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I am over the moon! A few nights ago, it was announced that the USA travel ban is lifted for vaccinated travellers with testing requirements. We've planned this cruise aaaages, had to move it, and were waiting with bated breath for this announcement! We will be coming to Orlando late April 2022 and cruising on the Harmony in mid May, I am the most excited I've ever been. Here's a shout out to the international cruises who are probably as thrilled as I am!

Got $514.99 refund today for my refundable deposit. That brings my total savings to about $3300 on 3 cruises since June. Pretty much expecting Royal to start paying me to cruise!

I’m sorry you have to cruise with such restrictive personal needs that require you to take verbal action whenever you see a masking violation coming your way. Must be immensely uncomfortable keeping your head on a swivel so that you can identify and react to an approaching threat. After all, it’s your health on the line, and that can be significantly affected by a wayward breath from a passing infectee not wearing a mask or not wearing it perfectly. I mean, what are the odds, right? It’s a shame that your vacation/s have become so burdensome that you might feel constantly under threat for your life. Maybe cruising during this time of unknowns and change may not be the perfect time. After all, it should be a risk vs reward balance, should it not? Also, by interacting with these masking violators and the resulting arguments that ensue…such as you laughing and them screaming…doesn’t that cause you to have more close contact with them. Isn’t that dangerous on your part? Maybe best to just avoid any close contact by retreating. Maybe your ‘I don’t play’ attitude is dangerous to your health. I don’t mean to accuse anyone of being confrontational…I know what it’s like because I sometimes get accused of being sarcastic. Like now.

My own anecdotal observation: I signed up at cruisewatch.com that supposedly checks prices. I've gotten 3 price drops in the last 2-3 months for 2 different cruises. They came proactively from my TA, including one that I didn't see myself on RC.com. I got no notifications from cruisewatch.com

That was Carnival's approach. Fewer ships but operating at 75-100% capacity. I prefer the reduced capacity approach. I didn't feel safe on Carnival.

I just received my back to back letter last night (night 4 of 7) explaining what I need to do on turnaround day, Sept 26. There was a QR code that I scanned and it opened a page where I entered my information and chose a time for the rapid test to be given on the day before, Sept 25, in the Conference Center on deck 3. All of the times were available and I chose 8:10-8:20am. Test results will be sent to my email. We have to meet at the theater on turnaround day at 8:15 for our wellness check. Once that is completed, we will be checked in and our new seaPass card will be issued along with the In-transit card. We are to bring our passports, vaccination card and the credit card we plan to use. I’m staying in the same room so I don’t need to pack up. My room will receive priority service. We have to leave the ship and go through customs. We will be escorted off and pass by the facial recognition scanners and then be escorted right back on. If we choose to venture out in Bayonne, we can use the In-transit card to bypass check-in, but cannot re-board until general boarding commences. I have no intention of leaving the ship. Consecutive Cruisers will be offered lunch in the MDR on deck 3 (V) from noon to 1pm. **On another note…it was addressed in another post but, any liquor purchased during the current cruise will be held until the end of our time on board.

Maybe it’s not a good time for you to cruise. RC allows you to cancel for a full refund (not FCCs) if you are not comfortable with current protocols or other passengers’ compliance issues. Perhaps you should go that route. BTW my comment was “snooty” which means entitled not “snotty” indicating rude. Still think it applies.

I hope you don't go grocery shopping. Customers there will send you into orbit.

This was my experience with Costco and also Expedia - Everything was fine until there was a problem - then it became a big problem. I switched to MEI for those reasons.

Generally I've given up on alert sites. Within each cabin type (balcony, suite, interior) are specific categories and I've yet to find an alert site that allows me to monitor my exact category such as a 4D balcony for my qualifiers. Often the alerts generated don't apply to me or my qualifiers. The alert sites tend to monitor for two guests with no other qualifiers like age, solo, state of residency, etc. Often price drops only appear based on those qualifiers. Some online booking engines will announce a fare drop of some trivial amount to trick these alert sites into advertising that booking engine. "Fare drop... $2." but when you look at it the actual rate is the same as what I've got. Alert sites also do not consider my willingness to move cabins or upgrade from what I've got to something else... if the price difference is within my idea of acceptable. A suite category may go on sale but my balcony didn't so it doesn't alert me but when a suite is now only $100 more. I'll take that upgrade every time. In the end I find that doing my own checks has paid much better dividends. Some TA's like MEI Travel have proprietary software that uses an API into the Royal backend reservation system so that gives them the ability to look at my exact details right down to my exact cabin and find price drops. Sometimes price drops are fleeting or brief. There may be only one of my category left and once it's sold it's harder to catch price drops. I can check and see nothing but when that other cabin is coming and going out of inventory an automated system like MEI's can catch the price drop in that instant. If I had checked 3 minutes earlier it was there but I miss it when checking manually. Be aware that historically Costco does not participate in the RoyalUp program. I've used them until I had an issue that caused a missed cruise and insurance claim. I had a really hard time getting them to invest any time into getting me the documentation required by my insurance company. It's all good until it isn't. It was a cruise booking after final payment 45 days away. Who needs a full service agency? What could go wrong? Doh!

How about ‘snootty’?

So, after doing a search online, it seems cases in Florida are declining. I hope this could be a turning point for cruising.

Oh my goodness you have just made BOTH our days! I screamed at Jarell! Queen Sabrina of Coastal Kitchen likes our videos! He met me with the same appropriate and justifiable blank stare that I’ve been getting for 6 years LOL Videos will be done….I am taking on A LOT between filming, blogging and hosting but I think I can! Thanks for the encouragement I will need it LOL

I am both excited and terrified to begin my first live Blog here of my first ever Star Class sailing and also….our wedding! I can only hope it is HALF as good as the amazing bloggers I read religiously here! 48 DAYS! Here we go! The Story- My husband and I (I will explain!) booked this cruise for our wedding 2 YEARS ago during a Black Friday sale at an amazing price! We both LOVE cruising…so much so that we have a YouTube channel called BoosCruize so it seemed natural that we would choose to tie the knot in a small ceremony on the high seas! So after much research we decided on the Star Loft Suite 1720 on Oasis Of The Seas! This suite had a HUGE rectangular balcony that could fit guests and also give us the ocean view we wanted….and a Genie to help us pull it all off! What could go wrong?!? Enter…COVID As you can imagine we basically needed a new pair of britches every other day for the last two years as things changed. It’s a good thing I buzz cut my head or I’d probably be bald and NOT by choice LOL A year later we weren’t even sure if this cruise would happen but we also KNEW we wanted to be married. So when a company came to us and asked to throw us a huge West Coast “David Tutera” style wedding in Hollywood that will be published for magazines we obviously said YES! We now have two bi-coastal weddings Lol It was amazingly gorgeous but nothing was our choice. It was all chosen for us….right down to our tuxes. We feel BEYOND blessed but it also wasn’t what we had in our head two years ago. So now here we are….our guest list of 50 has gone down to 12 due to covid complications. Are we upset? HECK NO! We completely understand and are going to have the time of our LIVES on a gorgeous ship surrounded by people who love us! We can’t wait! Who: We are an LA couple. Jarell is an international Flight attendant (yaasss benefits!) and I am an actor who just moved from NYC in time for a pandemic to close Hollywood Where: We are sailing on the Oasis Of The Seas out of Miami in the Star Loft Suite 1720 with stops at Coco Cay, St.Thomas, and St. Maarten When: We sail November 7th-14th, 2021 I think that covers most of the back story and introductions! So happy to meet you all and take you along with us on this very special journey that is over 2 years in the making! Can’t wait to see who our Genie will be! For good measure I have included a photo of the happy grooms from our West Coast Wedding!

So I went through the deck plans and found all of the different ADA cabins and wrote them down. I received the Royal Up email for my Dec. 19 Harmony sailing. I ended up calling C&A to inquire about the ADA impact on Royal Up. I was told that if you are in an ADA room they will keep you in an ADA room. I went ahead and bid on the Ultra Spacious Balcony. Fingers crossed this works, if it doesn't well I'll still have the Boardwalk Balcony.

Really, in our current circumstances, with the fate of cruising hanging on every sailing, you think the Captain is going to make his own decisions on how to apply Covid protocols? Because he wants to be the one hung out to DRY if something goes wrong on his watch?? What kind of koolaid are you drinking????

The best price alerts come from the Facebook groups I’m in. Seriously. Someone on my upcoming sailing just got a drop so I emailed @Sharlato check all my cruises, again, because prices are literally dropping every few days. I didn’t get a drop on that one but Sharla did tell me I could change my refundable to a non refundable and save $514.99. Through MEI, Sharla has saved my about $3300 on 3 cruises just since June. I’m also one of those who sees a lower price while perusing, then reminded I have a refundable deposit lol We’ve got some bucket list cruises coming up this year including 2 weeks in Europe and I’m glad I’ve got a contact that knows my booking and the history to be there should we run into issues.

Thank you (I mean....I'm the guy who cleans up our room before the steward comes in)

I tell so many people about this service during the course of a work day. It solves a lot of problems

I always do my own bookings online with RC. Then I monitor and service each of them, usually a dozen or so…price drops, cruise planner deals, better cabins for lesser prices. But it takes lots of time and effort. I use charts and pages of notes (or, as some in may family have so indelicately described…unreadable hieroglyphics) to keep track. Fortunately I have the time do do it. Whenever I have had a reason to call, I try first thing in the morning. It’s a little frustrating to have to hang on while going through all the recorded messages and phone prompts…push 1, push 4, etc. I wish there was just a way to bypass it all and get to an agent. The worst is getting through it all to the last message, “this call may be recorded or monitored for training purposes”, then hear one ring and then nothing! Disconnect and try all over again. However, I have never had a bad experience with an agent when I finally got through. But….if I didn’t have the time or the patience to do it…even for one reservation…then I would definitely use MEI and let them do all the grunge work. Plus a little OBC would be nice. Either way, good luck and happy cruising! Oh…and the best site I found for heads up on deals is this one. Lots of fellow cruisers sharing timely information and advice. Just sayin’!

This always makes me feel a bit guilty....we're booking bottom end to start with and hate to be a pita. The guilty feeling is on my end though...I've never had anything but stellar customer service. I suspect decades of being in customer service has made me uncomfortable being an actual customer.

Depends on the ship. Newer ships with more specialty restaurants will have a higher daily rate for the UDP compared to a ship with fewer specialty restaurants or places like Playmakers where UDP also works. On an older ship someone might see $24 per day while the newest ship or a ship with newer options might be $31 per day. It's not that $24 is a sale price rather it reflects the venues on board where you can leverage the UDP.

Definitely maybe. It depends. Ask first.

Sometimes there are great deals on Black Friday. But the best prices that I've ever found on excursions, including those on the private islands, have appeared randomly between advertised sales. Buy now and check frequently (I check my prices a few times a week at a minimum if I'm looking for a price drop on something I've already purchased). If things start to sell out the prices could go up instead of down. You can always cancel and rebook at the lower price if you find it. Don't wait and count on Black Friday.

Day 8 – Disembarkation and final thoughts Darn…no Starbucks delivery today. We went to Coastal Kitchen at 6:30am and told Romina we would be at the room ready at 7:30am. Everyone already was all packed, so after our final breakfast on the ship, we met back at the suite where Romina had a porter gather our bags and follow us off the ship. She had Martha and my dad drive their scooters to get off the ship. Romina was able to walk us up to the elevators that would take us to customs. Hugs were exchanged and she asked me to text her when we got home. When we got downstairs, we were met by another Star Class representative. Martha relinquished he scooter which another porter took back to the room. Our luggage was transferred to another porter who would take it all the way to our vehicles. We were led to facial recognition scanners and very quickly passed through to the parking garage. From the room to packing our cars and leaving was a little over 20 minutes. Remarkable…I love Star Class. Final Thoughts There was much anticipation and anxiety leading up to this trip. We were so relieved that we got to go. My family says that Star Class lived up to my hype and then some. I am pleased that we were able to share this with our friends and family. We were very pleased with Romina, she was different than Susan Flannery, our first Genie, but equally as good. She had 4 rooms to attend to on this cruise including our party of 6, but we never felt slighted in any way. Romina was good at anticipating our needs and was very good at responding to my pre-cruise emails. Cruising was different due to Covid-19, and masking in certain parts of the ship was mandatory. We had determined early on that if that was what we need to cruise, then so be it. For us it was really a minor inconvenience. Most of the areas we liked to spend on the ship were where we could take them off…Theaters, Restaurants, Solarium, Casino and of course our suite. Royal has done a fantastic job with the protocols they have in place. It was nice to have servers in Windjammer, drink stations, at the soft serve area on the pool deck etc., because…well, people will be people. Enough said. We felt very comfortable and safe on the ship. We were asked to bring documentation for our shore excursions in Cozumel and Costa Maya. Martha and I have another Star Class cruise on the Oasis in the Ultimate Panoramic Suite in April of 2022. Based on their experience here, the remainder of the family is seeking to possibly book Star Class as well…we may have created Star Class monsters. Feel free to ask any questions and I’ll do my best to answer. Bob aka drdestructo

Given the line for not having to wear a mask is 2, how did you know how old the child was? Frankly I am getting a rather snooty vibe from your post. Perhaps I am reading it wrong.

Don’t set your sights so low to reach my standards!. I’m 23 days out and might just start posting mine today or tomorrow. I’m getting itchy fingers!

I completely agree!!! I go where I believe I am safe. Unfortunately, not all people like to abide by the rules. Hence, I have to take matters into my own hands. I have since been staying in my cabin, enjoying my views, getting lots of work done on-line, and having room service. I go with the flow and adjust to my environment. Must be why I am a survivor, huh?!

Maritime law has NOTHING TO DO with the crew enforcing ships protocols and they most certainly do not have to wait until a passenger complains to do so.

You are RIGHT!!! LoL. I order groceries on-line and drive & park to pick up. They load into the car! I hope this service NEVER ends!!!

Don't feel guilty, it's part of it. Again, want you to have the best deal, and want to give the best service!

As the rules stand right now, yes that would be allowed.

$224 / 8 = $28 per day. For Symphony with Hooked and Playmakers that's not bad for 2021. In 2018 maybe that went on sale but post-restart I'm not seeing UDP discounts like before.

MEI for one! Just saying. Happy Cruising!

I actually knew the difference been snooty and snotty lol But IMHO you get what you get, when you want to be the mask police. I am not going to tell anyone nothing unless I am in a position of power. You are on vacation..... I also believe that if you are that concerned with your health, a social vacation like cruising isn't for you. You booked 6 B2B, you should have prepared for children who may or may not be human disease carriers to be around you. Staying in your room is a choice. But children 2 and under don't have to wear mask or test...also children carry the same risk not more when it comes to Covid. I don't understand.....if you are vax, wearing your mask and keeping yourself "clean" why be so worried? Breakthrough infections are rare. I feel like you went into this very negatively and your post is all about trying to paint the restart back as extremely flawed.

I did not laminate my card since I know laminating documents like birth certificates renders them useless. That with the potential for boosters led me to use a plastic sleeve that came with a lanyard from a past cruise group booking. As it turns out the CDC card fits perfectly in this plastic sleeve that was originally designed to carry an RF type SeaPass card that can't be punched. I generally remove my card from the sleeve when using to cruise but on one occasion I was told I could leave it in the plastic sleeve and they took photos of it like that. I don't know that I've seen a policy in writing that states anything about laminated or not. In general terms they aren't seeking ways to deny guests from boarding. Most often the people in cruise terminals who need to see it are 3rd party contractors who do work for many cruise lines and they are not police, lawyers, or doctors working a side job in a cruise terminal. They are regular folks like us who have received training from different cruise lines so sometimes they start to blend the rules. "What day is it? What cruise line is this?" sort of thing. That can lead to some inadvertent implementation of policies. Once when boarding a ship in LA the terminal announced the Princess loyalty tiers for boarding because that is 95% of what they were used to. That person probably has made that announcement a thousand times so they just said it out of habit. Imagine the confusion when Platinum was invited to board before Pinnacle, Diamond Plus, Diamond, Emerald, etc. Terminal contractors are human and make mistakes.

WAY off topic.....I never knew that! Thank you!

Based on the departure times for the itineraries above, Wonder of the seas is not only larger than Allure but also 30 minutes faster to complete a transatlantic transit.

The Royal App didn’t work during the sea trial. P C Load Letter error Engineers will be taking the ship back out to sea and test again soon.

Symphony Nov 27th?

Symphony was totally sick, you’ll love it.

It's more of an issue if they get the channel. Cruise ships have international television feeds, which often means events and sports in the U.S. are unavailable due to blackout rules. Certainly if they can get the channel with NASCAR on, they would be happy to change at least one of the TVs for you. But I think the coverage is the bigger issue than the bar. One alternative is to stream the event on an iPad while you watch at the bar. If your cable provider allows you to do so (or you have some streaming package like MLB.TV), you can stream it (internet permitting) at Playmakers.

I'm booked... can't wait!

65 days!!!!!!! Can't wait!

Thank you for your Symphony review. Very helpful as we are sailing on Symphony this Saturday! Hopefully capacity will still be less than 50%. We did a minimum Royal Up bid from a JS to a Star class suite but not optimistic we'll get it. JS will be fine. Our first time on an Oasis class ship and excited beyond description and happy to be cruising again.

So, no video of swabs up the nose?

It's so hard to keep up with RCB, FB, and CC. I did that before the shutdown, now my cruise social media game is lagging behind haha. They do design the rooms well to block out the noise. It is really interesting how quiet it is, and then you open the balcony door during Hiro, and wow, it is so loud. Then, you shut the door and can barely hear it again. Cruising really is a great way to make friends. So often, those we cruise with (passengers and crew alike) end up feeling like family by the end.

Day 7 – Coco Cay My wife and I are experienced cruisers, but we had never been to Coco Cay. Weather, tendering problems, and Covid all got in the way our eight previous attempts. Will the ninth time be the charm? We had a cabana booked at the Coco Beach Club. Romina asked what time we wanted to get off the ship and we said we’d like to take advantage of as much time on the island as possible. She arranged for a small tram to take us right off the ship to the Beach Club. We skipped breakfast today as we knew we would eat early. We entered the beach club were we where asked our name and we were escorted to our over the water cabana. When we booked the cruise, we received $300 on board credit. A few weeks later we booked the over the water cabana for the prevailing rate of $1699. About 8 months ago, my wife noticed a huge price dropped and we canceled and rebooked at $899. Minus our credit of $300 made it a no brainer for $100 per person which was less than some folks were paying for Beach Club admission alone. When we got to the cabana (#10), it was another tears of joy moment for my wife, as we finally made it Coco Cay. Our cabana attendants were Loxley and Thaddeus. They explained the amenities to us. Mike immediately took a turn down the slide, while my wife, sister and niece set up shop at the recliners in the sun. My dad and I chose to sit in the shaded area on the couches. We all enjoyed some beverages, and swimming in front of our cabana. It was a beautiful setting. At 10am we had another surprise for the group as Martha had purchased the Hot Air Balloon ride for her, Mike, Sandy and Dian. Dad and I would remain at the cabana. Loxley kept us informed that their ride was delayed due to high winds and would keep us posted. The restaurant did not open until 11am, but we ordered a variety of cold appetizers including hummus, and shrimp cocktails. At 10:30am, Loxley gave us an all clear for the balloon ride and off they went. My dad and I could see them a short time later as they went up. They really liked this surprise. After they came back Loxley and Thaddeus came to request our lunch order. They suggested we get a variety of everything on the menu to share. In addition we could order items from the Snack Shack, so Mozzarella Sticks and a cheeseburger were also ordered. The food was in a word, fantastic! The standouts were the filet, the grilled Bahamian lobster, the garlic prawns and the coconut crusted lobster sandwich. Stuffed from lunch, we all lounged at the cabana. At 1pm Mike and my sister went for a Wave Runner ride around the island while the rest of us continued to chill. Loxley brought a dessert sampler. Here the favorites were the chocolate chip cookies, the brownie and the tropical fruit sorbet. We went swimming one more time and allowed ourselves some time to dry off, while milking our time at the cabana for as long as possible. All aboard was 4:30pm and we left the cabana back to the ship shortly before 4pm. Once onboard, we all took leisurely showers. We had asked Romina to book dinner later today and we had a 6:30pm reservation in Chops. Yes…more beef for this family. Before we left the suite, we left some personalized thank you cards with extra tips for Derry and Putu. Romina joined in the restaurant briefly to verify our plans for disembarking. While there we presented her with a gift. The ladies noticed Romina always had a clutch purse and they always were very stylish. When we embarked my wife was having a conversation and Martha said she like purses. On one of their shopping trips, the ladies found a stylish Coach clutch purse that matched the Royal Genie colors perfectly. Martha presented her the purse with our personalized thank you and gratuity. In addition to ensuring my wife and dad had assistance getting on and off the ship in port, Romina was aware that Martha and I had celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary the week before this cruise. One night after the casino, we came back to find our bedroom in the loft covered with balloons, a Happy Anniversary sign and a few gifts for us from Romina. After dinner at 150 Central Park, Romina brought a huge cake for our anniversary too. We enjoyed having Romina as our Genie as she genuinely cared for our needs. We are pretty low maintenance and she kept asking is she could do more, but with this room and the amenities, she provided us with all that we needed and then some. We spent one last night in the casino, as “regulars” we were wished well by the dealers, pit crew and servers. This was not a late night as we were disembarking early. Next...Day 8 Disembarkation

Sorry but it makes absolutely no sense that the staff cannot ask someone to comply with mask protocols unless another passenger complains first. That’s ludicrous. You are not, nor is any passenger, the mask police.

NEW CRUISE VLOG I FINALLY GOT OFF THE SHIP! This was my first time getting off the ship since quarantine. Exploring CocoCay was incredible.