xxHadleyxx

9 hours ago, nelblu said:

Fine, but we do not know the actual circumstance.  We also assume that she had other financial resources at her disposal, whether her or the FL boyfriend, to get out of Nassau.

 

No matter how bad you don't abandon blood.

Exactly...we don't know the actual circumstances....which is why it's not a good idea to assume the mother was abandoning her adult child without any resources whatsoever.

Then again, I don't believe anyone is beholden to another adult under all circumstances and no matter what their behavior just because of genetics.  You can love your child but not enable them as adults if they're way out of line.  

44 minutes ago, nelblu said:

On board CC cut off is quite different in having your child stranded in a foreign country, no matter what the circumstances.  On land (USA) it would be different.

I think the point was that the adult adughter might well have other resoures in spite of it having been her Mom's CC which was linked to her cruise account.

For example, when I cruise with one of my adult children I often end up being the one to check everyone in, and then I just link everythingto my credit card.  The kids are both happy with that arrangement and just give us cash to cover the small amount they sped on board (or if it is only tips we usually cover that for them, because they're young and we like to help out some).   But they also both have their own credit cards and bank accounts, ATM cards, etc they could use in any kind of emergency whether travelling with me or without. 

 It could have well been something similar: maybe Mom paid for the cruise as a gift and to get to spend time with her daughter and linked her card expecting to end up covering some gratuities and maybe a specialty meal or two and cut it off when daughter abused the kindness, but daughter might still have her own credit cards and other funds she can use to return to the USA.

We're keeping our June Voyager cruise (St Petersburg replaced by a second day in Riga and a day in Warnemünde and Helsinki dropped due to port traffic and replaced with Aarhus).   It's not an ideal itenerary, but it's still nice...and if we can spend more on shore than normal and help struggling local businesses in Tallin and Riga through now a third season if greatly reduced travel in their region, we'd like to do that. 

We were a little surprised that RCI didn't offer any small incentive to keep the booking.   But that's ok.  They probably figured everyone's minds are made up and a 100 obc wouldn't sway enough people to make it worthwhile.

3 hours ago, Smq123 said:

Agreed. At one point when her mom cut her off & removed her ability to purchase anything, she loudly screamed she was throwing herself over the railings of the ship. She was most definitely on the radar of the officers, crew, and guests. There was serious pathology there. It was sad to see. 

That's very likely the comment that led to her removal.

52 minutes ago, yogimax said:

Pray for the people of Ukraine!

Better yet, donate to legitimate relief funds and if there's a need locally for volunteers to help with refugees, volunteer 

I am not sure; techinicall yI do not think they have to offer you any refund on the second leg, however you might be ableto talk them into it. 

That said, they ran TA'S last fall, with covid, and look to be running them again here in 2 months (they better be, I am booked!), so it is highly unlikely they would be moving that ship across without passengers.....if the TA gets cancelled it would be beacuase they change the deployment.  

10 hours ago, xxHadleyxx said:

Royal did the right thing.  Russian ports are out.

 

We're in the 5 June cruise on Voyager and the overnight at St Petersburg has been replaced with:

 

Making Riga, Latvia an overnight, adding Warnemünde, Germany for a long day AND adding Aarhus, Denmark.   So they added more than we lost.

 

I'm quite happy with the changes.

They also took out Helsinki (I am guessing just as they juggled finding spots for all ships it was needed).  I missed that this morning.  I am not thrilled about that change, but still happy enough overall.  We're keeping the cruise.

3 hours ago, Saab4444 said:

Where do you find those revised itineraries for Voyager? Homepage still shows old ones.

We got an email from RCI

Royal did the right thing.  Russian ports are out.

We're in the 5 June cruise on Voyager and the overnight at St Petersburg has been replaced with:

Making Riga, Latvia an overnight, adding Warnemünde, Germany for a long day AND adding Aarhus, Denmark.   So they added more than we lost.

I'm quite happy with the changes.

I'm sorry you're faced with this disappointment so close to sailing. 

 That said, information about what qualifies as fully vaccinated has been clearly stated for months.  If you were never informed either your travel agent dropped the ball or you weren't reading carefully if you booked yourself; I can't see that any fault lies with Royal in this case.  

I hope you come up with a good alternative plan and enjoy your anniversary somewhere on land.

Michael Bayley posted on Facebook today about what the line is doing to support Ukrainian crew members.  I felt that was a good place to leave a comment encouraging RCI to decide/announce they will not be going to Russia this season.  I hope there will be many such comments.

I'll stick with them if the itenerary changes to other Baltic ports (or just added sea days), or they turn it into a Norwegian cruise, or British Isles, or really pretty much anywhere they can take the ship in ten days from Copenhagen. ...but I don't want any money I pay going to the Russian government in the form of port fees.   

We also got the letter.  To be honest I am really dissapointed with RCI that the current thinking is to have a Plan B but still hope to go to Russia.  Even though we booked primarily so my husband, who missed seeing lvoely St Petersburg while ill on a cruise in 2015, could visit St Petersburg, we want that port cancelled now.  I think RCI need to be informing Russia that no revenue will be coming in from their ships this year.  Full stop.  Hopefully they rethink this and take a stance within the next few days.

23 minutes ago, JHU said:

I would like to suggest that the cruise lines and major tour companies permanently cease visiting any Russian city/port.  We should  never forget the horror being suffered by the Ukraines.  Russia should not be rewarded because we have short memories.  

I try to keep in mind that the current Russian government is not representative of its people at all.  The large numbers of protestors bravely out tonight in Moscow, St Petersburg and other Russian cities clearly show that.  

With that in mind, I sincerely hope they when the Russians are eventually able to change who's in charge, that the rest of us don't hold the sins of brutal rulers against those who were under their control and instead help them become stable under new leadership by bringing in our tourist dollars then, getting to know and appreciate the people and culture, etc.  

4 hours ago, mugtech said:

We cancelled our Baltic cruise because We do not want to do anything to benefit Russia in any way.  We were looking at a NCL transpacific, but since it stops in Russia on the way to Japan we will be passing on that cruise.

we're holding out in the belief that RCI will cancel Russian ports and we can still take the cruise...but I fully support your reasoning for cancelling and appreciate you taking a stand.

1 hour ago, PC Skier said:

They do have waterproof casts. If she doesn't get one there are also covers that go over the cast that you can use in pool, hot tub or shower.  Check on line. 

Defintely ask about a water proof cast.  2 out of 3 casts my kids had in the USA we were able to get waterproof...but ONLY after we asked.  It was never offered.  It cost a small amount extra that the insurance did not cover, but not much....and so worth it just to be able to bathe.  We were toled if swimming to rins the cast well with clear water (no chemicals) after and not to swim so much that the skin never got dry.

1 hour ago, Saab4444 said:

At least in the past Warnemuende was not possible for Voyager Class and bigger as they are too wide for the channel. 

Ah, that's possible.  I think we've been there on radiance class ships.

They might throw Aarhus, Denmark in to the 10 nights which embark from Copenhagen.   That seems to be a common port for RCI. I'd much rather Gdansk or Graham.

We're also booked on a 10 night and guessing the overnight in St Petersburg will be dropped.  I think adding Warnemunde is the most likely given that it's been an RCI port fairly often in recent years.   Possibly Gdansk, Poland (which I'd prefer) as they've got a pier that can handle bigger ships.

My understanding, which might well be wrong, is that for full group charters the charter group has a set period of time in which they can test out selling and make sure they will get enough bookings before they have to confirm with RCI and it becomes a done deal.   During that time period FCI continues to sell rooms on the ship.  Once the charter sells well enough that the company chartering out the sailing committs 100% only then will you hear from RCI..and that can take a while.

Atlantis is a huge and well know group, that seems to charter sailings every year without issues filling up the ship, so I would work from the assumption that you will be bumped and then you can just decide if you want to go ahead now and book something else that week, or wait until RCI makes you an offer of a replacement sailing.  Things like, how flexible your vacation time can be, etc will certianly play into that decision.  

Most sailings I've been on technically offer yoga classes.  (For a fee)

I tried a couple on different sailings and have been in the gym, close enough to hear other classes as they happen. 

In every case they were run by fitness staff who clearly do not have a yoga background and we're just told to follow a set routine....it's really more of a stretching class with some yoga terms thrown in.  I think you're much better off to borrow a mat and do your own routine, or even follow a video you download to your phone before sailing

When you place a bid you're agreeing to pay the bid amount if an upgrade is given to you...you do not get to see which cabin and back out later.

  If you want to get to choose your upgraded cabin then you need to book it via regular channels at the currently published fare rather than using royalup

27 minutes ago, gbcruise said:

If anyone has pics of the towel and the bag and can post I sure would appreciate. Are these items of decent quality?

 

I like the towels....they're thin, so dry quickly, which we like for certain uses.  We have 6 that we use for the hot tub.  They hold up well.

On 2/18/2022 at 2:29 PM, SRF said:

 

One way around this whole thread, would be for RCI to require that the country of booking be the same as the county of residence of the person.

 

It seems a lot of UK people book through the US site or TA, but then complain when the price, with gratuities, taxes, and drink package is the same as booking in the UK. 😄

 

 

that gets tricky though, people book 1-2 years out and move, etc.  My son (resides in Gemrany) often cruises in the same cabin as a friend who lives in the USA, etc.

13 hours ago, rtazz17 said:

Wow,somebody went cruising a lot as a child! Holy crap! 175 nights or so! Unless it was still under the double points system which ended when we started cruising😡

Lots of us took our kids cruising as they grew up.

Mine were both "only" Diamond when they hit 18, simply because we did not start sailing RCI until they were 12 and 14, they had as many nights on Disney as they did on RCI at that point plus some another 50 or so between Princess, Celebrity, MSC and Carnival.  So far none of us have had double points, but my now adult son and I will be on the Wonder TA getting double points, which will kick him into Diamond Plus status a sailing sooner than he would have otherwise managed.  

On 2/14/2022 at 9:55 PM, davekathy said:

Drinking age is 21 years old in the USA. 

Well, the age to purchase is 21 in every state and DC; it's still 18 in Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands and Guam (basically everywhere that doesn't get federal highway funding, so did not have to raise the age ti keep from losing funding).  But, yeah, in practice that means most of the US, and that has led to RCI'S rules about North American sailings having a drinking age of 21, but if the cruise stops in San Juan, those 18-21 year olds can have a pina coloda on land.

As others have said, you cannot preset different amenities for different cruises, you have to call in between sailings to change it to whatever you want for the next sailing, with at least 10 days advance notice. 

It's a bit of a pain, but nothing too bad.  For consectutive sailings there is technically no way to change so quickly between, but speaking with the loyalty ambassadot onboard early on might just do the trick.

19 minutes ago, livingonthebeach said:

 

It was probably easier when they did the 3 sisters.  I was on Harmony sailing the maiden transatlantic crossing from Barcelona.  The Oasis was either leaving PC or coming back and Allure was either leaving PE or coming back or did I get the ships reversed?  I just know I was on Harmony and the Oasis and Allure right in line with us off the coast of Florida.  There were helicopters hovering around us taking video and photos. Was quite something!

We were on Harmony then as well..it was fun with all the commotion, but I agree, I think all 3 ships were going to be essentially in the same area anyway, which is not likely the case now with 5 but it would be cool if it happens