B2B procedure in Seward, AK

[rubrrick]

Oh no!! :eek:

 

Wow, and he just came back to Radiance a week or so ago! Well, I will get to

see him on our 8/5 and 8/12 cruise before he leaves.

 

I am guessing many will miss him from the rave reviews I have seen.

 

If you have not cruised with Juan Diego in the past, you are in for a wonderful treat!

 

Gina nailed it perfectly in her testament of JD. He will be missed.

 

Bobbie says "Hi".

 

Rick

[island lady]

If you have not cruised with Juan Diego in the past, you are in for a wonderful treat!

 

Gina nailed it perfectly in her testament of JD. He will be missed.

 

Bobbie says "Hi".

 

Rick

 

Well hello Rick!! :)

 

Keep hoping we will see you two on a future a cruise sometimes, but I guess we keep missing

each other. Yes, looking forward to meeting Juan Diego, though it's a shame it will be

the first and last time. :( At least he will on board for our entire B2B cruise. :D

 

Say "Hi back at 'cha" to Bobbie for us! :)

 

Pat and Bucky

Edited July 20, 2016 by island lady

[blondie from arizona]

So, this is what happened and it did not go really well. I will just give the facts and hope that it goes better for others next time. I did fill out my paperwork showing 'consecutive cruiser'. Once on board I checked my dining table for both weeks. Mid week my current head waiter came to our table with a list stating that the table we were supposed to have the next week was not available (it was in a small private room to the side) and wanted to know if we wanted to keep the same table. So, we were on the list with the dining room. Then my stateroom attendant came to me and told me that I was on the list for consecutive cruisers and he would transfer our luggage. Great! Keep in mind, he came to me, so I was certainly on the list. Then on day 5 in the compass it gave us a number to call and leave a msg to confirm we were B2B. Done. I also went to customer service. I was advised by 2 people (the precheck person) and the person behind the counter that I would be receiving a letter with information on what to do next. I also spoke to the Diamond concierge, I believe on day 3 or 4 and talked to him about it twice. No problems. On day 6 late afternoon, I had not heard anything, so again I went to customer service, I should be receiving a letter. Checked with our room attendant. He is good to go, but has not seen a letter. Woke up to get off the ship, NO INFORMATION! At breakfast I overheard someone stating she was on the B2B so I went up and bothered her for information. She said they received an invitation to a meeting that was held on day 6 at 11. At that time they were told what to expect (if you were getting off for a tour or just staying on). She also showed me her intransit card and told me not to leave the ship without one. So, we started a ring-around-the-rosie with customer service and all of the fine people that were directing people how to leave the ship. I refused to go back to customer service, so they walkie-talkied someone and told us to proceed off the ship and there would be 2 officers there waiting for us (Keep in mind this is right around the corner from where we were standing.) So, we proceed. No officers waiting for us. Went through the final bing-bong and now I have no way to get back on the ship. DH was not going to follow! I went to the corner where there were a couple of official looking people and explained the issue. Sure enough, they had a stack of envelopes. She wanted to know our new room number, so I gave it to her. Nope, not there. Started to panic a little. Turns out it was under our new room number. Got our cards and our in-transit cards and off we went. Everyone acted like they had never done this before. There were 26 of us, so they should have known people would be looking for them.

 

Fast forward to later that day we ran into someone in the Diamond lounge who said he was surprised not to see us at the meeting or the lunch. He and his wife had decided not to get off, so they didn't need their intransit cards. However, they went to get their new room cards and it didn't go smoothly either. Then when he went to use his card, it came back as invalid, so he had to go to customer service and get another one. Also, he was allowed into his room early, while we were not. We made an attempt to get to our new room at 12:30; shouldn't have been a big deal, but we were turned away at the door. Made us feel real small. And, to top it off, they did have a special lunch for the B2B people. He said we didn't miss much, but still...:mad:

 

So, I am sure the question would be, did you complain? Well, NO. There was no one to complain to. I had already spoken to everyone and everyone pointed the finger at everyone else. And the DL concierge JD told everyone in a lecture that he gave us that he didn't want to hear about it.

 

And, I should say that the procedure for the B2B in Vancouver is completely different. There were only 2 people doing it. When they got to Vancouver they were not allowed to leave the ship. They were escorted through customs and then escorted back to the ship. No lunch, but it was just 2 of them.

 

That is all. I hope I didn't forget anything and someone finds this information useful.:(

[BEENSAILING]

So, this is what happened and it did not go really well. I will just give the facts and hope that it goes better for others next time. I did fill out my paperwork showing 'consecutive cruiser'. Once on board I checked my dining table for both weeks. Mid week my current head waiter came to our table with a list stating that the table we were supposed to have the next week was not available (it was in a small private room to the side) and wanted to know if we wanted to keep the same table. So, we were on the list with the dining room. Then my stateroom attendant came to me and told me that I was on the list for consecutive cruisers and he would transfer our luggage. Great! Keep in mind, he came to me, so I was certainly on the list. Then on day 5 in the compass it gave us a number to call and leave a msg to confirm we were B2B. Done. I also went to customer service. I was advised by 2 people (the precheck person) and the person behind the counter that I would be receiving a letter with information on what to do next. I also spoke to the Diamond concierge, I believe on day 3 or 4 and talked to him about it twice. No problems. On day 6 late afternoon, I had not heard anything, so again I went to customer service, I should be receiving a letter. Checked with our room attendant. He is good to go, but has not seen a letter. Woke up to get off the ship, NO INFORMATION! At breakfast I overheard someone stating she was on the B2B so I went up and bothered her for information. She said they received an invitation to a meeting that was held on day 6 at 11. At that time they were told what to expect (if you were getting off for a tour or just staying on). She also showed me her intransit card and told me not to leave the ship without one. So, we started a ring-around-the-rosie with customer service and all of the fine people that were directing people how to leave the ship. I refused to go back to customer service, so they walkie-talkied someone and told us to proceed off the ship and there would be 2 officers there waiting for us (Keep in mind this is right around the corner from where we were standing.) So, we proceed. No officers waiting for us. Went through the final bing-bong and now I have no way to get back on the ship. DH was not going to follow! I went to the corner where there were a couple of official looking people and explained the issue. Sure enough, they had a stack of envelopes. She wanted to know our new room number, so I gave it to her. Nope, not there. Started to panic a little. Turns out it was under our new room number. Got our cards and our in-transit cards and off we went. Everyone acted like they had never done this before. There were 26 of us, so they should have known people would be looking for them.

 

Fast forward to later that day we ran into someone in the Diamond lounge who said he was surprised not to see us at the meeting or the lunch. He and his wife had decided not to get off, so they didn't need their intransit cards. However, they went to get their new room cards and it didn't go smoothly either. Then when he went to use his card, it came back as invalid, so he had to go to customer service and get another one. Also, he was allowed into his room early, while we were not. We made an attempt to get to our new room at 12:30; shouldn't have been a big deal, but we were turned away at the door. Made us feel real small. And, to top it off, they did have a special lunch for the B2B people. He said we didn't miss much, but still...:mad:

 

So, I am sure the question would be, did you complain? Well, NO. There was no one to complain to. I had already spoken to everyone and everyone pointed the finger at everyone else. And the DL concierge JD told everyone in a lecture that he gave us that he didn't want to hear about it.

 

And, I should say that the procedure for the B2B in Vancouver is completely different. There were only 2 people doing it. When they got to Vancouver they were not allowed to leave the ship. They were escorted through customs and then escorted back to the ship. No lunch, but it was just 2 of them.

 

That is all. I hope I didn't forget anything and someone finds this information useful.:(

 

Yikes. Since you are still on the cruise perhaps you should speak with the Hotel Director... perhaps there is something special they can offer you as a "we are sorry" something ... Perhaps Merion_Mom and clarea have a contact name / names at Royal in Fla. and email (s) for you to be able to send an email... or make a call....maybe someone will be willing to try to make amends...

[island lady]

Blondie:

 

We were the two that did the Vancouver B2B. You talked to me outside of the CL

on that ill fated Seward B2B for you. I am soooo sorry you continued to have problems

with your procedure. That is awful!! :(

 

Our procedure, as I mentioned, did not go smoothly either. We were supposed

to get the escort at 9:00 am, but through much confusion from the crew and security (not

the usual at all to do the B2B at Vancouver) we did not get escorted off until after 11 am.

Sitting for over two hours in the dining room by ourselves where they told us to wait.

 

They told us we were going to be free to go off ship, then that morning we

were told we would only be allowed off to go to Canadian customs (with a full

four person security escort at that!) and then escorted back on the ship. Felt

like we were under house arrest!! :eek:

 

Lots of sitting and waiting, and an interesting silly walk all through the terminal at

Vancouver where all the security staff were totally confused. We were kind of

like two rats in a maze. ;) It soon became quite comical, and we just went with

the flow. No one seemed to know what to do with us. The whole thing was very

unprofessional indeed.

 

BTW: We were really not very impressed with JD. We ended up spending most

of our time in the CL. Romina in there was fantastic! :D

Edited September 2, 2016 by island lady

[aronde]

Blondie:

 

...Our procedure, as I mentioned, did not go smoothly either. We were supposed

to get the escort at 9:00 am, but through much confusion from the crew and security (not the usual at all to do the B2B at Vancouver) we did not get escorted off until after 11 am.

Sitting for over two hours in the dining room by ourselves where they told us to wait.

 

They told us we were going to be free to go off ship, then that morning we

were told we would only be allowed off to go to Canadian customs (with a full

four person security escort at that!) and then escorted back on the ship. Felt

like we were under house arrest!! ....

 

Wow that is very poor form. We did the B2B turnaround in Vancouver and had no problems at all. Walked off with transit cards and had a nice day in the city before stocking up on wine and getting back on board. Yes it is not the 'norm' to do a turnaround at Vancouver (there were only 7 on ours and 5 of them were our group!) but no doubt someone does it every cruise so they must know how to handle it.

[island lady]

Wow that is very poor form. We did the B2B turnaround in Vancouver and had no problems at all. Walked off with transit cards and had a nice day in the city before stocking up on wine and getting back on board. Yes it is not the 'norm' to do a turnaround at Vancouver (there were only 7 on ours and 5 of them were our group!) but no doubt someone does it every cruise so they must know how to handle it.

 

That was the original plan for us also, but did not go well. My sister was on shore

after having spent an overnight near the terminal at a hotel, as she was boarding

that morning for the return to Seward leg with us. She was waiting for us to come

ashore that morning and we were going to do some walking around. That did not happen,

as we were never allowed to leave the ship, except for customs walk off and back on.

Had to meet her at the gangway on the ship as she came on board.

 

Not sure what happened to mess things ups totally for us and for blondie. Change

in crew, change in security? Well, won't be doing that again anyway. ;)

Edited September 3, 2016 by island lady

[blondie from arizona]

We did speak to the Customer Service supervisor. In fact, she was the one who eventually gave us our in-transit cards. JD was of no help. Loyalty ambassador also didn't seem like a viable option and was never in her office when I felt inspired to chat about it. I was not posting this on here to find out any resolution and I didn't want a bottle of wine showing up in my room (hubby won't drink it and I was happy with my Diamond Lounge time). I have had worse things happen to us and just wanted to forget about it. I just wanted others to know how the process might work for them. I must say that doing the B2B was a wonderful option for us and we truly had a wonderful cruise.

[island lady]

We did speak to the Customer Service supervisor. In fact, she was the one who eventually gave us our in-transit cards. JD was of no help. Loyalty ambassador also didn't seem like a viable option and was never in her office when I felt inspired to chat about it. I was not posting this on here to find out any resolution and I didn't want a bottle of wine showing up in my room (hubby won't drink it and I was happy with my Diamond Lounge time). I have had worse things happen to us and just wanted to forget about it. I just wanted others to know how the process might work for them. I must say that doing the B2B was a wonderful option for us and we truly had a wonderful cruise.

 

Hopefully BOTH of our next B2B cruises will go a lot more smoothly! :)

 

That was our very first B2B...want to do it again of course, and

since it was not a great experience that time...it should get only

better from now on? ;) :p

Edited September 26, 2016 by island lady