Momof4crazytocruise

You can go in and update your info after the fact. If you want to check in now and select your boarding time, put what you have now. Then you can update it later. At least, you used to be able to. I renewed my passport because I was within the 6 months of expiration, I entered that one, and when the new one arrived, put the new one's information in. 

20 hours ago, barjpoe said:

Looking for a hotel in the Webster area that offers an airport shuttle or can you give me a name of a shuttle service?

I live in the area and I am unaware of any hotels that provide a free shuttle in the area. The only ones that do would be located around the Hobby Airport area - and if we're being honest, it is not the safest area. 

I would suggest Uber or Lyft.

My sister cruises with her minor daughter, divorced from the dad. She had to get the passport paperwork notarized by him, but other than that she did not need any additional documentation, but that may be because she travelled with the passport. She does bring a notarized letter of consent to travel from her dad just to be safe, but has never had to present it. She and her daughter do not share a last name, so we expected pushback, and got none.

When my parents took my children on a cruise, with their passports, I provided notarized letters of consent and medical authority. No one ever asked to see anything. 

yes, the wine prices have gone up as far as I could tell, and yes, the package was covered up to $14 and you pay the difference per glass. 

I live in the area - it takes about 35 minutes to get to the port if the traffic is light. Very easy. If she wants to see the Space Center, there is a Courtyard Marriott right across the street and within walking distance to Space Center Houston. Also, there are a bunch of hotels off the NASA Rd 1 exit that are brand new and should bein pretty good shape.

We just stayed in Melbourne Beach about 30 minutes South of the port and it was lovely. We stayed at the Hilton Ocean Front, but there were a bunch of places along there. The Hilton had direct beach access and a tiki bar with a nice pool area. 

I have a different last name than my husband and kids. The kids all have their own passport with their names. We have never been given any issue whatsoever with booking or boarding. Additionally, my parents took our kids on a cruise, totally different last names than the kids, no issue. I did have to fill out some forms and have them notarized for them to travel with their grandparents, but my folks said they didn't even look at the docs. 

11 hours ago, CanHardlyWait said:

Oh but this goes beyond a schmuck at the bar. This was a disaster and a health hazard. Nobody would have blamed you for causing a scene. And screw anyone who would. The problem now is while I never had this problem, I have read plenty of people say once home it's a harder fight. I would hit them by phone, email, letter etc all at once. You deserve so much more. 50% off next cruise minimum. Might have better luck settling for discounts over refunds with RC. There actually is a time and place for being a total and complete B**** lol. I really hope you get something out of them. What happened really stinks. No pun. Best of luck. Let us know.

I agree. Unfortunately the didn't give us our letter until we were putting our suitcases out for departure, and there wasn't a lot of time for foot stamping at guest services with all the departure lines settling their tabs. I sent photos and a summary to the email address for Bayley, so we'll see if we get a response. 

11 hours ago, PG Cruiser said:

Grandeur is on my bucket list.  I have read wonderful stories about the "Lady G".  I was supposed to be on her farewell sailing in March 2020 but then COVID hit.  It was my first sailing cancelled by COVID.

It was on mine, too. I was surprised at how low key it was compared to Enchantment, activities/party-wise. I nicknamed it the 'Kenny G' cruise because of the smooth jazz atmosphere and lack of party-vibe. Not in a bad way, just not what I had experienced on other ships. 

3 hours ago, CanHardlyWait said:

I wouldn't have left the ship without a better deal. I also would not have willingly gone back to that room before carpet, curtains etc were replaced. That was almost like saying it was good enough and they will hold that against you. Keep trying anyway.

We didn't realize that was all not fully completed before we went back in. We reasonably assumed they had thoroughly cleaned the carpets and changed out the curtains - as was an appropriate response and didn't realize they hadn't until the smell persisted. We thought that as the carpet was drying it would get better - it did not. I have also never encountered anything like this and didn't want to make demands and look like a schmuck like the jerk with his Diamond plus badge abusing the bartender for accidentally not clicking the right button and charging him for a drink instead of using his coupon. 

Hi all - just wanted to get your take if you think we were reasonably compensated for our "sh!t-uation" on Grandeur. We just got off today. We treated ourselves to a Grand Suite for a Girls Trip with my mom and sister (I see what y'all mean about once you go Suite go don't go back". Beautiful cabin, we were super excited). Night one, we came back after the show to find brown mystery fluid absolutely pouring down the walls and from the ceiling and a growing puddle on the floor. A veritable 'Sh!t Falls' if you will.

It. Was. DISGUSTING.

After about 30 minutes, maintenance finally responded and started pulling the ceiling apart trying to find the broken pipe. Meanwhile the front desk called us and told us to pack up, they didn't have another suite, but they would put us in another cabin for the night. We quickly threw all our things back in the suitcases, and headed to the new room - a teeny balcony (well, it felt really tiny with 3 of us and 3 huge suitcases and coming from the GS 3 times its's size, but perfectly acceptable if it's just 2 of us and we've been fine in one before). When I asked them to make up the pull out sofa for me, since there were three of us, he looked at me like I had 2 heads. Finally, I convinced him to bring me bedding, which consisted of a single sheet, and a dirty, stinky blanket and no pillow. I made up the bed myself. We could not adjust the temp in the room, so I spent the night huddling under the dirty blanket. The staff seemed shocked that we asked what the status of the suite was and that once it was cleaned up we wanted to move back in. By dinner time we were allowed to move back to the original room, but it was still pretty stinky, it looked clean but was smelly. The curtains were soaked with... (use your imagination) and hadn't been pulled down and replaced, the walls needed wiping down, and the carpet needed better cleaning.

We were trying to see the humor in the 'sh!tuation' and had quite a few laughs, made a lot of poo jokes, etc. The concierge was pleasant and offered us dinner at Chops or Giovanni's which was a nice treat, and assured us there would be some 'compensation. However by Day 3, the whole room was stinky, like raw sewage and stinky feet - and housekeeping kept saying they couldn't clean the carpet because we were staying in the room. I finally put my foot down and said I would rather deal with their noise and the blower than the stench. On day 4 they came and ripped out the carpet, took down the curtains, and finally cleaned the wall behind them.

For all this, on the last evening they offered us 20% FCC - so basically 1 night fare for the night we spent in the other room, with the inadequate bedding and temperature. Is that an amount you would accept for this sh!tuation? Should I press for better resolution? I have to say, this being my 6th RC cruise, and never having been disappointed before - I was really let down this time around. I will also mention, the whole ship was plagued by plumbing issues. The toilets were constantly not flushing, and whole sections of the ship, including ours were without proper working toilets for hours at a time. I get she's old, but the fact that we had a sh!tastic sh!tastrophy INTO our room and it affected our enjoyment of the cruise just really let me down. We still had fun, but I can imagine not everyone has our sense of humor. 
 

Am I being unreasonable in thinking that maybe it could have been a little more than 20%?

On 10/14/2022 at 5:48 PM, asquared17 said:

so interesting, i wonder why that week is the week of changes!

 

wow!! hey, how did you like nachi cocom? we were thinking of trying it but are more excited about maya chan and booked that first. i know they are different experiences -- would you go back?

We go almost every time we are in Cozumel. We like it a lot. I am going back to both later this week

I have had this happen last year. They flipped our Cozumel and Costa Maya days. I contacted both Nachi Cocom and Maya Chan and they gave me no issue swapping days on my reservations

Go to guest services once you're on board and order a cake. They'll even put a name on there if you like. You can set up the delivery for anytime you want, rather than pre-booking and having it on boarding day. Last time we did this it was about $25 for the cake and they left it in our room at the designated time. Worked out great. 

48 minutes ago, barjpoe said:

BUTTTTTT, I'm sailing on her in a couple of weeks.

Don't worry about it. It's a fine ship. The ship itself is showing her age, but there is still fun to be had. I've sailed her twice and had the best time because of the crew and the activities - and - having a good attitude. I haven't been on the great big brand new ships, Liberty is the biggest I have been on, so I don't have those to compare it to - and honestly, between Liberty and Enchantment, I liked the experience on Enchantment better. Liberty is lovely, but a much more personable experience on Enchantment. We had a blast. Your vacation is what you make of it. 

Laundry is a challenge for us too. I end up packing for the whole family 'per day' in packing cubes (1 cube has everything everybody needs for that day, and I just pull that cube out in the morning, and last night's dirties go right back into the newly emptied cube, and back into the suitcase). I also pack a small bottle of laundry detergent and stain treatment so I can hand wash some things in the sink if needed (i.e undies for the littles should we have an accident, or run low). We do take advantage of the stuff the bag for laundry, and use the 'coupon' for it if they have one, but really only if something is so gross (i.e. barfed on or whatever, that we don't want sitting around for a week in the cabin). Mainly we just get very efficient with our packing to minimize. I can pack my entire family of 6 in 2 suitcases and a couple of carry ons using packing cubes and carefully planned strategy for a 7 day cruise.  

they scan your seapass card to keep track of them. So make sure you scan them back in when you turn them or you risk a charge on your account.

I will tell you, handsdown that the guac at Sabor was worth every penny of the extra dining costs. I could have eaten 2 as my meal. 

We had a large party of 22, so they just got us tables all next to each other and we changed it up each night who ate with who. We went to the MDR host station right when we got onboard with a list of reservation numbers and asked them to arrange it. 

Correct. Your beverage packages are honored all over the ship and no need to bring your cups anywhere if you don't want to. The card shows you have a beverage package, not the cup. The only time you absolutely need the cup is if you're using the self serve Coke Freestyle machines, if your ship even has them. We don't even bother with the cups and just leave them in the cabin and order what we want from anywhere. 

Independence November 7-11, 2022

That's just RC playing to the locals, knowing that a great majority of cruisers out of Galveston are Texans. The flag and Texas pride are marketing techiniques in all aspects of businesses down here. When I first moved to Texas from Colorado I found it to be a little obnoxious, however it has grown on me. And I will say the CO has begun to rival Texas with their flag on dang near every possible surface and product. For a long time Enchantment had a cruise director from Texas sailing out of Texas. It was a hoot. During the parade of Flags on the last night - he would bring out the Texas flag and recognize crew members from Texas along with all the countries and they would line dance or whatever and the crowd ate it up. It was a lot of fun. 

I have seen in both in port and in the duty free shops on board. 

Just awful. We're scheduled for snorkeling in the same area on our upcoming cruise, and I recall another attack on a younger girl a few years ago in the same location. And now I am off to google 'tips to avoid sharks while snorkeling in the Bahamas'. 

Honestly I would rent a car. You can return it at the cruise terminal, so you'd only pay for 1 day (my rate I just booked was $38/day) and you're covered for transportation to the port in the morning as well. Likely a lot less than an Uber. Just have to fill up in Cocoa Beach before heading to the port.

If you have a loyalty program like National's Emerald Aisle, you can just get in a car at MCO and get on with your life. I travel to the Cape for work all the time and that extra few bucks for the Emerald Aisle mid size is SO worth skipping the counter. 

Also, make sure you have toll money on the ready. There are 2 toll booths between Orlando airport and Cocoa Beach. Much cheaper to pay the toll than pay the car rental 'convenience fee and tolls' and easier than going the toll free route.

(if you want to price compare, there is a way to get an Uber estimate of cost based on time of day and distance/location  https://www.uber.com/global/en/price-estimate/)