CruisesOnMyMind

I am sure I know how to read, and there is nothing that can be labelled as 'official' in this statement....it is all hearsay.

 

Everyone I know in Royal corporate (and I have a long and substantial rolodex), has been telling me when they are officially granted the ability to offer port stops in Cuba they will.....and so will every other cruise line.

If you are reading from a rolodex you are soooo far behind! You do not have any up to date information.

We were also on that cruise and in addition we received 2 light weight back packs with Quantum of the Seas embroidered on them and a bottle of Dom half way through.

On the other hand the Oasis Inaugural was incredible with gifts being put on your bed almost every evening.

Count us in! We were on the cruise that was sold as an Inaugural only to be told on board that it was NOT an inaugural. They seemed to go out their way to prove that it was not an Inaugural Cruise. Still trying to figure out why we got the cheap certificate if it was not an inaugural. I did manage to get the Quantum hard bound book by asking my Room Steward if there were any available. Everyone got ball caps and a water bottles...that was it! As noted...the passengers on the Maiden Voyage got gifts every night.

 

I do remember being on the Brilliance during the ships inaugural year and they gave out the hard bound books weeks after the actual Inaugural. Times Change!!!

 

Just my opinion but I would not trust that RCI would do anything special for any future Inaugural Cruise. We definitely will not test that theory!

I have to correct myself here:eek: We were on the Maiden TA cruise not the Inaugural. I can say without a doubt we did not receive gifts every night. Only as mentioned above in my post.

I sailed with you. Ship was beautiful but inaugural was a big disappointment.

I will add that I did not care for the layout or the feel of the ship at all. DH really liked it. Agree that the inaugural was a disappointment.

We sailed what advertised as Quantum's inaugural cruise. It turned out that the maiden voyage (trans-Atlantic) the week before got all the goodies we thought we'd get.

 

We got a cheaply printed "certificate" after people at the last day's Q&A with officers brought it up.

 

Our last "inaugural." Definitely wasn't worth the inflated price we paid. We did enjoy the ship, though!!

 

 

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We were there also and can confirm what Joan said above. Very disappointing after all the hype that was given to other ships that had their inaugural cruises. We did have a good time though and just loved the ship.

We were also on that cruise and in addition we received 2 light weight back packs with Quantum of the Seas embroidered on them and a bottle of Dom half way through.

On the other hand the Oasis Inaugural was incredible with gifts being put on your bed almost every evening.

And their IT guys knew when they were going to be released yet they are still way behind the informed folks at CC.

 

Left hand, let me introduce you to the right hand.:cool:

My guess it was not the IT department, but the Marketing department that was not on the ball.

Paula Abdul sitting beside us in Chops on Oasis or Allure. This was right after she was let go/left...American Idiol.

You all do realize that RCL is a foreign corporation, and doesn't pay any U.S. Income tax, and that its staff (with the exception of a small % of officers) are also not paid as U.S. taxpayers, so they would not pay any U.S. income tax either. They may not even pay income tax in their home country, since their income is "ex-pat". Also, once a ship clears U.S. waters, it doesn't even collect sales tax on anything it sells.

 

A gratuity is not a tax. And unless you are in the U.S. and working inside the country, it is also not subject to declaration to the IRS.

I have to admit I have not read every post on this thread, but I have the jist of it....my question is are crew paid in USD's no matter what waters they are in?

I did. They said our category is sold out. I would need to pay for upgrade. We are platinum members so I was hoping for a bit better assignment.

Check daily or a few times a day to see if a cabin shows up in your category. If is does, call and have it switched. You don't say when your cruise is so we don't know how close you are to actual sailing. A non connecting cabin could come up within you category the week before sailing and you can still switch it

I would watch, watch, watch and not pay for an upgrade.

Thanks for mentioning this. I'm looking at booking a March 2018 cruise soon after the schedule is released. I've got a NextCruise booking sitting on a placeholder cruise right now and I was thinking that I'd have them change it onboard, but it sounds like it's better to deal with that with a representative on the phone either before or after my cruise.

Does this affect your NextCruise OBC if you change it after your cruise?

Tooo Funny. Absolutely enjoyed the hilarious honestly of it all.

I believe the dry dock is April 3 to April 24.

Now that is good news. Looks like it will be done after the April 20th cruise. Looking forward to the brightly new refurbished Jewel. Will miss Seaview Cafe and Portifono's though.

Just noticed there is no named "R Bar" on the new deck plans......but it's just a name as the bar is already there!!!

We are cruising on the Jewel right after its dry dock on a transatlantic

What date is the drydock scheduled for? I thought it was after the TA.

If it's not until after the TA will Portofino's still open for the crossing.....or is it even open now?

It's funny that you wrote that.

 

I have heard them announce this at EVERY muster drill. :)

I also have heard the no smoking rule at all muster drills.

On our cruise on the Serenade last Oct. we noticed every time we opened up the safe a terrible smoke smell came out of it. My jewel case did take on the air of smoke.....yuk....

Our brilliant deduction was that the previous cabin mates were smoking on the balcony (room did not smell as smoke) and then put their ashtray in the safe to hide it.

Had our room attendant come in and he indeed did smell it.

Sneaky sneaky.......

Not sure this is true. The last time we were at the airport, multiple rental companies had onsite locations. I believe Avis and Enterprise were a couple and there seemed to be many more.

My experience was that they all shared the shuttle to the port. If that has changed, I stand to be corrected.

Avis does not participate into the shuttle from the cruise port in FLL. They only have the shuttle to and from 17th St. We found this out first hand recently in FLL.

The port shuttle from the ship to the airport is for Enterprise and National and maybe others, but not Avis. The driver told us the rentals company's have to pay extra for this and Avis opted out.

I had a gel manicure on the Grandeur and in August on Celebrity Summit they offered Gel manicures. i do not remember the prices but it is usually more than I pay at home.

I had a gel nail "fix" on the liberty for $15.

 

No, a full set is not $150... It's $45 (plus $20 to soak off a prior gel manicure, so if you plan to do it onboard come with bare nails!) ...

 

Yeah, I thought a full set was $65, so one nail = $6.50, I was going to offer them $10... Nope it was $15 + 18% auto tip for the one nail. Nearly what I paid for my full set at home!

 

But it is a cool, long-lasting manicure (I destroyed the one nail digging for coconut meat in my whole coconut drink! Otherwise it lasted perfectly for the entire 12-night cruise and beyond. Glad I could get that one nail fixed onboard though.

 

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Very interesting and thank you for the information. I was on the Serenade for over 5 weeks this summer and was counting on the gel polish. I had to take it off myself (pick and peal) then get a regular polish . Once again they said they have no way of disposing the residue so don't offer it.

Acrylics were offered.

I'll be on the Vision in a few weeks and will inquire there for future reference. Only time I get gels before boarding is when I am going on a cruise 2 weeks or longer. Would only need their service if I am on board 3 or more weeks.

I guess it is a ship by ship bases.

Anyone know what they charge to do gel nails on the ships?

They do not do gel nails on RCI ships because there is no way to dispose of the chemical in it if needed. At least this is what I was told by the technician.

After final payment can you transfer to a different cruise for any reason?

Please call and discuss this with your TA or who ever you booked with. Yes it can be done!

I checked again recently and snagged a Military Discount...$27 (:D!) plus $100 OBC. My TA said I should hold off paying off the little I have left on the cruise because you never know if they will post another drop.

Right, we recognize that. I think she meant why pay ahead, when the final balance may end up even lower. She was funny though, she said who knows, the cruise may up being free! LOL!

Ah OK, it was a funny haha:D:)

I checked again recently and snagged a Military Discount...$27 (:D!) plus $100 OBC. My TA said I should hold off paying off the little I have left on the cruise because you never know if they will post another drop.

Yahooo for the price drop.

FYI it does not matter if your cruise is paid off before final payment or not for price drops to be enforced. What does matter is the due date for final payment to RCCL. Once that date is reached there are no price drops.

One look at my cruising history - there's reasons why we only cruised on one Carnival cruise...pretty much matches very close to what your reasons were for not wanting to cruise RCL again - but one specific thing that amped me on the CCL cruise was us showing up dressed to the nines for formal night - and seeing people wearing shorts - even flipflops, so to us, Carnival was "the walmart of cruise companies."

I see you haven't cruised on over 5 years. Be prepared even on Royal you are going to see the shorts and flipflops on formal night. Dressed to the nines although nice to see, is fading by the wayside bit by bit.

Thank you all!!!:D:) Did some switching around and are now on the Allure Nov 29th. CK and SL here we come.:D:D:D

Would love to try the Hibachi experience but am curious how pricing works. In Cruise Planner it shows a $30pp cover charge with a menu showing a la carte pricing. Hope someone who has already enjoyed the experience can share how it works.

Pricing is 30pp for 1 meat and 35pp for 2 meats. No BOGO's can be used. Rice is included along with the entertainment of watching it be prepared. That's all I've got as we didn't go.

Do you know if you can use a BOGO for Hibachi on Oasis?

On Oasis now and last week. Unfortunately no they cannot be used.

I haven't been on Allure recently, but in June on Oasis beer, wine and soft drinks were available from the bar in the Suite Lounge from 11:00am until 11pm at no charge. Cocktails were also available from 5-8:30pm.

Can you take your wine or beer from the SL into the CK at lunch time or ask for one in CK since it is connected to the SL? Same question for dinner time in CK if it is after the "happy hour"