Despite all my advance planning, getting all paid up & excursions planned, I knew there'd be some glitch at check-in - and my suspicions of it being the fuel surcharge issue was on the money. Just a short summation on this process and dealing with RCCL on-line & via phone to make sure there'd be no issues at check-in. After paying off cruise, we were informed (in 12/07) through on-line RCCL account that a new fuel surcharge was added to our cruise cost (add $120). No problem we paid immediately and were now paid in full. I checked back a few days later to find the $120 still owed; I called RCCL & was told what was shown on line was incorrect & would be updated in the next few days; they offered to e-mail me a statement showing I was paid in full - I received it & printed it out. I checked back a few days later, again the $120 still showing as owed; I called RCCL again and was given all the same info as last call & sent another e-mail showing I was paid in full. I printed this copy also, thinking it may be useful at a later time. A third call to RCCL several days later provided additional information; the fuel charge I had paid ($120) had been credited back to my card, because I had paid off the cruise prior to the date the surcharge had been applied. I checked my account & this info was correct. You see of course where all this is going; at the express check-in (we're loyal long-time RCCL cruisers), we were bumped back to another long wait line when our account showed we still owed $120. After waiting in this line for about a half hour, we finally stepped to the counter with the 2 paid in full RCCL print-outs in and and tempers somewhat in check to tell our story. After a lot of head nodding, the counter attendant printed out an official account summary for us, told us our copies of RCCL documents were useless & to pay up the $120. The whole point here & as I explained to her was not in paying the $120, it was the torturous incompetence they'd put us through just to pay it. We speculated that perhaps we might at least find a bottle of champagne in our room on arrival...not. I've written them twice on this matter since our return & have yet to receive a reply.
We drove down from Massachusetts the day before cruising and stayed in Country Inn & Suites in Elizabeth. No luck finding a "Park-n-Fly", but reading other reviews they are available. Nice hotel, next to Ruby Tuesdays & huge fairly new mall - for getting that last minute item. We parked adjacent to terminal (about $200 for 12 days) which worked out well, about a 5 minute walk to check-in tent. Fortunately the weather was reasonable both arriving & departing, considering it was early February it felt more like April. We speculated on the possibility of coming home to 3 feet of snow on top of our car, but it was bone dry.
Check-in was just OK, about 30 minutes standing in line inside tent-like quonset hut (again if it were wintry cold outside this would have been brutal), inside the real building (partially refurbed waterfront warehouse)the Platinum/Gold check-in was not clearly identified - we found it by accident when some folks behind us scurried past up into a 2nd hidden check-in area. With only 3 groups ahead of us, we'd be aboard the Explorer in short order; not so fast...this is where the fuel surcharge snafu kicked us back into the general population lines and...