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Rebuilding consumer confidence in the cruise industry will be difficult. Especially attracting first-time cruisers. Will this cause a shift in scaling down new ship builds, design and innovation? Can Royal still fill their OA ships on every sailing? Nobody knows. Personally, it will most likely be at least 12-18 months before my wife and I can cruise again. She is a healthcare worker and cannot afford being quarantined when her co-workers are battling this virus. Our neighbours across the river in Detroit are taking a real beating. That is the reason we are going to take the full refund for our May 2nd sailing. Spend our money locally here since small businesses are hurting badly. Big corporations like Royal can weather this. Different story for small businesses even with the assistance from the Canadian Federal Government.

What?!? No Chef's Table??? Lemme remedy that... Scallops Carpaccio Maine lobster salad Smoked tomato soup (HEAVEN!!) Truffle tagliatelle (SECOND HEAVEN!!!!) Some of the fabulous wines we got to enjoy Branzino And of course, the world (pre-climate change melting)

Still, that's definitely nothing to sneeze at (though if I did, I'd be sure to practice proper protocols...). I'm definitely thinking I'll grab the JS then. I originally wasn't too keen on the thought of my cruise going to Bermuda or the Bahamas instead of Canada, but I figure I'll treat them as sea days, and just schedule an actual Canada cruise later. I can do that on Grandeur (or Enchantment, depending on when I go) or Empress so I can explore different ship classes. If this cruise ends up being canceled, then it's canceled. If not, I'll be taking the modified itinerary in style! ?

For $90 the double CAS points may be well worth it. Slightly larger cabin, walk in closet (most ships), bath tub (most ships), priority boarding on day 1. Corner aft is nice, center aft is also very nice.

Not having to cook is always top of my list, but I really enjoy the escapism of a cruise. It really does help me feel disconnected from the world at large (primarily the news).

Fun in Wonderland!

My township's mayor has been doing daily webcasts giving us updates on the infection rate and hospitalizations for just our township. We're a population of about 55,000, so the numbers are still thankfully small. But our Shelter-in-Place order kicked into effect on March 13, and we had our first positive case on March 17. Since then, just over the course of 12 days, we've gone up to 93 confirmed cases. We have a drive-up testing facility set up at the local college, which just went into operation a few days ago. They had administered over 140 tests as of this past Friday, and 45% of them have come back positive. We were at 56 confirmed cases on March 27, and on the 28th we jumped up to 80; much of that bump is due to the new testing center's results. Today, just a day later, we got another 13 positive cases (93 total). My township, I have to say, is being laudatory with making all the data public on their web site. 59 of the 93 cases are in people aged 40 to 69; this is not singling out the elderly by any stretch. The good news is that out of the 93 total cases, only 3 are in the hospital; everyone else is at home, without major complications or severe symptoms. Yet, our mayor says in every broadcast from every. single. day that the police are seeing groups of people gathering, having their children play together at playgrounds or parks, and generally ignoring the admonitions to keep away from each other. There are even people here who are still going to their places of worship and congregating together. It's insane!! No one seems to understand the ease with which this disease spreads from person to person, all while they're showing no symptoms. Those of us who are acting like the nut job who built a doomsday shelter and won't come out except at hours when we're sure to be among few to none will hopefully come out healthy and unscathed. But all those who willingly disregard the warnings aren't just inviting disaster on themselves, but on everyone they infect in passing.

Under no circumstance should anyone book an aft balcony on any ship. As a service to all of mankind, when I cruise, I will think of the other person first and take the aft balcony off of someone else's hands. It's a heavy price for me as just one humble individual to pay, but someone's got to do it. TIC of course. Aft balconies are the bomb.

OK... that first lunch at Chops Grille... embarkation day w/ the Key (back when it was actually in Chops Grille last year)... Filet Mignon... pic does no justice and the sides are on another plate... delicious and cooked to perfection for my taste! Some Wild Mushroom soup... Warm chocolate cake and New York Cheesecake!

I miss looking out over decks and balconies. Plus not having to cook...but also having ample access to a ton of varieties of foods.

I just made a new booking using the casino discount offer. As @michelle noticed, it looks like the gratuities for suites has gone up from $17.50 PP/PD to $19 PP/PD. Not sure if the other stateroom categories has gone up or not. It looks like there was a 38% discount on the upgrade. Not great but no worse than last year so that's a relief !! 2 years ago it would have been in the neighborhood of 60%. UGH

Aft JS snagged for my 6/4 cruise on Adventure for an extra $102. I'm gonna call that a good deal.

@Lovetocruise2002 Yen made it all seamless. We did have certain nights we asked her to schedule dinner in advance of the cruise. On the nights we didn't have plans to just let her know the night before. I think the only difficult thing was we didn't always know what the plan was. When we opened the balcony and had room service for most of us that was only a few hours before that we decided and she made it all happen. She was wonderful!

Haha! @rshov, Raye beat me to it but I was going to say the same thing! Looking at your pics and reading this makes me really wish that a pandemic didn’t ruin our plans. Really enjoying this too.

I don't think RCCI or CCL will be so bad that bankruptcy is an option. I do think this will affect future plans to amp and expand. Lots of people thought flying would suffer vastly after 9/11, thought there was no way Bourbon street would return after hurricane Katrina and the world would end because God hates homosexuals(passing gay marriage). There was a little bit of an adjustment period but everything worked out. People love cruising and while cruising is not a necessity, it is very much a beloved pastime. Between all the people here and Cruise critic..plus all the FCC...cruising will bounce back.

I did receive all the refunds over $2000 for the many shore excursions, drink packages, photo packages, etc.,. We are/were also expecting a full CASH REFUND to our original form of payment for our cruise booking costs. It has been 17 days since we received the Cancellation notification along with the online form/application for a full refund or 125% credit. We chose the refund and filled out the form, then immediately received the verification/notification that the refund would be coming, but could take up to 30 days and would be credited back to the original form of payment. I have saved all of these correspondences.These emails from RCCL have set a precedent and established the foundation and timeline. RCCL should "man up" and follow through with their "promise to refund". We are "simple, innocent customers" that entrusted our precious vacation dollar to this mega-billion dollar corporation that is obviously now trying to take advantage of us - claiming they made an error. TOO BAD! PAY UP RCCL! I simply want my money refunded as was written to me. This included my daughter and her reservation. If RCCL chumps us on this situation, who in their right mind would want to ever cruise with them again. All of the extra money we spend with RCCL amounts to much more than our actual stateroom cruise fee. Does RCCL really want that future money going to a competitor? I hope not! We are cruisers! We go on cruises as often as we can find the time to do so. We will be retired soon and plan to go on even more cruises. If RCCL "chumps" us now, they will loose many, many customers for life. I want my Refund NOW, not a future cruise credit with a short expiration date! PLEASE RCCL, honor your word! PAY UP and do the honorable thing!! Salvage your customers NOW.

It is very unfortunate that it has come to this but at the same time it is a good thing that they are taking some serious precautions and attempting to stop the spread now. I also appreciate how they have moved them out of the crew rooms and into guest rooms! I know that with as small as the crew rooms are it would be torture to be cooped up in one of them until this thing is over!

We enjoyed our corner aft balcony on Mariner last October. We booked kind of last minute so did a guaranteed balcony and that’s what we got.

Have a June 14th cruise so that works for me.?

+1 100%

September is a great time of year because of the lower crowds and lower prices.

This source says 51 people on oasis tested positive. Not sure if anyone can confirm. https://crew-center.com/oasis-seas-14-crew-members-test-positive-covid-19

Is it just me, or is this thread really painful to look at? ??

Shopping for cruise clothes. i miss shopping period! And just the general excitement/counting the days. Someday....

Everyone should book an aft balcony at least once! Snag it if you can.

We loved the Oasis , I was impressed in January seeing them clean the ship and getting people to wash their hands .. All I know is that when all this ends we will be going back on another Oasis class ship ..Being an essential worker I am trying to protect myself the best that I can in order to protect my family .. We enjoyed the crew on board and hope that they can stop the spread of the virus onboard the ship .

My neighbors are currently in their yard, with about a good 15 people, shooting fireworks and barbecuing. It is like 44 degrees and dark in Chicago. For almost 2 full weeks it has been quite, now there are families standing outside their homes watching these people break protocol. I am staring out my window in shock as the two cats I am fostering hide away from the loud noises. I spent 45 minutes this morning arguing with my grandmother about her going out to get a case of MGD (miller genuine draft) and a gallon of Bombay....we brought her groceries on Wed and she told us she was stocked with spirits. She just called me cursing Trump because she cannot attend Easter services thanks to the extension of shelter in place until April 30th.

We can only get the number of confirmed positives in our county - they refuse to break it up by city, so we really have no idea what's really going on. It's still very difficult to get tested here. We are constantly getting calls of people not abiding by the Stay At Home order. What's been considered an "essential service" is suspect to me. Stay safe, everyone - let's hope THIS community stays healthy!!

There's that pretty lady... Well before we get to the good stuff, figured I would mention the lead up heading to the terminal. We probably got up sometime around 730 and headed out for quick bite to eat and to grab some coffee. That was then followed by one last trip to CVS. At around 930/945 we decided to get an uber and head to the port. The hotel to the port it was probably about 10 minutes. Easy peasy. So like I mentioned above, from our first cruise to now, we have learned a bunch of useful tips, one of which is getting on the ship as soon as possible. But given we are mere peasants (low men on the cruising totem pole), I needed to figure out how to get ourselves on that ship ASAP. From past experiences of going out of Puerto Rico, it is pretty much organized chaos when you checkin. So we really had no issue just walking on the ship at whatever time we wanted previously. However, since this was our first time going out of what I would consider a 'legit' port, I was worried that they would be a little more strict with boarding times. So what would the logical thing be? You guessed it, just buy The Key! And now here is my review of the said 'Key' program. Was it worth it? Meh It was great for someone like me (crazy neurotic person) the peace of mind knowing that we could board right after the fancy star class people. So this was the main draw for me. Rebecca was thinking of getting the internet package just because she needed it to briefly check work emails in the morning to ensure the world was not going burn. So this was beneficial for her. The chops lunch was very nice (and tasty) but I would not say it was a huge selling point (*I am still a huge windjammer fat boy). Other than that we didn't really use the other perks. Rebecca dropped off one her smaller bags to be deliver to the room which I guess was nice. There were some (not a lot) set times for some activities like ice skating, flow rider, rock climbing, etc. But truth be told, we never needed the private times because we were able to do whatever we wanted whenever we wanted without a huge wait. I think we used the "special seating" once for a show in the royal theater but other than that we had no issue getting seats (and typically in a better location). Overall we probably would not purchase it again. Like I said, for me getting the key was about getting on the ship early. Possibly, if we do a cruise in the future where you needed to tender to shore... but other than that we really did not see a need for it (unless Rebecca is being a party pooper and checking work emails again...tisk tisk). So all that said, we now arrive at the port. I must say, complete 180 from Puerto Rico. However, the traffic getting to the drop off point was a little congested. But after a mind-numbing 5 minute wait we were dropped off and headed up the escalators. From the curb to the waiting area it legit probably took 5 minutes. It helped that we had the key as we had our own little check in area and the customer service was quite enjoyable. But I will say even if we didn't have the key, the general public line was pretty much non-existent. And in addition to all of this, we had done pre-checkin so we flew through this entire process. So after that we get up the waiting area to board and it was probably 10:25. At 10:30 they make the announce that they are starting boarding and at 10:35 we are walking onto the promenade. *definitely helped we were cluelessly walking around right by the entrance doors when they made the announcement. Once we got on the ship and had our 'oh sheet' moment, we decided to get all of our un-fun business (reservation making) out of the way. Now this is probably the only 'negative' thing I will say this entire blog. Like I mentioned in the first post, we did the room upgrade. And this ended up being a slight pain in the butt as we tried to book our specialty dinning reservations. And to be honest, we weren't really frustrated, the same thing happened last year on Freedom. But what happened you may ask? We go and get in line at guest services... which is already packed (you can somewhat see in the pic above). While in line they have a few employees walking around seeing if they can help assist so you dont have to waste an hour of the first day of your cruise in line. We tell the crew member we are trying to make dinner reservations and they so kindly tell us we can leave the line and head to Izumi (n00b move on our part) and book our dinners for the week there. Awesome! So we get out line and head to Izumi which was perfect, no one was there and walked right up to the host stand. But here comes the problem. We tell them our room number but since we did room change, the old guests names were still appearing and tied to the room. Like I said, this happened on Freedom and the system seemed to not have been updated to change the rooms and room names. Because of that we could not book anything and had to go back to guest services to get the room situation sorted out. Annoying? Yeah, but TBH I didn't really care. I was more concerned with the boardwalk dog house running out of sausages before I could get there (did I say I was neurotic?). So we go back to guest services and wait in line. And wait some more. And a little more. But we finally get things sorted out (side note - is it just me or does it seem like when you stand in line at guest services that your issue only takes like 1 minute to resolve but everyone else seems to be a half hour effort?) So we head back to Izumi and book Giovanni's for that night, chops for Tuesday and 150 Central Park for Thursday. Once we wrapped that up, we confirmed our show times, MDR reservations and then got those key card bracelets (was not a huge fan - mine seemed to never work but Rebecca had no issue). Now with all the business settled we set out to explore the ship. But first I can confirm they did not run out of hot dogs. So in typical first day fashion we set out explored as much as we would. The boardwalk, Central Park, the pools, slides, etc. All while making sure we were picking up our jaws up off the floor around each turn. Of course needed to partake in some of the activities while the lines were short and just lounge around until we were hungry for our 'key' lunch... (*I am absolutely terrible at the surfing on the flow rider. When 10 year old girls and 65 year old grandpas show you up, you just avoid the embarrassment) At around 12:30 we decided to head to the MDR for lunch. Rebecca decided to take the abyss slide as a short cut while I decided to make a detour to el loco fresh to sample a chicken burrito (whoops). Lunch was very good. Uncrowded (we were towards the tail end of the key lunch crowd). I got the bronzino and Rebecca got the filet. Once we were done with lunch we decided to make our way to our room. And in a shocking turn of events we did not get lost and found our luggage down the hall! The room overall was very nice. No complaints on anything. And with having our luggage we were able to unpack and not have to worry about making a pit stop back at room until dinner time. After that we did some more exploring until the muster drill which had us meeting in the royal theater. Now, being the clever guy I am, I made sure that we sat at the end of the isle. Why is that you ask? Muster drill was at 330 and the sail away time was 4pm. Needed to make sure we high tailed it back up to the solarium to grab that prime real estate for sail away. So after the all clear we booked it out of seats and more or less sprinted up 6 flights of stairs of which Rebecca was not too thrilled about. But I think she then forgave me when she realized what I was doing... After making our way out into the Atlantic we pretty much just ventured around the pool some more, hit the hot tubs and enjoyed a pretty snazzy sunset. As the sun set Rebecca decided to head back to the room to begin getting ready. *As we go though this blog you will see a trend with our evening activity as Rebecca typically needs a hour head start getting ready for dinner... So while the cat was away the mouse played. I decided to give the flow rider another unsuccessful go, hit the slides (yes I crossed my arms and legs with my head back and if I got stuck I used my hands to scooch myself down) and maybe tested out the bionic bar. With dinner at 8 I decided it was probably best to get back to the room and shower. Before dinner we did a little more exploring of the boardwalk + playmakers and then took in the sights and sounds of central park while enjoying a glass of wine from Vintages. *Beware of those arcade games. The amount of times I just said, "oh just one swipe". Next thing I knew I was on my 10th game of quick shot basketball. And it showed on the last day bill and seeing a zillion $1 charges. (had to hide that bill from the mrs). Anyway Playmakers was very cool. We were a little skeptical as we are/were big Sabor people (and of their margaritas). But overall Playmakers is a great addition, especially as a bigs sports guys to watch the games. And of course Central Park was amazing. We think Royal tapped our phones prior to coming on because they put our room on the same deck as Central Park and it was just perfect. By far our favorite neighborhood. And we also love Vintages. On Freedom, you could always find us there before dinner. So it worked out perfectly that our favorite venue was now on our new favorite deck and we didnt even have to walk up or down a flight of stairs. While we sat in Central Park waiting for our reservation, we experienced our only time being up-sold on something (chefs table). To which we really didn't mind it. After politely declining we ended up having a great 15 minute convo with the cruise member as his last contract was just on Grandure. Now dinner. We lets just say after being in the restaurant for 5 minutes I knew I was in trouble. From the service to the food, everything was top notch. Definitely set the tone for the rest of the trip (and also made me have to undo a notch in my belt). I cannot remember exactly what we had, but it is safe to say we almost had the whole menu. I think Rebecca got the gnocchi, I got the shrimp and polenta. I think we also had the antipasta platter, bread basket, salads and possibly a meat dish to share. Who knows, I was practically in a food coma. After just sitting back and relaxing and having some great conversation with our waiter we decided to skip dessert. Or at least we tried. Our waitress decided that was not an option and actually had some small little samples come out just so we could try. And of course they were amazing. Leaving dinner Rebecca had that look in her eye of "I told you so" since I may have been a little grumpy prior to dinner that we were not doing our traditional first night dinner in the windjammer. However, I was proved wrong (again I am big enough to admit - although I hate admitting it) and now could not wait for Chops later in the week. As we waddled out of Central Park we made our way down to the boardwalk as we had the aqua show booked. With seats already reserved we made our into the theater and caught what was probably our favorite show of the trip. After the show we did some more exploring of the entertainment venues (music hall, jazz on four, karaoke, etc.). We are not big Aerosmith people so the cover band in the music hall was not our go to spot, but the venue overall is pretty cool. Karaoke was always a popular spot thus never got the chance to light up the floor doing my best Frankie Valli. But jazz on four was one of our favorite spots enjoying some of the most talented musicians we have seen/heard, enjoying a nice cocktail in a very unique setting. This place became a main staple each night for us. We finally made it back up to the promenade to catch the ballon drop, check out the pub all before heading down to the casino to finish out the night definitely not breaking even on the roulette table and then finally heading to Blaze to grab another drink and do some ridiculous dancing before calling it a night... but not before making a pizza stop on the way to the room

I'm not sure when Chris shot this video, but he posted it today... at the airport...

As with all such things, there's going to be a balancing act. Celebrity was already pricing 2021 cruises significantly higher than this year's, so much so that people who have chosen to cancel their Iceland & Greenland sailing for this year due to health concerns are refusing to rebook on next year's itinerary. And even with the current year, the pricing they are charging on some excursions has been nuts vs. what I see when I look at directly booking with a third party. When they see that people aren't booking, aren't buying drink packages or dining, and/or are not booking shore excursions with them; and when people continue to refuse to even think about booking because everyone they talk to continues to malign the entire industry as a hotbed of disease, the industry as a whole won't have a choice but to lower prices or else take a loss (at best break even) on those sailings. They're a business, they're not going to let themselves continue to hemorrhage money like this, and they know it's going to be critical to restore faith in the industry and positive word of mouth if they ever want to return to previous levels of profitability.

I follow a vlogger who has been in contact with crew on board Oasis...I thought I would share the latest video featuring the captain's announcement regarding that and some other things...I am keeping the crew in my prayers...

GOOD LUCK with your REFUND! PLEASE, the first cruiser that receives their 100% booking fee REFUND, let others know on this post. Let us all not forget; the cruises that are cancelled are within the 100% prepaid 90 day prior to sailing time frame. That means RCCL already has our money for every cancelled sailing, yet the ships are moored and not sailing. That money should be REFUNDED, ASAP!

You do not have to sign up for the program. Just use you seapass card in a slot machine or have the deal scan your card if you’re playing at a table. The casino tracks your play, the amount of time you play and the size of your wagers and you earn points.

This unfortunate; but, understandably...they have to be judicious with capital spending right now.

If they declare bankruptcy, I would assume that FCC is as good as gone. You'll be in the position of an unsecured creditor.

Got an offer a few minutes ago for a Junior Suite with $300 Casino Cash on any sailing in the Caribbean from September through December excluding Christmas/New Year and Odyssey OTS sailings. 20SUN101 Booked redemption for Thanksgiving week and waiting to see. Be a great replacement for our cancelled March 22 cruise. My company has forced vacation over Thanksgiving and I would not have to take an extra week off to cruise. Or better yet we can book an additional cruise this year with the cancelled March cruise vacation time. If they say yes to the date, will transfer to our MEI TA.

Your FCC is for the amount of your cruisefare. Cruisefare includes your deposit, so your deposit amount will be rolled into that FCC.

I hope everything works out for you too.

Now for the Izumi enthusiasts! Complimentary Edamame... Shrimp wonton soup... Pork gyoza dumplings... love gyoza! Snow crab California roll and Surf & Turf roll (I believe is the name)... yumm!

How about some breakfast, Empress style. Eggs Benedict:

Everything except for the last day! If I had to pick one thing... definitely the moment after checking into your cabin and the unpacking is complete... realizing that your cruise is just about to begin and you're now ready to leave the cabin and explore the ship!

The build-up. Counting down the days and obsessively checking the Cruise Planner to try and snag a good deal on something. Checking a gazillion excursion websites for each port in an effort to find the best ones. Reading and re-reading the live blogs for our chosen ship in the run-up to cruise day. It's hard to get excited and enjoy the thrill of planning when you can't be sure your cruise is even going to happen.

Take the gamble. We cruise multiple times a year during hurricane season and have never had a single cancellation. It’s a great time to cruise.

We sailed the Western Caribbean itinerary September 2019 right after the hurricane. Weather was fine. Just make sure you have some type of travel insurance. It's impossible to predict in advance what weather will be like and where/when a hurricane will strike.

Thanks for so many insights to my question; as you all know, sitting in social-distance/stay-in mode gives you way too much time to be alone with your thoughts, especially in those off hours when not keeping yourself busy with work. My cruise this June to New England/Canada was going to be my first real vacation in years; I was supposed to go to the PNW last fall, but shortly before I was to leave, my gallbladder decided we needed to part ways, and it took me several months to rebound. I hit upon the idea of a cruise as a fun, all-inclusive sort of vacation to go someplace I haven't...needless to say, it wasn't feeling like some "luxury" to me, but rather, an important move for my mental health. And now...all this. The sheltering in place, the social distancing, the reports of the disease running rampant on some cruises, the bad rap cruising is getting from people right now for lots of reasons...in fact, the bad rap that tourism in general is getting from people, the financial turmoil... It's all making me wonder if I just need to shelve my vacation plans indefinitely, but especially my cruise plans. And it really sucks to think about..and not in a whiny "I won't get to go on vacation now!" sort of way. I mean, I'm even facing the possibility that my cruise itinerary that I've been looking forward to for months will suddenly become unrecognizable and go places that I'm honestly not too keen on visiting, a proposition that will leave me on the short end of the stick from Royal. I hate this. I hate this all so, so much.

Old fashioned's are my favorite. I now make with rye at home.

Nope. 30 days is if you choose a refund over FCC under their new deal. Refunds for purchases like drink packages/the excess was supposedly instant. Still have not received any kind of refund other than the email.

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.