Saoa0318

8 minutes ago, Rotnam said:

 

My Kids are 11 and 14

 

Thanks for all the info, I was wondering since under 13 you cannot create an account then my oldest cannot get a C&A since you need to be 18. So when they are old enough they should have their points when they register ? I will read the PDF, but it's way clearer now, thanks everyone.

You can have a c and a # at 6 months. They should have 1 now. Call crown and anchor and make sure they got credit. 

I completely agree. It needs to stop being publicly debated. 

The fact this keeps getting repeated as a question gives me stress. If you constantly need to judge every interaction between you and staff to justify the charge that is not my idea of a vacation. Royal needs to offer a stripped down vacation option to people who dont want to pay the service charge. Individuals can choose the option to clean up after themselves and a serve yourself option in the dining room. This way those who keep their service charges in place can be focused on more.

Did you look in the app? These are from Boleros on Allure. I believe they should be consistent for most ships. 

We were just on Adventure. On our sailing they restricted access during happy hour to D+ and above. All other times it waa open for everyone.

5 hours ago, Minuet888 said:

Ok I'm new at this y'all and I am scared I am going to end up messing up or missing something.

What all do I have to do or fill out ahead of time?

I've been hearing about a sail pass, luggage tags, etc.

Looking out for boarding times and reservation times?  (I have to idea when to do that)

I am traveling on Symphony of the Seas May 31st-June 7th.  New Jersey to Bahamas (if that helps)

Royal Caribbean hasn't told me any of this stuff when I booked so what do I have to do?  Bring?

Help?

I am mostly concerned because our flight gets in at 7:30am  (it'sa red eye) and I have an autistic 18 year old with me)

What is there to do between landing and getting to the port?  Is there anything to do when we get to the port to hang out for a while?

I sit easy to get to by uber or should we arrange transportation via Royal Caribbean? (I know its more expensive by a long shot)

 

I thank anyone that helps in advance.  As excited as I am about this trip it does come with a bit of anxiety.

First download the app to your phone. Checkin is normally 45 days from your sail date. When you check in they assign an arrival time for you at the pier. 

You need your passport information ready on check in day. They will ask you to upload a photo but you can bypass this. Once you have entered your passport information you will be given a choice of check in times for arrival day and can choose the earliest available.

There is a 911 memorial to visit at the pier also while you wait if you are there too early. 

The luggage tags are able to be printed from the desktop login and under your reservation documents. They are available a couple weeks before you sail. 

Day of embarkation you can use the app to bring up your set sail pass for checkin at the pier.

Have fun and enjoy your cruise. I hope to be on Symphony this fall 

27 minutes ago, JaycenA said:

I'm currently booked to sail on the Icon on Feb 24th, but have encountered a super strange problem with RC invoicing that threatens to derail my cruise.

Long story short, cruise paid in full about three months ago, but shortly after that I started receiving invoices saying I still owed about 300.  I called - they said it was a system error and they would correct.  Every month, the amount owed has doubled, now over $900.  I've called repeatedly and been assured it's a system error.

Well, when I called this week (next week final payments are all due) I was informed it's not a glitch, but I MUST pay the 900 or my fare will be cancelled.  I have all the back-up showing this is clearly a system error.  I've escalated this to someone in 'leadership' but they keep insisting the system is correct, even though they can't tell me what the additional 'charge' is for.  Beyond frustrated - does anyone know of any way to get in touch with corporate or escalate this beyond the 'customer service' department?  The compete lack of logic on their part (not to mention they conceded they have the records of my previous calls) is just... WOW.

Send am email with your information to the CEOs email.MBayley@rccl.com

Detail your information and encounters with call reference #s and ask for assistance.

What does your current invoice say the increased amount is for is my only question for you? If you have a document that shows you booked at x rate and paid that rate in full, you should be able to expect they can resolve this.

13 hours ago, amurray88 said:

I love Oasis class ships... But the sheer price now that we have a family of 3 is too much compared to lines that don't charge for kids/babies.

 

HOWEVER, I've just watched a video of Icon OTS and saw the menu for the milkshake bar. $16.50 for a milkshake, they cannot be serious??? ($14 plus 18%).

 

Wow. 

I assume you have never been to Disney or gone to events at theatres or arenas. This pricing is inline with Disneys Crazy Shake prices and arena area pricing for crafted milkshakes. I am a ticket holder for our local NHL team and the venue at the arena is always loaded with patrons. Market research shows parents will pay it so they will charge it and I bet do well.

13 minutes ago, codeyell0 said:

Sailed on her Nov. 23
So much is different compared to the common aspects of Royal ships.
Different shipbuilder? It seems like it was made to fit Royal's design.

This is just my observations

- No real promenade.  It's smaller and it feels more like carnival where it meanders.
- No car art like all the other ships, or at least the newer ships. I always take the kid's pics next to the car. 
- SportsPlex I liked the sports plex but it hides the back of the ship since you can't walk through it.
SportsPlex has a second floor and I think there was an elevator but it was hidden in the back. If you were in a wheelchair or couldn't climb stairs you probably would never go to Playmakers or the upstairs. If you're not looking for the Flowrider you won't find it. IMO  I was on the ship for 8 days and never went to the back of the ship. the only way back there was going to deck 16 and walking around the sports plex outside. since there are no water slides you don't really see a need to go there unless your trying to.

- The arcade was a disaster. It's like an afterthought, games are spread out.  some on the second floor some on the first then there were more games on the other side in the corner.  Then half the games were broken (I know this is not part of the layout just mentioning don't spend the money on prepaid arcade they had to refund me my money because nearly 40-50% of the games were broken) They should reorganize the arcade.  put all the ping pong tables and foosball together and all the arcade games together. 

- No waterslides.  Most likely because of the sports plex. No perfect storm. 

- The pub has food!!!  Though I was not a fan of the food I tried.  I had the fried pickles and they were spears, not chips. and the pretzels were more of a traditional NY soft pretzel.  Usually, I find bar pretzels are softer like bread. The food wasn't bad I was not a fan.  But hey they had food which most of the pubs should IMO.  who doesn't love bar food?

- 4 Person rooms,  Who designed these things?  no pullmans? only a couch which we had to put away ourselves since Royal now doesn't do that.
the couch is too close to the desk so you can't use the desk when it's pulled out. You have to be careful everyone kicked the couch at least once. the path around the couch is less than a foot. You have to walk past this to get to the balcony. That's why we had to put the bed away so we could use the balcony. Really bad design. its a nice room otherwise. For 2-3 people and no pull-out couch, it's a nice room. 

- The shower door swings out and doesn't slide together.  This is fine but when they slide we can have 2 people in the bathroom.  you can't really be in the bathroom if someone needs to get out of the shower.  No big deal just different.

- Windjammer, is great as always, always love the food.  The back of Windjammer was not used it had a station but it was never used.  and the seating was so far from the buffet. These are some of the best seats, but they come with the cost of being like 150 feet from the buffet. 

- They have wearables!!! I like the idea but...This system falls short.  I'm in IT so maybe I'm biased as I can make this system work great.
you still need your card. What is the point of the wristband if you still need your card?  I hate lanyards and using my retractable keychain.  The servers still need to take your card to get you a drink. this is a dumb process IMO.  let me use the app or have an iPad like Kids Club.  I don't need a card at the kids club the wristband has the info and they tap it.  I have to have the card to get off the ship.  They yelled at me for scanning my wristband which has the same info on it. they both scan the same on the tap.  I had my card in my wallet. 

Had a great time and looking for my next cruise but I'm not a fan of this ship with my family. If just me and the wife ok sure, but for families like ours in one room no thank you
 

Its my opinion they are designed to sail from more northern ports year round and offer more indoor venues.

1 hour ago, NeepierRoad said:

Let me see if I’m understanding this right, the majority of respondents would be perfectly happy having $50 OBC when you once had $200. Interesting. Well you are much better people than I am. Where are all my bitter, anti-establishment rabble-rousers? Where are my folks who are tired of the Man? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!...

It ain't over now, 'cause when the goin' gets tough, the tough get goin'. Who's with me? Let's go! Come on!... I’m taking this over the Crown & Anchor group on FB. They love a good outrage story! 😂

 

I think what most agree with here is this is all free funds from RCL. They applied the obc based on the room you booked now, not the one you had. As they should have. It was nice they extended an additional $50 to you when they didnt need to but did it as good will. Had you went on your original cruise its a non issue that they messed up and duplicated the others OBC. But that duplication was caught and corrected. We are so quick to scream when RCL messes up but in this case they gave you what they should have and then some when they didnt need too. 

Continuing to monopolize customer service over this is wrong in my opinion.They applied it according to the parameters of the program. If you found a sailing with equivalent fare in a balcony, you would have received the 100 and so would the others (not the 200). So I fail to see how RCl wronged anyone.

Some of the travel sites allow you to search by name and date of birth to look up the number. Are you sure you enrolled them and they were assigned a number?

55 minutes ago, Starry Eyes said:

It won’t influence me.  I’m going to bid the amount the upgraded cabin is worth to me and mine on that particular cruise.  Tales of past success or failure on different cruises would not help me.

Agreed. We just won our bid from a gty inside to a balcony. Compared to what a balcony is going for now we got a great deal but, I still do t think there is rhyme or reason. Its an algorithm I am not interested in cracking. 

36 minutes ago, PatMunits said:

Looks like the cruise that we booked is super popular. I booked it while being aboard our last cruise so we're only out $200. At this time I see that only GTY category is available, with no option to pick your own interior room. This tells me that RCL is fully booked for this cruise. Sure, it's not yet past the final payment date, so some reservations will drop off. However, seeing that I likely reserved close to the bottom price I suspect that my chance of getting cancelled by RCL are too high for my liking. After all, they have showcased that they are now willing to overbook a cruise beyond reasonable numbers.

I don't have additional obligations that tie RCL to my booking such as a corresponding Air2Sea, or port excursions. A few hundred bucks will be committed to the internet, and maybe a dining package, but that's about it.

This is a cruise that I don't want to miss or change dates. I already have my plane tickets, and some hotel reservations.

What can I possibly do to elevate my chances of not getting cancelled as was done to some people this year in Australia? Would bidding early and higher for RoyalUp in any way elevate my chances?

Booked a gty inide for a cruise leaving 6 weeks out. The cruise has gone from looking like it only had 12 cabins available at day 40 to having 86 cabins in various categories at day 30. TAs are granted blocks to sell that arent accounted for on the regular website. I agree what happened had more to do with possible unexpected cabin failures or covid isolation of employees. 

On 12/18/2023 at 10:22 PM, traceintx said:

@Saoa0318 1 person in our room received a 90% refund, person 2 received a 34% refund and person 3 received a 79% refund.  The amount still outstanding is $4757 - whatever the land tour should have cost of which Royal will not provide a receipt that breaks this cost out.  They have confirmed in writing on 3 different occasions that we were owed the full $4757 back with their latest communication stating we are only owed $607 of which we still have not received any of this additional refund.  

Did eveeyone split the cost evenly? I am agreement with other poster. Review what everyone received and exchange accordingly. We all learned during covid when they issued future cruise credit it was never evenly split by occupants in the room. While you may have evwnly distributed cost, the receipt wasnt broken out this way. By my math person 3 probably received close to 1/2  of what 1 and 2 got combined.

44 minutes ago, traceintx said:

Hi Friends!  I was scheduled to do a land and sea tour back in August on Royal Caribbean for Alaska.  We did the 3 days of land tour and then when we got on the ship, we were told the ship could not travel and the sea part of the cruise was cancelled.  We were told we would get a refund for the unused part of the tour and a credit for a future cruise.  We received a partial refund and for the 3 different people in my room, we have all received very different amounts.  Instead of refunding back to the cards that were charged, I believe that RCI likely completely refunded one person while the other two only received partial refunds.  I have been trying to get a breakdown of the cruise fare between land and sea and have called RCI many times and sent many emails.  All to be told 3 different amounts we should have been charged with a promise to receive additional refunds that have yet to be received.  I have also asked many times for a breakdown and have now been told that they cannot provide a breakdown or receipt.  I have even sent an email to the president of RCI and still am getting nowhere.  Does anyone have any recommendations of what I can do next?  I have emails from RCI promising us to receive additional refunds, but when I don't receive it when they say I will, they tell me that the previous person who sent me the email was wrong and give me a different amount.  This has been going on for nearly 4 months and is the absolute worst customer service experience I have ever encountered!  Any help is greatly appreciated!

What was your original invoice vs what you have received? Most often its never an even per person split for the vacation? I would be interested in what has been received vs what you think you are owed. I am sorry you missed this experience as Alaska is amazing.

On 12/7/2023 at 10:40 AM, PokrChick said:

The lot is open 24/7 so you can go whenever you like.  I would suggest giving the cars from the prior cruise time to leave

My niece was turned away last year at 6am. I dont think its open 24/7.

On 10/2/2023 at 8:52 PM, dg33 said:

Thank you all for your replies. We are not traveling with kids so don’t need water slides😁 we are elite status on Celebrity so will be Diamond on RCL. This is our first cruise with Royal.

I was excited to try Royal and then watched some You Tube reviews that were very unfavorable about the food. Then saw some trip advisor reviews about the cleanliness. So I am very encouraged to hear from all of you. Thank you!!

We are diamond + on Royal and just took my husband on his first Celebrity sailing. Things he noticed...celebrity is cleaner and the plates in the buffett are actual china. I have never complained about cleanliness on royal but we dont frequent heavily used public areas like restrooms near the pool or casino. I didnt norice as many discarded drink classes on celebrity that you see everywhere on royal. 

Unless you get a suite or family cabin max is 4 per cabin. I would ask the kids who they want to room with and plan accordingly. Connecting cabins are nice for extra space. Looks like minimum you could do is 3 cabins. We always had our kids across the hall in an inside while we enjoyed a balcony.

It wont be super hard for them to figure out what you are doing and shut your package off all together with no refund.

Kind of curious why you feel compensation is due. A refund request was granted which is what should have been expected. What added compensation was deserved? I am sorry you missed your excursion but it was a choice to do nothing else that day.

9 minutes ago, cruzsnooze said:

The deposit is refundable less that $100 admin fee.  Why pay a higher price for a fully refundable price, it's essentially the same thing. I usually book through a big box retailer for a shop card or OBC. I will wait until after final payment dates because that's what I choose to do instead of paying for this admin fee. 

Not sure you understand the fees. Its not an admin fee, they are just warning you that you would not receive $100 of your payment back should you cancel prior to final payment. The only reason you dont see it if you book after the final payment window is because you would lose more if you cancel after final payment.

You get all the stateroom benefits that come with the upgrade. You just don't receive the double points if your original category was single. And it does cost them something. Some have commented getting a JS for only minimum bids and moving up from an interior or outside room. Its unfair for those that chose the category and paid the premium for the use. If you were awarded the double points with a Royal Up many would use this method to get into suites instead of paying out right for it. Its a choice.

Unless the health questionnaire has changed, you will not be able to answer no to the signs and symptoms in the last 14 days question. You will be denied boarding.