CGoguen

Did you not buy anything on board with your sea pass? I'm surprised it worked

I was in an L1 in Allure and did not have one that I recall

If you are being told that you will only get a few $ back by Royal then that is correct. Royal will give you back what they owe you and you file a claim with the insurance company for the balance.

I agree. I think this was just a case of miscommunication. If insurance covers the event, they were the ones to pay you out. Royal only has to pay the part that you would get back regardless.

I love all the Zika posts as if it is a brand new problem. Zika has been in the news for a while now, it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.

I don't bother. A real thief would just steal the whole bag and be gone in a minute than risk somebody seeing them rooting through bags looking for valuables. A lock just makes it look like you are hiding valuables. I've takes hundreds of flights and have never had anything go missing. I keep valuable stuff in my carry on anyway. A few times I've has TSA search and leave a note.

I learned the secret to stress free luggage a long time ago; don't take more than you can easily handle. I was on the Oasis 22 Jan B2B with 29 Jan. I walked off with my carry-on on 5 Feb. No searching for bags, no missing bags, no hours on the phone, no stress, no frustration. I did have coat and tie for formal night and always wear long pants at night, and IMO dress better than many on the ship (okay, not difficult:cool:). And I do have shots, bathing suits, etc. Sure I use laundry, but that is a small trade off for never having luggage go astray. It's your choice whether you own your luggage or it owns you.

And how does this help the original poster?

Inconveniencing who? I am sure any inconvenience to staff is more than offset by three days of meals and service that Royal saves.

 

We were on the Brilliance TA last year and met NJ & Ozzie on board. They are fine people. They live in San Juan so it is silly for them to fly someplace else to embark. I think the fact that they have instituted a fee for this stinks!

Disagree.

They are not going to adjust their very large batches of food any for just a couple of people, especially in buffet areas where they make big trays and just keep sending them out. They might even end up with more left overs.

They are not going to be able to cut out any stateroom attendants but somebody will end up getting less tips.

If people on board cost the company money, they wouldn't be running any kind of business, now would they?

I don't think alarms would have bothered me too much. If there was a serious problem they would never have let you back into the building.

I had to buy one on Allure. $140 later I had something that resembled a few strings that was much too small for me. Unless you are very petite, good luck buying on board.

The CK staff on Allure was amazing when we went in December. We ate there multiple times a day and always left an extra few dollars on the table or gave it directly to our waiter. We also used a WOW envelope and left them some more on our last day. And yes, we prepaid gratuities too. For the service they provided us, it was well worth it to us.

There would be no customs fees if it is Canadian goods returning. Long as the document says that these are good valued at 60$ CDN. Left by mistake while on vacation.

 

A lot of times when they fill the paperwork out they do not put that info on the documents which makes it cost you more money. You should never be charged duty or taxes.

There would have been brokerage fees because it would have required somebody to handle it though customs.

They can't move you back because those rooms are no longer vacant. You can try requesting a move once onboard but it will be unlikely.

I wasn't able to book online at all for our Allure saying in December. On board though, it was never a problem to get reservations and never did we see the place booked up.

We were recently on Allure of the Seas and never once did we see a roaming bar server. That's fine with us but there was also one day in the afternoon where we roamed the whole ship looking for an opened bar and the only one was inside on the promenade with a massive line. We didn't care to wait a long time so we just skipped out.

I didn't even need to ask the room attendant. We were in a crown loft and the room attendant just made sure we always had some.

Orlando airport this weekend was totally lax. Didn't have to take shoes off, laptops stayed in their bag, coats were ok, heck, they didn't even have trays to use. Walked through metal detector and only got directed to the body scanners if the metal detector went off.

This has been my experience at both San Francisco and Fort Lauderdale recently too. Leaving SFO for an international flight next week so I will see if it is different then.

Nice review I heard the loft suites are on 2 levels and are lovely.We were on Allure September 2015 out of Barcelona and loved it.

 

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Our view from the second level... (sorry I don't have a clue how to display a full image)

Did they charge you for the drink packages? It says here in the "Amenities" section that you get the Deluxe Drink Package at no additional cost? http://www.royalcaribbean.com/royalsuiteclass/star

I was in a crown loft suite which is 'Sky' class. It is only the small number of star call suites that get included drink package.

I would put Mamma Mia and Ocean Aria way ahead of some comedian. [emoji848]

 

 

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Agreed! The comedy show was okay but it is very short and nowhere near as good as the other options. Avoid blue planet too, it is just weird.

Were the improper charges on your credit card account resolved? Must have really been irritating. Thanks for the feedback.

Yes but it took multiple phone calls to resolve. First call got disconnected, second has no problem fixing it but needed to talk to my husband who wasn't available. I get him to call back and two people on a row refused to even try and then finally get reached a manager who fixed it without any problems.

Great review and you never even mentioned the amazing cabin that you were in!!! (My favorite!!)

The cabin was so awesome, it made the whole trip worth it. We spent a lot of time just relaxing on our balcony!

Allure of the Seas Review

--- Crown Loft 1710 ---

Just off the Allure (Dec 4-11) and we had a great time! My husband and I had previously cruised one time with Carnival, 5 years ago, and had not had a vacation just the two of us since. Two kids and an international move have happened during that time, so some time away as a couple was long overdue. Since it will likely be a long time before we can travel without the kids again, we decided to go all out and book a crown loft and full beverage package. Here are my thoughts on this whole experience. If you have questions feel free to post them.

Boarding: we arrived around 9:45. We had to go look for a porter and then interrupt their convo with another porter to hand off our bags. Terminal opened around 10 and we were the first ones in the suite line. We were called up for processing which took longer than expected. Turns out, they could only find my husbands card and needed to reprint mine. No big deal. She noted my husband had a beverage package sticker. I asked about mine and she said I didn't need one. I thought that was odd but moved on. We were soon upstairs waiting to board and shortly after 11 they were calling for suites to board. Easy!

Day 1: once on board we quickly learned that the missing sticker was in fact a problem. I tracked somebody down and got a beverage package sticker. We saw Momma Mia this night and the theatre was nowhere near full. I'm guessing most people do not book for night 1 but the show was amazing.

Day 2: Nassau. We should have booked an excursion or stayed on board. We did some wandering around and found nothing but the same usual touristy shops, most of them run down. We were harassed multiple times on the street by people wanting us to buy things them from or take their cab somewhere. Overall a waste of time.

Day 3: At Sea

Day 4: St. Thomas. Loved this place. Wandered around on our own but found some more unique places to shop and we had the best tacos we have ever tasted from a friendly little diner.

Day 5: St. Maarten. After learning our lesson in Nassau, we booked an excursion called See and Sea. This was nice but average narrated tour of the island and included a semi-submersible boat ride to see some fish and underwater life. The narrator of the boat tour was rude and snippy with some of the attendants but otherwise we enjoyed this tour. The guide on the bus was great, funny and friendly!

Day 6 & 7: at Sea.

The ship: seems way smaller than it is. They layout is great with everything you need being in one of a few main areas. It maybe helped that our room was close to an elevator but it never took more than a few minutes to get to wherever we were going. You'd think it would feel crowded this way but it wasn't crowded at all. Pool decks on Seas days were busy so we used the pools early on port days when everyone else was rushing off the ship. Then we would get ready and leave the ship once the busy time at the gangway was cleared. There was no struggles to get reservations for speciality dining and except in elevators, I never felt crowded.

The people: staff were hands down amazing. I didn't meet a single crew member on board who didn't appear to love their job and each and every one of them was eager to help. Some of the other guests however seemed to think that the world owes them something and we witnessed many times somebody throwing a fit because suites had reserved seating that they couldn't use (because they didn't pay extra for a suite). I honestly wonder if these people pull into a self-serve gas pump and get mad because the person across from them, who is paying extra for full-serve, is having their gas pumped for them.

Shopping: I was expecting more. Two shops (Breeze and Pinwheels) were closed the whole cruise and when we inquired we were given some lame excuse about ship sanitation. This wouldn't have been a problem expect I needed a swim coverup (which breeze sold) and wanted to bring home some surprises for my kids. We rounded these things up in port and through the other on board shops. After settling on a cover up from on of the other shops, I realized I had also forgotten my swim suit. Big mistake! $130 later all I could find was something that didn't fit my properly. The only other option available on board was a slinky tiny bikini that may have been suitable for a doll and also ridiculously priced. (No, I really have no interest in blowing that kind of money on a couple pieces of string).

Entertainment: we say Momma Mia (10/10), Ocean Aria (10/10), Blue Planet (awful 2/10), comedy (6/10 good but very short show) and ice games (10/10)

Food: coastal kitchen (10/10 - staff were amazing), main dining room (10/10 but only went one night), chops (8/10), Giovanni's (9/10), windjammer (8/10)and variousmaller food service areas. I ate an excessive amount of NY strip and tried lots of other things as well. Deserts were mediocre at best but we never went hungry.

Debarkation: we used luggage valet (flawless) and express departure via concierges in suite lounge. From the time we left the lounge to the time I was outside waiting for a cab it was less than 30 minutes. No complains.

Problems: while most of the cruise was great, I'm left with some lingering frustration which goes back to RCI disorganization. From the start we had problems with our Sea pass cards and beverage package and then on day 2 or 3 our cards stopped working completely and we had to go wait at guest services for them to reset them. Coming home, they charged us for services we should have received for free and then they charged our card but didn't release the authorization holds they had placed while on board. So they were holding up an extra $2000+ that I didn't have access to causing my credit card to be declined. Getting this resolved needed 5 phone calls because one person would tell us something and somebody else would tell us the opposite.

*** I typed this as fast as I could so if something isn't clear, feel free to ask me more about it ***

They announced Starbucks venues would be included, and within a few days changed their documentation to say it was not included. So currently not included.

Thank you for the clearification. I must have missed them changing it back.

On Allure of the seas now and told Starbucks is *not* included in the deluxe package. Wasn't it just announced a few months ago to be included (coffee beverages, not food). Now I can't find reference to it on Royal website. Did they take this away already?

So you need to fight with royal about your money. Captain can't change the weather