twangster

I also booked a Royal excursion. "Just in case". When the first Cuba changes came people booked before a certain where grandfathered. That's a possibility this time but might include an excursion restriction or grandfathering. You can always cancel an excursion up until a few days before sailing so it was a safe thing to do. We'll see. Time will tell.

The US has agricultural restrictions as well. In Central Park they are not free to plant just what ever they want, they work off a list that is approved by the USDA. When we did the Symphony Central Park tour with their lead botanist several Florida guests offered to take the plants they replace on a routine basis. They can't he explained, once on the ship if they remove something it can't go back on land, it has to be destroyed in the incinerator. They had to work to find plants that met EU regulations and US regulations knowing the ship would come to America after her time in the med. He had reviewed a plan to visit Australia. He estimated roughly a million $USD to gut Central Park and meet Australian regulations. A new ship wouldn't lose that investment if they built it for Australia but taking an existing OA ship costs them a million in plants alone to go there. If they ever left the region and came back to Australia six months later some of it would have to be destroyed and started over again. The fertilizer and sprays they use are also a complex issue. Few are approved for carrying on a passenger vessel and they have to watch where they store them relative to cleaning products or pool care products. One spray may work on one plant but a different plant needs something different. It really makes you appreciate how much goes on behind the scenes that we just don't think about. Symphony skirted a storm a month before the transatlantic. Winds were hurricane force and a lot of pool water was blown into Central Park. It did a lot of damage and thinned out the vegetation (chlorine on plants, not a good idea). He was on his his vacation break at the time but came back to see the devastation. He's been involved with every Central Park and when he told corporate he needed several hundred thousand to fix it they gave it to him without blinking. I was left with a greater appreciation for Central Park knowing all the restrictions and constraints they have to work within yet pull off something so unique and special that looks beautiful. I never would have thought something like Central Park could play a factor in a redeployment plan. There is so much beyond what my simple mind can fathom.

Welcome to the message boards! I understand your sentiments as someone who had their sailing cancelled from this event. I was supposed to board yesterday. We would be heading towards San Juan on a sea day today with 13 more nights ahead of us. Having followed this closely my gut feeling is that May 5th will go as planned. She has proven she is capable of cruising at normal cruise speed several days in a row on her way across. The work in the dry dock below the water line will proceed quickly now, it will be done in a few days, likely by Friday or maybe Saturday. Since they have another week they may do a few more things below the water line like painting just because they can. The work on the handful of guest balconies and railing on deck 15 is minor and won't take long to repair. The only question is the functionality of the Aqua Theater. There have been Caribbean cruises where the Aqua shows were all or partially cancelled due to weather. That's unfortunate but it's the weather. You may miss an Aqua show. Unfortunate but accidents happen. On the other hand maybe repairs to the theater are progressing well and it is too soon to notify guests they will miss the show. With the exception of the Aqua theater and aft area the rest of the ship was untouched. She is still the great ship she that we both booked. Enjoy your cruise!

No single answer is right every time. Sometimes you might get extra OBC but it can't be combined with C&A balcony discounts or other promos. Sometimes it can. Sometimes there is lots of OBC but the fare is higher. You need to shop them and compare. Any device can connect to the ship wifi and the website is free to visit, royalcaribbean.com. You are best to price out a cruise just before visiting Next. If you use a travel agent have them price any itinerary you are interested in. Go to Next armed with all that data. If you prefer refundable bookings Next often becomes unattractive for refundable bookings. On my last Next booking I ran the numbers and while I got $300 in OBC, once you put it all down to paper and compared a booking through a travel agency I was only $75 better using Next. It's $75 so I booked it but I had to pay more for the cruise upfront and got some of that back once onboard. There is danger in OBC - you have to make it onboard. If you miss the cruise or something happens you may end up losing because you never made it onboard to get your money back. $300 in OBC was more than I needed. I spent it just to spend it. I bought stuff I didn't need or want. I got a hat I never wear and a t-shirt I'm rarely wear because it was all the logo shop had that I remotely liked. I may have been $75 ahead on paper but in reality I would have been better off just booking it with my TA and not buying "free" clothing I'll likely donate to Goodwill soon.

Like the guide who claimed he can survive a bear attack using nothing but a .22 LR pistol. Not to shoot the bear, to shoot his buddy in the knee.

The marina is right beside where the ship docks. You have to walk past it to walk to town. Most local tours live off cruise ship business. There is a small campground in Skagway and you can drive there from the lower 48 so the charter might have 1 or 2 non-cruise guests but I bet the majority will be from the ship. Juneau to Skagway is an easy sail in a protected channel. If you had a medical emergency while leaving Juneau that could delay your arrival in Skagway but that can happen at any port. Here is the marina as seen from a ship:

That's interesting but according to the Captain Ban on Anthem, Symphony was going to be stretched. He was quite sure about it. Captain's are great sources of rumors. Maybe he is right or maybe it's a concept being floated simply to see if it's viable and seek feedback from senior officers across the fleet. Central Park in Australia would require artificial plants due to agricultural regulations in Australia. They could replace Central Park with another neighborhood concept so that isn't an insurmountable issue. Some Ovation ports of call in the South Pacific and New Zealand use tenders so that would be a challenge. If they wanted a year round presence in Australia a Quantum class ship would make more sense due to the cooler winter climate.

Does this post address your questions? https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2019/04/15/perfect-day-cococay-waterslides-experiences-height-and-weight-requirements

Do you know what venue they perform in?

This is exactly the reason they put the new policy in place. They watch for this pattern of consumption and will revoke the package without a refund if you are caught doing this.

I spoke with Air2Sea just to make sure I understand the benefits. The priority is to find an alternate that gets you to the ship on boarding day. If that simply can't happen they will NOT hold the ship. When it comes to joining the ship mid-cruise at a port of call, they will cover airfare, hotel and transfers to reach the ship. They do not cover meals. In addition they can't always forward you to the next port to board the ship mid-cruise. This is particularly tricky on Cuba itineraries where the next port of call is Key West - you can't board in Key West. So it seems in some cases Assured Arrival is limited in scope to finding an alternate airline to make the ship on boarding day.

Can you provide a overview of the train to the airport? How far is the train station from the pier, how much does it cost, how easy is it with luggage, is it a direct train or do you need to transfer, etc... Thanks!

Oasis in December right after she comes back from her AMP are some of the cheapest Oasis class sailings I've seen. They are even discounting the single supplement. Oasis in Bayonne is higher in price because of the market. Folks in the greater NYC area are excited by the prospects of the first ever visit of an Oasis class ship in Bayonne. Cruise pricing follows supply and demand principles. High demand equates to higher prices. Lower demand equates to lower prices. The first two weeks of December is a seasonal low for the cruise market year after year. Despite being fresh out of her AMP and refresh the prices are low because demand is low. Clearly they have not placed a premium on Oasis just because of her refresh, any price trends are because of demand. Certain cruises have a premium applied because they are bucket list itineraries. Panama Canal, Alaska, Transpacific, etc. Royal has a lot of historical sales trends to use as a basis to set initial prices. They know Oasis in Bayonne will be popular so they can nudge initial prices higher. They'll watch bookings and adjust accordingly. Just like a transatlantic on a Vision class ship will not be in demand so they know they have to lower prices, often below $50 per person per night to try to fill it.

Royal takes the inspections seriously, even staging simulated inspections so they find things before a true inspection occurs. Its an interesting read and digging into the details across various cruise lines yields some telling information. There are minor items that can cost a point and there are some more serious issues that can cost a point. Not long ago Carnival had an uncharacteristic number of ships receive low scores or fail. A number of them on different ships included failure to document or report an incident to the CDC. Compare that to something like not having a sign to wash hands in the right location. Both are violations but one is more serious than the other. A score is great but the details reveal a lot. It’s worth looking at the details.

Think beverage cooler around 50F versus a fridge which is closer to 35F. Its not suitable for food at that temp.

Just an FYI as a point of reference. I booked Ovation to NZ in 2020 as refundable on the US website. Once I secured flights at a decent mileage redemption I was able to convert to NRB which shaved $425 USD off the price. No fees or cancelation required to convert. A phone call to C&A and it was done in seconds.

Yes, this is common on elite heavy cruises such as this one or Transatlantics. The Ovation Transpacific that is underway now is subject to the same as is the Hawaii to Vancouver cruise that follows it. These longer cruises outside of school breaks are a magnet for top elite. On Anthem a portion of upstairs in the Music Hall is routinely blocked off each for Diamond overflow. There are so many Diamond and Diamond Plus on Ovation that they plan to use the entire Music Hall on both floors as overflow.

I fear that will be their response... "Your airline did not cease operations for 24 consecutive hours" (even though all flight were sold out). I rarely fly in the day of a cruise. I couldn't make it work this time. In the future I just won't book a cruise if my schedule doesn't allow me to fly in the day before.

I've done the West coast Mexico ports on Carnival a few years ago. I've been a few times and nothing there interests me. I understand why Royal is being careful about coming back to CA. Even if they do I'm not sure how much I'd sail from the West coast because the itineraries are lackluster and repetitive. It's still a 2 1/2 hour flight for me versus just under 4 hours to Florida. If I'm going to do the whole airport thing anyways, lining up for security, checking luggage, etc., the whole country is available to me to depart from. Although I do enjoy staying on the Queen Mary the night before a cruise.

Yes, this is within the Windjammer so only accessible when the WJ is open, but is saves making the trip down to deck 4 if you are close to the WJ.

I've already acquired additional policies for my 2019 sailings where I could. One is too close and too expensive given the short time frame involved. Fingers crossed. If my appeal is successful my annual coverage limits will reduce my potential coverage for any future qualifying events. While I continue to have emergency medical transportation and health coverage through Allianz I question how a valid claim for that coverage would proceed. That's not to say another insurance company won't be any better, I may be out of the frying pan and into the fire, but I have to give another company a chance and hope they are better.

Anthem never had a standalone Starbucks venue just as most ships did not until Oasis class came around. Perhaps in some future dry dock they will place one on her like they have on other ships as they were AMPED. In that sense it isn't "gone" from Anthem, Starbucks never existed on her. The Windjammer has the standard self-serve coffee but the coffee bar within the Windjammer is a solid place to get your morning fix with baristas on hand to satisfy your caffeine addiction on a more customized basis. This is in addition to La Patisserie on deck 4.

Agreed but at the moment the Hawaii cruises that Royal does offer are only offered because the ship is repositioning from Australia to Alaska or vice versa. Hence May and September. Cruises to Hawaii from Cali are subject to the PVSA and must include an international stop so it's not as simple as just offering cruises to Hawaii. Hopefully if Royal does return to the West coast they can offer additional runs to Hawaii however I'm not sure if demand is high enough to make them worth while to offer and they may need to originate them out of Vancouver due to complexities within the PVSA and concepts of "near foreign port" versus "distant foreign port" as it relates to international ports.

Landing at 2pm you are almost assured to miss the cruise. Assuming your flight is on time, after you deplane, walk through the airport, wait for luggage and find a taxi you will likely arrive at the terminal between 2:45pm and 3pm. Depending where you sit on the plane it can take 10-15 minutes just to get off the plane. Walking the airport and other 10 minutes. Baggage claim another 5-10 minutes after that. Taxi ride 15 minutes. Read you SetSail pass... "Due to government regulations, all guests are required to be at the pier and checked in no later than 90 minutes prior to sailing" The ship pulls out at 4pm but seals the passenger manifest and submits it to the government up to 90 minutes prior to sailing. That is 2:30pm. You can not arrive at 3:59pm and expect to board the ship. Arriving at 3pm and you'll likely find security closed and dock workers such as baggage handlers leaving for home. Air2Sea has no power to hold ships, that lies in the hand of the Master of the vessel exclusively and Air2Sea has no voice with them. By Air2Sea's owns words they offer "Assured Arrival"...at the next port of call. When your vacation comes around, you don't want to miss the ship because of flight delays or cancellations. Book airfare through us and we guarantee, should an issue arise, our Emergency Travel Team will work with our airline partners to get you to the first available port of call. While there is some comfort knowing that Air2Sea will get you to the next port of call, what have you missed? Staying in hotels with more flights and taxis and none of the things offered on board the ship days after it departed? It's not as glamorous as it sounds. If you really want to sail on the cruise from the start of the cruise, don't fly in the day of the cruise.

The JS was pretty inexpensive, plus it 45 C&A points solo.