NEXT CRUISES: JANUARY 7, 2024 (Caribbean) • May 31, 2024 (Alaska)
Feb 14, 2023
Alaska Cruise with Hillbilly Rockstarz is now booking,
see booking form at bottom page on "Book" tab.
Cruise info on Cruise Page. More info, with more detailed info, coming very soon!
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Feb 3, 2023
VIDEO -
7th heaven - Pop Medley 4 - Live on the "Wonder of the Seas" (Royal Theater) - January 11, 2023.
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Welcome to the Chicago Music Cruise 2024
Thank You for joining us on this awesome experience
Cruise date
January 7, 2024 - January 14, 2024
7 Night Eastern Caribbean Cruise
Ship
Royal Caribbean’s Brand New “Wonder of the Seas”
Group I.D. - 4217295
Ports of Call
Orlando, FL (Port Canaveral)
CocoCay, Bahamas (Private Island)
Charlotte Amalie, St.Thomas
Philipsburg, St.Maarten
NTD Vacations
If you are new to “NTD Vacations”, we are one of Royal Caribbean’s largest selling travel agencies in the midwest.
We specialize on group cruises, and exclusively on Royal Caribbean. We can also book you on any cruise (not just the group) This will be our 19th group cruise.
My name is Richard Hofherr (Richie)
I play guitar in the band 7th heaven and own NTD Vacations / Chicago Music Cruise.
I started this travel agency to facilitate our group.
We do not charge any extra fees or hidden fees for anything we do, ever.
I have a staff that helps me manage our large group.
Paulette Lewis and Mary Grivas work with me on the booking and management of the group.
If you can’t reach me direct, feel free to get a hold of Paulette or Mary.
Best times to reach me are in the afternoons, as I don’t work mornings.
However, Paulette and Mary do.
Our contacts
• Website - www.ChicagoMusicCruise.com
• Website - www.NTDVacations.com
• Richie Hofherr - info@NTDVacations.com - 847-551-5363 direct (Certified Master Agent for Royal Caribbean)
• Paulette Lewis - paulette@ntdvacations.com - 847-774-8677 (Certified Master Agent for Royal Caribbean)
• Mary Grivas - mary@ntdvacations.com - 630-688-1725 (Certified Master Agent for Royal Caribbean)
• Alan McRae - alan@ntdvacations.com - 630-842-9129
Booking form
Attached is your booking form. You will need this later, as it acts as your ticket. Check the spelling.
If there is something wrong, please let us know asap so we can fix that for you.
Passport
You will need a valid passport for this sailing. You must have a physical passport, not just a photo of it.
Check your current passport for expiration dates.
Please make sure you have a valid passport that will be valid:
January 7, 2024 - July 1, 2024. YES, 6 months AFTER we finish the cruise. This is Royal Caribbeans policy to board.
If you need to get one, you can do so at the post office.
Before you go there, stop at Walgreens and ask them for a passport photo to be
taken and bring that with you, along will all required documents.
Shirt Size
Please send us your shirt size, for a free T-Shirt we get for our group.
Dining
The group will be eating together at the 5:15pm dining. (sometimes Royal Caribbean changes this to 5pm or 5:30pm)
If you have a preference to be seated with someone, please let us know - 10 tops are the largest table offered and we are limited.
We will allocate these tables on a first come - first serve basis.
We highly suggest to stay on the 5:15pm dining time (known as “early seating”), as most of the entertainment,
will happen around 7:00/8:00pm, when the 5:15pm dining is over.
Also, after being on an island all day, you’ll be hungry when we board back on the ship, and having to wait till later is not good.
You also can be in MyTime dining, but doing that, it will take you out of the group allocated dining space.
Birthday, Anniversaries, Weddings, Reunions, etc..
If you are celebrating any special occasions, please let us know.
Also, let us know if you have any special request to celebrate.
Payments
You can make payments at any time, for any amount.
Your final payment is due October 1, 2023.
We need:
• Name on Card
• Card Number
• Expiration Date
• Billing Zip Code
• Amount to charge
• 3 Digit Code on the back of the Credit Card
We process all payments directly to Royal Caribbean.
Facebook Group Page
If you are on Facebook, please join this page and click yourself as “going”.
This will be a great way for people to interact with each other before we leave.
https://www.facebook.com/chicagomusiccruise/
We also added a Facebook group page that focuses on this sailing, so please join that.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/wonderoftheseas01072024
BEFORE YOU SAIL - DO THESE THINGS SOMETIME BETWEEN JULY - OCTOBER
Hotel
We are still securing group space at Orlando, FL / Port Canaveral, FL hotels.
We have secured numerous hotels for our group, you can book those here:
http://chicagomusiccruise.com/hotel.html
Flights
We highly suggest to fly into Florida a day before we sail, in case of flight delays or bad weather.
YOU HAVE TIME ON THIS - THIS YOU WILL DO BETWEEN OCTOBER - DECEMBER
Shuttle
Most hotels will offer a shuttle service to the pier with an added charge.
We will list that info on a hotel section of the website as we secure each hotel.
Some hotels also offer a shuttle from airport to hotel.
For shuttle info - contact Mary at: mary@ntdvacations.com
Rental Car
We had a bad experience with Budget rental car on the last cruise, so we do not recommend using Budget.
They were backed up over 2 hours at the drop off in Part Canaveral, with poor management.
My family had to start walking 2 miles to the ship with our bags in hand.
So use other options.
Driver / Cab
I had an excellent driver that helped us, that I would recommend.
He saw my family walking with our bags down the street, and picked us up to help us get to the ship.
Aldofo Almonte - 407-960-0818
Tell him Richie from 7th heaven sent you.
Ask him price before you use him.
Drink Packages, Internet, Specialty Dining, Shows, etc…
As we get closer to sailing, these things will be available to book thru the “Cruise Planner”.
We will update you when you can start to book things for the cruise.
There will likely be a sale around Labor Day and around Thanksgiving/Christmas, which will offer discounts.
We will keep you updated on that as well.
In the meantime, go here and create an account, once your account is created, you should see your cruise listed in your account.
Go here to create (or login) - https://www.royalcaribbean.com/
Go to the top right.
Download the Royal Caribbean App here - https://www.royalcaribbean.com/booked/royal-app
Royal Caribbean Visa card
Get free onboard credits and points by signing up for the Royal Caribbean Visa card.
I have done this, and I keep all my travel expenses on this card; which makes it easy to track.
https://www.royalcaribbean.com/programs/visa-signature-card
Excursions
We will be doing various group activities onboard and onshore.
Stay tuned for Group Excursions to be announced soon.
We do not charge anything to do this, we just like to be together as a group as
much as possible. We also recommend to only book excursions with Us / Royal Caribbean,
as going outside them has some risks (miss boat, liability, refunds, etc..)
For questions on excursions, contact Mary at: mary@ntdvacations.com
Crown & Anchor
If you are a new guest, there is no need to sign up for Crown & Anchor Society. You will be automatically enrolled after you complete your first sailing with Royal Caribbean International. Membership benefits begin after you have completed at least one Royal Caribbean International cruise.
If you have sailed with us but are not yet enrolled, you can contact Crown & Anchor Society at (800) 526-9723 to sign up before your next cruise. Hours of operation are Monday through Friday, 9 AM-10 PM EST and Saturday through Sunday 9 AM-8 PM EST. Please be sure to have information about your previous cruise(s) on hand: ship name(s), sail date(s), and booking number(s).
(If you sailed with us in the past, we have that info for you)
Pre-Cruise Party Dinner
We are having a very informative pre-cruise dinner party, a couple weeks before we sail.
We have not set a date or location yet. We will update you on this once this has been secured, sometime around Oct./Nov.
Contact
Please make sure ALL cruise communication are sent to ( info@NTDVacations.com ) email.
Sending it to any other email address will delay your request.
Also, do not Facebook messenger for your message, will will not see all them.
We check this email daily and stay on top of all requests.
Updates
We will have some updates on things to start preparing for, and give you updates as needed.
We will help you thru this entire process. Make sure our emails are not in your spam folder.
Communicate with other people in your party, to make sure they saw the emails. Look for updates after Labor Day.
Thank You for joining us on this amazing cruise, with an amazing group.
We will be adding some amazing new things to the next cruise.
If you know someone who wants to joins us, have them book it sooner than later.
We have a limited amount of group space rooms; and booking triple, quads and suites are typically cheaper now.
If you in one of these prevailing rate rooms, we will check to see if the price drops. If it does, we will re-roll your booking
To save you money.
If you have any questions, please let us know.
©2023 CHICAGO MUSIC CRUISE
A Division of NTD Vacations & NTD World