Rose City Cruiser

That guilt will disappear after that first drink on board!

That guilt will disappear after that first drink on board!

That guilt will disappear after that first drink on board!

That guilt will disappear after that first drink on board!

That guilt will disappear after that first drink on board!

That guilt will disappear after that first drink on board!

Day 8 - Livorno/Florence
We had an early start this morning with a 7:45 meeting time for our trip to Florence. As Florence is about 1.5hrs drive from the port and often has bad traffic, we'd again booked a transfer with RC. I booked it a while ago so can't remember the exact price but it was in the region of £45-£50pp. This included a tour guide on the coach (Trudy who was extremely informative and good fun), a stop at a leather factory enroute to Florence and a guided walk from the coach drop-off point into the centre of Florence and then 4hrs free time for sightseeing. 
Florence is a beautiful old town with some incredible architecture. Well worth a look if you're ever in the area. We saw the tomb of Michelangelo, the Ponte Veccio and several other historic sites. We got quite lucky with the weather as it was hot but with partial cloud cover so it made the temperature bearable. 
In the afternoon we returned to the ship and had a turkey kummelweck sandwuch from Sorrento's which was delicious. Then we played some shuffleboard (the less said about that the better), before going for a dip in the Solarium pool to cool off. The bars were pretty busy before dinner so we got drinks from Bolero's and took them out on to the Promenade Deck to watch the sun beginning to set. Dinner was in the main dining room where we were treated to a rendition of 'O Sole Mio' by the waiters. 
As we came out of the dining room,  I heard someone saying something about lightning so we went out on deck and sure enough were treated to a natural light show out at sea. We then headed to the Schooner bar where Piano-oke continued - it appears the piano player has some kind of throat problem and has been told to avoid singing. 
Tomorrow we have another port day in Toulon in the south of France. 
 

Yes !  This is how Michelle became my permanent agent.  Not only does she know how to twist arms with the cruiseline, she knows all the tricks of working directly with Club Royale.  She did an amazing job for us when we had the disaster with Empress.  All of our cruises are booked through the casino.  

They are similar to the ship's deck loungers but plastic framing. 
There are plenty of them and you will not have a problem getting a spot on Adrenaline Beach side.  I do recommend moving over to the other side(Barefoot Beach) after the zip line.  The water is much calmer and does not have as many sharp rocks. 

In May, you might get hit with a late spring snowstorm.  NFLD got dumped with 30cm of snow in June.

I second July!! And we need to celebrate the big 50 with @JLMoran ?

In May, you might get hit with a late spring snowstorm.  NFLD got dumped with 30cm of snow in June.

Thanks again Annette (and Sharla). Couldn't be happier. Thanks for the over the top help.
Twin 15-year-old girls are always a challenge, especially as the only parent 24/7. I totally saw their point. Why on earth would you give a company your money when they just screwed you over? If I could change our flights without penalty I would have done just that. But in the end, we'll be getting off the Mariner when Matt's group cruise is getting on. 

For those of you on that group cruise next March, make sure you ask at the Bamboo Room about Paul from Toronto from the cruise before you. I'm a tiki nut, so I'll be in there whenever I'm not eating or sleeping.

Also, thanks for everyone's kind words.

Just an update to this string....
If you look you will see there was a new string created with an update
We were able to jump in and work with Royal to get a satisfying resolution for alamode123.
Sometimes these situations take a little longer  - but we always strive to help take some of the stress out of planning a vacation - even if it was caused by the cruise line!
 

As I've thought about this and in particular your last sentence in reference to your daughters accepting this:
I can safely predict that won't be an issue.  
You have displayed great patience and resolve as this has played out.  Sure at moments it has gotten to you, and how couldn't it?  In the end you let it play out, maintained faith in Sharla and MEI Travel and worked towards a resolution.  That is commendable.
Our children watch and learn from us in subtle ways none of us appreciate from their early years to later in life.  My kids have endured flat tires, locked up brake calipers, hotels that didn't come close to the brochure, flights delays, lost luggage, pets pass and so on.  It didn't take me long to learn that their reaction mirrored my own during life's challenging moments.
This is a process for them too but I'm confident you will find they handle it with as much grace as you have despite how frustrating it has been.    After all, they learned that from you.  
 

We are so glad that we could jump in and try to help you out.  It does take some time to talk to all areas at the cruise line, and sometimes it doesn't work out this well, but so glad we could  could help keep your spring break plans in place.  Im sure once the kids see the new ship and the changes they will be excited and then all the new changes on Cocoa Cay. 
I know many times people will ask Matt or our agents, "why should I use a Travel Agent"  its these situations where you need a few other people in your corner to fight for you - and we are happy to do that for all our clients.

As expected, Sharla and her supervisor did their magic since my cruise cancellation, and put on hold the exact same room on Mariner. Same week, same port, just one day fewer. They are now talking with Royal to see about price matching back to when i booked my original cruise, as I shouldn't be paying more for one less day through no fault of my own.

Best case scenario it all works out, and we end up with an extra day before our cruise. Hopefully my girls will be as accepting of this result as I will be.

I wanted to chime in on this....
I know this is disappointing, but I didn't want everyone thinking that this was just a Royal issue.
Sharla and I are this and working with Royal,  and Im sure Royal will try to work the best option for you and everyone else that got displaced from this cruise and the several other chartered cruises that were announced this week.  While right now it seems this is only a Royal issue, in my past 18 plus years in the industry I can tell you this has happened on most cruise lines - NCL, RCCL and even Disney - in fact I have had to move a group of 24 staterooms from a Disney cruise because of a charter. 
The cruise lines will put out the generic letter for what they are going to offer to each guest, but each guests situations are a little different and they do try to work with the displaced guests as best they can.  I do not want to give examples of what has been given from different cruise lines, as it is all dependent on what each situation is as to what they may authorize to do for each guest.  This is a chance for your travel planner to jump in to work for you.  Please know that MEI-Travel and the other Travel planners out there you guys are working with fight for you and your vacation plans to take some of this stress off of you especially when things go wrong.
Hang tight as we hope we can make this better.  We cant make it right, but we can try to help.

In my experience, those sailings are planned around ahead of time. You can tell because there's a gap between dry dock and sailings offered to the public.

My buddy took this while on the Mariner a couple of weeks ago.
 
 

The general wisdom is to use private mode in your browser.  If kicked out you may have wait 15 minutes before trying again.  Clearing browser cache and data is another option, or try a browser you don't use often.
I do most things in private mode on RC's website.
 

Twangster...oh my gosh! That actually worked! Thank you so much. You made my night. So happy to have all that completed and printed! 

I've had 3 people request access to the sheet. Please like this post to confirm if you are one of them, just so I am sure that they are real accounts and connected to the blog.

I second this.  Just got off Empress on Saturday.  The level of personal service was different from what I have experienced on OA and FR class ships.  At least 10 employees were addressing me on a first name basis by the second day.  100% Smoke-free casino was a plus for my wife as well.

After reading the live blogs on the recent RCBlog Group Cruise, I would recommend Alaska.