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Perspective is the word of the day. My cruise was a luxury. A break from life and the daily grind. It's a bummer I have to reschedule, and have to cancel my PTO request.....but ......I have an awesome family, I have my health, and....now.....I get to pick out, and plan another cruise to replace the one we just lost! So....as upset we are at losing a vacation, and the hassle of canceling hotels and excursions and such....just ask yourself......

Keep supporting your favorite travel content creators, like @Matt and others. They need us (and we need them) more than ever right now!! https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/13/style/travel-influencers-coronavirus.html (I really don't know what category this belongs in, but this is the most visited, so here it is.)

Without Question!!! I think we are all well aware of of Matt's enthusiasm but today more than ever Royal needs Matt and his Blog. Not just to spread truthful word but to be optimistic. Royal owes Matt a deep, deep debt of gratitude.

Thanks to Jo-Ann Hall from the Navigator Facebook group for finding this out, here's what she posted... "For all of you in the same boat I am (pun intended) who has just had their cruise cancelled, I was actually able to speak to a RCCL guest services agent a little bit ago. They are offering two options: 1. either a full refund or 2. If you take a cruise credit instead of a refund you receive an additional 25% on top of what your cruise was. They aren’t processing it over the phone, he stated that we would all receive emails today or tomorrow and it will give us instructions how to get either one. He said if you do the refund it will take about 30 days to receive it. Of note, he sounded exhausted, defeated, and apologetic. Please everyone try to be extra nice to these folks. They aren’t at fault and they’re going through the same hell we are."

By the heading I thought you meant Twitter was suspending service! I'd be ok with that.

Matt and the entire Royal Caribbean Blog community he created is a huge benefit for all of us. We are a family. And we need to stick together in times like this. Well said, @SpeedNoodles. Here is how to support @Matt and this community: https://www.patreon.com/RoyalCaribbeanBlog

Taking my FCC all the way to the biggest cabin on the ship! RLS here we come! 08/23/2020!

We were in a Central park view, the little window with view to Central park on Oasis for May 10th. I noticed the prices have dropped quite a bit. We were trying to go to a Central Park balcony because the price was 600 bucks cheaper than what we paid for the CP view cabin but they don't issue refunds or on board credit which is what I thought they'd do. So our TA thought that didn't make monetary sense so he got us into a ocean view balcony. MEI Travel is excellent by the way. John Ames is excellent! Now we just have to hope more cruises don't get cancelled. Man am I excited!

Don't tell Matt I didn't read the article....;p

I leveled up a tier today. In April I'll be able to join the Sunday chats. ?

Just booked Oasis in July in a 1 bedroom Aquatheater Suite!!! Got a really good price. Deposit + FCC and the cruise will be paid for!!! First Oasis class ship as well.

During these extraordinary times take a moment to thank your travel agent for all they have done for you - in the past, and into the future. They're losing a lot of commissions right now, yet still dealing with cancellations and such, and could use some positive vibes and support. Next to the cruise lines they are on the front lines of this, and are taking the biggest economic hit. I can't imagine being in their situation right now. Just send them an email, and conclude the email with "no response needed" or something along those lines (I neglected to do so) so that they can still deal with other customers without spending time responding. These are tough times, but things WILL get better!!! Once things settle down, if you don't have a TA, please reach out to Michelle Cunningham at [email protected] (MEI is a sponsor of this blog). She has taken care of me well, and will be my TA for the foreseeable future. May God bless everyone.

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2020/03/10/royal-caribbean-promises-protect-travel-agent-commissions-deferred-cruises-coronavirus

Although many will be disappointed I am sure that what is happening Is close to worst case scenario for the cruise industry. On the bright side, from past comments, the boardwalk rooms will have a better view of the ocean, maybe the full Sabor stays and is unique. Less rooms means slightly less people. An Oasis class ship as originally intended. Just trying to stay positive as my 2 day romantic getaway on Celebrity has been cancelled.

Okay! I'll take the 125% FCC. Now, it's time to SHOP!! Suddenly, I'm not so depressed.

We were affected as well by the unfortunate events occurring with the Corona virus. Was booked on Rhapsody on April 4th. We were holding out on cancelling just to see what new unfolded but wasn't looking good so now its official. But, is what it is and I appreciate the sacrifice that RC decided to take. I really feel bad for the financial hit all the cruise industry is taking on this. I was curious as to where they are going to dock/anchor all these ships. I would imagine Carnival will be following soon with a 30 day or similar suspension. Thats going to be a huge number of ships to do something with in the meantime. Wonder how that works?

Sitting at Boleros on Liberty while we cruise back into Galveston before we return to the chaos. Thanks, @Matt for influencing me to make Kraken my drink of choice. No clue why it’s flipped the image. ??

I can either confirm nor deny this. ?

Are you sure the phone flipped the image and that you haven't just had several Krakens and this is your view? ?

After being at sea for so long I bet 30 days on land will be strange ?

Cruisemapper.com is a good site for seeing where all the ships are for all cruise lines on an online map. https://www.cruisemapper.com/

Oasis of the Seas - July 18th, 2020 Replacement cruise for Adventure of the Seas, March 14th, 2020!!!

Well.....it’s the last night blues but we making the most of it and continuing the fun. Amazing what a difference a week has made while gone but that hasn’t dampened an ounce of the fun. COCOCAY WAS AN ABSOLUTE BLAST AND YES I AM SHOUTING!!????? All 14 had the best time. We hung around Chill Island. Are multiple times at Snack Shack and yes the shack Crisp chicken sandwich is as advertised. From the cookies to the funnel cakes, I was impressed. The kids did Thrill Waterpark. I never made it over there since I was chilling on the beach (pun intended) and went to the big big big pool and hung around the Dj (music was lit, as the young people would say, I think). Folks were ha omg a blast. We did the tram around the island that was good to see. It is an engineering marvel what they have done to make this island the best cruise island in the Caribbean. Never been to Labadee but Coca is the champion for sure. After getting back on the ship checked out the sail away and another show of HIRO. The kids did open ice skating and after the show I played a little basketball on the court. We ate at Windjammer, it was good. Tonight my last cigar and bourbon deck 15 and relaxing. May see if I have any luck at the casino. I included a few pics From throughout the day.

That 125% future Cruise credit has me like ...

I just checked the RCCL Facebook page and it reads that they will automatically issue the FCC. Good job Royal Caribbean! I'm beyond pleased with how they handled this entire messy situation. We will be able to make Diamond Plus a little quicker now. ?

I'm taking the 125% FCC.

Got my Indy trip cancelled... Ok not end of world. Generous FCC offered. Great! Go to book another cruise... FCC can't be used for deposit??? I did not know that. FCC is already more than next trip by 500 and now 1000 more cash out of pocket to make booking. That means after this next trip I have 1500 FCC that has to be used within 6 months of my next sailing or lose it forever ??? That was another "detail " I wasn't privy to. This is not the same as that widely advertised cancellation policy... Careful...

Just want to say, I appreciate @Matt and everyone I regularly interact with on this board. It's been a roller coaster this week, and I appreciate y'all for giving me an outlet and a sense that I wasn't the only one....I still don't know what the future holds for my April sailing...but I know this too, shall pass. When it does, I look forward to more joking, more debating, and more obsessing about my vacation.

I just got off the phone with Club Royale. If anyone was using their free prime cruise that just got canceled good news they are issuing it back to us and we get to use it up until March 2021.. Which would mean next year I get 2 Prime Cruises! I am so happy Royal did this. Makes missing my cruise a little bit easier.

Clear that it doesn't... At times... One thing I have found though with RCL is their inconsistency... A gal in one of my Facebook groups was told that they will "return the deposit to the card it was drawn from" when the FCC actually becomes available... I have no idea... I do know that when I recently went for an upgrade I had five different stories from five reps and the last one made me happy as can be... Its with reasonable certainty that I will use the same tenacity I did negotiating the upgrade. (Which by the way is always done with full respect and cordiality to the person on the other end of the line...)

@Chadster- We utilize Sharla (MEI) also and vowed to just wait until she returned if we needed anything BUT THEN a previously sold out cabin opened up in the category that I desired for Thanksgiving 2020 on the Odyssey and I was like," rut row" now what? I knew she would check her emails on Holiday & did not want her to see my name I wanted her to relax! So I private messaged @AnnetteJackson on this blog and she was wonderful, she sent my info to Kelley Hardy with a message to me if I didn't hear from her to reach out and someone else would help while Sharla was away because Kelley was now dealing with this situation as well as her and Sharla clients. I logged off the blog and Kelley was already in my email, she was sweet and kind and did her best to help me while Sharla was away. Kudos to the MEI team, so happy I found this blog and ultimately MEI !

Chalk one up again for MEI! Just got a e-mail from my agent Danette, cruise dropped another $400 bucks for a total of $1800, which is about a 33% savings! Let's hope that this craziness ends by Oct and we can actually enjoy the savings!

If these latest FCC's follow the rules of previous FCC's, taxes, ports fees, gratuities and any cruise planner pre-purchases (packages, excursions, etc.) will be refunded to the original form of payment (your credit card). The FCC only applies to cruise fare but it does include your down payment as well.

Nobody knows right now, of course. But it seems to me that they are going to have to do something with all of the materials that they have purchased and staged in Cadiz - stuff like the water slides and everything else that they were going to install. It would make sense that they are just going to wait for the port to re-open and then go in for a modified amplification OR delay the start of the summer European itin and complete the amplification. Of course, this would only happen if the dry dock is available to extend the scheduled dry dock and this would seem doubtful. My guess....they fix the azipods and do whatever else they can fit into their shortened dry dock and the rest will have to wait, something like Adventure experienced a few years ago.

I never look at the percentage off on anything. Just look at the base price. The rest is just marketing.

[email protected]

We are loyal to both Carnival and RCCL. In this case, Carnival wins hands down. We cancelled and rebooked our March 21st sailing on the Breeze before it was cancelled but after options to rebook were announced. We took a slightly more expensive cruise. Carnival transferred all of our cruise fare, deposit, taxes, and prepaid gratuities with no questions asked. We just have to pay the difference which is about $100 each.

So glad you had so much fun ! Little did you know you would be among the last few to enjoy Symphony and Coco Cay for a while. Have a safe trip home. Thanks for the FUN posts the past week.?

Additionally, my kids and I prepaid the arcade and I prepaid Thrill water park. We didn’t use the arcade and I didn’t end up going to Thrill WaterPark and they were very accommodating to refund all to my account. As with all things Royal Caribbean just have to ask and the worse they can say is no.

That was a part of captain's announcement on the Oasis tonight, that the crew would remain onboard

Ditto.....the planning and obsessing is half the fun. ?

Thanks for this perspective! I've had a rather rocky road getting toward my first cruise on Royal, but now I'll get to go back to a blank slate and figure it out. Good thing for me that I love logistics and planning! ?

So I missed Perfect Day at CocoCay in 2019 due to Hurricane Dorian. Now I missed it in 2020 due to COVID-19. Hopefully I have better luck in 2021!

I think emailing is the best way to handle it. A phone call is probably the last thing ANY agent wants right now. God bless her, Michelle always responds to emails very promptly. They’re definitely earning their commissions right now...

That's the way the market works. Back in the Oughts I bought it at $44 and sold at $8. Then I bought it again at $71 and watched it rise to $135...and then bought more at $76 on the way down. Now it's at $30ish. Next week I'll likely buy more to dollar-cost-average, but more importantly I believe in RCL and that they will get through this crisis, and while I can't cruise in the near future this one a way I can support the company and it's employees.

Same here. She has been fantastic.

Thanks @SpeedNoodles

Currently our cruise is not cancelled as we are sailing from Sydney. If it was cancelled I think we would opt for the full refund over the FCC. My main reason behind this thinking is if the cruise industry is impacted for an extended period bankruptcy may become a consideration (I think RCI are more than capable of weathering this storm so I think it unlikely) and if that happens an FCC could become worthless. Better to have the money in the bank at the end of day.

It has been a crazy few days. Lots of back and forth between go and don’t go. Ultimately, a few things sealed the deal for us. Never were we worried about the virus on the ship. I am still of the mindset that the ship is likely one of the cleanest places at the moment. Quarantine on the ship was also an afterthought, because how bad could it be in the ATS? What really made us re-think over the last few days was the possibility of being further quarantined in Trenton (military base). That is where they are taking all the Canadians on the Princess ships. That does not sound like a great time. Yesterday, Delta also waived change fees for all travel this month, and Royal revised their “Cruise with Confidence” policy in that we would get back our FCC that we redeemed for this sailing. So really, we would lose nothing by not going. It was beginning to get harder to justify going. The ultimate deal breaker is that Plan B, was better than Plan A. This blog is officially, “To be continued...” in 166 days. We are sad, but at the same, for the hockey people out there, we feel like we just won the Stanley Cup of cruising! When one door closes, another one opens. ?

AHHHHHHHHH! Thanks to quick work by @AnnetteJackson and Kelley at MEI (and of course, Sharla, even though she's off on her getaway!), I was able to leverage MEI's presence on/sponsorship of this board to snag one of the aft balcony cabins that popped up for the June 4 sailing of Adventure of the Seas! I went from booking myself into an interior cabin on Grandeur a little over a month ago to the exciting notion that I'll get to have a great view as a newer ship with more options for dining and activities sails away and along! It wasn't a free upgrade, of course, but when all is said and done, I'll have spent just $400 extra to be on a newer ship and have an aft view and spacious cabin, plus a little to get myself up to Cape Liberty! THANK YOU SOOOOOOOO MUCH, MEI TEAM!!! ? Maybe now, I can breathe and take a break from obsessively watching availability and pricing, all while plotting and planning. I tend to get laser-focused on things, and I certainly have been with my upcoming cruise. What a ride -- but oh, my, what a sailing it'll be at the end!