gi_pam

We used Turo in Lahaina and Kona, no issues. In both cases, we picked up within walking distance of the tender dock - we had the same issue with rental cars being far from the ship.

15 hours ago, Tazmantravel said:

What about sending the a single message to the entire group?  I understand how to add all the guests to the chat feature.  I understand how to send a text to one of the guests in my contact list.  Now, I want to send a text to all 40 guests in our group.  How do you set up a group chat session so all guests get the one text?  Is there a video showing how to do this that anyone is aware of?  I’ve been searching and have not found one yet.  

12 hours ago, acuprulez said:

Perhaps this is no longer the case since I haven't used in-app messaging in years, but isn't there something like a 10-person limit on group chats?

Not sure about the limit but we messaged with 6 of us on our recent cruise with no issue.

What each person has to do, is make themselves findable to others. You can message people on your booking without that being done. But others have to have to make themselves findable, and you have to find them by name. 

We went to Puna Chocolate farm. The tour was wonderful, he showed us chocolate, coffee, macadamia, and kukui nut trees (probably some others I forgot). Chocolate tasting at the end of the tour. About a 20 minute drive from Kona, we rented a car so I don’t know if Uber or taxi would go there. 

We sailed on Harmony during her first season. How can Harmony look "tired"? She's still new! 

Checks sailing history...that was 2016...yikes! Same reaction as when someone points out that the 1980s were NOT 20 years ago. 

1 hour ago, masspector said:

I sorted by ship and destination.  I get this.  We are on the May 11, 2023, sailing.  No sailings before that.

 

We’re on the sailing before you, from Honolulu to Vancouver, and I think Ovation is still using the old menus. I suspect our cruise or yours will be the first sailing with the new menus for Ovation. The app won’t be right for your cruise likely until the week before, maybe not even until the cruise starts. It seems to sort of default to something resembling the current sailing, which is fine for ships that repeat the same itinerary. Doesn’t work in this case.

2 hours ago, crzndeb said:

My May sailing is showing it. On website, go to upper left and use pull down menu. Click onboard activities and see if it shows up. 

Not showing on my May sailing. I think we’re on the same sailing? Honolulu to Vancouver?

edit - and now it’s there! Checked twice before posting, went back now and it’s there. 

You have to click the notice that says something along the lines of apply a promo, I forget the way it’s worded. That pops up a spot to click for military rate, state of residence, seniors rate, and crown and anchor society status. 

Both my husband and I are, off to try the suggestion above 

https://www.rpnw.com/locations/maui/

I saw a lot on Google Maps, and using street view, saw a sign that said "Operated by Republic Parking Northwest."  Back to Google. On that website, there are several lots nearby to the tender dock that show pay at the machine 24 hour parking.

We are tendered in Lahaina for 2 days, looking at renting a car for both days which will mean needing parking near the dock.

I saw a post here about using The Wharf shopping mall, but would like to have a couple of options. It actually looks like The Wharf might be managed by this company too. It's on the map at the link.

3 minutes ago, twangster said:

 

This has been addressed at length in numerous topics here and it's documented in the terms and conditions of the CAS program.   It's is unfortunate you misunderstood.

 

A Crown & Anchor Society member can be added into a relationship with other family members in the same household and receive equivalent tier status; however Cruise Points will remain according to actual cruises taken and calculated using the Program level accrual system described above. Pinnacle Club member tier status will not be awarded to dependents if earned by their parent and/or guardian. Pinnacle Club member tier status can only be earned by an individual, spouse or significant other* by one of them accumulating 700 Cruise Points or more in the Crown & Anchor Society program.

 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/content/dam/royal/resources/pdf/crown-and-anchor-society-benefit-grid.pdf

 

The thing about what you’ve quoted here though is that it says that my points will be based on my cruises. It doesn’t say that the points that show on my account will actually be my husband’s points…that is the issue. I didn’t misunderstand. I had 67 points, my husband had 74. My account said 74. (I didn’t know what my husbands said, I only have been piecing  this together today) I had good reason to believe I had 74, the math didn’t add up because of the pre 2011 stuff, and my account said 74. 

29 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

Only works up to a point. I couldnt figure it out. About half my cruises were before the 1 pt per day current system. And half of the old ones fell off so I cant see them. I have to call for the really old ones in my history.

 

Depends how long you been cruising. It took me 20 years to get here but I havent been loyalty to just rcl. 

This is my situation, 30 years to get here in our case, cruising on multiple lines, and we like many other types of vacations, including skiing which also takes a big chunk of our travel budget. 
 

I appreciate the empathy from some who responded 

To answer some of the “you shoulda known…”

- 2 cruises (plus one on my husband’s profile) are listed on the old way, 1 or  2 points. 1992, 2009, and his in 2010. All different lengths, one was in a JS. We weren’t active cruisers in 2011 when they changed the system, I wasn’t on cruise critic, and when we booked a RC cruise in 2015 after a 6 year gap we had a bunch of points that made no sense. The math doesn’t math. Our 1992 cruise was missing, we sent them something, so all of cruises are accounted for, that was all I checked. 

- I could have just added up my points? Let’s see…1+2+16+7+22+6=74? Nope, it adds up to 54. Nothing on the website that shows how my numbers add up to (now) 73. 
 

-It’s a well known issue? I don’t read every thread here…does anyone? I am pretty well informed. I know points aren’t the same for spouses, but status level is. We sometimes go a year or two between RC bookings when I’m not on Cruise Critic much. I had no idea how to search this particular issue here, and really didn’t think that when my profile said 74 points I needed to doubt it. How do you know to search for something that you don’t know is a problem? 
 

- website problems yes, but I’ve also seen many poster skewered here for not knowing stuff that could have been answered on the website. So which is it? Look on the website or don’t trust the website? 
 

Minor problem in the grand scheme of things, I’m not stranded in a foreign port or anything…was just wondering if I had any hope of anything. 

29 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

Out of what? You misunderstood how the point system works and everything is correct as per C&A accrual policy.

That I made a decision and spent money based on information on my profile that wasn’t correct. The policy is clear, in a generic way, but I can’t tell how many points I have. It’s not even implied that those aren’t my points, it says I have 74 points, even when I had 67 (now 73).
 

It would be one thing if it was something I should have known from reading something somewhere on the website or in an email, but the fact that 7 of those points are my husband’s points, not mine, and how they calculated our pre 2011 points aren’t there for me to see. 
 

our vacation dollars are planned and budgeted, I would have much rather spent the money from that short cruise on our big trip in May. A couple of days alone on an older ship vs drinks, excursions and specialty restaurants on our Hawaii trip. It wasn’t wasted, but it’s an expensive lesson on the inaccuracy of my points total 

Frustrating situation that I haven’t seen here, wonder if anyone has had this and got a resolution. 
 

My husband and I are Emerald. I see 74 points on my profile, we have a cruise booked for May 2023. I was in Florida for work in December so I jumped on a 3-day cruise solo, figured I’d get the 6 points and get Diamond before our 9 night cruise in May (worth over $1000 for the 4 drinks per day)

One month later, I still have 74 points. So I called to see what was up.

I had 67 points, my husband had 74. He has one more cruise than I do (which I knew). So now I have 73 points. But my profile still says 74.

2 of our cruises, and the one that my husband did with friends are from before the point system changed. If I add up what’s on my past cruises list, I don’t get 74, or 67, or any other number that makes sense because those pre 2011 cruises say 1 or 2 points. Until today I didn’t know what specifically they did to convert from the old system to the new. The person on the phone walked me through it and I do understand how I was at 67 before, 73 now, and that my husband is at 74. 
 

But…my C&A profile says 74 points, and I used that number as the basis for booking my short solo cruise to get to Diamond. As far as I can tell, there is no way for me to see how many points I actually have. 
 

I completely understand how status matching works, and it’s not points matching. Everything in their system makes sense to me, and now I know I legitimately only have 73 points. TBH, I only took that cruise to get to Diamond, I wouldn’t have gone if I’d known I only had 67 points. I made the decision based on the info I had, which was wrong. 

Do I have any hope of getting anything out of this?

While I was on the phone with them, she did say something about escalating it. However then she said something that I disagreed with (I forget now exactly, I think she said that I didn’t agree with my total points), so I tried to correct her and she hung up on me. Fully believe she hung up on me because earlier in the call she couldn’t hear me, and called me back. The second time, disconnected and no call back. 
 

My first cruise, our honeymoon - that ship has been sold off twice!  (Nordic Empress/Empress of the Seas). Not sure if she's finally been scrapped. For a bit, I was hoping to sail on her for our 30th (this year). But we're on Anthem instead. 

We've also been on the "biggest ship in the world" twice - Freedom in 2009 (Allure existed at that time but hadn't officially launched) and Harmony in 2016. We had Allure booked while she was the biggest in the world, but had to cancel that one. 

6 hours ago, cmich068 said:

 

 

But if you are the type to work up a sweat when your speedometer hits 101km/h in a 100km/h zone, or you feel the need to volunteer to the cruise line that you used a Telehealth service, then maybe stick to getting your test done in person or in the US. 

That’s an odd comparison.
 

A speeding ticket isn’t really on par with being denied boarding and having a vacation cancelled. I’m just trying to make sure I’ll get on the ship, so I need to figure out the testing and vaccine passport requirements for 5 countries and 2 airlines in addition to RC’s rules. It’s not easy.

On 3/5/2022 at 11:07 AM, DHLuCruise said:

Thanks for the link @jimlv it looks like you are correct. If its valid for entry into the USA, they are saying it would work for boarding the ship.

 

There are many people that have used the switch health (in-person tests) to board a ship and I am pretty sure those dont have a CLIA number. So I think based on this we should be fine.

Every time I read I get more confused. 

How I’ve understood it, the test to fly to the US has to be approved for use in the country you’re arriving from (Health Canada). 
 

The test to board the ship (for Royal Caribbean at least, I don’t know if that’s industry wide) has to be FDA approved. 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/is-there-a-telemedicine-option-for-pre-cruise-covid-19-test

Unfortunately I don’t interpret it as “if it’s ok to use to fly, we’ll accept it at the port too”. Just that they don’t need a new test necessarily as long as the test you took before the flight meets their requirements 😞 

I’m having a hard time finding out which ones that we can do in Canada are FDA approved. 

https://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/coming-to-france/coming-to-france-your-covid-19-questions-answered/applying-for-a-vaccine-pass-if-you-were-vaccinated-abroad-procedure-for-non/

For Canadians, Americans and others not on the list, we need to convert our vaccine paperwork to the French Vaccine Pass in order to visit museums, restaurants, travel on regional trains, etc. 

Our TA stops in Cherbourg and Le Havre, and I don't see any pharmacies on the list there to convert the pass. Has anyone heard if they will be adding pharmacies in these towns as the summer cruising season opens up? I'm sure the cities of Cherbourg and Le Havre would love to be able to have the cruise ship passengers dine in their restaurants and tour their museums. Even some of the Royal Caribbean shore excursions don't seem possible without the pass. 

We're disembarking in Southampton then taking the Eurostar to Paris. There isn't even a lot of pharmacies in Paris. Nothing near the Gare du Nord, or Gare de L'Est, where tourists would be arriving and need to do this. We were hoping to get the pass in Cherbourg so our time in Paris isn't taken up with getting this. 

Thoughts? Anyone have any info on upcoming changes? Even here in Canada, which has been pretty vaccine pass positive, most provinces are starting to remove the vaccine pass requirement in the coming weeks/months. 

(and as an aside - the "France Ports" board is nested in the Mediterranean board, so there really isn't a good place for questions about ports in Western France)

(edit - there is a pharmacy at CDG that does this, missed it in my first search, nothing near the train stations, nothing in Cherbourg and Le Havre)

Following along! We sail on the TA in May, and haven’t been on this class of ship yet. Looking forward to hearing about your trip. 

Canadian here, so prices are in Canadian dollars, but adding for trends. Our prices go up and down a bit based on the exchange rate as well, not just sales. 

Anthem, 11-day transatlantic, from Bayonne

I've been watching the prices on a few things

Deluxe Beverage Package has bounced consistently between about $66/day and $74/day. Black Friday sale, still $66

Refreshment Package - I haven't been watching as much because we didn't think we wanted it. But today it's $21.49, so we booked that. My husband doesn't drink much alcohol but he loves nice coffee, sparkling water and fresh juice. It's not worth it for both of us to get the alcoholic package, if the lowest is $66/day. If it drops a bunch lower than that we might. But for $21/day (about $16 USD), this is worth it. Then we'll drink alcohol a la carte. 

Voom Surf is between about $16 and $18, Surf and Stream between $21 and $24. Black Friday sale, they are $14.78 and $18.99 (booked the surf and stream)

We booked 3-night dining in July at $117. It has stayed consistent since then, but was $144 before that. I don't know if they repriced it in July or if it's just he longest sale ever! The other dining packages dropped then as well and have stayed down. No extra sale today. 

Again - Canadian dollars for those of you in the US getting sticker shock on the prices I'm posting! Our dollar has been running at just under 80 cents to the US dollar. 

We booked a couple of weeks ago and yes, as above. Right near the end there was a box to check to make the deposit refundable. It was about $75 Canadian to add on - 11 day transatlantic on Anthem in an inside. I don’t know if that would change based on cabin category, length of cruise, fare, how far out you book, or if it varies randomly at RC’s whim just like the cruise pricing. 

All of Italy is now part of RC's ban. Got a text/email this morning.

Anyone travelling from, to, or through Italy within 15 days will be denied boarding.

Jewel is scheduled to leave Dubai for Italy in 3 weeks. Wonder what will happen to that sailing. Are they really going to deny boarding to anyone who's been in Italy, then take the ship TO Italy?

Their pricing is a mystery.

We're on the March 9th sailing from Dubai. I've been watching the price trying to figure out if it's worth it to try to upgrade. 

I'm Canadian, but we booked in Euros since we live in Europe. I've been checking in both US$ and Euros every day or so, depending on which site my VPN points the RCL website to! The prices have been up and down a bit and rarely go up and down in US$ and Euro at the same time. 

Then yesterday, our nearly empty ship seems all of a sudden almost sold out. No balconies, no Jr Suites, when there was a lot of inventory on Monday, dozens of cabins. I'm very curious on our Royal Up bid (received the offer yesterday), and whether the ship is really as booked as it now seems. 

We’re 13 days out right now. Jewel, from Dubai. I got a Royal Up offer just now. 

We have a balcony guarantee, and we’re happy with our room. But the ship has been seeming very empty, lots of empty cabins in all categories. I’ve been watching to see if an upgrade to a Jr Suite might be worth it. Until yesterday, it was about 1000€ more than we paid. Not worth it. 
 

Today, all of a sudden, balconies show as sold out when there were tons yesterday, and there are no more suite guarantee cabins available (but still lots of suites empty). 
 

Royal Up shuffle I guess. 
 

I put a bid on a Jr Suite and the 2 bedroom suite (no balcony). Fingers crossed. 

Love it! Keep posting the menus and the dailies, please! Trying to get a sense of what our cruise in 3 weeks might be like. 

We’re on Jewel on March 9. Looking forward to your review! Have a great time.