Aggravation

On 4/12/2024 at 1:12 AM, Ashland said:

I hope we'll find out what happened and why.

Excellent point - Royal owes everyone an explanation - not for the petty inconvenience but as a fundamental cybersecurity protocol.  

Over the years with Royal and Celebrity I’ve come to regard log-in failures as SOP, even using a reliable PW manager - they just quit working.

If merely the latest instance of RCI’s IT follies, than no big deal, but for our personal security we need to hear that officially. 

Last fall many of us were notified of the massive MGM data breach.  “The hackers were able to access their (OUR) personal information, including names, contact information, gender, date of birth, and driver’s license, passport, and even Social Security numbers, from “some customers” before March 2019”. 142 million “customer” files were compromised.

Conceptually it’s easy to understand how that might happen - except that I’ve never stayed at a MGM property or gambled at one of their casinos.  MGM does have cross marketing arrangements with many entities that I do deal with - so I have to assume that is likely how my data was obtained and subsequently compromised.  Hacks of this nature are increasing exponentially.

My first thought was that if any hacker wants to know my booking history, have at it, but hardly worth the effort.  Thinking it through, while my cruise addiction would be of little value, the data I enter when I do my pre-boarding check in is a hackers goldmine.  

Royal has a great deal on their plate at the moment but we can only hope that this disruption came because they were now prioritizing our data security, and not because the running joke of RCI IT is no longer a laughing matter.  They can craft and distribute an appropriate statement in 10 minutes - that would be the responsible course of action.

9 hours ago, MamaFej said:

Was Nandha the Blu Sommelier? We had him on Summit last year, and I know he is back onboard now. He is magnificent! 

Ida was the Blu Sommelier and we found her to be excellent.  Very engaging and knowledgeable,  she guided our party of 4 through more different wines in a week than we have ever tried before.  Her enthusiasm is contagious.  

6 minutes ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

Millennium is oldest, then Infinity, then Summit. 

Humble apologies - should have properly stated it was the oldest X ship we have cruised on but in my efforts at brevity I regrettably misspoke.  Hopefully the outstanding Summit crew wasn’t equally offended.

We were on Summit in June - boarding with some trepidation based on the many negative comments on these boards, compounded by knowing it is X’s oldest ship.  We were blown away - the ship was in great shape, our aft Aqua class cabin was perfect, Blu outdid themselves twice a day -making us regret our 2 visits to Tuscan, and above all - the crew is absolutely on fire to serve.  It ranks among our best cruises ever.  Our most recent prior cruise was in a Grand Suite on Anthem (a favorite) with Coastal Kitchen for dining, and was remarkably lackluster compared to our Summit experience.  X is back with a passion. 
 

You’ll have no regrets on your choice - Enjoy!

May be bigger than you expect if warning label is plausible

On 3/20/2020 at 2:22 PM, Argo. said:

 

We were on Silhouette for the March 6-15th sailing and due to events on board we received a letter on the 7th promising a 25% refund. 

Argo we just received our 25% credit from the March 6-15 Silhouette. Didn’t contact them, just waited. Good to see Celebrity honoring their commitments in such difficult times. 

3 hours ago, RosieRoo said:

I thought the same thing. Why do people have to mention their status?

I can’t speak specifically to cruise lines, but when talking with major travel companies such as an airline your history Is right in front of them - ticket class usually booked, options purchased, frequency of travel etc, so whether you’re booking a flight or seeking a concession, the decision can be based on your value as a customer - and yes, you are definitely ranked.  
 

Cruise lines aren’t known for their mastery of IT , but airlines systems are even more convoluted. If they can figure it out, Royal certainly can - and almost certainly does. When the OP mentioned their Diamond level it can be reasonably assumed that Royal was well aware - and just didn’t care. It’s very relevant that he was a loyal customer - and that it counted for nothing. 
 

Buddyboo714 - is that your email at the bottom - and if so, is it OK to contact you directly via email?

1 hour ago, SunNFunCruzer said:

 

$23.16 as 25% of a 12 night cruise?  Please use smoke signals to tell us all the name of your Agent!  Lol!  😜 Looks like they dropped a zero...  or two?  

 

Please report back!  And good luck with the continued negatives.

 

 

Actually booked directly through Celebrity - but as I think this through, perhaps there were port taxes and fees for our two visits to Miami. That would drop the net significantly.  I won’t pursue this for a week or so, let the dust settle a bit.  Will update. 
 

In a related development, we received an anonymous text today, directing us to  a CDC website, which in turn advised that we self-quarantine for two weeks as a post-cruise precaution. Missed that step in the brochure. Someone out there signaling a concern. 

3 hours ago, Argo. said:

I would like to know if any Silhouette passenger has received a refund of the 25% cruise fare promised in a note from the captain dated March 8th?

Good question.  I just looked at my charge statement and there it is - a credit from Celebrity for $23.16 - a bit lighter than my expectations - perhaps they deducted a service charge as if it were a bar tab.  This should be fun to sort out in the midst of the chaos.  

On 3/7/2020 at 5:07 PM, GastroGnome said:

Given that this clearly involved a death and without any further personal interest in why or what... do you think we could perhaps be nice to one another and stop speculating?

 

Well done to Captain Pepas for trying to catch up.  Hope no-one is too sick!   Good for the crew in keeping quiet - its no-one's buisness.  Best wishes to all on board - have a great time.  Looking forward to lots of positive posts and stories.

Just off the Silhouette, I’d suggest that speculation is all that passengers had to work with.  The ship did resume cruise speed to make up lost time - but then slowed to 10 knots - signaling something amiss. During the afternoon  the ship made a 180, reversing course without explanation, then a short time later we made another 180, but continued at slow speed “making up lost time”.  Passengers could only speculate what was going on, because the Captain said nothing. 
 

 After dinner we felt the ship leaning, so I turned on my phone compass and saw that we had once again reversed course.  A short time later the Captain confirmed our speculation, we were returning to Miami, 2 passengers required medical evaluation, but did not specify, as he did earlier, that this was unrelated to the “illness in the news” .  
 

In Miami the two passengers left the ship, had a waiting Medical tech snap a photo with the ship in the background, then rode off in a taxi.  After leaving port an announcement was made, but conspicuously absent was the prior days disclaimer repeated 3 times, that the medical emergency was not related to Covid-19.  A total reversal from the great care given to reassure passengers that the evacuations were not related to ”the illness in the news”. 
 
An information was created around a potentially critical situation and yes, most passengers were guilty of speculation. Asking ships officers directly if Corona was a consideration in the evacuation they refused to answer yes or no, citing privacy issues - issues that apparently weren’t in force the day before.  
 

If Corona concerns could have been ruled out, the cruise could have been salvaged, but because they conspicuously left on the table, most people were anxious to get off the ship ASAP, some even left in Aruba to illustrate the point.  Sorry, but given the operating conditions of this cruise, this Captain rates other than a well done for the decisions he made on this trip.  He left passengers anxious for their safety, deliberately or otherwise. 
 

Departing now.  Incoming traffic never materialized.  Will learn what happened when we get home. 

Captain just repeated earlier announcement - 2 passengers required medical attention, we’re  waiting for traffic to clear to depart.  Will update on itinerary soon. ( was ABC & Caymans) would explain the situation if there was any traffic in sight. 

Captain just said two of our guests had a medical emergency during the night, forcing us to return to port. No flu issues involved. Says we’re now waiting for arriving traffic to depart. Would be a far better explanation but still doesn’t fully add up. We’ll just hope for the best. 

Onboard rumor mill saying someone transited from deck 14 to deck 5 without elevators, landing on a lifeboat - saying not a pretty sight. Pure rumor, but would explain the long evac process. 

Noticed that. Onboard Silhouette now, they have said it’s  a medical evac, but here we sit for at least an hour, so that doesn’t add up. Had a medical evac last night while underway and that was a typical 5- minute pause.  

There are still a couple police cars on the pier so something going on, but looking outside the cruise bubble hoping for a clue.  Funny how that works. 

No issues on gangway but If you’re flying to the port your carry on liquids will be limited by TSA to a 1 quart bag filled with as many  3.4 ounce liquids, gels and aerosols as you can pack in, but no individual container larger than 3.4 oz.  “Full” sized conditioner will have to fly as checked luggage - or frozen. Solids are OK in carryon. 

Difficult to determine exactly what happened here, with the info and opinions at hand, but working for an airline, I can offer a few potentially useful insights. (with paragraphs)

Our flight schedule changes twice a year, addressing seasonal demand swings, but in practice, unplanned changes are made much more frequently, for a variety of reasons, many of which are completely unforeseen. All schedule changes impact passengers, and we certainly do care about that, and make every effort to mitigate the disruption. We begin by immediately notifying our passengers directly, using email, text or phone - explaining the change and presenting their options. We've changed our schedule, so we help you revise your itinerary, or cancel your flight, without additional charges. This is where the complications can begin.

When you book directly with an airline, you are their customer, and they have your contact information. If itinerary changes need to be made, the airline can make them for you. When booking through any 3rd party, A2S in this instance, you should be certain your contact info is included in the booking - without it, the airline can't notify you directly of any operational changes. Contact info, and price paid, are routinely omitted by 3rd parties. If itinerary changes are needed, the airline usually can't make them for you, only the third-party agent can, because the agent owns that reservation, and its in their GDS system.

Jet Blue definitely changed their schedule, but they definitely didn't change the OP's itinerary. Third-party bookings are called GDS bookings - they are made through one of several competing Global Distribution Systems that pool and sell air travel, hotel accommodations etc. GDS bookings exist outside the airlines CRS reservation systems, and all GDS bookings are owned and controlled by the 3rd party, in this caseA2S, and they are outside the airlines control. If A2S included your contact info in the booking, the airline could contact you directly with schedule change notifications - but the airline can't change your itinerary - only A2S can do that, through their GDS system.

One poster noted that it is the goal of A2S to save money. Actually, their goal is to make money, and in return, they provide a turnkey travel experience, with a guarantee that they will get you to the ship on time - a fair exchange at little or no cost to passengers. They have to make some money to do that. They may sometimes save you money, particularly on last minute, one-way, and open-jaw travel, but providing convenience and assurance is their real strength, and their reason for being. A2S likely could have re-booked OP on a slightly later, but more expensive, flight to MCO from PVD - but they usually align with specific travel partners in order to make their service an actual business. As noted, the OP could have booked a lower fare directly with an airline, but without any guarantees of getting to the ship on time.

Jet Blue is not at fault here - they merely revised a schedule as necessary. A2S is not at fault either - they committed to getting you to the ship on time, at a specific price - not to getting you to Disney on time. A2S certainly owes the OP compensation (not likely OBC) if they fail to get them to the cruise on time, but its doubtful that they had ever committed to getting getting them to Disney on time. That's not what A2S does.

Air carriers fall short on a regular basis, and should be held accountable when they fail on their Contract of Carriage. In this instance, the OP was not a customer of the air carrier, but of A2S. The air carrier eliminated a flight, but a competitor served that same route within the hour, so A2S - the agent the OP dealt with, had other options, and had they committed to getting the pax to Disney on time they would likely have used them. This looks like a customer getting what they paid for, while hoping to get something more. Difficult to ask for OBC because you got what you paid for, even if it falls short of secondary expectations.

Travel is frustrating enough, but adding unrealistic expectations only increases frustration. If the real goal in using A2S was getting to their return flight on time, they should have simply booked airport transfers for the return with Royal.

.

This is simply a curiousity of mine...

 

Does anyone know why Royal put Quantum and Ovation in Asia? It seems so weird that they marketed these ships so heavily, to only put one in North America. It so weird to me that they directed these towards the Asian market...I don't think I even heard anything at all about Ovation!

Having invested billions in these ships, RCI clearly knows why they're in Asia, but without the facts we can only amuse ourselves with idle speculation, so I'll offer a different scenario.

The Quantum Class ships were purpose built to be a great solution for cold weather ports, while introducing RCI's new Dynamic Dining concept. Sailing from Bayonne, the ship was praised for the former but arbitrarily and incessantly trashed for the latter. Why bother if you're RCI?

Asia, the fastest growing cruise market in the world, is unhindered by pre-conceptions of an MDR experience complete with formal nights, and so the ships are being received for what they are - not scorned for what they aren't. That actually works from a management perspective.

Anthem remains in Bayonne - at least until April 2018 - but then what? DD officially dies today but will those who fought against it be as enthusiastic about their victory when they sail it again? Reality will set in after spending 10 nights consigned to Silk, with a golden elephant watching you eat. Sure, you'll have the same waiter, but you'll also have the same venue, night after night, and none of it will measure up to the benchmark MDR experience in an elegant, soaring venue. I expect rough seas ahead for Anthem when the old diamonds come out from under the ether and see what they're left with.

How on earth could an inside cabin be better than any balcony?

 

That view of the "inside wall" has got to be pretty nice..

We're talking Anthem here, right? That said, wouldn't the view of the inside wall actually be the virtual balcony? Rather than a black box room, this should be an inside room with an unobstructed "view", and that novelty alone could command an upcharge

The representative informed me that Dynamic Dining was being eliminated on Anthem starting with my sailing which is Nov 27th.... Did anybody else hear of this?

From RCI:

ANTHEM OF THE SEAS®

DYNAMIC DINING FAQS

1. Why is Royal Caribbean discontinuing Dynamic Dining onboard Anthem of the Seas?

Feedback has shown a preference for a dining program that combines traditional seating with the option for

flexibility. With that in mind, beginning November 27th, 2016, Anthem of the Seas will offer the My Time Dining

program, with traditional and flexible options, as well as introduce new, upgraded dinner menus.

2. Which sailings will be impacted by this change?

All Anthem of the Seas sailings departing on-or-after November 27th, 2016, as well as sailings departing

November 23rd, 2016 through April 14th, 2017 onboard Ovation of the Seas, will be impacted.

3. Will booked guests be automatically converted from Dynamic Dining?

All active bookings on-or-after November 27th, 2016 on Anthem of the Seas will automatically convert to the new

dining program, respecting all pre-selected times, party sizes and other reservation features.

4. How does the flexible dining option differ from the traditional dining experience?

The flexible My Time Dining program offers guests the ability to select their preferred seating time and table

companions on a daily basis between the hours of 6:00 pm and 9:30 pm. The traditional dining option allows the

choice of either early or late seating and offers a more consistent dining experience for the entirety of the cruise

vacation.

5. Will Anthem of the Seas sailings now have formal evenings?

Beginning November 27th, 2016, Anthem of the Seas will offer either one or two formal evenings per cruise,

dependent upon sailing length.

6. Will My Family Time Dining be offered as an option onboard Anthem of the Seas?

Yes, families with small children can take advantage of My Family Time dining benefits while sailing onboard

Anthem of the Seas. This is available as part of the traditional dining experience during the early seating time

and can be reserved pre-cruise via Cruise Planner or once onboard. My Family Time dining allows children ages

3-to-11 to enjoy their meal within 40 minutes of seating before heading to the evening’s Adventure Ocean

activities.

Could venture a guess, but too much of that happens on these boards already. Anthem made a decision last week, in an overheated environment, to go out of their way to avoid a potential weather development. Today they know much more about Wednesday's potential weather than they did last week when the decision had to be made. With armchair adventurers calling for the Captains head if seas get rough, they likely made the only currently logical call. Zero tolerance for ocean weather.

Grandeur is heading first to Labadee, on a much different track than Anthem's return would have taken. They are also traveling light - free of the heavy media baggage Anthem is carrying. Looking at prog charts and Oceanweather.com, it appears they're in for a great cruise. Bon Voyage!

Great letter! Looking forward to reading the flood of retractions and apologies following the Great Anthem Massacre.

Just to add, I believe rccl was negligent in sailing out of Bayonne in the first place.[/quote:mad:

 

That said, you would be personally negligent sailing out of Bayonne in the winter. Behave accordingly. Those of us who are unencumbered by your uninformed beliefs welcome the opportunity. Problem solved.

Great review - the facts are far more enlightening than the angry, speculative posts from armchair adventurers this past week. Totally agree with you on the ice cream situation - a definite upgrade from yogurt for IC fans, but still curiously limited. Best part - you're home safe and ready to cruise again!