Lovetocruise2002

There are many reports from the Harmony FB group that it started on that ship with yesterday's sailing.

There are no real pricing rules for star class on the sushi side

We've done this several times. We always do Uber/Lyft. It's about $80 one way when we get LyftXL (when we have the kids) and $40 one way when it's just Hubby and I and we get regular Lyft.

Love it! I miss the Grand Loft suites!

You know that was one of the first things I thought of when this thread started! haha That card was the best!

That's what we are here for, that's why I love this community too!

Omg! I love that one. I will have tell Hubby that the next time I have to justify a booking! lol

I don't know the actual answer to this but if you go directly to Royal Caribbean's website it says this: Accepted Identification for International Guests (non-U.S. Citizens) For US Sailings: Non-US Citizens will require a passport valid at least 6 months after your cruise ends and the necessary visa for entry into the United States. On Transatlantic and Transpacific sailings European and Chinese guests will require ESTA (Europe) and EVUS (China). We actually ran into this situation with my mom for our cruise coming up in two weeks. We are Canadian, and her passport expires in July 2023. After reading this on Royal's site, and not wanting to risk being denied boarding, she went ahead and renewed her passport a few weeks ago.

Portrait Session Final Update: It took me a while to post this because we ran into a bit of a snag and I wanted to see how it would play out before posting my final thoughts. The canvases arrived by FedEx a few days after they shipped. Very impressed. They were packaged very carefully and arrived in excellent condition. We have zero complaints about the quality of work as it looked fantastic! Hubby is also quite picky about image quality etc. so I feel that is saying quite a bit. Anyway, because Hubby is so picky, he did notice one small problem. The side edge (not the face front edge) of the canvas was white, not black. On the ship, the sample on the wall, in the portrait studio, the side edge was black. Hubby also asked specifically when we finalized the order on the ship if the edge would be black. They assured us it would be. Now, because of what we were wearing in the photos, and the colours in our house, either colour would have been fine. The white is not that bad. But Hubby likes the black edge more and that was what he was promised so he wasn't satisfied. This is where the land Genie goes back in her lamp (cruise over lol). I sent Hubby our reservation number and sailing info and told him to reach out to Royal via email with the complaint. I did warn him that they might not be very quick to respond to email. Surprisingly, they were. However, their response was for Hubby to reach out again to them via social media. So Hubby reached out to them via FB messenger and they asked him to give them a few days to reach out to Symphony's portrait studio. It took them a little bit but they got back to Hubby and informed him that they were sorry for the mix up and that they will send out a new set of canvases (with the black edging) asap. Two days later, Hubby received an email from FedEx saying that the new order had been shipped out, and a few days after that, we received our second set of canvases! Hubby took some photos to show how nicely it was packaged upon arrival. He said the water bottle is there to show perspective for sizing. As you can imagine, the girls are beyond thrilled because now there are not one, but two giant sets of canvases with them on it. Overall, great service and quality by Royal. I would highly recommend the portrait session and products if that is your thing. For us, we probably won't do this for a while. But we might again down the road when celebrating another significant milestone. For example, last cruise with kids before one gets married, or with grandkids, etc. Now I am getting really far ahead of myself lol. Sure hope that I am pinnacle by then.

Yeah, that is why this thread brings back really bad memories for me lol. You know how I book my cruises way out in advance? Well that was the nightmare I got stuck in with the shady math TA over covid cancellations. I was still stuck with them. None of the math added up. Like @SweetPeahad already mentioned, my 125% FCCs were a mess. I had no real booking confirmations from Royal. Only had the ones from the shady math TA. The shady math TA at this point was saying how overwhelmed they were with cancellations and was avoiding my calls and emails. Thank goodness that my now fantastic TA came in and quite literally saved the day. I will be forever grateful to her. In fact, after @HolyShip started this thread, I sent the link to her to thank her once again after remembering how bad it was. This thread definitely brought back memories! Not the good ones either lol

+1

This about sums it up. But when something does go wrong, like it does with the airlines, or cruises, it is awfully good to have someone honest and decent in your corner. I have learned that far outweighs any small savings I might have gotten with the low cost, discount company.

I totally get it about the carpets at MIA. I complain about it every time we fly in/out of there. It is such a pain to roll luggage on those floors. However, I went through a phase where we said we would only fly out of FLL as well and just pay the Uber/Lyft cost to drive to Miami. That was all before our "almost lost" March 2022 cruise. Call me silly and slightly superstitious, but it was the MIA hang up that caused us to almost miss our cruise. I still remember when we were booking air for that sailing. @bellemiche and I were discussing what airport to fly into. She chose MIA and I chose FLL. She made it to MIA with no issues. I took a road trip to Pittsburgh and almost missed my cruise lol. Since then, Hubby and I have decided that we will let cost and schedule dictate which airport we fly into. I am literally still traumatized from that experience a year ago.

^^^This! @HolyShipthis is what I was trying to explain but as usual, @twangsteris way better at explaining these things than I am

Fingers crossed no refunds or FCCs needed and it’s all good. But like I said, keep us posted. I am interested to see how this plays out. It is all too familiar, but not in a good way lol

Good luck. I am interested to see if they actually give you the booking confirmation. I am willing to bet they won’t without a fight. Keep us posted.

At this point, yes. I would pay the final balance. What other alternative do you have? That is exactly how it was for me too with CCV. I was paying a nice “discounted rate” but they were paying Royal even less. It is exactly like the example you have. Where you will lose is if say this cruise gets cancelled and Royal issues you a refund. According to Royal, you have only paid $2800 and that will be their refund to you. You will be short $400. Or let’s say something happens on the cruise and they issue you FCC that is 10% of your cruise fare. You will also lose a bit because instead of $320 FCC, you will receive $280.

That is correct. When you are with an agent Royal will not give you the invoice. And if your experience with the shady agency is like mine, they won’t want to give you the invoice either because it won’t match what you paid. Just remember for next time that a legit TA will always share the actual Royal booking confirmation with you and all payment will go directly to Royal.

Long ago, I discovered CCV on cruise compete as well. I thought it was great until all the pandemic cancellations hit. That is how I learned of the downside of their shady math. Grateful I know have a agent who is amazing and by the book. You will be fine as long as the sailing goes smoothly (pardon the pun). The shady math only catches up with you when there is a refund or FCC to be issued in play because that is based on cruise fare paid and Royal will see on their end that you paid less than what you actually paid.

I am going to tag @SweetPeaon this too. She and I know all too much about this unfortunately. We learned the hard way.

And does your agency have the initials CCV? This whole post sounds like their shady ways unfortunately.

It is bad news! I was once with an agent like this and it sounds all too familiar. They are doing “shady math” and playing with commission. If I had to guess, I am going to guess that the agent gave you a great deal as well. It all seems great and too good to be true, and it is, until something goes wrong with the sailing. Because part of your payment is going to the agency, Royal will only see the amount that you paid directly to them. If something were to happen to your sailing, for example, it gets cancelled, or you end up getting FCC based on cruise fare, that is where you will lose big time. This is because what Royal sees that you paid (the amount that is paid directly to them) is not what you actually paid in total. I hope this makes sense, but it is very shady and dishonest on the agency part. My advice, enjoy your cruise, hopefully nothing happens between now and then that will result in a refund being necessary or FCC being issued, and find another agent.

Lunch on sea days yes! Breakfast, never lol

Well...you know me lol

That pic of the moody teenager...priceless! We have our fair share of those too through the years lol