Shari

We received no email and still waiting patiently for our taxes, port fees, gratuities and insurance from our cancelled March 22nd cruise. Looking forward to our June 14th cruise?.

I received this email last night I will update if I get my refund for my 4 May cruise that got cancelled.  At this point I have not received any refund for the cruise including shore excursions, taxes, fees, or gratuities.
 

LOL @Baked Alaska I don't care what you call it, because of the Blog and all of you, I was able to take advantage of it and turn a worrisome upcoming vacation filled with worry into a vacation in  filled with anticipation and excitement again.

The name of it sounds like a tagline for underwear: "Lift & Shift for that Royal Wedgie."

Well, has anyone seen a photo of @twangster?

I was on a call today and we were told that in reality it is taking them more like 45 business days on the first round to complete the cancellations and while they have put that out for the other two rounds, they hope that they can do those faster.  Royal is supposed to be sending an apology to all guests as well.
Not posting this for people to attack on it, or comment really... Just wanted to post it somewhere so people would see this and maybe ask for everyone to be understanding of those that are working on all of these cancellations.  The person that you call in at the call center is not the person that is working on the cancellations.  Your Travel Planner does not have a way to speed the process up.  This is a Pandemic that was not planned for and everyone that is left working is working hard to process these cancellations.
 

Best news we have heard on getting refunds since the whole thing began.  Thank you for letting us know.

UPDATE>>>>>> got mine back 30 days exactly to the day I requested my refund.....good for Royal!
 
 

Refunded Cruise Cash payment has showed up in Credit Card account.  Took just about 30 days from cancel date.
Thank you RCL.

The Champagne Bar WAS my favorite spot but only Allure has one now.  I hope I can get back on her before they put in the replacement when she is refurbished.

I know what you mean.  We booked our Panama cruise the day it opened 1 1/2 years ago.  It was to be a celebration of 3 of us turning 60 within months of each other.  We had the primo rear facing balcony cabins.  Also, anticipating it was keeping me sane over the last 6 months as my Mom took a turn for the worst and passed away in late February.  Now the self isolation is even more difficult.  I can only keep my spirits up knowing that our 40th anniversary cruise is so far out (the Iceland cruise) will probably be a go.

The Champagne Bar WAS my favorite spot but only Allure has one now.  I hope I can get back on her before they put in the replacement when she is refurbished.

I know what you mean.  We booked our Panama cruise the day it opened 1 1/2 years ago.  It was to be a celebration of 3 of us turning 60 within months of each other.  We had the primo rear facing balcony cabins.  Also, anticipating it was keeping me sane over the last 6 months as my Mom took a turn for the worst and passed away in late February.  Now the self isolation is even more difficult.  I can only keep my spirits up knowing that our 40th anniversary cruise is so far out (the Iceland cruise) will probably be a go.

The Rotterdam took some of the healthy passengers from the Zaandam to help its sister ship as some of the Zaandam crew was also ill.

I think the U.S. messaging is very focused on the next few weeks to months with little mention or messaging about life 3 - 24 months away.  The focus is on the coming hump with hopefully low hundreds of thousands dead.  
If you read between the main headlines you can come to the conclusion by yourself that this virus will still be with us 18 - 24 months from now when hopefully a vaccine will start to become available but the media is so focused on the White House briefings that they aren't mentioning the long range outlook or very much at all about life after June.  The media up here is historically split along political lines and that remains evident in the coverage most are providing of the virus.  The media spends so much energy dissecting every word of the near daily White House briefings to support their left or right political views that they aren't thinking independently enough to address life 12 months from now.
Consequently there is hope of cruising in June or July up here while I personally think the probability of that is pretty low.  I think Royal has figured it out otherwise they wouldn't have secured several billion in backup loans to get through it.  You don't need 3 billion in loans to get through 3 or 4 months.

Very sad, these are the people who make our vacations possible, deepest sympathies to those who have passed. Many have no say if they can leave and go home.
News story from Fox news:
"A person aboard the Celebrity Infinity cruise liner has passed away, Celebrity Cruises confirmed on Thursday.
The person’s cause of death was not specified in a statement provided to Fox News, although the ship, which is currently docked off the west coast of Florida, has been under lockdown since at least Saturday following confirmed cases of coronavirus among the remaining crew members onboard, the Miami Herald reports. A representative for Royal Caribbean, the parent company of Celebrity Cruises, further confirmed that two crew members aboard Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas ship — which currently sits off the coast of southeast Florida — were evacuated for medical reasons.
The company said all guests had already departed from both ships in the last couple of weeks, according to a previous statement obtained by the Herald. Only crew members remain, and those that had exhibited “influenza-like” symptoms were asked to isolate in their cabins. As of Saturday, however, crew members aboard the Infinity told the Herald that most of them had been confined to their rooms since Saturday, and learned of a fellow employee’s death on Thursday, but not how many positive cases had been recorded on the ship.
Prior to Saturday, the crew members were reportedly awaiting arrangements to repatriate to their home countries."
 

Hi everyone, I know we get heated debating which dessert is the best one to order, or if a balcony room is worth it, but let's keep these basic rules in mind when chatting here.
No profanity No personal insults No political discussion This includes tropes about politicians and generalizations about political parties No debating religion Keep your posts relevant and accurate to each specific thread. We can all have our little fun within each thread but please make sure the information you're putting out there is correct and current.   Topics not related to Royal Caribbean may be removed. Posts or comments encouraging cruisers to break any Royal Caribbean policy is not allowed and will be removed.

I'm not sure when Chris shot this video, but he posted it today... at the airport...
 
 

Other sites are reporting positive tests for Corona-virus amongst the crew on Oasis, let's hope they all have a speedy recovery and that Chris Wong is well back in the UK, scary times ?
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVHHMkz2Tz0&t=106s
 

I know that for a lot of people outside of this community, it may seem silly to be so upset about canceled/changed cruises. However, we all understand that vacations like these are a way to escape reality and make once-in-a-lifetime moments. We all come together to enjoy these fantastic ships and destinations and we truly get to appreciate the good times. So given the hard times at the moment and what may come up, I wanted to take a moment to appreciate this community. We will get through this and cheers to our next cruise vacation (whenever it may be)! (Also thanks to @Matt obviously lol) 

btw, if it's not obvious -- I'm an avid scientist at heart, if not by profession. My current career is in web application design and programming, but my Bachelors is in biology with a concentration in molecular biology and genetics. I also put in two years at Hoffman La-Roche doing cancer research before deciding that I didn't have the temperament for a career that's defined by years of failure with only rare successes. But I still keep up with science and developments along with whatever is going on in the computer science world.

This article just showed up as a link from a Brit YouTuber I’m subscribed to. Article published today. Italy wants the world to see what this virus is really like.
https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-they-call-it-the-apocalypse-inside-italys-hardest-hit-hospital-11960597
 
Key quote:
I’m not one to pray, but sending prayers to the people of Italy that they come out the other side of this soon. This is starting to look like 1918 in a scary way. Hopefully other countries see this, spread the word, and people who have thought all the instructions to stay home was just hype (I’m looking at all those college kids who decided to go to Miami Beach for spring break) will finally get it. 

Thought this was pretty cool to see even though it's a Regent cruise ship! The cruise ship berths are way closer to the mouth of San Diego bay so it's very strange to see a liner cruising under the bridge. Look at all that vertical clearance! This is the Regent Seven Seas Splendor heading for a dock in the Naval Base at pier 13. 
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Carnival has long contracted their ships to FEMA for housing.  They tend to be lucrative contracts.  When the hurricanes hit St Thomas two ships were contracted.   They make significantly more on these contracts compared to selling them as cruises.  Typically they just cancel any booked cruises.
Carnival has a lot of older and smaller ships they typically offer for this so it makes a lot of business sense.   

Here is the day two vlog by @CHRIS WONG. Each day he plan to make a vlog about the day onboard the ship during the 30 day no cruise time.