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3bzmom

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Posts posted by 3bzmom

  1. 8 minutes ago, Orsino said:

    When giving feedback on Key experiences, I think it is vitally important to include the ship and sail date. Key implementation is not consistent across ships! So if you are weighing options, be sure to look for reviews that are specific to your ship. Unfortunately, I think twangster's excellent review of The Key is now too dated to be relevant to people considering buying today. Both because Royal is tweaking the program and the experience on a 'sold out key' cruise simply has to be different than one of the first that had fewer key holders.

    Agree, to a point... if one reason you're buying The Key is for priority disembarkation at ports, that's universally ONLY for tender ports- but they don't tell you that in the literature. So it's not ship specific as much as it's itinerary-specific.

    In regards to our disasterous disembarkation experience on Liberty last week, yes there can always be problems at port, but do not expect to get priority service above self-debarking passengers. That was my point in posting. If a quick exit off the ship is necessary, self-disembark and don't count that as a Key benefit.

  2. 3 minutes ago, xpcdoojk said:

    The original price was pretty much 19.99.  Since then I have seen both 31.99 and 24.99 on my cruise on which the Key is listed as an option.  

     

    It starts to make sense if you plan on booking two internet packages.  If you want/need early disembarking times in ports.  If you like to do the activities that are given special times.  If you are going to book a specialty lunch especially first day.  If you want early access to your room (depends on ship).  You want to dump your hand luggage and be free of it.  

     

    It made sense to me at 19.99 per person per day, but a the other prices it would be hard to justify.  Although in my special case I could probably justify it.  Aka flowrider.

     

    jc

    There is no priority disembarking at port unless it’s a tender port. Also, post-cruise disembarkation last week was a nightmare- the 8:30 time was actually 10:00, so if disembarkation is a concern, you should do self-disembark and not take advantage of Key.

  3. 22 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

    Excuse yourself to go some place or simply start walking - it would take a very brave soul to actually physically restrain you. 

     

    Biker, who would excuse just about anything, but not not being able to walk off.

    My husband grabbed our carryon from the area they had us put them, and we walked towards the exit. The representative physically blocked us from leaving and told us we could not leave “for our own comfort” because the terminal was too busy. That was the excuse they kept using. Then it was that our luggage wasn’t ready. To have tried to have gotten past him would certainly have escalated things.

  4. 7 minutes ago, TwoMisfits said:

     

    If drugs were found in checked bags, it wouldn't matter if self-debarkers got off - they didn't check any bags, so they wouldn't be picking any up (or be the possible culrpits)...

     

    But, I'm not sure the excuse was true...it does seem The Key's stated benefits may be oversold and underdelivered on some ships...

    Good point about the drugs.

     

    my experience on Liberty is they underdelivered on the program. Someone else’s experiences may vary, but even at $19.99/day, I didn’t find it worth it.

     

    just my $.02

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  5. 3 hours ago, rockmom said:

    I'm having lunch with a friend and she got a message from a friend who was caught up in this too.  She said it there were drugs discovered and that is why everyone was held.  They missed their flights and are working on getting rebooked. 

    If there were drugs found, and that’s why they wouldn’t let us off, why did they continue to let self-debarkation people off?

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  6. At no point did my husband swear. He said it was BS. In those words. Yes, he got upset, but he didn’t “verbally abuse” anyone. The representatives did not care that we had missed our shuttle or were close to missing our flight.

     

    Also, no we actually couldn’t “just leave.” There was a representative at the dining room who was preventing anyone from leaving. Even after pleading our case several times. That’s why my husband got upset and said they had no right to hold us hostage, which is what they were doing, while other people were allowed off the ship with self debarkation.

  7. 1 hour ago, Jimbo said:

    I would have told them at 8:30am. I need to get off the ship NOW, I have a flight to catch.

     

    Oh, we did. They told us they were sorry, there was nothing they could do. In fact, at 8:15 we told them we needed to be out at 8:30 for a flight.

     

    So we found someone else and my husband blew up at him and told him it was BS, and all documentation said we could leave at 8:30 (it was 9 at that point). He said luggage wasn’t ready. Hubby said BS. There were maybe 40 of us waiting to leave. Hubby told him we missed our shuttle, but because it wasn’t a Royal shuttle, they didn’t care.

     

    Hubby waited a little bit, then complained to yet another person (other people were complaining too.)

     

    Finally, my husband said they had no right to hold us hostage on the ship while other people were allowed off. At this point, they were on letter F for self debarkation. That’s when they finally let us leave, at 9:50.

     

    When we got down to customs, we did bypass part of the line, but you could’ve done that by getting a porter. Customs took about half an hour.

  8. Priority debarkatiom from Liberty of the Seas is a joke. We were supposed to debark at 8:30am, but they are still holding us in the dining room and only allowing self-debarkation people to leave. There is no priority in this. (It’s now 9:15). 

     

    There was also no special debarkation in ports. That’s likely different in tender ports,  but I wouldn’t count on it, based on our experiences.

     

    i would say if flowrider is your “thing,” the Key might be worth it for that. But there hasn’t been priority anything in this trip, really.

  9. Boarded Liberty today with The Key. Embarkation was a breeze- skipped all the lines. Went straight to Chops for a delicious lunch ablut 11:30, then up to our room, which was ready. Our flight was a nightmare, and hubby isn’t a great traveler, so it was definitely nice to skip the lines and avoid the chaos in Windjammer.

     

    Hubby isn’t likely to do any of the activities, but I might. Here is our schedule.

    1F483A55-516E-44C0-808C-90D1335A02B8.jpeg

    • Like 1
  10. 16 minutes ago, amybk27 said:

    For the people that have been upgraded, did you find out before the 24 hr mark?  Or did they notify you at the 24 hr mark?

    We leave Feb 17. We found out we had been upgraded on Feb 1. It also happened to be my birthday, so that was great!

     

     

    15 minutes ago, molly361 said:

    There was someone that got their bid accepted and their bid was more than what they could have paid to upgrade themselves. I'm sure that they are not the only pnes

    I'm sure that has happened. In our case, we got the upgrade for less than what the balcony room would've been when we originally booked. Also, every category of stateroom other than interior was showing sold out.

  11. 1 hour ago, Paula B said:

    We have a inside cabin back of ship 2adults & 2 teenagers and have made some bids. Now they have add a spacious interior cabin that sleep 6 people with 2 twin beds and couch. I didn't even know they had bigger interior rooms. Where are they located in the ship? What to you think?

    If it were me, I wouldn't go from interior to spacious interior. I'd only go for it if I was moving to oceanview or higher, especially if you're concerned about location.

    We got lucky. We originally had a midship deck 3 oceanview room and through RoyalUP, got a midship balcony room.

  12. 17 minutes ago, Colorado Babe said:

    I am so excited. Got my first email to Royal Up on my 4/5/19 Serenade cruise.  The bidding starts at $200 for a JS, $400 for a GS, $700 OS or $1200 for a RS.  My questions is, should I do it?  I am currently in a 5 D ocean view and only paid $1476 for it as solo passenger. It's  a 10 night cruise.  Worth it to upgrade?  I know I won't get triple points if I bid so not sure if I should go for it.   

    Don’t forget that whatever you bid will be doubled. Even a single cruiser pays for 2 in this program.

  13. 12 minutes ago, jmom2004 said:

    For which sailing? We're 2/24 FOS and no word on success yet and looks like a full ship.  Thanks

    We depart 2/17 on Liberty. Just got our winning bid notification Friday, 2/1. Our ship was showing all categories sold out except interior. I bid $200 per person and we were upgraded from Oceanview to Balcony. I had also bid the same amount on Jr Suite and Jr Panoramic Suite.

  14. 10 minutes ago, liberiben said:

    I’m crossing my fingers we get an email. We’re booked in a GS on the May 12th Oasis sailing. I’d LOVE to have the possibility to upgrade to a CL. 

    Are most of y’all getting emails around 1 month prior? Just curious about when I need to stalk my email. 

     

    10 minutes ago, liberiben said:

    I’m crossing my fingers we get an email. We’re booked in a GS on the May 12th Oasis sailing. I’d LOVE to have the possibility to upgrade to a CL. 

    Are most of y’all getting emails around 1 month prior? Just curious about when I need to stalk my email. 

    We received ours about 5 weeks before.

  15. We have a stuffed orangutan who travels with us. It's an inside joke with my brother-in-law, and we get a lot of mileage out of it. I don't actually care if other people don't "get it." We have a good time with him (His name is Carlos, and we use #dondeestaCarlos). My husband's a truck driver, and Carlos is Clyde's nephew....it's appropriate, even though he can often be very inappropriate!! He's a dirty monkey....

     

    Those of you who don't get it...move along...decorate your doors or don't, dress up for formal night, or don't...

  16. 4 minutes ago, TanaQ said:

    Yay for you and Happy Birthday!  I originally booked way in advance, had to cancel due to possible medical issues. 

    Then was able to rebook within 90 days of the sailing and paid 900 less than previously. So the total 120 upgrade is just fine by me! 

    Thank you! I'm glad you were able to rebook. My husband was sick the first 5 years of our marriage, so this will be our first vacation together. We originally booked Ocean View because it was all we could afford. I tried to upgrade in December after we got our bonuses, but they were all sold out. I know it was more than a $400 difference between ocean view and balcony originally, so I feel happy all the way around!

    • Like 1
  17. Cruising Feb 17 on Liberty of the Seas. Was booked in an Oceanview room. Got my RoyalUP offer on 1/6 and bid $200 per person on balcony, Jr Suite, and Jr Panoramic Suite.

     

    Got my email today that we've been upgraded to a balcony room! I'm super happy! Even better? Today is my birthday, so I got a birthday upgrade! I'm not telling my husband- I will let it be a surprise when we board. This will be his first cruise.

     

     

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