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JandRtravel

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    Propulsion problems on Grandeur?

    in Royal Caribbean International

    Posted

    I am currently on Grandeur, this is what I posted to Facebook, I am in a special bind because I was returning to my Orlando home on Friday, and now I am flying into it just in time for the hurricane. I have shared the letter we received for those curious. We have also received complimentary bottle of wine in the room. They are treating us very well. 

     

    Dinner will go on tonight and they will stagger us off the ship so we may retrieve our bags. Please keep all of us flying out in your thoughts. It is a different turn of events, but was handled best possible way by RCI. I am curious what this means for the next sailing and for the ships future. We typically sail Celebrity, so I guess with the credits we will be looking at Royal again. 

    —————

    We set sail out of the Port of Baltimore on the Royal Caribbean Grandeur of the Seas. We were headed towards Bermuda. 

     

    30 minutes into the trip I noticed we were turning around and heading back into dock. We docked at 4:45p. There was not any announcements so we were unsure what was going on. We did not know if it was medical, police, weather issue. 

     

    At 4:52 the captain announced that there was a propulsion issue and they were working to remedy. He stated that we would not be underway until it was fixed. 

    We went about business as usual, dinner at 7 was great. 

     

    8:08 the Captain announced that unfortunately they were unable to remedy the issue and the cruise would be cancelled. They opened the gangways and let everyone know they could disembark until 11pm, but would have to carry their own bags. Everyone else who did not disembark would be able to Sunday evening (today) between 6pm-9pm. 

     

    We were able to rebook our flights, Delta even waived the charge (they are the best). We will be flying into Orlando Monday, just in time for the hurricane. It looks like we will start our time at our Disney house a week early.

     

    Royal Caribbean has been very accommodating. They refunded the entire cruise, gave the same amount refunded as cruise credit for next cruise. Offered to refund cost of hotel tonight and airline rebooking fees. 

     

    It is an unfortunate incident, but I commend Royal Caribbean International for choosing safety over revenue. This doesn’t tarnish my love of cruising nor my loyalty to RCI branded lines.

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    Hurricane Maria

    in Royal Caribbean International

    Posted

    Weather & Itinerary Update

     

    September 25, 2017 @ 11 AM EDT

     

    Our thoughts and prayers are with our neighbors in San Juan and the other affected islands as they rebuild after Hurricanes Irma and Maria.

     

    The following sailing is being cancelled:

     

    Adventure of the Seas: September 30

     

    Given the impact of Hurricane Maria, we are cancelling this cruise to utilize the ship for evacuation and humanitarian efforts. The ship will arrive on Wednesday, September 27 and will operate humanitarian calls in San Juan, St. Thomas and St. Croix to aid in the evacuation and donate critical supplies to each destination. The ship will bring evacuees to Fort Lauderdale before returning to San Juan on October 6 to prepare for the October 7th cruise.

     

    We are very sorry for the impact this storm has had on your vacation. The cruise fare and fees will be 100% refunded to the original form of payment, and we are also offering a 25% future cruise credit, based on the cruise fare, if a new cruise is booked in the next 30 days. Pre-booked shore excursions will also be refunded to your original form of payment.

     

    Future itineraries:

     

    Given Hurricane Irma’s impact to St. Maarten and St. Thomas, as well as Hurricane Maria’s impact to San Juan, we are altering the following ports for future sailings until these islands have fully recovered.

     

    As the recovery effort remains fluid and each island is working diligently to get back to normal operations, we will continue to communicate any port changes approximately four weeks prior to departure.

     

    Adventure of the Seas:

    10/7 – St. Croix to Martinique

    10/14 – St. Croix to Antigua

     

    Allure of the Seas:

    10/1 – St. Thomas & San Juan to Cozumel & Costa Maya

    10/15 – St. Maarten & San Juan to Cozumel & Costa Maya

     

    Enchantment of the Seas:

    10/2 & 10/9 – Freeport back to Key West

     

    Harmony of the Seas:

    10/7 – St. Maarten, San Juan & Labadee to Nassau, Cozumel & Costa Maya

    10/21 – St. Thomas, San Juan & Labadee to Nassau, Cozumel & Costa Maya

     

    Serenade of the Seas:

    10/20 – St. Thomas & St. Maarten to St. Kitts & Antigua

    Oasis of the Seas:

    10/8 – St. Maarten, San Juan & Labadee to Nassau, Cozumel & Costa Maya

    10/22 – St. Maarten & San Juan to Nassau & Falmouth

     

     

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    Hurricane Maria

    in Royal Caribbean International

    Posted

    This was posted on FB page of hotel I follow in Vieques (Island of PR)

     

    Puerto Rico Tourism is suggesting that any travelers thinking of visiting Puerto Rico postpone their trip until at least October 15. Given the circumstances on the ground, there is a need to ensure that Puerto Rico's basics are in order before starting to receive any new guests.

     

     

     

     

     

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    Hurricane Maria

    in Royal Caribbean International

    Posted

    Lucky you! Once we found it, we stopped checking out other places. There are maybe two rows of chairs, none of them too close to each other. I think it's heaven, especially when I see how tightly packed some of the other places are!

     

     

     

    Yes! And they have a cutoff for the amount of guests allowed to get in :)

     

    The only other place I would recommend is Hotel B, but no beach. However snorkeling right off the edge of the property is great :)

     

     

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    Hurricane Maria

    in Royal Caribbean International

    Posted

    Really nice place to get married. Our daughter got married on Liberty and the entire group went to Nachi the next day. Good memories for us.

     

     

     

    Love! We had a group of 50 in town for it, had them all stay on North End at Peninsula Grand Condos, rehearsal dinner was at El Cozumelano resort and day after wedding was deep sea fishing. It’s a wonderful place to get married. It was 2.5 years ago for us and our friends and family still talk about it

    Hurricane Maria

    in Royal Caribbean International

    Posted · Edited by JandRtravel

    Our Oct 1st Eastern Caribbean on Allure leaving in less than a week had its itinerary updated this morning. We are now basically a Western Caribbean sailing paid at the higher Eastern prices unfortunately. I was hoping they would have just swapped out San Juan for Falmouth. I am not a fan of Cozumel. I guess the positive is that I have never been to Costa Maya. Anyone have good things to say about it?

     

    Here is the history of our changes:

     

    • Originally: Nassau, St. Kitts, St. Thomas
    • Allure propulsion: Nassau, St. Thomas, San Juan (swapped San Juan for St. Kitts)
    • Hurricane Irma: Nassau, Labadee, San Juan (swapped Labadee for St. Thomas)
    • Hurricane Maria: Nassau, Costa Maya, Cozumel (swapped Costa Maya and Cozumel for Labadee and San Juan)

     

     

     

    Cozumel is wonderful, just get out of the main part of town. I suggest getting a cab ride over to the other side. They have Coconuts (always a fun restaurant ) or go the best hidden beach Chen Rio, most only know of Cozumel from pier and shops area. I was married in Coz and travel frequently to island. It’s way more then shops selling crappy items and alcohol [emoji23]

     

    If you like snorkeling/swimming, find a company that can take you to El Cielo. If you want something chill and fun, check out Money Bar.

     

     

     

     

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    Hurricane Maria

    in Royal Caribbean International

    Posted

    My family that is there has now been informed that they can not depart Puerto Rico until 10/1 at the earliest. The A/C is out at the airport, and it’s crazy crowded. A lot of people are getting bumped from inbound flights in order to fill with people who are aiding in the clean up.

     

    Best of luck to those of you traveling.

     

    In other news, the place we stay in Vieques (island off PR) Hix Island House weathered the storm perfectly. The bars and stores on beach, not so much :(

     

     

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    Points for a no show?

    in Royal Caribbean International

    Posted

    Same thing with flights. You only accrue “miles” for completed flights. So if you don’t show, you’re miles don’t happen.

     

    I imagine there are certain things in travel industry that are learned and adopted between avenues of travel.

     

    That being said, exceptions can always be made to any rule. Just make sure to be nice and understanding while on phone.

     

     

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    Hurricane Maria

    in Royal Caribbean International

    Posted

    I have 5 family members stranded in PR right now. They were down for job assignment prior to Irma. They were evacuated to a hotel and that hotel has a curfew in place from 6p-6a. They are not allowed to leave during that time. Water is rationed, food is rationed. All of the stores within walking distance are wiped out. Gas is extremely low, there are lines of 200+ cars. The flights keep getting cancelled. They are tentatively scheduled to fly out Tuesday 9/26 (via Delta) there are flights coming in and out but ONLY for humanitarian relief. Things are getting escalated, and people are starting to panic about lack of supplies. They’re hotel is barricaded due to this rising panic, so they can only leave through one door. Cell service is in an out.

     

    It’s a mess. I wouldn’t count on any cruises running “business as usual” for at least another 2 weeks

     

     

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    Hurricane Maria

    in Royal Caribbean International

    Posted

    Currently on day 2 of our Adventure sailing. We just left St. Croix, which replaced the St. Maarten stop. The rest of our itinerary has been altered (thankfully) to avoid the storm. Antigua, St. Lucia, and Barbados have been dropped.

     

     

     

    St. Kitts will only be a brief loading stop for supplies; no one will be disembarking. We'll be continuing to Aruba and stay overnight. The next day is Bonaire, followed by an "at sea" day and God willing, back to San Juan PR. I'm just grateful for Royal's care for their passengers. :)

     

     

     

    This itinerary sounds fantastic! What a great alternate route! Hoping for calm seas and a return to PR!

     

     

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    How early to book for best pricing

    in Ask a Cruise Question

    Posted

    Typically with cruises, you can book now and if you come across any better deals between now and final booking you can ask for a price adjustment. We have done this with both Celebrity and NCL. I am not sure about HAL but seems to be a standard practice in cruising.

     

    With flights set up an alert for your particular dates on google.com/flights.

     

    We just returned from Alaska cruise on Fri night, was wonderful and they sell out pretty quick. We booked ours a 14 months prior and ensured our hump cabin :)

     

     

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    Honeymoon Upgrades

    in Royal Caribbean International

    Posted

    We spent our honeymoon on a 2 week cruise and didn't receive anything, we were engaged on another cruise and didn't get anything, we announced our pregnancy on our last and didn't get anything , and on our last my grandparents were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. Go in with low expectations. They will do something nice at the restaurant if you tell hostess you're celebrating, like a cake. Maybe a door banner. They have some social events geared towards honeymooners, so I would just look for those

     

     

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