twangster

Sea trials are technical in nature. No ship can obtain its insurance certificate or make it into the ship registry and begin service without sea trials. During a sea trial they'll do things like power turns simulating collision avoidance to ensure they ship behaves as expected. They'll do an emergency stop - going from full cruise speed to a full stop to validate exactly how long that takes so it's known in case they ever have to perform an emergency stop. They will have sensors on board to validate center of gravity calculations. All the things that computers estimated during design and construction will be validated. Under full power did the generators perform properly? Were any anomalies discovered when engines were at full power? Did the ship maintain a true course when directed to do so. Were any undue vibrations noted? If something is not working nominally they might go back, adjust something and do another set of sea trials. Sea trials have nothing to do with hotel operations such as... can a galley chef make Eggs Benedict properly.

Depends on the ship. Newer ships with more specialty restaurants will have a higher daily rate for the UDP compared to a ship with fewer specialty restaurants or places like Playmakers where UDP also works. On an older ship someone might see $24 per day while the newest ship or a ship with newer options might be $31 per day. It's not that $24 is a sale price rather it reflects the venues on board where you can leverage the UDP.

Definitely maybe. It depends. Ask first.

Generally I've given up on alert sites. Within each cabin type (balcony, suite, interior) are specific categories and I've yet to find an alert site that allows me to monitor my exact category such as a 4D balcony for my qualifiers. Often the alerts generated don't apply to me or my qualifiers. The alert sites tend to monitor for two guests with no other qualifiers like age, solo, state of residency, etc. Often price drops only appear based on those qualifiers. Some online booking engines will announce a fare drop of some trivial amount to trick these alert sites into advertising that booking engine. "Fare drop... $2." but when you look at it the actual rate is the same as what I've got. Alert sites also do not consider my willingness to move cabins or upgrade from what I've got to something else... if the price difference is within my idea of acceptable. A suite category may go on sale but my balcony didn't so it doesn't alert me but when a suite is now only $100 more. I'll take that upgrade every time. In the end I find that doing my own checks has paid much better dividends. Some TA's like MEI Travel have proprietary software that uses an API into the Royal backend reservation system so that gives them the ability to look at my exact details right down to my exact cabin and find price drops. Sometimes price drops are fleeting or brief. There may be only one of my category left and once it's sold it's harder to catch price drops. I can check and see nothing but when that other cabin is coming and going out of inventory an automated system like MEI's can catch the price drop in that instant. If I had checked 3 minutes earlier it was there but I miss it when checking manually. Be aware that historically Costco does not participate in the RoyalUp program. I've used them until I had an issue that caused a missed cruise and insurance claim. I had a really hard time getting them to invest any time into getting me the documentation required by my insurance company. It's all good until it isn't. It was a cruise booking after final payment 45 days away. Who needs a full service agency? What could go wrong? Doh!

I did not laminate my card since I know laminating documents like birth certificates renders them useless. That with the potential for boosters led me to use a plastic sleeve that came with a lanyard from a past cruise group booking. As it turns out the CDC card fits perfectly in this plastic sleeve that was originally designed to carry an RF type SeaPass card that can't be punched. I generally remove my card from the sleeve when using to cruise but on one occasion I was told I could leave it in the plastic sleeve and they took photos of it like that. I don't know that I've seen a policy in writing that states anything about laminated or not. In general terms they aren't seeking ways to deny guests from boarding. Most often the people in cruise terminals who need to see it are 3rd party contractors who do work for many cruise lines and they are not police, lawyers, or doctors working a side job in a cruise terminal. They are regular folks like us who have received training from different cruise lines so sometimes they start to blend the rules. "What day is it? What cruise line is this?" sort of thing. That can lead to some inadvertent implementation of policies. Once when boarding a ship in LA the terminal announced the Princess loyalty tiers for boarding because that is 95% of what they were used to. That person probably has made that announcement a thousand times so they just said it out of habit. Imagine the confusion when Platinum was invited to board before Pinnacle, Diamond Plus, Diamond, Emerald, etc. Terminal contractors are human and make mistakes.

Original Allure TA (Fall 2022) Sun 30Oct2022 Barcelona, Spain - 4:30 PM Boarding Mon 31Oct2022 Cruising - - Cruising Tue 01Nov2022 Malaga, Spain 8:00 AM 6:00 PM Docked Wed 02Nov2022 Cruising - - Cruising Thu 03Nov2022 Cruising - - Cruising Fri 04Nov2022 Cruising - - Cruising Sat 05Nov2022 Cruising - - Cruising Sun 06Nov2022 Cruising - - Cruising Mon 07Nov2022 Cruising - - Cruising Tue 08Nov2022 Cruising - - Cruising Wed 09Nov2022 Cruising - - Cruising Thu 10Nov2022 Nassau, Bahamas 8:00 AM 6:00 PM Docked Fri 11Nov2022 Cruising - - Cruising Sat 12Nov2022 Cruising - - Cruising Sun 13Nov2022 Galveston, Texas 5:00 AM - Departure New Wonder TA (Fall 2022) Sun 30Oct2022 Barcelona, Spain - 05:00 PM Boarding Mon 31Oct2022 Palma De Mallorca, Spain 08:00 AM 06:00 PM Docked Tue 01Nov2022 Valencia, Spain 08:00 AM 06:00 PM Docked Wed 02Nov2022 Cartagena, Spain 08:00 AM 06:00 PM Docked Thu 03Nov2022 Malaga, Spain 08:00 AM 06:00 PM Docked Fri 04Nov2022 Cruising - - Cruising Sat 05Nov2022 Cruising - - Cruising Sun 06Nov2022 Cruising - - Cruising Mon 07Nov2022 Cruising - - Cruising Tue 08Nov2022 Cruising - - Cruising Wed 09Nov2022 Cruising - - Cruising Thu 10Nov2022 Cruising - - Cruising Fri 11Nov2022 Cruising - - Cruising Sat 12Nov2022 Nassau, Bahamas 07:00 AM 02:30 PM Docked Sun 13Nov2022 Port Canaveral, Florida 06:00 AM - Departure

Original Allure TA (Spring 2022) Sun 24Apr2022 Fort Lauderdale, Florida - 4:30 PM Boarding Mon 25Apr2022 Nassau, Bahamas 7:00 AM 4:00 PM Docked Tue 26Apr2022 Cruising - - Cruising Wed 27Apr2022 Cruising - - Cruising Thu 28Apr2022 Cruising - - Cruising Fri 29Apr2022 Cruising - - Cruising Sat 30Apr2022 Cruising - - Cruising Sun 01May2022 Cruising - - Cruising Mon 02May2022 Cruising - - Cruising Tue 03May2022 Cruising - - Cruising Wed 04May2022 Malaga, Spain 8:00 AM 6:00 PM Docked Thu 05May2022 Cartagena, Spain 8:00 AM 6:00 PM Docked Fri 06May2022 Valencia, Spain 8:00 AM 6:00 PM Docked Sat 07May2022 Palma De Mallorca, Spain 8:00 AM 6:00 PM Docked Sun 08May2022 Barcelona, Spain 6:15 AM - Departure New Wonder TA (Spring 2022) Wed 20Apr2022 Fort Lauderdale, Florida - 05:00 PM Boarding Thu 21Apr2022 Nassau, Bahamas 07:00 AM 04:00 PM Docked Fri 22Apr2022 Cruising - - Cruising Sat 23Apr2022 Cruising - - Cruising Sun 24Apr2022 Cruising - - Cruising Mon 25Apr2022 Cruising - - Cruising Tue 26Apr2022 Cruising - - Cruising Wed 27Apr2022 Cruising - - Cruising Thu 28Apr2022 Cruising - - Cruising Fri 29Apr2022 Cruising - - Cruising Sat 30Apr2022 Malaga, Spain 08:00 AM 06:00 PM Docked Sun 01May2022 Cartagena, Spain 08:00 AM 06:00 PM Docked Mon 02May2022 Valencia, Spain 08:00 AM 06:00 PM Docked Tue 03May2022 Palma De Mallorca, Spain 08:00 AM 06:00 PM Docked Wed 04May2022 Barcelona, Spain 06:15 AM - Departure

Often it comes down to TV rights. Many sports are emphasizing their own pay services to watch when you aren't watching on a US broadcast or sports network. Some of the phone apps use GPS to determine your location to see if your eligible to watch. A laptop without a GPS often works better when out of the country and the ship internet makes it look you are in Miami so laptops can have an advantage sometimes.

That was Carnival's approach. Fewer ships but operating at 75-100% capacity. I prefer the reduced capacity approach. I didn't feel safe on Carnival.

I've been using Walgreens ID NOW for a number of cruise and cruise lines including Odyssey earlier this month. It qualifies since it is NAAT.

I suspect they blocked out the cabins involved with the move so they could get the cruises on the website to sell remaining cabins. It's a short sales cycle and not ideal so there will be a desire to get it out there. With cabins for moves blocked off they can begin to work on individual moves and notify Allure guests "soon". That's my guess.

For Vancouver your choices are much like any port city. A hotel near the airport will be less than a hotel near the port downtown. There is light rail airport train that is inexpensive to reach downtown and the cruise terminal. Downtown, while costing more is more convenient to downtown restaurants, sights and the cruise terminal. Hotel airports are available from most of the major chains. Budget will be a factor. The cruise terminal in Vancouver is called Canada Place. Try a hotel search near the airport and near Canada Place for a comparison.

Maybe until Allure moves to Galveston. They won't keep Harmony and Wonder in Port Canaveral. One of them heads to FLL or Wonder leaves the US. Time will tell.

Also, group bookings can have different rules in play. Ask your TA. If booked directly you likely don't have any perks associated with group bookings so that shouldn't be a factor for direct bookings.

It isn't really a cancellation and new booking in North America. I think the UK has that restriction. With a reprice (in North America) you retain the same booking number, same booking date, same deposit, etc. Like changing cabins doesn't cause a cancellation and new booking, neither should a reprice. Repricing can cause some forms of OBC to be lost. If you booked under a sale or promo that included OBC when you reprice you forfeit any offers from the original promo and you obtain any new offers for the current promo. That often results in loss of OBC but could result in new OBC if the current promo includes OBC. It depends but make sure to ask the question when looking into a reprice - "Will I lose my OBC?". Changing ship and/or sail date is another matter.

Not that we are aware of. T&C's state "booked by". I don't know for certain but I don't think Royal is looking for ways to get out of this promo. They want loyal customers to be happy (and loyal).

Call and ask. Only your TA knows.

Yep. I've pretty much not booked a refundable fare for any cruise that is CWC eligible. (I'm usually big on refundable bookings)

No one knows for sure. Royal has not officially said anything. Crew rumors about a drydock are reported, but those are just rumors without details.

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Congratulations! Should be a great cruise and awesome event in Star Class no less. Enjoy!

Podcast: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/podcast/episode-231-packing-alaska-cruise And...

Oasis Sky and Star class include internet access but if a guest locks their phone in the safe, they won't get any emails

Yes it can be. More common on pay as you go purchases compared to prepaid packages like drink packages.

I'm always amazed how quickly longer cruises like this reach their conclusion. In the beginning it's like "I have lots of time to try this or that" then all of a sudden it becomes "there's only a day left and I haven't done everything I planned to".