frito58

One of the people on our roll call had same problems , his flight changed so that his connection was coming in 2hrs after his one he needed to catch and he call choice air and they like Huh Oh well. They would return his calls and he ended up having to call the airlines himself and fixing the problem. That's just sad. RCCL should be embarrassed that's on them . Outsourced or not they include that with their service so its all part of RCCL IMHO.

reply from Royston after requesting his tour in Feb '16:

 

its complicated. there would be 2 other larger ships that day and I'm pretty sure yours would be using the other shipping port which is not ok for me sorry.

 

In other words, " I can't be bothered with you". that's what I hear.

Could have maybe used a little more tact and graciousness.

You know I am not trying to say he is the most professional guy in the world. But he does give a great tour. He showed up late for ours , the van he has is a piece of , well its not all great . He takes the windows out of it to get air flowing through it, BUT saying all of that there is something about him that you just cant help but like . He gave us a wonderful tour we had great time . I recommended him to a Dr. friend I met on a cruise that had been on 60 plus cruises and on some High end cruise lines and he couldn't stop raving about him. So he kind is an it what is kind of guy. Sorry you didn't get to meet up with him . But then I have heard so many brag on Cosol in St Lucia and we just thought he was just Ahhhh ok but he dumped us on another driver as was way over booked and that's how he rolls. At least Royston when you book him you get him .

Thanks for the good words on the AOS its our favorite ship and that's our favorite itinerary . We leave on Oct 24th. Good to hear she still looks great.

I'm sure in between the "jibber jabber" there are useful posts. But sometimes in the jibber jabber you pick up things about people that influence what you think about other posts. That is why people frequently start their reviews with "about us" . You might pay attention more to some posts if people have or don't have kids, eat vegetarian. I never discourage that kind of talk. Now it may make things more difficult for people who join in the last days, but I am good at skimming forums and roll calls mining good information. I guess that comes from being online since the early 80s

Oh I agree there is always useful stuff in roll calls , ours right now is going out of San Juan On the AOS and I have been on that route like 6 times so a lot of people are asking questions on what to does in San Juan and on the islands. So a lot of good comes out of roll calls . This one does have as much talk as some I have been on We have had some that have hit a lot of post.

Again, my issue is not that people don't show up at M&Ms but too many do show up that never posted on their roll call. It makes meeting people you want to meet extra difficult if there are no other activities, like cabin crawl, slot pull, etc.

 

Wolfie was right. People do sit in groups amongst themselves looking bored to tears, not expecting to meet anyone because who would they meet?. Those are the folks who never posted and never got to know anyone!

I agree , I have posted that time and time again. Makes no sense to me why would attend a Meet and Greet when you never posted or never introduced yourself at all in the first place. I have been to a lot of them formal and informal ones . I am very active on roll calls . have made a LOT cruise friends this past 15 years . I even have had people come up and give me a quick hello and say how much they enjoyed reading the roll call but never ever posted . Not sure why they enjoy reading all of our jibber jabber . But if it give them some enjoyment glad we could help out. But I will attend them , don't care if they have prizes , or food or drinks or whatever . To me its or more about making new friends and having fun:):):)

My head is spinning!

 

I think I have successfully booked like 6 hotels in PR and I have no clue what to do.

 

First we are leaving out of Pan Am Pier on the Adventure next June

 

I haven't booked my flights yet because flights aren't out yet for that time so I have no clue what time we'd get into PR the day before.

 

I didn't plan to do any tours or anything in PR even though we probably should but in considering cost factors of the cruise and the flights I was trying to keep costs as low as possible so wasn't really considering it. Was thinking just a hotel for the night to get us to the port the next day so we weren't flying in the same day.... just in case :eek:

 

So I've looked at about every hotel near (and not near) the port to see what is reasonably priced and decent for an overnight stay. I've booked the ones within reasonable price range and am now looking for help -- pros/cons -- advice -- people who have maybe stayed at these places to help me out. I know everyone raves about the Embassy Suites (and not sure which one is near Pan Am Pier) but it required a 2 night stay at the time I'm going. I may keep checking back if someone knows which Embassy Suites everyone is talking about.

 

That all being said -- thanks for staying with me to this point -- has anyone stayed at the following:

 

Comfort Inn Condado San Juan

Best Western Plus Condado Palm Inn & Suites

 

Sheraton Old San Juan Hotel & Casino

Hampton Inn & Suites (Isla Verde Ave)

 

I believe the 2 in red are near the Pan Am port and the 2 in green may be farther away? I'm really so confused. Any help would be great.

 

Kind regards,

Stacy

You are really just making it to difficult . Just separate San Juan Into 3 parts . Isla Verde Closet to the Airport . Condado which is in the middle then OSJ which is at the furthest point and still only 20 minutes from the airport and 15 minutes at most to the port . If you are doing one night I prefer Condado Nice enough area access to the beach if you want plenty of places to eat short trip to the pier any 3 star hotel is decent , I normally just use Hotwire and pick a 3 or 4 star hotel take a bargain and live with what I get . Got the La Concha this year for like $135 with fees its a $200 a night Hotel on the beach in Condado . We sail on the AOS in Oct .

They seem to be getting a little tougher in San Juan last time we cruised there on Carnival ,yes they were lax as usual , but they put an orange zip tie on my cousins suit case as he had a bottle of Crown and some beers he had left over. I knew right away what it meant so as soon as we left the scanners and headed up the ramp I told him to break it off and sure enough they were pulling people aside just as you boarded with those and checking their bags. But my friends had a bottle and nothing so it may have ben the beers that triggered the search not the Crown. Havent heard or read anything on the RCCL pier though.

All I know is by the end of the cruise we have a pile of papers a mile high most we NEVER look at , have 10 TV stations that are cruise related never watch any of them or hardly any , how hard would it be to have one that has a copy of the events going on and upcoming as you go bed flip it on and check out the next day events. But I have to beg for ice on a cruise that they want to save.

ANYTHING that could possibly be mistaken for contraband , all corded items any liquids all go in our C/O plus all medicines and stuff of importance. We normally repack a few things so we have that stuff with us so if there are any questions that stuff if with us not down below. Had to go one time to stand in line for a suitcase over something stupid never again. Never had problem again and they never question anything even our fan.

Was just doing a search on this as my wifes PP is about to hit that 6 month mark . laughing at RCCL giving multiple answers , that is just shocking that you would get different answers every time you call:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

Used Tampa once but got a $44 flight on Southwest each way was able to get a 5 pm flight home . It wasn't that bad rented a car came in a day early saved a bunch of money but that was good old days when SW ran those really good deals to Fl. Now I have to settle for $99 when I can find them:p

The situation cruise wizard describes if that person is not actually a veteran is illegal under the federal "Stolen Valor" law.

Well maybe that one does but the OP has nothing to do with that, he just a guy trying to talk people into helping a guy out down on his luck and he his quite good at it LOL .

Depending on which "any town USA " you're in, panhandling is illegal.

Really and when is the last time someone has been arrested for that LOL . Illegal or not. I would assume its not In San Juan as they sit all over the streets and beg for money.

We booked this hotel and need to know if there are any restaurants close by? We have few senior citizens who doesn't like to walk too far to dinner.

You walk a block or 2 in any direction you can find multiple number of places within 10 minutes or less walk. Maybe 5 minutes. I don't walk all that well and its not that bad. But Tijaunas would be the closest. The Old Harbour Brewery is really good its just down the street and the brew their own beer on site.

I'm amazed he is still at it. Surely the police have had ample opportunity to put a stop this 'gig'.

What is he doing that is "illegal" Other than feeding you line of BS and asking you for some money. No worse than some guy panhandling on any city street in anytown USA.

Wow, OK, back to 5:45....Thanks!!

Plus our last cruise we didn't have to go outside , it was in the nice AC of a theater . :)

I just looked at some Cruise Compass from April 2015 that someone post on here and I remember this as well from the 4 times we sailed on her out of San Juan it always been 5:45 and then you can go to early dinner right afterward.

http://www.goseeittravel.com/adventure-compass-southern-b

The craziest thing was a boat load maybe 15-20 Cuban Refugees off the coast of Grand Cayman and watching the whole rescue.

The saddest thing , we were on an Aft balcony and have to wave at a lady as we pulled away in Aruba . She looked so helpless. :(

I live in Ohio (unfortunately) and knowing the side of town they live in, I'm not surprised.

LOL , I live on the other side of Columbus . Just because they list their address as Hilliard they could have a Million dollar house in some places of that area. You just assume because its the west side the are poor scum of the earth ??? You list your address as Columbus I could assume you are from some the worst parts of C-Bus .

The thing is College spring Breaks start in late Feb and run into late March . I googled as we cruised on March 1st and Colleges are so random. we had a ship quite full of college kids. Then we hit a AI hotel in the Bahamas and it was packed with spring breakers. Never had a problems just several party people .

I am heading back in Oct. I may be one of the few that have met him twice LOL hoping for that third time :eek: he is harmless just a guy looking to make a buck the easy way .:p:p

I hear what you're saying. To me, cost, ambiance and food quality make a specialty restaurant, and like some have said, a date night feel. Therefore, I do not think of Johnny Rockets as such.

Well I guess after 33 years of marriage JR is just as fun as " Date Night " for us as those $40 places and they sing to you there :D:D Who doesn't love have Stayin Alive being sang to them and danced to them by all the Ships crew with their accents LOL

20 cruises the only time we did was the Mystery Theater dinner with a group of friends and it was a fun evening and we do Johnny Rockets every cruise as evening dinner ;) in place of a formal night to us that way more fun and we normally get a whole group to go with us so we do it when they are empty make a fun time of it.

I have no idea what they heck is going on at RCCL lately, but I've HAD IT. First of all, their website is in complete shambles. I've logged on to find that my PAID FOR reservation is not showing up. I log off and log back on again, and voila, there it is. Dinner reservations that I've made and paid for are gone. Only to reappear sometimes--not all the time. Forget shore excursions. I can't even log into the program to reserve those.

 

Dynamic Dining? They can keep it. I want to enjoy my vacation, not schedule every minute of it.

 

Reserving at a speciality restaurant? The reservation says "$0" for Sabor. Great. Only after reading these boards do I find out that I'll have to pay when I get onboard. OK. That's fine. But could you please TELL me that on the reservation page so I can plan accordingly??

 

But today was the last straw. I called RCCL to request luggage tags. The agent told me that effective March 1, 2010 there is a $5 fee for luggage tags because everything is online now and I should print my own. I have cruised RCCL since 2010. NOT ONCE have I been charged for luggage tags.

 

I'm done. If this cruise wasn't non-refundable at this point, I'd cancel. Royal needs to get their act together FAST if they want to retain their client base. I'm a Diamond member, not new to cruising. I'm watching the decline in customer service, and I'm darn angry about it.

LOL of all the cutbacks luggage tags pushed you over the edge , something that takes 2 minutes to print and put in a sleeve and put them on a suit case. The most part you need 2 of them. Oh well I guess everyone has a breaking point. But that seems like such a minor thing to me . I just decided to leave Carnival for a while we are Platinum which is Diamond equivalent but for things like poor food , poor shows , or none , no entertainment on deck. Things to me that make a cruise , not a luggage tag. But we are also platinum on RCCL which is mid level but that did get us $100 discount on our upcoming balcony which I found fantastic:):)

First Time cruisers , DO NOT over book excursions or island tours . Mix in a beach Day or you will be dragging by the end of the week. You will cruise again you don't need to see it and do it all on the first or second cruise .