makai 7

I just received my "docs" today. I've been on quite a few RSSC cruises over the years, and I was surprised at the minimal few sheets of paper that I received in the mail in a plain paper envelope. I agree that I don't need any more fake leather luggage tags, or fake leather document holders, but it was part of the "class act" that made RSSC seem to be above the rest. In the past they used to pre-print the luggage tags to be affixed prior to boarding, with your name, cabin number, etc. It does truly seem like quite a cheapening down of the product. I agree that the less junk I get in the mail, the less that I have to put directly into the circular file 😆 I have no problem filling out luggage tags myself. More insulting is the directions to go to a link for your pre-cruise documents, and when I go to the link I get this: 400 Bad Request Your browser sent a request that this server could not understand. Size of a request header field exceeds server limit. I had already reset my expectations much lower for my upcoming cruise at the time of my booking, so that I won't be overly disappointed. It's too bad that RSSC has to raise prices and lower the experience threshold.

Curious- how far out is your upcoming cruise?

I figured it out- their “ Fourth of July “ sale is for certain categories only, so they must be trying to sell off the cabins that aren’t selling quickly enough. Probably a US only sale.

Anyone else notice the strange cruise only pricing on upcoming 2024 cruises on Voyager? normally the lowest prices would be in H veranda staterooms, and increase in order by G,F,E,D etc. On some cruises, Concierge and penthouse suites are lower priced than G and H veranda suites. Quite a deal if you are thinking about booking. Here’s an example : https://www.rssc.com/cruises/VOY240915/summary

I don’t recall the air allowance. The per person cost for a category G including business class air, with the charges for a non-gateway airport was $12,048 in April, prior to discounts from my TA. Now, the same cabin category (as a gty) is $17,099 pp including business air from my airport, with the current “sale”. These prices are both from starting a booking on the RSSC website.

The cruise only price dropped on my cruise by about $2500 for the same cabin. However, adding the business class air it is now $10,000 more than I paid with business air- so matching apples to apples.

We spent 3 weeks in Tarragona on business, but had some time to explore. I would describe it as a “mini” Barcelona- it was major tourist destination for Eastern European visitors at the time, with menus in several languages available. food was excellent, not too crowded, many ruins to explore, and they have their own version of La Rambla without the pickpockets and grifters. We would wander and get lost on side streets, with churches and squares everywhere.

Thanks for your reply - we are looking forward to this trip, and hope that all the various hiccups are now behind us. -Beth

So I just priced my upcoming cruise under their new program. With business class air ( as I booked) the price increased almost $6000 (more than a 50% increase) per person for the same cabin. This is prior to any other discounts that I received from my TA. Under their new pricing structure, if we book in the future, we will probably end up booking our own airfare. Blacklane doesn’t operate where I live, so that feature is a total waste of money.

Has anyone been the recipient of a cabin upgrade (at no cost)? I was wondering because our cruise is now being discounted due to lack of bookings, and the cost for our spa suite has dropped quite a bit. We paid in full many months ago… Just curious 😊

Hello Redking I’m sorry to hear that you had such a disappointing experience with SEIICHI. Was is all based on the maintenance issues? Were there any positive experiences for you? After several disappointing cruises on other lines, we decided to give Scenic a try. I will say that they have fulfilled their promise to repay us for the unbooked hotel night, and the extra expense to move to another hotel after our first night in Queenstown. Our TA has been very proactive with this issue and seems to be able to get a response from them in a reasonable amount of time. we are keeping an open mind about the cruise and will judge it once on board.

We Booked a NZ trip on Scenic Eclipse II back in January. As part of our booking, we requested 2 additional nights prior to the one night provided pre-cruise in Queenstown. We checked the hotel web site and they had plenty of availability. Scenic added the two nights to my booking, and we paid in full back in February. The payment included the two extra hotel nights. We also had our flights booked through Scenic, as they were offering a fantastic price for business class at the time. Two weeks ago, Scenic notified my TA that the first night at the hotel was not available…. The first night that my flight arrives in NZ. Apparently, they DID NOT book and pay for the hotel, even though I paid them directly for it ain’t February. They will eventually (7-8 weeks!) send me a check for the one night, but told my TA that the first night hotel is my problem to resolve. Or I could just sleep on the street. fortunately I have a good TA that found another hotel nearby for the first night, which I have paid for, but now I have to change hotels after one night… a major PIA. So far Scenic says that they will still provide transportation to the first hotel after the flight (but not showing up on the trip personaliser), but I have to get to their hotel for the second and third night on my own. Not a good first impression. I am now going to waste part of my first day in NZ moving between hotels with hours between check out and check in, instead of enjoying the sights. Please tell me that the on board experience is better than the crappy performance of the shoreside team. We were so frustrated at their uncaring attitude that we were considering canceling the entire trip, but we would have lost too much $$.

And since Blacklane doesn’t operate where I live, useless too.

We experienced a similar situation with Holland America back in 2014. The ship was not permitted to enter the port in Barcelona due to wind conditions. We all were sitting in the port area for about 5 hours with very little communication. Eventually they provided sandwiches and water. Later we were told to collect our luggage, and assigned to buses to a hotel for the night. The people in line in front of us at check in were given the last room. We, and the people behind us were told “sorry, there are no more rooms”. No representative for HAL to speak with. We persuaded one of the bus drivers to call the local ship representative, and another hour later we were taken to another hotel, checking in about 7pm. it was frustrating, exhausting, and wasted a day we could have enjoyed in Barcelona (we had our own hotel and transport to the port prior to the cancelled embarkation). The next day we were taken back to the port. No idea how they handled all the passengers who missed their flights. Very little compensation for the missed day, and we lost one stop in the Azores also. Their attitude was, well we paid for your hotel and dinner…. At least we knew the cause for the delay.

We did not get these in January for the February 28 cruise, so it is definitely brand new! We received the paper folder only, with the pre printed tags for the cabin, nothing else. enjoy!

I have shared this previously with no problem: Jarat Tours is the company that Regent used for our transfer from the airport to the hotel, and we booked a private car and driver (His name was Kevin and he was fabulous!) for a tour the day we disembarked the ship - sightseeing in Franschhoek and Stellenbosch, visiting wineries, a chocolatier, etc. We had a really nice lunch at Glenelly Estate and eventually ended up at the airport in plenty of time for our 6pm-ish flight. Regent eventually (2 days prior to the end of the cruise) offered an included 'day tour' on a bus that ended up at the airport - but by that time we had already booked the private tour, and we were tired of being on buses with all these same people. We wanted to do something on our own. https://www.jarattours.co.za/ https://glenellyestate.com/ https://www.spiceroute.co.za/

Thank you- we have booked and I am now familiar with their not very good web site. The tour section currently is “N/A”. We are being open minded about what they may offer.

We used a private driver/guide for the day we disembarked (evening flight home). We visited wineries, chocolatier, and had a wonderful relaxing lunch on our own schedule. I can share the information with you if you like.

I have to laugh at this discussion…. First, I found the food at Ember to be a poor excuse for American cuisine, unless you classify mushy, frozen vegetables as “elevated American “. I Don’t care if the table has a cloth, a place mat, or a sheet of paper covering it, but I do prefer something to a completely bare table that may or may not have been properly cleaned before I put my fork and knife on it. Or maybe at least give me a bread plate to put them on? We did not enjoy the atmosphere or the food, except for dessert, and we canceled the second reservation so someone who did want to eat there had the opportunity. I don’t eat at Applebees at home, so why would I pay huge sums of money to do so on a cruise? On the other hand, the evening pizza was a nice add on feature for a casual dinner at the buffet. And there are place mats and table cloths used at Waves and the buffet at dinner!

Oceania Suite 12007 is directly under the stage in Horizons. You will hear loud music in the living room and bedroom (and bath) until between 11:15 and midnight depending on the day. Think college dorm on a weekend. we learned to sleep with it. there are many questionable design and engineering choices on this ship…in the end everything is a compromise.

Following, thank you for sharing your experience! We did a wine tour out of Valparaiso many years ago and enjoyed immensely.

Vista is at terminal J today- with shuttles to the terminal B parking garage.

We were somewhat shocked at no table cloths. I’m not a snob, but I expect something better than a bare metal table. Every other restaurant on the ship at least has a placemat. If they were going for America bbq ambiance they could have used the Kraft paper like that used at Ted’s Montana grill. That would have been fine. We canceled our second reservation there, we had no interest in returning. I hope someone benefited from our cancellation.

We decided to be open minded about Ember, but it was as described, a loud TGiFridays atmosphere with mediocre food. The “grilled asparagus “ was a mushy disaster, and was inedible. The waiter apologized and said it was because it was frozen…. But the asparagus in Red ginger was excellent, so this makes no sense. I think they simply boiled all their asparagus and broccoli and leave it in steam tables until they fill an order. No table cloth or place mats on the metal tables felt like another cost saving measure, and we felt uncomfortable putting our silverware on a not necessarily clean table top.

Vista Oceania Suite 12007- avoid this cabin unless you don’t normally go to bed until after 12 Midnight! It is directly under the stage at Horizons, so you will hear the thumpa thumpa thumpa of the bass , getting louder and louder from 6 pm until 12 or later if people are enjoying themselves at the lounge. There is definitely not enough sound insulation in the ceiling. These cabins are very expensive and the extremely loud noise is NOT a luxury addition to the experience. the living room door has an air leak that whistles all day and night while under way too, so consider this when booking.