ucfknight07

We were on Harmony 6/23. Coastal Kitchen was one of the highlights for us. Breakfast and dinner every day. We like Park Cafe too much to pass up that for lunch. Overall Coastal Kitchen was great. There were a couple nights where they couldn't accommodate our request for a particular waiter because he was already full, but got us in with our second choice one of those nights. The other night we asked for the second choice and someone else showed up. We rolled along with it and the waitress was fine.

Food was well above the standard in the MDR, service overall was fantastic. No "disasters" there for us (other than managing our 3 year old at dinner!)

Booked our free cruise (inside cabin) from casino Royale. Booked Harmony 07/07/18. Upgraded to a WS guarantee for $700

They just assigned us a room. We got an Owners Suite on deck 11.

First time we ever got this lucky. This is our 78th cruise with Royal.

Don't know if I'll gamble on this cruise. Because I'm already about $4000 ahead.

Congrats on your awesome room assignment! We're on Harmony this weekend (June 23) and got a great surprise for our WS room assignment too!

Planning ahead seems beyond Royal Caribbean's ability at times. You should have seen what happened when people booked their favorite aft corner cabin, then Royal Caribbean added more cabins to the ship which changed the cabin number. Suddenly those aft corner cabin were now side facing cabins and other people were booking the now available aft corner cabins. Many unhappy customers over that one.

Agree with all your points. I've read on here that the CEO email usually leads to correcting issues. Not in my case. I didn't mention it, but Resolutions tried to remove the C&A balcony discount when I called to upgrade to a suite guarantee (and give them hundreds of dollars in doing so), even though other changes had been made to my reservation without their error ever being noticed or corrected (I used RCI Visa points for this reservation). Talk about adding salt to wounds... They 'made a one time exception' and let me keep the discount. After all of this, I'll be shopping other cruise lines the next time we cruise.

I do recall the cabin renumbering with aft cabins and all of the frustration with those that were not correctly assigned the revised room number.

I hope you get a good room assignment for 3 soon and have a great vacation.

Thank you! I'm glad things worked out for you to your satisfaction. I'm patiently (OK, not really... more like anxiously) awaiting a room assignment. We're making lemonade out of lemons in the whole thing. At least we'll get a couple extra perks and some extra space, if nothing more (even if it cost us a pretty penny to get the perks and space).

This thread got a little ugly for a bit, with the cheerleaders citing terms and conditions and "you got what you booked" mentality, but there should be a reasonable expectation for a paying customer that deck plans, internal information, and what really exists in the staterooms are all consistent with one another! If RCI can build ships that cost $1.5B +, they certainly could afford to implement reasonable internal controls and an could hire an IT consultant to create a functional web site!

Thought I would update on my experience with a Guarantee room for 3 people...

To summarize, in late March for Harmony, June 23 we booked a Neighborhood Guarantee. In late April / early May, we were assigned to a Boardwalk Balcony (category 4I). A couple weeks after receiving the assignment, I went to check if we received a room with a pullman or a sofa bed. Much to my surprise, our room did not indicate either. After hours of phone calls between C&A, Resolutions, and the Executive office (after emailing the CEO because of the lack of confirmation to the accommodations), we were moved to a Central Park Balcony (without our knowledge or agreement with the move, even though just hours earlier Resolutions advised we would be contacted before any room changes were made). The deck plans still showed no pullman or sofa bed for the Central Park room. We were assured furniture changes were being made and that by our sailing this room would have a sofa bed. Told the ship would take pictures on turnover day to show the sofa bed in that exact room. Never received any pictures. Nothing more than verbal surety was ever provided. In all of this I also learned that RCI does consider a rollaway as the 3rd berth for a 3rd guest... Lesson learned. A rollaway in a balcony room would leave no room to move past the only space it could go - between the couch and vanity.

We kept watching rates and availability to try to move to a room we knew, per the deck plans, would accommodate 3 people. When the price of a suite guarantee dropped substantially, we decided to change to that. Rollaway or not, in a Junior Suite, my concern about space is negated. We had to pay quite a bit to upgrade, but for the peace of mind felt it was worth it.

We are now 9 days out and awaiting a room assignment. After all of the confusion, I have this gut feeling that something will go wrong when we get to the port if we still have no room assigned. RCI is telling me we should have a room assigned at least 2 days before the sail date, but I know there are reports on here that occasionally a room is not assigned before the day of the cruise.

On another note, while trying to sort out the room and bed arrangements, I was accessing deck plans via the UK site, since they would not show anything but deck 3 on the US site (RCI acknowledged this was a known web site issue...) I recently checked the US site, and the deck plans now work as they should.

The deck plans display June 16 onward, and now show the Boardwalk room we were assigned as having a sofa bed. The Central Park room we were moved to does not show any provisions for a 3rd person.

While I get that RCI may update and change bed configurations from time to time, the changes made for Harmony (and it sounds like other Oasis class ships, at a minimum), were ill conceived. The changes should have been planned, rooms identified, and deck plans updated before assigning 3 or more guests to rooms that only show for 2 people. We have booked guarantees for 2 people many times and had no problems. I will never book one again for 3 people, unless it's a suite guarantee.

On Harmony, 6/23/18. WS guarantee. RCI UK showing sold out as well. Wondering what we will get too! We've had our fair share of questions and concerns about guarantees for a booking with 3 people (long story...) and upgraded to a suite guarantee to avoid a potential rollaway in a balcony room. We shall see...

Here is something you might want to consider.

RCI may well be trying to bend the rules to get more capacity into the individual cabins. As posted by another here earlier...

"...government regulations stipulate the assignment of guests to rooms for purposes of emergencies. I'd like to know how RCI is ensuring compliance with maritime law and providing space for each person in a lifeboat should the need arise...."

 

Take this tidbit of knowledge and turn it to your benefit. Dig up the statute number for official reference and inform him that you have concerns about how the additional person in a cabin designated as 2-person ONLY has impact on that statute. Also express that if they are so insistent on forcing your party into such in-appropriate accommodations that you have concern that they are doing this as a normal practice and if so, the impact extends beyond your own solitary cabin so naturally they would need to explain not only that the increase in YOUR cabin occupants is viable but, naturally, they will also need to provide documentation of ALL of the passengers in ALL cabins that would report to your lifeboat in order for you and the maritime laws to be comfortable with this modification to passenger capacity in lifeboats.

In other words, use the laws to your advantage to show them that it may be in their best interest to give you a different cabin. Make it more difficult for them to put you in the cabin that it would be for them to simply move you.

 

To be even more extreme...

You could also tell them that if they don't agree with your understanding that you may well need to put up a viral video of your experience on the cruise in that cabin in tight quarters that could well damage their potential GTY business in the future...

You should also be more than willing to simply cancel the cruise and have them refund your money if you are going to go any of these directions.

FYI - This post is not to be considered "Legal Advice" in any way, shape or form. I am not a lawyer and I do not play one on TV so YMMV

last post on this subject myself so good luck!

< unsubscribed >

ndabunka,

While you noted you're unsubscribing from this thread, I hope that you see this.

You make a very valid and justifiable point that the addition of one person to one cabin may be duplicated within the cabins assigned to a particular muster station, which could cause that particular station to exceed its maximum capacity. Regardless of the debate which has flourished within this thread about what is 'guaranteed' when booking a GTY cabin, there are obviously serious safety implications to cramming guests into cabins without consideration for impacts to the assigned emergency response stations for all cabins within each station.

On a side note, I would be more than willing to cancel this cruise due to the preceding concerns, if it were not within the penalty period for cancellation following final payment. Thus, I am presented with the choice to either lose money to ensure safety and comfort, or press for information which indisputably substantiates the assigned cabin in fact is designed to accommodate more people than is publicized on deck plans.

As it stands in my situation, with the assigned cabin, there is no clear cut 'right answer', but I'm hoping that RCI makes the situation right by assigning a cabin which clearly accommodates 3 people.

Anyone know the max pax capacity on Oasis class ships? How many passengers total do the lifeboats hold? If Royal Caribbean is truly stuffing 3 people into rooms meant for 2, could they be exceeding capacity? My natural reaction would be to think that this could never happen, even if only for fear of the fine / bad press if this were ever caught. Curious.

This is part of my point/concern. What stopgaps / failsafes are in place to ensure that adding a rollaway bed to a room intended for 2 meets the overall requirements for passenger assignment to muster stations?

Frankly, if Royal Caribbean can't figure out how to display more than Deck 3 of the deck plans on the US web site for my ship and sail date (see: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruise-ships/harmony-of-the-seas/deck-plans/1819/08, and try to change the deck number), I'm not that inclined to believe their IT department is capable of processing and calculating variable changes in cabin occupancy and lifeboat capacity.

Just sayin'... :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

It does not matter what anyone on here "thinks". None of us are RCI so no point in asking for "opinions" here that may or may not align with yours as they just DON'T MATTER.

 

Simply do as has been suggested here in a number of posts already...

 

JUST ASK RCI TO REMOVE YOUR RESERVED ROOM AND PLACE YOU BACK IN THE GTY POOL

Chill.

First, you took the quote out of context.

Second, your all caps suggestion to be thrown back into the pool was mentioned once, maybe twice (which hardly qualifies for 'a number of posts', but I guess 1 and 2 are technically both 'numbers').

But yes - If Resolutions can't give me a definitive response as to whether or not my cabin can accommodate 3 persons (without the addition of a rollaway, which in my opinion does not make a cabin a triple occupancy room), then I will ask to be thrown back into the pool.

Can you show me where this is guaranteed anywhere in writing by Royal? I'll again direct to you 6.a of the cruise contract. Obviously they're going to comply with all required maritime laws. But if they can sell a room intended for 2 to 3 passengers, that means they get to sell another room to 3 passengers - free revenue for Royal.

This will be my last repsonse to you, because you are either: (1) a fanboy who will see no wrong in what RCI does; (2) a troll, who only wants to create friction on the internet, hiding behind a computer screen; (3) a shareholder with considerable stock, who has something to lose by the posting of less than favorable comments about RCI online; or (4) a combination of the preceding.

Here ya' go:

"From time to time, we may offer you the option of making what we term a ‘Guarantee’ (GTY) booking. This means you may book a stateroom of a guaranteed minimum category type, (specified by us prior to booking) on your chosen ship. However, the exact location of the stateroom on the ship will be allocated by us (at our discretion) and at any time up until checking in at the Port. "

I see nothing beyond category type and location. Nothing about accepting a room clearly denoted on published documents to only accommodate less than the number people booked for the stateroom.

For my specific scenario, of a category 4I, please see: http://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Royal/General_Info/17055533_Recategorization_Trade_Grid.pdf

See section 6, part a, which I affectionally call the “we can do whatever the @&$- we want” clause.

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/content/en_US/pdf/CTC_Not_For_BR.pdf

 

The only thing a GTY room ensures you is that you have a stateroom of AT LEAST the category that you booked, nothing less, nothing more (and occasionally not even this according to a few, rare reports). It does not guarantee you that the room is naturally designed to hold your number of passengers, just that the number of passengers will be accommodated.

Looks like you edited your post to add the last paragraph since I first read it. I disagree with your statement that a guarantee room "does not guarantee that the room is naturally designed to hold your number of passengers..."

This isn't bunking up with your college buddies... You're a paying customer buying a product. Again, the "guarantee" is a stateroom within a certain class of stateroom, as you point out. Nothing less, nothing more. The expectation which should be inherent is that the room be physically designed to accommodate the number of guests included within the booking.

Maybe this is why years back I recall guarantee rates were only offered for 2 person bookings...

See section 6, part a, which I affectionally call the “we can do whatever the @&$- we want” clause.

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/content/en_US/pdf/CTC_Not_For_BR.pdf

All corporate contracts have catch-all clauses, and if enough customers want to fight the validity of such clauses, the corporation will eventually acknowledge when they try to do something underhanded using such clauses.

As has been pointed out on other threads, government regulations stipulate the assignment of guests to rooms for purposes of emergencies. I'd like to know how RCI is ensuring compliance with maritime law and providing space for each person in a lifeboat should the need arise.

For what it's worth, this is how Disney addresses rollaways:

Our reservation system ensures that you will select accommodations with the correct number of beds and ample space for the Guests occupying your stateroom. We regret that we cannot provide additional cots.

READ: we set the number of guests that can fit in a room, based upon the beds which are actually in the stateroom (and therefore can be confirmed by the customer on deck plans), and no other beds (i.e., rollaways) are offered.

Can the room not accommodate 3 with a rollaway bed?

 

You may not like it, but according to the cruise contract you signed they’re well within their rights here. I understand you would PREFER a different set-up, but these are the risks you take with a guarantee room.

Can you direct me to the section or clause of the cruise contract which states this? I see no mention of rollaways anywhere on deck plans, online, or elsewhere in official documentation.

Also, every hotel I've ever booked with more than 2 people provides a rollaway at the option of the customer. Not as a obligatory means to provide a bed for person #3. When staying in a hotel, the customer chooses to book a room with 1 bed or 2, and opts for a rollaway at their discretion.

Not to be devil’s advocate here, but a roll-away IS technically accommodations for 3. Happens in hotels all the time.

While I would not disagree, rollaways, to my knowledge, have not been historically offered to provide a 3rd berth. And beyond that, a hotel room, even a small one, is almost or greater than twice the size of a cruise ship stateroom (~180 square feet vs. ~360 square feet). So, the placement of a rollaway in a hotel room has less of an impact than it would in a cruise ship stateroom. Even in a JS, it would probably not be a big deal. But a regular balcony is much smaller than a hotel room.

If they want to use rollaways to provide a 3rd berth, it should be made clear to the customer when booking.

I'm thinking all of us with this issue inundate Mr. Frau's email and Mr. Bayley's email with our problem. This is not what I agreed to when purchasing a guarantee... I agreed to take a Neighborhood Balcony, or better, anywhere on the ship that would have accommodations for 3 people. They can't seem to be able to confirm that's what I'll get.

I called and spoke with the Resolutions Dept. yesterday morning, and was told they would reach out to the head of hospitality on Harmony to confirm what is actually in the room I was assigned, a category 4I (which is clearly marked on the deck plans as no sofa bed or pullman). I was told I should hear back from them "in a day or so". Tonight when calling back, because I have not heard from them after 36 hours, which so happens to be "a day or so", I find out the rep I spoke with yesterday is the ONLY person who can see any potential response from the ship, as the ship will be responding directly to her by email. And guess what? She's off... today and tomorrow. Well, that would have been nice to have been told yesterday...

The rep I spoke with tonight seemed to make an effort to do something on her end, but I gathered she can only assign within the same category (which obviously does no good as the category they assigned me to is one that only accommodates 2 guests) or change me to another category if the price is within a certain amount or percentage of what I paid. Of course, the only balconies that are available and accommodate 3 people are now much more than what I paid 3 months ago. So I sit and wait for the rep I spoke to yesterday - on Wednesday - to hopefully call me back on Saturday, "a day or so", after Wednesday.

This whole situation is nonsense...

I agree 182 square feet is very tight. When the sofa bed is out for the night, you won't be able to barely walk anywhere, let alone to the balcony!

So, you would agree then, that a rollaway that wasn't designed to be in the room, would be even more of an obstruction??

I would not accept that cabin. A very similar thing happened to us. Three adults in a Handicapped room, which turned out to have only 2 beds. GS said no roll-aways available, room stewardess brought a roll away, but when I laid on it, it curled around me like a hotdog bun. Complaint after complaint to CS yielded the reply of no other rooms available, but suddenly 3 days later they found an empty room on deck 2. This was not acceptable as I am the caregiver for the 2 handicapped persons in our room. Long story short, I slept on a thin, thin mattress on the floor for the remainder of the cruise. After getting home, my travel agent was told there was a glitch in the system that allowed 3 people to be booked in that room when there were only 2 beds. Too late for us, but now you are forewarned.

 

Lori

Lori,

Thank you for your perspective. Your experience is exactly why I'm concerned that, in spite of assurances from C&A that the room we've been assigned can accommodate 3 people, the RCI definition of 'accommodation' may vary from what is commonly expected.

When my grandkids visit, one gets a cot, the other a blow up camping bed. They never seemed to mind. What's the big deal over a sleeper couch and or cot?

Seriously? If you have nothing positive to contribute to the discussion or to answer the question, why go out of your way to respond with something completely irrelevant? As was stated, it's quite different when family is coming to visit you versus a customer paying for a product. If nothing more, the applicability of rollaways, and potential for one when booking a guarantee, if that is the intent, needs to be clarified by RCI.

The "big deal" is that I paid for a third berth. An optional rollaway bed, IMHO, is not a third berth. A sofa bed or a pullman, as shown on the deck plans, is a third/fourth berth. The other part, which impacts the experience, is that a rollaway will affect the ability to get from one side of the room to the balcony. That, also IMHO, is a "big deal". Particularly when we plan to sneak past the little one to the balcony after he's down. When you only have 182 square feet for a bathroom, a king size bed, end tables, a closet, vanity, and sofa, adding in a rollaway doesn't leave much room to stand.

so far when I asked Mr. Frau to put in writing that our room will have a sofa bed like what he said when he called me on the phone and the only thing I got back through his email is:

 

"As I stated during our conversation, your stateroom will be able to accommodate your three guests."

What he put down in writing does not mention anything about the sofa bed in the email vs. what he told me verbally on the phone. Room accommodate your three guests better not be a roll away bed for my daughter.

In my situation, currently there is not a sofa bed in the room, but they said will put one during peak season.

Here is another web site to view deck plans for Oasis

http://www.royalcaribbeanincentives.com/ship/oasis-of-the-seas/deck-plan/

Thanks for the update and info. I'm hesitant to trust them at their word that a sleeper sofa will be in the room during peak season. It sounds to me like they're just removing the pillow backs and slapping some sheets on the sofa, which is not what I paid for. I'll let you know what, if anything, I hear from them.

OP, curious to know if you've heard anything else. I'm in the same boat (pun intended). We booked a Neighborhood Guarantee on Harmony of the Seas and have been assigned 11717. Deck plans on RCI's US web site can't be accessed for Deck 11 for our cruise date (how convenient...), but looking at them on the UK site, the room is shown as a double occupany (rather, no sofa bed or pullman). I spoke to C&A today, and when getting no where with rep, he reached out to Resolutions, and came back with their response that it would be a sofa bed (in spite of the published deck plans) or a rollaway. I asked for Resolutions directly. I've left it with them for now that Resolutions is reaching out to housekeeping on the ship to confirm what exists in the room. I've never known a guarantee to have a rollaway as the 3rd bed, and I don't want a rollaway blocking access to the balcony in the evenings. If the response is that it will be a rollaway, I'm expecting to be moved to a cabin clearly marked on the deck plans as accommodating 3 people. Which of course, in my category (4I) does not exist.

I saw one of the cart guys rolling that famous cart around. This is the same guy that I jokingly confronted in February about the noise!! LOL!

 

This is also the guy who cleared all of the kids out of the pool to close it down for the night when they were playing Frozen. The movie had less than 15 minutes when he kicked the kids out. My wife and I were sitting in the area at the end of the pool and refused to move. It's not our fault the activities people and the pool crew didn't coordinate their schedules. They ended up starting to drain the pool WITH KIDS STILL IN IT. Dangerous much? We were not very happy about that, and ended up leaving the movie early to go to guest services. We also shared the experience with Betsey the next day. Come to find out, the person who the pool attendant brought out when we asked for the officer apparently was NOT the pool officer, but only a supervisor.

That was the only down side to our Vision cruise (in spite of all the negative reviews as of late.) I understand the pool crew's position, but if a movie has left than 15 minutes, particularly when it's a kid's movie, let them enjoy it and then shut down the pool. Then correct the issue with the activities manager before the next cruise!

Let me start by saying that I know the reviews for the Vision have been mixed over the past few months. We booked the July 17 cruise, which was a 4 night to Cozumel, about 2 weeks prior to the cruise. We were able to get a great rate for a suite guarantee and were lucky enough to land a Grand Suite. It may be simply because we were only looking for a relaxing, stress-free trip with no plans, but we had a fantastic time on the ship. For anyone booked on the Vision, or planning to sail on her, I'd just remind you to keep an open mind to what it is - it's a 16 year old ship without all the bells and whistles of the newest ships.

I would not dispute that the quality of food in the MDR has depleted through the years. Our first cruise was on the Monarch of the Seas in 2009, and even we can notice a difference since that cruise. But I think that's probably an industry-wide trend, given the rise in food prices as well as cruise lines' desire to push customers into specialty (i.e. pay) venues. Having said that, it's not the worst food I've ever eaten.

I also found Park Cafe to be adequate. I would say that the Park Cafe on Oasis and Allure were a step above that on Vision, but given that the one on Vision is retrofitted into an existing space, it was not terrible. I loved the roast beef sandwiches on Oasis and Allure, and the ones on Vision were slightly under those from Oasis and Allure. Nonetheless, they were still good enough (IMHO) for me to enjoy them every day of the cruise.

Overall, we had a great time on Vision. I don't want to discount the OP's report, but wanted to share our experience on her so that those who may be booked or planning to book a cruise on her will also have another opinion for consideration. I think it's important to remember the age of the ship and the amenities it offers when considering a trip on any of the older ships. I wouldn't hesitate to book another cruise on Vision, and have actually been looking into her sailings from Tampa when she'll be closer to home for us.

hladygirl,

Thanks for the feedback on Nachi Cocom. That's exactly what we're looking for in our day - peaceful, good food, and less kids than some of the larger beaches like Paradise Beach or Playa Mia. Nothing against kids/families. We just want a nice, quiet day!

BelRik,

Thanks for your perspective on both locations. I've read up on Nachi Cocom and you hardly hear any negative feedback. I appreciated hearing your experiences there, both positive and negative, as well as Palancar. What time of year were you at Palancar? I'm wondering if flies may be worse at certain times of the year. We should be gone before 4 PM, so I'm not too worried about mosquitos, but flies around us all day long would be a pain.

We did the Destination St John excursion last summer via Royal Caribbean. There were 3 or 4 versions of the tour: Destination St John Shopping/Destination St John Hiking/Destination St John Coastal Cruise and maybe something else that all rode the same ferry over to St John. I think those are all still there, just under different names now, but they were the 6+ hour excursions. (Not the ones that are shorter.)

 

We had 3 1/2 - 4 hours to explore in St John and very few people on our tour. Actually there were so few people on our tour that we ended up getting the coastal tour and something else (maybe walking highlights) before being left to go explore on our own and still had the 3 1/2 -4 hours in St John. The people doing the tour were very nice and made sure to point out things to look at on the ferry ride over to St John.

 

We got to St John (even with the coastal tour) before the public ferry got there and we left about the same time the public ferry left. Everyone from the cruise ship that were on the ferry wished they had done our tour because it docked right next to the boat in St Thomas.

 

I would not hesitate to book that tour again because of the amount of time we had there, the convenience, and because we would not have had more time if we had taken the public ferry and I'm one who rarely books ship tours.

 

Now I will clarify I would not book one of the ships tours that is only a 4 hour tour, you want the 6 1/2 hour ones. The 4 hour tours left St Thomas after us and had very little time in St John and left to get back to the ship way before us. We had so much more time then they did over in St John. And they were VERY crowded.

 

Be sure to stop at Bones to pour your own favorite beverage when you get off the ferry or when waiting to go back. It's right there at the public ferry dock in St John!

 

Let me know if you have any other questions.

I second jessandtwo's comments. We were on Oasis last summer. Both Oasis and Allure only dock in Crown Bay because they are too large to fit at Havensight. We booked the St. John coast cruise excursion, but opted to leave the ferry when docking to let off the other excursions which use the same ferry (the ferry will dock to let off certain excursions, then leave for the coastal tour, returning to Cruz Bay to let those who did the coastal tour off to explore the island.) They ferry crew were well aware that many would opt to immediately forgo their excursion options to explore St. John on their own. We headed for Trunk Bay and had well over 3 hours to spend there comfortably before heading back to Cruz Bay to explore the area. Even still, we spent a good hour just walking around and had time to visit many stores and pick up some souvenirs.

Very rarely would I recommend a ship excursion over going on your own. This is one of the very few instances where the cost of the excursion is equal to that of going on your own, and there is much less hassle since the ship excursion picks you up right at the dock. You won't have to worry about getting a taxi, traveling to Red Hook to catch the public ferry to St. John, and on return doing the reverse in order and hoping that traffic in Charlotte Amalie delays your ride back to Crown Bay.