Traveling Mike

I use AIG and have collected a few times and have not had any issues.  They will pay out for issues as fast as they collect for the policy.  currently I have an annual policy with them.   Travel Guard Travel Insurance | AIG US

• My son got an ear infection on a cruise.  Travel Insurance picked up my deductible from my insurance.
• I lost a lot of my hearing on a cruise.  The travel insurance picked up my deductible from my insurance.
• My cruise was shortened by 3 days 9 days before my cruise.  My travel insurance paid for three days hotel in London at the end of the cruise.
• Covid canceled my cruise, and I had a non-refundable hotel in Barcelona.  My travel insurance paid for it.
• I missed a connecting flight home from a cruise.  My travel insurance put me up in a hotel.

Yes, I am happy I had travel insurance.  I currently have an Annual Travel Policy that covers all my travels.

My tipping comes from having my son cruising with me that I knew would leave messes I did not see for the cabin steward.  Now that he is grown, I still tip the same way.  I give the cabin steward a tip at the beginning of the cruise and in the past would apologies for my sons' messes in advance.  Now I just give the tip in advance and let them know what I like and dislike.  On B2B cruises I do this for both legs of the cruise.  The dining room staff gets tipped after I get the service.  I worked in a lot of food service and some of the time I way over tip for good service and other times the base gratuity is all they earn.

I have done one way, and different locations.  last year I few on a very cheap fair to Europe I found on my own.  Then I used Air2Sea to book my flight home from Boston.  In April I fly to Sydney and then home from Honolulu.  Some of the time you have to call them for RCL, but Celebrity lets you do it online.

you never know unless you ask.  All they can tell you is no.  I would call RCL and ask.  Then come back here and let us know what you found out.

12 minutes ago, RCIfan1912 said:

I never used Costco but always was interested in how it works or how well it works. Just asking a few questions. 

Like I was saying they are not the travel agent that you can call and ask them where to cruise and what ship to go on.  They will not watch your booking and let you know there is a price drop.  They also do not take part of the Royal Up programs.  But if you have cruised and know what you want and are the person that will watch your bookings they are "Costco" service.  They are always helpful and will take whatever time is needed to fix your issues.  Some of the people you get on the phone have years of experience in the travel industry and some are new.  They are all paid by the hour and are there to service you.  After your cruise you get a Costco Card based on the price you paid for your cruise.  The other nice thing is they have Costco Special cruises.  I booked a cruise as a Next Cruise and had it transferred to Costco.  When it got to Costco, I found out it was a Costco special cruise.  I got the cruise for a cheaper price, onboard spending, 1 spa experience, fee soda package and a free Speiclaty dining for one night.  Now with that said you need to understand I am the person that does all my research and know what I want, and I want full control over my vacation plans.

I am like the others.  I work on the ship every cruise.  If you are worried use a VPN service.  If you do not know what a VPN is here is a good video that explains what it is and how to download it and use it.  https://youtu.be/CpWwqg2n2qk

Sounds like you are a smart lady.  What I have found is the larger ships are great for when you are with families, and you want to do everything available.   The smaller ships are nice when you want a more personalized cruise.  When you are on a ship with 2000 passengers you see the same ones often and the staff gets to know you easier.  I am 62 and find I like the trans-Atlantic cruises on the smaller ships.  I get to know people I am cruising with, and the cruise staff have time to learn who I am and what I like.

So

When I am with my son and friends, I cruise the Sympathy of the Seas (or similar) and have lots of ports.

When I am alone, I cruise the Voyager (or similar) and cruise with lots of sea days.

On 8/19/2023 at 4:00 AM, RCIfan1912 said:

I wonder why it's you book through Costco you aren't eligible to participate in Royal UP? Also if you want to make any type of change or tweak something are they hard to get a hold of? 

How long has it been since you used Costco.  They are available 7 days a week and answer without an issue.  They are paid by the hour so once you get them on the phone they will work as long as you need to fix your issue.  They are not for everyone.  You need to know what you want but if you already know what you want, they give you great service and a nice rebate check.

I have booked 18 cruises with Costco and never has had much of an issue.  Their system is connected directly to the RCL system, but the website system has a delay.

One Note:  If you book your cruise on the RCL website and fill out the form to transfer it to Costco you will need to call Costco Travel to get it entered into their system.  It takes a day or so to be approved by RCL and then you just call Costco Travel and let them know and they will pull it into their system.  

The easy way to understand is the ship must clear customs.  That means all passengers must be cleared to enter the country the ship is docked at, and all passengers must be off the ship.  They will have the B2B people meet and leave the ship to a special area.  When customs are cleared, they will check you back on the ship.  If you have the same cabin, you can leave everything as it is.  If you are changing cabins the cabin steward will help you move everything while you are disembarking and reboarding.

You need to ask yourself... how much do I need internet.  I just got off a 4-day cruise.  The first day we had our phone most of the day.  We used one day on our second day that was a sea day.  The third day was a port day, and we used our phones most of the day in port.  We used our second fee day on our fourth day and the fifth day we went home.  

Now on an 8-day cruise what do you need internet for?  Do you want to be disconnected?  How many ports are on your cruise?

Now remember you have one free day, and your wife has one free day.  

Now with all that said... I almost always pre-purchase internet for my entire cruise because I work while on the ship.  I use my free day for friends and family that are with me.

I do not lock my luggage hoping someone would take my cloths.  They can have my shampoo and toothpaste.  Just leave me my dental floss because I have the flavored type and it is hard to find.

Why do people drop in just to complain and tell us how they will not cruise RCL.  I would not mind if they were here for help or sharing wisdom but the popcorn, really?  When I was on the ship, I went over to get some popcorn and seen there was a charge and made a decision that I did not want popcorn enough to pay for it.  As far as the bill,  

1. You can see your bill on the TV in your cabin.
2. You can see your bill on the RCL app.
3. You can stop by customer service anytime and get a copy of your bill.

I watch my bill every day and make sure I am not charged for something I should not.  if there is an issue, I call the ships customer service and they fix it.

Your son is a little bit younger, but my sons best cruise was when he was 10 years old and there were only 13 kids on the entire ship.  There were 4 10-year-old kids, and they became the best of friends.  They got full run of any of the kid's areas and lots of staff to have fun with them.  

having a few numbers of kids is not always a bad thing 

I did Alaska last year and there was no Internet north of Juneau Alaska.  If the ship has switched to StarLink it might be better.  We were in a port almost every day, so I just used my cell phone for internet.

I just checked and most days Miami has 3 or 4 ships in the cruise port.  Port Miami cruise ship schedule 2023 (crew-center.com)

On 8/10/2023 at 9:19 AM, TXcruzer said:

But does the special needs department have anything to do with appropriate documentation for boarding? 

I don’t think so. 

Their job is to help Special Needs people with the entire process; that would include figuring out documentation and dealing with issues.

I have worked in a Special Education Department at a school district for the last 15 years.  it is amazing how many people have no idea of how you have to deal with some special needs people.  I would recommend calling The Special Needs department at RCL so you can speak with someone that understands your needs and problems.  Here is the contact information.

Call our Access Department at (866) 592-7225, or send an e-mail to special_needs@rccl.com, or have your local travel agent or International Representative contact us. Our fax number is (954) 628-9622

8 minutes ago, Xaa said:

you are the AH because your wife said so.

That is a true fact  

I use Air2Sea on 1/2 of my cruses.  The only issues I have had is they don't have the power with the airlines that they used to.  If your flight changes to a bad connection, they don't have the power with the airlines to call them and just fix it.  They can only rebook your flight or submit an email request to the airlines.  With that being said you book your flight as soon as it is available and if the price goes down you just call them, and they will cancel your old ticket and rebook at the new price.  If you miss your connecting flights, you just call them, and they will find you a new connection to get you to your cruise.  If you end up missing the cruise, they will get you to the first port.  On one of my flights, they the airline cancelled my connecting flight home, and they go me a different flight right away on a different airline at no cost to me.

I use them like I do my cruises.  I do my research on the prices and if they are the lowest price, I use them.  then after I book my flight with them, I keep an eye on the prices and if they go down i rebook the flight.  If I can get a better deal on my own, I cancel my Air2Sea and book directly with the airline.  One note:  as soon as you hit your final payment you are locked into your flight.

My mother always told us "If you can't say something nice, don't say nothing at all."

The couple of times I did Fort Lauderdale I did an AirBnB.  In November I am staying at a hotel.  I picked the Tru by Hilton Ft. Lauderdale Airport because it is a Hilton Hotel, has free 24-hour airport shuttle service and a inexpensive shuttle to the Cruise Port.

I get GTY cabins often and most of the time the barcode shows me the cabin I get that cabin.  A couple of times I got a better room.

Show reservations will be different for different ships.  When we went on the Allure 7-day cruise, we booked them about 2 weeks out and they filled up very fast.  when we went to the Navigator 4-day cruise they never offered reservations and you could walk into any show.