Brandis

I guess it's also because people might show up late on the first day, Waiters have to introduce themselves, explain procedures to new cruisers and getting to know the new guests as well.

On our Japan cruise out of Shanghai on Spectrum, it was actually quite the opposite. Apparently, chinese cruisers prefer to get done with their meal as quickly as possible. We prefer to take our time. So by the time we had finished with the appetizers, the chinese families around us already were in the middle of dessert, pretty much getting ready to leave. 🙂 Even with telling the waiters to take their time, we were done in less than an hour. But the food wasn't good anyways. For Westeners, they just had a laminated paper with a couple of menu options (even with pictures), it felt like ordering at a street vendor in an exotic country. Luckily we had the lowest category of junior suites booked (they were really affordable) which included their own restaurant and lounge (Silver Dining) in the place where the Solarium Bistro normally is. Service and food there were top class and we never went back to the Main Dining Room. For higher category suites, there was even another dining location on the floor above, called Gold Dining and Lounge 🙂

Looking forward to enjoy the Main Dining Room on our upcoming TA on Wonder. Heard good things about the food quality there. 

Once took the train from Villefranche to Monaco. When we left the train, I noticed a purse on a seat. It contained a US student ID and a couple 100$ in cash. As there was a photo on the ID we looked around the station if we could find the owner, but there were so many people and we were pretty much the last to leave the train, so we probably missed them. 

So I kept the purse and when we passed a police station, I went in and wanted to drop it for lost and found. The officers obviously weren't in the mood to work and almost treated me as if I had stolen the purse, they asked where I found it and since it was in the french train, they said I should bring it to french lost and found (which I didn't have time for, since we had to get back to the ship in Villefrance and the lost and found office for the french train company would have been in Nice). Then they asked me why I just didn't keep the money, it sounded as if they thought I was stupid to hand it in. In the end, I just told them that I thought it was the right thing to do and that I wanted to go on enjoying my vacation day. So he finally, but still unwillingly, took down a report on his typewriter and after about 20 min. I was free to go. Wasn't a very nice experience.

I'm curious how the beds on Wonder will be, as she is fairly new. I also hope firm, as I do have a firm mattress at home as well and my back aches if the mattress is too soft. 

A couple of years ago, we cruised on Brilliance. On boarding day, we saw how they loaded hundreds of new mattresses. About mid-cruise, they changed the mattresses in our cabin and the difference was amazin. Before, the mattress was sagging in the middle, the new one was perfect. Our last port was Labadee and they unloaded the old mattresses there, I assume to donate them to the communities. Some of them looked pretty gross, but probably still a lot better for some haitian families than sleeping on a piece of cardboard.

That said, there is a limit to the firmness I appreciate. We once slept in a Korean-owned hotel in Beijing and the bed literally was a concrete slab covered by a thin topper. That was horrible 🙂

I actually like the Diamond pin better. I carry it on the lapel of my jacket or vest.

8 hours ago, firefly333 said:

If you cant buy something in the planner, I call. Call C & A.

There it was even worse. It seems most of their reps are working from home. Half the time I had a horrible connection and couldn't understand them and one time there was a baby crying in the background and the rep seemed distracted, probably by the baby. Another time I got disconnected halfway through the call and while they always ask for your phone number at the beginning of the call ("In case we are disconnected..."), they never call me back.

I called them when the package WAS available for one of the other bookings I had but I couldn't go to the payment screen because of some website error. I asked her if she could access my basket and she said she did but had to switch back and forth between me and tech support. Also, I had to log out of the account because otherwise she couldn't get in, so I wasn't able to check availability. After about 30 min. on hold (the entire call was about 45 min.) she came back and told me that unfortunately the package was no longer available. So I ended the call and a few min. later I was able to get back into my account. Sure enough, the 5 Night Dining Package wasn't available in the shop anymore, but then I noticed that it still was in my basket. Out of a hunch I then opened the website on my iPad and there I was finally able to finalize the purchase! 

It really shouldn't be that complicated.

Sorry, no question, just got really annoyed by RCL IT and need to vent. How is it that those huge companies (Disney is equallly bad, maybe even worse) can't get their act together with IT related stuff? One would think they have enough money to get it done professionally.

I'm currently missing two 5 Night Dining packages for our TA cruise and they seem to be sold out for quite some time now. So I go into the cruise planning page every so often to check if it has become available again.

Every now and then, it shows up, but once I select the guests and click continue, it tells me that this option isn't currently available and to go back to check available stuff. And it's there again!

Another time, I was actually able to put it into the shopping basket, only to have an error at checkout. So I went into a different browser, luckily the package was still in the basket and I could finish checkout only to get a message that the package is no longer available. Aaaaarrrrrggggghhhh!!!!

Do they want to sell us stuff or annoy us?

Make sure your cabin attendant is aware you're doing B2B. We once did a B2B with my uncle and aunt, where we stayed in the same cabins. So of course we didn't pack anything. The attendant was training a new employee and since it was turnaround day, each of them did separate cabins.

For some reason, the new attendant thought my relatives forgot to pack and started to just throw all of my aunts cosmetic products into the trash. After a while, our regular attendant caught up with the trainee and realized what he had done and nearly had a mental breakdown. He was literally almost crying when he told my uncle what had happened. He even went through the trash bags to rescue the beauty products but didn't manage to find all of it.

In the end, the chief purser came and apologized personally, accompanied them to the perfume store on board where my aunt basically just could pick whatever she was missing and since they hadn't the kind of hairspray she prefers even told her to try and get it at the next port of call and they would refund it as well.

They also got a bottle of champagne as well as pralines sent to the cabin.

Sorry for piggybacking on your question, is there a separate pin for Diamond +? If so, what does it look like?

As for the Diamond pin, did you ask for it at the Loyalty desk? Maybe they forgot about it. My uncle once forgot to pack his for a cruise once and he was talking to the loyalty ambassador about something else and the ambassador asked him why he wasn't wearing his pin, when he said that he left it at home, he got a new one.

OK, so you have to actively ask for it on boarding day? Then I'll just keep the first one and if it stops working halfway through the second cruise, I'll just ask them if they can reactivate the chip. If they can't, they still can give me a second cup. 

Or maybe, after two weeks I'm so done with the freestyle drinks, I don't even notice that the cup is not working anymore.

For me, the soda is just an added perk anyways, I get the refreshment package mostly for the fresh OK in the morning, mocktails and some JR malts.

We're doing a 3 night cruise, followed a 14 nights TA. For the first leg, I just purchased the soda drinks package, since there is only one sea day where I could really profit from the Refreshment package. However, on the TA we have 8 seadays, making it worth getting the Refreshment package (just for the JR milkshakes alone) 🙂

So I should get a Freestyle cup on the first cruise with the soda package and as far as I know, those cups are not indivdually programmed for each separate cruise lenght but usually just have a default number of days programmed into them to cover most cruise lenghts.

As I have so many of those cups already, I just leave them in the cabin at the end of the cruise to be discarded. Bus since we do a B2B, getting 2 cups feels like a real waste. So I was wondering if I just can tell them at the beginning of the second cruise to not give me another cup and still use the one from the first cruise. Or do you think it would stop working mid-way through the second cruise and I still had to request a new one?

We are 1 point short of Diamond Plus as well. Thought it's a shame to only get to Plus after our TA on Wonder in November. When I was looking for a short cruise before that, I noticed that Wonder is doing a 3 night Repo cruise from Rome to Barcelona just before the TA. So I booked that one and we're now doing a B2B. with the TA as the second leg and with the Plus benefits. Probably not worth the effort just for that 1 point, but it's a nice extension of our cruise.

I try to minimize the checkout bill at the last morning of the cruise, so I always ask the travel agent to add the gratuities to my booking, that way I can split it up into several smaller payments until final due date.

Do they have a toll free number in the US? If they do, you can use Skype to call it free of charge from anywhere in the world.

Hm, just talked to a RCL rep, she said the 5 Night Dinner Package is not available, even though I can see it in "Plan your Cruise". Does this mean it is sold out? Is that even possible?

How about the card room? It's usually empty most of the time I walk by.

Just wanted to buy the 5 Nights package for our entire group, but when I try to add the other reservations, there is an error message saying that these 2 reservations cannot be combined.

If I try to get the package just for the 2 of us, it loads for a pretty long time and then says that this article is currently not available. The previous error message and the long time for the error to appear make me think it's just a fluke in the system and not really  a sold out package. (fingers crossed) Was anyone able to book the package recently?

Trying to call customer service once they open, hopefully they can help!

I want to buy the 5 nights dining package and in the description it says you have to make your first reservation with the package at the time of purchase for either the first or second night of the cruise.

Just went in to get it for our TA on Wonder in October and it only shows me Night 1 with either 5:30, 8:30 or 9:00 PM. Does this mean Night 2 is fully booked? Or can I moved it to the second night on the ship? For the first night we always prefer the main dining room so we can meet our waiters for the cruise.

$18 was always the best price I saw in the last couple of years. For the Wonder TA, it was most of the time much higher, but recently, it came down to $18 as well and that's when I bought it. Still expensive for 14 nights, but then I can get a fresh orange juice in the morning, later a Starbucks specialty coffee from Cafe Promenade, then some soda from the Freestyle machines during the day, a malted shake from Johnny Rockets in the afternoon or for the Aqua show and some more sodas for dinner and of course some mocktails from the Bionic Bar or any other bar, that should help me break even.

Is the Maple Bacon Shake also included in the Refreshment Package?

I know at least Effectors, the drone show in the main theater wasn't ready when Wonder started cruising and was announced as "Coming later this year" or something like that. Just wondering if by now all shows are running.

Usually, the tap water in the cabin is pretty hot as well. I either just do a quick rinse there or put in some hot water from the tea dispenser.

On Harmony, I usually got them to go, but as the cruise went on and the staff knew me, they also offered me a seat at the bar to enjoy the shake. BTW, they also do malted shakes.

Does anyone know if the shakes are included in the Refreshment package on Wonder of the Seas? 

3 hours ago, dcgrumpy said:

The $60-$64 was most likely a discounted price. There is always a promotion going on. I haven't seen the base price that low in many years. If you look in the Cruiseplanner you can see the full non-discounted price (which we know no one actually pays). 

 

 

For my upcoming cruise, the base price is $98, up from $88 a week ago. The base price went up for many cruises a few days ago. So the discounted prices also went up. 

 

 

Strange, for me the shop page for the DBP looks completely different, also even if they advertise a sale, it never shows the supposed base price.

For me, it looked just like this and interestingly they have removed the BOGO flag now, but the price is still $66.

I also noticed that I was able to put just one into the cart, in the past it always told me that both passengers of a cabin need to buy the DBP.

I don't drink alcohol, so the DDP wouldn't be of any use to me, I'm happy if I can get the Refreshment Package for $18. 🙂 But I like to watch the prices of all the packages and for last year's Harmony of the Seas TA, the prices for the DDP fluctuated between $47 and $54, so this year's prices between $60 and $66 are quite a raise.

I just wanted to point out that it is kind of funny that they advertise $66 as a good deal, while the previous and probably future pre-sale prices not advertised as sales are a much better deal.

Like what I have seen them doing in the past, have the prices at, for example $47 for a long time, only to raise it to $54 just before Black Friday and then advertise a special Black Friday sale at $50 🙂

For the WB TA on Wonder of the Seas, RCL currently offers a „Buy 1, get 2nd for 50% off“,for the Deluxe Drink package, with the discount supposedly already calculated in the per person per day price of $66. The final invoice says „Total reflects 25% discount per Person.“

That only works if the regular price for the first person would be $88 per day, and 2nd person $44 (half price), so total for both per day would be $132 or $66 each.

However, until now, the per person per day price for the DDP on this cruise fluctuated between $60 and $64.

To me, RCL pretending $66 is a good deal is borderline fraud. Or am I not seeing the whole picture here?