bobroo

Can I change your mind @Ampurp85? Royal Caribbean does a piss poor job of explaining what it sells. They rely on blogs, you tubers, social media, etc. to be their marketing and sales departments and inform passengers on exactly what is going on and assumably correct information is going to be received. So if a first time cruisers only source of information is the RC website, of course they are going to show up to the Brisbane cruise terminal without a clue and are an easy swindle.

I would encourage everyone here to read and reread through this story and use it as a learning tool. Apply the lessons to every upcoming cruise you have in the future. Meaning: Passengers miss embarkation on every sailing, on every cruise line. There are a bazillion reasons why and one of them is that they are turned away by the cruise line for a reason they will never find out. So....thinking about an upcoming cruise you may have 'What would you do if you missed the boat?' I don't think you need to have an explicit plan but you should table the thought and talk about it beforehand. Someone who drives to a port and does a short haul 3 or 4 nighter the answer might be as simple as turn around and go back home. If your next cruise is grail cruise packed with bucket list items that you have spent a small fortune for... then having the Plan B is as important as packing your suitcases. An important note about the Plan B: folks here will chime in and say 'I'd never let that happen' or 'I always have trip insurance' or 'Michael Bayley is my FB friend' or 'I book refundable' none of that means squat. I look at it as my butt is in Brisbane and I don't have a ship to get on, I need create a vacation (or a way back home) with the funds in my wallet and contents of my suitcases. OK...GO! Another lesson is to see that Royal choses to give bad news in the embarkation terminal. They delay and therefore don't call, or email, or use the free online chat, or notify your travel agent. They wait till you show up at embarkation. Again, it's likely you'll never find out the real reason for the denial. This is very much the culture of RCCL. I'll allow you time to scratch your head and wonder why it is so important for me to provide all this contact information to Royal when booking the cruise, signing into the website, and UGH! online check-in if they ain't ever gonna use it? As a guy who has been on 50 some Royal Caribbean cruises and flown to every one, yes; I have made it on every boat. However, there have been no less than 5 times the wolf was knocking on the door. And even though I made it through those five difficult times, it was very obvious to see that it might have gone completely the other way. So I'm here to tell you if you are going to make cruising a part of your life, it's not a matter if you'll ever miss a sailing but rather; could it be your next one? I begin rolling my dice again next Thursday, wish me luck.

I hope the old man and his soapbox doesn't ask me what parkour is. Because it looks like that could certainly be the case.

Just a guess from left field but I'd say something structural/mechanical is effecting an area of the ship. It is entirely possible folks with assigned cabins in this area got reassigned elsewhere and an unfortunate few who had GTY cabins got put into rooms that are uninhabitable and therefore received the bad news at the cruise terminal. I'd also guess that those that were denied boarding were the lowest fare paying passengers for that voyage. If I was the guy who just yesterday wrote the $2B check for Icon of the Seas; Yeah....print out the manifest sorted by cruise fare paid--highest to lowest. Then take a pair of scissors and cut off the bottom 13 rooms. Those are the people who are denied boarding. Oh! and what did we last compensate those on Radiance in Alaska this year??? Eww....<glances again at checkbook>.... just give 'em a 25% FCC.

I don't want to step on anyones buzz. I don't want anyone to overreact, including myself. This is a big feature of the new ship and they made the lightest bags of sand they could find work so this means that anyone can participate; if they want to. Great. But I am also the guy who finds fault with nearly every waterslide that Royal has installed, so consider the source.

Here comes that old man with too much time on his hands dragging that ol' soapbox into the public square again..... Ya' knows... there are established firm policies against climbing on railings or the throwing of things overboard; but now <scratching head> there is an exception and that is unless you are on this thrill ride? The Cloe Wiegard accident, the other kids that have fallen onto the floor of the Centrum, the idiot diving into the water in Nassau; the extending of anything over a cruise ship railing is a No. An absolute, without exception No. It includes things that you are trying to dry on your balcony. It includes fishing. It includes frustrated people throwing their balcony furniture overboard. The penalty for violating this policy on ANY cruise line is overwhelmingly being dismissed from continuing the sailing and let off at the next port. But Crowns Edge is somehow different? Hard to believe... And another thing, and perhaps more important. The testing of a 44lbs bag of sand in the manufactures warehouse in Bulgaria might yield the results you'd like to see. The mocked up rendition in Miami might reassure decision makers they are making the right choices. Or, at least tell them how far stepping stones should be from one another. But I'm a guy who has been on dozens of cruise ships. And I've been to Labadee a bunch of times too. From my experience on cruise ships I can tell you with 100% certainty that it is always windy as hell on the top deck when underway. More often than not, it is uncomfortably windy. So ya' mean to tell me you are going to allow this thrill ride to happen while at sea? Nobody has thought what happens (for a good example ) when a tall, lanky teenager with no real mass loses all momentum headed into a stiff headwind? Not one of you have been to Labadee to see that it is very commonplace for zipliners to get stuck and not make it to the end? Especially after sand and salt spray has caused corrosion on the cables overtime and slowed the speed of the ride all while increasing friction? Finally, I don't know nutt'in about rollercoasters or theme park rides. Especially how they are designed or engineered. But I tell ya' once you get on one of them, that ride is going to bring all its' occupants back to where it originated whether they like it or not. If someone faints, has a medical condition, panics, or even has misgivings....they are forced to return to where the ride originates. This is not the case on the Crown's Edge. So yeah I'm tellin' all ya' alls this poorly designed and not well thought out. Does this thing make money and pay for itself? Yeah. Is it a unique marketing plus? Affirmative. Is it another example that your cruise fare is just a price for admission and everything onboard is going to cost more money? Does it add to cruisers becoming more competitive with one another and lead to bad behavior? Yes and Yes! I appreciate anyone who has stuck around this far to listen to me. I apologize distracting from the thought that the discussion is about sign up is available or it's price. I think for $90 you'll be able to do it as many times as you want on your sailing; it's not a one and done thing. <mumbles> Thanks again. <more growling> <the scrapping sound of the ol' soapbox on concrete fades as the old man slowly walks away>

That North American residents will undoubtedly have the pleasure to go to the Changi Airport twice?

When watching these videos if you take away nothing else, please watch and realize how easy it is for you to see the lifejackets/PFDs. You attention is immediately bought to them. If there were a quiz and I were to ask How many people are aboard Deck 1 and then showed the most recent submitted video; I bet a million dollars you will count the lifejackets you see and completely miss that the captain was not wearing one. Or, the amount of passengers by the stairs was really hard to determine but I can easily count X bright orange things. In order to be saved, you need to be seen.

I hope that everyone here watches the videos that have been submitted and uses them as a learning tool. As a frequent cruiser you are are going to find yourself on small craft many, many times and on a really big boat all of the time. However, the size of the boat does not matter. While watching them ask yourself, What would I be doing if this were me filming? What should I be doing? What do I see see going on that is bad? What do I see going on that is good? Armchair quarterback these videos!

It is entirely possible someone had a heart attack due to panic and anxiety and never touched the water.

There is one guy who is apparently not going to wear a lifejacket. And we have the fool of all fools who is in the water without a lifejacket but who has had one thrown to him. He was not thrown from the vessel because he has his backpack with him and he is heard encouraging someone else to jump in. Part of a PFD is that they make the user positively buoyant. Another part is that it makes the user easily visible. In the chaos of of what's going on in the water, this guy in the water is going to be very hard to distinguish from debris. The guy on the boat will be hard to distinguish as someone who is still onboard. The lesson here is simple, we have cruisers who have quite recently undergone muster training and we still have some that flat out refuse or are unclear of the importance of wearing a PFD during an emergency. The e-muster cartoons are not working.

There is a lot to unpack here in just the short video. When the Coast Guard reviews this and reconsiders the whole e-muster idea, I think we will all know why.

It depends on which port your ship docks at!!! Cozumel has three different cruise ship ports. Most of the time Royal docks at the International Terminal where what the posters above said is true. San Miguel de Cozumel is doable, but a long walk. Although rare, sometimes Royal ships dock at Puerto Langosta which is slightly south of Centro, the downtown area you are looking to get to. You'd be foolish to get a taxi if docked here. The third port is called Puerto Maya and is owned by Carnival. You'll never stop here on a Royal vessel.

You are going to have a hard time finding responses to your question since the fire completely wiped out Lahaina. I acknowledge there are other unaffected areas of Maui, but everything that any of us might suggest was incinerated.

I know I echo the OP @RCVoyager, but the change I do not understand is why was hospitality allowed to completely leak out the bottom of this cruising thing?

Excellent cruise execution @baltodave! A couple days pre-cruise in NOLA is absolutely appropriate. A year to research restaurants, strategic hotel locations, and all the fun things to do in NOLA--even better.

The Hilton News Orleans Riverside is connected the Riverwalk Shopping Mall which is connected to the Julia Street Cruise Terminal. Embarking on your cruise will mean you don't even really go outside. If you are scratching your head, 'A shopping mall connected to a cruise terminal???' Yes! It makes perfect sense and all cruise terminals would be better places if they had the same. The short answer is a car in NOLA is 1000% unnecessary; you'll find the places you'll want to go are all perfectly walkable and any hotel in the Quarter will have it's advantages. Don't be shy about booking a hotel that is not connected to some large chain, as a matter of fact, a wonderful part of New Orleans is that they have kept out large commercial interests out of the beloved Quarter and you will not see Subways, and McDonalds, and Marriots, nor any other company that advertises during the Super Bowl. New Orleans is such a great port it is the only port to receive a double gold star rating on my private rating system. It truly is the best cruise port to sail from, It has everything.

Anyone care to wager that Icon of the Seas has taken the incomprehensible numbers of Diamond and above into her deck plans? Darn! No takers. How about another ship of the future, Star of the Seas? There’s still plenty of time for a change order or two.

I am trying my hardest NOT to be a crabby, set in his ways old man here. But man o' man I have had a list of overcrowded, inadequate spaces aboard Royal Caribbean for a long time. I'll mention the most egregious: the washrooms closest to any MDR. And yeah, I don't think they care much about the appetizers. And looking at the appetizers, Diamonds and above don't think much of them either. (I know I just stepped on your feelings @OCSC Mike, go ahead and let me have it) And I don't think they care much how over stretched a Concierge might be. Just keep it so that they are touching all the bases. So what is this all about, really???

Little known fact: You might think to yourself, Gee guys this place is busy for such a small place. The needs or concerns of this group isn't so much that they get together in this specific space, why not have Happy Hour in a different , larger venue say...Dazzles or the Safari Club or the Solarium or 270 or even those little known, unused conference rooms? Boy, that would make a lot of sense. Much larger space. They have already have bars. They already have furniture. In most cases like a solarium on Oasis class or 270 on Quantum class already look elegant in the evening. Good chance these venues have better or closer washroom facilities. So why can't they just do it in there? Well, I've asked this question in the past. The answer is decisions to move events--even to a better or more accommodating unused venue--must be first requested and second approved by Miami. A ship can not just do it on the fly.

OK, I fully admit that the older I get, the less I understand. But can someone please explain to me "due to the high number of top tier members, Royal Caribbean may restrict access to the Crown, Concierge, and Suite Lounges"? Specifically here is what I think I am misunderstanding, are they saying there is the possibility of so many Diamond and above members aboard that Royal is fearful that they may all want to be in the good ol' DL during Happy Hour??? And, today they are adding that that Pinnacles can also be restricted from the Suite Lounges for the same reasoning? They are feigning concern about overcrowding, right? I apologize in advance, I am not very good at subtle. I really am the worst person to have understated words with, I can often be pretty tone deaf when it comes right down to it.

I am firmly on team Royal Charged And Received An "Icon" Of A Fee.

I think pain and suffering began when the chef made a seafood cake that had olives in the recipe…YUCK!

You can bet a million dollars that the Rhapsody evacuation was a major topic discussed by Biden and Netanyahu on their phone conversation last Saturday. Likely bluntly put: "We are getting our citizens out of Israel and NOTHING is going to happen to that boat, understand? Future US support is dependent on this." While there may or may not have been a visible military presence, you could bet another million dollars that there were many eyes in the sky watching over Rhapsody. The sinking of the Lusitania is not forgotten. Many people might be surprised to find that a substantial portion of Royals crew is Muslim. Indonesia is some 87% Islamic as an example. I would certainly expect Royal to be sending the State Department a bill for today's private sailing! Do you think Jason Liberty used Enchantment sailings out of Baltimore as a basis for pricing or did he use Icon during Spring Break? I think it was a hefty bill.

Wow! Knock me over with a feather!