Aussie FF

Hi Rusty.

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

We did B2B on Ex in February,

Just down from your stateroom.

Love the size and double points.:D

Cheers

Phoned RCI yesterday to query some-thing about our 4 booked cruises next Feb/March.

Was told something about 'inventory control'?

Isn't that the excuse they use when they are going to cancel cruises, and re-direct a ship.:eek::eek::eek: Or private charter it?

Congratulations.:)

No, you will not be able to use the Diamond Lounge, unless you are Diamond or above.

It has been muted for some time. :eek:

 

Consider a normal day on vacation

 

2 small wines with lunch

2/3 beers during the day

1 beer/wine/liquor while dressing for dinner

2 small wines with dinner

2 beers during evening entertainment and casino.

 

:eek: Only 2 beers for the entire evening.

Until 3am in the nightclub.:D:D:D

 

Cheers

T's & C's for Australians changed in January this year, as advised by 2 on-board Sales staff since then.

We can now receive price drops, and alter booked cruises without loss of OBC and other benefits.

I have booked numerous cruises to test this information.

I cannot confirm, as I have just returned from my latest cruise, and have yet to try and change booked cruises.

Cheers

Tomorrow :)

Try getting in with your gold card, if it works you have access!!!

No. As every-one else on this thread says, no to both questions.

Those are the rules.

The OP is in Australia. There & in the UK, we are subject to a whole lot of different rules that mean deposits cannot be moved to other sailings as can be done in the US.

I was told in January, on Radiance, that this has all changed, starting in January.

We can now change, transfer, and cancel bookings, without losing deposits or OBC or any other benefits. We also can now get price drops.:eek:

I booked a few cruises to test this out.:D

No result to report, yet.

Is something happening to the Emerald?

She's coming to Australia.:)

Now me I live here, so I guess I've been.

 

The big issues are, not in any particular order

 

Do you have a preferred line/ship

 

What are your interests

 

What's your budget

 

How much time have you got

 

When do you want to do it

 

What do you want to see.

 

Remember on a cruise you will only see the costal fringe (but that is where about 90% of us live) and none of the great outback (to my mind the most interesting part).

 

 

Are you thinking a full circumnavigation or just in and out of one Port.

What Gut said.

42 different ships visited this cruise season.:)

All ships cruising in Australia must abide by our smoking laws.

That is NO smoking in any indoor area.

This may or may not include ships coming into and out of Australia.

Cheers

The key to a B2B isn't telling them in advance - it is filling out the cruise personalizer information. One of the pages indicates your plans for departure day (flying, car, ...) and a choice is Continuing Passenger. Select this on the first cruise and when you fill out a lot of information on the second it will already be there.

 

You should get information on the procedures delivered about two days before the end of the first cruise. If they give you luggage tags you know they haven't figured out you are staying on. Go to Passenger Services if this happens. They normally pass out an information sheet and may have a meeting to outline procedures.

THIS

I have never heard of linking BBs until I read this.

And I have done 8 of them.

I always book on board, so it might have been done for me, without me knowing.

Never had any problems.

Sorry that you are.

Hi Steve & Veronica.

Cheers,:D

The first stage has been approved.:)

Anselmo (sp?) was great... was our piano player in March 2006 aboard the Brilliance...

 

Booked on Radiance this March and can only hope the Piano player is half as good!

 

RCCL... keep Anselmo!

Oliver Holland signed on to Radiance on 19th January when we boarded.

He is pretty good, and we went to the schooner bar every night for 20 nights.

He replaced Kelly Goodrich, who lived on the ship for a few years, with his wife Ann. Kelly went to a ship I don't remember, close to his home in the US.

I have just used it for the last 21 days.

It was just OK.

Better than many previous experiences, when it didn't work reliably.

Currently on Radiance and the Diamond Concierge is Sergey Sinkevich from Belarus. He joined with this cruise on 25th Feb and it's his first appointment as concierge. Lovely young man who seems very eager to help :)

 

Willy Salaya is still suites concierge

I hope he makes a better Concierge than a LA.

He would not give me my crystal block last month.

He said it's the cruise after I earned it. WRONG!

I wonder with "dining room etiquette" how new cruisers are supposed to know anything about traditional dining. I heard one guy near the end of our cruise say he ate in the buffet every night because he didn't want to pay for dinner in the dining room, he didn't even know it was included.

 

Some of us are prolific researchers, others I'm sure just book a cruise and go. They probably wouldn't know to let their table matesknow they won't turn up on any given night.

 

I'm sure some people don't mean to be rude, they just don't know any better.

This reminds me of our Radiance cruise last month.

A newbie couple didn't show up on the first night, fair enough, newbies want to see the sail away.

The second night they walked into the MDR and plonked themselves down in the first seats they found. The assigned occupants turned up, and they were shown to our table.

The third night they queued up at the door to be escorted to the table.

When they turned up after that, only twice, they arrived when we were nearly finished our dinner.

Even though we explained the procedure to them, they still had no idea.;)

Just buy as you go.

I would never drink enough to pay for a package.:)

Hi Goodycruising.

Did you also notice the Grandparents, who were Diamond, their kids, not Diamond or above, and the grand children, lying around on the lounges, taking seats away from eligible occupants?

I saw their cards.:eek:

It is usually one gift per relationship. If you are traveling with another not related/connected person, you should each get your own gift. Doesn't always work that way however.

I agree completely.

Our DD's are entitled to their own gifts, as they are not linked with us any more.

One shares a stateroom with her DGM, so again individual gifts.

Occasionally we have to ask for our entitlements.:cool:

And thank you for the link to the lists.:)

So you knew what time dinner starts, but deliberately extended your stay in the Diamond Club and arrived late? Sorry, but that is just plain rude. Your table mates arrived on time. They didn't get in early - the doors open for everyone at the same time! Chances are, they were annoyed with you for showing up late every night.

Sorry, what I consider rude, is leaving the DL or CL in the middle of a friendly conversation. It is certainly not deliberate. When you stop in the bathroom on the way, it is easy to be 10 minutes late. And it was certainly not every night.

The doors do open at 5.30 for family dining, and our 6pm diners were arriving early, as witnessed by our family members who arrived on time.

The waiter tried to explain to them that the 1st show was for second sitting guests. And he apologised numerous times for their early exit, as he said 'that is not the way to enjoy the dining experience'. He thought it would reflect on him.

I'm wondering if RC is creating some of their own problems with this.

I've booked My Time dining on Explorer at the end of the month.

I pre booked my times leaving out nights we will be in specialty restaurants.

I mainly did this hoping for a table to ourselves.

 

My understanding was we would eat on level five.

Just got my cruise docs though and we are booked in on level two which I thought was for normal dining.

 

Are they mixing up My Time diners into the set dining?

I guess I'll find out. :)

Yes, that seems to be what I am seeing recently.

OK, we usually arrive 10-15 minutes late, because we are enjoying the CL or DL.:o

Last cruise, Christmas cruise, our table mates were enjoying their main course when we arrived.:eek:

They would arrive very early and order, skip dessert, and leave without excusing themselves.

My DD's don't drink, even thought they are old enough.

We don't need any more food.

The slippers are awful.

That only leaves the towels. They get 2 each every cruise. We have a cupboard full.

Of course, we get the wine.:)

What is the 525 point selection please.:) We'll be there next month.:)

TIA

As we get priority boarding, I was very disappointed that we had to wait quite a while with every-one else downstairs, before we could proceed upstairs, to the priority lines.:mad:

This is not the case. X has brought in a younger cruiser. Bars go late into the night. The ships have a Miami DJ in the martini bar and at midnight it's still going strong. The Solstice class feel more open than the Freedom or Oasis class.

None of the differences described in this thread would sway me either way.

We don't do shows. There is no smoking in any indoor venue when ships sail in Australia (Australian smoking laws).

But that comment has me worried. We enjoy the daytime AND night time activities on RCI.:D

We will find out on our first X cruise in March.:eek: