twangster

What are the numbers on the front of your card, including expiration date? ?

Some of the Voyager class are popular charter ships in the winter after Xmas. There is a car dealership that offers a free cruise with a car purchase and a few other companies that like the Voyager class to charter. Smaller, cheaper, easier to fill, amplified, cheaper in winter, etc. Charters are a definite down side to Royal. I've had a number of charter takeovers and it does completely mess up plans including the January 2022 Oasis date. I'm secretly hoping that masks are still required just to mess this charter up. ?

I'd like to enter my details like C&A number, state and age on the website ONCE and have it remember that as I look at different cruises. I dislike having to reenter that over and over again.

This may not be precise but the gist of it is... I've heard something to the effect that if the federal government were to "detain" a US Citizen or deny them the ability to freely travel domestically even for public health reasons, that citizen has a right to appear before a court to argue their case. Every single citizen has the right to freedom including freedom of movement within the US and when that is challenged they can have their day in court. A person who is known to be infected (positive test result) is clearly a risk to others and the court may likely side with the government. A person who is not yet infected poses no risk to society so it becomes a lot less clear if the court would side with the government in their attempt to limit or restrict the freedom of a US citizen by applying a domestic travel ban to anyone who hasn't tested positive. Congress could enact new legislation or the constitution could be amended but that is a process that would take a long time. In theory if the CDC shutdown a domestic flight or airline, that is essentially hindering the freedom of US citizens and every one of them has a right to present their case before a judge. A person who is infected or has tested positive is one thing but to apply mass restrictions to citizens with no evidence they pose a risk to another person is a different matter even if the federal government is trying to protect the individuals impacted. International movement is another matter and by definition all mass market foreign ship travel is international in nature. The small US flagged cruise lines including river cruises on the Columbia, Snake and Mississippi that have ships with less than 250 capacity are not subject to the CDC order but they are members of CLIA and have agreed to abide by CLIA's shutdown. They likely know that becoming a mass spreader would likely not end well for them right now but as this moves forward and numbers begin to decline they could be some of the first passenger ships to sail even before the CDC lifts or modifies their cruise ship order.

Only Congress can limit domestic commerce and travel. International travel is another matter.

American flagged passenger ships with more than 250 combined crew and guests are also subject to the CDC order. Its not an attack on foreign companies. For reasons that are steeped in history shipping has long been subject to federal laws and oversight. This includes US flagged ships with US crew. Most of that history and the road down the legal path that got us into this federal control for shipping was done for the right reasons even if we don't always like it.

Stay away from the bamboo sticks option. ?

If you have experience with land based massage venues it's pretty similar but they will do a hard sell at the end trying to push a range of products. It's more expensive compared to a massage on land but if its a special occasion perhaps it's worth it. They outsource the spa to a 3rd party that does many different cruise lines.

The CDC does not have authority to stop land vacations. Their guidelines are not to travel but that is all they can do - issue guidelines for domestic travel. If they had authority they would shutdown airlines as well. So it isn't that they are being hard on cruise lines while giving land vacations a free pass, they are controlling what they can (cruise lines) while watching people on land vacation unable to do anything about it.

Welcome to the message boards. Royal has been doing this dual embarkation for a while now. The ship stays within the EU so it doesn't have the customs and immigration activities like a cruise in the US. Other than seeing other people's luggage in the hall mid-cruise and doing the muster drill separately it pretty much will be like a normal cruise for you. While you are checking in for your cruise which seem like a normal embarkation existing guests will see Civitavecchia as a normal port of call day getting off and spending the day there.

At the moment the exchange rate is $0.79 which isn't bad compared to recent times so if you do tip in CAD just remember it's not dollar for dollar. LOL. Try shopping in Canada. Before you know it you have 10 lbs of coin in your pocket and are listing to starboard like a ship in trouble. You know those old pirates movies where they always pay in gold coins? I call BS. I've experienced a pocket full of coin in Canada. Took a chiropractor 6 sessions to get my back straight again.

Canadian dollars may be hard(er) for the crew to deal with. Vancouver is the only Canadian port on many Vancouver round trip itineraries so it's the only port where they can spend the money without dealing with conversion issues. Prepaying the daily gratuity eliminates that tipping component so all that's left is tipping above and beyond the gratuity that already built in. Even drinks at bars have an 18% gratuity applied to them. Since you are from Iowa I'd suggest bringing US dollars for any additional tips you feel like providing. That being said crew will be happy with any additional tips in any currency so if you think you are going to have extra Canadian money on hand I'm sure they would still appreciate it.

Our patience will continue to be required now that we are in 2021. There are a lot of variables that will influence the timeline forward. Cruising will restart when all the pieces fall into place.

Happy New Year!!!

Not the start to 2021 the residents were looking forward to. Hope everyone can stay safe.

If adopting the day 2 savings approach be aware that some ships have offered a day 1 special that provides a free day if you purchase it on board on day 1 only. I've only seen this a few times but keep an eye out for it because it provides the same savings that waiting for day 2 would bring. Adventure was the ship that offered it.

It will be interesting to see how the vaccine is being rolled out throughout the Caribbean. It's one thing to reach a point where the CDC will let ships sail but they need somewhere to sail to. When will each nation in the Caribbean have enough of their population vaccinated where they'll open their ports to arriving cruise ships?

Yes but with no one driving anywhere lives have been saved from car accidents :)

I understand your point, but... What would the death toll have been without any mitigation? I don't know. I'm not sure anyone does. NZ could say the same thing. Any entire country locked down, implemented restrictions, banned INTL travel, etc. Was that all a waste? A big scam? Not trying to argue, just curious if you think all the countries that have managed better are just faking their low numbers or if countries that have or claim to have elevated number are faking it?

That is one potential outcome but new vaccines if approved can influence the timeline. Time will tell.

The path the ship can take can be highly variable. With islands so close relatively speaking they can sometimes take a meandering path over night resulting in an approach you might not predict. Other ships can cause them to deviate from a direct path. Consequently they might take a path where you can see the Pitons or they might not. Having done a coastal cruise from the port to see them I was able to check off the Pitons check box but I was somewhat underwhelmed. If your family has a more interesting day planned I'd be tempted to do that activity and hope for the best on the sail out.

I think your Star Class challenge in Bayonne may rest with the local traffic folks just trying to get every vehicle to the curb without any awareness of suite or steerage. The baggage handlers just see a bag, not suite or steerage so they'll be trying to grab your luggage. The trick with Star Class is getting through the gauntlet of terminal workers just trying to do their jobs. They aren't Royal employees, they do every ship and cruise line using Cape Liberty so you are just another face in a sea of faces. Getting your stuff down to where the Star Class banners are is perhaps where you'll have to be adamant and direct. Leave my bag alone!

Nope. Same discount. To save more money I use a day 2 strategy. The following is only for D+ members. If you can use your cell phone on day one since the ship is in port until 5pm to 6pm typically and you buy the internet on the morning of day 2 it is "free" on a 3 night cruise or ~$20 for a 4 night cruise (for D+ members). Buying a full voyage Voom plan on day one costs more since it's prorated and gets cheaper as the cruise progresses. I built a spreadsheet that compares cruise planner purchases versus on board. Here is a comparison if the cruise planner price for Surf and Stream is $11.99 per day and the onboard daily rate for Surf and Stream is $21.99, a typical rate prior to the shutdown. If you can wait until day 2 to buy Voom, then for a D+ it's cheapest to buy on board using the D+ discount for cruises 6 nights or shorter. If you must have Voom on day 1 then for a 3 or 4 night cruise it's cheapest to buy it on board. For cruises longer than 6 nights it's always cheapest to buy it ahead of time. That is all assuming a cruise planner advance price of $11.99 per day. Since the photo quality will probably make that hard to read here is the important part blown up larger: The cruise planner doesn't always have it for $11.99 so the math changes as the cruise planner planner prices goes up. For example, when it's $14.99 in the cruise planner: At $14.99 in the cruise planner it's best to buy it on board on day 2 for anything 9 nights or shorter but if you must have Voom on day 1 then it's cheapest to buy it on board for anything 6 nights or shorter. Once you reach 10 nights it's always cheapest to buy it in advance in the cruise planner. But again this is assuming the cruise planner price is $14.99 per day. In some cases it's only a few dollars but a few dollars is always better in my pocket.

Depends if your mother is a doctor or not.

Found another D+ letter where it shows the $45.98 discount for D+ so ignore the letter above.