madelk

Just checking in to see if anyone was going to be on Quantum next week for the 3-dayer ex-Singapore? I'm going solo.

Also booked Legend sampler Ex-Brisbane 8th December 2015

P&O and Princess always change to local time.

Glad I piped up and followed the thread since I'm getting on my first P&O VERY soon! :)

For what it's worth Royal Caribbean stayed on Sydney Daylight Time over the summer just passed :)

This is not small- but we'd like to see mini-fridges in all cabins as they do on some lines.

I second that! And I'm quietly surprised that it slipped my mind in my first post since it was something I asked my steward about on my last cruise :rolleyes:

Although then I guess it cuts down on the tips that room service will receive if no one is ordering ice anymore but I hate the way that your wine (or water bottle for that matter) just doesn't get cold all the way through in an ice bucket with the neck sticking out the top AND the condensation makes a mess on the already cluttered tabletop :mad:

So, my amended list:

1. Self service laundries with irons

2. Mini fridges

In that order of importance :D

Princess is a little more generous with internet minutes for Platinum and Elite members.

They also offer free laundry to Elites. This would be a nice perk, since Royal Caribbean doesn't even have laundry facilities on their ships.

You can even buy bottles of liquor for your stateroom.

I won't mention the little mini-bar set-up for Elites and suites. Oh, I just did....;)

I am not a Princess cheerleader, but those things are a little nicer to have, especially laundry on longer cruises.

The laundry idea - would be REALLY nice if RC could add a couple of DIY laundry rooms at reasonable cost - couple $$ a load.

I'm sure there's other things that I'd like but I haven't sailed a wide variety of lines yet :)

How often do you travel?

The travel SIM that Aus Post sell was quite a good option when I looked at it last year but there is a bit of fiddling with numbers when dialling and every country is a different rate. There is internet available but it's still not particularly cheap. There's also an upfront cost to purchase the SIM.

I'm with Optus and since then they've changed their roaming rates to make it much simpler (and in many cases cheaper) to call overseas - only 2 zones and therefore only 2 rates although there are a few countries with no coverage - check the map. And internet can be bought as a package. So I just roam with them (with data off unless I'm desperate for something at which point I'll still hunt for free wifi :D)

Previous to that I spent a number of months in the US and Canada and purchased local SIMs over there, although they have networks which operate on different bandwidths so if doing this make sure the provider you sign up with is compatible with your handset - I nearly made this mistake.

I deliberately purchased a cheap phone to take travelling with me that had dual SIM capability so that I could have both SIMs plugged in and receive messages from home but make all calls and data through the SIM local to the country. A friend of mine has been to NZ numerous times and owns a prepaid Kiwi USB internet dongle that she takes back everytime and reuses.

The only other thing to be aware of if you travel widely is that some security concious (:confused:) countries don't allow foreign phones to roam on their network so even if roaming is enabled you won't get a connection. This happened to me in Kuwait and non residents aren't able to purchase a local SIM - thankfully I was there for work purposes and the local staff were able to hook me up while I was there :D

I have never noticed this before, probably because the cruises I look at rarely offer a W guarantee.

 

I think this is a very important point to notice. If it is true, then Royal has that to fall back on when assigning cabins and is probably why the original rep insisted that her (meager) first offer was fair.

 

If anyone finds this, please post it.

I have seen this before, and it also struck me as being very odd!

 

We were going to book a cruise with RCI recently. We were opting for a W Guarantee, which we understood to be a minimum JS. However, in the small print (very small print) it DID say that this would be at least a deluxe ocean view! When we queried this with RCI, the representatives didn't seem to have a clue. As this was just one of many issues we were experiencing with their customer service, we decided not to proceed with a booking.

Here's what I can see under the Terms and Conditions on the Aus site:

5. Pricing and ‘guarantee’ bookings

Brochure pricing

The prices quoted in this brochure show the lowest price (‘Prices from’) available on a specified sailing date as shown in each price panel. The price will vary by ship, itinerary, sailing date and cabin grade. Where there is more than one departure date shown for the same cruise itinerary then the prices provided in this brochure are the minimum prices available for the lowest priced of the multiple departure dates. To find out the price for your chosen cruise, sailing date and cabin grade contact your travel agent or visit http://www.royalcaribbean.com.au.

‘Guarantee’ (GTY) bookings

From time to time, we may offer you the option of making what we call a ‘Guarantee’ (GTY) booking. This means you may book a cabin of a guaranteed category type (Interior, Oceanview, Balcony or Suite) on your chosen ship and cruise. However, the exact grade, number and location of the cabin on the ship will be allocated by us (at our discretion) and at any time up until checking in at the port. Once your GTY cabin has been allocated to you, we are unable to accept any changes requested by you. The benefits to you of a GTY cabin are that after your booking has been confirmed, we may (at our discretion) upgrade your cabin to one of a superior category to that originally booked at no extra charge to you. In any event, you are ‘guaranteed’ the minimum category of cabin we agree to offer at the time of booking. At times, we may offer promotional GTY offers. Please note that if you are upgraded to an oceanview or balcony cabin/suite, you may be allocated a cabin/suite with a partially obstructed view.

Such promotional GTY categories are defined as follows:

W Suite/Deluxe

X Balcony Cabin

Y Oceanview Cabin

Z Interior Cabin

Please note: If you book two or more cruises to be taken consecutively (back to back) and either one or all cruises are booked under a GTY basis, you may be allocated different cabins on each cruise, therefore necessitating the need to move between cabins on the changeover day between your consecutive cruises.

There's no asterisk indicating a second "term and condition" to suggest the Oceanview fall back plan. When I tried a dummy booking for a W guarantee it again said the same as above in brief.

I currently have 3 future guarantee bookings with RCI so this thread has been an interesting learning experience.

Just browsing on oz online site as I do daily :D

 

Ship Name: Carnival Spirit

Cruise Code: CS425

Departure Date: Friday, 1 August 2014

Cruise Name: South Pacific

Nights: 11

Departing: Sydney

 

IS Deck 1 (Riviera) Interior Stateroom (Guaranteed) $965

 

Probably only a few cabins left. But good price for a solo.

Going back to the original post - I saw a comment on a CC FB post today about cruising single and someone was whining that $883 for 7 days solo on NCL Breakaway was too expensive :eek:

I know it's not as cheap as this deal but I'd happily pay that to cruise on that modern liner :rolleyes:

That is ok, a lot of us have use our phones or tablets and auto correct becomes our worst enema.:p

Thankyou! I needed that giggle :p:D

Still looking for that American policy in ink!

I've seen wording on the Australian site almost identical to what you posted above. You'll find it under "excursion planning" and "cruise documentation" and it's also in the documentation they send you when you book a cruise (and probably in the terms and conditions before you hit "book" too I imagine) :)

I'm booked in a Promenade room on Voyager next year. Will be keen to know the answer to this too. I've done an awful lot of reading on staterooms and have never seen any mention of the windows to this effect :rolleyes:

Bob - I asked the question in another thread that now seems to have been removed but I'd still like an answer if you happen to know.

In the instance that you book a cabin as a twin and your travel buddy doesn't show so you end up sailing as a solo in a double paid room would you still be eligible for the double points?

Reason I ask is because I have a cruise booked with my father who isn't in the best of health and may not make it. I had a friend lined up to take his place but she has now booked her own room with a family member. We both booked Promenade rooms on Voyager which have max occupancy of 2 and we really don't want to change our category as we aren't happy with any of the room locations left. If I'm eligible for the double points in this case then I'd be happy to continue with the booking as it is but if I weren't able to get those points I'd be trying pretty hard to find someone else to tag along with me but I'd rather keep the room to myself (it will be my birthday on board after all so why shouldn't I? :D). Yes I still have a few months until the cancellation window kicks in but I was a rookie at the time that booked through a travel agent that charges a cancellation fee (but then again I don't really have any intention of not going at all!).

My wife loves chocolate everything! However, when we cruise she will bypass on it for Key Lime Pie.

I am just like your wife! Self confessed chocoholic but when I see Key Lime Pie I get distracted by it :D

Edited to agree with posts above - the chocolate sensation wasn't that great.....

My favourite when it comes to looks was the "Yule Log" at Christmas (with the Baked Alaska a close 2nd for aesthetic value but doesn't rate in the taste department!)

BTW it is common in many countries that the hotel DOES hold your passport while they complete the details of reporting your presence in their hotel to the authorities. It has happened to me many times, including last month in Madrid, Spain.

 

Not quite sure why you are taking such an argumentative tone with people that are sharing valid information.

 

Thom

I concur with this bit above ^^

I toured China late last year by land. In all 3 major hotel chains they held our passports. In fact to even get your visa to enter China you need to state the hotels and dates that you have booked.

As for Turkey the way I understand it is similar to what was stated above as "in transit" passengers. For cruises that overnight in Turkey the visa is organised by the ship. If you depart from Turkey via air (or other means) the same day as you disembark there is no need for an additional visa but if you intend to do further land based travel post cruise you need to organise your own visa for that leg of the trip because the one you use to enter Turkey issued by the cruise ship is not valid. I've read it similarly applies in other countries - I think Oman is one of them but I can't be sure at this minute. Similarly for China (72hrs visa free for certain nationalities), Indonesia and Singapore I believe it is done as a bulk visa for all passengers. I have read of people voluntarily leaving their passports with guest services so that they can be stamped when the group visa is issued but that they don't always do them.

I think it's Israel which stamps a separate page that is then stapled into your passport so that it can be removed in the case that you wish to later enter Arab countries which forbid travel in that country (and I have a friend who was detained overnight and then sent back to Africa for that very reason). When I worked in Kuwait I was warned to ALWAYS carry my passport with me because I could be questioned at any time I was in public by the local authorities and would need to show proof of a valid visa. Colleagues who had been working there long term had resorted to merely carrying a photocopy of their passport and visa and work sponsored letter with contact details for safety's sake. A couple of them had been asked to show documents in the past but had had no trouble upon presenting them.

(Source: Research for previous cancelled trip to Turkey and current trip being researched for Rhapsody 2015 repositioning; Previous travel through Indonesia, Singapore and China)

Jennie - I'm on Pearl in a fortnight so I'll be sure to scope out the bar prices and room service for you and hopefully remember to report back - if not post me a a reminder :D I too have only sailed RC but have friends that rave about P&O and am going with an open mind on this upcoming trip as a try "before I buy" on a longer itinerary. (namely that PNG cruise as you know ;))

Also Gae - thanks for the explanation of the dining situation - I had no idea and now I've learnt something to save the first night embarrassment :o The other interesting thing I noted is that I've read lots of complaints around these parts about the Jewel and was under the impression that she was the most hated of the 3 and that the Dawn was the most favoured. Nothing like personal opinions to confuse the uninitiated! :rolleyes:

Awesome price and it's the Spirit!!

Hopefully something like that will come up again when I can cruise....

As an aside question - how on earth do you sleep with ear plugs in?? I find them the most uncomfortable things on earth and have tried to sleep with them in when camping at festivals and have never been able to stand them :confused::confused:

We booked this cruise yesterday. We didn't do it directly with P&O but with a well known online travel agency that was offering $100OBC and the price for our cabin was $200 less than what P&O were quoting.

 

I have no idea about the half price deposits, we paid $400 each so am not sure if they were half price or normal.

 

Jennie

Oooohhh!! Thanks for the heads up! I'm off to have a nosy around the internet :D

Given I'm sailing in a fortnight I figured I'd just try and book onboard.

I did ring them when I first posted the question and the girl on the phone gave me some bull about my name being in the system wrong but yet it's fine on all my paperwork.

As for the half deposits - it was quoting me $100pp for interior/OV. Don't know if it's higher for suites or not - never bothered to look at those categories!

I can also recommend the following:

Set on the waterfront of Auckland City on Okahu Bay, just moments from the famous Mission Bay beach, Kelly Tarlton's SEA LIFE Aquarium is one of Auckland's top attractions!

 

Kelly Tarlton's showcases over 30 live animal exhibits in spectacular habitat displays, including the world's largest Antarctic penguin colony exhibit and amazing underwater viewing tunnels. You can even walk onto the ice for an "up close" encounter with penguins.;)

Thanks for this one! I LOVE penguins so this will be added to my must-do list :D

Lord of the Rings, a lot of the natural scenery was filmed in NZ as well as Hobbitton and some other scenes that were made on the North Island.:D

T minus 14 days until I'll be doing the Hobbitton trip! :D:D

...

I'd agree with what's been said above - as long as the main passenger 1 name stays the same the second one can be changed.

I sailed with my father over Christmas - he was hospitalised in October so started questioning this very situation. What I was told is that until final payment name can be changed for free. After final payment the fee is $80 to change the name and it must occur at least 14 days before sailing for security reasons. Keep in mind that I am in Australia so it's possible the rules are different in the US. I have also questioned RC and another line about the "if I book a single now to lock in the current rate then find a second person to share can they be added at that original rate?" and the answer in both instances was NO. The booking would have to be cancelled and the prevailing rate of the day would apply to rebook.

If I were you I would book for yourself and your mother as the second passenger to get your rate and then change the name down the track if need be (and in fact this is exactly what I've done for 3 future cruises knowing that it's 100% likely that they will have a name change to take a friend instead). :)

Darn it MicCanberra! You obviously type faster than I :)

Here's another recent thread for you with info :)

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2052701

I have a similar trip planned later this month. From the reading I've done the Skytower allows you back the same day after dark if you first go up in the morning and buy a return later ticket which I think is only $2 more than a single admission. So you can see the view by day and by night. :)

A friend of mine who used to live there has also recommended the Auckland Domain and the museum in there which I think is the same one as you have on your list :)

Never heard of it there , but as always in those climes , a good insect repellent is advisable. One with DEET in it will protect against the malaria mosquito.

By the way ...What is FOS ?

The only one I know stands for Factory Outlet Shop

 

I would assume it's Royal's Freedom of the Seas :) So possibly a question for the RC forum where there's plenty of folks going to Labadee regularly :)

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=83

They're mostly the same from ship to ship, but there are more than 7 different menus. For example, 10 day cruises usually don't repeat a menu; by the time you get to 14 days, there may be a few repeats. There are also occasional regional special meals on some cruises.

According to the notes I took during the Access All Areas Tour I did onboard Radiance at Christmas: "there are 30 set daily menus on all ships in the fleet to ensure consistency. It's up to the head chefs to choose which ones will be used each sailing." :)