Mothballs

My ability to cruise is not only the falling dollar but my workplace. I work in a supermarket and have had my hours reduced and pushed forward so that we receive minimal or no shift penalties.

Seriously depressed as I only have two 3 night cruises booked this year.

Elaine.

The 'I can't swim, so I'm afraid of being surrounded by water' is one I hear most often. I say to those people, but you can't fly either yet you travel on planes. If the plane engines stop you crash, if a ships engines stop you float around for a few days but it's not likely to be a risk to your life.

Give me a ship over a plane any day!

 

Another odd one is terrorists/pirates attacking the ship - a cruise ship is an unlikely target due to too many people on board to control. They watch movies like Captain Phillips (which we saw on board a ship by the way) & think a cargo ship with 10 crew is the same thing. Same people will of course hop on plane - a prime target for terrorists!:rolleyes:

I hear this one a lot from my co workers.

I watched Captain Phillips on the 2 hour ferry ride from Dar es Salaam to Zanzibar and thought it was a strange choice of movie!

Regards Elaine.

Don't you think there are people who are just tight with their money irrespective of how much they earn or have in the bank! These people will look for any excuse to remove gratuities.

Like most people here I pre pay the tips and give a little extra to the cabin attendant and dining room staff. It would be tough to show up day after day with a smile for such a long period. In my old life I was a nurse and was ready to crack it when I worked 10 days straight.

Regards Elaine.

Hi David, just booked a 3 nighter on the Pacific Jewel departing 6th of November 2015. Thanks.

not a big issue but you can always meet them onboard

If it was just me I would be happy to wait but the husband is always keen to get on the ship.

Elaine.

I am booked on a 3 nighter on Explorer and 4 friends have decided to join us. I had planned on boarding as early as possible but as this is their first cruise with RCCL they will have to board by the deck times they are allocated. Can they board with me?

I will ditch them if I have to, only joking (I think).

Regards Elaine.

Could I ask you the email address please? We have a certificate that we need to apply and I've called up twice but they haven't gotten back to me.

Thanks so much.

I emailed a copy of the certificates plus proof that we had paid a deposit on the cruise we had chosen to apply the certificates to.

The email address is fccau@rcclapac.com

You will know that it has been received as an automated reply will be emailed to you by RCCL.

Regards Elaine.

Set sail pass already printed. Just in case.

Elaine.

You need to ring tomorrow for sure. If you can't pay online you must ring them. We had a similar issue with certificates from a Rhapsody cruise, and we were given the wrong email address to start with also. Then when they applied the credits they dropped the OBC we had from the original booking. When you call, ask them to email you immediately your new invoice, and hold on the line and check it straight away. Usually the email comes through almost immediately when we have done that.

 

For the others - this is the sort of person that does not need others clogging up the call centre as this is an urgent time frame matter.

Hi goodycruising, did the email address for the FCC's you received from the Rhapsody start with admin? I wasted a lot of time because of this mistake but all good now. Still can't access my reservation so I called and paid the balance owing and have been sent a new invoice with the OBC showing. Not sure if RCCL would have cancelled my cruise but I didn't want to risk it.

Regards Elaine.

I will be calling too as one of my bookings has disappeared. I booked this cruise a couple of weeks ago and applied two certificates that the husband and I received for a noise issue on our Rhapsody cruise in February. The paperwork had the wrong email address so I wasted time waiting for an adjusted invoice until I finally realized it wasn't going to happen. Rang RCCL and received the correct email to send the certificates and have received a new invoice but can't pay the balance due to the reservation disappearing. I'm a bit nervous as I'm now 3 days past the payment being due.

Regards Elaine.

I don't know how old other people are commenting on this thread but I'm in my late 50's and know that P&O are not directing this series of advertisements at me because I'm too old. Also P&O know that the cashed up baby boomers who used to cruise with them have moved on to greener pastures.

These advertisements are directed towards people in their 20's and 30's in my opinion and you would find too that teenagers would be influenced by the choice of Owen Wilson. I have read that children have a big say in where the family chooses to spend their holidays.

Regards Elaine.

I know who Owen Wilson is and I quite like him as an actor for the type of roles he plays. He wouldn't influence me into booking a P&O cruise anymore than George Clooney would make me want to drink Nespresso coffee.

As an aside to this, on my travels through Africa last year my American and Canadian fellow travellers were surprised when I told them who the celebrities are that try to flog us stuff.

Regards Elaine.

Hi David

Could you please add

Explorer of the Seas- 29th November 2015. 3 nighter

Radiance of the Seas- 3rd of December 2015. South Pacific.

Husband sustained an injury and is off work for the remainder of the year and I figured it is just as easy to recuperate on a cruise as it is at home :)

Regards Elaine.

I booked a 3 nighter this morning using a certificate I was given from RCI because of an issue on a previous cruise. Thought I had better use it up in case our dollar drops further. The certificate covered most of the cruise costs and included $200 OBC.

I remember travelling in the US when the dollar was at 52 cents and thinking we had kicked a goal when it climbed to 76 cents. I bought a heap when it was $1.09 but I have been going through it. Oh well,can't take it with you.

Elaine.

Not sure if you already know this but on my recent Rhapsody cruise Graham Seymour stated that he will be transferring to the Explorer later in the year.

Regards Elaine.

Yes, but I reckon she may have had problems getting right into Wooloomooloo wharf if it was available.

 

I think Garden Island would be the perfect solution. Send the Navy to White Bay,.

Do you know how many Naval Vessels are berthed at Garden Island? Unlike cruise ships the fleet are berthed for weeks and months at a time. What about the noise for the residents? I understand infrastructure can be moved but it will cost a lot of money and what happens if the cruise industry goes bust.

Asked the Navy Daughter if HMAS Canberra will fit under the Harbour Bridge and she said yes if they remove the antenna.

Regards Elaine.

Garden Island is the outer part and has much more open water around it, so more room to manoeuvre. The Wooloomooloo wharf part is very narrow.

 

And the navy ships are tiny compared to some of the bigger cruise ships.

Have you seen HMAS Canberra? It is huge and we have another Navy ship, HMAS Adelaide on the way here which is the same size.

Regards Elaine.

You bet. Oasis would be a huge hit down under.

In addition to those ports, I think Oasis could also dock at Hobart. The other two obvious potential ports are Darwin and Fremantle. I can't see a problem with the Central Park flora because any Aussie itineraries would be in our summer when temps are roughly 25 to 33 deg C (80 to 95 F). [emoji3]

It's cooler in New Zealand, but Royal would probably want to call at some New Zealand ports. She could definitely go well into Milford Sound and turn around to exit. She may not be able to pass through the narrow channel that joins Dusky and Doubtful sounds though. Voyager fits through, but a much more beamy ship would not. Unsure about Auckland and Dunedin.

Oasis may also be able to dock at Suva, Lautoka in Fiji and Noumea in New Caledonia, but this would need to be verified.

I haven't considered tendering.

 

 

 

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I just got off the Rhapsody and the Captain was asked if Oasis would ever come downunder and his reply was no. Not because it wouldn't fit in the harbour but RCI don't have the infrastructure for a same day turn around.

Regards Elaine.

Thanks Big M for this information.

Elaine.

I am cruising on Rhapsody next month and as we are on Deck 3 our boarding time is 2 p.m.Our friends are up on Deck 8 so they can board at 11 a.m.They are also Diamond with RCI and my friend stated that because we are members of Crown & Anchor (only Emerald) we can board the ship early. Is this correct? I don't want to rock up to the ship early and then have to wait.

Regards Elaine.

Yes,I am pleased it is over too and Royal Caribbean gave me some OBC which is a nice gesture and something I didn't expect.

Regards Elaine.

Good news at last. 42 days after paying RCI I have finally received documents acknowledging my payment.

I know mistakes happen but it was the lack of communication that bothered me the most. The promises of emails and phone call that were never returned.

Regards Elaine.

Hi Elaine, how did you go with this?

 

When I paid mine last week my account balance was credited within 2 days, same as it always has been, so obviously something very strange going on with yours. Have you tried emailing both of these RCCL payments division email addresses: fit.au@rcclapac.com and also payments.au@rcclapac.com - if you haven't give them a try. I always seem to get a quick response if emailing them directly with a payments question. They have more idea about payments than the customer service staff on the phone.

 

Hopefully this info isn't needed and you already have it sorted.

 

Cathy

Hi Cathy,thankyou for your help but I have done all this.The problem is with RCI as I deposited the money in the correct way. The 2 other people that were having the same trouble have had their problems resolved so hopefully I will be next. I have contacted a troubleshooter that works for a travel magazine and he advised me to get a paper trail going but that is difficult when RCI ignores my emails. I have emailed Adam Goldstein regarding my problem so hopefully this might be resolved soon.

Elaine.

If you don't get contact, post it on facebook. There's a social media co-ordinator who can't directly resolve it, but pushes it from another angle.

I did as you suggested Big M and I see I am not the only person this is happening to.

Regards Elaine.

Today I received an email from RCL telling me that if I don't pay the remainder of the cruise money owed within 7 days our cruise will be cancelled. In my previous posts you will see that I paid the remaining balance on the 1st of November.I did everything correctly as I have checked and re-checked so before going to my Bank to see if they could be of assistance I rang RCL and spoke to a person that couldn't tell me if I had paid or not so I asked to speak to someone in the Finance Department but I was only put through to a Supervisor who also could not say if I had paid or not but knew the Bank I had sent the payment from and also that even though the money came from my account it was my husband that transferred the money.Very strange. I have been told that I will be contacted within 24 hours with hopefully this problem fixed as I have been promised this before by Royal Caribbean and it never happens.

Regards Elaine.