Shari

We got an Owner's Suite on our 27 November Navigator of the seas cruise for the minimum bid of 190 each.  Upgraded from a Jr Suite.  Never been in anything above Jr Suite so this will be fun!

We got an Owner's Suite on our 27 November Navigator of the seas cruise for the minimum bid of 190 each.  Upgraded from a Jr Suite.  Never been in anything above Jr Suite so this will be fun!

Congrats and enjoy!

We got an Owner's Suite on our 27 November Navigator of the seas cruise for the minimum bid of 190 each.  Upgraded from a Jr Suite.  Never been in anything above Jr Suite so this will be fun!

We got an Owner's Suite on our 27 November Navigator of the seas cruise for the minimum bid of 190 each.  Upgraded from a Jr Suite.  Never been in anything above Jr Suite so this will be fun!

We got an Owner's Suite on our 27 November Navigator of the seas cruise for the minimum bid of 190 each.  Upgraded from a Jr Suite.  Never been in anything above Jr Suite so this will be fun!

We got an Owner's Suite on our 27 November Navigator of the seas cruise for the minimum bid of 190 each.  Upgraded from a Jr Suite.  Never been in anything above Jr Suite so this will be fun!

We got an Owner's Suite on our 27 November Navigator of the seas cruise for the minimum bid of 190 each.  Upgraded from a Jr Suite.  Never been in anything above Jr Suite so this will be fun!

Fantastic news, so good to hear. Please enjoy....but beware the space alone is just so decadent! You will be hooked. Enjoy your sailing & congratulations again!! 

Congratulations, @Shari.  You're in for a real treat.  The OS is my favorite class.  Enjoy the dining table/chairs and order a room service meal if you can.  So awesome !

We got an Owner's Suite on our 27 November Navigator of the seas cruise for the minimum bid of 190 each.  Upgraded from a Jr Suite.  Never been in anything above Jr Suite so this will be fun!

We got an Owner's Suite on our 27 November Navigator of the seas cruise for the minimum bid of 190 each.  Upgraded from a Jr Suite.  Never been in anything above Jr Suite so this will be fun!

We got an Owner's Suite on our 27 November Navigator of the seas cruise for the minimum bid of 190 each.  Upgraded from a Jr Suite.  Never been in anything above Jr Suite so this will be fun!

We got an Owner's Suite on our 27 November Navigator of the seas cruise for the minimum bid of 190 each.  Upgraded from a Jr Suite.  Never been in anything above Jr Suite so this will be fun!

I work at Port Everglades.  This is a TEST program only on Freedom at the moment.  It is similar to the Expedited arrival that Royal was doing prior to Covid shutdown.  We have not heard results from the test yet, but if all goes well they will be rolling it out ship by ship.

I get the reasons for all this.  But it does not diminish the fact that folks spent a lot of money to become top-tier and promised top-tier benefits, only to have the benefits taken away, no matter how trivial or temporary( 🤐).  I understand the heartburn, regardless of the reasons. 

Update. We received or crystal block today.  It was less than 3 weeks. Instead of the 4-6 weeks.  

We've been really lucky with our RU bids! We start with a "free" cruise offer from the casino usually a balcony or jr. suite. Then we submit offers to several suites, and so far i think we've won every time. I say "won" because of course this makes our free cabin not free at all?!? But, we're very happy to pay a little to cruise in a beautiful suite. So far, we've won RU bids for a crown loft (twice), and royal crown loft (once), an owners suite (once) and grand suites (twice). I think our bids are usually in the mid'range.....
 

Update. We received or crystal block today.  It was less than 3 weeks. Instead of the 4-6 weeks.  

We have been on cruises where ports were missed due to hurricanes, where one of the azipods failed as ship was trying to outrun a storm, and various other stormy issues.  So my only gripe is that they kick me off at the end of the cruise when I am not ready to leave.

We use Allianz.  Reputable and not too expensive.  Annual with them is cheaper than one cruise with Royal.  Also Allianz is what we always booked through the airlines when we did just one flight.

@teddy, yours is one of the best stories I have ever read regarding "plan for the worst and hope for the best".  You did an outstanding job of planning lots of cushion time and boy did you end up needing it !  In the end, once you were able to extract the stress from the unfortunate scheduling SNAFUs, you had a wonderful opportunity that you would have otherwise missed !  Talk about your silver linings !  ...and it was all due to your anticipation of "issues" which, unfortunately, came to pass.

We use Allianz.  Reputable and not too expensive.  Annual with them is cheaper than one cruise with Royal.  Also Allianz is what we always booked through the airlines when we did just one flight.

Check all of your current coverage options and determine any gaps for things important to you. For example, my credit card has trip cancellation and emergency evacuation coverage. My health insurance is a global policy and even covers medical aboard cruise ships specifically as well as coverage abroad.  I don’t buy extra insurance for these reasons.