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Awesome Upgrade from Royal (but I can't take it)


DocLC

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I'm glad to hear the Loyalty Ambassador comped you at Chops. That's a nice gesture.

 

My wife and I were talking today and agreed that based on your exprience we would try not to take the last couple of sailings before a refurbishment. Of course a good deal on the price might change our minds but at least you go in knowing there could be issues.

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My wife and I were talking today and agreed that based on your exprience we would try not to take the last couple of sailings before a refurbishment. Of course a good deal on the price might change our minds but at least you go in knowing there could be issues.

 

 

A very long time ago, 2004 I believe, we were on Adventure before it went in for dry dock/refurbishment (I don't know the exact details).  Due to the schedule at the port were the work was to be done, our cruise was a special 10 day cruise since they had a few extra days to fill - normally Adventure did the route from SJU town to Barbados on one week, and then the next it would go down to the ABC islands.  For our 10 day it went down to Barbados, and then over to the ABC islands before going back to SJU.  So there can be benefits to sailing prior to refurbishment.

 

The only inconvenience we witnessed was that the carpeting on one side of the stairway was being replaced on the last day.  Other than that, no issues.

 

 

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There was one lounge by Cloud 9 and part of the sports deck boarded off; however, other than that you wouldn't have known they had begun the work. The only other noticeable thing was they had moved the chairs from The Catacombs into the Platinum Theater this morning.

 

I really think this was a corporate mistake that went sideways. They tried to accommodate a needed move with a very generous upgrade; unfortunately, it was in a location we didn't want. They did get us back to a midship cabin and offered us OBC for the troubles. The boarding issues were frustrating, but the comp at Chops helped soften the frustration so I stepped off the Liberty satisfied. Had this been my first cruise, though, it might have been enough little issues that I might look elsewhere.

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... We arrived in Galveston on time, so why that wanted to leave earlier is beyond me. Best guess would be to outrun a cold front that we were suppose to pass and/or to get back to Galveston early to load supplies for the dry dock so that they can begin work while in transit...

I think you are right about loading supplies. The "Cruise Cam" shows supplies being loaded by three cranes onto the ship all day today. Liberty has just sailed from Galveston tonight around 8:00 pm local time.

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I think you are right about loading supplies. The "Cruise Cam" shows supplies being loaded by three cranes onto the ship all day today. Liberty has just sailed from Galveston tonight around 8:00 pm local time.

Sounds about right. They have two days before they reach Freeport and that would be wasted time otherwise. A lot of the entertainment staff have been trained in "fire watch" procedures, so they're even involved in the action.

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This has been an interesting thread.  I really had no idea that the looming refurb could cause issues like these.  I'm sorry that you had to be a victim, Kris, but my guess is that you weren't the only one.

 

I think I'm leading in Steve's direction and will tend to avoid cruises immediately preceding a scheduled refurb.

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This has been an interesting thread.  I really had no idea that the looming refurb could cause issues like these.  I'm sorry that you had to be a victim, Kris, but my guess is that you weren't the only one.

 

I think I'm leading in Steve's direction and will tend to avoid cruises immediately preceding a scheduled refurb.

Other than the cabin move, I really think the rest was just bad luck or a screw up at the corporate level as the change had to be handle by the revenue department for some reason and I think that's how the wires got crossed. Then when we went to Portofino on the last night, they had trouble finding our reservation because it was under our old cabin number before the upgrade. This is when I realized that most of these issues were the result of the move and not an issue with the Liberty herself. In fact, if I didn't know better, I wouldn't have had a clue she was going into drydock except for a few contractors I would see in the WJ at night for dinner and the one area of the sports deck that was boarded off, which wasn't very noticeable.

 

On the bright side, we had exceptionally good MDR service and the Adventure Ocean was superb. We also really enjoyed Saturday Night Live.

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Finally heard back from Royal via my TA what created the problem of owing money upon check in at the pier.  

 

I have found the reason for the $222.00 extra charge. The charge was not for the upgrade it was for 3 shore excursions for $74 each.

According to our system, the shore excursions were refunded twice so when it caught the error it made your clients charge back the $222.00 at the pier. We have submitted a work order for the $222 to go back onto your client's credit card and we are very sorry about the inconvenience. I will keep you informed where the money is.

 

Is anyone surprised that it was an IT system glitch?

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Sounds about right. They have two days before they reach Freeport and that would be wasted time otherwise. A lot of the entertainment staff have been trained in "fire watch" procedures, so they're even involved in the action.

I have to give credit to my wife for an additional theory: why would they pay to ship all of the materials and equipment to the Bahamas when they could load them onto their own ship here in Galveston and transport them to Freeport.

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I have to give credit to my wife for an additional theory: why would they pay to ship all of the materials and equipment to the Bahamas when they could load them onto their own ship here in Galveston and transport them to Freeport.

In addition, they needed the supplies onboard to begin work while sailing.  My guess is that they've already begun recovering a lot of the furniture onboard and replacing carpets yesterday and today.  Importing into the Bahamas is also much more expensive.

 

If you look on YouTube for Drydock: A Cruise Ship Reborn you'll see the general process which includes loading supplies in the final U.S. port before making way to the Bahamas for the dry dock.

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As a final conclusion to this thread, I did want to say that we loved the Freedom class and really enjoyed our cruise aboard the Liberty. My fears about the onboard experience being disrupted by the looming refurb were unfounded. The only real impact was the cabin move, which for most people would have been a welcomed $1,000 upgrade. I left the ship happy having our dinner at Chops comped for our troubles, plus Royal did extend some onboard credit for the move. Thus, my TA and the Loyalty Ambassador helped to mitigate a situation that could have easily left a bad taste in my mouth.

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As a final conclusion to this thread, I did want to say that we loved the Freedom class and really enjoyed our cruise aboard the Liberty. My fears about the onboard experience being disrupted by the looming refurb were unfounded. The only real impact was the cabin move, which for most people would have been a welcomed $1,000 upgrade. I left the ship happy having our dinner at Chops comped for our troubles, plus Royal did extend some onboard credit for the move. Thus, my TA and the Loyalty Ambassador helped to mitigate a situation that could have easily left a bad taste in my mouth.

Glad to hear it all worked out on many fronts.  

 

Now Kris, you must book the Navigator 2017 GC!

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