PRMLVM

Brilliance is still my favorite ship. At least, I loved my experience on it and want to go again. It's so hard to choose a hands-down favorite. I hope you enjoyed it!

Maybe it's because of their new-ish rule that sailings more than 12 months in the past will not be added to your account? Maybe I asked after that rule...I'm trying to remember. I know it was after the post-COVID restart. Again, it's only 3 nights and maybe it's karma for bad-mouthing cruising for almost 30 years!

It sounds like you are having a great time!

Maybe I'll try a third time. I've tried with the phone reps (two different ones), and via email (no reply). It was a 3-night in a balcony, so it eventually just didn't seem worth all the effort. And now that there are NO BADGES for the older ships, well....humph. But I do thank you for your encouragement.

Nordic Empress in the early 90s ('91 maybe?). Too bad they won't let us count it in our C&A points (they wont, i asked). But maybe we don't deserve the points because (GASP) we HATED it. (Loved the ship; it was beautiful). Vowed never to cruise again. All the lines (everything was a tender port). The dinner seatings (just not our style). We didn't even have kids then; it was just the two of us, trying to go with the flow, but it just wasn't our thing. Something made us try it again once we had adult kids. We took cruise with everyone....and it was A BLAST. We couldn't wait for our next one! This was in January of ... *2020*. sigh. What a time to fall in love with cruising.

I don't have an answer except to say that it happens in my family as well. There are four of us in three different households and our account information gets messed up with almost every cruise. We have to babysit it, and fix it each time.....and then it rears its ugly head whenever someone cruises again. And if one of us cruises under Casino Royale and another one cruises under a TA, the resolution time doubles or triples: the Casino line and the TA line don't play well together. Our TA said she is about done with RCL.

A girl can dream!

do you know how? can we do it online, or once on a ship (and it will carry forward for all cruises)?

I saw on someone else's letter from the casino that we can "sign up for unattended jackpots" and it said "see casino host for details". Not being on a ship, I can't do that but I am interested. My google and blog searches haven't helped. Does anyone know if we can "blanket" sign up for this, or if we need to do it onboard, each sailing?

I would also have them watch the TONS of videos about whichever ship you do choose, so they can see how much of a cruise is (or can be) inside, away from the sea.

Choose one of the Quantum class ships; you almost have to go out of your way to see the ocean (one of my complaints about those ships actually!). If they love the pool, they will be confronted with the ocean (the pool decks and even the solarium have big open sea exposure), but during the day it's not so scary. I can scare myself looking out at the vastness at night, but during the day it's not so bad (of course, it depends on if they have an actual phobia, or just a vague gut feeling like mine).

When I gave him the birds&the bees talk, he said "You made dad do that TWO times??" Yes, I have two children.

When I had the Santa talk with my son, it was shortly followed by the Tooth Fairy talk (he was getting to an age where I didn't want him to find out from friends). He said..... "you mean everything good has just been you and dad this whole time??!!!??" ummmm....yes, son: EXACTLY.

We asked for a white card in Symphony's casino last week from the casino host and he told us they don't do that anymore.

Completely agree! I was very surprised to hear that others were reliably able to get a pre-cruise deal AND a free day EVERY time they cruise because that has most definitely not been our "luck". As everyone has pointed out, it's much cheaper to buy ahead of time; we figured that was RC's strategy and that the only people who were using the free days were those who go on holiday mostly unplugged! But I do see now that some apply it to a 2nd device on one day, if they've purchased a pre-cruise plan for the other days for one device.

Thank you for helping with this. The part of mine that you quoted comes directly from RC's site and was shown to us when we tried to redeem our day onboard. We had pre-purchased it, and were looking for $16.99 back (to use your example). We were told that the entire package had to be bought at the on-board price, and we would then pay one day less. We could not get one day back on anything pre-purchased. This is what we tried to do and were most definitely told NO, and shown the fine print. The rep had it handy on a laminated page, and I do still see it on RC's site under the explanation of C&A benefits. I'm not gonna sweat twenty bucks, but if you guys are saying I CAN get it, I'm interested in how. Based on what I'm reading in the thread, it does sound like we can get a free day(s) on a second device though?

Same here. We got in line and were told that the free day is ONLY for on-board internet purchases. He showed us the benefit fine print from the C&A benefits chart: 11_Diamond members will receive one (1) free day and Diamond Plus members will receive two (2) free days of VOOM Surf+Stream internet or the price equivalent off any onboard Internet purchase. Valid for one or two consecutive 24-hour periods of Surf + Stream internet usage for one device only. This offer is not combinable with other coupons or offers. Purchases of other packages are at your discretion and will not be refunded. We never bothered to get in line and ask on any other cruises. ???

message sent!

O'Hare has priced us out of their lots for parking of any duration! We did a shuttle years ago from a hotel in Rosemont, which is fine if you don't mind catching a shuttle bus....but even those are getting $$$ (we weren't staying at the hotel; there was just a shuttle from their parking garage). A friend who travels a LOT always did the offsite with shuttle, until a noticeable bump on his odometer showed up (more than just "moving the car around the lot"!). Nowadays, we take a private car service; we are not as far east as Michigan City, but can send you their details in a private message if you're interested. They do door to door service, and building that into the price comparison with long term parking or even off-site with a shuttle is well worth it to us.

We got the email that we are diverted to Labadee (and Jamaica, CocoCay, Nassau...)

Any news? I haven't been able to see any. My family is feeling conflicted: we've never been to Labadee and our one cruise going there ended up re-routed. For us, there is no bad answer! But I do understand most want to get the cruise they booked.

HUGE apologies. I was not intending to besmirch Matt or his advice. I was bemoaning that we get this legitimate advice and yet Royal is royally messing it up! My mention of Matt was to give credence to the plan of rebooking, not to slam him for it - but upon re-reading, I can definitely see your take on it. Thank you for mentioning it, so I could clarify. We all should be able to cancel plans we don't want any more, and buy/re-buy the ones we do! And, even with no CP purchasing....why did Royal start this mess by saying we had a balance due? We re-purchased BECAUSE they canceled us.

3-5 days? How did you rate? I rec'd my promised call ( my tale is told above) and they said that the refund WAS CANCELLED AGAIN (or lost, or somesuch), but NOW was approved and pending and should show up in 7 - 10 days. And was, of course, a different amount than they promised the second time they promised a refund. So that saga ^^ was due to a false "balance due" and subsequently imposed cancellation of CP items. My husband, my son, and I have 6 different upcoming cruises (together, separately, etc) for which we have cancelled and re-bought CP items. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM is now facing issues re: refunds/over charging. ALL OF THEM. What the actual heck? I thought this was a strategy encouraged by @Matt??? buy and then "just" re-price? We are in a nightmare world right now with all of our upcoming cruises. "wait 7....10....20....30 days....we dont' show that refund.....we don't show that charge THAT YOUR CREDIT CARD is showing....." We used a TA for some of the cruises and she is trying to help us with all of them, and even she says this current situation is disgraceful. We have a good history with RC but honest to god we are considering bailing. Oh, and we have the foreign language thing going on too. So, false balance due, CP re-pricing issues, and foreign language app/site. What other IT issue is going on, so we can be prepared? WE JUST WANT A VACATION. I guess the all-inclusive resort is looking better and better.

Just called to check on the status of the "expedited refund" that the resolutions team promised. Tonight's team cannot find the refund (even though the last person I spoke to said "tell them to go to my notes from this day"...and I did...). Now they have promised me a call back within 48 hrs. To tell me where the money is....for the CP purchases THEY CANCELED ON A FULLY PAID $0 BALANCE DUE cruise. One that our TA addressed in Sept and was assured it was ok, and that we handled on Halloween after they ended up canceling everything.