greeneng

Royal deals with two companies who will deliver the scooter to the ship and pick it up at the end of the cruise. Both are easy. The scooter will be in the cabin when you arrive and you leave it behind in the cabin when you leave. Special Needs at Sea Scootaround We have rented from both on different cruises. The prices seem to vary, so the company which is the cheapest on one cruse may not be on the next cruise. Special Needs at Sea can provide a lot more than scooters. Check them both out.

Very correct. You can determine the nature of the OBC, regardless of the source, either from from the AP, which does not require an onboard internet connection for this, or from the stateroom television on newer ships. On either, go to "account" and it will show you the status of the shipboard account, including OBC amounts and whether refundable or not. You can take it from there.

We went S2S from the Oasis to the Explorer on April 23 of 2023. I scheduled the transfer with the concierge, no charge, and was told to follow the signs. My wife is very mobility limited. She had a mobility scooter on the Oasis, so it was all on me. And I was not up to handling all our luggage by myself so we put it out the night before. When I picked it up in the terminal I immediately got a porter who put it all on his cart and off we went. When we got outside he had absolutely no clue where to go, and there were no signs, and no one I asked could tell us where to go to get the S2S shuttle. So we crossed the streets to where the busses where and he went one way and I went the other. God bless this porter, he spent over an hour with us as we both hunted for the right place. Believe me, I did reward him. Finally I spotted a lady with a clip board who had a clue and pointed to a place to wait. So, I went back the other way, found our porter and we all went to the spot clip board lady had pointed to. Then, he was gone. But, there was no place my wife could sit so we moved to where there was a guard rail, close by. After too long I found clip board lady again who told me the bus had been delayed by traffic and pointed to where it should park. So we waited, but you can believe I never left her out of my sight again. Eventually a new van arrived but not the spot she had indicated previously. Good for her, she found us and got us on board, and I made sure the luggage went into the trailer. So, off we went. But, this story does not end here. When we got to the pier for the Explorer, I got our luggage from the trailer of the van. It had Explorer luggage tags. I gave it to the port based luggage handler, tipped him appropriately, and we went to check in. Hours later we were in the cabin wondering where our luggage was and I got a cell phone call from a Limo driver on the pier asking if our luggage was going on the Explorer of coming off from it. Yes, the Miami based porter had taken my tip and just left it there. The limo driver who found it took and checked it in for us. I had the cell number she had used and did call back to thank her again and ask if I could provide a reward, which she declined. The luggage did show up later. The Explorer was starting a trans-atlantic to Civitavecchia, and we were staying in Europe for a couple of weeks after that. Suffice to say it was very good to have the clothes. There have been other horror stories about the Miami long-shore men who handle the luggage there, and their demands for outrageous tips to make sure the luggage gets where it should be. I did not get that demand but it still went nowhere. My advice is to keep it with you until you are sure it is going where it needs to be, to the check-in right at the terminal and not out in the lot. To JustmeKaren: I suggest getting a porter in the luggage claim and then taking a cab. Have the luggage already tagged and insist the cab driver take you right to the luggage check in at the terminal. Bon Voyage!

OBC is either refundable or non-refundable. Refundable can be from a TA or a Royal credit card. Non-refundable is from Royal or a stockholder credit. There may be more in both of these categories but these are the ones I know. They will charge all on-board purchases to the non-refundable first, then when that is exhausted to the refundable. On the day before the cruise ends, or the last day, you can withdraw in cash from guest services whatever refundable remains. If you do not it will be refunded eventually to your credit card on file. If you have a Royal credit card you receive double points (points can be redeemed for refundable OBC) for purchases of Royal, or Celebrity or Silversea. But, if you let OBC get refunded to your card you will LOSE double points on that amount. That is why it is best to withdraw in cash whatever refundable you still have on the last two days. I keep track daily. My goal is to use all the non-refundable, cash out the refundable early on the morning of the next to last day, and then charge to the CC on file (my Royal card, for double points) any more onboard purchases.

Small world. We were also on the full circumnavigation which ended on March 14, 2020 in Sydney. That B2B began on February 9 and in that time the world changed. The only change in the cruises was that we were not allowed to disembark in Bali, but the news got grimmer every day. We were on the Radiance this past October with Capt. Marek, who had the second leg of the circumnavigation and had to deal with the cancellation of the following cruises. We had some interesting conversation about the events of that day. We had a flight booked for March 15 so we went to the airport and stayed the night of 3/14 at the Rydges hotel right there. The connection was in LAX and there was no indication of a problem there. At the hotel we heard that the next Radiance cruise was cancelled and everyone was told to leave the ship. Flights from Sydney to the USA officially ended a few days later but I never heard of anyone being stranded in Australia. Our return went as scheduled but a lot of people had to scramble.

If I book a shore excursion today for an upcoming cruise, and pay with NON-REFUNDABLE On Board Credit, and then decide once on board to cancel that excursion, will the refund be made back to the Non-Refundable credit on my account? Common sense says: "Yes, of course". But, experience with RCG has shown that common sense is rarely applied to issues. Does anyone have recent experience with this? Thanks for any help, Jim

For us, there are two advantages to using Flights by Celebrity: 1. No payment until final cruise payment. 2. Cancel the flight(s) with no penalty up to that time. Also, possibly, a much lower fare on an international one way flight. This was true in the past, but I have not had to check it out for a couple of years. Never accept the flights the website offers without research. Know what they will charge for the flights they try to sell you and do your own research on the other flights which can fit your schedule. Then, call and tell them what you want to book and ask the price. If not acceptable, ask the prices on your other options. If you decide to book, be very sure to give them your frequent flier numbers for the booked airline. That will expedite being able to make seat selection. Make sure you get from them, before you hang up, the booking reference numbers for the selling airline, and for the actual flying airline. Next, up until final payment, check the pricing for your alternative flights. Until then, you can cancel FBC with no penalty and buy something else. Up until leaving for the airport, check the flying airline for schedule changes. Do not expect FBC to tell you, nor the selling or flying airline or your TA. Even if you decline FBC and book flights independently, you should do this since they may not tell you either. The earlier you find out about a flight change the easier it will be to make an acceptable change. Personally, I have never had to use FBC or Air2Sea to make a change when the booked flight changed. Calling the airline has always worked for me, but you again need to know the options. Bottom line: Don't expect FBC, or an airline, or even a TA to tell you what to book, or to inform you when your booking changes. Personally, I never book international flights to board a cruise with less than two hotel days and never more than one for a domestic flight. As a personal experience, flying in late the day before, my luggage was not on the carousel. It arrived to our hotel about 4 AM of boarding day. I was prepared for a few hours of intense clothing shopping before boarding time, but did not need it.