belugos

Just came back after a 8 days cruise on the Seaview, out of Marseille... and the ship was PACKED! 
 

It honestly felt pretty much like we were back in 2018.

Amazing tips, everyone!

Hey everyone. SOOOOOOOOOOOO glad to be back on the scene, after these last 2y grueling years... anyways, we (4 friends) finally booked a 7 night cruise out of Marseille leaving next week, on the 11th, and have NO idea what to do and see. We are fairly (I prefer to believe) young, in ours early 40's to late 40's, and prefer not to book the cruise line excursions.

Any suggestions of MUST SEE places and tips how to better schedule them? We dont mind taking shuttles, mini busses, public transportation, etc

June 11th - Marseille - nothing to do this day as we will have already spent a day or two there.

June 12th - Genoa

June 13th - Naples

June 14th - Messina

June 15th - Valleta 

June 16th - at sea

June 17th - Barcelona

Any suggestions are MUCH appreciated!

Anyone else back from their trip?

24 minutes ago, Heather1972 said:

 

MOUTH DROP! No one asked Royal to do anything. They were the ones who offered compensation. To point fingers and lie and screw customers over is BS.  We PAID with 2 million myvegas points. There has to be some money exchanging hands some how some way.  

 That was my point. I spent years playing the MyVegas to get those points, and used 2 million points as well. If they dont see value in it, no problems - refund me 50% of my points so that I can use them on another cruise. But that would be another can of worms.

The lady who told me "you paid nothing" was a "Reese", that spoke with me when I called them the last time. Eventually that call got transferred and the next person was more reasonable.

8 hours ago, Heather1972 said:

Nicole Heather was the same person who replied to my first email explicitly saying $826.00

8 hours ago, Heather1972 said:

I typed this up and sent it off to Royal. If I don't have a response by tomorrow I will be calling the number listed in the canned response I got a couple of days ago. I'm ready to present this in person in Monday too.

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Here is what I have dealt with in the past two weeks:

 

JUNE 5 - I received email from Royal stating 50% refund of cruise fare paid as on board credit to be used on anything.

 

JUNE 5 - I called Club Royale and I spoke with Deja who said it was 50% of the discounted cruise fare  as on board credit to be used on anything. I made sure she understood that this was a cruise received through the MyVegas app.  $368 OBC

 

JUNE 10 - Since I had been hearing different things, I called again to Club Royale (Oshane) to see what the latest version was. He confirmed it is 50% of discounted cruise fare - $368 OBC to be used on anything. He also said he was adding the codes to get the OBC.

 

JUNE 13 - I received an email from Club Royale (Nicole Locker) stating I would get 50% of cruise fare paid as on board credit to use on anything. This was too vague of an answer, so I sent a follow up email. 

 

JUNE 15 - I called the regular Royal phone number to inquire about my Key West excursion. So, while I had Alex on the phone, I asked again about the OBC situation.  Alex said he double and tripled checked and said I would be receiving $856 as casino free play. This number is 50% of the cruise fare. He even said, “Yes, I know it sounds too good to be true!” 

 

Since this is the first time I had heard this directly and yes, it sounded too good to be true, I again called Club Royale. I spoke with Mikayla this time.  She too said it was $856 in casino free play.

 

By this time I was more than frustrated at the different numbers I had been quoted and how the credit can be used. Everyone refused to put anything in writing. So, I then contacted Royal through Facebook. Now, I was being told by Royal through FB that I would receive $368 in casino free play. 

 

JUNE 17 - I received an email from Club Royale (Julie V.) staying that $368 OBC to be used on anything would be on my sea pass card by the time I am onboard.  

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So, how do you like all those different responses!?!? Trying to get my 2 million points back from MyVegas is a whole other story. 

10 hours ago, BethKel said:

 

Yes - I have the "promo code" now for a $500 off the next cruise.. they claim "no strings attached" - but I dont think I can count on it.

I did not use the casino credit... did not want to  give them the opportunity to tell me later "oh - we gave you the money.."

And I spoke with guest services, ClubRoyale, mother Teresa, Barak Obama and Big Foot... they just kept pointing to one another... 

They closed my Twitter chat with "Sorry about the wrong info we gave you - bye".

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Ugh, thanks for posting all this.  Looks like we're in for a "fight" once we get onboard, DESPITE having emails, etc. stating exactly what we are supposed to get (OBC to use wherever.)

 

So Belugos, your net-net was this?:

OBC of $395 for use wherever

Casino credit of $430 (did you use it?)

$500 for "future cruise"

 

And when you were onboard, who did you talk to?  Just Guest Services or anyone in particular?  By the time I sail, they will have HAD to have quite a few MyVegas-ers come through with the same situation. Will their policy be to plead ignorance until we argue with them enough to get something?  

 

And Heather, I thought you said you had a July sailing but you have June! (I was going to offer to send you deets on my experience from the July 8th cruise once onboard.)  But I'd love to know what responses you get from any of the email addresses and then obviously, how everything nets out for your trip.  Good luck!

 

19 hours ago, daniac said:

For the Club Royal (myVEGAS) comped cabins we are on Majesty right now and despite being reassured that we would be receiving 50% of the comped cruise rate in OBC by Club Royal prior to boarding we have zero on board credit. I have an email out to club royal to hopefully get this straightedges out before our cruise is over. 

I hate to tell you this, but you wont fix it during the cruise.. unless this is a 10 days cruise and you spend all days calling them. When I started complaining about my missing OBC, they told me "we are working to fix it right away" and that changed to "dont worry - if we cant get it done now you will get the money back after the cruise" and then to "what money??? we owe you nothing!".

One lady had the guts to tell me this in my last call : "So you think deserve to get money back when you did not pay for the cruise?"

Just dont tell them how you got this:

vanessaelizabethtorres@rccl.com

1 hour ago, gkbiiii said:

I just got an email from Club Royale today, reconfirming $991 onboard credit for me.  I hope it works out, it is great to have it in writing.

Mine was in writing too... made no difference. 

Finally today I spent 3 hours (yes - 3 hours in a single phone call to RCCL) and after a lot of fighting they agreed to give a *future* $500.00 discount. I spoke with 3 people today, and one of them even insinuated that I misunderstood the offer, and later that I was "trying to convince them to refund me for something that was not wed to me.."

Bottom line - be prepared... there is a pretty good chance the credit wont show up as OBC and if that is the case, it will be a lot of trouble to get them to honour the offer.

I think this only applies to those who used the MyVegas points.

On the last day, they gave us a partial refund for the port fees too.. some 21.40 less per person.

Well, I used some "points" from playing their online casino (I refer to them as MyVegas).. I guess it is considered "comped" in this case.

If you paid in full with your CC I dont think you will have any issues... well, maybe or maybe not. Because I learned now that if RCCL tells you one thing in writing, it does not mean they will actually follow through.

On 6/15/2019 at 11:45 AM, luv2vacation said:

This post concerns me.   Did you book with points of some kind?   I booked through Club Royale but I only got a slightly discounted rate.  I was told I would receive 50% of what I paid and I am fine with that.  The truth is I didn't get a good deal to begin with.  The price dropped 2 days after I booked and I could have paid $250 less directly with RCCL but since it was after final payment I was stuck with the higher casino rate.  Now I am worried about how much OBC I will get if I take this cruise.   

Just got back this past Saturday.. and STILL NO word from RCCL regarding the correct OBC amount. Since mid last week, they simply stopped replying to my emails and have been ignoring me.

While on the ship, the casino called me some 9654654 times to get me to go there and spend some $400.00 in free play, which I politely declined as this was not what RCCL had offered me BEFORE the cruise.

So, those of you getting in writing that you will be credit X dollars in OBC - keep in mind that RCCL will determine later on the actual amount you will get, based on some random formula. I was told (verbally and via email) that my OBC would be 826.00.. 1st day on the ship I saw a credit of $395.00, and after 2-3 days they credited me a difference of $430.00 as casino credit (use it or lose it), while telling me via twitter that I would get those $430.00 as OBC (which never happened).

They had promised a 826.00 obc and we got 395.00

I reached out to rccl again today and am convinced they won't even try to handle this in the short term... They told me "not to worry as any unused obc gets refunded to the card ".. That tells me they won't fix it while I'm cruising. What will happen later is anybody's guess. 

They also stopped replying to my emails. 

As off now, no updates. Just a bunch of 'we are trying to get more info on this matter...' but no concrete answers. 

Sadly this is day 4 now. The last message I got from rccl was that once they correct the obc amount, if unused, it would be credited to my. Credit card on file. But between what they promise and what happens in real life there is a fine line, as I have learned. 

Well.. bad news for those (like me) who booked throught the club royale. After being told over the phone AND confirmed in writing (email from ClubRoyale) about the amount we would received, we got the the ship and discovered the OBC was for less than half of the 50% of the cruise fare they told us. 

Guest services has NO idea what to do.. just told me to contact Club Royale... I emailed club royale, and got no reply... then called them (Im still on the Majesty as I type this) and the 1st person there told me"oh.. you use points so you qualify for ZERO dollars in obc.." I explained to her that this was nonsense as there was already a decent credit, just not the correct amount.. she did not belive me, and I had to forward her the email from Club Royale... still, no solution.. told me to wait.

I then sent a Twitter to RCCL.. someone replied to me quickly, and it has been 2 days.. they still have no idea.. just keep telling me "we are trying to get more info on this matter and will get back to you shortly". Today, they sent me a direct message via Twitter telling me they would credit me 200 pp in casino money.

Club Royale keeps telling me to contact Guest services, and guest services has no idea of what ClubRoyale is (a man at the desk kept looking at me like I was an alien explaining extraterrestrial affairs).

We were told if we cancelled, we would get the full cruise fare... and if we took the cruise, we would get 50% of the cruise fare as per invoice, which would have been 826.00. 1st day of cruise, we noticed a 197.50 obc per person.

15 hours ago, gkbiiii said:

Yes I did for the 5 night on Majesty, Overnight in Havana cruise on July 8th.  This is my fourth myvegas comped cruise on Royal and I hope this is true.  Over time I have spent a lot of $$ on both myvegas & Club Royale.  Being a Diamond C&A member, I have spent a good sum with Royal cruising as well.  That being said, my inside (paid to upgrade to oceanview) is the most expensive inside I have booked, my Past suites have been cheaper.  My invoice says the full cabin charge for my inside cabin is $1,830 so, it will be great to get a $915 onboard credit!  That being said, this is by far the worst itinerary I have ever gone on!  I would not pay my own money for this: Key West, Nassau, & Coco Cay!

I sent an email to ClubRoyale and they just confirmed.. we get a credit for whatever is the cruise fare on the invoice. Im my case, 826.00 US$ for the cabin.
 

Breezes day pass costs $100.00 per person, btw.

6 minutes ago, Heather1972 said:

 

I called Club Royale and talked to Daysia (?) who knew exactly what I was asking in reference to how does the 50% off work for those who booked with MyVegas points. She said that the cruise is not actually comped, it's a discounted cruise fare, so you WILL get 50% back if you go on the cruise. If you look at your original cruise vacation receipt, it will say cruise fare $$ minus casino comp. That number is your discounted cruise fare, so you will get 50% of that amount in OBC. If you do not use it, it will be refunded to your credit card. Woohoo now I'm being paid to cruise! 

That would be awesome.

We "paid" (not really) $821.00 per person... cruise fare. So will they credit us 50% of each fare paying traveler?

If so, Im going to the SPA!

4 minutes ago, Canadian Disney Mom said:

 

Gotta love MyVegas.  I miss the old rewards but I am glad they still offer some!  Back in 2016 we got a week on the Oasis for 400K pts I think.  I miss those days! 🙂

 

Now that I always book through the casino and get either casino rates or comps I cannot use myvegas anymore

No kidding... last year I missed a chance to get a 5 nights for 750k points... This Cuba cruise now set me back 2 MILLION points...

So Im welcoming any onboard credit, if it does happen. 

On that note - anyone else booked through the MyVegas?

49 minutes ago, Canadian Disney Mom said:

 

I am on the 8/4 Empress sailing.  I have been to Cuba many times before so it is not a deal maker for me but it is too bad for those who were only on the sailing because of Cuba.

 

I doubt I will be getting any OBC or refund - I am sailing on a Casino Comp 🙂

Well.. Im interested is finding out too.. I got my cruise through the MyVegas, so I did not "pay" for it. I called the ClubRoyale customer service and the guy told me we will be getting an onboard credit of 50% of the cruise fare listed in the invoice I received after they completed the booking using my points.

I believe when I see it. Because this is too good to be true. All in all, I booked the cruise and did not pay for it, and will get 50% back in onboard credit. Not to mention that Cuba was not my favorite choice (been there many times in resorts all over the island) so it seems to be a win-win situation for me, avoiding the paperwork to enter Cuba with a visa, etc.

47 minutes ago, rghermes said:

 

If we get the 50% off deal that the cruises leaving today and tomorrow are getting, I would be good with that.

Same here... leaving this Saturday. No official word from RC yet.

When I log in to my RC account the new itinerary appears.. when I go to the cruise planner, Havana is still there.

Im leaving on the 10th, Majesty. Originally for FLL, sea, Key West and Havana (2). Just logged now and saw :

FLL

Nassau
Coco Cay
Sea 
Key West

All I can do now is lol at this mess....