PolicromaSol

13 hours ago, Denversail said:

I would remember that if these folks were really that awful then that genie had been dealing with that constantly for a week. Sometimes folks under stress especially under pressure from someone that has significant power over them don’t make the best snap decisions. I would not suggest sending emails to top brass folks. It feels like this was more of a rude passenger issue. I get what you are saying but in this situation although I wouldn’t be happy with what happened I don’t think I would put it on Royal. 
 

That Genie could be thinking just like you that if they’d had a few minutes to think they would have reacted differently. Thinking back would you not have commented at the time if you weren’t a little shocked?

Pretty much this. It sounds like the concierge was being ordered, by the customer, to do this. It's obviously wrong, but I know in customer service of any kind, sometimes it's very hard to say no, especially to a huge spender, when your specific job is to keep her happy.
 

I feel bad for everyone except the snooty woman who gave the order in the first place.

That Adventure cruise I was on back in March....all the lanyards they sold on-board had those little clear plastic sleeves for them. So I'm not even sure the "don't have to punch a hole in it" argument is a thing anymore... 🤔

1 hour ago, Reina del Mar said:

Thank you.

Any suggestions which lot for a ‘mature’ couple with far too many bags, please ??

North Lot is closest, and there's porters everywhere once you get to the pickup/dropoff area. It was so easy that we were honestly wondering if we'd accidentally left our bags with some kind of bag thief that afternoon. 🤣It was a cold morning and all the porters were wearing sweaters over their uniforms.

Also, from what I've seen, a lot of hotels and motels in the area offer cruise parking and dropoff/pickup. So if you need to be taken right up to the terminal, that might work.

Either way you should have no issue getting help with your bags.

Given the name I would hope they are. Anything else would be false advertising!

My husband and I tried the chat when we were on our last cruise. No notifications. Oh well.

Now, using iMessage or Telegram on the other hand...

I've often wondered the same thing. Yeah, there's some rich folks out there, but I always figured that if you hit a certain money point, you were doing things other than cruising. (Or if you were, you were going on one of the "rich" cruiselines that have smaller, fancier boats where everybody gets a butler.)

Anyway, don't worry about what everyone else is doing. Spend on the kind of room you're willing to spend on, and don't worry about being the frugal person. There's a lot of variety if you know where to look. Research the boat you want to go on, see what kinds of rooms are available. You can often find a good surprise. 

I don't even go for balconies most of the time. I try to look for the bigger oceanview rooms. The last one was nice because it had portholes with a view of the bow and you could see where you were going, and there was a kid-sized bunkbed area for the kid to have all to himself. (I think Icon is adding a lot of these types of rooms, IIRC...)

On 3/30/2023 at 11:49 PM, Mikamarii said:

Every year I had to convince my parents, I don't want your inheritance I'd rather you come on this trip with us...and they did. That was better than any cash they could ever leave behind. I dont need nor want their money. 

 

Now here's one I don't get... How is it all of you have old folks that aren't afraid of boats? I'd love to take my mom or mother-in-law on one of these things... The issue is getting one of them on one!

Was on Adventure last week. Didn't see these, but there were other "no chair reservation" signs around. I had no issues finding a deck chair. I compare this to past cruises where every last deck chair had a towel or something on it.

Mine was redone too...

It's almost like they preferred to do their own anyway.

On 3/11/2023 at 5:21 PM, taglovestocruise said:

Double layer of fries on plate, two cheese burger patties on fries, burger patties covered with grilled onions, walk over to carving station, find the congealed brown gravy, slowly pour two ladles of gravy over the top, back to the burger station for a dusting of grated cheese, embarrassing walk back to table, 30 second assault by wife asking me if I want to die... and then dig into heaven on a plate. To Mr Green, eating and better are not combinable when I cruise. 

Errrr, did we just find the Canadian?

This looks like it was fantastic!

My husband and I used to go to various conventions when we were younger. I don't know that we'd ever find a good time to do this one, but it's nice to have a peek in on what it was like.

Did they change up the food?

There's folks who swear by the minimum bid...

But I find myself wondering if those folks are the types who are already buying suites.

There could be other things that go into how they choose the bid as well. Did the cruise line sell an extra guarantee cabin or five? Is the room you currently occupy under higher demand? Do they look at the stuff you've pre-booked and purchased and reward those who purchase more extras? 

Anyway, I'm also waiting to hear back on my own minimum bid. I've currently got what I feel is a good room, and only bid on the room that is what I currently have, but with panoramic windows. There's only two of those rooms that I know of, so I doubt it, but good luck to all!

8 hours ago, HicksRA said:

When they start hiding $100 bills, I’ll start looking…..

*scrolls down to see if there's a "hey, mine had money attached!" post*

The only thing I hear repeatedly about Carnival is that it has more drunks. That doesn't really have any bearing on their customer service, food, or ships. It just means it's the customers you gotta watch out for. 🤣

IMO, there is *nothing* like napping on a cruise ship, especially one that is rocking you to sleep.

10 hours ago, cruisegirl1 said:

 

 

Some have since decided that a deep fried funnel cake tipped with sugar needed soft serve ice cream and a second cake to make some sort of ice cream sandwich. 
 

 

Sounds like a good way to get your swimsuit all sticky.😳

9 minutes ago, njsmom said:

I'd give myself plenty of time to get to the port from Rome. That's the one port my husband and I ended up being dock runners for our day in port for our Mediterranean cruise, despite getting a taxi in Rome at 4 pm and our ship not leaving Civitavecchia until 8 pm. It was a series of mishaps, from no one in the train station speaking English and us unable to find our train (part of the station had plastic sheeting for construction), causing us to miss our first train, to then having a delay on the tracks, and then arriving in Civitavecchia and the bus driver telling us we had needed to buy a ticket first before we could board and leaving without us as we went inside to buy the aforementioned ticket, and then no taxis available to drive us to the actual port, and us walking there and our phone batteries dying as we were walking, so we couldn't use GPS, then getting to the port at 7:30 and the shuttle buses to the ships already stopped for the night.

 

For anyone who has been to that port, you know that it's about a mile or two from the big port gates to all of the ships. I was recovering from a broken foot and couldn't truly run. But I tried. And everyone on the ship was clapping and cheering for us as we trotted up at 7:55 pm. It was just horrendous and super embarrassing. That said, just get to the ship. Forget lunch in Rome. I have nightmares thinking about it all! There's too much that can go wrong between Rome and the ship in Civitavecchia.

 

It's also given me great empathy for dock runners. You simply never know what has led to their circumstances. And you know they're insanely stressed to have to run for the ship.  

I think your post wins the thread, particularly on "disadvantages".

To the OP, screw it. Get on that bad boy as fast as you can! 

53 minutes ago, Longford said:

Are you purporting to speak for all who cruise?  Or just the "us"?

Hey, if you want to pay extra, I'm sure all those waitstaff would love a little extra tip...

On 3/1/2023 at 5:46 PM, Denversail said:

Indian food is constantly given an A+ in reviews. Why not add it as an up charge restaurant?

Because none of us want to pay extra. 😁

11 minutes ago, aubreyc1988 said:

 

NCL has really good Indian food as well, maybe their chefs are from India? 

That's what I hear.

Everything I'm hearing about the Indian food is that RC has kind of type-casted themselves as having good Indian food, to the point that it's always expected.

I don't mind. Pass the butter chicken!

I was researching the same place a while ago. Ended up letting the kid decide, and it seems we're going on a chocolate making tour instead of the beach...🤣

Anyway, yeah, as far as I can tell, one includes food and the other does not. 

Also might be worth it to check out that Chankanaab place. A lot of the shore excursions and beach breaks seem to be there, so if everybody is unsure of what they want to do, you can just get the day pass and buy tickets for the various other "stuff to do" right there at the park.

2 hours ago, WinksCruises said:

I can meet you at the port and play your grandchild for the week if you'd like! 😝

All well and good until they don't let you drink because you're supposedly 10 years old...

13 hours ago, ngrund said:

a couple of things to put this in perspective

 

-were those $20 a night tips for a couple, a family of 4, or a family of 8 with 6 obnoxious/messy kids?

Pretty much this. Some folks tip extra if their group's a little more rowdy or needs more attention than the norm.

Apologies to the OP, it would seem your thread is doomed. 🤣😂

Far as I've seen, the use of the word "suite" in these Royal Carribean ships is more about how snooty the room is, and less about having enough room for more than 2. There *are* options, you just have to hunt them down a bit. Other than that, there's been a few good suggestions so far.