it should help.

Thanks! I was thinking the same thing as you because each time you call the desk, you may (I should say will) get a different answer. This is why I asked the question to someone that actually experienced this and knows how it works.

When you ask this question 10 years from now, I'll reply to you and let you know! :p