twangster

I'm glad you've been able to find humor and laugh at the situation. It's the best medicine.

I wonder if it is the same Youtuber who got most of the facts and projections wrong when Oasis was damaged in the crane incident. Some bloggers and vloggers will do anything to get clicks and followers, even make stuff up. Fortunately here on royalcaribbeanblog.com @Matt sticks with known and confirmed information, not speculation. If you want reliable information you'll find it right here https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/

That store just opened a few months ago and they've been running that promotion as a lost leader to get traffic in the door. That's hardly the normal price for Kim.

Typically the next cruise is shortened but the one after goes as planned. Refunds are offered and for guests on the ship when it gets extended they get a longer cruise for free. They typically are also offered super cheap rates to stay on the next shortened sailing. When this last happened Harmony turned the subsequent 7 night into a 4 night. A lot of people took the refund, some guest stayed on and the ship had 1/3 the number of guests compared to normal. Imagine an Oasis class ship with only ~2,000 guests.

Most airlines have or will put waivers in place and they do not charge for changes for impacted travel dates.

The current itinerary is not cast in stone. In order to petition for a waiver from the PVSA they must demonstrate they had an established itinerary that satisfied the PVSA. Only when that itinerary becomes impossible will a waiver by our government be considered. No cruise line can just sail wherever they want to or just show up at a port. There are a lot of rules, protocols and regulations in play that they have to navigate.

Once the Port closes Royal has no choice but to stay at sea. Before the port can re-open they must survey the port and channel to verify depths and no debris. That takes several hours. The Captain of the Port is typically from the US Coast Guard. They run with military protocol and precision. They don't deviate from the plan because a cruise line wants to do something. If the port is closed, the port is closed. Follow the Port on twitter for updates.

Plus investors get nervous every hurricane season and the stock takes a hit. Double whammy.

Port Miami has set Condition Whiskey Condition X-Ray expected at noon Thursday. Ships need to make plans to depart when Condition Yankee is declared. When they set Condition Yankee ships in port must leave and no inbound ships will be allowed in.

The only certainty at this point is that it will likely change destination again before landfall. This far out even the cone of uncertainty is uncertain.

Welcome to the message boards! Weight limits are generally stated per guest so if your combined weight is near the stated limit there should be no issue.

I am actually very pleased with the FCC offer. No fault of their own and a very generous credit. When I walked around CocoCay last week in my head I imagined the effort it would take to secure the island in the event of a tropical storm and still get the hundreds of employees who live there off the island. I know they have a plan in place and this week that plan went into effect. I'd love to be able to see it. All the work to secure all the things we all take for granted. Just wow. Then when the threat passes they get to put it all back in place, after the employees themselves get back on island. While I was so looking forward to another visit and experiencing the water park for the first time, mother nature had other plans. Good thing I booked a B2B, currently the 2nd leg is supposed to get there. However even that is subject to the whims of Mother Nature.

Kim has always been included in the drink package even this month. It's one of my "goto" wines when I have the DX. DX does not cover $17 wines. Locally in CO it's closer to $18-21 per bottle. If your local stores have it at $11 buy cases my friend, you are getting a fantastic deal. If you find it in a restaurant at that price, just wow. Unheard of in the U.S.

Perhaps but they cram them in there before they do. Nachi is known for a much lower limit.

Points North have to be as ready as the bullseye. The North East quadrant of a storm is usually where the nasty stuff occurs so even if it hits the space coast anything North of there will see pretty ugly conditions.

Hilton, Marriott, Holiday Inn Express don't offer $1 drinks. Who wants an $15 Uber each way to save a few bucks on a drink?

The short Bahamas cruises are fun because if you take away the Bahamas it's hard to go anywhere in 3 nights and satisfy the PVSA. People talk about a weather waiver but I'm not sure that is a sure thing they can count on if the origin port isn't impacted by any storm.

LOL!!!!

You'll need ambien and at least two bottles of kraken, each way.

Royal can't control the weather and a 25% FCC is very generous considering this isn't their fault and they are not obligated to provide any compensation when mother nature turns ugly. I for one still plan on boarding on Friday and will enjoy whatever destination we end up sailing to. I'll be on a cruise with like minded friends who all plan to cruise as long as they will let us get on the ship.

I often travel for business that involves staying in a hotel or visiting a bar in a distant city. Generally speaking drink prices on board are consistent with hotel and bar prices on land. If I walk into a local bar a beer is not going to cost the same compared to if I buy a case of beer in a store and bring it home. The ship is no different. A mixed drink like a rum and coke is typically around $11 with the automatic 18% gratuity included. A glass of wine is $13 to $20+ for table wine to more sophisticated labels including the automatic 18% gratuity. All posted prices are subject to 18% service charge or gratuity. There is no escaping this charge. If you pay for drinks one at a time each drink will have 18% added to the cost. If you buy a drink package, 18% is added as you go through the steps of purchasing the drink package.

I would advise you to check them out on the ship. There are towel stations on CocoCay but they are there to exchange towels and generally do not check out towels to someone who forgot to get one on the ship.

I have traveled on Indy both pre and post renovations. In the overall scope very few additional passengers were added as a percentage of existing guest count. Long before they finished the renovations there were protagonists offering their projections of doom. As this spread on social media many people became fixated on it. Boarding with the intent to find this "problem" many people found evidence of what they had convinced themselves they would find. Meanwhile Liberty, a sister ship had received the same cabin additions nearly two years prior and has been sailing without any such complaints. I found no such evidence during my port-renovation cruise. All ships will seem busy at time such as immediately after muster drill. At times all ships have waits or lines for popular items. For some this is evidence that the ship is now overcrowded. For me it's the same experience I have on all ships at some point in time.

I received the above email about CocoCay closing and many of my cruising group did as well. Royal held internal meetings this morning to discuss options. I imagine at this point some decisions have been made or will be shortly and they will begin communicating changes and options to the call center agents so they can be prepared when guest start calling in. They've indicated we should expect a 3pm ET update today, just over two hours from now.

Very sorry to hear about your grandmother. Have you cancelled the cruise already? It's possible that Royal may cancel it or give the option of a full refund if they need to make storm changes. That might be better than pursuing an insurance claim. We should know more later today or tomorrow. They are talking about possibly extending this weekend's cruise by one day which would impact your Monday cruise. December weather in Florida and the Bahamas can vary from quite pleasant to downright cold. Usually that risk is greater in January or February and often early December is a pleasant time to cruise without the oppressive heat of summer. However there are no guarantees.