coolbluegreenseas

I thought MDR on Celebrity and HAL were fine. This time we are only reserved for one night in the MDR. 2 nights at the specialty, 4 at Coastal Kitchen and 1 at MDR. Of course, if we get lazy, there is always room service.

I so need this cruise!

:):D:p:cool:

We are staying at the Embassy Suites In Elizabeth and they have a stay, park, cruise deal. There are also two double bed options that perhaps would be completely covered by points or a combination of point/cash that would be the same as finding off port parking. Go to the Hilton site and search for the Embassy Suites Newark Airport or here is the link to the hotel: http://embassysuites3.hilton.com/en/hotels/new-jersey/embassy-suites-by-hilton-newark-airport-EWRELES/index.html

For our two previous cruises, we have arrived around 2.5 hours before sail away. There are no lines, we head directly to our stateroom and then amble down to a bar for our pre-cruise drink. In general, arriving a little later than most people makes for a really relaxing embarkation.

The ONLY person / people who had any access to that card was the employees in T.I. store PERIOD. That particular card did not come out of the wallet and had a zero balance on the card. Not used in any public transaction. It is suspicious that the card leaves with the employee into a back room during the sale. There was no other time that card could have been compromised except in that store at that time in Grand Cayman.

Does your card have an embedded chip? If so, it could have been read surreptitiously. .

My thoughts exactly. Not to mention how difficult it is to find replacements for software developers, most places don't like to let us go. It's quite expensive both in time and money to find qaulified candidates.

 

 

 

Doubtful. While I can imagine how anxious this ordeal must be to the OP, on the surface, it's not a huge issue. Even if it has happened to a handful of people, the overall cost of this issue would still be considered pretty low. As an IT professional, I can assure you that I have made much larger mistakes and kept my job. I remember an incident early in my career when I was given a new application due to a developer leaving the company. I was given 3 days of turnover before he left. First weekend I received a call at 5AM on a Saturday morning that a client hadn't received their file so I instructed the datacenter to release the file. I didn't know better at the time but something else was supposed to update that file before it could be sent out and that process was delayed. This issue could have cost the bank millions of dollars and there were several big wigs that wanted my head delivered on a platter. Thankfully there was a manager (not my manager) whom I had a good working relationship. She went to bat for me and told them that the application had been dropped on my lap earlier in the week and I had only 3 days of information exchange with the previous developer. That I thought I was doing what was best for our customer and that it was an honest mistake on my part. She also told them that the problem could be fixed so it wasn't worth getting all worked up over. Thing is, she was the one who had to fix the problem and she still stood up for me.

 

So is it frustrating to have all these issues with RCCL's IT? It sure is. Does that mean someone needs to be fired? Not necessarily. It actually could be that they are vastly understaffed (developers are expensive and bean counters usually hate funding IT departments).

Nice to know I am not the only geek on this board.

 

Finally, with regard to the crew, someone else should probably verify this, but my understanding is that they are always under constant threat of losing their job. One or two complaints to management and they are gone. For them, they are damned if they do and damned if they don't, and if someone is rude enough to barge in front of a waiting guest, chances are that person will also be the type that will throw a big fit if called on their rudeness by the crew member. While they probably would want to say something, it is safer for them to say nothing, serve the rude person quickly to get rid of them with the least amount of fuss, and continue on as if nothing happened. Yes, it is frustrating for those of us who follow the rules because we see it as rewarding bad behavior, which it is. However, the crew sees it as the easiest and safest solution.

 

Now to go find something to remove tea stains... :D

I, too, picked up on the references and thought it was funny.

I suspect you are right about the crew. In fact, most people are always one or two mistakes away from being fired. The crew cannot afford any complaints, no matter how wrong the complainer's behavior is. We keep lowering the bar on acceptable behavior and public interactions just get more unpleasant. Also, top down management keeps the crew members powerless, so they have nothing to gain and everything to lose. It sucks, it is unfair and there is really very little to do about it.

The book work can be done at home and online, leaving the pool and open water for the cruise.

I use Goggle Chrome on my laptop and am not having any trouble accessing the RCI website.

 

Can you share where you see that Chrome is being retired?

 

I know that Google is phasing out Chrome Apps

 

 

• Late 2016: New Chrome apps will only be available on Chrome OS, only existing apps will be available for Mac/Windows/Linux
  
• Second half of 2017: Chrome Web Store won't show apps on Windows/Mac/Linux
  
• Early 2018: Chrome on Windows/Mac/Linux will no longer be able to load Chrome apps
  

http://www.theverge.com/2016/8/19/12555052/google-shutting-down-chrome-apps

Agreed, my bad. I mis-remembered and then misspoke. Thank you for the correction.

I misspoke about the browser being retired, so I retract that statement. Depending on the website, you will find one browser works better than another, so keeping a few of them loaded on your device can be helpful. Regardless, it does get tiring, old and boring to read how awful RCCL's technology department is and how they should all be tossed out on their ear. The rate of change in Information Technology is rapid, complex and difficult; an understaffed/underfunded technology department is doing all it can do to keeps its head above water. They deal with servers breaking down, brand new security hacks (the recent SHA-1 crack is just a really cool example - https://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/02/17/sha1_hashing_broken/), over provisioned storage, saturated networks, database changes that just do not work as expected and that is just a tiny list. Also, with IoT becoming something real, these people have to learn completely new ideas and implementations, further making their jobs more difficult. Under no circumstances is RCCL's department perfect, but that are also nowhere near as bad as these threads indicate. Remember, it is also easy to point a finger and assign blame to a help desk/network engineer/developer/ et al, but much harder to actually do their jobs. Give them a break and try a little kindness, instead.

If you really want to blame someone, blame management and tell them to pony up the funds to properly run their technology arm. Of course, the additional cash spent on technology will have to come from somewhere, and it would be from your pocket in the form of increased cruise fares. Something to chew over next time the website acts wonky.

Actually, this could be one of the times RCCL's I.T. department is not responsible for the trouble you had using Chrome. Google is retiring Chrome and depreciating the asset which means they will make fewer and fewer code changes to fix problems. You will want to move to Firefox or Opera if IE is not an option.

Yes! I swear if I just screwed up our cruise I'm going to die. Please just let me on the boat. We leave for Florida a week from tomorrow!!!

Since the 1400 in September does not show up on your reservation, you should be perfectly fine. Regardless, keep an eye on the reservation to protect yourself.

I also just reached out to my TA for the last time. We'll see if she responds!

You still might want to try getting a little OBC from RCCL. You spent hours with them on the phone, yet have absolutely no resolution. As an acknowledgement of your frustration, they might cough up a little OBC for all your pain. No guarantees, but they just might do it.

This is the first time since I started reading this thread that I feel like you might get your money back. You have the right people going after it now (the bank) and when banks start the dispute process, the company listens. Since the dispute process can take weeks, time for you to stop updating this thread, get into vacation mode and enjoy your vacation. Update us once the bank gets back to you.

Bon Voyage! :)

I'm 10000% sure that was a joke. :) Besides, even with a serious suggestion I wouldn't do it!

I thought so too, but really did not want to see anyone take it seriously.

At this point, you can probably write off RCCL as being any help. As far as the internal audit department suggestion, if RCCL's books balance (and I suspect they do), their audit team would probably not do much. The consumer advocate may still have some success, so let that play out.

Since it is really possible that RCCL will do nothing more about the missing $1,400, perhaps it is time to pivot and try to get something for your pain, time and wine budget. It is likely there is a record with RCCL of your phone calls and how much time you have spent with them. What you could try is ask them to give you an OBC for all the time you have spent talking with them without resolution. You might get a sympathetic ear and a little chunk change for another massage or fabulous bottle of wine. It is worth asking.

The parent TA company rep calling you dear and laughing about the Error and Omissions insurance needs a smack across the back of her head. Also, unless I am mistaken, the Error and Omissions insurance is for the business in case they are sued, not to file customer claims. Regardless, the TA's CS rep is a jerk.

I do not know if you have spoken to anyone at your bank or credit union, but you still might want to try it. Explain the entire thing from beginning to end and see if they will dispute the 1,400 from September. It is a long shot, but your bank works for you, so you might find they are willing to do more.

One more thing: multiple the number of hours you have spent on this horror show by what you make a hour. If that equation is close to $1,400, time to write it off as a loss. In approximately 1 year, you will not worry about the money, but you will remember how the emotional toll dampened your vacation.

Good luck and Godspeed and please have a terrific cruise.

PS if this woman has a husband, call him at work ;)

Uh, no. That is harassment and would be nothing but bad news for the OP.

I believe the OP made several unproductive calls wasting enormous amounts of her time with RCCL attempting to remove the TA from her account, but CS could not do it because it was past final payment. The rules put in place by a large organization are for the benefit of that organization and not for the end user/buyer/consumer. If their rules benefit you, great, but never mistake a company's rules as being in place for you, in fact, it is just the opposite. As far as giving the OP any information about where the $1,400 charge went, it would probably be illegal for RCCL to give that information out the OP. The OP needs to pursue the dispute with her bank, follow up with the consumer advocate and possibly file a case. It is more than likely RCCL will do nothing until forced to do so by court order.

No call, no email, no anything again?! I am really disappointed in how RCI is handling this...

This is really not surprising. The erroneous/fraudulent charge did not originate with them, but a third party. RCCL received a dollar amount from the TA for a particular account and if the TA gave them incorrect information, that is the fault of the TA, not RCCL. If RCCL refunds or gives the OP onboard credit, it will set a precedent and every time some Tom, Dick or Harry feels their TA "done them wrong", they would hit up RCCL demanding money or OBC. The OP still might get something from RCCL, but ultimately she needs to have a discussion with her bank about what she can do about this horror show.

It has been mentioned to the OP she should try to dispute the $1,400 charge through her bank. According to the Fair Credit Billing Act, a consumer has 60 days from the next billing date to dispute an incorrect charge. Also, I have read if the charge is unauthorized, there is no time limit, so if the $1,400 was unauthorized, she should be able to pursue the dispute. I am not sure if she has tried to discuss it with her bank other than finding out what the time limit is on a mistaken charge.

Does anyone have information about Anthem and cigars? My husband likes to partake in one while on vacation.

... sporophyte sized table by yourselves and not with others.

Oddly enough, a sporophyte table on a cruise ship is fitting. Thank you for the smile today.:D

Thank you for the information. Since getting a spa treatment is a nice addition, but not imperative, I will take the chance and wait to see if there are specials. In reality, all I want is access to the hot tubs, steam rooms and saunas.

So, RCCL sends the usual blast email about great deals and 20 percent off for spa treatments. On other cruises (Celebrity and HAL) I have found great deals on port day for the spa and they beat the 20 percent off easily. Is this true with RCCL?

@918Baker - As per the Fair Credit Billing Act, you have 60 days to dispute a charge on a credit card. Here is how the 60 days are calculated:

"For example, if an unauthorized charge was made on February 15 and your statement was mailed on March 1, you have until April 30 to dispute the charge in writing."

https://www.thebalance.com/what-to-do-about-unauthorized-credit-card-charges-960260

The chargeback document linked in an earlier post is in reference to a merchant's responsibility, not the amount of time you have to dispute a charge. Think of it this way: the credit card holder is the disputer of the charge and the merchant deals with the result of that dispute or better known as the chargeback. The dispute and the chargeback are related, but not the same.

Although most of the commenters on this thread continue to insist you will recover your $1,400, it might be a good idea to consider this money could be lost. Here is why:

September 2016 - $1,400 charge appears on credit card that is unauthorized.

November 2016 - Time limit to dispute $1,400 charge expires.

December 2016 - Final payment to RCCL charged to credit card and this payment is authorized.

It is the September 2016 charge that is unauthorized, not the December payment and disputing a portion of the December payment may not fly because it was authorized in the first place. The best thing you can do now is to call your bank, explain fully why you want to dispute the September charge (the 60 days are a guideline and the bank can decide to lengthen the time frame) or to completely explain why you are disputing only a portion of the December charge. Your bank is probably the best bet you have to getting your money back.

It is possible RCCL might do something for you, but it is not promising when agreed upon phone calls are missed and the earliest any information will be available to you is February 22nd. RCCL may feel no responsibility concerning this fiasco and will eventually tell you there is nothing they can do. After that, you can hit up social media, local news stations and so on, but there are no guarantees there, either. I hope RCCL does do something for you, but do not depend upon them to come through.

You can take your TA to court, but that will probably run you more than what you will recover. Also, if your TA is associated with a larger organization, start making the phone calls to them.

If you get stuck with the $1,400 bill, try to be philosophical about it. I know it sucks, I know it is wrong, but the lesson here would be never allow anyone to automatically charge your card ever again and to never hesitate on a credit card dispute. Credit card companies are in your corner during a timely dispute and if you had disputed in the 60 day period, you would have won. Again, I hope like Hades this all works out for you, but just prepare yourself for it to not go your way.

Good luck.

Mentioned in other threads is a wash bag called Scrubba. I am thinking about getting it instead of using the ship's laundry as most of the stuff will be shorts, underwear and tee shirts. I really wish I had it for my road trip to India in January.

Which cruise and port?

Thank you for the information. The class price is in line with the less expensive classes on terra firma.

On the Anthem for the April 2nd sailing. Are any yoga classes offered and what is the cost?

Thanks.