RoyalDiamond

We LOVED DD...going back to "normal boring dining" is disappointing. "Upgraded" menus?? Not so sure. Why be stuck with ONE choice (dining experience) for the entire cruise? For thise who didn't try it, they're clueless!

Peter

He was on Grandeur in June when we were there. He's one of our favorites! Not sure when he has vacation..

Peter

I have searched and searched, but couldn't find any. But, we went ahead and booked JS 8686 anyway for Nov 7, as the balcony looks great, even if the cabin is small (they are ALL small on Empress).

Peter

It has happened to us once or twice...very annoying. But they've always removed the charges. Now we also do a "cash account." It has pros and cons, but the biggest benefit to a cash account is NO FEE when withdrawing cash (on board credit) from the casino. They usually limit you to $300 per day in this case, so if you have more than that, don't wait until the end of the cruise to do it...

Peter

It's C&A Appreciation Week! For those who haven't read the possible loss of balcony/suite discounts thread, right now you can book a balcony and get the discount for one C&A tier up. So even gold C&A can get anywhere from $25 up to a $200 balcony discount!

 

See the flyer at http://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Royal/Crown_and_Anchor/16052085_CAS_Member_Appreciation.pdf

 

No savings for me since the prices of my cruises have all increased substantially since booking, but you may want to check out your cruises or call to see if you can save money with this promo.

 

And, speaking of the thread (http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2388411), it's almost 500 posts long, but the actions of the majority of the posters there as well as other C&A members, appear to have successfully persuaded Royal to rescind, or at least postpone and rethink, the proposed loss of balcony/suite discounts for cruises booked within 6 months of sail date. My thanks to all of them.

 

~ Judy

Rescind? Rethink? What info do you have, Judy? LOL

PETER

Of our 14 bookings, 2 of them benefitted from repricing. I saved a whopping $34. That's 34 pulls on a dollar slot machine, which can turn into thousands!! LOL. Yeah, right. (Although I did win $1600 once on a penny machine on Oasis...)

Peter

Hello

 

We've been on her sister, Anthem and there was a ton of stuff to do on her.

 

You don't mention what type of group you will be, friends, family with young children etc so that can make a difference. If you are travelling from Rome it can be quite a journey so you might prefer to just get some loungers and relax, you could send someone to the park cafe to get some food. From what I remember the Windjammer was a bit of a zoo with people waiting around for their cabins to open up so it might be best avoided especially if you do need a table for 8 until after 1pm when the cabins could be open.

 

Whatever you do, just remember to relax and enjoy it.

Anthem is not Harmony's sister.....Harmony is the same class as Oasis and Allure. Anthem is the same class as Quantum and Ovation. In any case, don't try to get everyone to want to do the same thing. Let everyone do their own thing, and meet up for meals. It's not typical that everyone would want the same thing at the same time....

They may honor the discount with the "decide later" bookings, but the OBC is basically useless with those bookings, so why bother?

If we book more than 6 months out, then alter the booking within the 6-month window, I wonder if they'll remove the discount? Ha, listen to me. "Wonder"...duh.

Peter

They constantly change my mother's email address to mine....and I keep getting her emails from Royal. I always change it back, but somehow it always switches to mine again. Ugh...

SO TIRED of Royal screwing up! We are Pinnacle, and usually very forgiving. However, they chartered/canceled THREE Brilliance sailings on us for next Jan/Feb. Now they cancel Rhapsody on us (FOURTH cancellation next year for us). They need to STOP releasing cruises to the public if they are not certain about operating them! Now, I have a 2018 cruise showing "sold out." No possible way!!!!!

Peter

We're on Grandeur next week (June 4) for a 5-night Bermuda cruise. We have JS 7150...we LOVE those after corner balconies. I'm sure we'll have the same stateroom attendant. Hopefully he'll be a little better by then.

Peter

We booked Brilliance out of Tampa for 4 sailings next year in our favorite junior suite, 1100. We booked Jan 19, 23, 28, and Feb 2. We booked about 6 months ago.

The first hit....the Jan 19 sailing was chartered, so we had to juggle our bookings. No problem, since it was the FIRST in our string of 4 back-to-backs. We moved it to Feb 6, at the END of our back-to backs. And 1100 WAS available. How lucky. And extra OBC was given. So we now had Jan 23, 28, Feb 2, and 6.

The second hit...the Feb 2 sailing was chartered. More difficult to deal with, as it was the 3rd of 4 back-to-backs. They offered price protection on the Jan 28 sailing. I informed them that we were ALREADY on that sailing. DUH. So, they knocked the price down to price protect us, and gave MORE OBC.

But we didn't want to sit in Tampa for 4 days now from Feb 2-6. I checked, and the Feb 6 sailing said "sold out." HIGHLY unlikely this far away. They DENIED that it was cxld over and over again. I decided to leave it there, and booked Rhapsody overlapping, as the back corner was also available.

The third hit...I JUST RECEIVED an email stating the Feb 6 cruise is chartered. Um DUH...I've known this for MONTHS!! So, more OBC and price protection coming! So we are left with Jan 23 and 28 on Brilliance, and Feb 4 on Rhapsody.

I just wish they would be more forthcoming about this information. They continually DENIED the cancellations, even thouh I suspected them MANY months ago!! So we had THREE cruises canceled. Luckily I was proactive enough to "fix" our plans BEFORE Royal informed us of the issues.

I really don't mind as we are flexible. But others may not be so lucky. We ended up with an extra $600 OBC ($200 for each canceled cruise), and price protection, which saved us over $1000. But beware if booking Brilliance out of Tampa. I understand this happens every winter!

As Pinnacle members, we understand the cruise line needs to be profitable and make good business decisions. But, DON'T sell cruises that are going to be chartered, then take MONTHS to inform us of the cancellations!!

Peter

We were on the 1/14/17 that got chartered. They price protected us for 3 different sailings but none that were the same stops. The one we had booked stopped in Key West. I just read that the 12/12/16 sailing also has been chartered.

 

Popular ship:)

Short cruises out of Tampa seem to get chartered frequently each season. You'd think they would know that before selling the sailings to the public. At least we are flexible, but ohers might not be so lucky.

Peter

Yes...Tampa

We had Brilliance booked for 4 consecutive cruises next Jan, starting 1/19/17. I received an email and a call from the resolutions dept. The 1/19/17 sailing has been chartered. So, they offered us additional OBC to choose another sailing with price match. It's no big deal, since it's over a year away and was the FIRST of our 4 sailings (not in the middle of our 4 back-to-backs).

We rebooked on the tail end of our back-to-backs, as our favorite JS 1100 was available! What luck! And, they price matched it even though it's a 5-night. The cxld cruise was a 4-night.

Now we have 1/23, 1/28, 2/2, and 2/6 of 2017. But UH OH....now the 2/2/17 sailing has disappeared from the website. Wonder if I'll receive another call...

Peter

I know, right? They had this up as the ship photo this morning ;)

 

LMAO...hysterical. Love it!

Peter

Does anyone have the "inside info?" LOL. According to the deck plans, the Junior Suites are 112-155 sq feet with balconies 32-140 sq feet. That's quite a variance. Yes, those are TINY sizes for a JS...smaller than most standard balcony cabins. But, which ones are the smallest at 112 sq feet?

It looks like the aft JS cabins on deck 7 are the smallest, if we can trust the deck plans. But, for those of us who love aft cabins, would it be worth it? It looks like there is one aft JS on each of decks 8 and 9. Those might have the best balconies, but are they the tiny 112 sq ft cabins? The largest ones are probably on deck 9 on the sides, but probably have the smaller balconies. Choices, choices. Who has the dirt?? LOL

PETER

Definitely one of our favorites! He had a private cocktail hour IN HIS CABIN for the Pinnacles (only 8 of us) last year, and all of the officers were there. He went to the beach with us in Costa Maya, too! We sail Vision again on 3/19, so I'm disappointed to read he won't return until 3/26...

Peter

We are currently on Splendour for a 7-night sailing out of Venice. This is our 70th cruise, and it has been fantastic thus far. The crew is fantastic, and couldn't be friendlier. The ship is functioning perfectly normal, for those who know about the fire a few weeks ago. There is the "slight" smell of smoke on decks 2-4 in the aft of the ship, but otherwise NO negative issues from the incident. I am highly impressed with this voyage so far, and this means we've now been on every current RCCL ship except for Anthem, which is already booked! LOL. WE HAD to sail on Splendour before it leaves the fleet next Spring. LOL. (And thank you, Royal, for the incredible upgrade from JS to OS). Ok...off to the lounge...

Peter

Trying to be impartial...but as someone who does not live in Florida, Port Canaveral is one of my LEAST favorite ports for departures. It's NOT conveniently located near the airport, and has relatively boring itineraries. I will sail from there now and then when the price is right, but even then, it's a pricey shuttle ride to/from the port. Normally, I would much rather depart from somewhere more convenient. Also, I certainly wouldn't complain about having the Oasis near me!

Peter

LOVE LOVE LOVE sailing out of New Orleans. I really hope they return someday. Incidentally, I always found the prices out of Galveston to be lower and discounted more so than New Orleans. I vote for pulling out of Texas, and returning to New Orleans! And New Orleans is so much easier to get to than Galveston! LOL

Peter

We had the "last 4" cruises booked on Majesty. We also will scrap those! I do enjoy Majesty, but would rather sail on it when I need a "quick fix" and a short cruise. No need to spend 2 weeks on it in April now. We'll find something else.

Peter

On Enchantment now. Yes, Felix Vargas is in the CL.

Peter

On Enchantment now back-to-back. Marc Walker left today (May 11) and Paul Rutter is coming on.

Peter

Tell Marcia and Lisa HI...LOL

Peter