Lexster

Welp, Royal accepted my husband's vaccination card, and keeps marking mine as invalid. No idea why. Heck, my card is in perfect shape whereas his is beat up! All I can think is the provider box says WAG (I went to Walgreens for both) and they just don't accept that it doesn't say Walgreens. I printed out my proof from the Walgreen's site as well. I know I can just go to the port with all my docs, but I really don't want to leave it to chance that I get someone who just won't accept it. So frustrating! 

Wow, that's crazy. I can only think of a few things one could do on a ship that would cause someone to need a blood transfusion. Hopefully they're okay!

I feel like I'm just asking a ton of questions this week. So, I've been reading things about "cruise documents." Most of the articles are years old. Has the app check-in process taken over for "cruise documents" or would I still be getting these in the mail? I booked through a travel agent and even on RC's website, it says they'll mail these documents to the agent and then to me. What are these for?

1 hour ago, Riley said:

We are going across FtL to Barcelona and then flying home for about $800 per person but I got creative - cheap flights within Europe are well under $100 each way so we are jumping Barcelona to Paris for about $59 each then Paris home to Chicago.  You should be able to search which major European hubs are the most reasonably priced and then cheap flights there.  Same with landing in the US - check flights to O'Hare and then a cheap flight O'Hare to Cincinnati. Or stay a day downtown and take the train for $42 a ticket (nice ride, I've done it) or even drive the .53-4.5 hours to Chicago or Detroit (which has a big international hub as well), depending on how much you can spend.  

I appreciate the ingenuity, but I'm definitely not someone who wants to have to plan multiple connecting flights (or drives between airports) and hope none of them get delayed along the way, especially in a country where I may not even speak the language. I guess those kind of cruises aren't for me if that's what it takes. I'll plan for more Mexico or Canada/Alaska cruises instead

1 hour ago, YouthD said:

Unless you're flying premium seats, where are you seeing $3k for a roundtrip flight for two? Flight costs aren't that raised right now.

It was just a quick check using Google flights. I looked at CVG to Tel Aviv since Haifa Israel is where one of the cruises I was looking at left from. For two people the lowest is $2655 on American for a random day I picked for a few months from now.

So, I'm already looking toward a cruise after my upcoming one and was looking into European trips. To me, I just don't see this ever being financially feasible unless you have a ton of money. Am I wrong? There don't seem to be any cruises which start in a US port, go to Europe, and come back which means I'd have to fly internationally, take the cruise, and fly back. That's already nearly $3000 for two people to fly round trip on top of the cruise cost. Do people usually get packages for this sort of thing or what?

Well, it's my first cruise as an adult. Went on a Carnival ship in 2001 with my parents, so it's very exciting. Just hit 45 days left, going on the Oasis of the Seas. I'm pretty excited to explore the ship. I remember having a lot of fun doing that as a kid. Also really looking forward to just getting to relax and have nothing to worry about for 7 days. I couldn't work or check email even if I wanted to since we are not getting an internet package.

27 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

Crew no longer has to double mask in public or mask at all in crew areas.

 

I've seen a few outdoor crew not masking at all this week, too

I'm hoping they won't need masks soon. It's not really fair that if passengers don't need them, that crew should at least get the option to wear them or not.

I'm going to remove this comment so as to not turn things toxic.

Got checked in last night! It opened at literally 12:05, so that does seem to be the standard. Thanks, all!

54 minutes ago, mcfo said:

I am an NCL cruiser generally. Is there an advantage to checking in right at 45 days out for RCL as opposed to 30 days or closer to cruise?

From what I understand, check-in times are first-come-first-serve, so checking in as early as possible gives you more options on times. I'd like a time as early as possible.

I'm fine with it either way. It's more frustrating how gross and selfish people are. I couldn't imagine picking up food and then putting it back. Yet, the funny thing is, you never meet anyone who will admit to doing it. They know what they do is gross, but they do it anyway.

6 minutes ago, EmptyNestTravels said:

Hi @Lexster.  I used the Royal app.

Okay, that's what I planned on using as well. Thanks!

6 minutes ago, EmptyNestTravels said:

Check-in for my upcoming May 7th cruise opened at midnight last night (45 days out).  Check-in didn't show as available at first. I kept refreshing, and was able to check in at about 12:05 am.  If your cruise is May 8th, perhaps you will be able to check-in after midnight tonight?

Thanks, I'll be checking for sure. Did you use the app or the website?

22 minutes ago, VACruiser said:

I have no issues with using a TA as I've used MEI on several cruises; however, the reason that is given by this Blog is basically that Royal is so screwed up that it takes too much time for a "amateur" to endure the pain of dealing with the corporation. Is that by design? I wonder some times.

As the OP said, he took lots of time with all kinds of personal pain to work through something that should be pretty straight forward that the best answer is to get a TA so they can take over the pain of dealing with the cruise lines. That's messed up for an industry that is supposed to run on customer satisfaction,

While true, I'd say every company is like this when it comes to phone-based customer service. I wish I could get someone to make all my customer service calls for me. I was on the phone for 30 minutes the other day just to cancel my internet. 30 minutes! And most of that was sitting on hold after asking them to cancel it.

5 minutes ago, PPPJJ-GCVAB said:

Looks like one more day before you can check in.  Tonight right after midnight EST should be your bewitching hour to checkin.

Yeah, I'm hoping. It was confusing because for over a month, it said check-in was March 24th, bit then it said the 23rd for awhile and then yesterday it said check-in was closed.

Yeah, while I am new to cruising and using a travel agent, from everything I've read, they'll do all that leg work for you so you don't have to spend a ton of time on the phone.

5 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:

What ship? If the ship isn't currently sailing check-in may be delayed until closer to when it is back in service. 

Oasis, sailing May 8. It's 45 days out, which is when check-in is supposed to open.

Okay, well...it never opened for me last night and still says Check-in is closed. I'm hoping tonight will be the one since the app had been saying March 24th was when it was open, too.

21 minutes ago, Pattycruise said:

Log in tomorrow (after midnight tonight) and see if it’s open 

Yeah, that's still my plan. Maybe it happens while they're preparing to open check-in? I dunno, hopeful thinking.

So...for over a month now the Royal app has been saying that I can check-in March 23rd. Then it said March 24th. A few days ago, it said the 23rd again and now today it's been saying "Check-in closed" and to check in 90 minutes before departure. What gives? Has anyone else seen this? How do I check-in if the app won't let me?

Yeah, I imagine it would add too much complication to the bartenders to have to calculate the full drink and then only charge for the alcohol portion. I like the idea of just ordering a shot and adding it in to a virgin drink, though!

4 hours ago, Atlantix2000 said:

They make the courtesy reservation for day 1 or 2 because those days are usually less busy at the specialty restaurants.  Many people don't do any pre-planning so they don't even know specialty restaurants exist until they've explored the ship.  You are not required to keep that reservation but they usually require that you use one of your package's reservations on day 1 or 2.  You can change the courtesy reservation and make the others by visiting any specialty restaurant once you board.  In order to make reservations in advance, you must make individual reservations at full price.  That's the trade-off for the package discount.  As long as you make your reservations on day 1, you can usually get where and when you want (+/- 30 minutes).  If you wait until day 2 or later, you're competing with everyone on board that forgot to plan ahead.

Slightly off-topic. I'm sure what you say is true, but I just can't imagine booking a cruise and not knowing anything about the ship before getting on it.

8 minutes ago, Matt said:

Oh boy, this is a big one these days. I just dont understand the need to wear political clothing on a ship. All it does it serve to start arguments, or at the very least a lot of dirty looks.

Heck, I don't even wear that stuff in normal daily life. Do I have political opinions? Sure, but I don't need to advertise them to everyone I meet.

14 hours ago, BigMac3001 said:

My family is going on our first cruise on June 4 (Symphony), and I am a planner. I want to be ready to check in right when I'm first able to, which is where my frustration lies. Almost every time I go into the app, our check in date changes. It has said April 16, April 15, and as of a moment ago, April 20th. Occasionally it even says that the check in is closed and we need to arrive 90 minutes before sailing. 

Is it normal for the date to keep changing, or am I looking in the wrong place (profile section of the app)?

Thanks for helping this newbie out. 

Not sure if it's normal, but mine has moved too. It originally said March 23rd and now says 24th for my May 8th cruise.