I am not a fan of the RCI website....or the entire cruise line at this point...

[pklein09]

Just trying to find anything leads me to the screen where they don't nickel and dime you do death. UGH! The "Cruise Planner" should be where can I find the semi formal/formal nights, but no, this is the site where they want you to book experiences that cost money.

I hope the cruise is good because I'm not impressed trying to plan stuff. I'm worried I'm going to get on the ship with a poor attitude because the website and phone assistance is miserable.

I've been trying to book spa appointments for my mom and sister, and I have managed to link their reservations online. When I go to book the spa appointment and choose the guests, my only choices are DH and me. Why say I can link other reservations when I can't even access them for something like this. I'm currently on hold with an operator to do this, and I've been on hold waiting for them to get back to me for over 15 minutes. And he got back to me....he doesn't see in his system what I see in the online booking tool. I want a 50 minute swedish massage for $119 at 2:00 pm. He says the only thing he can is see is a 75 minute swedish massage at 9:15 for $187. Huh??? He said to email shore excursions and maybe they can help me.

Please tell me this is not normal.

Oh, and I'm not new to cruising, just new to RCL. I've done 4 Disney cruises and 1 Viking cruise.

 

[starvenger]

This is not normal. Although I've never tried to book a spa, so I can't speak on issues there.

Personally I've never found a problem navigating through the website. I can definitely say that it's better than P&O, which is very user unfriendly. But booking shows or dinners on Royal with linked reservations always seemed to go pretty smoothly (P&O was somehow never able to link reservations together for my wife and her siblings, which made booking dinners a nightmare). But I would suggest asking your TA to try and book the spa, or try email before calling, as I don't think that call centers (in general) are well equipped for the specific questions that most experienced cruisers have.

Formal nights (which I think are known as "dress your best" nights) vary from ship to ship, but rule of thumb is that it will be on sea days. If your trip is 6 or more days, you'll have 2 of them, but only 1 it's less than that. I would check some sites (like royalcaribbeanblog) as they do have cruise planners that may help inform you as to which night is the formal night.

I don't know if I can give any other advice, but I'm willing to try if you've got anything else.

 

[pklein09]

Thank you for letting me know that my experience is not normal.

We're not at the point where we can book the shows....I think that is 30 days out because we're first time cruisers with RCI.

I have an email in requesting the spa appointments. My sister booked the cruise directly on the website...she has 2 cabins (she has 4 kids) as well as ours. My mom booked through Costco, so not a travel agent in sight.

 

[disneyfan150]

On which ship are you sailing?

As of July, shows were booked once you boarded. My next cruise is not until June and I have not been keeping up the last couple months. I just wanted to give you a heads up that you may not be able to book shows ahead of time.

Just a tip you may or may not know about:
If you haven't already, get the Royal app. Online check-in is around 45 days prior to your cruise. The app will let you know the exact day you can check-in. On check-in day, you can schedule your boarding time. Then, you can board at one of the early times. This will help when booking shows and give you more time to enjoy the ship on the first day. There are other things to do when checking in online, but you don't have to do them right away. I check in as soon as I wake up on check-in day to get a boarding time. Then I add my passport info and so forth even days later.

I am not sure when cruises show up on the app. Maybe 90 days prior???? It is not right away like the online cruise planner. So if your cruise is far into the future, it may not show up yet. If there is no information about your sailing date yet, the app will say something like, "We are making plans for you. Check back later.

 

[pklein09]

We're sailing on Jewel of the Seas on 11/6. It's a 7 day cruise, Eastern Caribbean. DH has the app on his phone, but I haven't downloaded it yet. We're 67 days out, or so.

 

[sam_gordon]

I would guess that's not normal. We had a cruise in July with two cabins (six people). Everything I went to book in the cruise planner (dinner times & excursions), I had the ability to click any/all of the six.

 

[Meriweather]

Not normal. I have at least 25 RCCL sails and never had a problem.....well, lately they have cancelled some excursions, but that's it.

In June we had 2 cabins for 4 people....all linked and I could book everything for everyone

 

[pklein09]

Thank you for the reassurances. I'm still waiting to hear back from the email I sent. I hope I'm able to book something at the spa for my mom, sister, and me.

 

[disneyfan150]

We're sailing on Jewel of the Seas on 11/6. It's a 7 day cruise, Eastern Caribbean. DH has the app on his phone, but I haven't downloaded it yet. We're 67 days out, or so.

I've never sailed Radiance class, but I don't know that there are any shows to book on Jewel. I've only needed to book on Oasis and Quantum class. Do check once you board,, though. Shows can fill up. Check DH's app. at 60, 45, and 30 days to see about booking shows in advance just to be sure. Things change from one day to the next lately. It is hard to keep up.

If anyone in your group has sailed Royal before, maybe they could try to be sure things are linked by calling Crown and Anchor Society. I have better luck when I call the loyalty number.

I wish I could help more. You would think Royal would be really wanting to take your money to book the spa.

 

[pklein09]

We are all first time cruisers with RCI, so no help for being a returning cruiser. If this keeps up, I may not be a returning cruiser.

Yes, I think they would be very willing to take my money for the spa!!! Or at least give me the direct spa number for booking the appointments. I could always try the Crown and Anchor phone number and explain my plight. They might be able to help.

I think I read somewhere that we can book our shows at 30 days out. We're bring playing cards and Jenga just in case we're shut out of the shows or if the kids can't sit through them.

 

[sam_gordon]

We are all first time cruisers with RCI, so no help for being a returning cruiser. If this keeps up, I may not be a returning cruiser.

Yes, I think they would be very willing to take my money for the spa!!! Or at least give me the direct spa number for booking the appointments. I could always try the Crown and Anchor phone number and explain my plight. They might be able to help.

I think I read somewhere that we can book our shows at 30 days out. We're bring playing cards and Jenga just in case we're shut out of the shows or if the kids can't sit through them.

I don't think there's a direct spa number.

Have you checked to see if the two reservation numbers are linked for dining? Maybe you think they're linked, but they're not?

The "Cruise Planner" is actually a poor name. You don't find out what's going on on the cruise there. As you said, it's a chance to purchase items/excursions. If you want to see a schedule, go the app, find the matching cruise (some ships do multiple itineraries, you want to make sure you get the same ship/itinerary) leave at an earlier date. That should show you what actual on board activities (free and paid) will happen.

Depending on ships, you may not be able to book any shows. I think only Oasis class accepts reservations for shows. It's just a "first come, first served". We got off Mariner in July and had ZERO problem with any shows. The shows were maybe 50-75% full even though the ship was over 100% occupancy.

 

[pklein09]

All the reservations are linked for dining. We did that right away to make sure we all were seated together at dinner. There are 5 cabins and 11 people in our traveling party.

I've downloaded the app....off to see what I can see there.

I heard back from my email....they said they could not help me, and that I should call the 800 number I called in the first place.

So, I'm going in circles.

<sigh>

 

[peacefrogdog]

Agree with sentiments that the online "Cruise Planner" has always been where you can peruse and buy excursions, drinks, internet etc. It was never a planning where you can see each day's activities. The RC app better fills that need (although I'm not sure whether it specifies which nights are "dress your best" (they did away with the formal thing). In general, it is day 2.

I have never had an issue getting into any show, provided you plan somewhat (i.e. don't show up for a 8 pm show at 7:59 and expect to get a 11 seats together). Treat it like you you would plan to watch a movie. You'll be totally fine. Agree that shows on RC don't seem to be as big draws as before (exceptions being the Broadway shows and the Aquatheatre shows on Oasis class).

I will say though that the general customer service number/email seems to be really understaffed these days. I assume its similar to every other industry out there that is also understaffed such that CS is not what it used to be.

 

[peacefrogdog]

re: Spa - does your mom & sister have a RC online account? If the goal is to book for them, it may be easier to sign into their account (where their reservation is linked) and then book their spa appointments that way.

 

[mikeyg1479]

Just putting my two cents in (just sailed on the Oasis as a first timer in June)- yeah- the cruise planner thing on the website is for buying stuff- the food/drink packages, excursions, etc.

What you want is on the Royal Caribbean app, ie the schedule stuff for your specific cruise (and also the best way to make reservations on your own- though employees all over the ship can also help). Prior to cruise, you might be able to see dining menu's, but entertainment and most of the "schedule" stuff (and the ability reservations for those), probably won't be up until you are on board- and I STRONGLY suggest just taking the time straight up and booking this stuff, ASAP upon boarding and yeah, you may be out of luck with a lot of things if you wait. We got some Sorrentos pizza upon boarding, sat down, and started booking away.

As for formal nights- yeah if you are cruising for a week- there will be two of them, less than 6 days, should only be one of those. As far as the dress code goes, though, the only hard rule Royal Caribbean actually has is no swimwear or tank tops in restaurants. Other than that, expect to see everything from formal finery to jeans and shorts and t-shirts (I saw a dude in a tux t-shirt and shorts on formal night). Plenty of people complain who are on both sides of the coin on this issue, but just be aware.

The bottom line I would say for clothes is to just do you and wear whatever is comfortable to you. If you like to dress up, do it, at whatever level of clothes feels "dressy" to you! If not, whatever. I wanted no part of a suit or tux on a ship in the tropics, so for me khaki pants and polos were just fine for dinners, even at signatures (but I saw plenty of jeans and t-shirts even there). I upgraded to button shirt and tie for formal nights) and again, was just fine. Some people go all out, and others don't bother even a little. I had a ton of worry over my kid who would rather die rather than wear anything with buttons or a collar, and he did just fine in khaki pants and clean t-shirt at dinner (other kids clearly just wore whatever, even at Chops, and no eyes were batted at them whatsoever.).

Hope this helps.

 

[peacefrogdog]

Just putting my two cents in (just sailed on the Oasis as a first timer in June)- yeah- the cruise planner thing on the website is for buying stuff- the food/drink packages, excursions, etc.

What you want is on the Royal Caribbean app, ie the schedule stuff for your specific cruise (and also the best way to make reservations on your own- though employees all over the ship can also help). Prior to cruise, you might be able to see dining menu's, but entertainment and most of the "schedule" stuff (and the ability reservations for those), probably won't be up until you are on board- and I STRONGLY suggest just taking the time straight up and booking this stuff, ASAP upon boarding and yeah, you may be out of luck with a lot of things if you wait. We got some Sorrentos pizza upon boarding, sat down, and started booking away.

As for formal nights- yeah if you are cruising for a week- there will be two of them, less than 6 days, should only be one of those. As far as the dress code goes, though, the only hard rule Royal Caribbean actually has is no swimwear or tank tops in restaurants. Other than that, expect to see everything from formal finery to jeans and shorts and t-shirts (I saw a dude in a tux t-shirt and shorts on formal night). Plenty of people complain who are on both sides of the coin on this issue, but just be aware.

The bottom line I would say for clothes is to just do you and wear whatever is comfortable to you. If you like to dress up, do it, at whatever level of clothes feels "dressy" to you! If not, whatever. I wanted no part of a suit or tux on a ship in the tropics, so for me khaki pants and polos were just fine for dinners, even at signatures (but I saw plenty of jeans and t-shirts even there). I upgraded to button shirt and tie for formal nights) and again, was just fine. Some people go all out, and others don't bother even a little. I had a ton of worry over my kid who would rather die rather than wear anything with buttons or a collar, and he did just fine in khaki pants and clean t-shirt at dinner (other kids clearly just wore whatever, even at Chops, and no eyes were batted at them whatsoever.).

Hope this helps.

Great post, and I share the same opinions 100%. Re: 'formal night" - have to say it's nice not to have to pack a full suit. My wife liked the idea of dressing up a bit more, so nice to have that 'freedom'. While people online debate what should be formal or not, I never found anyone on board casting judgement over what other people were wearing. At least, no one verbalized anything to others about it.
The other thing I noticed is that it's very easy to miss when is and is not formal night. On our recent Wonder cruise, they did not provide us with a paper cruise compass that would indicate it, so we honestly forget when 'dress your best' was scheduled in the first place!

 

[atricks]

The schedules for activities generally change quite a bit right up until (and sometimes during because of weather) the cruise as its really up to the cruise director on the ship. The formal nights usually are sea days (but not always), 2 on 7 night cruises usually, never the night before you disembark. The Royal app is the best way to get an idea for the ships activities, even if you don't have one booked, you can look through all the ships schedules that are out sailing now (Browse our ships link). Best way find the ship you are going on, and check out the sailing that is going on currently, or an iteniary that matches or is close to yours on that ship, and you can get a pretty good idea from that. (If it's actively sailing it's the most accurate). The formal night/dress info is usually on the front, although you may have to click the blue box under daily planner and scroll to find it for a particular day.

 

[pklein09]

Thank you for all the replies. We cruise this Sunday, and I'm hoping it will all go well. We have no reservations for anything. The spa never worked out, so they don't get my money. I keep checking the app, but nothing is updated. I know that will change once we board. I'll bring a dress or two for the nicer nights and wear what I would wear for work the other nights.

Hopefully, I'll have good things to report when we return.

 

[wweazel]

Thank you for all the replies. We cruise this Sunday, and I'm hoping it will all go well. We have no reservations for anything. The spa never worked out, so they don't get my money. I keep checking the app, but nothing is updated. I know that will change once we board. I'll bring a dress or two for the nicer nights and wear what I would wear for work the other nights.

Hopefully, I'll have good things to report when we return.

Have a good time hanging out with your family and relaxing! We still have 11 weeks to wait!

 

[Denise W]

Thank you for all the replies. We cruise this Sunday, and I'm hoping it will all go well. We have no reservations for anything. The spa never worked out, so they don't get my money. I keep checking the app, but nothing is updated. I know that will change once we board. I'll bring a dress or two for the nicer nights and wear what I would wear for work the other nights.

Hopefully, I'll have good things to report when we return.

Go to the Spa when you board, many times they have great specials offered at that time.