Salt Rocker

Hi, does anyone know if the bathrooms are provided with a washing line?

Does anyone know is you can also buy cigarettes on board the Ovation and, if so, roughly how much are they per carton?

Question asked because we are departing from Sydney and the duty free allowance for cigarettes into Australia is 40gms of tobacco (a 20 pack of cigarettes + an opened packet)

Thanks.

Have a great day Glenn & Patricia

2 hours ago, gospelle said:

Looking to the experts for some direction here. Our upcoming cruise ports in Orlando a day before disembarkation in Ft. Lauderdale where we would need to travel by car to get to our one week Disney vacation in Orlando. Would be much simpler all around if we could just leave at Orlando. All our luggage is capable of being self-debarked. Just wondering if RCCL allows such a thing.

Anyone done this before and know the policy?

 

Thanks.

Hi,

You can apply to RCI for permission (I think it's called down lining) and if approved will cost you $65.00. They will only approve if no problems apply with compliance with what they call the Jones Act.

We have been granted permission to leave the Ovation in Victoria a day earlier than it's arrival in Vancouver, but that is of course Canada and compliance rules may differ.

Have a great day - Glenn & Patricia

16 hours ago, pattyg01 said:

You should try rereading my posts. I have already said that I will still enjoy the cruise. I also said that it appears as though RC is being honest. I just want to be sure as I am on the fence about Royal and this would make my decision for me. AT this point, I will still probably cruise with them. But, I want to be sure. 

 

15 hours ago, Pratique said:

What's this then? The weight of evidence seems to point towards the cruise line being truthful with you. It sounds like you're still not even close to being convinced, but it's unclear what more you can learn at this point to convince you.

Hi everyone,

It would appear that most of the members posting are not directly involved with this particular cruise. We are B2B from Sydney to Vancouver and will therefore spend THREE days in port for these inspections.

So what do we know.

1. Our understanding is that these inspections are mandatory for any ship entering USA waters.

2. This is Ovation of the Seas first ever entry into USA waters.

3. RCI knew that these inspections would have to be carried out but have stated they did not know when. Would it not make sense to anyone that if they are mandatory they would have to be conducted at the first USA port of call?

4. Since Honolulu is the first ever USA port of call for this ship, inspections would be required. RCI initially only allowed the 2 May cruise turnaround day in port. They therefore did not make any provision for inspection in their itinerary planning.

5. The cut off date for cancellation, without penalty, passed before, out of the blue, last minute changes to the itinerary are confirmed.

6. Prior to the itinerary changes we don't think anyone, who booked these two cruises, had any knowledge of these inspection requirements, other than RCI and the regulatory bodies involved.

From the above it is quite clear that the powers that be in RCI did not make the necessary advance planning or waited to confirm the changes until it was to late, without penalty, for us to do anything about it.

You can draw your own conclusions of who then is the party at fault.

Have a great day - Glenn & Patricia      

3 hours ago, steveru621 said:

I really don't think RCI choose to do this.  Spending an overnight in HNL will cost them a lot of money in the casino and the operators of the shops will lose as well.  They may make up a small amount by not visiting Kona, but they were not overnighting there anyway.

Hi,

Unfortunately it is not an overnight for us. We are B2B from Sydney to Vancouver. We are now arriving a day earlier on 1 May and only leaving on the 3 May (3 days / 2 nights in Honolulu). The cruse changeover occurs on 2 May, which from experience will be hectic, and we are sure that the muster drill will be on 3 May just before we sail at 17h00, so everyone will have to be on board earlier than would probably be necessary.

It will therefore be difficult, with such timing restraints, to try and organise, at short notice, an extended shore excursion.

Have a great day - Glenn & Patricia

5 hours ago, ONECRUISER said:

Happens, not Royals fault. I've had at least 2 dozen Port Changes/Canceled over the yrs. I was you would just roll with it...

Hi,

We are on this cruise and the previous one (Sydney to Honolulu), which now results in us being in port for three days.

We are of the opinion that RCI must have known about this requirement long ago. Most of their ships are built in Europe and must therefore have to undergo these same inspections on first entry into USA waters, which is the case with Ovation of the Seas.

The question being asked is why did RCI wait until everybody had paid their full cruise fares, in our case both cruises, resulting in expensive cancellation charges then being applicable?

Certain members on the roll calls have indicated that they would cancel but for the cancellation charges that would now apply.

It is therefore our opinion that RCI have intentionally withheld these changes, until the last minute, to prevent mass cancellations. So is it RCI's fault? Without a shadow of doubt.

Have a great day - Glenn & Patricia

I can't imagine that X pays their bar staff the gratuity of the "menu" price of the drinks that are provided with the packages. As you mentioned, they're all zeroed out on the statements, only showing the bar where they were "purchased". I looked at one of my old statements - max was 15 drinks in one day (alcoholic drinks only so let's say an average of $10 each) - so 15 x $10 x 18% = $27. So you're saying that the bar staff got $27 in gratuities that one day, even though I only paid the $10.62 (18% of $59/day package), and X covered the rest of it? Ain't going for it!

 

And there were several times where our wine glasses were topped off during dinner. How is that "charged" (entered)?

 

I vaguely remember when the packages were started there was a concern that 1) the staff wouldn't care about service because of the all inclusive pricing and 2) the staff was worried they'd be overworked because of all the lushes onboard. To me, getting rid of signing the slips got rid of half the work anyway.

 

I really don't know, but I've got a million questions about how gratuities work onboard, especially with the packages. Got to be pooled somehow.

Hi everybody,

On our last cruise we had a very long chat with one of the bar staff and they do have a problem with drinks packages. They only receive the actual 18% amount of the daily package. So if you exceed the daily package value their gratuity amount overall starts to drop and they loose out.

For example if the drinks package was $50 / day the gratuities at 18% would be $9. If you consumed drinks with a value of $100 the bar staff still only receive the same $9, the cruise line does not pay any extra gratuity.

As you can see they are therefore not to happy about drinks packages. They also advised that the waiter or barman who serves you receives 50% of the gratuity directly and the remaining 50% is pooled and distributed between all the bar staff. It was also highlighted that certain cruise lines do not pay their bar staff any wages at all and that they derive their income totally from gratuties.

If you upgrade pre-cruise before April 20th, you’ll only be paying the current difference to upgrade to Premium ($10 per day + 18% gratuity).

 

If you upgrade pre-cruise as of April 20th or onboard as of April 6th, then you’ll be paying the new upgrade rate to Premium ($16 per day + 18% gratuity).

Hi,

Could you please advise how we can upgrade pre-cruise from the Classic Package (Comp on 123go promotion) to the Premium package, before 20th April?

Thank you - Glenn & Patricia