Royal Caribbean Blog

Cruises or not, it looks like Royal Caribbean's private island in the Bahamas has a new look for its pier.

Celebrity Cruises Captain Kate McCue shared a video on TikTok of the Celebrity Edge docking at the private island recently, and the pier definitely looks different than the last time cruise ships visited with passengers.

CocoCay pier in 2019

CocoCay pier in 2021

The new look features either painted textures or decals affixed to the ground in a multitude of colors that lead all the way from where the cruise ships dock to the island itself.

Previously, the pier's ground was not painted and only had multicolored umbrellas along the way.

Read more: Do's & Don'ts of Perfect Day at CocoCay

In looking at the original concept art for the Perfect Day at CocoCay makeover, it does appear the pier was designed to have both decorations on the ground and umbrellas.

In August 2020, Royal Caribbean International President and CEO Michael Bayley said some minor work was still being done at CocoCay during the cruise shutdown.

In addition to finishing up some landscaping and painting work, there was a pressing need for a repair to Oasis Lagoon pool.

"We've also been conducting a fairly significant repair that we had to do on the Oasis Lagoon."

"We were struggling enormously with having to make a repair on the lagoon and we could never figure out when we could do it, but we knew we had to get it done at some point."

'We could never figure out when to do it because of Covid, obviously we have plenty of time, so that works."

According to Mr. Bayley, the island has an operational team to maintain things.

Read more: Who is maintaining Perfect Day at CocoCay while there are no cruises?

Thank you to Wise_Blueberry_5709 for spotting this change.

I'm a firm believer that there are no Royal Caribbean ships you should avoid, I do believe some ships are a better fit than others, depending on your personal preferences.

People tend to come up with their own list of favorite anythings: ice cream, television shows, and even cruise ships.  But, sometimes we also try something and vow never to do that again.

Not every ship will necessarily be everyone's cup of tea. Luckily, the fleet of cruise ships is large enough that there is bound to be a good fit for just about anyone.

Read more: What is the worst Royal Caribbean ship?

I reached out to our readers on our Facebook page to ask: is there a cruise ship you’ve been on that you would never go back on again? If so, which one and why?

Needless to say, there were a lot of opinions out there about which ships they love, and which they could live without. 

Being a very subjective question, the responses largely were based on their experiences and tastes for what each reader thought a cruise ship should be all about.

Ironically, this is a good reminder to everyone why you can't trust online reviews of cruise ships.

Enchantment of the Seas

There were quite a few responses regarding the only Vision Class ship to be cut in half and stretched, and many of the critiques were about the ship's size and onboard offerings.

Quite often the words "too small" were used to describe Enchantment, and the lack of activities (perhaps compared to other ships) stood out.

The smaller ships are, well, small compared to the newer ships that have come out in the last ten years or so.  If you are used to the largest ships, there is a bit of "culture shock" when you try out a Vision Class vessel.

I think the key is to understand before you get onboard what the ship offers (and doesn't offer) to avoid disappointment during the cruise.

Anthem of the Seas

To prove that the size of the ship isn't everything, plenty of big ships made the  list of comments, such as Anthem of the Seas.

One reader commented that Anthem's areas "always seemed way too crowded." Another reader complained about the lack of late night parties onboard.

Interestingly enough, there was a lengthy discussion about the people that cruise out of the Northeast versus Florida, and their attitudes.  I'm not touching that debate with a ten foot pole.

Oasis of the Seas

Yup, there were people who claimed they did not like one of the world's largest cruise ships, primarily because of its size.

Remember the people that did not like Enchantment because it was too small? Well, there were plenty that did not care for the enormous size of Oasis either.

One reader said, "it was just way to big for us." Another elaborated, "First time on a ship like that and just didn’t think it was great. The circus theme took up a lot of space and did nothing for me."

Just like Enchantment, these comments serve as a good reminder that a lot of people become accustomed to the first cruise ship they sail on and largely use that as the standard they judge other ships by.  In many cases, it has been my experience that people that start with small ships tend to have issues with larger ships, and people that start with big ships get turned off by smaller vessels.

Of course, plenty of cruisers like cruise ships of all sizes, so it's just a matter of finding a good fit for you.

Read more: First Timers' Guide to Oasis of the Seas

Majesty of the Seas

While Majesty is no longer in Royal Caribbean's fleet, she was still memorable enough to be "one and done" for many readers.

Having sailed on Majesty, I thought this comment was indicative of the experience for many, "Layout was very strange. You often couldn’t get from here to there. Had three sets of elevators. They didn’t all go to the same floors. Centrum elevators just went 4 floors."

Another reader agreed, but thought everything was relative for the time, "It’s tough to bad mouth the old ships. They were once the biggest and best. I love Oasis class and I personally could not sail Sovereign class if she were still sailing."

The lesson I would glean from the comments about Majesty is not all Royal Caribbean cruise ships are exactly the same, and design trends change over the years. 

It is always a good idea to learn about your cruise ship before you sail to get a better understanding of what you can expect onboard.

Explorer of the Seas

Another ship that got repeated quite often was Explorer of the Seas, and there was concern about the appearance of the ship and even the crew.

• "So run down and crew truly didn’t want to be there"
• "She was run down and the crew just seemed apathetic. "
• "Explorer as it felt like we were on the training ship with new recruits!"

Personally, I love the Voyager Class ships and sailed on Explorer of the Seas to Alaska in 2018 and enjoyed the cruise.

I think an unintended side effect of the Royal Amplification program that brought tremendous upgrades to so many cruise ships in the fleet is any ship that had not been upgraded seemed tame in comparison.

Explorer of the Seas was scheduled to get a major refurbishment in 2020, but those plans were sidelined due to the global health crisis and Royal Caribbean having to cut back on any unnecessary spending.

Read more: What was added to each Royal Caribbean ship during its Royal Amplified refurbishment

And a lot of people who didn't like other cruise lines!

Being a Royal Caribbean group of readers, you could quickly tell why so many prefer Royal Caribbean based on negative comments about other brands cruise ships.

Every cruise line has its plusses and negatives about it, but quite a few non-Royal Caribbean cruise ships made people's lists:

• Norwegian Epic: "Service was the worst and it took hours to get passengers off at the private island."
• Carnival Sensation: "There were so many things about it that just made me want to go on another cruise."
• Norwegian Gem: "So many dead ends on that ship. Did a 10 day and took me the whole cruise to figure it out."
• Norwegian Pride of America: "Freestyle dining meant 2-3 hour waits for dinner in the dining room & the service was below par compared to all the other cruises."
• SilverSea Silver Whisper: "Crazy expensive cruise, very old and outdated ship."
• Norwegian Breakaway: "Such a disappointment after Oasis class ships."

Bonus: The funny comments

I love a good snarky comment thrown in now and then, and there were a few that took this opportunity to bring some levity to the poll.

• "Carnival sensation... honeymoon with ex wife."
• "The S.S. Minnow because it only was supposed to be a three hour tour."
• "Mayflower was just terrible. Kept us below decks for weeks, stench was awful, ship bobbed around like a cork."
• Titanic: "swim team practice was chilling"

Everyone is trying to get an idea of when cruises might restart by "reading between the lines", so perhaps Port Canaveral's commissioner meeting could shed some light on the subject.

Port Canaveral holds public meetings to discuss the port's business operations and plan its budget accordingly.  Ordinarily, this is pretty mundane information to digest, but it includes some speculation on when it can expect more revenue in the form of cruise ships returning.

According to Port Canaveral officials, they seem to think some cruises might return in July.

At a meeting on Wednesday, Port Canaveral CEO Captain John Murray said he believes by July, the Covid-19 vaccine will be widely distributed and the industry could get restarted.

Captain Murray explained, "The issue with July is, we’ve been doing this now for a year and you can take a very practical look at how things are happening.”

"We have a new administration. The cruise lines themselves have kicked everything down the road for three months already, or at least through March and April. The reality given the pandemic right now, until those numbers start coming down, we just don’t see that this industry is going to get any attention that it needs to get restarted."

Port Canaveral's projection is based on what officials now foresee as a worst case scenario.  Under this worst case scenario they are estimating cruise lines will each have at least one ship sailing by July even though current data suggest ships will sail before that.

The revised dates were arrived at independently and are not based on any cruise line statements.

He also seems to think the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has no interest in working with the cruise lines until the health situation in this country improves, "The CDC’s motivation right now to put the cruise lines back on the water is not there, and probably won’t be there for the next three months."

"So rather than look at this entire operation and say, ‘Well, let’s just kick the can to April and then we’ll look at it again,’ it doesn’t make any sense to keep coming back to you guys with a rosy picture that we’re going to start in April or May and then say, ‘Whoop, that didn’t happen.’ So we took the very hard approach of, like I say, ripping off the Band-Aid, and making it a bad situation for the port just to show you that we have a plan to get through this if it does go as far as the fourth quarter."

Officials at the meeting said the most likely scenario is the initial restart phase will have one cruise ship per cruise line, and each ship will operate at half capacity.

Port Canaveral Chief Financial Officer Michael Poole is projecting $32.59 million in operating revenue and a $43.12 million loss for the port in the current budget year that ends September 30.

"We just want to put something in front of you that can show you as a board that we’re going to be OK to get through this even if it doesn’t start before July, and I’m hopeful and optimistic and all that good stuff that we do get started before then."

Royal Caribbean, and the entire cruise industry, has been shutdown from U.S. ports since March 2020.  With the exception of Quantum of the Seas in Singapore, no ships have been able to restart in its fleet since then.

In order to be able to restart, cruise lines need to get their new health protocols onboard approved.  This will be done in conjunction with test cruises that will demonstrate the viability of the cruise line plans.

Once a ship is approved for service by the CDC, then a cruise line can resume regular passenger service.

While Royal Caribbean has not announced any firm restart plan, many believe cruises will start back up again first from ports like Port Canaveral or PortMiami.

Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises are sister cruise lines, owned by Royal Caribbean Group. So how much do these cruise line have in common?

Many cruisers choose between a sailing on either brand because they are both under the same corporate umbrella, and their experiences are more similar these days than different.  However, there are definitely some ways each cruise line stands out from each other.

Both cruise lines target the mass market, but Celebrity tends to skew to be a more premium experience, while Royal Caribbean offers a cruise that tries to give everyone something to enjoy.

Here is a breakdown of what you need to know about the differences between Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises.

Approach to cruising

Off the bat, Celebrity takes a more modern take on cruises and tries to incorporate a contemporary vibe onboard its ships with culinary experiences, workshops and more. 

Celebrity even went as far as to tackle cruise line dress codes to modernize them by removing the notion of a formal night, and replacing it with "evening chic".   On Evening Chic nights, the dress code is dressier than smart casual but less so than a traditional formal night.

Royal Caribbean focuses on the family experience, and loads its cruise ships with as many things to do and innovations in order to "wow" their guests.

You will find fun, upbeat and a lively atmosphere on Royal Caribbean, and they pride themselves on featuring the latest in cruise ship technology.

Prices

It is difficult to come up with guidelines for how each cruise line prices itself, but generally speaking, Celebrity Cruises will come in a bit more expensive than Royal Caribbean.  

However, Celebrity Cruises includes more in its base fare.  In fact, Celebrity recent made a change to its pricing model that is much closer to all-inclusive, with your cruise fare now covering gratuity, drinks & WiFi.

Royal Caribbean tends to price its cruises based on how new a cruise ship is, and includes less with the base fare.  This offers guests the choice of what they want to add onto their vacation and skipping what they do not.

Both cruise lines include nearly all of their entertainment, although both have exceptions (themed parties on Celebrity or dining shows on Royal Caribbean).

Dining

Both cruise lines have placed an emphasis on dining onboard its ships, although Royal Caribbean tends to offer more specialty and complimentary dining choices.

Everything on Celebrity is looked as elevated, including their dining.  Celebrity Cruises often compares their dining experience to James Beard level culinary experiences, with some of its chefs actually having won awards. 

Some of the best complimentary food is found on Celebrity's ships, and the cruise line has a reputation for great food in its dining room and buffet.

Royal Caribbean's food stands out more when you hit the specialty restaurants, which offer a wider range of cuisine and creative options.

Just like activities, Royal Caribbean gives guests a lot of choices in what they can eat onboard.

Both cruise lines offer specialty dining choices that will cost you extra to dine there.

Cabins

Staterooms on both cruise lines are more similar than different, and you will find choices among the core categories of rooms.

Royal Caribbean has a few unique stateroom types, such as interior balcony rooms and virtual balconies. 

Royal Caribbean has also upped its top tier cabins with the Royal Suite Class, which is available on Oasis and Quantum Class ships. Royal Suite Class includes more than traditionally available with a suite, and its Star Class rooms include an incredible amount of service and options.

Celebrity places a larger emphasis on its suite offerings, with broad suite privileges on almost all of its ships.

A suite on Celebrity truly stands out with the AquaClass cabins that come with unlimited access to the Relaxation Room and Persian Garden thermal suite, as well as exclusive access to Blu, a health-centric alternative restaurant.

Other amenities include daily delivery of flavored teas, a pillow menu, upgraded bath toiletries and an expanded room service breakfast menu.

Both cruise lines offer rooms that can accommodate families, but Royal Caribbean tends to have more of these types of rooms (including connecting cabins).  Also, Royal Caribbean's suites can come in very large sizes that work well for some families too.

Things to do

Regardless of the line you choose, throughout the day cruisers can participate in a range of activities like trivia, bingo, dance lessons.

Wine tastings are part of the daily schedule on many of Celebrity ships, too. Celebrity's are presented through a partnership with the United Kingdom's "The Wine Show."

Celebrity ships have two to three pools each, and boast a number of hot tubs for cruisers looking to relax. Celebrity also houses a kids' splash area on select vessels.

For more outdoor fun, Celebrity's Solstice-class ships boast real grass lawns on the ships' top decks, offering a space for passengers to play bocce, enjoy picnics and take part in art classes. Throughout each sailing, glass-blowing demonstrations are also offered there.

Some ships restricts access to the Lawn Club area because of the presence of the Lawn Club grill.

On Celebrity's Edge-class vessels, passengers won't want to miss the impressive  acrobatic performances in the Eden lounge.

Royal Caribbean offers more adrenaline-pumping activities like rock climbing, bungee trampolining, laser tag, trapeze classes, bumper cars, ice skating, simulated surfing and skydiving, and zip lining, most of which are free.

Further amenities -- like fitness centers, for-fee arcades and nightclubs with DJ-spun music -- allow cruisers to make their own fun without a schedule. Further, Royal Caribbean presents a variety of game shows, including "Battle of the Sexes," the "Love and Marriage Game" and adult scavenger hunt "Quest."

There is plenty to do outdoors on a Royal Caribbean cruises with multiple pools on every ship, along with children's splash areas, mini-golf courses, jogging tracks and basketball courts on most ships.

Royal Caribbean has also begun including water slides on some of its ships.

In the evening, something that makes Royal Caribbean stand out are its Broadway shows. These are included with your cruise fare and include the full-length productions of "Cats," "Grease",  "Hairspray", and more.

Both lines feature casinos.

Family cruising

If you are traveling with kids, or doing a multigenerational trip, there are advantage to both lines.

Both Royal Caribbean and Celebrity offer supervised children's care onboard. Both of the offerings for kids 3-17 years old is complimentary, although there are after hours charges.

Camp at Sea on Celebrity is available for guests 3-12 years old, and there is the X-Club for teens 13-17.  The kids clubs are not available on expedition ships.

Royal Caribbean offers Adventure Ocean on all of its cruise ships, as well as offering a nursery (6-36 months) onboard on many of if its ships. Celebrity has an extra cost babysitting service for children 12 months and older, except on expedition ships.

Adventure Ocean also offers a family dinner option, where a counselor will pick kids up from the dining room during the first seating of dinner so that parents can enjoy the rest of the meal without the children.

As mentioned earlier, you will likely find more stateroom configurations that are better for larger families on Royal Caribbean. 

Deciding between Royal Caribbean and Celebrity

Both cruise lines do a good job at serving nearly all types of cruises, but inevitably the decision comes down to your personal tastes.

The difference between the lines has gradually been shrinking over the last number of years, so the experience between the two is less substantial than you may think.

Families, people looking for as much to do as possible onboard, and those that value the largest cruise ships will find Royal Caribbean a good fit.  Royal Caribbean prides itself on adding the "wow" factor to its ships, and you will always find the latest and greatest in cruise innovation here.

Celebrity Cruises appeals to those that want a quieter cruise than Royal Caribbean, as well as those who enjoy a trendier choice in their cruise experience. 

Royal Caribbean announced yesterday that it will not extend the Lift and Shift program beyond January, but it turns out the option will still remain under one scenario.

Lift and Shift allows guests to take the cruise they have booked and defer it by a year, while protecting the original price they paid.

While the option to take advantage of Lift and Shift anytime is going away, if there are more cruise cancellations, Lift and Shift will remain an option for guests.

Vicki Freed, Royal Caribbean's Senior Vice President, Sales, Trade Support and Service, confirmed to travel agents that the popular choice will return for those that have cancelled cruises on any new cancellations in the future.

"I do want to be clear on one thing about Lift and Shift. If Royal Caribbean, cancels or suspends a sailing at any point, Lift and Shift will still be available for those people who have an active booking on the sailing."

"Those are the people that didn't elect to go with Cruise with confidence and cancel on us."

"If you have clients on a sailing and we cancel that sailing or suspend it, lifted ship will still apply."

Read more: Royal Caribbean Lift and Shift information & frequently asked questions

Lift and Shift is still available to all bookings, if you take advantage of it before January 31, 2021. After this point, Lift & Shift will expire and is no longer available at any time.

With Lift and Shift, you can move a reservation by a year and protect the original cruise fare and promotion to a qualifying sailing departing on or before April 30, 2022 on the same itinerary type, sailing length, stateroom category, and within 4 weeks before or after the date of the original cruise.  Subsequent sailings do not apply.

You do not need to book the same ship or even class of ships when you lift and shift.

Select restricted rates are ineligible for Lift & Shift and Best Price Guarantee - including but not limited to Net rates, Casino rates, Travel Agent Friends & Family rates, Travel Agent Reduced rates, and complimentary staterooms.

Christmas, New Year’s, and Chinese New Year’s cruises are ineligible for Lift & Shift, unless you are  currently confirmed on one of these sailings and wish to take advantage of Lift & Shift to move to the same sailing next year (assuming all other qualifying criteria are met).

There can also be some issues with unique itineraries, where there is no equivalent sailing to move to in the next year, such as longer sailings to lesser-visited ports.

In order to take advantage of Lift & Shift, names and full deposit must be placed on the booking. If it is after the Final Payment due date, the booking must be paid in full.

When leveraging Lift & Shift to move a booking to a future sail date, taxes & fees will be adjusted to reflect the charges associated with the new sailing. Taxes & fees from the original sail date will not be protected.

Royal Caribbean provides excellent service to guests of all ages, and with that service comes an automatic gratuity that you can either prepay before the cruise or be charged each night of the sailing while onboard.

Every week I dive into the RoyalCaribbeanBlog mailbag to answer a commonly asked question about cruises that one of our readers has sent in.

My husband and I are experienced cruisers, but have a cruise planned soon where we will be taking our 11 month old with us. We have to bring her formula, baby food, and she will be too young to do any activities onboard.  So do I need to pay gratuities for an infant? - Jill A.

This sounds like an easy question to answer, but as you dig into the scenario more, you can start seeing the argument from both sides of the fence.

Let's start off with the simple fact that Royal Caribbean makes no distinction between anyone's age, and how it pertains to gratuities.  All guests onboard are charged the automatic gratuity.  

The gratuity applies to individual guests of all ages and stateroom categories.

In fact, Royal Caribbean does not offer a discount for younger children. The first two passengers in a cabin always pay the most, and then the third or fourth passengers pays a reduced rate that is the same if they are 6 months or 6 years or 60 years old.

In a similar way, your child is counted toward the quantity of persons that your crew member is taking care of, your child is taking the place of another passenger.

Read more: Should you prepay gratuities for a Royal Caribbean cruise?

Getting back to the gratuities scenario, don't forget that your daily gratuities are not just kick backs for the crew, but a way to recognize the excellent service onboard.

Royal Caribbean says the gratuities are, "a way to reward our crew members for their outstanding service, gratuities are shared among dining, bar & culinary services staff, stateroom attendants and other hotel services teams who work behind the scenes to enhance the cruise experience."

Moreover, the crew members onboard are servicing you and your family.  They don't make distinctions when cleaning your cabin who this was for or not for.  The cabin attendant is still emptying my kids' dirty diapers or vacuuming all the crumbs my kids left behind.  The dining room staff would bring out fruit for the kids, or even a stockpile of milk cartons that we could keep in the room so that I did not have to get some later.

Having taken both of my children on cruises when they were toddlers, I was always pleasantly surprised how much care the staff takes in ensuring my children were accomodated.

Here is a list of things crew members have regularly done for just my kids on a cruise:

• Making the pack-n-play/crib everyday
• Emptying dirty diapers each day
• Vacuuming up crumbs from under highchair each day
• Entertaining children in high chairs at dinner
• Cleaning fingerprints from balcony door
• Picking up loose food/crumbs in the cabin carpet
• Bringing extra towels and other items like ice to keep bottles cold
• Bringing the things to your table each night- like fruit
• Cleaning up the mess on the table
• Providing baby toys (and cleaning them) from Adventure Ocean
• Ships with baby splash pool routinely cleaned

Read more: Introduction to bringing toddlers on a Royal Caribbean cruise

In short, you would be surprised how much the crew does for young kids on a cruise, even if they are not taking drink orders or delivering them filet mignon.

Unfortunately, gratuities are a sore subject for some people who feel because they are technically not part of the cruise fare, that they are optional charges.

The reality is in practice, gratuities are compulsory and should be paid for all guests.  In Australia, Royal Caribbean actually includes them with the cruise fare to get around cultural differences regarding tipping.  

In summary, I think they should pay the gratuity for 11 month old, especially once they see all the attention and care the crew take to ensure everyone in Jill's family is taken care of onboard their ship.

Read more: Best reader tips for having fun with kids on a cruise

Royal Caribbean will give guests three additional months to take advantage of its flexible cancellation policy.

The Cruise with Confidence program has been extended through April 30, 2021 for sailings departing through April 30, 2022.

The popular program allows guests to cancel a cruise for any reason up to 48 hours before a sailing is scheduled to depart in exchange for a 100% future cruise credit.

Cruise with Confidence also includes the ability to take advantage of a lower price through the Best Price Guarantee.

All active bookings confirmed on or before April 30, 2021 for Royal Caribbean sailings through April 2022 (excluding Chartered sailings) are included in the Cruise with Confidence program.

Prior to this change, the program would have ended on January 31, 2021.

Lift & Shift is ending

This extension does not apply to Lift and Shift, and Royal Caribbean says its current plan is to discontinue the program as of February 1, 2021.

Lift and Shift allows guests to move their reservation by a year and protect the original cruise fare and promotion to a qualifying sailing departing on or before April 30, 2022 on the same itinerary type, sailing length, stateroom category, and within 4 weeks before or after the date of their original cruise. 

Guests are eligible to move their reservation under the Lift & Shift guidelines between now and January 31, 2021 to sailings departing through April 2022 only. After this point, Lift & Shift will expire and is no longer available.

Read more: Top 10 Royal Caribbean Lift and Shift questions

Extending the flexibility

In an email to travel agents, Royal Caribbean said the Cruise with Confidence program has been "very popular" for the benefits it provides.

The Cruise with Confidence program was introduced at the beginning of the health crisis, and provides significantly relaxed rules concerning canceling a cruise if the situation changes for a guest.

Ordinarily, guests would incur a penalty for canceling a sailing beyond the final payment date, which is typically 90 days before a sailing commences. Cruise with Confidence provides a great deal more flexibility to change minds with no penalty.

Today's change means Cruise with Confidence will be available for an additional three months, although it looks like Lift and Shift will come to an end.

Lift & Shift has been extremely popular for the price protection it offered, and was an option other cruise lines did not offer either.

How does Cruise with Confidence work?

Ever since Royal Caribbean shut down cruises in March, it has offered guests increased flexibility in being able to change their minds due to the fluid nature of news and the global health crisis.

Essentially, Cruise with Confidence is the name of the program that allows guests to change or cancel a cruise up to 48 hours before their sail date with no penalty or change fees.

Guests can opt for a 100% Future Cruise Credit that is good for 12 months or more.

The program includes refundable and non-refundable cruise fares, and only excludes chartered sailings.

It is important to note that if you elect to cancel a cruise on your own with this program, and later Royal Caribbean cancels the sailing, you waive any right to receive any refund oft he cruise fare paid.

Right before the entire cruise industry shutdown due to the global health crisis, Royal Caribbean announced plans to purchase the Grand Lucayan resort in Freeport, Bahamas, but that deal is still on the fence.

The Tribune reports Bahamian officials are still trying to decide if they want to go ahead with an amended deal by the cruise line to purchase the property.

In early March 2020, a ITM Group/Royal Caribbean joint venture announced plans to purchase the Grand Lucayan resort in Freeport so that it could be transformed into a new destination area that would cater to cruise ship guests.

Since then, the original deal between Royal Caribbean and the Bahamas was changed because of the radically different financial situation the cruise line is under.

“It is not the same deal it was before,” State Minister for Finance Kwasi Thompson said. “It is a post-COVID deal and the terms are not as favourable as it was before.”

Royal Caribbean and the ITM Group have proposed a revised deal/plan to purchase the Grand Lucayan Resort and redevelopment of Freeport Harbour.

As a result, the Bahamas is required to do a full assessment of the plans. Once that is complete, the next step would be to discuss the proposal further with Royal Caribbean and ITM.

"We are confident that this is the right direction for us to go into and continue to do our best to get the right deal for the Bahamian people. It is a situation that is hugely important for us. The hotel development and cruise port development are needed now more than ever before post COVID. We believe it would play an important role in the continuing rebuilding of Grand Bahama,” Mr. Thompson said.

The Grand Lucayan’s board has been contemplating a February 2021 reopening as an option while it awaits the results of the KPMG probe into the merits of the revised ITM Group/Royal Caribbean deal, according to Tribune Business.

Essentially, the revised deal is not as lucrative as the original proposal, and the government is concerned the selling of the property would not be in the best interest of Freeport.

"One of the challenges right now is the hotel is in a state where it is not moving forward, not being developed. Our cruise port is not being developed. And so, we have to look at where you are now and ensuring that whatever it is you do, it is better than where you are now. And that is one of the things we have been focused on."

"That really is why it has taken the amount of time it has taken because we want to ensure that whatever decision is made it is in the best interest of the people of Grand Bahama, and that it provides as much economic activity as much as possible. And it is one of those things we have to continually press and continue to be focused on."

The other issue facing the Bahamas is if they decide to forgo the deal with Royal Caribbean, where would it leave them.

The Bahamas purchased the property from Hutchison Whampoa’s real estate arm in 2018 in 2018 for $65 million, and have already spent over $100 million (including the purchase price) into the property thus far.

There are fears that simply re-opening the resort, in the absence of airlift, a marketing plan and operator, will simply inflict more losses.

The Bahamas thought the Royal Caribbean/ITM joint venture was the perfect solution to salvage the resort and boost Freeport's tourism and economy.  However, with the cruise industry suffering greatly, the terms of the deal had to be altered to be less lucrative for the Bahamas.

Tribune reports other observers have argued that the Government has little choice but to stay the course with RoyalCaribbean/ITM as the pool of alternative buyers willing to offer a reasonable price and terms will have shrunk considerably due to COVID-19.

It is now going to be much easier for everyone to use their Royal Caribbean future cruise credits.

Royal Caribbean announced it will now allow guests to combine multiple future cruise credits (FCCs) on one reservation.

Future cruise credits are vouchers that guests typically get when a cruise is cancelled in lieu of a refund.

Prior to this change, Royal Caribbean only allowed guests to apply one future cruise credit per person on the reservation.  With so many cancelled cruises due to the global health crisis, many guests have FCCs stacking up, and unable to use them all.

The inability to combine future cruise credits is rooted in a policy that predates the cruise industry shutdown of 2020. In short, there was rarely a need to allow FCCs to be combinable since they were not commonly issued to guests.

In a statement to travel agents, Royal Caribbean said, "you are now able to submit multiple FCCs, should your clients have more than one in their name, as well as share the value of FCCs across multiple clients in the same booking. You have asked and we have listened!"

Under the new rules, multiple certificates can be applied to the same client if they were all issued in response to Cruising With Confidence or the Global Sailing Suspension. This also includes Non Refundable Deposit FCCs issued through Cruise with Confidence.

If you have multiple FCCs in your name that were created outside of these programs, they cannot be combined with each other at this time.

Moreover, you are allowed to share the value of FCCs across multiple guests in the same booking, including using a remaining balance from one guest to apply to another in the same booking.

Throughout the shutdown, Royal Caribbean has slowly adjusted its Future Cruise Credit policies to match the changing landscape.  In June, it allowed guests to start using a FCC towards a cruise fare deposit, and in October the cruise line started allowing leftover balances from a FCC not have to wait to apply it to a new reservation.

Royal Caribbean had begun allowing guests to combine FCCs when a cruise was cancelled, but only when a new FCC was issued.

Future Cruise Credits are an option for guests who either choose to cancel their cruise up to 48 hours before the sail date via the Cruise with Confidence program, or have their cruise cancelled by Royal Caribbean. In either case, a voucher code is provided that can be redeemed for the value of the sailing.

When Royal Caribbean cancels the sailing, the Future Cruise Credit is worth 125% the value of the cruise fare that the guest paid.

What can I use a future cruise credit for?

Future cruise credits have become widely available due to the current voluntary cruise shutdown that Royal Caribbean is engaged in, which means while cruises are being cancelled due to the global health crisis, Royal Caribbean is offering guests future cruise credits.

Royal Caribbean allows guests to use their future cruise credits to pay their cruise fare, including the deposit.

It cannot be used towards add-on purchases, like drink packages, shore excursions, port fees or taxes.

More information

• Top ways you cannot use your Royal Caribbean future cruise credits
• Top 8 things you should know about Royal Caribbean's 125% onboard credit offer
• Five lessons I've learned from all these cancelled cruises

Have you ever heard this cliché about cruise ships: "Cruises are for the newly wed and nearly dead"?

I have too, and it is completely wrong.

This line is often repeated as reason enough not to go on a cruise, because it infers why would you want to be associated with something that only those types of people do.

Unfortunately, clichés like this tend to permeate in our society because they are catchy and work well to quickly label something we are unfamiliar with.

That vision of what a cruise is, is very much incorrect, because a great multitude of people enjoy cruise vacations.  Here is why that cliché is totally wrong.

If you asked someone who went on a Royal Caribbean cruise what sort of people are onboard, they would tell you there are families, seniors, college kids, baby boomers and more.

The saying that cruises are filled with retirees and young couples simply is not true.

According to the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) Global Passenger Report, the average age of cruise passenger was 46.7 years old in 2019.

That average does not mean cruises are filled with just people in their 40s either.  The wide range of ages, skewed by children and senior citizens means you get a good mix of ages onboard.

During the peak summer season, Royal Caribbean can have as many as 1,000 kids onboard a given sailing.

In addition, Royal Caribbean designs its cruise ships to have a wide appeal so that it does not skew heavily in one direction.

Each new ship has more space dedicated to children's programming, with expansive Adventure Ocean programs that feature supervised childcare.

Then you have mini-golf, water slides, rock climbing walls, bumper cars and more to attract, just about anyone.

Cruise ships have night clubs, Broadway shows, and comedians that ensure there is great evening entertainment.

Will I be bored?

Maybe the prospect of going on a cruise ship with retirees does not bother you as much as the fear you might not have enough to do and feel trapped and bored? Likely not.

Cruises are way more than sitting around all day in a lounge chair inbetween trips to the buffet.

At the heart of a cruise vacation is the opportunity to visit some amazing places around the world. Don't forget that your ship will stop at different ports of call, where you can get off the ship and explore. That could be a beach day, visiting a cultural site, going shopping, or taking a scenic tour.

Back onboard, Royal Caribbean offers onboard surfing, ice skating, sky diving, climbing, and golfing. 

Every evening there are live musical acts, including piano singers, guitarists, classical groups and more. Don't forget about the comedy shows, musical revues, and featured acts that Royal Caribbean regularly mixes in.

Each day of your cruise you get a daily newspaper, known as a Cruise Compass, which lists all of the activities. If you are concerned there is not enough to do, read a past Cruise Compass to see just how much is going on onboard.

Cruises are too structured

Someone who has never been on a cruise may think that the experience is more like a military operation, with designated times and rules that everyone must follow.

Cruises have changed from the "old days" of sailing.  While there are still set dining times, shows, and even dress codes, all of those are optional, and Royal Caribbean provides a great deal of alternative options to consider.

Every Royal Caribbean ship has a variety of dining choices that are in addition to the main dining room. 

The dress codes you hear about apply to the main dining room, and if you want to stay in your bathing suit and grab food at the Windjammer buffet before hanging out with your friends, you can do that.

Read more: Why is there formal night on a Royal Caribbean cruise?

Even if you do decide to go to the main dining room, you absolutely do not need to wear a tuxedo or ballgown. Royal Caribbean's dress codes are quite vague and relaxed, so you can wear something more appropriate for a nice evening out at home, rather than a scene from Titanic.