grandgeezer

Why is the percentage of crew getting sick so much smaller than the percentage of passengers??

I've see a lot of passengers not wash their hands or even cover their mouth when the cough or sneeze.

If you prefer to ignore the truth, that is your prerogative. Caveat Emptor.

 

As I said, I have used Choice Air and am not advising against using them if they save a lot of dough; I am advising people to take extra precautions when purchasing deeply discounted tickets from Choice Air as tight connections and same day arrival as one's cruise is significantly more risky with these tickets than the higher priced tickets sold by the airline.

 

Of course RCCL wants you to use Choice Air, it is a money maker for them! Your travel agent is misinformed if he/she thinks that a deeply discounted bulk/specially negotiated ticket provides the same protections as ticket purchased directly from the airline in case of irregular operations. Has nothing to do with trust; has everything to do with facts and making informed, sound decisions as to what is best.

How do you know what kind of tickets they sell? I have a travel agent who has been in the business for 15 years and is a top producer for one of the biggest internet producer and then there's someone online that has no known air booking expertise. Pardon me if I choose to think of the glass is half full rather than worrying about what might or might not ever happen.

I hope I never get as insecure that I don't trust professionals.

For the people discussing the one way international fares that are MUCH less than what the airline is selling, please be aware that these are the tickets that are very, very likely to be bulk/specially negotiated tickets. If nothing goes awry they will look and work just like regular tickets you would purchase from the airlines, but if you miss a connection, have a flight cancelled or incur a delay so lengthy that it would cause you to miss the ship these tickets can really throw a giant monkey wrench into your vacation as you likely would be at the end of the line for stand-by status on other flights and be restricted as to what other flights you'd even be eligible to take. Yes, the price savings can be tremendous but please realize you are taking on extra risk - I am not saying not to use Choice Air (I have used them myself before), but one needs to be aware of the risk of these cheap tickets and plan accordingly to minimize missing a connection or a having insufficient wiggle room for delays/cancellations.

As soon as you get out of bed, everything you do involves some sort of risk. Cutting the grass, home repair, or getting in your car and going somewhere, you have to weigh the risk versus reward and do what your heart tells you to do. There might be a slight chance that something might happen, but there's a 100% chance I'm going to save several thousand dollars on air fare if it doesn't . I've done this three times before with 0 problems.

I doubt very seriously that Royal Carribean Cruise Lines and many travel agents would support this and recommend it if it was very much of a risk. My travel agent supports this 100% to all her clients. If you don't trust the cruise line and your travel agent, maybe it's time to move on.

I've found that choiceair.com is only good for one way to/from Europe. They can't be touched by the airlines themselves or discount travel agents. Last year from Phoenix to Southhampton, England was $396 p.p., flying on Delta. When I went to Delta's web site to change seats, there price was about $1800. We are going to Barcelona, again from Phoenix, in October on Air Canada (not cheapest but best flight times), for $519 p.p. Air Canada's rate shows at $3,000+. According to my online travel agent, who I trust completely and been doing it for many years, there is little to no risk using choiceair.com.

For Continental U.S., you can do better through a travel agent or the airlines themselves.

There are good and bad agents no matter if they work for a local travel agency, online agency, or even the cruise line. Just because you've had a bad situation with one of them, you can't paint all the other ones with the same brush. There are good agents in all categories, you just have to do yourn homework to find them. In my mind, the biggest question is, who takes my money? If it's not the cruise line, move on. I have used 4-5 online agencies and have nothing but praise for them. I book all my cruises based on costs. I'm retired so I can cruise whenever the price is the best. Hence, I've never seen any of the huge price drops other people have reported. I do my homework, I never have called a travel agent after I book a cruise. All other communication is done by using e-mail to either get a price reduction, or change cabins.

One size doesn't fit all. Peace of mind is important. If it helps you sleep at night, use whoever you want and ignore the naysayers.

Stayed at the Embassy Suites several times and really liked it. They have a manager reception (drinks and snacks) in the evening and a full breakfast in the morning. They are both included in the cost of the room. Also several restaurants, total wines, publix supermarket and other stores in a shopping center behind the hotel.

We stayed there twice. The first time we had a room that faced the main street that runs past it and we had some street noise issues. The second time, we asked for a room towards the back and everything was great. The cocktail hour and free breakfast are nice touches also.

Just remember you don't own the reservation, your TA does. That means you lose all control of your cruise. I would never give control of my vacation to anyone but me and my DW.

That's completely false. It's like saying Scottrade owns my brokerage account because I deal with them not the New York Stock Exchange. In both cases, the travel agent and the brokerage firm, they just execute your wishes as you request. You own it as you are the one paying for it. It's in your name not the agents. The only tie to the agent is that they do the paperwork.

I control all aspects of my reservation, from date price, cabin, meals, tours, etc. They do nothing without my o.k. Only I go through an online agent.

If booking through the cruise line helps you sleep at night fine, that's your business, but at least state the facts when posting so the people who are undecided can make up their minds by weighing all the facts of all options.

Does your TA charge any fees for price drops, cabin change, cancellation, etc.?

They don't charge for any changes. I don't know about cancellation as I have never had the need to cancel a cruise. Except for calling someone in the middle of the night, I have complete control of my reservation. Nothing is done that's not requested by me.

As far as TA's are concerned, been there done that and I'm not going back. I've had experiences with 3 TAs because of perks - free tips and so on. My experiences are all the same. They're great up front and all service oriented but once the money is down, good luck getting them to look into something or get a price drop for you. The third and last time I went through that garbage I said never again. Now if I see a price drop or want to change a room, its done with one phone call. No phone messages or emails that go unanswered. No missed price drops because the TA didn't get on the price when I noticed it. Plus, now that I've been on 13 cruises, I know more about it than most TA's anyway.

 

Nope. Never again.

Sounds like you didn't find the right agent. I use an online agent and they are wonderfull, I wouldn't ever consider booking through the cruise line. I've done 28 cruises, with #29&30 booked. They return my calls and e-mails and I've never missed out on an upgrade or price reduction.

The cruises I have booked are on Celebrity Equinox this fall. It's a 13 day Med Cruise and a 14 day transatlantic B2B. They have group space so I paid $700 p.p. less that the cruise line rate. I also got $1,000 obc credit from the agent. This isn't normal for obc. I booked at the right time. We got $50 for being Loyalty members, $200 from gift cards (bought 2-$500 cards and got 2-$100 free, and it was just announced that they were Celebrity and RCL's partner of the year, so they gave an extra $200. The rest was regular obc. We plan on bringing most of that $1,000 home with us as it's refundable.

Book with whomever you feel the most comfortable with, it's a personal decision so there's no right or wrong answer.

We've been on a ship twice for Halloween, once on a Princess ship, and this past Halowwen, RCL's Allure of the Seas. On the Princess ship, they had a costume contest in one of the bars and maybe about 20 people entered it. In October, when we were on the Allure, they went all out, probably because they cater to a younger crowd. They had two costume contests, one for kids and one for adults. They litterly had a couple hundred contestants. They had a parade of them, around the Royal Prommonade that took well over 1/2 hour. The whole Prommonade was decorated very nice and they had a huge baloon drop at the end. They also went as far as clearing out one of their lounges and made a haunted house out of it, with ghouls and everything. Quite impressive!!

The person asked for opinions, just because their opinion doesn't jive with yours doesn't mean there's wrong, or yours is right. Everybody has different views and requirements when the form an opinion and shouldn't be subject to ridicule or unnecessary attention.

It's not a statement of fact, it's just how that person feels on a subject.

We always do B2Bs on transatlantics, to make it worthwhile. We are on the Equinox in October for 13 day Med. cruise and then 14 day TA. That'll be 14 ports in 20 days, so the 7 sea days at the end will be welcomed to say the least.

If they sue, they're probably looking for a settlement, which they probably get. There are a lot of nuciance law suits filed hoping the company sued will pay off rather than going through the cost and time of a trial. I don't think anybody is 100% guilt free no matter what the circumstances. It's not right, but that's the way our court views things.

Our first TA was eastbound. We had a three hour time advancement flying to Ft. Lauderdale, from Phoenix. Then we turned the clock ahead an hour on six of the next 8 days. It was brutal. We like doing alot of the activities and the time it starts doesn't change with the change of the clock.

Last year we did westbound and it was wonderful, turning the clock back an hour, six times, was great. Flying to Europe, over night, we were able to catch a few hours sleep, plus we went in the day before. When we got on the ship the next day, we were ready to go.

Our online travel agent has Celebrity charge our credit card when due. Can change that by sending her an email.

Bringing full bottles of wine to the dining room, Really? Takes a lot of guts. Do you take your wine with you when you go out to eat at home? What's the difference? What's next, packing a lunch and go eating it in a spevialty restaraunt? We drink wine, but always buy it on the ship.Maybe they should not allow any wine or liquor brought on the ship.

There must be some validity to all the negative reviews. I'm looking at a seven day Caribbean cruise in March. I like the newer ships so, besides Royal, I looked at RCL Allure, HAL Niew Amsterdam, and Celebrity Reflection balconys. Royal was $100-$300 cheaper than the others. That tells me they aren't filling the ship. Based on this and the negative reviews, Royal is out of the running. Maybe, if the reviews get better I'll give them another look next fall.

We are doing the Eqinox Med. cruise on October 14 then the transatlantic after that. It will be our third time doing this. One thing to keep in mind, most of the ports we've visited in Europe, are working ports which means they'll be all kinds of other ships docked besides cruise ships. All this means is you won't be docked within walking distance of town or any sightseeing attraction.Your options are tours, taxis, and in most cases, there are shuttle buses (for a fee) to take you into town.

I'm strictly a beer drinker and I don't think it's worth it. You have to have about eight a day to break even. On sea days maybe, put not on port days. I have a cruise booked with the 1-2-3 promo and I took the $300 obc instead. That's a little less than 50 domestic beers when you include the 15% tip. My wife is on her own... Just kidding.

We are doing a Med. cruise this fall on the Equinox. We would like to go a few days early and check out Barcelona. Any suggestions on reasonbly priced, centrally located hotels?? I would like to keep the price down to about $125 per day or less. I checked out the roll call for this cruise and there are a couple of suggestions but priced much higher than my budget.

We did a B2B on the Allure in October. The only ones who had to report to the lounge were the people who wanted to get back on the ship right away. We got off the ship and went into Ft. Lauderdale to "stock up". When we got back to the terminal, we showed our "In Transit" card that was given to us at the B2B meeting the day before, and was ushered to the next available agent who gave us our new sea pass card and on the ship we went. We had the same room.

We did a B2B on the Celebrity Solstice, last year where we had to change cabins. As stated above, we talked to our current steward, and our new steward, and they transferred all our stuff for us. We had to pack everything not on hangers into suitcases though. This was in Barcelona. We were off the ship by 8am and got back about 1:30.

There are a couple of different limits. First once you get a drink you cannot gt another one for apps. 15 minutes. Second the cup will stop working within a few days of your cruise ending.

In October, we did a B2B on the Allure. The first day I bought the freestyle cup. The first time I used it, the screen told me that it expired on the date our second cruise ended. Bottom line, I paid for one week and got to use it for two. I don't know if that's the norm or just a fluke.

I've booked 29 cruises without cancellling any. I would have missed out on thousands and thousands of dollars if I was worried about losing $50 p.p. to cancell a cruise.

Destiny is the one in this situation. I've dealt with others and they are all equally great.

A little background: Last fall we booked a 13 day Mediterranean cruise, followed by a 14 day transatlantic, for next fall on the Equinox. We asked another couple if they would like to go and they declined. They are died in the wool Holland fans. They also must have complete control over their reservation so they always used the cruiseline. This weekend they changed their mind and called Celebrity to book it. The 1-2-3 promo was good for the Med but nothing extra for the TA. They called to tell us it was too expensive. I told them I would check with my online TA and see what kind of a deal they had since I knew they and blocks of rooms on both cruises. Their pricing was $450 p.p. cheaper for the Med and besides the 1-2-3 promo, they threw in a $200 obc. For the TA they threw in a $300 obc. (both cruises were balconys). For the $1,400 savings, they figured they would give up the option of calling someone at 3am to ask questions or change their reservation.

This is a done deal and their down payment does go directly to Celebrity.

This is even a better deal than I got, by a few hundred dollars but this agency has saved me so much money I decided to stand pat. Besides this was for new reservations only.