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Gourmet Gal

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Everything posted by Gourmet Gal

  1. Unless there is an excursion and airport drop-off available to book with SS then you’re on your own with luggage. Check the website to see if there is one available. You could book a private tour that could also manage your luggage or you could book a hotel day room. Are you flying on a red-eye home? Seems like a very late departure. Perhaps that flight can be moved up if you don’t need a full day in Vancouver.
  2. This seems to be one of the cost-cutting RCI strategies. Last month I had an abysmal pre-cruise SS hotel stay in Rome. It was a really poor start to the cruise.
  3. Did you book with your own TA? If so, that person needs to make the call.
  4. Perhaps there are some past world cruisers who can chime in here. Surely there must be preference given to those booked for the full trip.
  5. Wonderful photos. You have a great eye for composition. What camera did you use?
  6. Honestly, you’re paying a premium for a World Cruise. You would be justified to pitch a fit if there were not included options in every port for you. You can just pay the deposit, check the offerings and cancel if there aren’t enough excursions for you. As for some included excursions converting to select, just save screen shots of your bookings and there should be no trouble with them being grandfathered in. BTW, the excursions are not free. You’re paying for them included or not.
  7. Reminds me of an incident on Spirit last month on formal night. In the MDR a couple at the next table ordered a bottle of Tignanello and it was almost 35 minutes before it showed up. They were fuming and asking repeatedly where it was. Meanwhile we were sitting with empty entree plates for 20 minutes and we finally got up and left actually skipping dessert which my husband never misses on a cruise.
  8. That’s surprising but perhaps it’s different in Australia. I’ve never had a TA charge for booking air when also booking a cruise or other expensive trip.
  9. Still not understanding…I plan most of my own travel as well but use a TA for certain perks but I’ve never had to pay for the service. Are you saying you actually have to pay a TA?
  10. Just an aside, remember the days before all these loyalty programs? You simply paid for a service or product and looked for best value. Now the calculation is more complicated but the programs are a huge marketing expense which we pay for anyway. Seems like we all need to be bribed into loyalty with gimmicks while service, quality and true value are being slowly diminished.
  11. Why would you ever pay anyone to put together a trip for you? They make commission everywhere except from the airlines and a good TA will book your air for you without an extra fee.
  12. Well, not true. Four Seasons, Aman, Peninsula and Rosewood do not have a loyalty program yet there’s immense loyalty to the quality and hospitality of the product. So true that there’s still an untapped market of wealthy people who have never cruised so RC now has ships with FS having a small ship in the pipeline but very interesting that it’s being marketed more like a hotel. Not all-inclusive - the pricing is per suite not per person and only includes breakfast and non-alcoholic beverages. Many wealthy travelers want exclusivity, unique experiences, luxury yet value for the money and time spent. They aren’t as interested in chasing after points and miles. SS seems to be moving away from satisfying that segment. I’m noticing a lot more chatter on the SS board about status matching, hotel points and perks as more RCI passengers migrate over.
  13. It will be interesting to read your perspective. Which lines do you usually cruise with?
  14. The designer handbags are all preowned and provided by a company called What Goes Around Comes Around. The preowned handbag market is huge especially Chanel and Hermes because their retail distribution is so limited and it’s actually easier to buy pristine pieces with tags on the preowned market than in a Chanel or Hermes store. And yes, the artwork is also for sale.
  15. I actually don’t think SS is sophisticated enough to intentionally bait and switch. It’s more likely misinformation, no mechanism to automatically honor a guest’s documentation, and the inability of staff to be able to problem solve on the spot. I have a feeling this kind of checking in with HQ or the boss didn’t happen before the merger. How frustrating to have this happen twice already. I do think the spa is very poorly run and I also had a problem with attempts to upsell on a recent Spirit cruise. I ended up cancelling all my treatments. And don’t worry about the Duval LeRoy - you’re not missing much but perhaps the Monopole actually is an upgrade now.
  16. Really, how often in your cruising life will you ever need to use that number and I would think if you had to use it the last thing on your mind would be who’s paying for the call.
  17. I see not much response so I’ll share what I know. 1. The excursion desk has set hours, not 24/7 for sure and I don’t know why that would even be necessary. I will say that if you don’t want to go on a tour it’s a simple matter of turning in your tickets. We’ve never been charged for cancelling any last minute included tours. 2. The App and the Interactive TV seemed flukey on my last cruise so didn’t use them much. 3. Yes, unfortunately the tour groups are so large that the Quiet Vox system is necessary. 4. Yes to Starlink but you’ll still want to purchase the upgraded plan. 5. Don’t know how interactive those recordings are. They aren’t very long anyway. 6. You’re given a number to call for each port in the event you have a problem. That’s all I know about that because luckily I’ve never had to call!
  18. As a manager in California who had to work create PIPs with employees who were not performing, I can tell you the programs were not impossible to achieve. We had successes and in some cases the employee discovered the job was not right for them after all and in the end a few had to be let go. The PIPs cannot legally be out of the norm for what is expected of any employee. Nothing nefarious but I’m sure there are abuses.
  19. When there is a large non-refundable deposit paid then the insurance may not have helped unless you outright purchase cancel for any reason insurance which is very expensive.
  20. Are you certain that the deposit paid included a payment for insurance? All my SS bookings require a deposit that goes towards the cruise with the insurance amount being just a line item that will be charged when final payment is due. We’ve always been fine with not having the deposit insured.
  21. You may find private tour recommendations in the Ports of Call section here on CC. TripAdvisor also has good recommendtions.
  22. It’s completely private but they also do small group tours. I do my own research and vetting of restaurants but in Japan it’s tricky getting reservations at some - you literally have to know someone who has been to the restaurant and they have to book it! Sometimes the hotel concierge can do it but not all restaurants allow that. I believe it’s to reduce no-shows.
  23. That’s nice. We’ve already used Kensington for an extensive private tour of Kyoto, Tokyo, Takayama and Hakone. We were quite pleased and will probably create another itinerary with them. It’s fully customizable.
  24. We did not rebook and have requested a refund.
  25. So sad too. Most of the crew are so kind, hardworking and well-meaning. It’s hard to tell just what the company is aiming for other than the bottom line.
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