S.A.M.J.R.

9 hours ago, SRF said:

 

My TA plays ME.  No extra fees, and rebate part of her commission as OBC.

Good for you?  Bottom line is what I judge on.  I don't care about OBC if I can save money on the Cruise.  Without knowing what your TA would have offered for our particular cruise, we dont know if they get you a better deal.  

57 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Ellen actually means months before the final payment date.

And I'm supposed to know that how? 😉

57 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Its 90 days not 3 months as 3 months can be something other than 90 days.

That's why I said "more precise", not "precise".  If someone tells me to do something in "90 days", I'm going to think "3 months".  Obviously it can be off by a couple of days, but it's a quick (and fairly accurate) guess. 

57 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

75 days for 3-5 night sailings

120 days for 15 plus nights

And of course those are "months in advance also".  😉  

39 minutes ago, molly361 said:

I normally have my TA make my final payments months in advance. ( Waiting for the people to come and tell me how much money I could save by keeping it in the bank😇)

90 days (normal PiF date, isn't it?) *IS* "months in advance".  Three to be more precise.  

My recent horror story...

Final payment due 4/14.  I'm going to be on the road for business, and decide to pay (to my TA) last Sunday (3/31).  I use their online form and submit the payment (not expecting it to go through until Monday, but that's fine).  

Three reservations, so three payments.  No big deal.  Sunday night, I get a notification from my CC that one charge went through (but not for the full amount of any of the rooms), two were declined (more in a moment), and another charge was questioned. 

The two that were declined were because of "wrong virtual card" numbers.  I use virtual card numbers for any orders online.  They're locked in to just that vendor.  The one charge that went through was to Royal, the declined charges were to the TA.  

OK, create a virtual card for the TA, fill out the forms again.  Now charges go through for the TA, not for Royal.  

I ended up having to do partial payments and make sure I put the TA amount on it's card, and Royal's amount on it's card.  Took me until Wednesday(?).  I will NEVER wait until the day before, much less the day of final payment.  You just never know.

Now, I know people are screaming "why is the TA charging you extra!  I'd never use them again!".  All I can tell you, is even with their "extra charges", they saved us over $1K on the trip (may have been more, I'm not sure when I was price shopping if Royal was including gratuities in their total).  I don't care who gets my money, I'm trying to find the most cost effective deal. 

23 minutes ago, Orsino said:

Different people like different things. It is kind of stupid to write about things one doesn’t like. I would say it is even worse to belittle others for liking something he does not. 

Wonder if he didn't have a choice on the topic.  TPTB said "you've never been on a cruise!  We'll pay for one and you write about it!"

1 hour ago, mjkacmom said:

I guess I am too, it was obvious a mistake but I didn’t edit.😂

I was assuming you meant "dock", but also thought "if that's an actual nautical word, it's REALLY funny".  

2 hours ago, mjkacmom said:

The ship was anchored off shore. All of the tender boats were already secured, as well as the dock the tenders used to get passengers on the ship. The only way to get the passengers on the ship was the dick used by the harbor pilot, one of the most dangerous jobs due to the difficulty and risk of getting on and off ships in that manner.

OK, I'm still a teenager at heart.  I laughed at this.

2 hours ago, Cruise a holic said:

Why can't they dress in long pants and shirts?  

Why does it matter?

20 hours ago, Mum2Mercury said:

You mean once they've cranked up the engines and are ready to leave ... but can't leave yet because they're waiting for those last people?  Interesting.  I thought of port fees but not that.  

I'm sure that uses extra fuel, but so does having to go faster to get to the next port on time.  

If you have to go 250 nautical miles in say 14 hours (5p - 7a), you can go ~17kts.  However, if you're delayed for an hour, you now need to go 19kts.  Not sure what kind of mileage they get out of the engines, but that obviously uses more fuel, which means bigger cost. 

My numbers are just made up and I'm sure the ship engineers will be along to correct me. 

2 hours ago, alfaeric said:

We also don't really understand the allure to be the first on the ship- you can do 3 things, eat, drink, and swim.  While all of those can be fun, doing it at 11am vs. 1pm- not sure why it's *that* important.

For those of us who travel the day before, and are in a hotel, what are you doing in the hotel?  I'd rather get on the ship, and start eating, drinking, and exploring.  After all, it's already paid for. 😉

I agree it's a shame they use the towel charge, but if they didn't, I think you'd see a LOT more towels left in ports.  And, it does take up crew time to gather towels left around the ship (which you'd also have a lot more of if there was no charge).  

So, how do you, as a company, fix this?

1) Use scanners with sea passes?

2) Use a "card" system (every cruiser is given a card.  Turn in the card, get a towel.  Turn in a towel, either get a card or a new towel.  At the end of the cruise, turn in the cards and no charge.  Missing a card? Charge.)

3) Don't do anything and write off the labor charges and replacement towel costs?

4) Don't do anything and increase fees to make up for the added labor and replacement towel costs?

I remember the previous threads.  I think Royal made a mistake (computer glitch), and it wasn't intentional on their part.  Therefore, it wasn't "Bait and Switch" (as was claimed before).  Offering a complete refund IS a valid result if you wanted to cancel. 

I *DON'T* think cancelling the cruise on you is a good move.  However, if in some of your correspondence with them, you threatened to file a claim or to go to the media, I can almost understand it.  I mean, why take the chance?  

I do remember you saying, after I had suggested using the non-refundable air and doing something else in/around Miami, you vehemently said you didn't want to do that.  Going on a cruise with another vendor is a good option too. 

I hope you enjoy your trip.  Thanks for updating. 

6 minutes ago, Love2cruise-71 said:

Why no to lanyards?

Some people don't like wearing them.  I feel they have at least a couple of benefits. 

I was wondering which way the thread was going to go when asked about "fun items" to bring. 😄

1 hour ago, BrendaJ said:

We are going on a cruise out of Galveston soon and this issue caused me a lot of stress. I just can’t believe that Viator doesn’t have a bus of some sort running back and forth on days there are ships in port. There are quite a few ships that leave from Galveston, but I didn’t find any reasonable options - all of the private van rentals were a fortune. Our travel agent suggested Uber, but as there are 7 of us, and half the group are inexperienced travellers, I didn’t want to risk getting separated. Our other issue is that we were arriving the day before the cruise.

 

We ended up booking a hotel at the airport, and will take an RCCL transfer from the airport the following day (and we’ve booked an excursion to the space center on the return trip). Certainly not the cheapest option but the only one that gave me peace of mind.

Same thing we ran into, we just went with private shuttle vs RCCL transfer.  I agree it seems VERY expensive.  We've done shuttles from WDW to PC for about 60% of the cost and not much difference distance wise.  

So like Greyhound? Doesn't look like they service Galveston.

Or private bus? Contact one of the companies.

What do you want?  Bus? Plane? Train? Helicopter? 

Didn't feel like repeating myself... 

There's a list with links of transportation company's I found.  We're a party of eight, so if you have less, you might be able to find others.

We booked with liveryhouston. 

Yea, that's the problem with "witty" titles.  You don't know what's in them. 

Being discussed here: 

13 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

Those folks are not fooling anyone as you claim, especially themselves. The guest hands the money to whom they want to have it. It then becomes that person's money. What they keep, who they tip out, or how they spend it is their business and none of mine or anyone else's.

As you indicated, the customer doesn't know what happens to the money and it's really none of their business.  Glad you agree with me! 👍

6 hours ago, UNCFanatik said:

 

Yes, servers tip out to different people in some restaurants. 

 

With Credit cards, a bill is presented, the server swipes the credit card in the POS system and then when the customer leaves the tip, the server pulls up the check on the POS system and enters the tip. The server gets a printout of their Credit card tips and the company pays them their tips. If the company doesnt pay them their tips then the servers can take legal action. Not "Just like on a Cruise"

The point is the customer doesn't know what happens after the money has left their pocket.  The server can keep it all, they can share it with others.  The folks who say "I want to give cash so I know who gets it" are just fooling themselves. 

You'd have to pay SOMETHING.  IMO, just like a cruise fare, how it's broken down doesn't really matter.  what the total cost is does.

Quote 1

Booking fee: $50

Tea/Coffee Service: $150

Total: $200

Quote 2

Tea/Coffee Service: $200

*Numbers all made up.

On 2/29/2024 at 9:41 AM, UNCFanatik said:

Edited to Add: When I tip at restaurants at home, I have less concern that the server will get the tip vs cruises where no one is really positive if the $18/day is all making it to the crew

OK, when you tip at restaurants, you do so one of two ways...

Cash Leaving cash on the table, you have no idea what happens to it.  Maybe the server picks it up, maybe the bus boy picks it up, maybe the hostess does.  Even if you hand cash to the server, you have no idea what they do with it.  They may keep it all, or they may "share" with others.

Credit Card.  You REALLY have no idea how the company disperses it.  Just like on a cruise.  

4 hours ago, firefly333 said:

Last black Friday drinks were not on sale. Excursions were 30% off, which I bought. All but one Lynn was 40% off, so I bought lunches. Wifi for 3 or 4 people one purchase for 3 or 4 people was on sale ..for bigger families I guess. Not on sale for 1 pax. 

 

Drinks werent cheaper. 

Refreshment package was a decent sale. ~$24/day (+18%).  

2 hours ago, joepeka said:

We are using Galveston Limo for our cruise this summer and dealing with them thus far has been very smooth. They do require a 20% non-refundable deposit.

They are the highest price quote I got, but their cost does include gratuity.