Leaderboard

The only thing I look forward to on disembarkation day is walking by the “Table of Shame”. For those of you who have not seen it or do not know what it is, the table of shame is usually one of the last things you pass before picking up your luggage. What looks like a few port employees having the worlds worst yard sale is really just the place for you to pickup anything that was confiscated from you on embarkation day. I love to look at what is there and would love to see if we could get members of this group to snap photos and post them here for us all to enjoy. We sailed Odyssey on the NYE cruise and the table of shame was top-notch. I saw a full size stand up fan, the kind with the round base that oscillates, a space heater and several irons. I’m kicking myself for not snapping a photo to kick this thread off properly.

I am shocked that Royal Caribbean has incongruent policies between ships and their websites.

Congratulate me! I’ve made it to Pinnacle! Unfortunately, it’s on these boards and not on Royal Caribbean ships.

We are embarking on the Odyssey on Feb 26th. Today is 45 days out. I stayed up last night and at 12:02 am this morning, I logged into the Royal app and got a 10:30 am check in time for the Feb 26th. Yesterday afternoon, Tuesday, I ordered the at home test kits from the RC site and was notified today by email they will be delivered this coming Friday. So far so good! Got the fingers crossed that Royal doesn't cancel this cruise.

Have you thought about weather conditions? Snow could REALLY screw up yours best plans out of DC on your embarkation day, regardless of your check in time. If it were me, I would take the flight that got me into your port around midnight, check into a hotel with a beach, get a good night sleep, enjoy the beach and then head off to your cruise ship. That way you will be well rested, stress free (hopefully) and pre-sun screened before boarding. Best wishes and hope it all works out for the best!

99% chance you'll have no problems, so it just depends on your tolerance for risk and if you're willing to take that 1% chance.

Hi all, we are on Day 3 and at port in Grenada. We wanted to give a brief update. Royal Caribbean was terrific in the boarding process. All went smooth with the pre-COVID testing. Everyone on the ship is wearing masks. No complaints from anyone. We asked about number of passengers. The crew was told there had been 800 people booked for the cruise. The week prior to departure, there were numerous cancellations. Passengers actually on the ship is around 500. Lady G can hold about 2,000 passengers. It feels surreal with only 1/4 of the occupancy. I kind of like it. Our lowest possible bid won the room upgrade to a balcony room. We feel sorry for the staff. Their pay is the tips. They are taking a huge hit in pay. Every Royal Caribbean employee has expressed how thankful they are that we are here cruising during this time. The itinerary changed a couple of times before boarding. The 1st day on the ship, we saw the itinerary had changed again by removing Columbia as a port. For this 14 day cruise it is not terrible to drop a port day. We only have 4 days at-sea for a 14 day cruise. We are glad we did not let our fears get the best of us and cancel our reservations. The water is warm, come on in.

From 2019

I will go show this to guest services.

We use to toss ours also but we have learned our local Senior Living Center will accept them and hand them out as prizes for Bingo...Supposedly its a big hit with the Seniors.

And most of that 30 fold is crew that are now forced to quarantine, many with no symptoms, for 10 days since the CDC lumps cruise ships in with nursing homes.

You guys are the best! Thanks

On January 9th, Chris posted on Twitter that he has two more weeks left on Odyssey. The next day he posted that after 7 months onboard, he NEVER got Covid.

I tried to use credits last year for air2sea going to Nassau and they wouldn't allow it. Even using my AA credits the day, before AA changed my flights and at that time they were cancelling flights. I'd fly in the day before and get a hotel close to the airport and get some sleep before the cruise. With all the cancellations lately I'd be a nervous wreck.

Cup Noodles would be very much appreciated.

It depends. Flying nonstop does make it less problematic. Are there later flights on your chosen airline that will get you to Orlando in time if your flight cancels? Where does the plane come from for your flight — does it overnight in DC so you’re more likely to depart on time-ish, or does it fly in that morning? How’s the fog in DC this time of year? I used to be pretty blasé about flights, but when a 90 minute delay made us the Very Last People on our Med cruise back in the day it turned me into a “day before” convert. Personally I’d take the late night flight and just get a hotel right at the airport that night.

I’ve no idea if it’s slow sales or Omicron. I asked at Diamond Club and again at Guest Services as to passenger count, “about1600” and “1602” respectively. I see all crew in the dining room snd next cruise wearing N95 with their regular Royal mask over it. I honestly didn’t note/look at other venues. I imagine the Royal mask is because it looks nicer than the N95. They must be awfully hot in those masks. at the comedian last night he asked how many were each C&A level and there were only 2 Diamond and Diamond plus, one pinnacle the rest were between gold, emerald, platinum. A WHOLE BUNCH OF FIRST TIME CRUISERS!!-interesting. pool still had vacant loungers at 9:30, solarium was empty until about 11-even then still seats to be found. Mind you cloudy and chance of rain -and it did later! casino has a “decent crowd” my game of choice is 3 card poker, no seats at the one table, 4 seats open at the other. No smoking at all. 2of 6 poker slots not working , looks like a lot of other machines not working (not purposely put out of service because there are plenty of side by side machines!) 5 at most in elevators unless all of the same party than more allowed. People seem mindful of this. drinks are great, food is hot, life is good on the ship!

Yes - there have been lots of Royal Up bid win stories with the reduced capacity here. I went from a GTY Balcony to a Junior Suite for a bit over the minimum bid, but there are even some stories here of people winning Star Class bids and getting all of the benefits of that experience.

My upgrade from an Ocean View to a Spacious Balcony was accepted at minimum bid.

Yep, many topics cover this subject. I have gotten all 4 Royal Ups in the last 2 months with $5 over minimum bid. interior to spacious balcony.

Seriously! Give me a corn tortilla and some salsa and I can put together a bomb taco with what's available in the Windjammer. It is a shock to the system traveling outside of Texas that breakfast tacos aren't available. They are my quick go to for breakfast. Breakfast burritos are not the same... I don't want a flour tortilla twice the size of my head!

You should be able to check in everyone that's on your reservation.

If you want to maintain connecting cabins, do not partake in RoyalUp. They will treat each cabin individually in the RoyalUp and you can't guarantee they will be located near each other.

So what's the punishment for not opting into a "voluntary" agreement? There's no technical benefit to opting into the voluntary CSO, even if you still follow the CSO. But if you don't, will the CDC hold it against you? And gee, thanks, moving the case threshold from 1 in 1000 to 3 in 1000. Sorry, that's an absolute joke. Some good things though. Self-service food stations are allowed again. Granted we know they'll keep many as manned stations, but hopefully I don't have to ask someone to pick up a piece of pre-plated cake or a banana for me. Changes to quarantine cabin rules. I wonder if they'll let people quarantine in their booked cabins now. I just hope they relax Adventure Ocean rules and let it be fun again.

You mean if I have 1 penny and I got 30x more than I already have, that 30 cents still isn't a lot of money?

And it's a misleading stat. There were so few cases on ships pre-Omicron, so the number sounds worse than it it is.

I think the worst is vendors are preprinting their labels and they're getting blown up with orders and they aren't actually having the stock. So then what's really happening is FedEx/UPS isn't it even the one to blame. Had this issue with my tests and then with stuff I was ordering from Target. I think the most important tip is order your tests early!

Thanks @WAAAYTOOO I honestly think S2S are rare in these times and the crew might not be familiar. I'm putting good juju out that things work how they should.

Thanks for the info! I have emailed MEI travel to see what they say first and if that fails, it's on the phone I go to Royal to try switch it! I'll listen to @Matt going forward, use a TA!

My opinion for several years now: FedEx is THE WORST delivery company out there!

The table was outside the terminal down by where ride shares pick up when we got off Oasis on 12/26. I looked over as we were waiting on our Lyft driver, but didn't walk over to "peruse the goods" so to speak. I did see from where I was standing a full size iron and a fan on the table. DW, the porter, and I were all laughing at what people think they can bring onboard.

I want to exemplify how the media harps on the minor details and runs with it, while ignoring the real story. Here is everything the CDC Director said after being asked by Senator Murkowski about the CSO So what does CNBC write about? The one sentence in the middle of all the praise for the cruise industry: CDC director says Covid cases on cruise ships surged 30-fold in two weeks

It never hurts to ask. That rule can be bent

You can, but only if it's within 30 days of when you first booked. Also, this is true for the US, not sure if it applies if you are outside the US. It used to be 60 days, but that has since changed. (I found this out the hard way; I found out about being able to transfer to a TA 32 days after I booked my cruise, so I just missed the window).

Great illustration of the guarantee that Air2Sea will get you to the ship, but there's no assurance it won't be a stressful process in doing so.

Air2Sea put us on Bahamas Air same day, I thought okay they say it's fine and its 50 minutes in the summer! NO, don't do it. How bad could a non stop from Orlando to Bahamas be? BAD! Come in at midnight the evening before. Especially with the cold weather right now and everything else, including air crew shortages. Our 50 minute flight turned into a 5 hour ordeal, long story short we were the last people on board, and if not for Air2Sea I'm not sure they would have waited because at that time once we landed we had to still check in and test at the hotel before we were allowed to board. I wouldn't wish that out of control sinking feeling on anyone. Heed our advice get there as soon as you can. Have a great sailing!

Don't think we've every seen that available before. No wonder some people are so rude sometimes. They bought the package.

Yes, that is my understanding. I believe wine must be in a carry on. We just boarded a cruise today, 2 bottles of wine per carry on and no one asked anything. (We are 3 cabins) they don’t ask which bag goes to which stateroom.

Given how unpredictable commercial air travel is these days, flying in the day of a cruise is playing with fire. At the very least I'd tell anyone to fly in no later than the night before.

Brian, We did this a few years ago, which was not an excursion. Booked it directly with the Random Wind folks. A lot of fun and scenic. Here's the link:Sailing Charter in St Maarten | Random Wind Charters Best wishes!

Yes, they should get the extra point per night for going solo.

All they really need to do is add some tortillas and a few condiments to the breakfast bar at windjammer. breakfast tacos are everywhere here in Texas and it amazes me that they are not available throughout the US. They taste great, are easy to make, and easy to eat on the run.

On yesterday China's Civil Aviation Authority order both US and Chinese carrier to temporarily cancel all flights (which were limited to begin with) to China do to Omicron. While that is interesting that isn't the real news that caught my attention. What caught my attention is when the China's Civil Aviation Authority stated they do not expect any recovery in China's travel industry until 2023 (no that is not a mistake they said 2023) at the earliest. Airlines may be allowed to resume their limited schedule at some point in late January or early February but some airlines have responded to this order by cancelling all flights to/from the US to China through mid-February. Given the immense restrictions China intends to keep place on all sectors of the travel industry this move by Royal does not surprise me. Get Spectrum out of China cancel those itineraries and launch Spectrum from Singapore. It is unfortunate for the Chinese market and Royal's loyal customers in China but at this point in January of 2022 I get the feeling it will take years (perhaps 3-5 years) for the Chinese cruise industry to recover and approach anything near where they were in 2019 and that is if they open and relax travel restriction in China in 2023.

You think that was happy; just wait till you get your negative test result!

No need to book entertainment. They are only having 1 main show per night at 9:30 pm. This allows both meal times to finish before the show. The main theater has only been about 1/2 full. It makes it a little more difficult for the entertainers to energize the crowd. Be sure to have your vaccine & booster shots current and also have a RT (real time) PCR test done within 3 days of arriving to Barbados. With the negative test results, it was simple to enter the country. People who arrived without having been tested had to test at the airport before passing through customs. The only pandemic hassles are the masks & excursion rules. Excursion rules: some ports only allow disembarking/tours through Royal Caribbean (ex. St. Vincent’s), other ports allow the tours to be booked through local excursion companies if they are government authorized (ex. Grenada). We booked an ATV tour for Grenada through TripAdvisor. The tour company sent us a copy of their government authorization. The islands are keeping tourists away from their general population. You can expect to see the islands from vans, sailboats, atvs, & jeeps. The only shopping so far has been inside the port area. We have only been to 2 ports so far. We will see if any ports allow us to walk around in the city. Even if you do not see the Royal Up offer email, be sure to find the Royal Up section on the Royal Caribbean website. This is the easiest time to qualify for a nicer room with very little additional cost.

This is a crew member that post great info

Wonder if Royal didn't remove it from the FAQ: https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/can-i-book-back-to-back-cruises-at-this-time Nothing in the FAQ gives me the impression it is on consecutive cruises on the same ship.

Similar happened with our excursion to the rainforest at the beginning of February. It was cancelled a couple weeks ago but other excursions in Old San Juan are still available - I suspect it's related to the increase in cases but not necessarily any indicator that we'll still be turned away at that point. Everything is still speculation.

A rare wise move by the CDC.