Linda in MI

It worked because you were still connected to a cell tower on land. Once you are out of range of land towers, it will not work and your phone will default to using the ship's cell tower once it is turned on.

Yes! I didn't want to hang up on my Mom, but I knew I had to disconnect before I was too far away from the cell tower on shore. I have learned not to call her so close to departure time!

We use the Verizon travel pass all the time. It does work on the ship. I was talking to my Mom on the phone while we were pulling out of a port once and she kept chatting as we were getting farther and farther away from land. We were sailing for at least five minutes before I hung up. No problems.

Our family took this excursion a few years ago. Some people (myself included) chose to stay on the boat and watch the planes. There are tables & chairs outside and food & drinks available. Those who went snorkeling climbed back on board via a ramp on the back of the boat. There could very well have been a ladder available, but everyone I saw came up the ramp.

We were in 11006 last week. The cabin was very quiet - no problem with noise at all.

News channels - CNN, MSNBC, Fox, BBC for sure. Possibly a few more that I don't remember.

Cruise Director is Dan Olsson, but he is leaving for vacation on April 30. Don't know who his replacement will be for the TA or if he will be back after his time off.

Any information on the Jade? We're headed TA from Tampa-> Southampton next week and we're wondering.

Just off the Jade last Sunday.

Captain - Kim Karlsson

Cruise Director - Dan Olsson (Leaving for vacation at the end of this week, though. Don't know who will replace him.)

Concierge - Omar O'Besso

Hotel Director - Mirsad Bucuk

F & B Director - Vesna Campos

Executive Housekeeper - Nicolas Christopher

Executive Chef - Matthew Cole

Restaurant Manager - Esteban Chorro Jimenez

Guest Services Manager - Humberto Abarca

There is a pullman bed in the second bedroom, in addition to a double bed. (Total of 3 can sleep in there.) The living room sofa bed is a single. I have heard that you can get a cot in the living room, though, if 2 people prefer to sleep there. I'm sure they will let you set up the bedding any way you choose.

We were on the Splendour last year and they did not have beverages available all day in the concierge lounge. They offered coffee, juice, and water during the continental breakfast every morning. Then, they had beer, wine, mixed drinks, soft drinks, water, etc. in the evenings. Who knows, though - maybe things have changed since we were on board? You can always get lemonade, iced tea, and flavored water from the Windjammer at other times of the day.

Enjoy!

Hi Jim and Bruce!

I'll be on this cruise with my husband, two sons, and a friend. (I'll also be celebrating my birthday!) You should come join us on the Royal Caribbean roll call board. There are already over 100 people signed up for the Meet & Mingle. Someone has organized a "slot pull" for our group. I've never participated in one of those before, but it sounds fun.

Congrats on snagging the complimentary room! That's amazing!

We used Rafa in February and had a wonderful time! His emails prior to our visit were always fun, lengthy, and very thorough. He puts a lot thought into what he writes - he doesn't just send off one or two hasty sentences. I can't imagine how he keeps track of the hundreds of people that he probably corresponds with! He has even contacted us several times since we've been home just to see how we we're doing. I can say with confidence that Rafa will show you Rio like nobody else can!

There should be plenty of taxis at the Port of Santos. The fare will be about $10 to the Beach Gardens. Prior to our trip we didn't hear many nice things about Santos, but we found it to be a wonderful city. The beach is very pretty and there are lots of shops and restaurants nearby. We didn't go to the Coffee Museum, but those who did said it was interesting. I don't think that there is anything within walking distance of the port.

Enjoy!

Thanks Linda, I would love to be able to do it. When did you see price drop before your sailing? Was it weeks or days before your sailing?

On our Grandeur cruise long ago, the price dropped about 4 weeks before sailing. On our recent Splendour cruise, the price went up and down for months, then took a huge dive about a week before sailing. We were happy with the Junior Suites that we had originally booked, but couldn't pass up the RFS when it became available for the same price that we were paying for our two JS cabins. It took a lot of diligence to call Royal Caribbean regularly, but I was happy that I did!

We have stayed in Royal Family Suites on both the Splendour and the Grandeur. I cannot say enough good things about these cabins. Once we had 5 people sharing the suite and another time we had 8 people in one. Both times we had balcony cabins booked, then switched to the RFS when the prices dropped close to our sailing dates.

This was the most recent update on Splendour.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=41637745&postcount=2941

 

July is a long way off to predict. Unfortunately that poster never came back to report the results of her inquiry into his contract dates.

When we were on the Splendour in February, Paulo Tadeu Gomes was indeed in the Concierge Lounge. He had just recently been promoted from the Guest Services Desk and said he didn't yet know how long he would be in the position. Even though he was a first-time concierge, Paulo was absolutely wonderful in every way! He really went above and beyond for us, and you will be lucky if he is still onboard in July.

Linda,

 

Can you please tell me how you got on with the bus from the airport to Santos? Could you pay by credit card for the bus? Do you remember how much it was? We are flying in a week on Monday and want to take the bus to Santos. Is the bus stop near the Mercure hotel, or will we need to take a taxi there? Also did you stay in Santos? Any tips for there or the ports you visited. We will be in Buzios, Salvador and Fortaleza before heading to Tenerife. thanks in advance for your help.

The Cometa Bus from GRU to Santos was great. We found the ticket counter outside of Terminal 1. We did use a credit card - I think the price was around 22 reais per person. We were concerned about not having advance reservations, but it turned out to be no problem at all. The bus drops you off at the main bus station in Santos. There are plenty of taxis available to take you to the Mercure. (We stayed right next door at the Ibis.) The taxi drivers didn't speak English, but we showed them the address of the Ibis and they knew exactly where to go. We walked all around Santos, even though it rained the entire time we were there. We found shops, restaurants, a mall, and a grocery store. The beach was nice, too.

We really loved our stop in Buzios. It is a very cute beachside town with lots and lots of stores. We bought almost all of our Brazilian souvenirs there. Everything was within walking distance of the tender dock. We didn't have anything planned for Salvador, so we strolled 6 or 8 blocks to the marketplace near the pier. The actual downtown area looked modern and huge, and in hindsight I wish that we had taken a tour there. Didn't go to Fortaleza.

If you have any more questions, just ask! We had a great time!

Returned yesterday from our Brazilian cruise on the Splendour of the Seas. Since we never left the country, we did not have to surrender our passports. We also did not have to go through customs at the port of Santos upon disembarkation. Everything was very easy. We had a wonderful time!

Thanks, it would be great if you could let us know about the bus.

We took the Cometa Bus today from GRU to Santos. We did not have advance reservations. The tickets are sold at the Cometa ticket counter outside of Terminal 1. We walked up at 10:40 a.m. and were able to get seats for 11:10 a.m. The bus itself was quite nice - up-to-date, comfortable, and air-conditioned. There was also a bathroom onboard. We paid 22 reais per person, which works out to less than $10 US each for the two hour trip. In my opinion, this form of transportation is definitely the most economical way to get from GRU to Santos!

My family and I will be on the Splendour this Sunday, February 16. I just received an email from the suite concierge - his name is Paulo Tadeu Gomes. Don't have any information about his schedule, but I will find out more next week!

Thank you very much for taking the time to reply.

 

Are the beaches walking distance from the ship. or would we need a taxi?

 

Any idea about the bus to Santos?

 

Many thanks

My family and I are flying into Sao Paulo next week and sailing out of Santos. We plan to take the Cometa bus from GRU to Santos. We have not made any advance reservations for the bus. I will let you know when we return how that works out!

I am also interested to know if the beaches in Buzios are walking distance from the ship!

We are cruising on the Splendour of the Seas out of Santos on February 16. We return a week later after stopping at four ports in Brazil. Do we need to go through customs upon our return to Santos? Will Royal Caribbean hold our passports for the duration of the cruise? We wonder how things will be handled. We will be in Brazil the entire time - from our arrival at Sao Paulo Guarulhos airport until our departure from GRU.

Thanks for the info! Hopefully I won't need to replenish too much of my supply, but it is good to know that batteries will be available if needed.

Does anyone know if alkaline batteries - like those sold in the U.S. - are available in Brazil? I assume that batteries (AAA, AA, C, D, etc.) are the same in South America, but I could be very wrong! I would like to purchase them in Brazil as needed, rather than carry extras with me. Those D cell batteries can be very heavy to tote around!

On one of our cruises, a young boy - 11 or 12 - brought a guitar aboard and carried it with him everywhere he went. We often saw him sitting on various staircases playing songs. (Surprisingly, people sometimes gave him money, which he accepted.) One day while enjoying our balcony, we heard the sound of his guitar coming from a balcony nearby. Immediately, voices from other balconies began shouting, "Shut up" and "Put that guitar away" . . . among other things! We found it quite amusing to listen to the verbal exchanges, none of which were positive. I should mention that, unfortunately, the boy was not a very good musician at all!

Thanks for the info and suggestions! Today is my final payment day and I was worried that if I showed an unpaid balance that they might cancel my cruise. The last C & A guy that I spoke with assured me that they would not cancel without phoning me first. He also told me that there are notes in my reservation that explain what has been happening. Maybe I will wait a few days to call back and hope that all (or most!) of the system errors get corrected.

happyscmom - Yikes, that would really concern me to have an outstanding balance for a cruise leaving on Friday! I'm crossing my fingers that everything goes smoothly for you at embarkation!

I made the final payment yesterday for our upcoming Splendour of the Seas cruise. When I checked the "My Cruises" section on the RCCL website a short time later, it showed that I had an outstanding balance of $360. I waited to see if it was simply due to a glitch in the system, but after a few hours, my unpaid balance had gone up to $670. I phoned Crown & Anchor and they adjusted it back to a $0 balance. An outstanding balance of $360 showed up again overnight, followed by another for $895. I called C & A an hour ago, and they readjusted it back to $0 once more. I just looked at the website and there is now another outstanding balance of $360!

Has anyone else had this happen to them? I have read about people having unpaid balances of a few dollars, but nothing as strange as this. The C & A representatives have all been very nice and apologetic, too, but I am getting a bit frustrated. Is there someone besides C & A that I should call? Thanks for any advice - I will have to phone Royal Caribbean for the fourth time in 24 hours to try to straighten this out.