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Trip Report - Empress to Havana - Jan 15 - Long...


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Our Background....

 

This was our 21st cruise on RCI, probably the 30th total, and we have DP status. We have not been on RCI for about 6 years, as we took a little time off cruising, then cruised some other lines by choice (NCL, Holland) and a couple not-by-choice of Carnival cruises that were gifts from work. We are in our late 50's early 60's. We took this cruise as a respite after a 10 week recovery from eye surgery. We had already been to Cuba in August (NCL), and loved it so much we wanted to return. Cruising is our one area of life that we totally indulge ourselves - we would rather save up longer and then take fewer cruises in order to enjoy an Owners' or Royal Suite. We are extremely easy going and very low-maintenance. We almost never complain (as we rarely have anything to complain about), so spouting here is unusual from us. A review of our August Sky trip can be found at https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2535059

 

Before the Cruise....

 

We chose this cruise mostly due to schedule and itinerary. We booked directly with RCI. The RS did not show as available when we made our reservation, and called to reserve an available aft Owner's Suite. While on the phone, I told the rep we had really wanted the Royal Suite but it showed as booked. He informed us that it had literally just opened up so we took jumped on that.

 

Originally, the itinerary was Key West, Nassau, Sea Day, Havana, Sea Day, Miami. When we booked in early November, I looked on the cruise port schedules and noticed that we were to be 1 of 3 ships in Key West the first day. Hmmmm.....doesn't Key West only accomodate 2 ships at a time?? I called to verify our schedule before independently booking what looked like great walking Food Tours in both Key West and Nassau and was assured that the itinerary was correct. Then about a week before sailing, we get an email telling us the itinerary had changed, and we would now be doing Nassau Tuesday and then Key West on Wednesday - switching the two ports. Unfortunately the new times made us have to cancel the two tours we had booked. Also on RCI's site, they never updated the available excursions for either stop. For example, our original schedule had us in Nassau 11a-midnight and the new schedule had us there from 7am-2pm, but they were still offering a Sunset Sail that started at 5pm.

 

We booked an independent tour in Cuba, with a company we had used on our August cruise and booked a 5 hour Classic Car Tour ($200 CUC), and arranged to have dinner at a restaurant we had seen on our earlier trip but didn't have time to go to.

We decided we didn't want to drive to Miami on Monday morning for the cruise, so went down on Sunday and stayed at the Double Tree that's about 1 mile north of the port. This was a great option, and it took maybe 5 minutes to get to the port on Monday morning.

 

The night before the cruise, we received an email from the Loyalty Advisor/Suite Liason to meet him before 11 to be escorted on the ship before boarding. We thought that a nice touch (until next day).

 

Embarkation....

 

At embarkation, we started to get the sense that this would not be what we normally expected from RCI. First, they would not accept our Cuba Certification form. This form has 4 choices. We booked our cruise after June 16, so the only applicable category for our time in Cuba was option 4 - Other General License Categories - Support for the Cuban People. This category is to encourage independence of the Cuban people. All of our money was spent with independent, non government-related, entities.

 

When we handed in our forms we were told "You are not allowed to choose option 4". My first response was "Then why is it a choice on the form?". They then brough over a very rude and officious agent who told us they would not allow us to board the ship if we chose that option. I stated what our plans are, that they are EXACTLY what the description of "Support for Cuban people" states, and that it was the appropriate choice. She then demanded documentation to prove our intentions. I mentioned that RCI's ONLY responsibility is to collect our form and keep a copy of it for a prescribed time - it is not their job to police what US citizens do in Cuba. She told us we had three choices: 1) Do a ship tour, 2) Choose different option, 3) Go home. We ended up changing options, as I wasn't going to sit there and argue. Our copies of the form have the original, and that's what I kept.

 

We were then given Sea Pass cards. I commented that "Oh, now they're blue - Suite cards used to be Gold to which there was no reply". We were directed to a general seating are to wait for boarding. I then mentioned we had gotten an email to meet the Loyalty/Suite guy in a certain area, and showed them the email. After several phone calls, etc we were taken to the Diamond/Diamond Plus/Pinnacle seating area and told to wait.

 

Loyalty/Suite guy came to the waiting area and asked to see everyones cards. He then asked us why we were given blue cards (like we would know). He then took our cards and several minutes later returned with gold ones.

We were then "escorted" aboard with all the Diamond/DP/Pinnacle people - which we would have had anyway.

 

Accommodations....

 

We knew being about half the size of Monarch/Majesty and from some research that the room would be smaller than today's ships. The room was layed out very well, and made the most use of the space. There was a separate bed area that also led to the bathroom, dining area with seating for 6, a bar area, and a living area with long couch and a couple of chairs, and a great forward-looking balcony with 2 loungers and small table and chairs for 4. Bathroom had a Jacuzzi tub as well as a glass-enclused stand-up shower stall. I must say this was the BEST shower I have ever had on a cruise ship - a big rainfall shower head with tons of pressure.

 

Food....

 

I know that food is subjective....but.....I'd have to rate it as mid-level hotel banquet fare in the Main Dining Room. Chops of course was wonderful. We were able to also do breakfast in Chops which was spot-on every time. The Windjammer was small, selections were few, and seating sometimes a little hard to find.

 

Service....

 

Our overall impression was that the crew was trying as hard as they could - but they were not given the resources they needed. It seemed like the crew cared but the company itself did not. Again, these were just our impressions having had such great experiences on our previous RCI cruises. To us, RCI crew has always been the best of all the lines we've taken. For some reason on RCI we seem to find one or two special crew that we connect with (including one crew member whose wedding we were invited to in Trinidad and we went to visit), and that was no different on this trip. We do not have that same experience on any of the other lines we've taken.

 

Ports....

 

We made Nassau one of our sea days. We would have gone shopping, but were saving our alcohol duty allowance for Cuban Rum.

 

In Key West, we got off for a couple of hours and mostly walked around. We have been to Key West before both on cruises and land trips, so the only thing we HAD to do was go to B.O's Fish Stand for sandwiches.

 

Havana was the real reason for the trip and the highlight of our vacation. I can honestly say that Cuba is the favorite of any country we visited - and it's because of the people. The time before we were in Havana, we used a company called Havana Food tours. This was probably the best shore tour we have ever done, and we loved our tour guide, Yaz. For this trip, we got in touch with Yaz, and she arranged a 5 hour Classic Car tour and customized the stops with us. She also arranged for us to have dinner at one of the restaurants we visited on the food tour in August. We spent some additional time walking around Old Havana and bought some great artwork from a local artist and his brothers.

 

Debarkation....

 

What a freakin mess. Before we left on the cruise, the port of miami web site showed us departing and arriving back at Terminal J. Terminal J is on the south side of Port Miami, next to RCI headquarters. Most cruise ships use the north side of the port.

 

When we arrived at the port to leave on our journey, we had been switched to Terminal G, which is on the North side of the island, closest to the port entrance. I asked if we were now coming back to G at the end and they assured me we would. If not, I would have parked over at J to make departure easier.

 

Sure enough, night before arrival back in Miami we are informed that we will be docking at Terminal J, that there's no self-service departure - everyone has to have their bags out night before - and that after we leave the terminal we have to take our own bags to a shuttle to go to the other side of the port to where we all parked our cars. Also the day before we were asked when we wanted to get off and were given luggage tags that were supposed to be appropriate.

 

There was no special debarkation for suites. When we got in the terminal, we were asked "You are luggage tags 1, correct?". No - we were given tags marked number 10. We were then told that even though we could see our bags in area 10 from where we stood we were not allowed to get them until that number was called, and please just stand where we were for an hour or so and that we somehow should have known we had the wrong tags - yup, all our fault. SERIOUSLY? I was not happy about this and found a supervisor who eventually had someone go get our bags. When we got outside there were long lines for the shuttles (mini vans with luggage trailers). I ended up walking over to the other garage (not far, maybe 10 minute's walk) and came back to pick up the wife and bags.

 

Overall Impressions....

 

We had a great trip, as we always do. Crew was wonderful. Suite service/amenities were very lacking and a bit disappointing considering the premium price. Based on this experience, and comparing to our experiences with HAL and NCL in their top-end cabins, we will likely not consider another RCI cruise.

 

Seemed to us the crew cared very much about our satisfaction - it was the company itself that could care less.

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I commented that "Oh, now they're blue - Suite cards used to be Gold to which there was no reply".He then asked us why we were given blue cards (like we would know). He then took our cards and several minutes later returned with gold ones.

A bit early for them getting ready for Symphony (arriving Miami in the fall) which has real suite class perks and different colored Seapass cards for suite passengers.

 

Yes, there have been changes in the last 6 years.

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Thanks for the interesting, detailed report. I've read similar reports about the crew on other ships not quite being up to prvious RC standards, as if the company is asking them to do too much with too few crew.

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I assume everything is looking pretty good at Key West? We booked Empress out of Tampa with a stop in Keywest, but Royal, decided to move Majesty here and remove Key west. So Empress and Key West will have to wait for us a little longer.

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I assume everything is looking pretty good at Key West? We booked Empress out of Tampa with a stop in Keywest, but Royal, decided to move Majesty here and remove Key west. So Empress and Key West will have to wait for us a little longer.

 

Key West looked fine. They were on the "left" side of the storm, and things weren't nearly as bad as say Marathon or Key Largo.

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Very interesting about the affidavit not being accepted with Support Cuban People.

 

It's one reason we are probably going to cancel our cruises to Cuba and just fly there. The other reason- flying directly there is a LOT cheaper than taking a cruise, and you get a lot more time in Havana.

 

I wonder if the port people will get their stories straight or not...

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We were also on that ship for the January 15th sailing. We are frequent cruisers. We typically book with Princess. We have sailed with other companies; but, too much time has past for me to draw a comparison. Overall our experience on Royal Caribbean was good.

Before booking on Empress of the Seas you should know that the cabins are very small! We are frequent cruisers and this was the smallest cabin we have ever been in. We were on deck 7 in an outside room. This is not an issue for us. We spend little time in our room. The cabin was immaculate. Our cabin attendant was very accommodating! We found the cabin amenities to be less than our experiences with Princess.

Our impressions of Havana were mixed. The people were lovely! Our lunch was delicious. The prices are incredibly low. Our tour booked through the ship was lacking! It was the Old Havana City Tour. Would not book a tour in Havana again! We would walk around and take cabs to the sites we want to see. We had booked a private tour and were forced to cancel it. RC told us that we would not be allowed to do it. A Royal Caribbean agent said if we were not willing to book a government sponsored company we would not be allowed off the ship. We do not see this as being a fault of Royal Caribbean. The insistence of only using a government sponsored company would be coming from the Cuban government. You are allowed off the ship to walk around. Many passengers were picking up private tours out of San Francisco Square. We found the 1950's cars most interesting! The city has been hard hit by hurricanes and poverty. The buildings are in decay! We have no interest to return to Havana.

Returning to our ship you must go through Cuba's security and then through the ship's security. A member of our group had two CUC's stolen by a Cuban security worker. The individual placed their change in the plastic bowl on the conveyor belt. The worker pulled the bowl to the side. The worker knew she had been seen and seemed to not care. The passenger decided it was wise to not argue since it was a foreign, communist country.

The dining room does not offer as many choices as Princess. However we found the food to be delicious! The Sword fish was to die for! We typically followed the recommendations of our servers'. Our wait staff were phenomenal! Each meal the staff went out of their way to make sure our party was satisfied! We enjoyed the buffet each morning in the Windjammer. We found the selection to be above average and on par with Princess. The food was of good quality. Seating can be hard to find. Fortunately, we were all early risers and then room was generally empty on our arrival.

We had a couple of issues with our bill. We had prepaid our gratuities and were charged a second time. They company quickly corrected their mistake. We also had a charge of $50 for two pool towels. We never used the pool or sat in the sun. We spent our days at sea playing cards with friends. We have never seen a charge for the use of pool towels on Princess. We are waiting to hear the outcome of the towel dispute.

Would we sail again on RC? Yes, if the itinerary was one that we liked.

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We were also on that ship for the January 15th sailing. We are frequent cruisers. We typically book with Princess. We have sailed with other companies; but, too much time has past for me to draw a comparison. Overall our experience on Royal Caribbean was good.

Before booking on Empress of the Seas you should know that the cabins are very small! We are frequent cruisers and this was the smallest cabin we have ever been in. We were on deck 7 in an outside room. This is not an issue for us. We spend little time in our room. The cabin was immaculate. Our cabin attendant was very accommodating! We found the cabin amenities to be less than our experiences with Princess.

Our impressions of Havana were mixed. The people were lovely! Our lunch was delicious. The prices are incredibly low. Our tour booked through the ship was lacking! It was the Old Havana City Tour. Would not book a tour in Havana again! We would walk around and take cabs to the sites we want to see. We had booked a private tour and were forced to cancel it. RC told us that we would not be allowed to do it. A Royal Caribbean agent said if we were not willing to book a government sponsored company we would not be allowed off the ship. We do not see this as being a fault of Royal Caribbean. The insistence of only using a government sponsored company would be coming from the Cuban government. You are allowed off the ship to walk around. Many passengers were picking up private tours out of San Francisco Square. We found the 1950's cars most interesting! The city has been hard hit by hurricanes and poverty. The buildings are in decay! We have no interest to return to Havana.

Returning to our ship you must go through Cuba's security and then through the ship's security. A member of our group had two CUC's stolen by a Cuban security worker. The individual placed their change in the plastic bowl on the conveyor belt. The worker pulled the bowl to the side. The worker knew she had been seen and seemed to not care. The passenger decided it was wise to not argue since it was a foreign, communist country.

The dining room does not offer as many choices as Princess. However we found the food to be delicious! The Sword fish was to die for! We typically followed the recommendations of our servers'. Our wait staff were phenomenal! Each meal the staff went out of their way to make sure our party was satisfied! We enjoyed the buffet each morning in the Windjammer. We found the selection to be above average and on par with Princess. The food was of good quality. Seating can be hard to find. Fortunately, we were all early risers and then room was generally empty on our arrival.

We had a couple of issues with our bill. We had prepaid our gratuities and were charged a second time. They company quickly corrected their mistake. We also had a charge of $50 for two pool towels. We never used the pool or sat in the sun. We spent our days at sea playing cards with friends. We have never seen a charge for the use of pool towels on Princess. We are waiting to hear the outcome of the towel dispute.

Would we sail again on RC? Yes, if the itinerary was one that we liked.

 

 

Sorry to hear about your tour experience. Unfortunately you were given incorrect information from the RCI rep. Simply put, RCI wants you to buy their tours which are not nearly as good and way more expensive than what you can get on your own.

 

There was a ton of mis-information going around, especially right after the new rules went into place.

 

Again, it's not RCI's responsibility to police what we do in Cuba - their only responsibility is to keep a copy of the form we signed for either 5 or 7 years.

 

We met one couple that bought tour tickets on RCI just to have a receipt of a ship's tour and then went out on their own.

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OP: which option on the Cuba certification did you end up using for RCI’s satisfaction? My 24 y.o. Daughter and a friend are sailing Empress to Havana in May and I want her to be prepared in case the agents give her trouble about choosing the support of Cuban people option.

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We were also on this sailing. We are frequent cruisers (Pinnacle) with Royal and our embarkation was very easy......drove from Vero Beach and arrived at the port around noon.......only difficulty was finding the right garage for our cruise terminal. Signage at Miami Port is severely lacking.

 

Finally parked in garage and walked across to ship and were onboard in about 15 minutes. going thru security was easy and there was a line of about 100 people waiting to check in. We stood in line and listened to some guy complaining that he was platinum and was supposed to have "priority" checkin.......just had to laugh:).

 

Arrived and had lunch at WJ and our rooms were ready by 1. Our room was quite small, outside on deck 7. Usually we cruise in a balcony, but we booked late and got the last outside room. Room was immaculate, room steward was outstanding always had fresh ice and the best towel animals every night!

 

We stayed onboard in Nassau and spent the day at the pool. Weather was cool and sunny, and breezy, but there were some hardy folks in the pool. Key West we did the Conch train tour.......had to see the changes from a visit a few years ago and we were glad to hear and see that KW was pretty much intact from the hurricane, most damage was a bit further north.

 

We had dinner most nights in the MDR and found the food to be pretty good, but the servers were great. The menus were pretty much the same every night, with only one or two entrees difference each night. Of course, they had the usual Shrimp cocktail, caesar salad apps every night, but escargot only one night (might have missed one night when we went to Chops), but the presentation of the food and the taste of each dish was definitely very good.

 

We had breakfast in Chops every morning and despite a limited menu we enjoyed the peace and quiet of Chops versus WJ. Again, service was very good.

 

Our visit to Havana was interesting. We had a great guide, she was about 30 and the mother of 3 year old twin girls, one of which had a heart condition. She filled us in on the medical care, surgery and medications for her daughter (all at no charge), but that was about as political as she got. The buildings in Havana range from beautiful to falling apart, and a lot of the streets were very dirty. However, the buildings they are renovating will be spectacular.

 

Our tour did no include lunch, but did include a trip to the marketplace, really a large flea market. Here there were many kiosks selling t shirts, rum, leather goods,

clothing of all types, and all kinds of other stuff. It was in a large warehouse area, and was about 6 blocks from the cruise terminal, so if you wanted to stay longer than the tour allowed, you could just walk back to the ship.

 

Once the tour was over you didn't have to reboard the ship, and you could walk around or find another tour (private) to do. Lots of old cars in great condition were available for a fee.

 

We found the crew and staff onboard Empress to be wonderful. Everyone we encountered went out of their way to be friendly and accommodating. To me the best thing about the ship was the fact that the casino was non smoking. I could enjoy the casino and not smell any smoke!

 

We would like to go back to Havana and have an overnight stop to see and experience the night life. Also would like to see some other Cuban ports, so may have to go on Azamara.

 

Our debarkation was moved from one terminal to another, but we had no trouble getting our luggage (we had tag #1, got off about 8:35), got thru US Customs very quickly, and were directed to the shuttle bus, which was a full size bus for us, and our porter brought our luggage right to the bus, we didn't have to carry it. The

port congestion (six ships in Miami on Sunday) was the reason for the change, but we didn't think it was a big deal. A bigger deal was trying to find our car:evilsmile:.

 

Arrived back home around noon time and already thinking about going to Cuba again, either on Empress on another vessel.

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It's one reason we are probably going to cancel our cruises to Cuba and just fly there. The other reason- flying directly there is a LOT cheaper than taking a cruise.

 

 

I was not aware you can still fly direct to Cuba and do your own independent vacation. I’m not completely up on all the rules. Can you explain a bit more or were you referring to booking a land vac to Cuba thru an organized group?

 

Thanks

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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I was not aware you can still fly direct to Cuba and do your own independent vacation. I’m not completely up on all the rules. Can you explain a bit more or were you referring to booking a land vac to Cuba thru an organized group?

 

Thanks

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

We booked the trip on our own. I know Delta still flies to Havana- from Miami and Atlanta, so it's pretty easy to get there.

 

You have to sign the same forms that you do going on a cruise, but since the airlines are not offering tours, you are responsible for meeting the letter of the law. Which is pretty easy- we scheduled 8 hours of interactions with people who are doing business independently- tours, AirBnB, restaurants, independent galleries and stores, etc. All of that is laid out in the a Dept of Treasury guidelines (which I can't recall the location for at the moment).

 

For us, we fly to a cruise or Havana- so that's a wash. The AirBnB and finding food is a LOT cheaper than a cabin on a ship (especially with the premium that Cuba gets), and you end up with more time there. And you are far more confident that you are supporting individuals who are entrepreneurs as opposed to getting on a large bus where it's far more likely a Cuban state owned bus. Which, to me, is what we should be supporting anyway.

 

Now that you can't book tours on your own, I don't see us taking a cruise to Havana any time soon.

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OP: which option on the Cuba certification did you end up using for RCI’s satisfaction? My 24 y.o. Daughter and a friend are sailing Empress to Havana in May and I want her to be prepared in case the agents give her trouble about choosing the support of Cuban people option.

 

KCCRZR,

 

We chose their option 2 - Full Day Third Party Program (Tours not sponsored by Royal Caribbean).

 

The copies that we kept however, have the original choice only (Option 4, with "Support of the Cuban People" checked).

 

This really only matters if the government decides to question the couple million or so people that have gone there by ship......I can't imagine this will ever happen or be an actual issue.

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We are on the March 12 Empress to Havana and have a tour planned with Old Car Tours. I have read that we should check Support the Cuban people. Now I'm confused and worried that RC won't let us off the ship unless we choose one of their excursions. Any suggestions?

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We are on the March 12 Empress to Havana and have a tour planned with Old Car Tours. I have read that we should check Support the Cuban people. Now I'm confused and worried that RC won't let us off the ship unless we choose one of their excursions. Any suggestions?

 

If they won't let you choose 4, choose option 2 - that you have a full time third party tour that doesn't utilize companies on the "don't do business" with. ONLY make the change on the copy that RCI keeps, and keep your original as-is with the Support Cuban peoples checked.

 

With receipt and maybe a screen-print from Old Car Tours, you'll have reasonable documentation. I use term "reasonable" because the US does not define either what documentation you need to have, nor does it define what "full time schedule" means. Reasonable here means what would be "reasonable" to a normal person to interpret from their wording.

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OP thanks for the report! DW and I considered booking another Cuba cruise this spring but ended up booking the Oasis. I posted a review that you may enjoy https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2524443 . Despite some of the difficulties in getting there i very much want to return to Cuba.

 

I read your referenced July 22, 2017 review. Very informative. Great w4ite-up. Thanks for posting.

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And I appreciate very much how factual each of them are. They point out the pros and cons, but are not negative as so many posters are anymore! Thank you.

 

Being one of those posters - I found it interesting too. Especially about food - but that's soooo subjective.

 

Funny - I thought mine came off as negative and I'm glad it wasn't taken too much that way. At least for me it was more negative than any other review I've done, if you've read any. It's really hard for us to not have a good time on a cruise - unless it was something like the 3 day stranded at sea thing with no toilets and food .....

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Being one of those posters - I found it interesting too. Especially about food - but that's soooo subjective

.

 

 

I tend to not pay much attention to comments about food for that very reason! The only time I pay attention to food comments is when I see an abundance of comments all stating the same or similar theme from different people.

 

Your review contained negatives, but it was how you presented them. You were not complaining. You were simply stating the facts. It's like my mom used to say.....You can say anything you want. It's just how you say it! Wish more posters on this forum would live by this rule. It's become so negative and judgmental on this site!

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If they won't let you choose 4, choose option 2 - that you have a full time third party tour that doesn't utilize companies on the "don't do business" with. ONLY make the change on the copy that RCI keeps, and keep your original as-is with the Support Cuban peoples checked.

 

With receipt and maybe a screen-print from Old Car Tours, you'll have reasonable documentation. I use term "reasonable" because the US does not define either what documentation you need to have, nor does it define what "full time schedule" means. Reasonable here means what would be "reasonable" to a normal person to interpret from their wording.

 

Thank you!!

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