First Time, Last Time, NEVER AGAIN!

:confused:I guess I just don't understand what, exactly, it is that you feel you need to know that you can't find in the on-line description of the excursion. That's what has me baffled about you being in such an uproar about it.

The write-ups are usually pretty descriptive, with caveats about physical limitations, info about meals & snacks, how long the bus ride is to the destination, start time, duration, and even consumer reviews on many of them.

I can understand you being frustrated if the website isn't working properly, but it's not like its an emergency and 911 isn't in service. Calm the heck down. It's VACATION, not major surgery.

I've had CSR tell me they don't know what dock or what time. I've been told I'm not sure what nights are formal nights. I've asked about some things about the ship or activities on the ship which again they don't know. They put no effort into finding out either. It wasn't until they had me speak to a Resolution Team Member by their choice not mine I never asked to speak to that type of CSR I was ok dealing with the persons answering the phone I'd just like them to put some effort into finding the answers and not just blowing me off with I don't knows.

This just confirms that you are unrealistic on what you expect. Things like which dock, what nights are formal, and what activities are on the ship are all things that are not easily accessible, because they might change from one sailing to another. These are not reasonable questions for customer service.

For Cruise Critic, they're more reasonable, because you have people here who have probably recently cruised the same itinerary. And, even though they can't tell you for sure what pier you'll use at a given port or what activities there will be, they can tell you what was on their sailing, and if it was recent enough, there's a good chance things haven't changed.

These are simply not the kind of questions that Customer Service is or, in my opinion, needs to be, prepared to answer.

:confused: How does that make any sense that doesn't compare to what I'm saying RCI should know their product not tell me where to park my car. A car sales person should know their product not where to park my car either. Your annalogy makes no sense.

 

Sorry diagree while you might be using TapaTalk to view the forum so you don't see signatures but those people that claim they are ok with RCI not knowing anything and that it's my fault for asking them have in their signatures ONLY RCI cruises one even has "ROYAL LOYALIST" so most of these posters post nothing more the RCI defense and I'm wrong and just angry that I don't get my way blah blah blah because in their eyes RCI can do nothing wrong because that's all they know. This thread is in the RCI forum and you don't think there are RCI cheerleaders here? You are certainly out of touch with reality.

 

RCI however sells cruises and excursions which they gurantee so I fully expect them to know about what they sell and if the person I speak to doesn't know I fully expect them to find the person that does know.

Check my signature...I'm neither a cheerleader nor a loyalist, yet I find myself agreeing with those who think you're expecting too much. I have experienced some degree of ineptitude/lack of knowledge from the phone reps. with all 5 cruise lines I've sailed on. The most recent was a very sweet agent at Princess who told me the cruise I was inquiring about would be docking hundreds of miles from the Panama Canal and there would be no possibility of seeing the canal if I chose that cruise. The cruise docks in Colon!:eek:

In an ideal world, we would get the kind of service you're looking for with every corporation we deal with. In the real world, probably most of the agents working for the mass market cruise lines are entry-level workers who have been trained to complete one task and one task only, and if you go too far outside their knowledge comfort zone then they're lost.

My cruises are successful because I'm an obsessive researcher who sweats the small stuff. Cruise Critic and Trip Advisor are my best friends when I'm planning a trip. If you can't make peace with that and work around the customer service issues, then you're probably not just on the wrong cruise line, you're in the wrong market.:(

:confused:I guess I just don't understand what, exactly, it is that you feel you need to know that you can't find in the on-line description of the excursion.

Well, to be fair on that point, the OP did say he had been unable to successfully use the website. I don't have any trouble with their website, myself, but this is not the first person to report it being virtually unusable for them.

But if I got by the philosphy of this board then that's just the norm and I should just accept it.

Actually, you can accept it or not. My philosophy is not to call customer service to ask about questions I wouldn't expect customer service to be prepared to answer. And I certainly wouldn't call them to ask why a certain excursion is not offered for my cruise. Is that really what you think customer service is there for?

Mr. S,

When you go to the grocery store and buy meat, veggies, soup and seasonings does the cashier provide you with the recipe for preparing all those items? Does he/she tell you how it will taste? Does he/she give the the prep time? Does he/she tell you what kind of ovenware to put it in? Using your "logic", your grocery store is selling you something and not informing you how to use it!

Do your "third party" (as you call them) research...it is part of the fun and anticipation of a vacation. After all you have been on 18 cruises!:)

I'm confused. In the past 4 days that Mr Smoofy posted his displeasure and was offered the suggestion of visiting the Ports of Call area here on CC, it doesn't appear that has happened. So Mr Smoofy, instead of spending your time fighting with others on this thread, why haven't you visited Ports of Call? There is great info there. I would NEVER rely on ANY cruise line to give me detailed info on an excursion. I accept their basic info and then do my own research. They are there to SELL you something whereas the best info can be had from other cruisers here and also port info on Trip Advisor.

Thank you but I know all about the tour. It's the booking that RCI is giving me an issue with. While they do offer it just not to us and their reason is because they have another ship at port on the same day so they are only selling it for that ship but can't tell me why. So I'm trying to find out if it's possible to book it anyways outside the ship if the ship is not going to offer it.

If what you say is the reason Royal gave you for being unable to book you on the excursion as the reason they can't book you, then clearly you can't go -- and YOU DON'T LIKE THAT; like most of the advice given to you here in the thread....BTW, Royal won't change their strategy for this excursion, is my expectation....so MOVE on. There must be something else to do instead.

I've been on 4 RC cruises and haven't once asked them anything about an excursion. The internet and these forums are more than you need to find out anything you'd like to know. Let RC deal with the logistics of getting 3-4000 people safely on/off the ship and around the caribbean while you do your own homework about good places to shop. Granted, they should be able to answer some of those questions don't dwell on it.

 

YOU have the ability to make it a good or bad cruise, don't go into it with a piss poor attutide or you'll wind up with the latter.

The OP doesn't want to hear reason. Seems they expect a CSR to know all about hundreds of shore excursions that are offered. Pretty ridiculous. Book excursions on the ship where they can talk to someone who actually actually knows first hand.

Formal night? There is no set in stone answer for this

Docking in St Thomas? They really bothered someone about this, LOL

Website issues? I know others have problems, but I haven't

Thank you but I know all about the tour. It's the booking that RCI is giving me an issue with. While they do offer it just not to us and their reason is because they have another ship at port on the same day so they are only selling it for that ship but can't tell me why. So I'm trying to find out if it's possible to book it anyways outside the ship if the ship is not going to offer it.

You have your answer, I'm sorry it's not the one you wanted. No CSR is going to be able to tell you why they're not selling it for the ship you're on nor are they in a position to obtain more information.

As a former call center manager, I have to say you sound like every CSR's worst nightmare. Maybe you should consider a land vacation or go back to whatever line you've cruised previously. I can guarantee you're not going to get what you're looking for from Royal's call center.

Sometimes the mods will lock a thread when the subject has been covered and there's nothing more that can be added.;):)

:confused: How does that make any sense that doesn't compare to what I'm saying RCI should know their product not tell me where to park my car. A car sales person should know their product not where to park my car either. Your annalogy makes no sense.

 

 

Sorry diagree while you might be using TapaTalk to view the forum so you don't see signatures but those people that claim they are ok with RCI not knowing anything and that it's my fault for asking them have in their signatures ONLY RCI cruises one even has "ROYAL LOYALIST" so most of these posters post nothing more the RCI defense and I'm wrong and just angry that I don't get my way blah blah blah because in their eyes RCI can do nothing wrong because that's all they know. This thread is in the RCI forum and you don't think there are RCI cheerleaders here? You are certainly out of touch with reality.

 

 

Another analogy that makes no sense. RCI is nothing like Amazon. Amazon sells millions of products from thousands of vendors all over the world. I would never expect any of their customer service people to know anything about the products that are being sold. RCI however sells cruises and excursions which they gurantee so I fully expect them to know about what they sell and if the person I speak to doesn't know I fully expect them to find the person that does know.

Are you suggesting no one should share their displeasure or experience? Isn't that part of what Cruise Critic is reviews and information from others experience?

 

No I wasn't looking for people only supporting my opinion just expressing my displeasure in hopes that it's not the norm, but apparently it is and people just accept that which I think is just wrong but then I see that people are quick to defend them and attack my ranting as if I'm in the wrong for expecting better service from a service oriented company.

 

People are going to think what they want about me and that doesn't affect me either way I'm not looking to make friends but apparently some people see your friends list as some kind of status symbol here. If your someone who just accepts that this is how it is and doens't expect more from them then I don't see us being friends anyways. I'm not saying you have to fully agree with everything I'm saying but most are only reading bits and pieces and not taking in the whole thing and then just throwing out their opinion which everyone has a right to but just accepting that this is the norm and you shouldn't expect anything more then this is just wrong to me.

 

 

No I do not expect every single person to know every single thing. I do expect them to give a damn and put forth an effort to educating themself about the product they are being paid to sell and when they don't know something offering to find out the answer. I've had CSR tell me they don't know what dock or what time. I've been told I'm not sure what nights are formal nights. I've asked about some things about the ship or activities on the ship which again they don't know. They put no effort into finding out either. It wasn't until they had me speak to a Resolution Team Member by their choice not mine I never asked to speak to that type of CSR I was ok dealing with the persons answering the phone I'd just like them to put some effort into finding the answers and not just blowing me off with I don't knows.

 

Besides it's harder to deal with the Resolution Team member then the regular CSR. A Resolution Team Member will call you and say they have some answers to questions and ask you to call them back. They instruct you to press 4 but what they don't realize that there is more to it then that. You have to pess many options not just 4 because when you call the number they give you it's the same menu as the main number. So you end up waiting until a regular CSR answers then you ask to speak to the person that called you back you then have to confirm with them every detail about your cruise until then they try to contact the person you are trying to call back to here these answers you have. The average time for this call is about 1 hour.

 

But if I got by the philosphy of this board then that's just the norm and I should just accept it.

It is rather interesting that the folks on here that have provided you with information and tried to answer some of your questions get no thanks...or any type reply from you. However, you continue to criticize RC and call people cheerleaders. My signature doesn't show it...but we have only sailed RC. That does not make me a cheerleader! There are plenty of things about RC I don't like...and will tell anyone about it...and put it on surveys, etc. However, there are also plenty of things that I do still like. While I don't like most anything dealing with shore-side, I still love the ships and crew.

I think you would get a lot better responses and feel a lot better about yourself...if you would take the time to review the information that has been offered to you and show some appreciation to the folks that have provided it...rather than to keep bashing RC and bashing other posters!

No I do not expect every single person to know every single thing. I do expect them to give a damn and put forth an effort to educating themself about the product they are being paid to sell and when they don't know something offering to find out the answer. I've had CSR tell me they don't know what dock or what time. I've been told I'm not sure what nights are formal nights. I've asked about some things about the ship or activities on the ship which again they don't know. They put no effort into finding out either. It wasn't until they had me speak to a Resolution Team Member by their choice not mine I never asked to speak to that type of CSR I was ok dealing with the persons answering the phone I'd just like them to put some effort into finding the answers and not just blowing me off with I don't knows.

Well, you only partially answered my question.

And instead of focusing on the "why you need the information" and "what more information do you need" you focus on the experience with the CSR.

I'm still wondering why all of that is SO important that you will never cruise on RCI again.

Of all the ports you are going to, only one has multiple spots where it stops. And even with that, why does it matter? If you are doing a ship excursion, they will be where you are, regardless.

Docking time? Whoever you book a private tour with knows that. They will wait. And ships tours have to wait for docking.

Formal night is important if you are booking at Portofinos just for that, but otherwise, why does the specific night matter?

What more details from the summary data for the excursions are so important that you hold it against the person on the phone so strongly?

What is so important to plan your relaxing cruise to the second?

I hope you have a good cruise, but I suspect that ship has sailed.

Well, you only partially answered my question.

 

 

 

And instead of focusing on the "why you need the information" and "what more information do you need" you focus on the experience with the CSR.

 

 

 

I'm still wondering why all of that is SO important that you will never cruise on RCI again.

 

 

 

Of all the ports you are going to, only one has multiple spots where it stops. And even with that, why does it matter? If you are doing a ship excursion, they will be where you are, regardless.

 

 

 

Docking time? Whoever you book a private tour with knows that. They will wait. And ships tours have to wait for docking.

 

 

 

Formal night is important if you are booking at Portofinos just for that, but otherwise, why does the specific night matter?

 

 

 

What more details from the summary data for the excursions are so important that you hold it against the person on the phone so strongly?

 

 

 

What is so important to plan your relaxing cruise to the second?

 

 

 

I hope you have a good cruise, but I suspect that ship has sailed.

Why do you care why he cares??? Enough piling on...the OP has explained his position many times and very rationally. You all keep telling him to let it go, yet none of you do!

Looking at his specific question for Royal suggests that it could not be answered by the forums, the excursion company, or the website. None of those places would have told him if the tour would become available for his cruise (it was advertised on the website but not book able) except for RCI directly.

Are all of his questions of that nature - no - formal night questions would be much better answered by finding someone's cruise compass and 'hoping' that it's similar for his cruise. Many of those things are not set by corporate but by the CD Staff and can change from cruise to cruise.

That being said - I would expect that just as we are aware that activities and schedules are not set by corporate and are planned by the cruise director staff, I would think that a CSR could be expected to state that they were sorry but they are unable to assist because it's handled by the cruise director staff and is not available for confirmation until you are on board. Sounds like that message may not have been delivered clearly.

Sorry if this has been mentioned but it's a long thread and I've tried to keep up but have only skimmed every post...

I see it this way. Let's say you were concerned about food allergies onboard. Would a CSR at RCI's call center be able to tell you the ingredients of each menu item? No. They'd tell you to defer to the dining staff once onboard. And I think that would be a totally acceptable answer. So by the same token, if you need specifics about excursions and they deferred you to the experts at the excursions desk onboard wouldn't that be just as acceptable? And in both cases, if I really needed some clarity before boarding (whether to orebook an excursion or a specialty restaurant), I'd just hit up CC!

Just my two cents...

It is rather interesting that the folks on here that have provided you with information and tried to answer some of your questions get no thanks...or any type reply from you. However, you continue to criticize RC and call people cheerleaders. My signature doesn't show it...but we have only sailed RC. That does not make me a cheerleader! There are plenty of things about RC I don't like...and will tell anyone about it...and put it on surveys, etc. However, there are also plenty of things that I do still like. While I don't like most anything dealing with shore-side, I still love the ships and crew.

 

I think you would get a lot better responses and feel a lot better about yourself...if you would take the time to review the information that has been offered to you and show some appreciation to the folks that have provided it...rather than to keep bashing RC and bashing other posters!

I agree with this. :cool:

About the tour, if it's not offered to you because it's only being sold to the other ship in port, does it really matter WHY? What are you, two years old? Go find something else to do. Sheesh!

As a former call center manager, I have to say you sound like every CSR's worst nightmare.

Why do you care why he cares??? Enough piling on...the OP has explained his position many times and very rationally. You all keep telling him to let it go, yet none of you do!

I'll admit that I'm following this as a software support person who finds some catharsis in it. Callers who will nitpick obscure details and then use the "unacceptable" term for something that's acceptable for 99% of users are extremely difficult to appease. We get surveyed and inevitably they're the callers who will give you the lowest score. The callers where you royally screw up, and therefore deserve a low score, aren't the ones who give you the low scores. So I think this is a case of the OP giving RCL a low score. ;)

Here is what I do:

Call the company and book directly.

My husband and I are cruising in April. Our friends will be on a different boat but we will be in port on the same day. We were trying to book a scuba dive all together and Royal wouldn't do it even though the excursion was available on both boats. The times were off by 30 minutes and Royal would not accommodate us.

We then just called and booked directly. You don't have to tell them you are cruising...But if it's not offered on your ship, I don't know what is keeping you from booking directly.

I am no cheerleader. Ever.

My first place to look when I'm traveling is the Tourism Board website for the place. Got a great map mailed to me when we were taking Freedom to San Juan. Got great ideas from other tourism websites.

First cruise was in 2003, nowhere near the info out there as there is then, and I used cruisecritic 99% to get all the info on Juneau, Skagway, and Ketchikan. I also looked up those cities online and went to AAA as well. I never even considered calling Royal about it.

So I really recommend doing those things (not AAA for non-US places). Tourism websites, just googling those places...and please oh please go to the Ports forum and asking specific questions with exact subject lines to get info. If no one has info on those threads, then no one who has yet seen it has info.

Go to the website. Don't log in!

Click on Prepare and Go. Click on Before you Go. Ah, breath of fresh air, their normal site instead of the mobile-friendly awful site.

Scroll down, click Shore Excursions.

Scroll down, find the sentence

Don't have a reservation yet or just want to browse our Shore Excursions to see what adventures are available? You can browse by Ports of Call, Ship and Sail Date, or just click on any of the Activity Types below.

Click on Ports of Call! Or maybe Ship and Sail Date. Try one, try both. I did the first. Clicked on Caribbean. Clicked on Basseterre, St. Kitts.Clicked under Start Planning on Shore&Land Excursions in Basseterre, St. Kitts. http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruise/destinations/shoreExcursions/subGateWayByPort/search.do?LocationCode=SKB&DestinationCode=CARIB

Clicked on the rail tour.

Aha, Adventure, 5/16...

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/beforeyouboard/shoreExcursions/downloadBrochure/view.do

Boom, done, I've downloaded it.

I don't see how you frequent cruises deal with them. All I get out of them is "I don't know I've never been there". How do you sell a product you know nothing about I just don't understand.

How can they GET that info, though? How would you set out to create the database of info you want?

That database is available here (and tripadvisor, though I don't use that site). Easy!

...why don't you spell out EXACTLY what you need/want and maybe we can help you.

 

.

:)

I did say in my OP that we are laid back kind of people so just looking for shopping/sightseeing nothing low to mild activity. While only in our 40's we both suffer from issues that prevent us from being to adventurous.

 

That was not in your OP. Not that I saw, at least.

 

 

I know I'm beating a dead horse but more frustration from RCI last night.

Well, at least you knew at the time of that posting that you weren't going to get anywhere by calling them.

It sounds like a lot of you are just ok with receiving crappy service from a company that you've have spent a lot of money with. I don't understand that.

I simply don't consider it to be crappy service. So I'm not receiving crappy service. I'm not asking them to provide me with information that I can SO easily get elsewhere, from an immediate and up to date source like *people who have recently been to the places I'm going*. CS reps are lowpaid and probably can't go on those cruises. When I call Royal I, probably because of my location, end up chatting with someone down in Oregon in a land-locked town. They aren't making enough to go on the cruises. They don't know about the countries and cities. They just can't answer those questions.

I'm not accepting crappy service. I'm not asking what I feel are inappropriate questions of people in the first place.

Well honestly, most of us cant believe you would be calling a random CSR at Royal Caribbean who has likely NEVER even stepped foot on a cruise ship asking detailed questions about excursions :)

 

Thats what this place is for.

Ayep.

Our pest company is so nice to talk to on the phone and the service tech is super friendly and ontime, ec. ...yet they have been to our house 6 times in a month and can't get rid of the ants!

Cinnamon powder from Home Depot. Put it down where the ants are coming in. IN a couple days, no more ants. Does awful things to them when they eat it and track it back to their nest. (nest?) Used it when I was pregnant and we had a cat, and had ants. Couldn't/wouldn't use anything poisonous to us.

So spoke to the resolution team member finally about the St. Kitts Scenic Rail Tour who spoke to the Excursion Directors to get the story on it.

Why why why continue?

You are not going to get what you want by calling them. It DOESN'T MATTER whether that is a good thing or a bad thing. It just IS. Why keep banging your head against the wall?

Agreed.

A puzzling read this thread for someone in their sixties, totally clueless about a cruise when I first cruised, somewhat amazing to me. I never would have called and expected cruise line personnel to know ship details, excursion information, etc., no way.....

 

Years ago I started reading travel magazines, travel books and brochures cover to cover. Now with the internet age, when I choose a new ship I haven't sailed on I check here, other sites, and several places which are just ship oriented. Doing a web search with the ship name brings up volumes of info. I guess I'm not understanding what is so complex and urgent.

So many yeses.

As a kid in the late 70s I LONGED to go on a cruise. Yes I watched Love Boat LOL. I would mail away for cruise brochures, and I would research those places. At the library. In books. OH I had my cruise around South America all planned. And since I was a kid, I never once picked up a phone to talk to the cruiseline. It was all out there for the taking; and it's a zillion times easier now

No not well said and no it's very realisitc that RCI would keep a up to date database about excursions that they sell. They gurantee them they know every detail about each of those contractors as well as what insurance they have and their track record for service I'm 100% sure of that because that would be a very stupid move on their part to sell and gurantee something they don't know anything about because if something were to happen they would be sued for it.

Guarantee means they'll refund you (fully or partially) or apologize to you or give you a bottle of wine or something if something goes wrong. It doesn't mean "this company is perfect and will always be brilliant". A guarantee MEANS that they accept that things can go wrong, and will do something for you if/when it does.

They don't have what you want.

I would never expect any of their customer service people to know anything about the products that are being sold. RCI however sells cruises and excursions which they gurantee so I fully expect them to know about what they sell and if the person I speak to doesn't know I fully expect them to find the person that does know.

I'm glad you wouldn't!

Do you think it's unreasonable that I ended up a relative expert on Dance Dance Revolution in '99, when NO ONE in the US was selling that, because so many people contacted amazon then to ask about this product? That we weren't even selling? Because it was available in Japan, but amazon.co.jp didn't even exist yet, and Sellers didn't exist yet, but people would write us and ask about it. (I had a leg up because my then fiance is Korean and spent time in Asia, and had played it)

I'm not drawing a parallel between asking about DDR when you're talking to amazon, and asking about very specific cruise excursions when calling Royal, but I'm drawing a parallel between you thinking it's totally ridiculous for someone to call amazon and expect that knowledge, and what others are saying to you about your expectations being put on the CS reps' knowledge base...

Thank you but I know all about the tour. It's the booking that RCI is giving me an issue with. While they do offer it just not to us and their reason is because they have another ship at port on the same day so they are only selling it for that ship but can't tell me why. So I'm trying to find out if it's possible to book it anyways outside the ship if the ship is not going to offer it.

Why are you believing this reasoning?

It'll be interesting when you get onboard to find out if it's actually a different story.

This just confirms that you are unrealistic on what you expect. Things like which dock, what nights are formal, and what activities are on the ship are all things that are not easily accessible, because they might change from one sailing to another. These are not reasonable questions for customer service.

....

These are simply not the kind of questions that Customer Service is or, in my opinion, needs to be, prepared to answer.

Agreed.

Here is what I do:

Call the company and book directly.

 

My husband and I are cruising in April. Our friends will be on a different boat but we will be in port on the same day. We were trying to book a scuba dive all together and Royal wouldn't do it even though the excursion was available on both boats. The times were off by 30 minutes and Royal would not accommodate us.

 

We then just called and booked directly. You don't have to tell them you are cruising...But if it's not offered on your ship, I don't know what is keeping you from booking directly.

 

I am no cheerleader. Ever.

So the issue is...this excursion supposedly can't be booked directly.

However, if you go to Viator, you can see that it can be booked with a hotel pickup. If I were yearning to go on a sugar train in St Kitts, I might book it with a hotel pickup, and get my rear to that hotel before pickup time.

Or I'd look at another excursion.

Mr. Smoofy has done a great job of getting people on this thread to come up with suggested excursions for his various ports, answers to a lot of his questions, links to documents, and suggestions for where he can find even more information. At the same time he has made insulting remarks about the very people who have tried so hard to help him, - and, holy smokes, the result is they try even harder to help him more!

Well done, sir! You have assembled a personalized research team that has all but planned your trip for you. I have to admire your results, even if I don't like your methods.

Wow, mollyeilis - 15 quotes in one post! I think that's the most I've ever seen. You win the Internet today. :):):) Seriously. Awesome. :D

Mr. Smoofy has done a great job of getting people on this thread to come up with suggested excursions for his various ports, answers to a lot of his questions, links to documents, and suggestions for where he can find even more information. At the same time he has made insulting remarks about the very people who have tried so hard to help him, - and, holy smokes, the result is they try even harder to help him more!... Well done, sir! You have assembled a personalized research team that has all but planned your trip for you....

So agree with you. I'm so done here. :cool:

Mr. Smoofy has done a great job of getting people on this thread to come up with suggested excursions for his various ports, answers to a lot of his questions, links to documents, and suggestions for where he can find even more information. At the same time he has made insulting remarks about the very people who have tried so hard to help him, - and, holy smokes, the result is they try even harder to help him more!

 

Well done, sir! You have assembled a personalized research team that has all but planned your trip for you. I have to admire your results, even if I don't like your methods.

Well said ! After reading the entire thread, I think Mr.Smoofy is like a 2year old who doesn't want to stop throwing his tantrum. All I can say is I have deep sympathy for all of the other cruisers on your sailing. For someone who has cruised 18 previous times you sure don't seem to know very much about cruising. It seems that you started posting just to tell the rest of the world how terrible Royal Caribbean is and you keep trying to fan that fire. Hope you enjoyed your fun.

It's not a true CC thread without....

It's the southern caribbean cruise. San Juan, St. Thomas, St. Kitts, Aruba, Curacao.

 

I've not been to Aruba or Cuacao so would be open to suggestions in the lines of Shopping/Sight Seeing.

 

St. Thomas I've been on a cruise to just not RCI so I know the Cable Car is a good choice and I know there is shopping at the Havenport dock but RCI can't tell me what dock we are going to I've asked them a few times now they are not sure and have been unable to get the information. If I knew that I could atleast know what's around the dock and how far it is. Like the Havenport dock I know is a 5-10 min ride by taxi to downtown shopping.

 

curacao and Aruba.

The water below curacao is the same colour as the drink, great diving.

Aruba has some great shopping and some great diving too.

I nearly let the whole "new dining experience" upset my up and coming cruise. I managed to sort it out with my TA and now it's fine.

 

Don't blame you for getting upset and frustrated though.

 

stitch

god ...... I hope there's TOPLESS bathing on your ship :)