Jill

I do this all the time with @Sharla. Sometimes it’s the weekend or after hours. I’m impatient and when I find the room I want, I book it then send the reservation number to Sharla to put in for a transfer.

We’ve never gotten any pins and will be Diamond plus after next week’s cruise. I’ve heard that Pinnacles are asked to wear them. Maybe @twangstercan confirm. It doesn’t bother me if someone wants to wear them or not.

We are due an odyssey block in about 3 weeks. Originally it was supposed to be Radiance from Alaska but we had to cancel due to us getting Covid. That would have been a cool reminder of a bucket list cruise. However, Odyssey will have a double remembrance. Bucket list (Holy Land/Greece) and marking 6 years cancer free. I am prepared to wait for it. I’ve heard though that they may have the blocks come November but there’s also a year’s backlog on odyssey blocks. To my knowledge there have been NO Odyssey or Wonder blocks distributed. Remember last year Royal announced they were not going to award blocks anymore but then there was “outrage” so they re-instated the program. My guess is they also needed to source a new supplier.

Here it is

It’s been posted that this week (September 12) there are more dates to be released. I think I posted the pic in the Icon thread

But Royal still says you “may” be tested. It’s ridiculous. I asked through Facebook messenger and they still said I may be tested.

My first time there was in 1987! College spring break on the Emerald Seas (an old military supply ship built in 1944!) It was known as Little Stirrup Cay (still is the official name) and was leased by Admiral Cruise Lines. It literally was just a beach. The sunken plane was there. Royal bought Admiral and took over the cay. I went back in the early 90’s on Monarch and it was improved. The rest is history!

Re: additional testing for those not up to date. I have asked this question numerous times in several odyssey Facebook groups and at least 6 people who were not up to date were NOT tested to get off in Greece. No one responded that they were tested. In other words it appears Royal is not testing. Protocols say you “may” need additional testing. Maybe it’s based off numbers onboard. If there’s a certain percentage not up to date maybe that’s when testing might be used. I’m not boosted and no one in our party of 6 are boosted and have no plans on becoming boosted before our October cruise that sails to Greece. I’m done with Covid. I’ve had it and I’m vaccinated.

So I heard back re: 48 hours/72 hours: “The 48 hours is just 2 days before. It's not specific down to the minute.” I replied back that the protocols should be changed to 2 and 3 days. Much less confusing, especially since it’s been that way since the re-start

Me too. I’d just want the room. No Genie. It’s just not my style. @WAAAYTOOO totally agree with deck 17. I’m spying a grand suite on 17 on Wonder at some point. Now that’s pampered to me!

Well when I plug in Europe sailing from any port this is what I got. April-November 2023. Does Royal even sail Europe in the Winter? I didn’t think they did.

So do you think bookings will open up the week of September 12?

Here’s the schedule. Book as soon as it opens. Prices are lowest when there’s lots of inventory available

The screenshot above though has it in hours. I have a question in to Royal through Facebook messenger and still waiting for official word. I asked Sunday and they said it could be a day or so before they got back to me. Yesterday they messaged me and said they hadn’t forgotten me lol

When we cruise out of Miami we stay in Fort Lauderdale. Hilton Garden Inn Fort Lauderdale has an airport shuttle and cruise port (Port Everglades) shuttle from the hotel. Restaurants within walking distance. Big “town center” area with lots to choose from.

Congratulations! We’ve enjoyed our Diamond perks and will technically become Diamond Plus on our Odyssey cruise in October. We will get to enjoy our new status next spring on Wonder. The 4 free drinks are really nice. We usually get the drink package but this past spring we sailed Harmony in a suite so we got our 4 drinks plus the free suite drinks! Not buying the drink package is like $1,000-$1,200 discount lol

From what I understand Royal’s insurance covers the cruise only. We use Allianz and have a yearly policy. Covers ANY trip greater than 100 miles from home.

Ok so if it is 48 and 72 hours, what time do we use? Our boarding time? Departure time? What if I test on the East Coast (Florida) 11:00am 2 days before? That’s 5:00pm Italy time. Departure is 5:00. Does that work? So confusing and I don’t want to fly all the way to Italy and test there. Would suck if we popped a positive test.

We’re on odyssey in October. I’m praying Greece lifts the testing requirement. I noticed the protocols also said 48 hours for rapid and 72 for PCR. I’m hoping that’s a mistake and it’s still 2 DAYS and 3 DAYS. Haven’t bothered to investigate that yet.

I still do all my own research when planning and most every time I go ahead and put a deposit down. Then I send the reservation to my TA (Sharla with MEI) and she gets it transferred from Royal to MEI. She then services the booking. I use to book direct with Royal but decided to go with a TA when we started looking at Mediterranean cruises. This was back in 2019. We had never been to Europe and with international flights, I wanted someone in my corner should something goes sideways. I decided to give Sharla a trial with a 3 night on Mariner. Went well so booked Odyssey in the Med and Symphony. Then the proverbial hit the Covid fan. I honestly can’t thank her enough for dealing with multiple cancellations and Re-bookings that ultimately got cancelled (Covid goal posts kept moving) and FCC’s that were applied, then re-issued only to be wrong amount, then fixed then applied again only to be re-issued. HOURS on the phone she spent with them. $50-$100 of OBC is so not worth it to me. Yes we’re moving back to more normal cruising but I find no reason to shop elsewhere for a little bit of OBC. Just not worth it. I think I suffer from Covid cruise PTSD

I didn’t think I’d like a fully enclosed solarium but ended up loving it on Wonder. We’re on Odyssey in October for Holy Land/Greece and looking forward to her enclosed solarium

We had a GS on Harmony in May. We had just cancelled our Alaska cruise in a JS and Sharla did her magic and somehow got Royal to let us pick up that cruise and move it to Harmony. This literally was 5 days before the Alaska cruise and 7 before Harmony We enjoyed the suite. CK was very average but we still ate there breakfast everyday and dinner 4 nights. Suite deck was empty (and hot!) We normally would not have booked a GS but it was DD’s college graduation cruise and the money was already gone (to Alaska cruise) so we did it. Personally I think $3k is a bit much. I’d wait for a Royal Up offer. You’re already getting double points for the JS, so to move to a GS for maybe $500 per person would definitely be a deal.

All I can say is you get what you pay for. Beware the “cheap” deals. They often come with little customer service.

Yeah that’s unfortunate that those who embark in Rome can’t use the app at all. Wonder is awesome though! We were on her 3rd sailing in March and have her booked again this coming may