United We Stand
Date: Sat, 27 Mar 2004 16:25:52 -0500
From: "John Morris" <jmorris@carrollsweb.com>
Subject: Review
This was our second cruise on a Voyager Class ship, and our fifth cruise to date. As always, the cruise was great and the ship fantastic.
The major problems, including public embarrassment, occurred in getting to the ship and on board the ship. We had booked the entire cruise through Royal Caribbean, including air from Wichita to Miami and return. At 4:40 in the morning on departure day, we were told at airport checkin that our tickets were not paid for. The airline had the reservations but no payment, and therefore no boarding passes for us. The airline tried to collect from us. We called our cruise agent, and she went to work trying to contact Royal Caribbean, and the wonderfully helpful young woman at the airline ticket counter did the same. The airline representative finally made contact with a live person at Royal Caribbean who gave the airline clearance for the issuance of boarding passes. At that point, we thought all was well for these two senior citizens.
Wrong! When we arrived at the pier in Miami, Royal Caribbean tried
again to collect air fare from us. That about sent us both through the roof. After
collecting some more paperwork, they then settled for a “change fee”
or something like that (which we have since gotten returned to us). If all that
sounds totally unnecessary and off the wall, we agree. Rather like the old saying,
“the customer is always wrong”.We were a couple of
days into the cruise before our nerves calmed down, and then a couple of days
later, we started wondering if we would be facing the same thing going home. (We
didn’t). We had made e-mail contact with our cruise agent right away and
she made sure it didn’t happen.
And, oh yes: our cruise agent got an apology from Royal Caribbean; we didn’t.
Although very disheartened by the whole episode, we have booked another
family cruise for January, 2005.
The beautiful Navigator of the Seas, the great staff, our fantastic cabin steward
who had the capability to anticipate our every whim, the great food, and the on-board
service we received, were all excellent.
One of the big reasons we have come to love cruising is relaxation and re-generation, with some shopping tossed in for good measure. We have learned we prefer balcony-cabins, and that is always a must. Also, only once in five cruises have we dined in the dining room. We seem to be full-fledged Windjammer Café folks, as well as making numerous visits to Johnny Rockets when we are on a Voyager Class ship.
We are new enough at international travel, even though we are classed as senior citizens, that arriving in foreign ports is still awe-inspiring. St. Thomas was a thrill this time around. It was raining when we left the ship, but, fortunately, we found a fine shopping area not far away, so we could out-shop the rain.
In San Juan, we went on shore before most shops were open, but this was good. There were just a few people on the narrow streets in Old San Juan, and just enough shops open to give us the opportunity to further international trade. I had been keeping my eyes open for a certain new digital camera I was craving, but never did find it on our shopping tours.
One of our favorite places in the world has to be Labadee. This was our second stop at this enclave, and we were there at the time that civil unrest was beginning to swell up in Haiti. The beauty of Labadee is almost unbelievable.
Our Sunday stop in Nassau was forgettable. We had been there on three earlier occasions, and always on a weekday. Nothing against Nassau, but nothing much is going on there on Sunday mornings. All four times we have visited Nassau, we have been blessed by fantastic sunrises as we sailed into the harbor.
If all else fails, there is always the casino, or our balcony.
What a life!
| |