MaryCS62

Yup, was still holding out hope for our July 29, but now that's gone. And it's a 10 day, so no equivalent L&S available -- at least not out of the 3 ports I can drive to (flying is too complicated for us- mobility issues). So, we're applying to our next cruise (hopefully!!) and will just be sad this summer 😨

Do you know if it is refundable (I would hope so!) or if it can be assigned to more than 1 cruise? Since our July 29 one just got cancelled, we have ~ 1600 due to us, and 2 cruises scheduled (3/21 & 1/22), and don't know if we want all of it to go to just one.

We're on the Adventure 10 day late July cruise (out of Bayonne), so my fingers are still crossed that July 24 is the correct start date!! Of course, I still have to get my vacation time approved (I applied for it on Aug 1 of last year, informing them that it was a scheduled cruise that already had a deposit, but my dept sucks at approving anything that far in advance), and the summer schedule just came out with me on it for those days. They haven't been denied officially, but they're not approved yet either, and it's complicated by the fact that I work in a hospital and am considered an essential employee, so all vacations are currently on hold for now. We can still cancel up to 48 hrs before, but I'm really hoping to go on this cruise...

I assume you mean April 2021, as there's only one day left in April 2020....

I'm still hoping our July 29 Adventure cruise is still on, so that we get to make full use of the $18 drink 🍹 package we snagged 😄. Really, my ideal is just sitting by the pool with a book and a drink, so I doubt I'll even leave the ship (mobility issues also make that harder, so it's a win/win for me). We get a couple of free meals from our TA, and DD and I signed up for the sushi class, so I'm good in that department.

I would love that. I emailed my TA on Friday (we have late July out of Bayonne) just to tell her that we were still planning on cruising, as long as Royal doesn't cancel on us, or we have to cancel for other reasons. I asked if Royal had made any changes to payment due date, as ours is due end of April (5 weeks from now), and she said no, it's still 90 days. We can swing it -- I happen to belong to one of the class of workers who are essential personnel, so I'm still getting a paycheck, and DH will be remote teaching (community college)but for anyone who is currently having to live off savings, that may be tougher to swing.

DH, 2 DD'S and I are scheduled for late July on Adventure out of Bayonne -- still plan (unless told categorically otherwise) to make final payment on April 30 -- our 90 day mark -- and hope to be on the ship as scheduled. I WILL NOT cancel unless we have to -- and lose my $18/day 🍹drink package 😄

As I don't care for the room service coffee, and in fact, prefer iced coffee in the summertime/or cruising in warm weather areas, I get my iced latte (courtesy of the Deluxe drink package) the night before, stick it in the little fridge, then order pastries & toast to start the morning -- and hope DH gets up for the door :)

Also, it depends on if you can self-disembark (in other words, take yourself and ALL your luggage off), or if you need your bags carried off for you. Self disembark can be done very early -- shortly after the ship docks. I've never done it, so I don't know exactly when you can leave. Otherwise, standard disembark, you are assigned a time (just so they can stagger the departures), although I believe you can ask them if you want to go earlier or later than the assigned time. If you do that, most of your bags are left outside the room the evening before, with luggage tags they leave for you, and you disembark & pick them up after you go through customs. For various reasons, we only do standard disembark, as late as we can, because we drive to the port, and travel with someone with medical issues, so "fast" is not in our wheelhouse, but many other people report being off the ship within 20 minutes of the earliest allowed time when they self disembark. How many bags you have, how far the airport is from the cruise port, what time you have to be in the terminal for your flight home -- all these factors are important for choosing your flight home. Conventional wisdom suggests nothing earlier than noon/1pm, since any number of things can delay your being able to get off the ship, including late arrival, problems with retrieving your bags, traffic between the port & the airport, etc.

My nephew had his study abroad in Italy (Florence) just cut short & told to come home -- he has to be home by Friday. He's really bummed about it, he was having a marvelous time, was traveling all over (part of most of the classes involved field trips - he actually got to go to Fashion Week in Milan one day), and of course, he was traveling all over Europe on the weekends when he had no classes. My sister is being affected as well -- she & her other son were going to visit him in a couple of weeks, and of course, that's not happening now, and she doesn't know if she'll just lose the money (or points) that she paid out for the airline tickets. I'm really glad my next cruise isn't til summer -- plenty of time for this to go away (I hope!)

My next cruise is almost 5 months away, so I'm not concerned about it now -- if this is still an issue 5 months from now, we've got bigger problems than whether or not I get my vacation -- especially since I work in a hospital -- I'm more worried about what's going to happen at work at that point. Glad it's not the next 2 weeks -- DD just came down with a bad cold & has a slight fever, so that would really screw us up.

I'm surprised by this -- my DD has celiac disease (gluten free) & a degree of lactose intolerance as well, so avoids dairy for the most part, and was always able to get a non dairy milk for her coffee/lattes. As far as I know, you may have to ask for them, but they have non dairy options on board.

You can bring it back, or you can have them mark & hold it for you. If you're elsewhere another night (say, one of the specialty restaurants, but your wine was held for you when you were in the MDR), you can tell your waiter that & they will get it for you to drink.

That sounds like us. DH always wears long pants & either a polo shirt or dress shirt with blazer, with or without a tie, depending on the venue (we never do Windjammer for dinner, so it's either MDR, specialty, or on Anthem, Coastal Kitchen). I wear either long sundresses or dressy pants/top with low sandals (knee issues prohibit heels for me). I'll often skip makeup during the day, but will wear it for dinner, along with a little jewelery. Won't go crazy, but do like to make the effort.

We just booked a cruise Monday for Grandeur next March, (adjoining Jr Suites), and after they were booked, I went looking for general info, deck plans, etc, & saw a note on another website indicating that certain rooms have a pole in the middle of the room, right at the end of the bed. Uh-oh -- realized that was the room the DD's were booked into, & since older one is disabled, unsteady on her feet in general, & uses a wheelchair outside the room, I was concerned that the pole might become an issue. Figured, OK, no problem, just switch rooms, DH & I can handle it. My TA first said there might be a charge, since normally one person has to be on the original reservation, but then emailed me today to say that she s/w someone at Royal & got the cabins switched, no problem BTW, does anyone know WHY there are poles in the middle of the cabin???