JohnC71

2 hours ago, bytheslice said:

I would arrive at the cruise port about 10, no later than 10:30. The traffic into the port, specifically as you approach the terminal and luggage drop off area, increases significantly after 10:30. There is no short cut to go directly to the garage or lot, you will be directed and must pass the luggage zone. You do not have to stop there but it is advisable. The garage is immediately past the luggage zone. Take the parking ticket with you as you need it to pay at the end of the cruise. Only 2 elevators in the parking garage, expect a line on disembarkation day for the elevators.

Thanks!!!

Just the info I needed

Sure this has been covered. Just getting a little excited, as we leave tomorrow.

But how early can I arrive for check in ?

When can I expect to board?

When are rooms normally ready?

Cruising out of New Jersey on Anthem.  I'm in an owners suite, other family members are in balcony rooms. 

Thanks in advance.

Ok. Cruise leaves tomorrow morning. 

Finally got the call back today.  After days of "royal up" department working on it.

After all that they came back with well in the fine print it does say..... See below this is how they claimed they (3rd party company handling Royal Up) is not responsible etc

"The Upgrade will have the same number of berths as the original stateroom."

Do most people even know what a berth is ?

The supervisor I was dealing with from Royal Caribbean said he apologized and that they are working with the third party company on re-wording the description that appears. They offered me a bottle of wine and chocolate covered strawberries. 

I laughed at him and asked for his supervisor.  After a long (5-7 minute) hold, he came back and said he was working with his supervisor on another option and needed a few more minutes. I continued to wait.

The final offer was to put them back in the original category and receive a full refund for the royal up bid ($860) they claimed a room just happened to have opened up today, apparently a cancellation.  It just so happened the only room available was on the same floor they were originally on, and same floor where my other 4 rooms are.  I accepted the offer, more so on principle, as they wouldn't offer me any discount/refund/room credit to stay in the junior suite.  The money didnt bother me, it was more the fact that before bidding the one sentence description of the junior suite says  "living area with sofa bed."

So that's how it ended. Still not happy, but satisfied with the way Royal handled it, as the supervisors I spoke to all agreed. The wording needed to change.

Quick update.  

Customer service manager called back last night, same rep as promised, so that was a good thing.  However, he informed me he had no updates at the time, but wanted to call me as he had promised he would.  He stated that when an issue is sent to the Royal Up department, they have 2 business days to respond, so that we would have a definitive answer tomorrow, which is today.  He did say that he was didnt expect any result/change to room to result from speaking to Royal Up department, but he had to give them the opportunity to respond, prior to them stepping in and offering any credit/incentive for the issue.

Just to note, he did tell me that Royal Up is ran/operated by a third party, and not direct through Royal Caribbean.

So back to waiting.....

1 hour ago, twangster said:

Since you are in an OS about a week before the cruise the suite concierge may email you.  If they do this is something you could run by them and ask for assistance with. 

That sounds even better. They emailed me a day or two back. As we are leaving this Saturday. Been going back and forth on dinner reservations, i-fly, northstar etc. Didnt even think about this. Thanks!

29 minutes ago, FManke said:

No good deed goes unpunished.

That would have been a better topic title for this one. Lol

28 minutes ago, twangster said:

I'd stop by shore excursions when you board and discuss this with them.  Let them talk with the tour operator.

I'll do that - thanks!

9 minutes ago, cobra614 said:

In the very first description it did say "up to" 5 guests.  That alone would have had me researching it more.

 

I have only been on 1 cruise, we had a JS on Symphony,  it didnt seem like the bed made into a sofa bed in our cabin.

 

I hope you get your situation resolved to your family's liking.  Have a nice cruise!!!

In retrospect, yes you are right.  But it only then again mentions that again when it talks about the additional Pullman bed.  Which led me to believe the King and the sofa bed were standard. And some rooms (5 guest rooms) give you the pullman

Imagine if you got in your room and there wasnt a King Bed, you would have expected one as it was listed.

And also, that was me looking at the deck plans after being told it wouldnt have a sofa bed.  If you look at the second picture (later in thread) post - where they give you a description before I made the upgrade - it says "living area with a sofa bed"

At this point, once I had hard proof of them stating it had a sofa bed in the Royal Up description it completely changed the way customer service was speaking to me.  It changed from them acting like I was insane to even assume it had a sofa bed, to them apologizing and understanding and that they were going to see what they could do.  They were the ones who mentioned on board credit, as a worst case if they couldnt get my room changed.  Appreciate the well wishes.

38 minutes ago, twangster said:

When ever I've taken an RC excursion and they collect the tickets they have never asked for ID.  I'm thinking if you can't officially deal with on board just hand them the paper tickets.  They'll need to follow the normal routine of meeting at the designated meeting point pretending to be you.  

All tour operators see is someone handing them the small half of the ticket.  If the correct number of people show up the excursions leaves.  I could be Bob or Sam or Fred - as long as I have a paper ticket I get to go even if that ticket says Jim (and the real Jim doesn't appear claiming his ticket was lost or stolen).

If one ticket is a child ticket and an adult tries to use it that could be a problem.  

That makes sense - Its two adult tickets and one child tickets - and thats exactly who I'd be giving it to.

Where/when would you get the bands to enter Aquaventure?  As this may pose another issue.

We are 14 people, once I purchased a room at Atlantis, I knew I would need transportation there, with several kids in tow, I wanted a private transfer for all of us, so we can depart when we want, not wait for a huge bus to fill etc.  However, some of the other guests already had purchased the aquaventure thru Royal and the price they got was better than current pricing as well as Atlantis pricing.  So I paid for the private van/bus for the whole group (it wasnt much).  Now i'm worried will the others be able to get their bands prior to us leaving on our private bus?

Weird question.

So we previously booked Aquaventure for our upcoming cruise.  Since then we decided to book a room at Atlantis, which includes 4 park tickets, so the three I paid Royal dont do us any good.

We have relatives on same ship, same sailing, I wanted to give them my three tickets.  When I called they said I couldnt do it pre-cruise, but may be able to do it on board?

I know I can cancel and rebook - but since booking pricing is up over $30pp - so its $100 more

We already booked private transfer for all via Royal Private excursions, so we all have a way there, so transpo is not an issue.

Question is, has anyone been able to do this on board?  Or does it seem like I'd be risking even being able to get my money back at that point.

What do you guys think I should argue for/accept?  I won the bid at $430 additional per person, so $860 total.  Which in retrospect may have been too high of an offer to make as the original room I booked them in was only $1650 total.

I'm truly not trying to make out here, I truly put an offer on this room for the sole purpose to give my mother a real bed to sleep on, as my brother is fine sleeping on a pull out.  The original room we had was a mid ship deck 11 balcony room, which already had the two twin option.  I myself have an owners suite, so the family will be congregating in my room before/after dinners, etc.  I asked them to put them back in original room, but obviously with the Royal Up, someone else has already been given that room.

Is it fair to fight for the whole $860 back?   

My wife thinks I could technically have CC company fight it as I didnt get what was stated on the description prior to charge, but I rather not go that route and waste time on phone fighting etc.

4 minutes ago, darketower said:

Unfortunately, you don't get double C&A points when you upgrade via Royal-Up. We went to a Junior Suite from a balcony and they made that clear up front at least.  

Thanks - I didnt think so

5 minutes ago, Kathleen said:

The fact that you have a suite will allow all of you to have dinner together in Coastal Kitchen which is an asset. Otherwise you would have to forgo your dinners there to eat with them in MDR. I know you must be disappointed that the bed configuration doesn't change but the Spa Suite on the Ovation (assuming same for Anthem) has a separate toilet area in separate room and the shower/tub area has a separate tub and shower stall. Really nice bathroom. If eating together in Coastal Kitchen means anything, you may want to consider that if Royal is willing to give money back and restore you to original room. Not sure this helps your disappointment but wanted to throw in one additional thing to consider.

The bathroom definitely is better that is for certain.

Coastal Kitchen doesnt mean much, as although I am also in a suite.  We have 4 other rooms in our group that are non suite.  So in my own room myself when originally deciding to go to a Owners Suite - Coastal Kitchen wasnt a positive/perk for us to consider, as we wanted to be with everyone else.

We (my wife and kids) are however planning to try to get to Coastal Kitchen atleast for lunch, maybe a late second dinner one night after dinner with the family elsewhere.

On a positive note, I did book everyone in the 6 room group the Ultimate Dining Plan, so we will atleast get to eat in the specialty restaurants with everyone.  In which my concierge is already working on all of our reservations for dinner each night.

1 hour ago, monctonguy said:

The good news is, that the beds can be split apart and at least the room is a little bigger, the bathroom comes with a actual tub..and you get double C&A points(I think?!)....if any of those things matter!

Yes the beds could split apart, but so could the bed in the original room I had them in.

Yes the bathroom is better, was actually surprised how nice when I watched some videos.

I thought I heard if you do a Royal Upgrade to a Suite from a non suite room, you dont get double C&A points.  Certainly not an expert, but I thought I read that somewhere.

ok heres an update - as I was really kicking myself on this

My sister and her fiance, have the same room category that my mother and brother had prior to the royal up.  My sister's royal up is still available to be viewed, as she hasnt made an offer.  Here is the description of the junior suite they give you prior to making an offer.

Now it seems I have customer services attention.  I bidded on a Junior Suite with a sofa bed, and wasnt given a Junior Suite with sofa bed.  Customer Service supervisor had me email him this in a pdf form, which I did and waited for him to receive while on phone.  He is going to contact "Royal Up" department and see if any other rooms can/will be available, as based on what he sees the sailing is full, makes sense as it leaves this Saturday.  He already said worst case we will discuss room credit.

What do you guys think I should argue for/accept?  I won the bid at $430 additional per person, so $860 total.  Which in retrospect may have been too high of an offer to make as the original room I booked them in was only $1650 total.

I'm truly not trying to make out here, I truly put an offer on this room for the sole purpose to give my mother a real bed to sleep on, as my brother is fine sleeping on a pull out.  The original room we had was a mid ship deck 11 balcony room, which already had the two twin option.  I myself have an owners suite, so the family will be congregating in my room before/after dinners, etc.  I asked them to put them back in original room, but obviously with the Royal Up, someone else has already been given that room.

Is it fair to fight for the whole $860 back?   

My wife thinks I could technically have CC company fight it as I didnt get what was stated on the description prior to charge, but I rather not go that route and waste time on phone fighting etc.

We are departing on Anthem of the Seas - November 9th.

We have several rooms, one of which will have my mother and brother.  Mother is 60, brother is 28.  I originally booked them in a Balcony room.  I wanted to get them a bigger room, seperate beds, space etc. but at time, paying for them to come on trip already, Balcony was all I could swing.

When I got the Royal Up offer, they were able to bid on a Spacious Balcony, Junior Suite, and Grand Suite.  I quickly looked at all the room descriptions on each floor for Junior Suite and assumed based on what I was reading, this would guarantee me a pull out sofa, this way my  mother could sleep on the king and my brother could sleep on the pull out.

Well I won the bid and got our room number, googled it to find out it didnt have a pull out sofa.  Years ago (according to the videos) it was called a Spa junior Suite, which I no longer even see anymore.

Spoke to customer service, they said there are double occupancy only suites and since original room was double occupancy - tough sh*t - I argued and argued, spent over two hours phone.  They are saying I didnt look at the map/key below to see the symbols and decipher that some suites have pull out sofas while others do not.  I am sure some of the veteran cruisers here are well aware of this, however I am not.  I specifically read through the descriptions, my argument is why wouldnt there be an asterik or something next to where it says one double sofa bed (advising that not all rooms have it)

I asked for them to at minimally accommodate us by requesting a roll-away bed for the room, as based on videos and size of the room it should surely fit - they said they are unable to add a bed to a double occupancy room as there are already two beds - etc etc - Do you think housekeeping/steward will do for us once on ship?

After hours of arguing with customer service, i'm out several hundred more dollars and they still will have to split the king bed into two twins.

Ughhhhh so annoyed - more so of the way customer service handled - they literally made me seem incompetent for assuming what is typed under a description of a room is not guaranteed.  I understand its a full sailing and its less than a week away, and they probably cant do anything, but atleast act like you understand and show some compassion, say sorry etc.  We travel frequently and considered the cruise this time, due to having a small infant, my wife didnt want to fly etc, but I am really upset with Royal's customer service 

I got mine yesterday for my sailing on November 9th 2019

Is it safe to assume all the Royal Loft Suites are the same size?

Minimum bid will put the room north of $10k for the week, 2 adults 2 kids, when we booked it was Kids Sail Free, so not sure how to gauge how good of a deal it really is, as I am looking at future cruises and cant seem to find any Royal Loft Suites on Anthem available.

7 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

How confusing they make this when it's so easy to get the information correct !!!

I am assuming (since they are showing the "Upper Loft" as Star Class) that they are referring to either the Owner's or Grand Loft Suites.  Personally, I would be very leery of bidding on this category b/c, IMO, there are only 2 suites that really deserve to be Star Class and those are 8324 and 8724 (and 8320, of course).  IMO, 8720 and anything on deck 10 should NOT be classified as Star Class.  They claim that all of the OLS and GLS have the same square footage but take it from someone who knows....they do NOT.

I guess if you managed to get them very inexpensively the others might be ok...after all, they are SC, but personally, I would not be happy if I made a fairly high bid and got one of those tiny loft suites.  

My initial thought was to only bid on the Royal Loft suite, but considering I would get refunds for my prior purchased Unlimited Dining Package, Adult Beverage Packages and Kids Beverage packages, Star Class in those other rooms might make sense, like you said, if I could get it for a low enough number.

Finally got my Royal Up email for my room, currently in an Owners Suite - 1 Bedroom 

My main question is what room do you guys consider Upper Loft?  I searched future cruises and I show two "Loft" suites that are marked as Star Class - Owners Loft Suite and Grand Loft Suite.  Not sure which one this Upper Loft is referring to, or if it could be either one?  Just trying to decide if I want to bid on it what room it would be.

12 minutes ago, FManke said:

If you win a Royal Up bid for a GS or above and have already purchased The Key, do you automatically get The Key price refunded, being that most of the benefits of The Key are duplicated by suite benefits except for the Surf and Stream?

There are only a few of The Key benefits that I'm interested in being priority embarkation and debarkation, priority tendering, embarkation lunch and surf and Stream. With the current price of The Key at $16.99 pp/pd it might be worth it. Having said that, I'd rather put in a bid for Royal Up to a GS, OS or RS with added benefits being so much more than The Key and just add the Surf and Stream separately. 

Decisions. decisions?

About a month ago, I upgraded my balcony room to a Grand Suite.  I then had to cancel The Key via the cruise planner, it didnt happen automatically.  

Just to add - I did this upgrade prior to Royal Up, through my TA.  But I would imagine upgrading through Royal Up wouldnt automatically cancel "The Key" purchase

On 10/12/2019 at 2:05 PM, JLMoran said:

ll of that is before factoring in the live entertainment we'll have on board. So far, our regular performers will be:

• Joyce Kuo playing guitar early evenings in the Schooner Bar
• Jafar Curry, Marc McBride, and Pavel Boev will be taking turns playing piano in the Schooner Bar after the late dinner hour
• William Millar will be our nightly guitar player performing in the pub
• Mellow Mood will be playing Caribbean music in Boleros each afternoon...
• ...while Marakas will be playing their "Latin Fiesta" show nightly in Boleros
• And finally, the Royal Swedes will be returning to perform in The Music Hall

Hope you had a great time on your cruise.  Question for you, as I am sailing Anthem November 9th. 

Where did you see the live performer, prior to boarding? 

As I have looked everywhere in the cruise planner and the Royal app, and only thing I see are the main shows, WWRY, Spectra, and The Gift.  

12 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:

RoyalUp bids can be won up to cruise day..you never know when it comes to down to the wire cancellations.

I hope you can get some answers from Royal, but I think you need to contact cruises.com and inquire with them as they are your TA.  Royal usually won't talk directly with you because of that.

I think you were right about the travel agent possibly opting out.  I have 4 rooms booked through cruises.com.  Another family member booked separately later on through Royal, I just tried they're info and it brought me right in and showed me room options to bid on.

I'll call TA later.  Although currently we have all 5 rooms on same floor, all mid ship, and I know once bidding you are subject to wherever they place you.  With a few small kids in a few of the rooms, it may be easier to just stay where we all are.

Originally when we booked the excursion, we weren't due into Nassau port until 12pm.  So the Aquaventure excursion was listed at half day and was scheduled on my calendar at 1pm.

Since booking, they swapped my Nassau Bahamas port day with Coco Cay port day, and adjusted times, so now we get into both ports earlier in morning and stay whole day.  Which was a nice move which made sense. This change was done 1-2 months ago, when I saw that change, I called Royal and asked about the excusrion, of course they were no help, just repeating my current scheduled times.  I figured it was something I could/would handle once on board.  

This morning, we received email notifications that our excursion time had been changed to 9am.  Which is what we want, however my concern now is, it is still listed as half day and according to calendar is scheduled to end at 1pm.  I already checked and they have not added a full day aquaventure excursion.

My questions are

Will Royal have multiple shuttles back at different times, as we are in Nassau until 6pm that evening?

Does Atlantis have some way of knowing you are supposed to leave at 1pm?  Should we decide to stay and find our own way back to ship if Royals last shuttle leaves Atlantis at 1pm.

1 minute ago, AshleyDillo said:

I was asking the Travel Agency question because  TAs can opt-out of allowing the RoyalUp.  I believe Costco Travel has opted out of it, but I'm not sure about the other big agencies.  

Thanks for your response.  I'm going to try calling Royal later - Although, at this point, we may have waited too long.