Thoughts, impressions, and observations for the World Cruise.

[Jimbo]

2 hours ago, Tatra603 said:

Just received this from RCI Executive Office:

 

 

Thank you so much for your email and please accept my apologies for the delay in getting back to you. My name is Kaitlyn; I work in the Executive Office of Royal Caribbean. I am pleased to respond on behalf of our executives.

I am sorry to hear that the cancelation of this sailing has negatively impacted your vacation plans. I understand how frustrating and disappointing this can be.

Many factors go into to deciding whether we offer any form of compensation or price matching when a sailing is canceled or redeployed. We also have to make certain we’re remaining consistent and fair to all guests equally impacted by these changes. At this time we are offering guests to cancel and to receive a full refund paid or rebook any sailing at the prevailing rate. If you are booked under a non- refundable rate, we are waiving change fees.

While we understand our guests frustrations with not having alternative options, we must remain firm in our decision to offer the option to fully refund or move to a different sailing at prevailing rates. I apologize for any disappointment this may cause.

Please know, for further information, I unfortunately need you to contact your Travel Agent that was assisting you with this reservation. Any financial information needs to be discussed with the agency as we are not able to discuss, per the privacy contracts between Royal Caribbean and the Travel Agencies associated with us.

Again, thank you for contacting us with your feedback.

Okay, not a solution at all, just more beating around the bush!!

 

Not really the help we were hoping for but at least they got back to you in a timely matter.

 

Anything from Bayley?

Edited February 19 by Jimbo

[Another_Critic]

19 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

Anything from Bayley?

The executive office is Bayley.

 

Sending to mbayley@rccl.com usually results in a reply from ex-co@rccl.com

[Jimbo]

14 minutes ago, Another_Critic said:

The executive office is Bayley.

 

Sending to mbayley@rccl.com usually results in a reply from ex-co@rccl.com

Has anyone commented on Royal Caribbean's  FB page about how they are handling the May9th cancellation?

Edited February 19 by Jimbo

[mugtech]

1 hour ago, Jimbo said:

 

 

Not really the help we were hoping for but at least they got back to you in a timely matter.

 

Nothing like timely bs.

[Ocean Boy]

2 minutes ago, mugtech said:

Nothing like timely bs.

I guess when they learn to master BS, as opposed to being a novice, it takes little time to respond.

[barbeyg]

1 hour ago, Jimbo said:

Has anyone commented on Royal Caribbean's  FB page about how they are handling the May9th cancellation?

And posted about it on their feed on X (Twitter)? 

[xpcdoojk]

On 2/16/2024 at 3:31 PM, suzyluvs2cruise said:

same photo but as a single image it's larger and clearer.

Barely touches Africa

[Jimbo]

8 minutes ago, xpcdoojk said:

Barely touches Africa

I didn't think it was that great either after looking at it closer rather take option #2 and get the 50% back for those days.

Edited February 20 by Jimbo

[DragonOfTheSeas]

36 minutes ago, xpcdoojk said:

Barely touches Africa

JMHO--I would pick #1

 

This is an impressive array of countries.  Africa has way too many countries to "touch" the continent.  However, this itinerary does a much better job that the original route. [I would be bummed about missing the Red Sea, Jordon and the Egyptian ports, too] But, it does seem like Royal put a lot of thought into this and wants it to be a unique experience.  Cruisers knew there was a strong chance this segment of the cruise would need to be changed due to world events before they ever boarded. I have not heard the full WC cruisers or full segments complaining.

 

The mini segment cruisers have voiced the complaints and I feel they have a right to be upset.

 

 

[Jimbo]

Better hope there isn't a cattle crossing when they arrive in Cape Town, Africa......

 

https://www.aol.com/ship-carrying-19-000-cattle-210402571.html

[ringers0815]

We had a good day in Honolulu. We have been to this island many times before so no sightseeing for us this visit.  Went shopping in the morning and spent the afternoon at the beach. 

 

 

 

Welcoming committee at the port this morning

 

 

[BecAus]

2 hours ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

I have not heard the full WC cruisers or full segments complaining.

Firstly, thank you all who have been contributing to this thread and I must express how sorry I am to the mini leg people who have been treated pretty poorly by Royal in all this.  I really feel for you!

 

This is just my thoughts as someone who is booked as a full segment 3 cruiser.

 

Full segment'er here - booked 2 years ago when the segments were first released.

Not much point complaining.  We know it's out of Royal's control and they had to come up with something.  Personally, we would never have booked this segment based on this current itinerary.

We very specifically booked S3 because we wanted to do the Suez / Egypt / Turkey / Greece and all the ports thereafter - it is a bucket list trip for us (from Australia) and we haven't been to most of the places. I know, I know - don't book a cruise if you actually want to go somewhere because it is never guaranteed but this whole segment was so ideal and to be able to see all these places and only have to pack and unpack once for the 62n was really appealing.

 

I have zero interest in doing a cruise around Africa. I thought we would pick option 2 initially but that is wayyyy too many sea days.  It is thought that most FWC's are probably going to go with option 1 and we're ok with that, it will probably work out better for us than 2 with our plans anyway.

 

I don't mind the look of the stops on the way down to Cape Town on option 1 so we will look at boarding in Dubai and sailing to Cape Town (on either option) and we will then disembark and look to re-board in either Bari, Italy (option 1) or Istanbul, Turkey (option 2).

 

From what other FWC's have researched it looks like the YF vaccine may be required and I can't have this due to a medical condition.  Even if my Dr decided I could, we have no interest in the Africa west coast itinerary anyway.  We have been to Cape Town before and my BIL who is S.African went over the itinerary with us and told us a bit about the areas they are stopping at.

Each to their own but it's not for us.

 

We are looking into a Safari once we disembark in Cape Town then thinking about a few different options after that. ? try for a couple of days in Cairo (might be too dicey to risk booking), other options are Istanbul / Athens or just fly straight to Italy after Safari for a week or so.

 

Now, this is probably premature 😃 but I have booked a cruise out of Rome on Odyssey for 7n on 9th June - it was pretty heavily booked and it was the only date that really worked for us with joining back with Serenade.so I went ahead yesterday and booked it.

I was lucky that I signed up for a 'book later' reservation at Next Cruise on our last sailing. This cost us a $200 AUD deposit. In doing so we got $150 AUD OBC off our room charges on that cruise.

So, in the end, all this reservation that I have made on Odyssey cost me was $50AUD.

Some might think me nuts but that was an acceptable risk to me to have something locked in.

Now of course, I won't actually need that cruise if they choose option 2 as we will end up going to those places on that option but Santorini in particular and Mykonos were must do's of mine.

We would then travel from Rome (probably by train) on the 16th to Bari and plan to meet up with Serenade in Bari on the 18th.

 

So that's where we are at.  It is to be noted that they haven't offered us a cancellation option at this stage.  It's not known if that will be offered after the final decision is made but we're not thinking of taking that anyway.  I stupidly booked non-refundable accommodation in Paris and London after we disembark Serenade in July so we are still looking at going regardless of how this all ends up.

 

I've received another email from RCI today advising the next steps.

Any questions in by the 20th, webinar on 21st (gotta work out what day & time that will be here in Western Australia), make our decision of which option to select on 26th & final itinerary announced on 27th.

They have stated again that "we can debark and rejoin at any point we prefer and we will receive a pro-rated refund of your days off the ship".  It is unclear whether this is on top of the 25% off the pro-rated S3 cruise fare compensation offer for option 1.

I'll submit a couple of questions re: this and also checking that they will allow our debark / re-board ports that we think we want.

 

So that's it, a lot to happen in the next week before we start to know for sure what the plan is!

I was a bit depressed about it all on the weekend, particularly when Royal sent us 2 x cancellation emails, by mistake we assume based on what other full segmenters received, along with the 2 other emails we got re choosing option 1 or 2 but am feeling a lot more optimistic about things now!

 

 

[taznremmy]

@BecAus  Love your positive attitude!  Hope it all works out for you.  As I always say, "ship" happens.

[ringers0815]

Beautiful evening in Honolulu.

 

[kernow]

@ringers0815Thank you for all your beautiful pics and for keeping the 'live' part of the thread going.

 

Just wondering if life onboard is continuing normally or has it been taken over somewhat by the changes for the 3rd segment and all the talk of that?

[Jimbo]

8 hours ago, BecAus said:

Firstly, thank you all who have been contributing to this thread and I must express how sorry I am to the mini leg people who have been treated pretty poorly by Royal in all this.  I really feel for you!

 

This is just my thoughts as someone who is booked as a full segment 3 cruiser.

 

Full segment'er here - booked 2 years ago when the segments were first released.

Not much point complaining.  We know it's out of Royal's control and they had to come up with something.  Personally, we would never have booked this segment based on this current itinerary.

We very specifically booked S3 because we wanted to do the Suez / Egypt / Turkey / Greece and all the ports thereafter - it is a bucket list trip for us (from Australia) and we haven't been to most of the places. I know, I know - don't book a cruise if you actually want to go somewhere because it is never guaranteed but this whole segment was so ideal and to be able to see all these places and only have to pack and unpack once for the 62n was really appealing.

 

I have zero interest in doing a cruise around Africa. I thought we would pick option 2 initially but that is wayyyy too many sea days.  It is thought that most FWC's are probably going to go with option 1 and we're ok with that, it will probably work out better for us than 2 with our plans anyway.

 

I don't mind the look of the stops on the way down to Cape Town on option 1 so we will look at boarding in Dubai and sailing to Cape Town (on either option) and we will then disembark and look to re-board in either Bari, Italy (option 1) or Istanbul, Turkey (option 2).

 

From what other FWC's have researched it looks like the YF vaccine may be required and I can't have this due to a medical condition.  Even if my Dr decided I could, we have no interest in the Africa west coast itinerary anyway.  We have been to Cape Town before and my BIL who is S.African went over the itinerary with us and told us a bit about the areas they are stopping at.

Each to their own but it's not for us.

 

We are looking into a Safari once we disembark in Cape Town then thinking about a few different options after that. ? try for a couple of days in Cairo (might be too dicey to risk booking), other options are Istanbul / Athens or just fly straight to Italy after Safari for a week or so.

 

Now, this is probably premature 😃 but I have booked a cruise out of Rome on Odyssey for 7n on 9th June - it was pretty heavily booked and it was the only date that really worked for us with joining back with Serenade.so I went ahead yesterday and booked it.

I was lucky that I signed up for a 'book later' reservation at Next Cruise on our last sailing. This cost us a $200 AUD deposit. In doing so we got $150 AUD OBC off our room charges on that cruise.

So, in the end, all this reservation that I have made on Odyssey cost me was $50AUD.

Some might think me nuts but that was an acceptable risk to me to have something locked in.

Now of course, I won't actually need that cruise if they choose option 2 as we will end up going to those places on that option but Santorini in particular and Mykonos were must do's of mine.

We would then travel from Rome (probably by train) on the 16th to Bari and plan to meet up with Serenade in Bari on the 18th.

 

So that's where we are at.  It is to be noted that they haven't offered us a cancellation option at this stage.  It's not known if that will be offered after the final decision is made but we're not thinking of taking that anyway.  I stupidly booked non-refundable accommodation in Paris and London after we disembark Serenade in July so we are still looking at going regardless of how this all ends up.

 

I've received another email from RCI today advising the next steps.

Any questions in by the 20th, webinar on 21st (gotta work out what day & time that will be here in Western Australia), make our decision of which option to select on 26th & final itinerary announced on 27th.

They have stated again that "we can debark and rejoin at any point we prefer and we will receive a pro-rated refund of your days off the ship".  It is unclear whether this is on top of the 25% off the pro-rated S3 cruise fare compensation offer for option 1.

I'll submit a couple of questions re: this and also checking that they will allow our debark / re-board ports that we think we want.

 

So that's it, a lot to happen in the next week before we start to know for sure what the plan is!

I was a bit depressed about it all on the weekend, particularly when Royal sent us 2 x cancellation emails, by mistake we assume based on what other full segmenters received, along with the 2 other emails we got re choosing option 1 or 2 but am feeling a lot more optimistic about things now!

 

 

Sounds like way to much stress for the way we like to take vacations.

[Ocean Boy]

2 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

Sounds like way to much stress for the way we like to take vacations.

Agree. I have less stress working.

[GenSteve]

We're booked on the June 7-20 (Istanbul-Ravenna) mini-segment. RCL is still selling this segment with no itinerary changes. We haven't been contacted about changes or cancellation. I assume that's because you have to vote on the 2 options. If you choose option 2, which doesn't appear likely, those booked on June 7-20 could keep their bookings. Anyone else on the June 7th segment with information or contact from RCL?

[marquisite]

@GenSteve I am on that mini segment, as well as the (cancelled) one before it. Here is what RCI's cancellation email said regarding the Istanbul sailing:

"Additionally, as we are still working through our itineraries with our Ultimate World Cruise guests, we’ll have more information for our June 7th, 2024 sailing in the coming weeks."

Edited February 20 by marquisite

[NancyIL]

28 minutes ago, GenSteve said:

We're booked on the June 7-20 (Istanbul-Ravenna) mini-segment. RCL is still selling this segment with no itinerary changes. We haven't been contacted about changes or cancellation. I assume that's because you have to vote on the 2 options. If you choose option 2, which doesn't appear likely, those booked on June 7-20 could keep their bookings. Anyone else on the June 7th segment with information or contact from RCL?

 

I was on the cancelled Athens to Istanbul cruise just before yours. I fully expected RCI to cancel my cruise, but figured they could get to Istanbul on time for the cruise to Ravenna. I feel sorry for those on the Istanbul to Ravenna cruise who have been left hanging until the new itinerary is announced on Feb. 27. Meanwhile, you can commiserate with others on this thread:

 

 

Edited February 20 by NancyIL

[Jimbo]

8 hours ago, kernow said:

@ringers0815Thank you for all your beautiful pics and for keeping the 'live' part of the thread going.

 

Just wondering if life onboard is continuing normally or has it been taken over somewhat by the changes for the 3rd segment and all the talk of that?

I asked the same question earlier what the current vibe is onboard about the switch in itineraries. But like you didn't get an answer as of yet.

[doghog]

23 hours ago, island lady said:

 

Thanks!  I came up with that title one night after a couple glasses of wine.  😄 

Pat, are you going to do a live from the Wonder? 

[island lady]

4 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

Agree. I have less stress working.

 

I wasn't stressed.  😉 

[island lady]

6 minutes ago, doghog said:

Pat, are you going to do a live from the Wonder? 

 

Hmmm...do you want me to do that?  I guess I could if anyone would be interested?.  😉  I just now  packed at least one bag....my water bag.   😄 

[Ocean Boy]

3 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

I wasn't stressed.  😉 

Good.