sunshine3215

Also does anyone know what happens to the travel protection one pays for? Should my travel agent refund that money?  

On 5/10/2020 at 8:00 AM, Dewaldcruiser said:

I was on hold last night for 2 hours and then disconnected so I decided to try early this morning.  I got through in about 30 minutes.  The phone representative said that a batch of FCCs went out yesterday with the wrong amounts.  She said that the FCC would be canceled and new ones issued with a week or two.

 

She also told me that my future OBC had been processed.  I have seen nothing to indicate that that is true.  She gave me a different phone number to take care of that.  When I called, the message said they were closed until Monday morning.

 

Lastly, I asked about my refund of the taxes.  I was told that they refunded my taxes paid to my TA.  Called my TA and they said Royal should not have done that and it would take them at least a week to figure it out.

 

An incredible experience that is still ongoing.  The ill will that this whole process has generated will take a very long time to get over.

Thank you for your update,  I am watching this as my refund was NOT CORRECT also.  

I am reading the messages now BUT THE SAME THING HAPPENED TO ME....I got a refund of about 387 each  - it looks like we did not get back the taxes or port charges.  This is a ROYAL MESS!!!

I am going to continue to read the postings from everyone with the hopes of getting an idea regarding a resolution.

3 hours ago, spanishguy1970 said:

I am currently on two transtatlantics this year. One in about 50 days on the Epic and the other one on the Getaway in October. We have done a lot of these crossings and i have to admit i prefer the one coming back to the U.S. Transatlantics take place either March, April or May, going to Europe and September, October, and in some cases November coming back to the U.S.

I'm also doing the Oct cruise on the Getaway so....SPANISHGUY....I hope to see you and I'm also from Washington DC area....

I'm also doing the Oct cruise on the Getaway so....SPANISHGUY....I hope to see you and I'm also from Washington DC area....

I have never heard of this cruise!  I have to Google this right now!

I am going on an October cruise and we arrive in Cuba on a MONDAY, I was told that the market is closed on Mondays, so if anyone has landed in Cuba on a Monday did you see anything to buy?

I am also judging how much money to take.

thanks!!!

Thank you, all the responses were great. I will contact the tour group mentioned that will pick us up one the day of departure. I plan to contact them in the next week as I will be on the Breakaway and we know that ship has so many passengers I can envision them getting sold out.

I don't think I will change hotel as this hotel is the closest to terminal two, and I know with possible 4 suitcases we are NOT goin to want to lug too far.

I don't now what to do so I want all comments.

Backstory:

My transatlantic cruise returns on April 27th. My Iceland Air flight does not depart until Saturday, April 28th. My hotel is near terminal 2 at Heathrow. I thought it would be best to reserve a hotel near terminal 2 with the thoughts of less drama on the morning of the flight.

Departure Date - Friday, April 27th -

I was thinking if we paid for the transfer service provided by Norw. we would have transportation to the Heathrow airport. Once at the airport we would not board a flight but take one of the shuttles to our hotel (Radisson Bleu).

THEN...

GOAL:

My goal is to have a place to store our luggage and then go sightseeing in London, preferably an established tour not on our own.

Questions -

1) Would the hotel store our luggage until the 1:00 pm checkin???

2) Should we book lodging for the day before departure. This would mean when we arrive on Saturday at around 11:00 am we can go straight to our room, rest, place our luggage and then go out for the day.

Does this make any sense???

What do we do so we are not stuck with our luggage all day. Also I don't want to pay a private driver, I'd rather book transfer via the ship so I know it is guaranteed.

I want to hear all suggestions and ideas.

I was worried when I first heard the news, but I hope to do a cruise to cuba in about 2 years. I booked other cruises once the hurricane's hit this year.

I don't know if anyone here is going on the soul train cruise. Hubby and I are going. This cruise has a lot of older R&B groups and it is on Holland America.

Ship - Holland America Nieuw Amsterdam

Cruise Dates, Ports and Times

DepartSaturday1/27/2018 Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Sunday1/28/2018 At Sea

Monday1/29/2018 At Sea

Tuesday1/30/2018 Phillipsburg, St. Maarten

Wednesday1/31/2018 Frederiksted, St. Croix

Thursday2/1/2018 At sea

Friday2/2/2018 Half Moon Cay, Bahamas

Saturday2/3/2018 Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Hi Sunshine,

I did my world on Cunard, the average age of the world cruisers is well over 60, but there were a number of younger passengers getting on and off at various sectors.

 

Choosing the line is really important and definately look at the demographics of thos who travel on it but having said that even though I was one of the youngest doing the WC this year I found that age want a barrier to having a good time.

thank you for the information, I'd so jealous of your travels. Safe travels.:)

I also would love to do a world cruise, I might have to wait until I retire, cause it would really be hard for me to be gone one month much less the time required for a world cruise.

For those who have where there many travelers under 50 years old?

The Breakaway is going to Europe Apr 15 - 27, 2018

SHIP Norwegian Breakaway

CRUISE PORTS Embark New York; Ponta Delgada (Azores); Cork (Cobh) (Ireland); Portland (England); Le Havre (Paris) (France); Disembark Southampton (London) (England

 

Europe

 

Guest sailing with Norwegian Cruise Line can immerse themselves in the sights, sounds and flavors of Europe with five ships based in the region in summer 2018. Norwegian Breakaway will depart her New York homeport on April 15 for the first time since her inaugural season in 2013 for a 12-day transatlantic voyage to London (Southampton). Following her arrival in Europe, Norwegian Breakaway will undergo enhancements in dry dock and then journey to her new seasonal homeport of Copenhagen, where she will sail nine-day Scandinavia & Russia cruises through the summer season

 

And coming back to New York Oct 16 , 2018

I booked one of the last Bermuda cruises on Breakaway from New York, I book Sept 17 - 24, 2017 - 7 day to Bermuda. YEAH, booked today, paid in full.

I don't know when or "IF" I will ever be able to go on a European cruise so I wanted to book the ship while it was in New York.

I'm just adding my two cents, the main question for me is --- DO you want to go? If so, don't give anyone the power to stop your show. Life is full of ups and down, I've personally lost money on things related to cruises, and sometimes you just have to take the loss and keep moving.

Other times in life, you have to just decide, do I want to go alone, can you possibly make it a pre-marriage trip for you and your honey?

Don't stress yourself, life is too short and if you are a cruise lover, as many of US are, this won't be your last cruise so if you decide to cancel, you will make up this trip 10 fold in your lifetime of cruising.

I am sorry for your loss, I encourage you to continue to travel. I have not solo traveled but I'd like to also. I have read about people who travel with Overseas Adventure Travel and they go as solos but it is a group of like 12-15-30 people depending on the travel destination. So you have company when you want but you can also go back to your room alone or pass on certain events.

Well, please stay positive. Also if you do a cruise alone, as others have posted go on the roll call and try and go to the meet and greet.

My first few cruises I would get my bill at the end of the cruise, which was applied to a credit card. And most of the time I said "I spent that much?" So I started buying gift cards. I estimated how much I would spend on the cruise and apply it to my S&S card. Works great, no sticker shock at the end of the cruise.

Question

If you apply gift cards to your sail account and don't use all the funds is the difference refundable??

Example 1000.00 in gift cards but you spend 800.00 so on what happens to the 200.00 difference??

I ask because I got burned once with cruise cash which is NOT refundable!!!

My mistake was not paying attention. When you buy cruise cash it says clear as day, no refunds, no transfer.

I just forgot and when the CS lady said it was refundable I did not check behind her.

Lesson One: google is your friend. If you are told something google the carnival or cruise policy BEFORE you leave the ship, the CS will tell you anything to avoid a conflict or argument.

Lesson TWO: Get the name, first and last name of the person you spoke to and even record the conversation in your notes to yourself so you know the exact day, time and name of person.

I am not able to get the money back, it was my fault, I should have written notes to myself, FOOL ME ONE, IT'S ON ME....BUT THEY WON'T FOOL ME TWICE.

I was MAD AS HELLZ, I did a complaint because I requested that the staff be better trained. I also told the rep, I don't want the staff to pacify me, tell me the TRUTH, tell me that MS. you need to spend this money before you exit the ship.

I could have bought perfume, hats, ladies clothes in the gift shop, chain by the yard.

I am mad, but I had to think of all the people who have lost money in 401Ks, etc. so I had to keep it in perspective. It is a lot of money but not that I'm going to be homeless.

I had to get myself settled and not get hysterical about the money.

I normally pay for as much as I can. But just as a reminder to everyone, cruise cash is not refundable. I lost money on my last cruise. I did not realize it was non refundable since I go on a lot of different cruise lines. Make sure you use your cruise cash.

Just as a reminder so this error does not happen to you.

I went on a cruise and bought 500.00 in cruise cash, I did not realize that cruise cash is not refundable. When I was on the cruise I went to the desk the first day and last day and the carnival rep....she told me that it was refundable and they would mail me a check.

Well, I had 300.00 left in cruise cash, I came home and about a month went by and I never got the check.

I called carnival and they told me it was non-refundable and it is written on their website.

THE MORAL OF THE STORY.

check things yourself, take notes when you buy things in advance because all cruise lines are different.

Don't let this happen to you.

If I had applied the cash money to my sail card on the ship, then that money is refundable but cruise cash is NOT REFUNDABLE.

Hope this helps you.:mad:

For me, I would never use a debit card.

I don't even use a credit card. When you arrive on the ship, tell the representative that you are setting up a cash account. I bring whatever amount I want to apply and put it on my account. I do not give a credit card.

I also pay for as much as I can in advance. As a new cruiser you might not know that you can go on the specific lines website with your Cruise Reservation Number and you can do several things:

1)pay for soda cards

2) pay for excursions

3) pay for spa

4) pay for liquor cards

They also have cruise cash where you can pay an amount on your cabin. Call your cruise line, you can do it with your debit card in advance.

Thanks Bill

I had a chance to sleep on the issue, we are going so I just have to accept that we might be on the boat, it is still a great schedule and it was only one flight home.

We took the Pride repo cruise last year from Tampa to Baltimore and have booked it again for next year. Wonderful cruise! We enjoyed all the ports and the canal was amazing. Feel free to ask any questions

I am glad to hear that you went on the cruise already, I am booked for the Jan 2 2017 repositioning out of Baltimore. Initially, the ship was stopping at Colon Panama but now I see it says partial transit, no stops or getting off.

I'm disappointed and I wanted to get at least a few panama canal souvenirs.

Am I making a big deal about nothing?

Any comments and suggestions you have I am thankful to hear.

Other cruise lines that offer partial transit cruises (Princess and HAL for example) normally offer excursions on their partial transit cruises. The way that works is after your ship passes through Gatun Locks and reaches Gatun Lake passengers who have shore excursions tender off the ship to meet their tours. While these passengers are on the excursion the ship will lock back through Gatun Locks and a short sail to Colon where it will dock. The passengers who are tour will rejoin the ship in Colon. This is also where those passengers who stayed on board for the return through Gatun Locks could briefly go ashore for a little shopping. The stop is not long enough for any tours.

 

I looked at your sailing on Carnival's web site and there is no mention of any shore excursions or the brief stop in Colon. Perhaps they have not firmed up the shore excursions as yet, but it is also a possibility that they are not going to offer any and that is why there is no stop planned for Colon. My only advice would be to see what Carnival has to say... hopefully you will get a CSR that can give an accurate answer to the question.

Mr Bill - Thank you so much for your response, I do believe that Carnival has changed the itinerary because when I checked my notes, and the print screen I saved of the original schedule, their was a stop is colon, panama and I had even when on the carnival website and saw the excursion.

Then I happen to go on the carnival site today to buy cruise cash for my upcoming cruise in 17 days and I said....let's look at the January 2017 cruise and the itinerary was totally different....no colon stop at all.

Also I did call Carnival and the lady did not want to say much, she acted like well, I don't know so my husband said she probably did not want to get in a debate with me about what was the original advertisement and why the changes occurred. My husband wondered if things have gotten bad in Colon so carnival decided to just not stop but pass through. Who will ever KNOW???

I'm sort of MAD, that was the entire purpose of the TRIP, I don't know if I should cancel, or just go....The cruise is a repositioning cruise so I guess I'm lucky that it is leaving from up the road in Baltimore.

I also believe the price was relatively cheap for 14 days but I'm just disappointed. I think we will just be seeing the canal from the ship. What a disappointment.