Leaderboard

Something new from @ourusualbeach on CC. Looks like multiple FCC's will be able to be applied to a booking. If this is true, it will be the best news we've had since the plague hit !

This is all excellent news! And FCCs are applied as payments now, which before it came off the cruise fare. Caused all sorts of problems.

It's been a long time coming. Glad to see it.

Even better news!!! Caused problems for re-pricing. ?

Thank goodness!!! This is the best news ever, aside from getting on the next cruise!

@WAAAYTOOO Here is the announcement: Dear valued Travel Partners, Royal Caribbean Group understands that time is of the essence — so we've automated many processes on CruisingPower.com and the Espresso reservation system to make your jobs easier. That means you can get right back to tending to your clients and planning their next vacation. We are thrilled to announce that we have brand-new enhancements to share with you, launching today! You can now redeem your clients’ Cruise with Confidence, Global Sailing Suspension, and Non-Refundable Deposit Program Future Cruise Credits instantly. Yes, you read that right! This new method provides you with more visibility into the price and promotions on the booking, and confirmation of the application of certificates. Talk about a win, win for your accounting and for your clients. Additionally, 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! Your feedback and insight was the driving force behind this enhancement. We have been diligently working on streamlining this process for you and are so excited to offer you and your clients this NEW and exciting alternative to make redeeming Future Cruise Credits simple and easy. For detailed instructions and FAQs, please visit the below. Ken

It also appears that they are changing the rules regarding "sharing" FCCs. Also VERY good news

Welcome to the message boards. I suggest doing Mayan ruins from Costa Maya instead of Cozumel. Cozumel is an island and the best ruins are on the mainland so it involved a lengthy ferry ride that is known for being a rough crossing in a small ferry.

You want to look for a travel agency who does not charge your credit card, but does all payments through the supplier such as Royal Caribbean. So when I charge a client's card, it shows up as a Royal Caribbean charge. I'm sorry that happened to you.

And commission, and balance due, and you name it.

Almost done.

My husband is in a power chair full time. The cruise line can send you the "Special Needs Form" to fill in or you can find it online as well. It covers everything from walker, wheelchair type, special diet, and all other possibilities. You will need to fill it in and return it to RCI at least 30 days before sailing. I wish you the best! I will say I have found Royal Caribbean to be superior to Norwegian as far as handicapped accessibility and access. On Norwegian it is almost impossible to book a handicapped room on some ships that is not an inside room.

I was told it wasn't but this is GREAT news!!

What works in one region might not impact other. Took two cruise at that region (one from HK one from Chania) alcohol consuming was significant lower comparing to other cruises , during the cruise from Chania the barman were very bored. Alcohol package were buy one get one free (around 600 for two). There are many people that if they will get 5 free drinks (of any type not just the current ones that are being offers) will just not buy the the UDP ...

@WAAAYTOOO we had rain every day last week, and storms last night. You could still see lightning in the distance when they showed up this morning. But it's sunny now. The tarp has slipped a little, and the spa is starting to take shape.

I don't see any down side to L&S'ing your cruise into 2022....just be aware that they are only allowing "optional" L&S through 4-30-22. The latest rule for L&S seems to be that you can only L&S your cruise past 4-30-22 if Royal cancels. IOW I'm not sure they would allow you to optionally L&S your cruise past April. If you make final payment and Royal then cancels your cruise, I believe they will allow you to L&S past May 1 but they are now only allowing 1 week on either side of your original sail date vs the 4 weeks that they previously allowed. They are definitely tightening up the L&S rules.

I've heard people have this problem with TAs before. I think this is a very shady business practice. Unfortunately, RCL will only give you FCC based on what they received. The fact that the TA pocketed your money is not their problem. Personally I'd take my money back for that sailing and never book with them again. Find a travel agent who immediately pays Royal what you pay them and doesn't just hold onto your money.

Without people getting the vaccine you won’t need to request a refund they will just give it to you. It’s funny people want things to get back to normal but don’t want to take the proper steps to help society return to some sort of normalcy.

I cant list all my drinks in a day.....it would clog up this thread...its a long long list..........? But it averages around 20-25 per day, more on the first few days, less on the last few days...a couple of those are water or poweraede though.....lol........

We will probably seem lame. ? We drink coffee, water, and whatever lemonade-type drink is available. It's boring but keeps our costs down.

Apparently, I can't keep up. I thought Spectrum had started sailing out of Shanghai a month ago. Nope, First scheduled sailings are in March, 2021. Quantum is still sailing out of Singapore on cruises to no-where, Singapore residents only, right? I think I just confused these two.

Yes. We will just wait and see what happens. Personally I only have one drink a day with liquor. And my husband does not drink. So, we usually get water, coke, or fruity drink, with no alcohol. That is why we would prefer allotted drinks during the day. But I am happy no matter how they decide to do it and just want to go on a cruise! Thanks for your comments

I only have 2 drink a day, maybe 2. And my husband does not drink at all. We ususally just get water or diet coke, or a fruit drink with no liquor. So really I don't care how many drinks we get get on seapass card. That is why I would prefer it during day more than evening sometimes. But the normal cruise passenger drinks a lot more. Thanks for your thoughts.

I only drink 1 drink a day, maybe 2. So this rushing to get a drink at 4:30 really doesn't affect me. Sometimes I get just water or coke or something. And my husband does now drink at all. But we do like socializing in Diamond lounge or Suite lounge. And the appetizers. Thanks for your thoughts. We will see what happens.

It will be interesting if they change anything or not. Thanks for your comment

Thanks for your response. Yes, it seems to be a no win situation

Hardly hurt, and I was joking around. Personally I drink ship water. I always fly with a refillable water bottle to fill up once through security so I have one with me anyways. For me it's one less thing to worry about. Plus my carry on is usually crammed with camera gear so the thought of dragging water on board isn't that appealing.

If you applied a FCC and the cruise gets cancelled... The original FCC you got from June 2020 will be reissued to you Any money you paid on top of that FCC will qualify for a new FCC or refund. If you take a FCC, be sure to ask your travel agent to combine the old and new FCC into one. You can only do that when a cruise is cancelled https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2020/06/26/you-can-combine-future-cruise-credits-instead-of-separately-being-reissued

Agreed. However long term, like when it's closer to normal in the future, if they let people use their "coupons" at any time of day I think many will use them before the DL opens and then they'll rush to the DL at 4:30pm for open bar happy hour drinks since they've used their free coupons already. The switch to "my time" coupons, if permanent, would need to come with removing bars from the DL, or removing DL's entirely. Otherwise people will use their drinks during the day, become emboldened by a few drinks and then the crowding of the DLs at happy hour becomes worse, not better. I'm not sure Diamonds and higher will be happy if the DL's no longer offer open bars during happy hour once things have returned to normal. At the same time if Royal takes away "my time" drinks at that future nominal point, guests won't like that either. It's a no-win situation for them.

The Original poster clearly states that these measures and restrications are in place on Qots. I understand this is not a cruise out of US but i would imagine that any measures found to work on these "test cruises out of Asia or anywhere else " will be implemented across the fleet.

I would very much to be able to get my allotted free drinks any time of the day. Seems there is lines everywhere, in regular bars not just diamond lounge, waiting for 4:30 to arrive and get free drinks. It would not cost the cruise line any more money to offer drinks all the time, or at least a larger window.

Depending on when you paid, if you used a credit card, I'd give them a call and see what they have to say about the 120 day refund. The credit card company might take the money out of their account and back to you much faster.

They keep pushing the FCC expiration date. Let's put it this way, if people who want to be vaxxed are unable to do so before late 2022, we have bigger problems than cruising

Yes your TA can change your promo to kids sail free later if it is a better deal (it's not always a better deal).

Something to keep in mind is that rooms that hold 3/4 are usually in a different (more expensive) category . So even if Passenger #3 is "free", Passenger #1 and #2 are paying a slightly higher base fare. Sometimes the difference can be very large, but I've usually noticed this when my travel agent booked me into agency group space for the double occupancy room, but was not able to do so for the triple occupancy room.

I've been kicking around whether or not to jump in on this....then I said to myself "Why not?" We have decided that we want to cruise multiple times a year. To be able to do so, we have cruise as inexpensively as possible. If we didn't, we'd be hard-pressed to do one cruise a year. We stopped drinking alcohol 15 years ago and are very content with the complementary dining choices onboard so no money spent there. Other than something like when I forgot my hat at home and needed to buy one onboard, we can end a cruise having spent nothing else above the cost we paid when we booked (other than cash tips for crewmembers we interact with). We experimented with bringing water onboard to save money. It did save us money, but is a royal pita to carry around for a few hours. Now, we each bring a stainless water bottle and fill it up.....most of the time we fill it from the sink in our room. We also each bring a small travel coffee cup for carrying coffee around with us. Cheap/thrifty/fugal/tight/whatever. It works for us, and that's all that matters to us.

I received my credits also (01/22/21).

Michael Bayley is that you? The reason some of us can afford to spend 1000s on a cruise is by finding little ways to save money here and there. Plus it's not like like they are charging $0.50 for that container of water, plus 18% gratuity.

I'm slumming it solo in an inside on Deck 8 so I guess the party is in your room. lol. now just gotta figure out the plane tickets.

Man oh man..the excitement that will be here when something official like that happens here with Royal!!

Well, IMO you had every right to expect a birthday cake if the Genie had been informed that it was your birthday during the cruise. I think that’s a rather unpardonable oversight on the part of the Genie. This is exactly the kind of detail that they are there to exploit (in a good way !). Of course, as with all things, some Genies are better at the details than others. I don’t blame you at all for being disappointed.

This right here may be the single best advice! I may have fell into this trap a bit. The other bit of advice is to be sure to communicate how the genie can make your cruise fantastic; don’t assume the genie questionnaire will accomplish this. I was so busy waiting for the genie to deliver the magic I put on our questionnaire that it led to some disappointment when some of the bigger requests never happened. I still remember sitting in our hotel post cruise wondering what happened to my birthday cake. ? LOL

There is a priority line for flow rider but not for water slides, carousel, climbing walls or zip line that I am aware of. You definitely do NOT need it for the carousel and I've never seen any particularly long lines for the climbing wall or the zip line. I never go anywhere near a water slide - on the ship or on CC so I couldn't tell you about those. Also, if you are on Anthem (or any Q class ship, I guess) you get priority for the bumper cars, iFly, Flow Rider and North Star.

Congratulations !!! This is going to be so exciting for you. What a great first choice !! Embarkation day is very busy...as you well know if you have sailed on other lines. Here is the "rule" regarding specialty dining and room service for Star Class: you are permitted to have room service from any specialty restaurant, including the MDR or Coastal Kitchen during normal operating hours. So the answer to your lunch question is....yes, you can have lunch brought to your suite as long as it is a restaurant that is in regular operation at the time. That usually means Chops...but the last time I was SC on Oasis, Chops was closed for lunch on boarding day....so it will vary by ship. That being said, boarding day is such a hot mess that I never ask for this service. The staff is just so busy with everything else. Ask your Genie. They will give you the best options. SC and suites receive priority embarkation - sometimes. At the port on boarding day - absolutely. You will get specific instructions for this well before boarding day. Some ships had begun having priority embarkation lines at the ports of call but most do not. It is rare that your Genie's assistance is needed for boarding but it has happened to us. The problem in getting Genie help, of course, is being able to reach them by phone. If you are in the terminal you can usually reach them but out in town, you cannot. If there is a special situation where you feel you will need help with getting back on board, it is best to make special arrangements with your Genie before leaving the ship. Bottom line....nobody else, besides your Genie, cares that you are SC. The Genie is pretty much the only one who can whisk you through the lines or security. Without them, you are just another schmuck.

Hi everyone this is my first post on this blog. I've been sailing with Royal Caribbean since 2008, I have sailed on other cruise lines as well but Royal Caribbean is the best in my opinion. I do agree with he is saying, I moved both of my 2020 cruises to late October (Symphony of the Seas) and November (Odyssey of the Seas) 2021 and we moved a European cruise to late May (Odyssey of the Seas) 2022. I 100% believe the cruise industry has been unfairly targeted by the CDC and health organizations around the world while airlines and hotels have been allowed to make up the rules as they go along, having said that I do think people on booked on earlier cruises in 2021 will be in for a few surprises. I work in the travel industry and the thing that is coming up now for 2021 is vaccination requirements in order to travel especially internationally. In most countries from what I'm hearing the vaccine should be widely available by mid-summer 2021 any one thinking of international travel before then not a good idea. To reopen and jumpstart tourism and salvage some part of the 2021 busy season I'm hear a lot of place will require visitors to show proof they've been vaccinated. Call me crazy but I think in time this may migrate over to the cruise industry, I think once the vaccine is widely available cruise lines may require all guest to show proof of vaccination before they are allowed to set foot on any cruise ship. Testing is good and testing is a great way to restart the industry but I don't think it will end with just testing I think requiring all passengers be vaccinated is coming by fall 2021.

If I detailed the quantity, I would come across as one who needs an intervention. Therefore, my response is that we get our money's worth out of the DBP. ?

Bloody Mary for 1st breakfast Irish Coffee for 2nd breakfast VRB (vodka redbull) for the lull Long island iced tea for 1st lunch pina colada for 2nd lunch (water... lots of water) Coconut mojito lava flow for the down time Wine with first dinner beer with 2nd dinner ask bartender to surprise me before entertainment (water.... lots of water.... and more water) old fashioned gatorade sleep.... shower... repeat. CHEERS! ?

Wake up-- I need my Diet Dr. Pepper.. They had it on Harmony in the Freestyle Machines.. If not ill drink a few glasses of coke Mid morning (1000ish) I gotta have a few Tito's Bloody Marys.. Around twoish.. I guess its Bud Light time until Dinner.. After dinner... Tito's Dirty Martinis or Tito's and Cranberry.. Depending on the night.. Maybe a few shots of Patron mixed in ? Last year I made the bright decision after a nap to start the Afternoon with Tito's and Red Bull.. Drank those up until dinnertime.. Around 11pm i lost my wings and crashed hard.. Couldn't find our cabin (should have listened to my wife).. lol ?