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Adam P.

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Posts posted by Adam P.

  1. Sorry I posted this in another thread but I figured it fits on here very well too:

     

    I was also on the cancelled sailing of empress on the 11th of April, as well as the sailing before on the 7th.  I could not agree more with Raye about how Royal has done nothing short of slapping it's passengers in the face, who trusted them to keep a schedule.  1000's upon 1000's affected with little shown by Royal to make us feel as if they actually care about our business.

     

    So many people, including myself, do not have flexibility in travel dates and can not just switch to another sailing at a later date as they seem to think is easy peasy and what they offered us.  Oh, or you could switch to the VERY tired Majesty on a shorter sailing to garbage bahamas ports, nothing like originally booked.  I was offered to trade my 4 AND 5 night sailing's in for a 3 and 4 night on majesty for the same price.  How sweet of them.  ALSO, I was in a Junior suite, to which they did not have any available to accommodate me, but AGAIN it would be the same price.  SO 2 less nights AND 11 less crown and anchor points.  ALL for the great price of what I already paid for 9 nights and 18 points.  They would do nothing to match the points that I originally would have gotten as well.  Thanks.

     

    I called immediately mid day Friday when it was announced, and already at that time Majesty had next to nothing available.  My total time  in one phone call was over 4 hours followed by a few 30 minute ones later on.  So YES, a TA would have been amazing to have is what my point is lol.  

     

    We ended up switching to OASIS on April 9th in a JS for 7 nights.  Same price, in fact about $80 cheaper.  18points-14 means 4 points less than originally booked.  Makes us 4 points shy of the big status Diamond after sailing.    :(  Pretty disappointed as I've worked hard to get there by 31.  Also got $200 obc added to the sailing as we had 2 sailings cancelled.  SO all in all are we still going to be on an amazing cruise? Yes.  Is it what we wanted? No.  We already have oasis booked for Sept.  Maybe will be making the switch to the group cruise now!  We shall see haha.  

     

    Also vs switching flights which were MUCH more expensive now, which Royal could not even come close to taking care of with the $200 offered, we had to book hotel for an additional 2 nights before the sailing at the cost of 400$ since not much available this close to the date.

     

    Pretty disappointed in my cruise line for all that has happened not only to us, but many more people on several different sailings this year.

     

     

    Rant OVER now, sorry.  

  2. I was also on the cancelled sailing of empress on the 11th of April, as well as the sailing before on the 7th.  I could not agree more with Raye about how Royal has done nothing short of slapping it's passengers in the face, who trusted them to keep a schedule.  1000's upon 1000's affected with little shown by Royal to make us feel as if they actually care about our business.

     

    So many people, including myself, do not have flexibility in travel dates and can not just switch to another sailing at a later date as they seem to think is easy peasy and what they offered us.  Oh, or you could switch to the VERY tired Majesty on a shorter sailing to garbage bahamas ports, nothing like originally booked.  I was offered to trade my 4 AND 5 night sailing's in for a 3 and 4 night on majesty for the same price.  How sweet of them.  ALSO, I was in a Junior suite, to which they did not have any available to accommodate me, but AGAIN it would be the same price.  SO 2 less nights AND 11 less crown and anchor points.  ALL for the great price of what I already paid for 9 nights and 18 points.  They would do nothing to match the points that I originally would have gotten as well.  Thanks.

     

    I called immediately mid day Friday when it was announced, and already at that time Majesty had next to nothing available.  My total time  in one phone call was over 4 hours followed by a few 30 minute ones later on.  So YES, a TA would have been amazing to have is what my point is lol.  

     

    We ended up switching to OASIS on April 9th in a JS for 7 nights.  Same price, in fact about $80 cheaper.  18points-14 means 4 points less than originally booked.  Makes us 4 points shy of the big status Diamond after sailing.   :(  Pretty disappointed as I've worked hard to get there by 31.  Also got $200 obc added to the sailing as we had 2 sailings cancelled.  SO all in all are we still going to be on an amazing cruise? Yes.  Is it what we wanted? No.  We already have oasis booked for Sept.  Maybe will be making the switch to the group cruise now!  We shall see haha.  

     

    Also vs switching flights which were MUCH more expensive now, which Royal could not even come close to taking care of with the $200 offered, we had to book hotel for an additional 2 nights before the sailing at the cost of 400$ since not much available this close to the date.

     

    Pretty disappointed in my cruise line for all that has happened not only to us, but many more people on several different sailings this year.

     

     

    Rant OVER now, sorry.  

  3. Hey, Adam. We are doing Mr. Sanchos this trip. We had not done Mr. Sanchos b4 but wanted to see how it compares to Nachi Cocom, which we did in Feb when we were there.

     

    We have gone to the mainland before. We particularly like Playa del Carmen. It's such a cute little seaside town and we've done the ruins numerous times which I highly recommend. Like Doc says, however, it is a very long day...but well worth it.

     

    For shopping, you can't beat the plaza just a short cab ride away.

     

    If you're interested in a close, all-inclusive, try the Grand Park, which is a 5 min walk from the port. Just turn left out of the compound and you will come to it shortly. You can actually see it from the ship -it's the big thatched hut close by the port. The last time we went it was $40 PP and included food and drinks for all day. if you're willing to sit through the timeshare spiel, it's free !

     

    Actually, we are in the OS all the way forward (8506) on the starboard side. Would love to say "hi". We'll be in the casino. Nervous to see what he casino is like !

     

    Yes, it's Raye...

    Thanks for all info!!  To Doc as well!!

     

    I think thats a much smarter choice as the OS up front seems to be like 4 times bigger than the aft ones haha.  

     

    I will see you in the casino!  Also am very nervous about that casino....  Wonder if they will even have a craps table.  Or a real roulette table... I've seen electronic roulette in some pictures online, but I only do real tables.  

     

    There are a few other areas of the ship that will be interesting to find out how it will all work, but I won't go into that haha...  I don't even know what my room will be like!

     

    I plan on emailing Matt to set up a live review/blog of the ship/cruise's for the blog so we will see how that goes as ti would be my first.  I just feel like there is so little info about this ship available anywhere that it will be nice to get some floating around out there.  This, of course, will depend on the VOOM being up and running by the time we are onboard.  

     

    23 days!!!  

  4. I leave the auto gratuities in place, because I think Royal has a better idea of how tips are distributed and who they should go to then I do. There is some percentage of how it's distributed that I saw on their tv channel. It's split with your steward and dining staff I think... and one other.

     

    I also tip my steward in cash, and my wait staff additionally on the last day/night of the cruise, not of these people provide extremely personal service to me, and it feels right to me.

     

    My first steward also told me he only gets paid for the rooms that are full... so if he has 12 rooms assigned, and only 10 are filled, then he's losing money. They work awlful hours too; my stewards always look like they never sleep a straight 8 hours. And my assistant waiter for dinner, was handing out juice at breakfast!

     

    P.S. I heard they pool their tips anyway, so even if you hand a direct cash tip, it goes into the pool. If they don't hand money to the pool they can be terminated for hiding money. That was on a Podcast interview... so not sure if that's the same on all cruise lines, but if it is, you're not gaining anything by removing the tips if you are just going to hand out the same exact money anyway. e.g. $12.95 x 2 x 7 days or however long your cruise is. I think... :)

    Agreed on all accounts.

  5. I have heard of a few things that have been done on a few of the cruises i've been on.  The one that sticks out the most and that I witnessed first hand was when several people  were not back on the ship at departure time.  Forgive me for not remembering the port but I do remember it was on Indy 8 nighter dec 2014.....

     

    The ship, of course, has a list of all the passengers that have not boarded the ship as the time for departure from the port of call gets close.  In this particular case it was about thirty minutes past when we were supposed to leave and you could clearly tell by watching from the outer deck under the life boats that they were waiting for some people to see if they would make it back.  I'm always nosey and curious in weird situations like this so I started investigating of course.  There were several officers running around with walkie talkies so I inquired if we were waiting for passengers to which they confirmed.  So i pressed it a bit further and asked how long they would wait and what happens if they don't show up.  The response that I got was pretty cool..  They apparently, on this ship at least,  go into the missing people stateroom and see if the passports can be located and bring them down to the gangway...  (I know, crazy, I didn't believe it either.)

     

    As i'm standing there continuing to watch as the time goes by literally 20 feet above the only gangway left on the pier, they had finally waited long enough and the ships horn sounded.  I then see the ropes being removed and pretty soon the gangway is being slowly pulled away.  At the very last possible moment, sure enough, a ship officer hopped off the ship handed about 4 passports to the port police, or whomever they were, and away we went!!

     

    I was amazed that they went through all of the trouble for the passengers who were late, but would sure be appreciative if it were me for some reason.  I would never miss the ship unless laying dead somewhere but yeah haha... It was interesting needless to say.

  6. We were at Nachi Cocom on Feb. 26.  It was nearly deserted.  There may have been 20 people there all day.

     

    It was a little chilly so most did not get in the water (except for the hot tub swim up bar) but we all had a great time.  The food was great and the sun came out in the afternoon and warmed everything up a little.  Plenty of drinks and a very friendly staff.

     

    We are doing Mr. Sancho's on April 13 b/c we have never been there before.  We are doing the "Romantic Day" package b/c it includes a palapa or a sun bed...not sure which.  I was under the impression that Mr. Sancho's also limits the number of people for the day.  Guess we'll find out in a few weeks !

     

    Waaaytooo,  I think its Ray right? Haha

     

    I was going to ask what you would be choosing for Cozumel as I've read in your previous posts you've done it all there at some point.  April 13th will be my 5th time there and we are debating in doing a beach day like Sanchos, or taking a ship excursion in the caves on the mainland.  Any thoughts or experience on heading to the mainland?  I've heard horror stories as well as  people with no issues in doing this.  We are in port 12 hours I think that day, with the excursion saying its only for 7 hours.  We should still have some time for shopping and maybe going into town for a bit, but are still undecided...

     

    Also,  You are in an aft OS right?  I believe thats what I read in our previous empress talks, but could be mistaken.  We will be in the center aft JS right below you.  Make sure to say hello, as I believe you can look down onto the balcony below haha!  We get on the sailing before, on the 7th, and are doing B2B.   Getting pretty excited!  Hopefully the ship is somewhat interesting.

     

    Thanks for your input!

    Adam

  7. I have read many stories recently on cruise critic of people being able to book cruises as long as its before 24 hours out.. Even able to do it right on the website.  

     

    Also, some people have talked about being able to book right at the port as well.  Not sure how thats possible if a 3 day rule is supposed to be out there, but there are plenty of people still talking about booking last minute living close to the piers.

  8. Hello friends!!

     

    Does anyone know if RCCL offers the luggage valet on the ships sailing out of Miami?  Flying out of Ft. Lauderdale as Miami is way over-priced per usual.  It would be nice to hang out in Miami during the day of disembarking without worrying about the luggage, as we have a late flight booked.

  9. Yeah there is several threads on cruise critic, some of which were started by passengers that were on the ship at the time.  They were basically reporting live about seeing the helicopter searching etc.  It was definitely not 3am by the time it was reported to the coast guard, as people on board were reporting the helicopters searching already well before then.  Definitely false info from the coast guard release.  

  10. We will be on Empress this April 9 nights B2B and then Navigator for 14 nights next April B2B 5 night then 9.  We really want to try Serenade hopefully between then.  Liberty is booked right now in Oct but hoping to change that to Serenade.  That ship just looks so classy with all of its new rooms and furniture/carpet ect.  I've never done Radiance class!!   We will be looking for something on Harmony as well with the new releases.  Looking for one of those can't pass up deals.  Im sure the itineraries for Harmony will be just as not exciting as Oasis and Allure though.  

  11. I sailed on Freedom on the 3rd deck... One of those ocean view rooms just forward of the dining room with the HUGE windows.  We absolutely loved it actually.  The was my first time below like the 6th deck.  It seemed so close to several things such as the Promenade, studio b, casino, and obviously the main dining room.  My tiny little profile picture is from in that room.  All of our little towel friends sitting in the window hanging out.  We used the elevator (which was right by our room) only for going up to the pool deck.  Breakfast was in the MDR for us, so it didn't seem like we were on another planet down there at all actually.  

  12. You can use my robe how's that?  We get them in our cabin but I never us it.  GF loves it tho!

     

    P.S. It sort of sounds like you aren't really even going to give RCCL a chance since you seem to be 100% negative before you have ever even cruised with them.  Hopefully you get the WOW we all have gotten in the past!  Freedom class ships are the best IMO.  

  13. post-3376-0-93867600-1455768714_thumb.jpgI have stayed in a promenade room on Indy, which is Freedom class.  Zero noise issues.  Can hear the parades yes, but even that is not loud by any means and no music or people can be heard during normal times.  Black out curtains keep it plenty dark when you want it to be.  Would definitely recommend one of these rooms.  Bay window makes it feel as large as a balcony room without the balcony obviously.  NO complaints.  

  14. I was on this ship this week......free booze? No - only for 1 hour on Monday.  snacks? 2 small cans of pringles and 2 snickers bars because nothing operated from 3pm until the next morning at 9am.  Full refund and future discount - no they didn't owe us anything but I feel they are covering up something and are making this offer to get ahead of it.      Media reaction is extreme - but the ride Sunday night was also extreme and should not have happened. They could have delayed the cruise 1 day.

    If the cruise was delayed there would have been an equal or worse amount of uproar from all of the passengers who were delayed.  And then the people demanding all of the compensation they are "entitled" too etc ect.  Lose lose for RCCL no matter what they would have done.  The eventual decision is the most costly one, as we have all seen though.

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