Lex450

Best to book, otherwise you may have to join a que during the busy periods.

They have two lines for MTD.

Reservations and non-reservations.

We no longer prepay tips before going on a cruise, preferring gratuities to be charged to our account on a daily base.

It's only on the last three cruises that my view has changed on providing additional tips.

To see someone who works long and hard hours and still manages to give a broad smile shows dedication that I will never have.

For me, a member of staff deserves to be rewarded additionally for providing a service that enhances the customers experience.

If you have ever had to deal with customers, you will know how hard this is to achieve.

So I am more than happy to reward staff who makes me believe that I am in some ways important to them and that they are happy to serve me even though that may not be true.

So in summary, although tips are unnecessary, I believe they are well deserved.

I also agree with the implied point that out of 500 passengers, you would think that at least one would know how to turn on their cell phone and call Royal and/or Air2Sea. I visualize all these sheep milling around in a field, just hoping for a dog to guide them. Royal should provide the sheep dogs and are clearly at fault for not doing so, but really people! You stand around for six hours and just passively wait to be told what to do?

 

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Spoke with Concierge aboard ship who stated there was no need to call as everything had been arranged including new flights, accommodation and transport.

After leaving ship I found this not to be the case so telephoned RCCL and then their incident hotline.

The result? I was told to speak to a representative at Venice Port who was dealing with the situation.

Apparently they were aware of the situation and as it was being dealt with, there was nothing more they could or would do.

In regards to milling around the foggy car park, I believe we would still be in that car park on direction of RCCL if there had not been a minor revolt at 9.30pm with passengers marching into the terminal building at the objection of one of the Royal Caribbean reps, so in this instance no sheepdogs were required :D

This was the Venice fog that delayed the departure from the ship.

Although most passengers only had a short stay of two or three hours at the port, around 200 had to wait for six hours as allegedly someone from RCCL had forgot to arrange flights and accommodation for this bunch.

Long story short, Rhapsody Of The Seas was 10 hours late getting into port, with a further wait of 6 hours at port.

Although private transfers had been paid for, RCCL instead provided a coach to an overnight Hostel arranged by them.

Its been years since I stayed on a camp bed in a smelly room, but thats another story.

Anyway, after two emails from RCCL, and three from me, they apologised for the overall experience, but offered no compensation.

Thought it strange they didn't even offer a refund for the private transfer they didn't provide, but hey, perhaps they need the money more than me.