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As a followup on an old thread, we finally received the final refund for our cancelled cruises. The payment from our final non refunded cruise in June went through today and we are finally paid back. This is not a negative post as we had several great conversations with the Royal operators who were able to walk through all of our cancelled cruises this year and find where the delays were. They were always very friendly and it helps to be nice to them upfront and have all the data organized and ready. I am an organization nut and have all the payment and refund data for all our cruises in spreadsheets so we can access it anytime. We now look forward to our next cruises later this year and next and are optimistic that we will be able to return to the sea breezes, sandy beaches great folks we meet on our favorite form of transportation. ?️

We have Scotiabank Ultimate package that waives the AF for our no Foreign FX fee Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite card. What works for me may not fit well with your personal situation. It is worth looking around banks and credit unions to see what they have to offer so it fits your needs. Others have recommended RBC. I have friends and family who have the RBC US acocunt/RBC Visa Signature Black and are happy with it. If you are a casual traveler and just looking for a no Foreign FX card w/ no AF, Home Trust Preferred Visa is an option for the occasional trip outside of Canada and online purchases.

I'd take a Baltic Sea cruise over a Med cruise any day. Bonus point: even Royal has longer itineraries there (up to 10 days). You could even do a Baltic Sea cruise and a Med cruise - or a Norwegian fjords cruise. Flights from Stockholm to Barcelona or Rome take about 3 hours and flights in Europe are quite cheap if you don't need any bells and whistles.

Just a reminder that if you book flights through Royal's Air2Sea department they don't require payment until your cruise final payment date, and you are able to cancel your flights up til that date as well. I have added flights through Air2Sea to lock in price and availability, and then kept checking to see if I could get a better price elsewhere. When I did find a better price, just called Royal and had them take the Air2Sea flight off my reservation.

Hubby said that we switched over from the Gold to the Signature Rewards card because the Signature card covers a bit more for travel insurance and also a second card was free. With the Gold card, we had to pay an extra fee for my card. I cannot remember if the annual fee was lower as well, but that is easily accessible on the RBC site. We currently still have both the Gold and Signature but we predominantly use the Signature card for all things cruising and vacations.

Not an elegant lunch, but to avoid the crowds on embarkation, we go to Park Central cafe when on Oasis class. Its fast, and enough to recharge as we're walking the ship.

The percentages are pretty useless. Just look at the actual price.

For those of you have sailed on the Voyager class would you prefer a 2 bedroom grande suite to the 1 bedroom? I really wanted to book the panoramic in front but the two are unavailable. I REALLY prefer 2 bathrooms with our teenage daughter but it's only 4 nights. I watched the you tube videos and am not sure I would enjoy the aft balcony as it appears very obstructed. Also can you smell the exhaust, feel the rock of the ship more? Thanks for your thoughts. Seriously I would stow away in the bottom of the ship to sail already.

I’m in a Mediterranean Cruise tips group on Facebook and there was a recent post on this. Several chimes in about Air2Sea and how flexible it is. Some were saying they picked the flights they wanted then called Royal and had them price the flights. I always thought you were at the mercy of Royal to pick your flights but apparently that isn’t the case. This is one reason I went with MEI (Sharla) for our October 2021 Odyssey Italy/Greece. We have a group of 4 couples so it’ll be like herding cats. She said we can start looking about 300 days out.

Hi Wethen, I am a 37 year old Father of 2. I was diagnosed with celiac disease in early 2017 and had my world flipped upside down. Huge fan of bread, pasta and beer! Haha. Even though the MDR does a decent job of finding GF options for me, I find the unlimited dining package to be the perfect option for me. First off the food is 10X better in the specialty restaurants. They have many more GF options including the ability to make most dishes GF upon request. Second, the waiters and waitresses are typically more experienced and work far fewer tables than you will find in the MDR. My experience with them has been amazing! For instance on our last cruise on Enchantment they only have CHOPS as their specialty restaurant. Our waitress (Amelia) was the best we have ever had. She knew how to turn any dish into a GF version and made sure the chef’s knew I was a celiac and took special care for my plates. (I never once had an issue). Each night she would have her chef’s prepare me a GF dessert that you might not find on any menu’s of the ship including the MDR. (Cheesecake that was diff than the GF cheesecake in the MDR, a chocolate lava flow type cake, you name it and it could be done.). I knew in the past that RCCL doesn’t have a GF soy sauce. I brought packets of my own from home and she had the chef’s use it to prepare sushi and other appetizers that required soy sauce. Again, never had a single (celiac) issue the whole time. Same experience on the Liberty this past Feb in both Giovanni’s and Chops. My wife and I not only find the food to be so much tastier, with better options, but the service to be 10 Star in the specialty restaurants. We will never dine in the MDR again. Let me know if you have any more questions, I would be happy to answer them for you and make your daughters experience that much better.

A friend of mine (dual citizenship) born in Quebec, resides in US. He went to the Lewiston/Queenston bridge to cross, 2 weeks ago today. He was going up to race a horse tonite. Before leaving he spoke with the ministry of health, he gotsome kind of exemption that all he had to do was, Have a negative test within 12 hrs of arriving at the border. He already had rented a house and will be there for 8 weeks, some how got an exemption to only quarantine for 7 days, get a test and he was clear to race last Sat night. Only thing he had to do was stay away from the other people in the paddock area last week, now he is clear. Strange, but does show there can be loop holes.

I do not present as handicapped but I have a bad back. At times I can walk stairs, distances and stand on a line with no issues. Other times I am in great pain within minutes of standing on a line or doing stairs. No rhyme or reason. I'm sure a lot of people view me as capable of walking stairs-or even standing still on a line. However, I would never cut people off at an elevator. I really wish RC would have a "take a number" on their Guest services line because I have spent numerous cruises standing on that line -sometimes multiple times on one sailing-and I pay for it with a super achy back where it hurts to stand, walk and at times even sit. Even waiting to enter venues to get a seat is painful. Please don't judge those apparently healthy people.

I sailed in a 2br GS on the aft of Navigator, you can follow my live blog below in my signature and see pictures etc. I agree that the space premium outweighs the obstruction of the view. I don't feel that the view is as "obstructed" as people feel, but that is a very subjective statement. As far as exhaust fumes, I occasionally was able to get an odor and noticed soot, but some of that depended on wind direction as well. One thing I noticed while on Navigator, was I felt vibrations as the ship backed into its berth at Coco Cay etc more than any extra rocking or ship movement.

Also, the walk all the way aft to the ATS gets old, quickly. The convenience of being on deck 17 should not be overlooked. I agree with @Lovetocruise2002 I would choose the CLS over the ATS unless you get one that is Star Class (deck 8, 9 or 10).

Seeing that both are Sky class, and benefits are the same, I would say most definitely go back to the CLS! Here is why: 1) Nothing beats the exclusivity of Deck 17 and the closeness to the Suite lounge and CK. 2) The ATS, while very cool views, does not beat the WOW factor of the CLS ever. 3) Two bathrooms in the CLS while the ATS on Deck 11 only has one (I think...).

Both are great rooms. The downside with the 1 BDR GS is like you said, only 1 bathroom and narrow balcony on that class of ships. Also, choose the cabin wisely because most of them are on deck 10, right below the pool deck. The 2 BDR GS, you obviously get a lot more space both in the cabin and on the balcony, but like you said, the view is very obstructed at the back of the Voyager class ships. I have also read some reports of soot ending up on the balcony of some of these aft cabins due to location. But those reports seem to be hit and miss so I would not lean to heavily on those. If it were me, and I now have one teenager daughter and one very soon to be teenager, I will always choose the space in the cabin first. So even with the obstruction, given the choice, I would likely pick the 2BDR GS.

Don't forget about Royal's Private Journeys. We will be using it for an excursion that is not on the planner for our Quantum sailing in Alaska.

Correct, that's RBC Bank. The RBC Gold USD Visa is offered by RBC Royal Bank (Canada) and is not connected to RBC Bank (USA).

I have taken river cruises and MSC cruises around Europe. I stayed in Rome for almost week they took a day cruise that took me to Capri. IMO cruising through Greece is the best way to see it. I would suggest maybe doing a 7 day but flying into one destination a few days earlier to explore and staying a few days later to explore another port. RCG doesn't have a lot of longer itineraries but maybe you can combine 2 or work around one. I will tell you as a person who did a lot of land vacations, it is much cheaper to cruise.

As far as Caribbean, I really don't mind staying on the ship while in port and just relaxing. If it becomes too complicated to take an excursion, I'd just stay on-board. But it will be an interesting experiment to watch.

OK guys...you are confusing the Jones Act which restricts the waterborne transportation of goods from one U.S. point to another to vessels that are U.S.-flagged, U.S.-built and at least 75 percent U.S.-owned and crewed with the Passenger Vessel Service Act which No foreign vessels shall transport passengers between ports or places in the United States, either directly or by way of a foreign port, under a penalty of $200 [now $762] for each passenger so transported and landed. AND both can be waived by Presidential Executive Order which Trump waived the Jones Act for Puerto Rico, easing Hurricane Aid shipments to Puerto Rico in September 2017 for 10 days during Hurricane Maria. A new law is not required.

Just go to www.willmycruisehappen.com It has a lot of information that you may find helpful ?

I can’t remember why I have this one either. LOL (that’s so bad since I use to work at RBC ?)

There was always chicken in Nonna's sauce, using up all the excess "parts" she didn't use elsewhere. The short ribs were added by my Aunt. We are from the northern adriatic area of Marche which makes me a Marchegian. oh and we use thighs because the one large bone is easy to remove once the sauce is cooked.

I was nervous about my original birth certificate getting lost in the mail, so I made sure to order an officially certified copy and I used that to send off for my passport. It was a small price to pay for the peace of mind that I still had a birth certificate on hand in case i needed it while they were processing my passport.

Correct. Royal Caribbean doesn't look at a back to back as anything other than two different reservations. So you could L&S the first sailing, and then take a CWC for the second.

For the Vision 2021 sailing, you shouldn't need to leverage CWC since you are well before that sailing's final payment. Should be fine to fully cancel that for a refund, unless you're thinking of doing an L&S when the 2022 sailings become available. Royal won't care if you're double-booked, so you could keep the Vision booking around until you find a replacement for L&S.

I have always had paid for duplicates when my children were born. Our children are 30, 28 and 26. We were a military family for decades and knowing that we would move often, we were told to do this by the legal advisers. 1 we kept with us. 1 was given to my Mom, in case it got lost during a move. The lawyers not only advised us to do that, but also during his active duty career my Mom had an official copy of our marriage certificate, living wills and last will and testaments. Once we retired and grown kids, I got the birth certificates back from my Mom. My kids have their original in their home, and I have an official in my home. Point being it is smart investment to do so for the just in case.

@KJones great point that you brought up that I didn’t even think to mention. From past experience, I have found 100% of the time that US based agents offer better deals and incentives than Canadian based agents, and that includes Costco Canada. ?

Like everyone, I'm hoping for a slow return to sea beginning in November, but sadly don't think that will happen. While November would be better, I would be elated if there was a return in January!

I think the primary benefit of them forcing passengers to use one of their excursions in contact tracing. Because they can control who you've been in contact with both on the ship and on the tours, if anyone test positive for COVID or experiences symptoms, they can determine where to focus intervention first. MSC also claims that their providers are tested and screened regularly and that all vehicles are sanitized and have been set up to allow proper social distancing. When my wife heard of this, she said "Hell, no!" She says it's too much like a prison sentence.

Hi all. As I’m Glasgow based, I’ve decided to go and get some pics of the 3 ships up here in Glasgow. On the bus there as we speak. Back soon!

Much appreciated! Might not be until I'm in my 70s or 80s, but I've seen some really compelling itineraries on Azamara and fully expect to try them out at some point.

You should also be able to get a latte in the Main Dining Room and in most of the specialty restaurants.

Must find this ice cream location.....

Our experience at Playmakers on Symphony last February was totally opposite. The first time we stopped by it was very busy, but I caught the eye of one of the servers and smiled and he found our waiter immediately. After that, we were generally recognized and always had someone at our table within a few minutes, and meals and beverages came out at a very reasonable rate with very good, friendly, service. Maybe they just have it together on Symphony. I really enjoyed Playmakers. Can I just go now?

Right now, I don't care where I eat lunch just so long as I am ON THAT SHIP!!!

Chops or Giovannis

Since it is federal law, suspending or waiving the Jones Act would require Congress and the President to pass a new law. I don't see that happening anytime soon. My limited understanding is that the Jones Act was (in theory) supposed to protect the interests of American companies by restricting foreign companies from shipping or cruising between US ports. That sounds good. USA! USA! However, if a ship is flagged in the US, it has to follow all US labor laws which means higher expenses so everybody flags their ships elsewhere. So the Jones Act has resulted in there being no American companies involved! Oops!

Debacle in Miami So laaaaaaate last night we made it to Miami. On a suggestion from @MotleyCruiser we picked up our rental car from Sixt. Quite and easy process. They didn't have the vehicle class we originally booked to Upgrade!! The salesman said I had a choice between a Chevy Tahoe, or a GMC Yukon, I told him it didn't matter to me. "I'll give you the Yukon, its a more reliable vehicle" he says. I didn't have the heart to tell him, you know, they are the exact same car, just a different badge on the front.....EIther way it is a nice car. Unfortunately this is where the good times end. So this is where it pays to research, research, research. Heather, through work uses Hilton based hotels for points etc. So we picked The Gates Hotel South Beach, which is a Double Tree. Normally we have good results with these hotels. We knew that we would pay more because its right off the beach so we were okay with that. Heather got her online check in notification which allows her to pick her room. We pick on on the eigth floor which overlooks the pool area etc. Perfect, off we go to the airport. We pull into the hotel and surprise, there is no onsite parking. You have the privilege of valet parking for $42 a day.....ugh.....its South Beach....fine....... We go up to the desk....Oh the room you requested is not available.....You can have this one, it still overlooks the pool area towards the beach....Okay fine that works.....We head up to the room to this.... What in the actual........... So back down to the desk we go. New room, which thankfully was clean. The hotel did make good. They removed the nightly "resort fee" and gave us 50% off our first night stay. Feeling a little better now. The beds were actually comfortable. Breakfast.......$25 dollars for a continental breakfast buffet per person, oh if you want hot things like eggs? Thats another $6. No thanks...Went to Denny's