barbeyg

If not a refund, they should at least send you additional free tests.  I've seen that done in the past.

We go about our business as usual mostly, other than not doing large gatherings or shows that put a bunch of strangers together in confined spaces for a period of time (in the two weeks leading up to testing).  We just do what we have throughout Covid.  

This was posted on the Alaska forum over on CC:

13 hours ago, Peter D said:

If Royal Caribbean allows you to get on the ship without it, then I would expect you do not need it if you are not leaving the ship in Canada.  

I agree.  We are sailing AK and currently, it is reported that, like many other cruise lines, RCI will require the ArriveCAN to be filled out prior to embarkation. 

They are on the test sailing of Ovation, so hopefully someone will post on that thread on CC just for this.  If we have to do this, I will delete the app and info as soon as our sailing is done, since I won't use it again.

OP, I will update here if I see that they were requiring it to embark.

Let me preface by saying tipping extra is not required, as others have stated.  We tip the room steward and dining room attendants extra the last night.  We also tip extra at the specialty restaurants when we are there, and bartenders as we are waited on.  

9 minutes ago, Riley said:

Some folks like the attention. I personally do not, though I am looking forward to the other perks!

If we ever make it to Pinnacle (which would be really great for the benefits), I hope RCI will simply mail our free cruise certificate to us, bypassing the announcement of the achievement at the Top Tier Party.   

I really dislike being recognized for any kind of achievement in front of a crowd.  

I think that there are people who are critical of most things in life, and there are others that are Pollyannas.  Some of us see the glass as half full, others as half empty.  Some have gratitude in their hearts for the little things, some can't find anything to be grateful about.  Add cruising to the mix for each type, and you have some that complain about everything, while some see the entire experience as great.  

We love traveling.  We have never had a bad trip, even though we have had some difficult circumstances happen during those trips.  Most of the time, we have an optimistic attitude, and once we have recovered from the shock of something bad happening, we make the best of it.  Even when our transmission went out in our car while on vacation (when we were young and money was tight), we were thankful the resort we stayed at had loaner bikes.  Instead of whining and complaining about our circumstance, we have a great time riding those darned bikes everywhere! lol  Not to say there wasn't stress, because there was, but we didn't want to let the stress ruin our vacation.  I have friends that would have come back home from the same situation, and complained bitterly about it, seeing none of the good that happened that week.

I don't know why some people cruise, because I've heard the complaints too.  I think we all have.  And we avoid those people when we run into them, because we don't want our joy over the blessing of being able to cruise to be diminished.   

For your questions, in the past bookings for the hotels/train could be made thru RCI.  Others may be able to answer about now.  Also,  we check out TripAdvisor for reviews on tours.  Typically the tours RCI offers are also offered independently, so if you look around for one with the same description, (if planning to book thru RCI), you can usually find reviews on the tours in AK.

For the trip from Anchorage to Seward, we booked a rental car, one way, for that drive.  We booked the car a year in advance, and we were glad we did, because the cost was twice as high the year of the sailing.  We loved that drive.  Allowed us to stop along the way and hike, stay overnight at a B&B, and pull over anytime we wanted to take photos of the gorgeous scenery, which we did...alot.  Some time in the future, we will book the train, just to try it out.  

For us, the highlights of our trips have been whale watching in Icy Strait Point as well as Juneau (both were great), and a rental car for the drive out to the Yukon (your mileage may vary right now, depending on if CA still insists on a test before driving across the border for the day trip...where you see NO ONE ).  We have a car rented there, because my sister and aunt aren't very mobile, so we will keep it and stay on our side of the border, if CA doesn't relax the rules between now and then.

We have sailed in late May, and find that to be our preference.  Very long days of sun, accompanied by moderate weather for the most part.  We may try September sometime to see if we can catch the northern lights, but May is a favorite of ours.

31 minutes ago, jay1021 said:

Ohhhhh man, I hope you are right.

I do too. It would be a worthy sacrifice.

Of course, it’s a fluid situation, and at some point they could require boosters….or do away with pre-cruise testing all together. I expect the latter at any time, since I ordered our 6 pack of video-monitored tests from eMed today.

16 minutes ago, KJones said:

We've done day trips to Mt. Ranier, and to Snoqualmie Falls + wine tasting in Woodinville. Of course, these would require a rental car.

Your comment reminded me of a tip for rental cars. We use Enterprise, and they had no cars available at the airport. But the Enterprise Exotics nearby did. So, for just a few $ difference, we will be driving a Mercedes, Porsche, or similar. Apparently there is a market in Seattle for exotics. 

We cruise AK as well, later in May.  Current protocols, which are subject to change, require tests that are administered locally, or video-supervised.

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/the-healthy-sail-center/pre-cruise-testing

And we will be around after our cruise. We will be driving out to Mt Ranier National Park. There is also Whidbey Island and Snoqualmie Falls.  Then there is Woodinville for wine-tastings at the different wineries.We aren’t interested in downtown Seattle ourselves, but there are the tourist spots there as well. 

Enjoy your trip!

1 hour ago, RWDW1204 said:

Why only the big ships? What is it with the mid-, smaller ships that keeps you away? We've done 4 Oasis Class cruises already and we're doing our next few on Vision and Granduer for the iteneraries and hope we're not disappointed. 

I personally think every ship has something to offer. We’ve sailed Grandeur, Rhapsody, Jewel, Radiance, and a few other smaller ships.  We sailed Sovereign within the first year of her sailing, and I remember thinking she was the biggest ship I’d ever see!

While there isn’t as much to do on the smaller ships, they have their appeal, especially with sailing to ports that the larger ships don’t.  I hope you aren’t disappointed either. We never have been.

That said, for the transAtlantic we will be booking, we definitely want a larger ship because of the number of sea days onboard.  Lots more to do on all those days at sea. 

36 minutes ago, jay1021 said:

By the way, I love the Tennessee Smokey Mountains.  I used to ride motorcycle a lot, until I developed Vertigo, and The Dragon was one of my most visited places.  Love the Smokey Mountain National Park and the Weir Valley area.  Oh, when we visit the Smokey Mountains in/near Weir Valley, we take a short trip to Dillard, GA and go to the Dillard House for Breakfast, it's wonderful.

We live about 20 minutes from the TN end of the Dragon. We love the area, and moved here 17 years ago because of the Smokies, since something kept bringing us back here. We have never regretted the move. The attached pic is the view from our home. All these years later, the view still amazes us. Thanks for the heads up on the Dillard House. Will have to check it out. 

12 minutes ago, jay1021 said:

Our next cruise is in May (48 day) on the Ovation from Seattle to Alaska.  To be honest, this is my wife's choice.  I have never had a desire to visit Alaska, not that there is anything wrong with it, it's just a thing I have, I guess.  I spent 20+ years in the Army trying to avoid Korea and Alaska, successfully.  But, I'll make the best of it.  We have 2 excursions booked so far and probably will book at least one more.

I sincerely hope you enjoy your cruise and hope that it goes off without a hitch.

Happy sailing to you!

Thank you!  We are sailing Ovation too, on 5/20.  Our last time to AK was a one way trip (our preferred type AK sailing) but I think the travel would be too hard on both of our sassy seniors.  

I hope yours surprises you (in a great way). Have a wonderful, memory-making trip.

Our next cruise is in 55 days. Right now, I’m trying not to get too excited, since this is our 3rd year trying for AK out of Seattle.  My hope is that all is a go, but I’m braced in case something comes up.

We are taking my oldest sister and Aunt, and will drive down 9 hours the weekend before to fly out with them 2 days ahead of the cruise. Then hopefully we will all test negative, and the flights will go off as scheduled. After that, everything can be dealt with as it happens. 

Most excited for? To see their faces every day, as they marvel at the beauty around us.  Both of them helped finish raising my brother and me after our Momma passed. I could never repay them for that, and my deepest desire is for this trip to be amazing for them and to see the joy on their faces.

Second most excited for? The private whale-watching tour we scheduled for Juneau. Then driving to the Yukon from Skagway…if Canada’s entry rules don’t include testing again. 

‘Everyday’ cruises, we look at ships sailing from all the ports we prefer, then look at itineraries and ship, and price JS and above. We then select based on a combination of ship, itinerary and price, with ship and price having the edge over itinerary. So for these, embarkation port, then ship, and itinerary/price, in that order.

For special sailings, like the retirement cruise we will be planning for 2024, we want to sail one way back from Europe, after spending a week to 10 days on land first.  We will only consider Quantum class, Oasis class, Icon class, and Celebrity Edge class.  Since we have whittled the choices down to those classes, we will choose the sailing based on itinerary first, then price for a JS or larger cabin.  For special longer sailings, class of ship, then itinerary, then price. 

When pressured to give positive reviews, I check the box that asks that.  I don’t mind someone mentioning the survey, but please don’t try to push me to give an excellent rating. Let your service speak for itself.

That said, this past December NO ONE even mentioned the survey, and when I filled out the survey, I was able to mention by name several employees who provided truly excellent service. 

1 hour ago, jay1021 said:

My brother adopted almost 30 children from all over the world and each has their own "special needs", some severe and some not so severe. 

As an adoptive mom to a (now adult) child with special needs, I wanted to say that people like your brother are amazing. I know several families that adopt only special needs and/or terminal children, and they truly humble me.

On 3/19/2022 at 8:56 AM, Leighq said:

One thing I hope I see is people having fun and people just being grateful to be able to cruise and just forget about the real world for a week and be excited and have passion in life.  

I saw this a lot on Oasis. I hope that the majority of us don’t ever forget the shutdown of the industry and how grateful we were to cruise again. I had tears in my eyes as I boarded. I knew I missed sailing, but didn’t realize how much till I was there. And maybe I had my rose colored glasses on thru that voyage, because I don’t really remember much negative behavior around me.

But they ARE going to waive penalties for moving to different sailing. Thought that was either poorly worded, or someone thought we would buy into that being a ‘benefit’.  In all fairness, they will cover any flight change fees, so there is that.  
 

Option 2: Rebook any Royal Caribbean sailing.

• If you prefer to re-book a different sailing, we’ll waive any non-refundable deposit change fees associated with the move.

The onboard credit is only if you take the choices they list.  Only one alternative for the same week if you don’t want to change your vacation time, a 6 night on Jewel. 

On 3/14/2022 at 8:45 PM, cruisellama said:

What a great itinerary! We will be trying to sail something similar in 2024, after early retirement.

Just booked our 2nd Celebrity cruise today. It will be our first, though. RCI cancelled our Wonder OTS cruise, so we are making lemonade out of their lemons. Celebrity Apex, 12/3/2022, here we come! 

33 minutes ago, Atlantix2000 said:

Ship Previews?!?  Wonder will have been sailing for 9 months at that point!

Right?