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Everything posted by orville99
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My wife has never even owned a purse. If an outfit doesn't come with pockets, she puts them in herself.
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Imminent RCL Entertainment Cutbacks
orville99 replied to cusematt4's topic in Royal Caribbean International
They have live entertainment? I guess we have to spend less time enjoying our balcony and the sea and get with the programπ -
Radiance OTS experts need help re Owner's Suite
orville99 replied to kath00's topic in Royal Caribbean International
No, we never heard anything from there. -
Entice me to come back to RCCL
orville99 replied to ScottC4746's topic in Royal Caribbean International
We love them. Since we usually leave the balcony door open all the time when we are in the suite anyway, they make that a lot easier to do.π -
Entice me to come back to RCCL
orville99 replied to ScottC4746's topic in Royal Caribbean International
Not being royalty and not even staying in a Holiday Inn Express, it is a completely collaborative process. She picks the itineraries; I pick the suite; we settle on the best dates, she packs, I payπ -
Entice me to come back to RCCL
orville99 replied to ScottC4746's topic in Royal Caribbean International
Yes, we do. Have done all of our own bookings for about 20 years so far. We do make use of the cruise line's concierge services when we decide to book on a new cruise line in order to better understand the nuances of their booking process, but when it becomes time to book, we always do it ourselves. Case in point: When we decided this year to book on a new cruise line, I went over to their CC board, and several posters insisted that I would be better off if I used a TA to book. I tried that with several agencies, and in each case, the booking would have ended up costing me the exact same amount, they could (or would) not book me in the category I requested, and neglected to tell me that the "OBC" they were going to give me for booking with them was the same OBC that the cruise line was going to give me for booking direct. -
Entice me to come back to RCCL
orville99 replied to ScottC4746's topic in Royal Caribbean International
Probably, we are doing a B3B from 4/4 to 4/26.π -
Entice me to come back to RCCL
orville99 replied to ScottC4746's topic in Royal Caribbean International
We have a B2B 6-night Eastern and an 8 night ABC on Adventure booked for next April. We just booked an 11-night Southern on Celebrity Ascent for December 2025 out of FLL that is doing St. Lucia, Barbados, Antigua, Dominica and St Kitts, none of which are anywhere on RCL's currently released itineraries. We are also waiting on our concierge from Cunard to get us the pre and post cruise hotel info so we can complete booking a 30-night RT out of NYC on the QM2 to the British Isles and back for September 2025. Silversea is working up itineraries for us in 2026 to do South America, so RCL is fast fading into the dustbin of what used to be. -
Entice me to come back to RCCL
orville99 replied to ScottC4746's topic in Royal Caribbean International
Ironically, since we were already top tier on three other cruise lines, we never intended to sail on RCL to get to Pinnacle but shifted our cruise schedule to them because we were really impressed with their ships the first time we stepped on board Freedom of the Seas in 2010. Everything started to change after the restart in 2021 when leadership of the line changed. RCL is no longer the cruise line that we once enjoyed, and it is long past time to expand our range of choices for our 8-10 cruises a year. Will we still sail on RCL? Sure, but only when we find itineraries that break their current never changing rinse and repeat itinerary model. -
Entice me to come back to RCCL
orville99 replied to ScottC4746's topic in Royal Caribbean International
We are Pinnacle, with more than 100 RCL cruises, and we are going the other way. IMHO, the bloom has been off the RCL rose ever since the restart, and they seem to have no plan to get it back. There is a wide world and a lot of other choices out there. -
We did a B2B on Adventure in February and another B2B on her in April. DW has mobility issues, and she never had any problem navigating anywhere on the ship - including the Casino (but that's probably because we walked out of the Casino with about $500 more than we walked in with on both B2Bs). π The casino can get a bit congested around the slot machines, but from what we've seen, that is more because some people think that they are the only ones there and that their family can block the aisles while watching them lose their money. We have B3B's booked on Adventure in July and October, and love the ship.
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Got through (finally) to the Crown and Anchor phone desk
orville99 replied to pcur's topic in Royal Caribbean International
We have two 2025 cruises booked on X (7 night out of PC and an 11 night out of FLL), and are in the process of booking a 30 night RT for September 2025 out of NYC on the QM2 to the British Isles and back. Once we burn through the 19 currently booked RCL cruises, it is Katie bar the door from then on.π -
Got through (finally) to the Crown and Anchor phone desk
orville99 replied to pcur's topic in Royal Caribbean International
Not surprised, because the system wasn't broken in March.π -
Got through (finally) to the Crown and Anchor phone desk
orville99 replied to pcur's topic in Royal Caribbean International
Someone posted this hack on the thread I started last week on the same subject: When you get the robot, answer "Book a Cruise", and it will redirect you to a real person. Ask that person to connect you to the Loyalty desk. -
We had letters in our stateroom on our last three Adventure cruises stating that we would not be able to access the Suite lounge due to the Large number of suite guests and Pinnacles on board. Made no difference to us since we were sailing in a GS, so apparently they don't cross match their lists.
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New to RCC.. Question about room service
orville99 replied to Steph_'s topic in Royal Caribbean International
They did not have them on any of our eight cruises on either Wonder or Harmony over the last 18 months. We were told by the counter person that they were no longer stocking them when we asked. -
New to RCC.. Question about room service
orville99 replied to Steph_'s topic in Royal Caribbean International
Don't forget to order a few bags of chips whenever you place a room service order -that's the only place they are available on board.π -
We eat there 2-3 times a cruise (quite frankly, it is the only true specialty restaurant on board), and with the new menu there is very little of that is what I would call "traditional" sushi available - most items are tempura'd and fried. Which ship you are on would help with the question of where the food is prepped.
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None of the RCL phone numbers work
orville99 replied to orville99's topic in Royal Caribbean International
None of them work either. They all just go back to the same automated system. -
None of the RCL phone numbers work
orville99 replied to orville99's topic in Royal Caribbean International
That don't work eitherπ -
None of the RCL phone numbers work
orville99 replied to orville99's topic in Royal Caribbean International
Tried that. Tried every RCL number and none of them worked (actually if you go out to RCL's website and click on the Contact Us button, there are no phone numbers listed anywhere. -
Cabo Rojo, Dominican Republic - new Royal port stop
orville99 replied to DrProfessor's topic in Royal Caribbean International
Interesting article. sounds like it will be nice if it ever gets builtπ±π -
Cabo Rojo, Dominican Republic - new Royal port stop
orville99 replied to DrProfessor's topic in Royal Caribbean International
Did a Google Earth search of the port - there is literally nothing there. No town, no infrastructure, just a pier sticking out from a desert and an artificially created port venue (think Costa Maya before they built up the port area). Definitely a stay on the ship day for usπ -
None of the RCL phone numbers work
orville99 replied to orville99's topic in Royal Caribbean International
Finally cracked the code to get through to a real person - ask for "technical help" - the automated system will connect you with a live person (a clueless one, but at least one with a pulse). I had to convince her that I was simply trying to get to the D+/Pinnacle desk and that the 526-9723 number she kept telling me to use no longer worked.π When she finally connected me directly to the C&A desk, the nice woman on the phone told me that they know the phone system is broken and that they are trying to get it fixed. 3 hours just to confirm that we had added gratuities to two April 2025 cruises.π±