twangster

At this time those three islands have enacted local regulations that does not allow self exploring beyond the port area. https://www.royalcaribbean.com/the-healthy-sail-center/getting-ready-to-cruise Some of these ports have excursion booths set up in the port area. You can get off the ship in the port area and visit the excursion booths to see if they offer a government approved excursion that appeals to you or you can book an excursion through Royal Caribbean. However you can't leave the port area with booking a government approved excursion. These are local regulations enacted by the destination. No one knows if they will still have these local regulations in March.

I read it as Dec. 4. With ships not making frequent calls to port and some ports limiting who can leave the ship in many cases they are not keeping up with cosmetic painting on the lower hull. Salt air is very caustic. It's normal for surface rust to appear. It is mostly cosmetic and will likely be addressed once the in service date approaches.

When you have guests under 21 in a cabin they don't have to purchase any beverage package when someone in that cabin buys the deluxe beverage package. The rule governing the deluxe alcohol beverage package and everyone needing a beverage package only applies to people 21 and older. Your girlfriend can purchase the deluxe beverage package and your daughter can have no beverage package, or any non-alcoholic beverage package that you want your daughter to have. You will find it cheaper to buy all beverage packages before you sail and you can purchase them separately so you can watch for price drops separately and exchange them separately if a price drop for one but not the other does occur.

I found a image on a travel agent training guide that illustrates how Royal tracks the category you booked versus the category you sail in. Price Category = What you booked Berth Category = What you actually sail in When it comes to awarding points in C&A all they need to do is look at the "Price Category" to determine the basis for your points. If that is a studio cabin you get one point per night (or two with the double points promo). If that field is a double occupancy standard cabin and you are solo then it's 2 points per night (or 4 points with the double points promo). If that field is a suite category and you are solo then it's 3 points per night (or 6 points per night with the double points promo). When you use RoyalUp to upgrade the "Berth Category" changes but the "Price Category" does not. This way Royal will always know what you originally paid for versus what you ended up sailing in. In your case having booked a studio cabin the "Price Category" might still show that you paid for a studio cabin. If that is the case then you only get points based on booking a studio cabin. If whoever moved you into a double occupancy cabin made that move in a way that changed the "Price Category" then you just may get points based on solo in a double occupancy cabin. If that person or system moved you and the "Price Category" remained the same (your original studio category) then it is unlikely you'll get any more points over what you paid for.

This is a disadvantage of using RoyalUp to sail in Star Class compared to booking Star Class conventionally. The genie won't reach out before you are actually upgraded to Star Class. Since RoyalUp can occur very close to sailing this does impact this aspect of how a genie prepares for your cruise based on your preferences. Normally the genie has months to get to know you and everyone's preferences. With RoyalUp the genie may not have enough time to prepare like they would with a conventional Star Class booking.

I think Royal strives to make each new Oasis class ship the "new biggest cruise ship in the world". In some cases that claim doesn't results from length but from other dimensions or volume, or passenger capacity. One way or another the 6th Oasis class ship will become "the largest cruise ship in the world" when it goes into service. That guarantees media headlines promoting the ship.

Let me see if I have this right. You are booked in an A2 and saw the A1 which is a similar suite at a lower rate. Is that correct? Be aware that after final payment due date, which is 30 days out right now, you can't change cabin categories to benefit from a price drop. While A1 and A2 are very similar suites, they are different categories. Even if you take all the other circumstances away, there is no way to switch categories A2 to A1 after final payment due date for a price drop. In some cases you can effect a change in category after final payment date IF you agree to leave the pricing alone. I recently was able to move from a 2D balcony to a 5D balcony after final payment due date. The 5D balcony had dropped in price at the last minute and was slightly lower than my 2D balcony. I wanted the 5D balcony because it was an aft balcony with views of the wake. Royal agreed to move me from a 2D to a 5D category but only if I agreed to leave the pricing alone so I was not able to benefit from a price drop while changing categories. Royal didn't have to let me change categories after final payment due date. They could have declined my request and I would have sailed in my 2D balcony. Fortunately in my case Royal agreed to change me but I was not able to realize a price drop in the process. Hopefully I have understood this aspect of your concern properly and have addressed the $3,000 savings you were hoping to realize.

I'm sure Omicron didn't help and may have caused a few butts to pucker up. I was in Canada when Omicron news first broke and you would have thought a whole new pandemic was discovered. Then they discovered a few travelers had it in Canada and it all went nuclear in the news.

Voyager class can't use the Panama Canal. Next best choice is the Suez. Have all states got on board with the cruise ban ending? Can international crew transit to and from ships now?

SES/O3b does a lot of filtering and policing of traffic to avoid hundreds of devices all trying to upload the daily pictures they took to the cloud and to avoid hundreds of devices trying to update apps and operating systems. Unsure about the Google Play store, but Apple cloud services definitely have some filtering in play.

Or Suez to swing through Asia, hang out there like she was and eventually pick up crew as her restart gets closer.

It will be when the shipyard has availability. The shipyard is owned and run by another company. They service all sorts of ships from cargo, tanker, container and passenger ships. All ships have to dry dock on a periodic basis so dry dock space in a shipyard can at times be difficult to reserve. If the shipyard has availability in the spring but not in the fall, the dry dock will occur in the spring. If the shipyard has availability in fall but not in the spring, it will be in the fall. Dry docks are for technical marine maintenance under the waterline. A dry dock does not mean she will get new guest features added. Many cruise ships who have dry docked recently realized no changes to guest areas because that is not why ships go into dry dock. Anthem of the Seas was scheduled to enter dry dock last year before the pandemic shutdown the industry. She was not going to receive any guest areas updates because she is a new ship and doesn't need any guest area updates. I highly doubt Symphony will receive any guest area updates when she dry docks because she is also a new ship and she doesn't need any guest areas updates. Consequently Symphony's dry dock date, spring or fall, is irrelevant to the cruising public.

It sounds like you booked an A1 or A2 AquaTheater Suite and agreed to the casino rate of around $10k total for both guests. Is that correct? A few months ago the final payment due date changed from the normal 90 days to 30 days so that does sound appropriate that you didn't have to pay the balance immediately 3 or 4 months ago. From what I can gather you have paid $1,300 towards the approximate $10,000 total. It seems there may have been some confusion that left the appearance that the balance due was only $1,300 when in reality the balance due was the full $10,000 you originally agreed to. In reference to using RoyalUp - RoyalUp is not a sure thing. There may or may not actually be an A1 suite and there is no guarantee you would have won the bidding if you had stayed in a balcony and tried to use RoyalUp. That really doesn't matter because you booked an AquaTheater Suite at a rate that you agreed to at the time, around $10,000 if I understand correctly. Regardless or everything else it seems you booked an AquaTheater Star Class suite for approximately $10,000 with your casino discount so it seems reasonable that is what you need to pay if you want to sail.

Offer letters for on board here: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/25934-crown-anchor-on-board-offers-2021-edition/#comment-281822 D+ gets $51.98 off any full voyage Voom plan purchased on the ship. (not available pre-cruise)

D+ gets two free days of Surf or the corresponding value applied towards a full voyage plan. If you wait until the morning of day 2 you basically get Surf & Stream free or at a small charge.

That is true, but OP has FCC already. Plus the source of the FCC is beyond CWC for some of them. There is no single answer that fits every situation. With older GSP FCC (Global Suspension) you never know until you try.

Royal continues to be amazing on board but just like before the pandemic the shore side teams don't deliver the same level of service compared to the teams on board the ships. Having said that the C&A team has traditionally been the better call center to use even though they don't staff it during the same hours when the general call center is open. I would talk to C&A and explore options with them. (800) 526-9723

Yes but sometimes the food is different than the MDR. It varies by ship.

The app store wouldn't connect at all, like I was not connected to the internet. Connected VPN and I could search apps and load them.

The refund for protocols issues is an elusive policy to see in writing. I used it in August and at that time I was told you have 30 days from when protocols are announced to exercise the refund request. That was never captured in writing, just what a phone agent told me so I'm not 100% solid on that claim. Up until recently that worked since they were announcing protocols one month at a time. Now that they announced protocols through March it will be interesting to see if they apply the 30 day rule.

You can book the train through Royal or direct with the Alaskan Railroad. More options when booked direct such as Goldstar service which isn't always available on the charter train (Royal's charter train is a different train entirely). Renting a car is an option, couple of rental agencies in Seward.

VPN saved my bacon recently when I needed to install a number of apps for an unexpected flight home mid-cruise. The Apple app store is blocked by policy on Voom, only select apps can be accessed such as the Royal app. I couldn't load some travel apps I needed to upload vaccination and tests results into unless I activated my VPN, then I could install the apps needed.

Technically you get points based on your "Booked" cabin type, not your "Berthed" cabin type. Since you booked a studio cabin that is what you should expect points for. Royal might view your "booked" cabin as a regular balcony depending how they did the move in the system. There is a small chance you could qualify for 4x points based on solo in a regular cabin but don't be disappointed if that doesn't happen. Royal Up never changes the calculation of points. If you Royal Up into a suite from a non-suite cabin you will be awarded points based on your original booked cabin type (non-suite studio).

Coco Cay is Royal's own private destination and he will be able to get off the ship there. Nassau has requirements for unvaccinated to take a ship excursion to leave the ship. While you can self explore as a vaccinated adult, he can't go with you to self explore in Nassau until he meets the requirements to be recognized as fully vaccinated (second shot at least 14 days prior to sailing). Consequently the only way to get off the ship with him is to book an approved excursion through Royal Caribbean. https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/what-are-the-requirements-for-guests-to-go-ashore-in-ports-of-call Q What requirements are there for guests who wish to go ashore in ports of call? Will I be required to buy a shore excursion? Can I take an independent tour? A Fully vaccinated parties may book a shore excursion or visit most ports freely. However, families traveling with unvaccinated kids must purchase a local tour through Royal Caribbean if they wish to go ashore in ports of call. This applies to all ports of call except Perfect Day at CocoCay, Labadee and Port Canaveral, Florida. Vaccinated parents wishing to go ashore freely can visit our youth facilities onboard to learn about drop off program hours and availability, and reserve time for their child on the day they wish to go in port. Requirements for going ashore vary based on port of departure, ports of call and vaccination status. This is due to the varying ordinances at federal, state, and local levels, as well as the ongoing evaluation of public health in each region. We will continue to update booked guests of any requirements for their upcoming cruise. You can also visit the Getting Ready to Cruise page or your port of departure to learn the latest.

Does Google Fi support wifi calling on non-Pixel phones now? When I had Fi you could only get wifi calling if you used their phone.