Leaderboard

Update... I did call. Painfully long on hold. ... Then I got what may well be the single most enjoyable agent of all time! I mean it was service above any I have ever experienced with RCL. Friendly, Informative, Positive! I am hoping I get a customer survey on this one as she will get 10 marks across the board! Outstanding doesn't begin to describe it. The one that straightened out 2 refunds and 2 fccs then handled a booking in Harmony was indeed fantastic as well. That one was exceptionally professional but today's had an effervescent personality to just kick it up a notch. I think she talked me into a b2b but need to check school schedules for that ...

The 'Rona landed at my house 7 days ago, and I find myself watching more TV than I have since I was out of school for the summer as a teenager... This morning I found myself watching "Untold Stories of the ER", and 1 of the 3 stories they featured was a doctor aboard a cruise ship. I'd watch a whole show with that topic!

MOO (my opinion only)...I think that if they are allowed to sail, and the ship is at a higher capacity than whatever limit is set, we may first see offers like airlines make when they have overbooked a flight...incentives for people to take a different sailing. For example...maybe onboard credits, flight credits, cabin upgrades, etc. Just a thought...

As far as the Freestyle machines I guess they could have a crew member wipe down the Freestyle touch screen and cup base between guests much like a big box retailer that does at the self check out registers. The cups themselves are somewhat contact-less in that you just sit the cup in the machine, only the bottom touches anything. The points of contact are the touch screen and the place where you sit the cup. Think of this like a self checkout machine at Walmart or a grocery store. If staff wipe down the scanner area and touchpad it seems to work at home so this approach should work at a Freestyle machine.

My March sailing was cancelled too but because we cancelled two days before they announced it, we also had to take FCC. I wouldn't say we were "screwed" as it was our choice to cancel, just annoying that they did not announce it sooner than the day before March break. My annoyance with them back in March is that we were told we would get 125% FCC and we did not. But that is water under the bridge. If we think back to pre-covid days, cancelling that close to final payment would have resulted in the forfeiting mostly all our money, no FCC at all. The $1000 extra that you paid out of pocket for your March 2021 cruise should be able to be returned to you should Royal cancel that 2021 sailing, and the FCC that you rolled in should be re-issued. As far as kids sail free, it was never a promotion that was run in the summer months or holidays, so it is definitely disappointing, but I wouldn't say that Royal was out to get anyone but not offering on summer sailings, they never have for that one.

Luv SWA, they extended my A-List through 12/2021 without asking.

When I received my refunds (totally a little over $10,000) they came back to my AMEX as 45 different credits (a few were as little as $6.00!!). I had to sit down and match up piece by piece to figure out if I received all I was supposed to receive! It was quite daunting and tedious and I finally called to get a breakdown of how they applied all my payments. Once I got that info, it was easier to figure out. Seems nothing comes easy...or quickly! I have to say reading about everyone else's issues helped me understand I was not the only one and that did ease my stress level a bit. Thanks for this wonderful blog and message board!!

I personally would be extremely comfortable with this number, as I have stated in another thread I would gladly sail the first day that they allow the ships to sail. I am perfectly happy just not having to worry about what to cook, or cleaning my room! I would be happy relaxing, ordering room service, and sitting on the balcony watching the waves roll by! I know that RCCL does a better job of cleaning than my local grocery store, or department store both of which I have had to frequent since this has started.

Don's a nice guy, but I find that his information is often fraught with errors.

My memory is failing me in my old(ish) age, but I know someone on the boards was in a similar situation where their kid was 12 on the original booking and 13 on the L&S date, and they still price protected it at the child rate. I just can't remember who it was to confirm for you.

Wouldn't surprise me. Slap a Royal Caribbean sticker onto a bottle or package and double the price.

I took the bait last night and got it, I sold it to my hubby by saying it's only 3 alcoholic drinks a day more than the refreshment package which is £18.24 pppd ?

I received an email from Southwest Airlines yesterday, as I'm sure many of us did. I'm wondering what your opinions are and are you going to convert your credits to Rapid Rewards? Any qualified travel fund that expires September 7, 2022 can now be turned into Rapid Rewards points. Since Rapid Rewards points never expire, you can use your new points whenever you want. Check if you have qualified funds soon—you can only convert your qualified funds through December 15, 2020. Terms and Conditions: To qualify, your travel fund a) must expire September 7, 2022, b) name must match the name on your Rapid Rewards account, and c) must have originated from a ticket purchased on Southwest.com®, booked by a Southwest Airlines® Customer Representative, or approved by your employer. You must request to convert your travel fund by December 15, 2020. Conversion is non-reversible. Rapid Rewards points cannot be used to pay taxes or fees.

We converted ours. It's always better to book flights with points (rather than with cash). Even if you book "Wanna Get Away" fares (the cheapest) and then cancel, you get your points back.

Since you brought up the T-shirt entertainment, do you see them adding boxes of sanitizer wipes and little bottles of sanitizer to all the store inventories? Maybe even some cruise logo masks? Something to look forward to.

Bummer. I hope you are recovering comfortably. At least you will have recovered and have the antibodies (hopefully). Honestly, if I knew for sure that we would not be particularly sick, I would wish to get it myself....but I'm a chicken. I'll settle for staying away for now.

Around the holidays they usually run some type of points threshold bonus ie spend x thousand dollars between November 1st and January 15 and get 4000 bonus points. That is just when I have to pay the balance of the cruise so will be an easy threshold to meet.

Always lock in a low price when you see one! If it does go lower between now and your cruise, you can always cancel and repurchase at the lower price.

This is exactly why I have to psych myself up every time I check for RC refunds! lol So annoying.

I love to hear about the great interactions with RCCL staff!

Appreciate that info. That is why the floating CoCo Beach cabanas are so expensive...at least on my cruise planner!!

This is only for the Coco Beach Club. South Beach area and its cabanas have the Snack Shack and it's not a terrible walk to Chill Grill.

Yes @twangster Just a you were commenting, I was reading about that perk/bonus/benefit that anyone who had A-List this year were automatically extended to the end of 2021 on the SWA website. Just converted our three travel funds, and it put us on the A-List through the end of 2021! Was totally pi$$ed with SWA initially, and now I must say I really appreciate this olive branch. Now, of course, the Rapid Rewards probably won't buy as much come next spring, but am much happier with the company's treatment of passengers. Edit: Now if United would do the same!

Sold, again!

I converted mine. One of my conversions gave me 16,612 pts for $213. I just checked current flight offerings and found a $214. fare will cost me 15,522 pts so guess it is a bargain to convert!! And best thing is the points NEVER expire...and can be used to book a flight for someone else!

It's a combination of things to watch, not just one thing. Cruise lines that have returned to operations in Asia and Europe are having both success and failures in dealing with infections. We hear about every misstep but hear nothing of successes so, don't despair. TUI is cruising from German ports and I guess successfully. MSC is about to make a run in the Med on August 16th and again on the 24th. AIDA will cruise from Kiel and Hamburg in September. A resumption of cruising by RCL will be influenced by the success or failure of TUI, MSC's and AIDA's cruises. I expect that we will see RCL attempt to position ships and sail from Italian and German ports but only with passengers from the Schengen regions permitted to board after November 15th. I think it is important to watch how cruise lines deal with infections v. how the press presents it. That can be hard but be wary of media reports of "massive failures" of cruise lines who restart cruising. What we will need to assess progress will be data about the numbers of cruises that have taken place overall compared to the ones that have had a passenger or crew test + for C-19. More importantly will be information about how successfully the cruise line, port authorities, local transport and hospitals deal with passengers or crew that become infected. Watching the CDC: I think it is pretty clear that the CDC isn't going to lift it's no-sail-order from US ports until after November 15th if then. Why would the big three cruise lines uniformly cancel cruising though that date? I do think that the US government is weighing the huge economic hit that halting cruising from US ports is taking in FL and every other city that had a busy cruise port pre-COVID. I'm not convinced this will turn into action to revive the cruise industry but it might. The politics, local and national, of cruising, like a lot of things, is fickle but make no mistake, FL is losing billions each month that the CDC keeps its ports closed to cruise ship operations. Hundreds of thousands of workers who service the various interconnected aspects of the cruise industry are unemployed. Start Cruising and unemployment in FL will drop significantly as those presently fired or furloughed return to work. Trump is likely looking at this as a means to advance his reelection campaign. As for sailing from FL: watch Caribbean nation's health and tourism ministers. Here again, Caribbean nations are losing billions of dollars to the loss of cruise ships making calls at their island nation's ports. Compromises can be made that involve assessing risks of viral spread v.economic benefits of allowing cruise ships to make port calls. I think that this is the first place we'll see RCL, Celebrity, Carnival, NCL and HAL sail to out of FL ports. The cruises will start with 3-5d itineraries that will have at least one stop at a private island and only one, maybe two stops at cooperative Caribbean ports. Nassau, the Dominican Republic and possibly Puerto Rico as early candidates. If successful in dealing with infections, we could see a quick ramp up to 7, then 10d cruises that include Aruba - already one of the few islands that will allow American tourists. I'd expect each of these cruise lines to carefully select which class of ship will sail basing those decisions on profitability at reduced capacity. It seems to me that ships with under 3000 passenger capacity are more likely to sail early although the larger ships are more efficient and can operate at higher margins even with less capacity. No telling. As for dates, I think the week before Thanksgiving weekend is the target with the fall back being the December 10th through January 3rd time frame. So, watch closely for signs that crew are being called back to duty around the first week in November.

So much for going green.

I dont trust the health officials, here's a shitty YouTuber i trust!

I was looking at available sailings earlier today (got a promo for Gold C&A members), and saw that Anthem is still currently scheduled for her Nov 2020 8-night Bahamas sailings, along with her Dec 2020 & Jan/Feb/Mar 2021 11-/12-night Southern Caribbean sailings. So there's that much, for whatever it's worth. And that promo would have been nice if it included the winter Anthem sailings for December 2021 and January 2022 that are currently available; but the offer ended with Nov 2021. I'm thinking that one of those Jan / Feb / Mar 2022 winter sailings might be the next chance I get to cruise out of Bayonne with reasonable certainty, and since I have 23 C&A points at the moment doing a 12-nighter in a JS for 24 C&A points would get me to Platinum and a good chunk of the way to Emerald.

I think the greater concern would be that the cup that might have come into contact with someone's mouth comes into contact with the dispensing nozzle. I'll admit, looking at the Freestyle system this is less likely than a traditional lever type soda fountain, but not out of the realm of possibility.

As to how long it would take to each D or D+. It really will be YMMV situation as if it wasn't for this virus I would I have made Diamond in less than 2 years. I mostly cruise solo and have a set amount of vacation each year. Since I live in the Midwest, I would have to fly, which means I am not going to just do one cruise. I had a Jr. Suite booked with family for 7 days and a Jr. solo this year; that would have been 21+14. I was going to have a S2S in Jan 2021 as a solo that would give me 16. In Oct 2021 I am staying in a 2br GS which is 14 and I have another 5N solo, so that would be another 15 points. So I would have made D in Nov 2021 but having lost so many cruises, I will probably just make Platinum....if things improve I am hopping to be D in 2022.

You dont have to keep the same ship. We did because we wanted to sail out of Galveston. I would be interested to see how they treat the kids rate since they would be considered adults in 2022. We arent sure what our 2 highschool kids will be doing in school in April, Ill just keep them out a week for the cruise and not worry about it. As far as forgetting 2021, only you can make that call. We just felt more comfortable letting this stuff pass on down the road before even trying to cruise. I would definitely contact them and see what available options you have for L&S. You might get an awesome upgrade shipwise and room wise for your same rate. Cant hurt to ask!

I was reading Matt's excellent article on the front page about health protocols and came across the distancing part. I mean, it's obvious that we are all going to have to adhere to that as much as possible, even on a cruise ship. However - I'd like to see security enforce that policy when they put all those racks of discounted t-shirts out on the promenade! ?

I agree that it varies. We finally hit Diamond in 2018 and took our first Royal Caribbean cruise in 2007. Not counting this year, we missed two years of at least one cruise on Royal Caribbean. One was to try NCL the other was for an extended (and expensive) Hawai'i trip. So, 11 years and several cruises we traveled in a Grand Suite (never higher yet). For the last 5 years we only sailed the 5 Night Bermuda from NJ itinerary which slowed us down but luckily we were able to splurge on a Grand Suite for the last 3 years. Side note: we LOVE Bermuda, favorite island thus far, but unless it's not the only cruise that year, I am definitely over that itinerary. So glad Royal has started offering other trips from Bayonne. (Not that we will not fly to port but we like to sail with friends where it's easier to just drive). Edit: I'd like to say my guess is it takes an average loyal to Royal customer 15 years. That's taking into account an average sailing of 7 nights in a room category below a Jr. Suite as 80 / 7 = 11.43 (rounded). Figure 1 7 night cruise a year means year 12 is the Diamond year but add a few more years to try other lines or just not cruise that year.

I am still hoping my January '21 sailing will head to Labadee, and on the cruise planner over water cabanas are available for under $400. If you have reserved a cabana, check the sale against your receipt.

@twangster I just keep this tab open year round now, I guess. I opened it around March getting excited for my May Oasis cruise... which was pushed to November which got Lift and Shifted to November 2021. But ONE DAY I WILL SAIL HER DAMN IT, and until then these pics really brighten my spirits! That Solarium, siiiiigh. Can I ask how many Twangster blogs we've lost to the pandemic?

Yes, Vandy alum and Bama fan...Roll Tide

Great pictures ..... we were on it at the beginning of january and had a great time on it ....

I think the concerns of limited capacity will be partially resolved with rooms not being released again after people take advantage of FCC or lift and shift. No matter when sailing resumes there will be many who won't want to sail due to the restrictions or health concerns. All this being said, we took advantage of the sales to upgrade our June 2021 cruise to an oceanview from an interior hoping maybe that will give us a better chance of sailing!

In their press release they said they were doing that because it wasn't profitable, it's not about the kids health, they don't care about them, just money

So the library is now in Central park . Very good - looks like a nice area.

When cruising starts back up do you think it will be at 50% capacity? maybe 40%? So let's say a cruise is going with 40% and they are currently 80% sold. when do you think the 40% getting left on shore will be notified?

not really metallic, more like rancid food <ewwww!>

It's been weird...my husband and I have completely different symptoms (he had fever, congestion, and cough from day 1...1 had headache for a couple days, then fever for a couple days, then a weird taste in my mouth, then the hallmark loss of smell). This really is a bizarre virus!

We were meant to be disembarking today :’(

My April 2020 got canceled but we canceled it 3 weeks prior to royal cancelling it themselves. No refund for me. Got screwed once. Rebooked for March 2021 and paid 1000$ more the then original cruise and I have fcc for the rest but not confident we can go. If I canxel getting another fcc. Screwed twice. Got a special rate for March 2021 kids sail free. Would like to rebook for summer 2021 but kids sail free not applicable.. Screwed three times. They are holding on to my 4000$ almost and I have no power to recover it. Don't know what else to do.

That’s too bad, would have been fun to have someone else from the message boards on that sailing. I’ve had very hit and miss experience with their call centers, especially the casino staff, but I’ve also had those with Royal recently as untrained reps take over for those that have been furloughed.

Well, I had to cancel our 11/21 Apex cruise due to health issues. I will say this, I know Celebrity is owned by the Royal Caribbean Group, but I have NEVER had the problems with Royal Caribbean that I have had with Celebrity. Now I know why they're really pushing the FCCs because I would not have booked another Celebrity cruise if I wasn't going to lose a bunch of money by not using the FCCs. Trying to get them to acknowledge that I even had FCCs, tried to do a lift and shift (that was another nightmare) and then book another cruise for July 2021on the Equinox and then get those FCCs applied to that cruise, well, I was lied to, hung up on, put on hold for 41 minutes, dealt with numerous folks who clearly did not know their jobs and then FINALLY, I got to deal with this one guy (Nolan) working from home and he knew how to make the system work and suddenly, I've booked a cruise and got the FCCs applied to it. I just hope the cruise is a lot better than most of their telephone booking people.