cello56

For those that enjoy one a day or less cabin service - good for you - that is YOUR preference and it is now being met.

For those that prefer twice a day cabin service - like me - you are now out of luck. 

When service was twice a day it was easy for those who wanted once a day service to simply ask for it. Now, those who like twice a day have no option. (Please don't say just say in a suite - that is out of reach financially for most people.) 

RCI have cut back service for no reason other than to save money. Just like so many things they have cut back on this is purely money driven cloaked in a "Save the environment" flag. They are seeing how far they can go with cut backs before people start voting with their pocketbook and stop booking cruises. Gone are the days when guests felt that they were being pampered even in an inside cabin. The overall cruising experience is being cheapened for many guests when things that they have enjoyed are no longer included. 

We returned from going for a swim to find our cabin door wide open - door stop keeping it that way. An electrician was in our cabin unannounced, changing a light fixture in the bathroom. Instead of parking his rather large electrician cart in front of the door blocking a stranger from entering our cabin, he parked it just past the door leaving our cabin wide open for anyone walking down the hall to enter. On the vanity we had a Macbook Air, two iPhones, two Apple Watches, two AirPods all sitting out charging. To say we were upset is an understatement. He then proceeded to tell us that it was going to be another 20-30 minutes before he would be finished his work. On formal night. 45 minutes before dinner started. We were not amused. Normally we don't leave electronics out in the open, but since we knew our cabin stewart was not due to service the room until 7pm we did not expect some random worker to enter without prior notice. RCI was very apologetic.

16 minutes ago, Katems75 said:

Doesn't everyone need a credit card on file while they cruise?  Therefore if one incurred any medical bills the card on file would cover them and you'd get off the ship just fine.  Not understanding the posts that say if you owed anything they wouldn't let you off the ship...seems to me your card would be charged and you'd be free to leave without even doing anything.

They gave us a choice as to what card the rather large sum was charged to. They also sent four front desk staff to our cabin to help my husband pack up all of our belongs at lightning speed! They did not charge for turning the ship around - luckily we were only about 45 minutes departed from San Juan but it still took awhile. They did not give any refund on the 5 days we missed in our suite. 

I am fine now - just learning to live with A-Fib. 

Last year I spent about 75 minutes in the ship "ICU" and the bill was $2200. We had to pay the bill immediately before they turned the ship around and went back to port to off load me to an ambulance to take me to the local shore side hospital. Trust me, they wanted payment right then. I will also say that the medical care I was given on the ship was EXCELLENT! Two board certified ER doctors and two nurses. Much better than the care  I received in the San Juan hospital. My 3rd. party medical coverage payed for almost all of the ship board medical care costs. My regular healthcare coverage paid for the hospital in San Juan and the ambulance - they were even 'in network'! 

My husband and I are perfectly happy to sit with strangers at breakfast and lunch. At dinner we have ZERO interest in sitting with strangers for seven nights. Nope. Sorry. We enjoy eating at our own pace, and talking about our own private lives. Now we have no issues with chatting with the people at the next table - the tables are so close that is easy. However having that six inch space between tables allows us to choose whether we want to talk to others that night or just keep to ourselves. Each to their own, that is why cruising is such a flexible vacation!

18 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

The reality is that wining a Royal Up is quite rare (despite to wins listed in various threads/posts here).

Plus the chances of winning your bid have gone down substantially since ships are now back to their pre-covid levels of capacity. I would imagine that someone hoping to go from an inside to a balcony would have a much higher chance of winning their bid over someone wanting to go from a balcony to a full suite. There simply are not that many suites that go unsold in the regular manner. 

Just in case you have not seen this resource page on the Royal website.

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/experience/accessible-cruising/autism-friendly-ships

Please be sure to download the Autism Social Story book if you think it might help your child to have a visual cue as to what is going to happen on the cruise. It on the link above. 

Keep in mind also that while RCI may have started some of these cost cutting measures to help them recoup losses they incurred during COVID, you can bet your bottom dollar that they will NEVER, EVER revert back to the old ways once their financial situation is back on a more even keel. Corporations will never return to the old more expensive practices. As long as their ships sail full, there is really little concern on their part for guests being unhappy with day to day changes. If you chose to leave their brand there is always a new customer willing to take your place. The new customer also does not get any free drinks, free internet etc. and is willing to shell out big bucks for excursions and photos.

If the DSC was rolled into the cost of the cruise, how long do you think it would take for the white envelopes to show up at the end of the cruise just in case you wanted to give additional tips? 

I think we are more likely to see Junior Suites DOWNgraded to SUPER DUPER LARGE BALCONY level cabins than UPgraded to full suites. 

I know this is a bit off topic, but I had a few questions for those on the entire trip.

How do you get refills for your medications?

What are you doing with your pets?

Do you have to put special plans in place for being away from your homes for so long? 

Routine medical care during that 9 month period? 

So if OBC is awarded is it per person or per reservation? We ordered two of those Premium Packages that were offered in error and then canceled and OBC given as an apology. When I log into my cruise planner I now see the OBC amount listed on both my account and when I log in to my husbands account. I'm just trying to figure out if they awarded the $50 to each of us or if that $50 is the same one just showing up on both of our accounts. 

They recently changed the tote bag from the heavy dark blue one to the blue and white stripe one that is foldable and opens out to more of a beach bag. It is really nice and has a zipper on top. 

We always buy one package plus we each get two free 24 hours periods because we are Diamond Plus. Internet is a necessity for us as my DH works while on the cruise. You will see him up in the Diamond Lounge most mornings from 6AM - 9AM working on his computer. He knows were all the electrical outlets are in the Viking Crown Lounge! He finds a quiet corner and takes meetings several early mornings. Why does he do this? Because he can then deduct that time from his vacation useage and we can take an extra cruise each year! Plus because he is Type A and likes to.

I would not be happy to 'disconnect' for a week. Not happy at all. I would feel great anxiety if I couldn't be in touch with family, especially since I use wifi calling to call my almost 90 year old mother-in-law twice each day to check in on her.

As for your 14 year old daughter, well that is another story. "Insisting" that you buy her internet? Yeah, I don't think so! She will survive a week without facebook and friends. Having work and family responsibilities is different than wanting to chat with friends. Now if she wants to save up the cost of buying a package herself, that might be an excellent lesson  for her. See if after the cruise she thinks it was a wise investment of her funds.

Does anyone know when Adventure of the Seas might be getting her next dry dock? Any ideas if RCI might put in any of the postponed amping features at that time? 

I am very glad that I didn’t cancel our Black Friday internet packages for those two cruises. 

19 minutes ago, jbrinkm said:

If you aren't sure if you want one or two packages, just purchase the second package separately in a different transaction. Then it is easy to cancel later.

I just did the same thing. If all we need is one package it is easier to cancel one package independently of the other. We all know the odds of RCI messing it up if they were on the the same reservation!

It says limited to ages 21 and older. 

14 hours ago, tcneal said:

Welcome aboard.   I was wondering did you have any planner items booked and did they transfer?  I'm curious if they make you rebook everything? It would suck if say you had a Cabana booked on Perfect day at a good price. 

Nothing that was already booked transfers over. You need to rebook everything, so this might be a consideration for some as to whether they accept the offer. The only thing we had booked was internet. They refund that and any other items purchased ahead of time to the method of payment. I had to rebuy it at today's price. It was maybe a dollar or two a day more - no big deal. All of our check in information was already on the web when I went to check us in. Was even able to get the same boarding time as we had on Harmony. 

Does anyone know how far Explorer is so far on her way back from drydock? None of the marine sites I can find have an accurate posting for her. 

We are on the sailing this Sunday, so a bit nervous that she arrives back in Miami on time. I don't think it is a revenue sailing on her way back. 

We got the phone call yesterday and made the switch from Harmony to Explorer. New cabin is spacious oceanview on deck 8. Docs have already been reissued and the app has been updated with the new cruise. Only issue right now is the OBC is not correct - way too much. Put a call in to see if we can get that clarified. 

Ocean Balcony that we chose. 

2 minutes ago, irishgal432 said:

what was your offer?

Move from 7 night Harmony to 6 night Explorer and get 100% of our money paid on Harmony back plus $300 OBC. I am guessing the OBC makes up for the one less day cruise. Either way we will have a great time, but the financial incentive was too good to turn down. I asked on the RCI FB page and they said that we won't hear the result until after the deadline for accepting. I thought that sounded strange as they said limited time and available space so you would think they would want to get this sorted out asap. Does anyone know what criteria they use to pick the offers to accept?

We are on Harmony next Saturday and also got the "Your cruise is oversold" email last Friday. Does anyone know how long it takes them to get back to you if you accept the ship change and refund? Their email was sent about 5pm and we accepted the offer about 8pm. 

If the cruise lines started including gratuities then we would be having a discussion on how cheap some folks are to not give the staff an 'extra' tip above and beyond the included gratuities? 

I am wondering also if the number of people who remove their gratuities will increase once all ships move to once a day cabin service. Considering RCI just increased the auto grats last November and now they are reducing the cabin service by 50%, I wonder if this will be the last straw for some people and have them remove auto grats and move to cash tipping.