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Sorry you had a bad experience. I work at a Walgreens that provides PCR testing though labcorp and the rapid ID now NAAT test. There was a computer glitch a week or so a go when automated emails were not being sent correctly. Like the previous poster said, if you ever take a rapid test at a pharmacy and they tell you you should receive your results in 2 hours and you don't get them in the time frame, call them. They can attempt to resend or they can be printed at any store and picked up. The ID now testing machine sends the emails automatically once it is completed. So as long as the sample is run though the machine there should be a result. The Labcop PCR tests all depended on the lab, which is usually in a different state (Virginia flies their tests to NC) . I would never recommend getting one, unless required. They take so long and the pharmacy has no say in when you get your results back, they are just a collection site. The issues that we usually run into at our pharmacy are email addresses not entered in correctly or names or dates of birth are not correct and people signing up for PCR tests and they need their results in a time frame that may not occur.

Many people including myself prefer the new approach of any drink, at any bar, at any time of day, including the private destinations. The nightly happy hour event had to change. It wasn't scalable with the growing number of Diamonds and during a pandemic it is a super spreader event. Yes, the virus is still with us and impacting cruising. Personally I love the new approach. Diamond is not being cancelled. It is still one of the best loyalty levels on any cruise line. The any time, any drink four voucher drinks made it even better. If you have grown weary there is nothing wrong sailing with other lines. NCL doesn't provide a nightly open bar for loyalty tiers. Carnival doesn't provide a nightly open bar for loyalty tiers. MSC doesn't provide a nightly open bar for loyalty tiers. Despite that if the grass is greener somewhere else for you, by all means go there. It's always good to try something different if for no reason than to remind yourself why Royal is still the best.

Well, I get it now. We finally were able to stay in a Crown Loft Suite and no idea how were going to go back now. It truly is something else. Every day we learn more and more benefits of our CLS-- looks like we'll have to do it again

Day five of the land tour - Day one of the cruise! So far, breakfast buffets at the hotels have been what you would expect from the free breakfasts at a Hilton - scrambled eggs, sausage/bacon, pastry, pancakes/french toast, and fruit. Today's buffet at the Alyeska Resort was really good though - smoked salmon, reindeer sausage, lingonberry jam, grilled pineapple, vegetable frittata, and a few other items that really made it step above what has been offered so far. DH started talking about "next time we come up here". Which was a far cry from his previous attitude of "this will be a once in a lifetime trip". After being on someone else's schedule for 5 days and seeing all the wasted time of being in a group of 40 (it takes a good 20-30 minutes just to load or unload the bus for example), we have decided we will do a future pre-cruise land trip on our own. We can spend a couple nights in a few towns so we feel we have time to get a feel for the local culture and not go from hotel to bus to planned activity. Rinse. Repeat. We've already started planning possibilities. We would stay at the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge and the Alyeska Resort again, but we would definitely not stay at Denali Park Lodge again. Maybe fly into Fairbanks next time. We'll see; no date has been set on this future trip. Anyway, we got downstairs a few minutes before we were supposed to meet, and we had a bit of a wait which made us a little nervous after yesterday's delay. We boarded our bus about 10:30 leaving all our luggage sitting on the curb of the hotel. A truck picks up the luggage from all the cruise tours and takes it directly to the ship at this point. We made it to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, an included excursion, about 11am. The center is a sanctuary for injured or orphaned animals. We saw wood bison, musk ox, deer, elk, caribou (reindeer), moose, coyotes, wolves, and a couple other critters. We were on a schedule and were only given an hour at this stop, so we missed a few things. I personally think the best parts were the bears. Now everyone had seen one, and the kids (and DH) could stop teasing me.

The four use any time for whatever you want drink vouchers per day is worth far more than the limited-selection happy hour drinks ever were.

4 days out from departure to London.... With the stress of wrapping up the school year and Grade 8 Graduation (both planning one for my class and celebrating my own daughter's) behind us, the focus is now on this trip. We have not packed a thing. I will likely spend the next few days doing that. I am not going to deny that I am most definitely stressed. Between the talk and news all over the place of flight cancellations, lost baggage (I still am traumatized from the March Break experience), LHR being a complete mess and long lines, rising covid rates in the UK, and the need to test on Wednesday while there, I feel like we still have a lot of obstacles before @GregD, The Boss, Hubby, and I can toast to tequila at sail away. This particular sailing (we have done several since the restart) I feel the most stress. Hubby is saying that there is too much beyond our control here and we need to just roll with whatever happens. If we get covid over the next week, at least we will get a good vacation in London, England out of it. I am trying to focus hard on the positives. There is only one non-stop flight leaving out of DTW-LHR on July 3rd and we are on it. So no connections and hopefully they won't cancel it since it's the only non-stop that day. The flight is pretty much full. Not sure what positives we can look at for the baggage. At the moment, we are trying to decide how early we need to get to DTW on July 3rd. Our flight is scheduled to depart at 6:50pm. I am getting stressed just typing all this out lol so I think the plan is to binge watch Obi Wan Kenobi tonight (it's been on the back burner due to craziness at work and Stanley Cup Playoffs) and worry about the trip some more tomorrow.

Just venting about a minor irritation. I know there are other sites that let you narrow down your exact travel window, but I'd prefer to do it on RC's official website. I actually find the whole "search for a cruise" process really clunky and frustrating on RC's site (I know, I know, Royal IT...). What if I'm considering different room types? Go back and start over. What if I'm considering 1 vs 2 rooms. Go back and start over. Why do I often have to click twice on the page where you choose the floor for your room (once for floor and then "select")? And why can't the number of days selection be part of the other choices? Do many people really just choose a 3-5 day cruise with no other considerations? Ugh.

Officially, no. This is an area where tipping comes into play

I keep saying everything will go according to plan, though to say I’m not stressed about it too would be a lie. I keep monitoring the flights we are taking since the schedule is the same for the next few weeks, and they have all been leaving on time, or within 20 minutes of the scheduled departure. @Lovetocruise2002, while I know it’s not Delta (that’s your typical airline of choice, right?) if you do encounter issues, and you can get to Philadelphia, American has three direct flights to LHR on Sunday. I would say for your flight arrive at least 3hrs early, if not even earlier. I feel we do have a good omen for our sail away tequila shots…We won a bottle of tequila at a fundraiser raffle today, so I think that means it’s meant to be!

We all piled back onto the bus to go the hour and a half to our last included excursion of the land tour, the Alaska Sea Life Center. We saw dall sheep along the way on the mountains next to the road, but no pictures. The Sea Life Center is at the far end of Seward, and as we drove though, we caught a glimpse of how our day would end. A few on the bus wanted to just be dropped off, but we continued on to the aquarium as planned. We have a pretty big aquarium close to home, so this one felt a little small, but they had a long bank of touch tanks, puffins, seals, a sea lion, an octopus, and lunch...I mean a red king crab. We were fortunate that our visit happened to be at feeding time for the sea lion. You could tell he knew what was going on when all the people started to gather. The pictures don't really do the sea lion or crab justice, they were both huge. The seal and sea lion tanks also have an underwater viewing area on the bottom floor of the center. The only salmon we were able to see this trip - they don't run until July. We're planning our return trip a little later in the season so we can see them in the wild. After about an hour, we boarded the bus one last time, and you could feel the excitement. It was cruise time!

That is a whole different class that I will never be a part of...just the Jr suite for me on a splurge. Enjoy!!

Walgreens had an issue with their system on June 16th. My son tested and his results still havent come through "via email" despite the automated response telling us repeatedly that it would resend them. Eventually spoke to a human who said their email system had crapped out for the day and to go to the nearest Walgreens and request a reprint. Worth knowing for the future that apparently ANY Walgreens can print out the results for you if you ask.

What's the old saying "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should". LOL Oh well, I guess - "Go BIG or go home" on a cruise should be "Go Big and go home big".

Those were Hubby’s words exactly! Thank you for the encouragement.

Your hubby sounds like my hubby, but for what it's worth sending positive vibes your way. If you can't control it, you shouldn't worry about it. I personally know you can roll with, you go @Lovetocruise2002. Enjoy every bit of this trip. I wish we were there with you.

School is finally out! Let the packing begin!

Agreed, especially since this shortcut shows their system already supports searching by specific date.

I'm with you on this!

Got a taste of the life and booked a star class at next cruise today just to try it out (a good deal never hurt anyone) No need to worry- we have to travel the busiest times ever with school schedules so we will back in balconies quickly, but gosh, the view and service up in 17 is something that I will always dream of!

On our 30th cruise we were upgraded to a Grand Suite while sailing on the Sovereign of the Seas. Our next 39 cruises were all in Grand or Owner Suites. I don't think we caught the suite bug at all! Oh our August 18th is in a GS on the ADOS in a GS, LOL!! Bill

There she was! Our booking confirmation said to select a check in time between 3:00 and 6:00pm. We selected 3:00pm which was when we left the aquarium. At the pier, we showed our vaccine cards and negative tests, went through security, and were walking up the gangway by 3:30. The terminal building is not connected to the ship via gangway in Seward. You go through the terminal, then walk down the pier to get on the ramp. The luggage and supplies are lowered over the side of the pier and onto the ship by crane. We went straight to our cabin and a couple pieces of our luggage were waiting by the door already. Cabin 9656 - 2 Bedroom suite. The edge of the door you see on the left is the 2nd bathroom - stand up shower with curtain, no photo because it's the same small bathroom in every interior - balcony cabin. I also didn't get a photo of the 2nd bedroom. It's just a square room with the beds and night stands, no vanity or tv on this ship. We prefer the living room layout of the 2 bedroom suites on Liberty and Enchantment. It's a little roomier with a sectional. The master bedroom on this ship also did not have a window which cemented for me that I could never sail in an interior. I need to know if it's light or dark outside, and I wasn't going to turn the tv on to the bridge camera at 3am just to find out. Master bath is through the door just to the right of the cubby/cabinet space at the back of this photo. The top cabinet holds the safe. Of the 2 bedroom grand suites we've stayed on, the aft balcony on Liberty have been the biggest. This one was smaller being on the corner, but big enough for us this trip. There were a lot of weird angles in the cabinets and in this space on the balcony. They really tried to use every space possible in this cabin. Some of it, like on the balcony, was unusable, but none of it was so odd that it would keep us from booking this cabin again. We made Diamond with our double points cruise in February, and our pins were waiting on the vanity in the living room along with shore excursion tickets, masks, hand sanitizer, and water. We also had a plate of fruit and one of cookies waiting for us in the room. DS got to the fruit (there was also a banana) and I got to the coconut ranger cookies before I took a picture. All of our bags were quickly delivered to our room, and we met our stateroom attendant Keisha. All of our room stewards have always been polite and said hi in the halls, but she was really a ray of sunshine. Went out of her way to joke with the kids, always asked what our plans for the day were and if we had a good time when we got back, and she had a good recommendation of where to find Benadryl on land when we ran out toward the end of the cruise (and souvenirs too). She walked us through the laundry process and made sure we had enough bags. Plan A had been to do a load of laundry at the hotel in Talkeetna, however, they closed their laundry rooms between 10pm and 6am. DH, the early riser was going to take care of that early one morning, but 6am may have rushed it. Plan B was to catch an Uber to town in Alyeska as they have a laundromat next to some restaurants close by. Because of the bus delay, that plan was nixed. We packed enough to get us to Plan C which was to take care of it on the ship. By the time we unpacked, sorted and stuffed two laundry bags full, it was after 9pm on that first night. They were back to us before dinner on night two. Our brand new $10 off a bag of laundry diamond discounts were applied without us asking. At this point the suite lounge was open, so off we went. Now we were on vacation. Ilona the concierge and Johnson the suite lounge bartender were both great and made a point of interacting with everyone in the lounge all week. We've had one or two that just sat behind their little desk (in fact the diamond concierge did just that - I don't even think he introduced himself to us all week), so it's always appreciated when they really make an effort. Johnson was really good at asking the kids what they were in the mood for and making something up - DS had a few off menu mango concoctions and was surprised he couldn't order them anywhere else on the ship. We had My Time Dining, but decided to just go to the Windjammer this first night so we wouldn't miss sail away. After dinner, DS and DD headed to the teen club and Adventure Ocean for a little bit, and we all called it a night just after 10pm. We left Seward under a bit of cloud cover, but so far no rain this trip. That of course would change.

We also purchased our for CLS for next May on the Harmony. About 4 years ago we were comp-upgraded from a Jr Suite to a Grand and that started it all, just like has been said many times, you simply cannot go back! Enjoy your cruise.

It’s a tough scene for sure. We finally did a suite in the form of a junior suite on navigator with our children. The space was incredible. Got a grand suite on wonder in December and a crown loft on harmony next March. I think the suite life has its hooks in us now too. My poor bank account will never be the same. At minimum when we sail with our children it will always be suites moving forward.

whoops....pretend you didn't see that

Somewhere @Lovetocruise2002 is smiling....and upset you didn't book Star Class

Emed at-home proctored tests are fast, reliable and easy. I remember attempting to make an appointment last year at several pharmacies in the Memphis area prior to the first cruise post-pandemic only to run into glitches in the online reservation systems. The Emed testing process is a game-changer for our family.

It's in your blood now. It's hopeless to resist. Welcome aboard!

We are on Allure this week and it is the first time that we have truly noticed the ducks -- this is our 16th cruise, I believe. It has been so fun to find and hide them! I only wish I had known about this all along!

I will make it my mission to drink $27 of milkshakes each day. This is a thing I know I can do.

I'm new to RCCL, but this is like a game of "Three Card Monty" with the sales. Nothing is straight about it. 30% off for 2 guests. 50% off for 1 - but you have to buy 2. "UP to 40% off" - (if you are willing to do the event at 7:00 am). Just tell me, this thing costs $200 and it is now on sale for $150 - Done, simple. Don't hide the gratuity and add it in after the fact. Give us the actual, total cost.

So you just decided not to go and you're upset at RC?

This is a fan site, and not affiliated with Royal Caribbean. Nobody there will read your complaint. I doubt when they advertised the amplification of Explorer of the Seas (and Allure), they had no idea that the pandemic would hit and cause them to shut down for over a year and lose billions of dollars, making the amplification fiscally impossible. I would never consider that "false advertising". Personally, I'd go anyway. You haven't "lost the money". You are choosing to do so by not going on the cruise. You could still have a great time if you chose to do so. Good luck. (I can't speak for anyone else, but personally, I sleep quite well at night).

Technically you can. First go pick your months and do that search. For instance, I want to look for cruises in March 2023. You end up with a URL like this which has a min date of March 1 and a max date of March 31 https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruises/?dates_minDate=03%2F01%2F2023&dates_maxDate=03%2F31%2F2023&durationCode_6to8=true&featured=true If I wanted to look for cruises that depart, say between March 16 to March 20, I just change the middle numbers https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruises/?dates_minDate=03%2F16%2F2023&dates_maxDate=03%2F20%2F2023&durationCode_6to8=true&featured=true Of course you can tweak that too to do like March 15 to April 15 or December 15 into the new year through January 15.

Thanks, Matt, for today's update on the new Cruise Planner Sale! Checked four upcoming cruises, and two had savings totaling over $100. Nice surprise for very little effort.

Last week lobster night was not on either formal night (Mariner). Can't explain why they changed. This was an 8-night cruise with formals on 3 and 7; lobster was night 5.

I loved the land tour we did since we did the one with the most train segments, but it definitely gave me an appetite for more land exploration of Alaska! The land and cruise portions are so different and both were enjoyable to the point where I would definitely come back for another cruise but I would also love to explore the interior more. I always advise anyone who thinks this will be their only time visiting Alaska to splurge and do the cruisetour so they get to experience both!

On our 18 June Mariner cruise, here is what we observed. First, we were allowed to board just after Diamond + but before "scheduled times" were called. So at Port Canaveral, we boarded about 11 AM, and our check-in was 11-11:30. The coffee/cap machine was broken, so I used my coffee card for espresso drinks. Between the two of us, we had 64 or more vouchers (not sure what happened day 9) and used 38 of them on wine, sodas, and mixed drinks. So we couldn't use all of the vouchers although some days I did. The top tier party was brief, but we got to hear the orchestra play for 30 minutes. Live music for me is a perk, especially at 10;15 AM. The lounge wasn't crowded - must people got food and moved outside to the night club for a great view. On formal nights, the lounge was busy, but we always found seats in the night club. My only complaint (other than the broken espresso machine) was that one bartender was conservative in making the drinks, but elsewhere we got decent-sized glasses of wine. I think the voucher system worked great -- folks got their drinks at multiple locations. No, Diamond benefits aren't being cancelled, and we benefited a great deal. We even used our two free days of Voom (one day each).

I wonder what the decision point was between cancelling a couple cruise to fix the issue vs. taking away one of the most sought after aspects of an Alaskan cruise and handing out OBC to just sail with a busted engine. Meanwhile Quantum is in Skagway today, a port they're canceling for the next couple months.

During restart and since the restart they spray all guest areas and hallways with a fog like spray to kill any virus material lingering around. There is a period of time where all crew leave the area and return only when it's safe. I know people who are frequent cruisers who ignore the signs and go to their cabin during this time. Smart or dumb? You decide. There is a reason why they are telling consecutive cruisers to stay out right now. Despite that some people don't listen and they do what used to be allowed pre-pandemic when staying in the same cabin. I choose to listen and stay out. Most of the time pre-pandemic if I was changing cabins I would make a point of finding my new future cabin attendant as the cruise was nearing its completion. Many times they would prioritize my cabin so it was ready early. This wasn't required of them and not all of them did it. Since the restart some ships move crew around assigning them new groups of cabins for the next cruise. That makes it impossible to visit your next cruise cabin attendant because no one knows who it might be. Each ship has their own practices. It's harder to predict what your experience will be right now. Listen, read and go with the flow.

If you cruise at all, you should pick up 100 shares at this price, $33.50 as I write this. For a 7-day cruise, that is a 3% dividend every time you sail. If you sail three times a year, that's 9%, better than what you'll get on your typical dividend-paying stock. I should probably DCA but since I am never going to sell there's really no need.

That is what I thought too - maybe 9-9:30am. There is so much extra cleaning prodigals now so I can't see 11 am being at all considered. I told him they need to rent a car and go to Disney Springs for the afternoon. They got a direct flight so that is why they picked such a late flight to begin with.

In April on Anthem the only thing we did not like was the Mac and cheese. It was utterly tasteless. I don't even know how to explain it. It looked normal, but had no flavor at all. My brother thought maybe he had come down with Covid, but then I confirmed it was tasteless. It did not ruin the meal. We just didn't eat any more of that. Everything else was good to great.

@jake1004Welcome to the suite life lol! It is a very slippery slope....

Me too! I been tracking the same daily flight that we are on for weeks now and so far so good. But I am flying over the 4th of July weekend too so fingers crossed! No! Don't mention Philadelphia again lol. That is where we ended in March....

The Solarium Bistro has always been open to guests of all ages. Many ships have an entrance for this venue from the elevator lobby but even if one ship doesn't, guests of all ages can transit through the Solarium when required, they just can't stop and stay in the Solarium adult only area unless 16+.

I’ve been very fortunate that Nextcruise has asked me, each time I’ve used them, if I’d like to keep the travel agent I have It’s usually said “I see ABC was your travel agent, would you like to have them on this new reservation?” If I tell them no they have me sign the release, which includes a simple explanation why I want to switch companies and they’ll take the new company info, if I don’t have it available the booking goes to Royal and when I get home I email my agent the reservation# and she works her magic to secure the booking.

I once, in this forum, suggested/recommended to just go ahead and do the proctored, at home, self tests as it seemed that the going to the local pharmacies seemed to be an issue for some/many folks. I was, by at least one person in here, chastised for making such a recommendation. Once again, I highly recommend, for your own sanity, do the proctored, at home, self test, in your PJs. Embrace the suck and just pay for it and then try to get reimbursed by your insurance company later.

Thanks all. Gotta say this forum is the best!!

Day 9 - Flam Flam is the first port on this trip where tourism is actually the main industry, catering to both internal and external tourists. A gorgeous, long sail in through the second largest fjord in the world, and then a tiny village of 500 people. And our weather today was phenomenal! We chose the Aurland, Laerdal, and Borgund Stave Church tour. It was excellent. We drove through the longest car tunnel in the world, which was fun but not very photogenic We saw arguably the oldest stave church in the world. Then fantastic scenery along a very narrow mountain road, with a stop at Stegastein overlook. Our guide was very good too. Coming in to Flam: The stave church: The “new” church from the late 1800s, currently under restoration: View from Stegastein overlook: Scenery:

I have been on 2 B2B cruises on Oasis in past 6 months. Back to Back is easy, even if you have to change cabins. On the day everyone is disembarking you will meet with the other B2B cruisers and escorted off ship, thru customs, and back on ship. And ususally there is a special lunch at main dining room for those cruisers, including wine and soft drinks. Unfortunately you cannot return to your room until they are opened for everyone, usually 1-2pm. If you are changing cabins you just can leave all your hanging clothes and shoes, then I loosely pack the rest in a suitcase or 2. Your cabin stewart with bring a cart and transfer everything to your new cabin. Any food or drinks in the refrigerator I put on counter and they will bring that over also. I usually take a tote with me that morning that have my medications, and items from the safe. Just would rather have them with me. Just in case the cart they are transferring on, lingers in spots along the way. ENJOY!