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After what seems like an eternity as Platinum, Sheryl and I really made out like bandits on our latest voyage on Allure. We were already going to profit from having a Junior Suite, with double points our 6 night cruise was to net us 12 points. However, because we satisfied the terms of the (sadly no longer happening) double points offer. (book by end september 2021, sail by end of march 2022 I think) that was doubled up to 24 points. The result was to pole vault us high into the Emerald level. We now have 73 points. We have a 7 nighter in October on Serenade, and that I believe will take us to Diamond at long last. So, has anyone else managed to benefit from the double points promotion ? It would be interesting to see some positive outcomes

Yep, my Excitement Level is at it's peak. It's only 30 days now until my Fun Meter starts to wave back and forth. Woke up this morning, turned on this electronic addiction device and found that my TA emailed me some documents for info purposes. So, I logged into royalcaribbean.com and my luggage tags are ready to print. Isn't it funny how everything happens, at least to me, in little milestones. I'm so old, I don't like to wish time away/would go faster, so I don't like countdowns. But, going on a cruise, especially on RCCL, is one countdown after another. Now, I'm counting down in hopes of getting the email from our Genie. Which is actually an unknown day/date. Then the COVID pre-cruise test, then the flight to Seattle, then boarding/embarkation day. No, I'm not excited, not much, eh! It's been far too damn long since I've cruised. I do keep a positive attitude that everything will be as I'd hope it will be. My old Army buddy and his wife are traveling with us, like they do on most other vacations, we are like brother and sister, but this is their first time on Royal. We've really really built up Royal and Star Class to then. I can't, however, help to have concerns in the back of my mind that things won't be as I remember them, pre-COVID. But, we'll see.

From Gold to Diamond in less than a year. Traveling solo, and a jr. suite in June to boost me into diamond range. Not a 'status' kind of person, but I won't say no to those free drinks added to my account each day.

Yes! Made out like a bandit! I cruise solo in a suite and usually get 3 points…1 per night, 1 per solo, 1 per suite….and with the double point promotion I made 6 points each night. Vaulted from 292 points to 860 points between September and now. Then again, I’m a Cruisaholic who can’t stand being on dry land!

Only taking one double points cruise, but it's doing its most important job. Starting at 66 points, so need 14 for Diamond. Wife wanted to limit the spending on a purely points-motivated trip, so 4 nights on Adventure out of Cape Liberty (live less than an hour away) to Canada. Booked interior solo. 4 nights + 1 extra point for solo doubled up gets me 16 points. And thanks to price drops, moved myself up to an aft balcony -- which my folks graciously decided to make the upgrade cost a birthday present. Interior was costing me under $500 all in solo. With the Diamond drink vouchers, my wife and I will forego the DBP on our 9-nighter on Oasis next summer. So the <$500 saves us from the >$1000 in drinks next year. Mission accomplished.

What in-cabin PA system volume controls?

Another option here is to take only screw top bottles. Shock, horror, the purists will be irked. However, it does mean you dont need a corkscrew and that you can re-seal the bottle without an issue. A fun thing about discovering wine with screw top bottles, is doing the research to find which you prefer to take with you.

Magnetic hooks! Lots of metal wall space in the cabin, so these hooks are lifesavers for keeping everyone organized and even for hanging wet bathing suits. Link below for ones we've bought before, but there are tons of options on Amazon https://smile.amazon.com/Magnetic-Ｍaximum-Neodymium-Corrosion-Protection/dp/B0787Q54M1/ref=sr_1_3?crid=AZ044N7BHDVL&keywords=magnet+hooks+for+cruise+cabin&qid=1649861645&sprefix=magnet+hooks%2Caps%2C142&sr=8-3

First and foremost I would suggest purchasing a few packs of packing cubes. Not only do they make your luggage look organized but you can keep your items in the cubes during your cruise…just place them in the drawers or closet shelves. I use the larger ones for my “need to hang up” clothing and since they will be empty, I begin to reload them with the “dirty or already wore enough” clothes. Makes packing at the end of the cruise a breeze as well. You can purchase these on Amazon. I like the Veken 6pack of cubes. https://www.amazon.com/Veken-Packing-Luggage-Organizers-Laundry/dp/B07P4MS29B/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=2RDS8MENN7R0Z&keywords=packing+cubes+veken&qid=1649862156&sprefix=packing+cubes+veken%2Caps%2C83&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEyNEpUNzJGRlRLNDdRJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNjU1NDk2NU5BTkdMVldIWlBOJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTA4MjE0MzYyT0pOT1RKNUhFUjc4JndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ== Must have items: Sunscreen…and lip protection! Clips for the towels on the pool or beach chairs. Another very inexpensive purchase from Amazon!

This is what prompted us to book a short cruise to get the extra point before Europe......well...that and leaving Maine in February is always nice.

We were on track to get to Diamond Plus in 2026. With double points and some fortuitous accounting on the home front, we're on track to get to D+ in July of this year.

Yes, I have been on 3 post covid cruises - all in suites at 28 points each (7 day cruises) for a total of 84 points. Went from Gold to Diamond.

I have no idea who the band is...but I like bringing people happy thoughts!

Me too! If I don’t have the time, or documents handy, I’ll quickly hit check in…pick my arrival time…then exit check in. It saves my choice and I can then go back in and finish later.

Yeah, my comment was a joke because they haven't worked since the early 2000s.

The Canadian government has adjusted the testing requirement for cruises. They have changed the antigen test to 2 days before boarding to line up with the cruise lines requirements.

I've had some really hot bloodies before. I was internally reminded of this later in the day.

I think we have been incredibly fortunate with the Double Points offers. It was an incredibly astute move by Royal to offer it. I wish more had been as fortunate.

Matt (I think) has said, it's better to pay attention to the dollar amount than the certain percentages.

Just cruise every other week!

Very similar yes. We did our last cruise as Platinum, the next one as Emerald, and the one I havent booked yet as Diamonds. In and of itself, its not the most important thing in the world. But we really do want to feel we have achieved something out of the debacle that was the last 2 years. Besides, its a bit of harmless fun. I doubt we will make Diamond + till I am well into my dotage though.

Our cruise last year got us to 72 points and after our Sept 22 cruise and the double points we will finally be at diamond. I'm sure we would be close to Diamond+ if not there had we not taken 2 breaks 5 years and 3 years. I know....who takes breaks like that?? Still scratching my head over that. lol

We will be Diamond Plus after our October cruise. Will have gone from 83 points to 175. 4 cruises total but ended up costing us over $20k lol. Alaska will be the big one (40 points) with our 12 night Holy Land (24 points) adding to the count. 2 regular old eastern Caribbean in a balcony pulled up the rear. (28 points)

Oh absolutely! The mom and I were creeping along with a plan to earn 14 points per year (7-nighters + suites). It wasn't nothing but we were a good 3-4 years away from hitting Diamond before the panini. Then...double points hit and we pole vaulted from middle Platinum to the end stretch of Emerald in one 8-nighter GS. Now, we're scheduled for Allure this fall which will give us another 32 points each and we'll be Diamond in 5 total cruises! I don't know what we're gonna do when we have to go back to slogging our way up the ladder to get to Diamond+

I was 11 points shy of diamond when I booked my double points trip for March odyssey cruise, but wanted to used my diamond perks for it. So I found a cheap 6 day balcony in November double points to get me to 81 points. Then got to fully enjoy my 8 day cruise in March with all the vouchers drinks. Then got 32 points for that cruise. So now I’m 4 cruises from diamond plus. One will be on Harmony in December.

I’m so sorry…I’ll try harder!

Royal adjusts pricing of many items based on sales trends and historical data on a per cruise basis. One week suddenly a beverage package may decrease but it only applies to a particular sail date and a specific ship. A shore excursion price may drop one day until enough people buy it at the lower price then the price goes back up. Royal has always done a lot of data mining and data analytics to influence pricing. Leave no dollar on the table. It seems to work for them. Their reported earnings from these types of purchases have consistently yielded better performance compared to similar cruise lines that have more fixed pricing. It can work out in your favor if you watch and check prices frequently. It drives some guests crazy because they don't want to bother looking for the best deal. I kinda like it because I've saved a lot of money over time putting the effort into checking prices in the cruise planner often.

So, correction for US sailings it was extended to all bookings sailing by Dec 2022 if booked before that Sept 30th, 2021, deadline. I wasn't loyal to RCG yet so I started with 4points, 5 cruises later I am at 104pt and will make D+ by Jan 2023. 3/5 were in suites where I was getting between 4-6 point per night and the rest was solo. I have a B2B, solo, in Sept and 2 sailings in Nov that were booked under the double points promotion. So I will hit D+ during my Jan 15th Oasis sailing. I personally never thought I would be Diamond, let alone make it to D+ and I am happy just to make it as pinnacle isn't even in my stratosphere.

Before COVID, we were at 112 points. October 2021 had a 6-night sailing in Jr Suite (24 pts); April 2022 upcoming 4-night sailing (just 4 points, booked after the double points deadline); June 2022 7-night in balcony (14 points; lifted and shifted from 2020, so should still get double points); November 2022 8-night in Grand Suite (32 points; booked during double points promo window) Based on my math, we'll hit D+ in November!

Lots of sunscreen! Our family of five blew through two full bottles of spray on sunscreen and when my husband lost our only bottle of lotion it cost 22 dollars on board to get more! And yes, snacks for the room!

Multi USB charger port-depending on the ship it might not have USB outlet....you'll need it to charge your phones Portable battery bank/cord-for when you want to lay in bed and charge your phone, not all cabins have outlets near the bed Pool float-I have a favorite for home-I bring it to the beach at CoCoCay (I don't care for the floating mats they rent), I also bring it to any other beach I go to. I inflate/deflate at the beach If no drink packages-carry on with 2 bottles of wine and 12 bottles of water-allowed per stateroom-save some money and you can use the bag for souvenirs or your last nights clothes when packing to disembark! Small travel games-did this with my 9 year old niece-we played yahtzee, boggle, uno at the table while we waited on dinner service......on this particular cruise we were on it took 2 hours for service. We played until appetizers arrived You can pack clothes/outfits into ziploc bags.....leave half in the luggage in the closet (or if it fits, under the bed) and then swap out dirty for the clean zip loc clothes Sunblock Sea Sick Pills just in case Other medicines you think you won't need, but just might! If your kids are the type to misplace towels (which will cost you $25 per towel if its not turned in) then some thin pool towels (thin to dry quicker) A bag that serves as your beach bag and can also hold your souvenirs for when your trip is over

Double points has definitely helped us climb the ladder. After our cruise on Liberty in Aug/Sept of this year, we will be at 79 points. Because of this, we decided to book a short 4-nighter in early 2023 to hit Diamond before our Europe cruise in October.....then we decided to add the 3-night itinerary prior to make it a full 7 days (by doing a back to back). Other than booking the short one due to being at 79 points, we haven't been chasing status. Not bad for people who never cruised until Jan 2019.

If all goes as planned (no Covid, they cancel, any other unforseen circumstances), we'll collect 132 points by the end of the year.

Well, maybe if he would stay off the cruise ships he would be able to get something done......

As far as I know, there's no way for you to upload that before check in time. If you have the RC app on your phone, you can check in on the app at 1201am. You can check in, pick your time and then go back in later and upload your documents. That's what I did myself when I checked in for our cruise. Woke up, hit check in for me and hubby, picked our check in time and then finished it up when I was awake. Hope that helps!

I was on that sailing. We heard the alpha, but did not notice the ships movement. We did witness the guy that security was after. We had been sitting with our luggage at the schooner bar near the Royal theater side. We were the first groups to go down to line up to get off the ship. Line never moved, so we sat on stools to wait. About a hour later, a man came sprinting thru the bar and ran down the stairs with security officers running after him. A guest ran down the stairs and tackled him at the bottom of the stairs along with security. Guy was handcuffed and taken away. A minute later, they had the passenger that tackled him go with them. Customs officer went to where they were holding the guy. When the guy that tackled him came back, he told us the guy had a warrant out on him. Security guy came by and told us we would be cleared to exit the ship now. I do not understand why they didn’t arrest the guy when he tries to exit the ship, instead of inconveniencing thousands of passengers. After that it still took another hour to get off the ship, resulting in us missing our 11:25 flight home. Before we headed down with our luggage, they kept paging the same guy to go to guest services over and over again. The captain even made the announcement a few times. Don’t know if this was the guy they were looking for.

We were booked on the same cruise. While disappointed we are thankfully somewhat flexible so we moved to the Sept 23 sailing and took the extra obc

Ditto! Tommy James plays the Stadium Theatre almost annually. He still has very good sounding vocals and his guitar playing is awesome! Sorry @CrimsonCruiser!

We staying in NYC for a whole week before heading to the ship, that’s why we booked the hotel in Times Square; I might move my last night there from that hotel to Newark airport hotel Matt, that’s exactly the info I needed. Thank you so much, glad to be here.

Ha I had not thought of that! Also, those little cannister showers are a challenge. I'm not a fan of body wash so I bring a bar of soap in with me and simply hope I don't drop it mid-lather.... I'd have to get out of the shower completely to be able to pick it up again.

Underated nuggett burried in your post lol Enjoy your cruise!

For bourbon I'll order either Maker's or Buffalo Trace

Only thought I would have on that is that Deck 8 gives you direct access to Central Park. Could be nice to go to the bars or restaurants there without having to climb up or down any stairs, not that going up/down 1 flight from Deck 9 is that much of a hassle anyway.

Voyager and Freedom class have the in-cabin volume controls. They even work on some of them. The catch is they play background music when there are no announcements so if you aren't into their music choices the volume will remain off.

For those of you who will need to locate a test site in Rome or Civitavecchia, this website shows pharmacies that currently offer testing: https://www.salutelazio.it/elenco-farmacie-che-eseguono-tamponi-antigenici-rapidi Simply zoom in and try and locate some that are close to wherever you're staying. For anyone staying at the airport (e.g. the Hilton), there is testing available at the airport, although they do give priority to departing passengers over arriving ones. https://www.adr.it/web/aeroporti-di-roma-en/test-areas-at-the-airport

No and No. Which is why the color code program is a useless metric.

Vanuatu to open its boarders in July. Things are looking positive. https://www.dailypost.vu/coronavirus_updates/border-to-reopen-in-july/article_88e3166b-eba0-5570-ace0-d66ef6d2cf3a.html?utm_source=SPTO&utm_campaign=f33d5e9fd7-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2022_04_13_01_06&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_a52e4ef901-f33d5e9fd7-1401157377

It seems to me that these are 1st world problems coming home to roost. If you have the money to cruise frequently and are complaining about RCL, why not try a more luxurious line? I never got the impression that cruising on RCL was for the elite. As a family that cooks and cleans up after our meals, cuts our own grass, keeps our own house and raised our children, cruising is a ton of fun. We also visit the national parks and sleep in tents, so again cruising is the lap of luxury. Post pandemic peoples manners have really regressed, too much time in a vacuum or echo chamber hasn't been healthy. Appreciate everyday as the gift it is, you never know when the ride is over. This site is overwhelmingly filled with great positive and generous people. THANK YOU ALL!

My wife and I have been cruising since we were married in 1983 and we scraped up enough money to take an Anniversary Cruise on Song of Norway. We had a cabin on Deck B and was awestruck by literally everything about cruising. As the years went by we were fortunate enough to be able to afford many more cruises (we could never afford the new loft suites with a Genie) and enjoyed every one. Cruising, like people, change over time and we found ourselves adapting to these changes. We still enjoy cruising and interacting with other cruisers and crew members. I now find it a bit harder to cruise as we have in the past but that is because of my health and nothing to do with experiences onboard any ship. Luck holding out, I plan to take a few more cruises in my lifetime. Here's to many more and may we continue to enjoy!