Why not to Take TAP airlines from North America to Lisbon

 I recently took TAP from Toronto to Lisbon for the first time. Never again. The good part was rhe pr airline communication, the check in process, and boarding. After that it was a disaster. They fly the airbus 321 which is too small of a plane to cross the Atlantic in high winds. The pilot had the seat belt sign on for the entire flight. It was like being on a steep roller coaster for the whole flight. The flight attendants were rude when serving telling passengers to walk to the back if you need more water. We never saw them again til the sandwiches at the end of the flight.  The food made me ill.

Getting off the flight you have to take the shuttle which adds a half hour to the already delayed flight. Then we had to walk up stairs as the escalators are broken. Worse the lineup to customs was another half hour. Don’t take 

 TAP if you have a connection as unless it’s over 2 hours you will not make your flight.

My understanding is TAP is for sale…I will have to watch as to who buys it so I don’t accidentally book it again.

Hope this helps 

Marcia

Royal Caribbean Dynamic Pricing approach - how to get a better price

 I recently learned that Royal Caribbean uses dynamic pricing for all its charge types. This means that when demand is lower for their cruise/cabin type, shore excursions, the key, internet etc, the price will be lower and when the demand is higher for these things the prices rise.  It can be quite annoying if your timing for booking any of these is off.  It requires you to do the following

- book earlier for a cruise (i.e. now for some cruises its a year in advance to get a better price). This is especially noticeable of the longer cruises.  The seven day Caribbean seem to stay steadier in the prices. 

- check almost daily for internet and other services. It's especially hard for Canadians as we also have to watch our CDN/US exchange rates which also change daily. 

- Shore excursions are just way too high even with the 10% offer. Long gone are the 30% off shore excursions.  I have found they give a 20% discount on all Spanish speaking tours but only 10 percent for the English ones.  But worst of all if you take public transit to the same sites, you will save greatly.  An example are both trips to Mijas and or Murcia in Spain.  Both will cost less than $10 Euros return by Public transit , yet RCL wants $95 and $72 respectively for "on your own" tours with their discounts.  

- I have had first hand experience - the price of my upcoming spring cruise was $300 less for the cabin I wanted if I have of booked a year out and at 10 months it had risen due to increase demand.  I carefully booked the KEY as it was only $1.50  per day more than the internet price and now the KEY is up by over $15 more a day than the internet. 

I am sure this benefits RCL, but makes it hard for cruisers to get the best price.  I much prefer Cunard, Holland America and Princess whose prices remain steady throughout unless they have a sale. 

Hope this helps

Marcia

How to request for special needs on Royal Caribbean Cruises - UPDATED

 I have been on many Royal Caribbean Cruises and have always found the beds extremely hard. It's like sleeping on a hard floor.  On my last cruise on Quantum of the seas, my room steward added a mattress topper to the bed and it made all the difference for a good nights sleep.  

I was advised by RCL customer relations to pre-order a mattress topper by emailing the address below

special_needs@rccl.com

I just did so -requesting mattress toppers for both of my upcoming RCL cruises.  I will advise when I receive a response from this department and if I actually get the mattress toppers when on the cruises. 

I was responded to in less than 2 days. I was advised that RCL now has double mattess toppers fleet wide. The rep also said she will pass on my request to the ships to ensure that my room is "perfect".

I hope that this works and will update this post when I receive their response and after the cruises.

Hope this helps 

Marcia

Beware - RCL USD to CDN$ exchange is bad and you can not book flights in USD on a CDN$ booking

 I just booked my flights for an upcoming cruise on Harmony of the Seas transatlantic.  After checking several websites (airlines, Expedia, Flighthub) the best flight cost I could find was thru Royal Caribbean.  It was an overall about a  $600 CDN savings to any of the other websites. However if you book your cruise in CDN $ you must also book your flight with them in CDN $.   This is where the issue lies with RCL USD to CDN exchange rates.

The flight cost in CDN $ that I chose (even with exchange rate and the 2.5% extra that my credit card charges) was significantly higher than if they had let me pay for the flights in USD. The flight in Canadian $ was approximately $150 CDN more than if they had allowed me to pay in USD (1.50% plus exchange rate).   That is a 11.5% surcharge- really bad.  When I asked why the rep said he had no idea, but had heard this complaint  many times before.  His guess was that it was a Delta/KLM thing as RCL books it KLM flights via Delta.  

NOTE - I checked the following week and the USD price matched the CDN conversion for this flight at 1.37.  I guess it was a clerical error. 

If I had of booked the cheapest flights they had to offer it would have been a reasonable exchange rate (at 1.37%)  but the TAP airline flights only allowed a 1 hour and 15 minutes transfer time in Lisbon which is too short and RCL's website clearly stated  it was a short transfer time.  Having missed transfers before I went with the more expensive option of the KLM flights return (a 2.5 hour transfer time)  and this is where I experienced the gauging exchange rate. 

The rep told me to keep watching the flight costs and if it goes down before final cruise payment billing they will give me the cheaper rate if seats on this flight were  still available. 

The good - My guess is that this flight won't go down sufficiently to merit re-booking and its still significantly lower in cost than the book on your own alternatives. 

This is a same day flight to the cruise and I am protected by RCL if there are flight issues.  Also the flight is fully refundable until final cruise payment is due. Of course I ca not book my seats until RCL has received final payment and issued the flight tickets.  Annoying but I still hope I can find a decent seat for the transatlantic portion of the flight.

The other cost saver was the transfers  RCL provides  (to and from the ship) were significantly lower at $100 CDN than the other shuttle alternatives in Houston and Barcelona.  The best shuttle I could find was almost $150 USD for one person from IAH to Galveston.  In Barcelona I could have taken the bus for about $20USD but it is quite involved with walking to the bus stop (about 20 minutes after the port shuttle) and the bus is often quite crowded.  I have taken this bus many times before and it's a great option if you are staying in Barcelona.  But on a same day transfer the convenience of a RCL transfer wins out. 

I just wanted to caution all Canadians booking via RCL to convert the rates on the flights they quote from USD to CDN to see if they are reasonable rates before booking with them.  

My guess is with the transfer savings and the final amount versus book on your own alternatives I am still doing ok with the cost savings.   I don't really have an alternative. 

Hope this helps 

Marcia

Royal Caribbean "ROYALUP" does it work? Updated no upgrade

I was just solicited by RCCL to use the Royal Up process to upgrade my cabin.  The ship according to almost all travel sites is totally sold out except for suites. I am hoping that there are enough people upgrading or cancelling last minute to give me a chance.

 When I booked over 6 months ago all that was left at a decent price for a solo was an Interior Promenade View (connecting). I have never tried a promenade view room and didn't want a connecting room but the timing was perfect for my trip to Lisbon.  

I have only once had a connecting  ocean view cabin on NCL and it was loud thru the door as the cabin beside had a baby and young child that screamed all the time (night and day). I have tried to avoid this type of cabin ever since. 

I know people who have stayed in the Interior Promenade view rooms and loved them. I followed their instructions and got a cabin on 7th floor above customer service (it is on fifth deck).  I am told given the cabin is not over the main promenade or bars that it is much quieter than other cabins. You are on a floor with a cabin above and below.  I brought earplugs just in case.

But if possible I would really like an ocean view, so I am trying for the first time the Royal Up process. Most people are not successful in getting an upgrade so I am not holding out a lot of hope.  I was told to bid above the minimum but not above what I think the cabin is worth. Also given I travel solo, what ever price I choose to pay I must double it.   I chose the next level up which is a standard ocean view cabin which could be on various decks but likely decks 2 or 3 that have the most of this cabin type.  The prices for spacious ocean view, balconies and suites were way too high for a solo passenger even at a minimum bid. I am hoping that passengers who bid will want to move up so this seems like the best option. 

All that the RCL confirmation email says is that the acceptance or decline of my offer will likely come 2 days before the cruise and up to 2 hours after the cruise sails.  You can cancel or change the amount of the bid right up until the acceptance or decline offer.  RCL will only charge the credit card that you must give when bidding if your offer is accepted. Most people on sites online state that this timing has been the case for them. 

 I will keep you posted on the success or failure of this attempt at an upgrade.  

NO upgrade. They sent an email just before boarding.  Oh well.

Hope this helps

Marcia

Why is getting a Royal Caribbean Cruise Shareholder Benefit so difficult compared to Carnival cruise lines.

 I only go on Royal Caribbean once a year. Every year the process to get an onboard shareholder benefit changes and gets more difficult.  I own the required 100 shares of RCL stock and know I must provide a copy of a statement showing ownership that is no older than 3 months.  I learned this year that  it is many steps and

1.  you can only request the onboard credit no earlier than 3 months prior to your cruise and no later than 3 weeks prior to your cruise departure.  That's new from last year when I could submit the request any time after paying in full.

2. A picture of your statement is no longer valid - it must be a PDF (and a small size). My first PDF was rejected as the size was too large.  Note you must convert the picture (jpeg to a PDF).  Or if you have an apple IPAD you can scan the document as a PDF. Note the latter size is too large for the online submission. You will get an error message. Tip: when saving the pdf on apple save it in grey tone then the size will be acceptable.

3. They want you to black out any personal information such as account number on the statement and any non RCL info. However the page you submit MUST have the date, Your investment firm and YOUR NAME on the page. Guess what -my monthly statement only includes my name and firm on the first page and the US stock holdings is on page 7.  It got rejected as my name is not on page 7.  So I had to write to them (in response to the rejection) and I  have submitted a 1 page copy from my quarterly statement that includes my name via the online portal.  Note upon submission I got another error message (9 times) stating my submission is rejected, please refresh the page. I cleared the history and refreshed the page but no luck.  I then just responded to their rejection email with a PDF copy of the quarterly statement page and am waiting on their response.  I now have the OBC 2 days later - they send you an email (which you must print out in case they dispute the OBC on board and you can show it to customer service). 

4. I am also going on a CUNARD cruise and submitted the same exact monthly statement info (a picture not PDF) and it was accepted by StockPerks the app that Carnival owned cruise lines use.  At least it says verified and I have to check my Cunard account in a few days to see if it's been added. Whoops this is a three step process. Once Stockperks send the "VERIFIED" email, you. then must redeem your credit on their app and they say it will take up to 5 business days for Cunard to respond.  It took 6 business days to get a confirmation email from Stockperks.  The email states I now must contact my travel agent to get an updated booking confirmation that shows the OBC being applied to my booking. I sent an email to my agent requesting it and was sent an updated invoice within hours. 

4. The other annoyance is RCL and the other cruise lines give $100 for a 13 night cruise and I noticed many of their transatlantic are now 13 days vs. 14. They really should give more for 10 to 13 days. But with all the cutbacks I don’t think they will.

Hope this helps 

Marcia

Can you trust Cruise Critic, Cruiseline and TripAdvisor Reviews on Ships and Hotel Rooms?

 The quick answer to whether or not you can trust Cruise Critic, Cruiseline and TripAdvisor's reviews of 

Cruises - is Sometimes but your better options are RECENT Cruise Passenger Videos posted on u tube. 

Heres some suggestions if using the cruise passenger reviews on the three major Cruise Critic, Cruiseline and Tripadvisor sites

- Only a few passengers post their review on these sites. Most of the typical 2000 plus passengers on any cruise don't post about their experience.  So you are not  getting the full picture of what your might experience 

- You mostly get the extreme points of view on these sites - they loved it or hated it. The haters have usually had a bad experience with their cabin, their bill or the food. The lovers are often newbies or frequent guests for that cruise line.  

- Most cruisers review the food offered and I always think that is to personal taste so don't pay much attention to them .  I do listen  to whether or not the service or temperature of the food was good. I often find that reviewers are right about speed of service and food temperature.  They also give you forewarning on the buffets (crowds, variety of food). 

- Most cabin reviews are about the size, cleanliness, room steward service, showers and bed comfort.  I like the tips people provide on getting bed toppers (always as must on MSC and RCCL as they have very hard mattresses).  Whether or not showers leak and provide good hot water.  Very few passengers have issues with Room stewards, but when they say they never see their room steward or its poor I make sure I watch for this onboard.  I prefer the walk thru videos on cruise mapper or u-tube as these are usually in-depth. I find the Harr Travel videos on cabins particularly useful.

- Overall ship reviews often help you with how badly maintained a ship is including rust, old furniture, old mattresses and whether or not they have a decent promenade deck.  

I like the videos posted on line the best as you can visually see the cabins, shared spaces and often they show menus and the food. I find the commentary is sometimes helpful but not always.  Look for the most recently posted videos and avoid the ones posted by the cruise lines as these are professionally shot and often don't depict current  reality.

As for Hotel reviews I like the ones on Booking.com and Expedia as they are from guests that have stayed there. Again go for the most recent reviews and watch for tips on location, how to get to the hotel from the airport, restaurants nearby and of course any issues with cleanliness and or bed bugs.  I also like posted videos and pictures of the rooms and area around the hotels.  I always book hotels with average ratings of 8 and above out of 10.  I also always read the worst rated reviews as these give you insights on possible issues. 

I hope this helps

Marcia