Todd

Welcome to a new age in cruising: The first passengers to cruise from the U.S. to Cuba in almost 40 years entered the Havana Harbor Monday with a large cheering crowd to greet them. The Cruise business has been reborn in Cuba, with other companies soon to follow with ships. The Cuban government also dropped the longstanding ban on Cuban-born people returning to their homeland by sea. On the ship it is reported 16 Cuban-Americans to make the cruise from Miami. "This is history," said Mercedes Lopez, a 54-year-old nurse who waited for hours to see Carnival Cruise Line's 704-passenger Adonia pull up to Havana's two-berth cruise terminal. "We Cubans must unite, all of us. This is a step forward, a little step toward normalization, peace, family unification." The passengers on the Carnival Cruise Adonia were welcomed by music and dancing inside Havana's the cruise terminal. The police outside needed to clear a lane for the passengers to pass because of hundreds of Cubans waiting in Old Havana's Plaza San Francisco. Walking tours of the restored colonial center seem to be a popular choice.

In this day and age no reason you should make any larger purchase without checking on the web. If you just enter the name and model and hit search you can have the real pricing within a few seconds. I do this with the seller standing in front of me. And then use the interest price as the basis of what I will pay.

Many of my friends who spent their working lives on the water have no interest in Cruising. I find this really to be true with my Navy friends, 4 out of 5 say, no to taking a cruise just because it is a ship. I have tried to tell them it is not the same but after 20 years plus USN they have strong opinions. I did get one friend from this group on a cruise last Christmas, and he loved it.

It seems to be well covered already. But as slow as these hundred days will past, you can be sure the days on the ship will fly by. Time is not constant on a cruise ship, sorry Dr Einstein.

I do not think the ports are really important. I really book my cruises based upon the ship and the length of time. Really the only important ports for me is the start and end ports. If I want to see ports I will fly to the port and spend several days at that location. Most of the time a cruise stop gives enough time for a few pictures, a little shopping, or food and then back to the ship.

The love boat did have a major impact upon cruising, it in fact is what made Princess Cruise Lines, before the TV show came out it was questionable if the company could even stay in business. One interesting thing about the TV show and its impact was what happen when the show was on the ship with passengers. Passengers really want to see that but quickly learned the popular areas like the pool bar were closed to cruisers due to filming. Pay a lot of money and have access to only about 2/3 of the ship. Also the interaction between crew and guest is something that cruise lines never allow. (Romantic Private Activities). But I do really like the classic features like wood and brass. My Uncle was a interest man and he collected many things, he had a big interest in the S.S. United States, and had many items from the ship. Among his purchases were the Captains Cabin Furniture which he had restored, displayed in his office and the original ships model, in his home. I would look at that model over 8' in length and very detailed. I would look at that model and wished the ship was still sailing the World. A interesting purchase from the ship was the steam whistle, that was mounted atop his business and was sounded every July 4 th or on special days. Then it was someday I will go on cruise ships, 40 years later it is several times a year. I get on a big new Royal ship and it takes your breath away, but I still miss the old classics of trans ocean liners.

The web is the best place to go when looking for price. But you always need to be smart, many fake or counterfeit items. So use your credit card and if item is fake dispute the charge, counterfeit means the credit card company refunds every time. With things like diamonds GIA certification. Retail diamonds are a triple key item (3 times the cost of the jewelry) and that is after going through several middleman. With web purchases the high costs of retail stores and several of these middle guys are cut out.

Why would you not just have good luggage with rollers? If seems anyone who travels should invest in bags with good rollers and not need to lift bags, or use porters. While not against porters not also available and it is best to have options.

Another way you really can get attention to your issue is to file a report with sites like ripoffreport.com. These reports have a very large impact on companies and they take notice. As for the shopping in general on cruise ships you need to remember they are not operating under the rules and norms of businesses within the United States or even Western World. It is much more buyer beware than other shopping venues. I strongly believe buying hign value items is not something anyone should do on a cruise ship.

If you knew how well they are paid compared to what they can earn in their home countries you would say they are overpaid. The Worlds a big place, people need to stop thinking everything revolts around United States standards.

That assumes you are returning to a US Port. With over 50% of the passengers now International think needs to change.

Should have a great trip.

You should not feel bad. If anyone should be feeling bad it is Royal for rushing to put programs into place and then not following through or changing them. Royal needs to understand they are in this business full time, paying guest are not professional travelers and need to rely on the information provide. Royal needs to take care of and value the guest or their big nice ships will be empty. This is 100% a failure on RCCL.

You can ask the cabin steward or dial guest services and they will get them to you. Not really used much these days as Royal has gone to a online system. a email will be sent to every passenger after the cruise has ended. Comment cards require extra labor, on line comments makes it easy for Royal to chart.

This is one of those questions that I will never understand. Since beds and comfort in them is so personal really no way to answer. Matt may be so tired after, everything he does that he could sleep on the floor. Another may require a very very soft bed, or a little soft. It is kind of like saying how good are American Made Cars, so people will think great, good, average, fair, poor, or anything in between. Even if everyone here says they are great you still may not like the beds or the other way around.

But in no way a better crew..... Thank you for your service.

Prices are not standard across the fleet or even within a single ships. Prices change based upon cruise, time of the year, taxes, number of passengers purchasing packages, and many other factors. The way these prices change for the most part is through promotions and discounts. This is a normal way of doing business, you cannot look at the cruises overall, you need to look at each sailing as it own offer.

Royal has done a great job in adding ships and new ports, I would give them a A. But when it comes to the management systems that they have in place they get a failing grade F. The talking heads have standard answers that they read and many times changes have been made and still the talking heads don't have the changes. It seems that many times if you call customer service the answer you get is wrong or outdated. I really wish Royal would spend some time and effort improving customer service. Cancel or delay a new ship, but improve your customer service. Also most of the information Royal uses is US based and now 50% of the market is Worldwide so they really need to more to some standards, so the answer is the same fleet wide. You can have the best and largest cruise ships in the World and fail if you do not take care of your number one asset...... CUSTOMERS....

BigKarl I can understand you are upset and I absolutely agree Royal handled this wrong. Hong Kong has present many issues for Royal, from the two cruise terminals to the type of core customers they are getting on these cruises. The majority of travelers out of Hong Kong seem to be from South East Asia, followed by Australia New Zealand as a group. While Americans can and do enjoy these cruises the experience is not the same as US cruises. I believe the reason they are not offering the Royal Class service is they have no need to do so. If you want to make even suite passengers from Hong Kong happy offer them more shopping and more gaming. Put 500 low cost watches on a table and offer them at 20 or 30 dollars and a near riot breaks out. Royal looked at the numbers and saw the return would not be as great as in other markets and made the choice not to offer this full program. They should have cancelled it in a better way but many of their choices have been poor choices over the last few months.

Most of the water on board is desalinated salt water, or the water from the last point of call. So very much it depends upon where the ship is, how much stock water (port) and how much ship made water, and where the ship is. The natural ocean water is a little hard average ph 7.5 to 8.6 neutral is 7.0 ph. So the water can be a little hard. Never hard any problems or issues with water on Royal.

Yes it seems a large wave hit the ship and took out in some form five cabin windows. If not completely gone at least enough to allow ocean water in and to cause damage to those five cabins and the area around them. It was the first night of the cruise repairs were made in port and the ship is cruising again. Yes some passengers have been moved to other cabins and some left the ship. For those who have free time it is a good deal to leave the ship. Full refund plus a future cruise for free. So pend the time from the cruise touring Europe, using the refund and get another cruise later. Sounds like a free vacation to me. Really many of us think of these ships as big hotels but they are still ships and all the normal problems of ships can and do happen. It happen to Roayl this time next time another line. But it seems Royal handled this one well.

Yes In theory the Solarium is Adult only as well as all the bars and the casino are adult only. But the Solarium can and is open to children in the case of poor weather. So if you are on a very cold cruise or heavy rain the area can be open to all.

Well first since you have only provided limited information it will be hard to answer your questions 100%. But I believe what is happening here is packages being shown without the tax and or gratuity. Royal adds 18% to all drink bills. But in any case you do not need to purchase packages until a few days before the cruise or on the ships so ask lots of questions and find out exactly what works best for you. You can also upgrade any package by paying the difference, you cannot down grade.

That is part or the problem with buying art or other high end items on cruise ships. I strongly believe if you want to purchase diamonds you can do much better over the internet. Now the risks is high if you do not do things right but if done correct almost no risk. First pay with a credit card and second buy only GIA certificated stones with the GIA (Gemological Institute of America) with this paperwork you can go to any jewelry store and know the stone (s) are correct. If not as listed you dispute the charges. The saving will be very high and the risk much lower than cruise purchases. Do you really think Cruise Lines sell stuff on the ships because they are great deals? No it is a big profit center for the company. And since you are dealing outside the United States very little protection for the customer. Good on cruises, have fun, buy your Art and jewelry from real off ship sellers.

It is almost like asking has anyone ever taken a walk in the park and got Poison Ivy. Some seaweeds can be poisoning, but most of the time no contact with them. Sorry that you had a problem but the chances of a second encounter is very small I would think.