Snowchaser

Curious, how quick do show reservations fill up? We have our first cruise since covid on Symphony coming up in April and we have a late boarding time so will we be behind the eight ball when booking shows?

Chill Island is your best bet, just get there early as the swimmers tend to push the sting rays out.

I just got off the phone with Royal and the rep was unsure if she could drop our 4th without the price possibly increasing so we didn't attempt it. Currently for our April 23rd sailing on SoS the price for 3 to sail is slightly more than what we have booked for 4 so I don't know if that's why?

We have a cabin booked for four, two adults and two kids (9 & 17), and we plan on just doing a no show for the 17yo. What do we do for the online check-in process, fill it in like she's going or can we do nothing?

I'm curious, Is everyone just checking one of the "possible exposure" boxes on the CVS reservation system to get the government paid test?

Question about showing up later than your reserved check in time? We are flying in the morning of our cruise out of Miami and there is definitely a chance of this happening?

Some ships used to have a sushi bar within the windjammer area, now it'll cost you extra. First couple times I was on a ship with a Johnny Rockets there was no upcharge for that either.

This cruise was originally booked non-fundable for April 21 but then was L&S'ed to this coming April if that makes any difference. The wife and I have been vaccinated (and have had covid) but we will not vaccinate our kids and we don't want to deal with extra protocols when there are so many other vacation options. With the final payment coming due on March 25th for our April cruise it's looking like we are going to cancel so we are wondering if there is any avenue in which we can get our $1k deposit back or is a future cruise credit the only option? We will wait right up until the final payment date to verify protocols but I'm not thinking a ton will change by then. At one point I read that you could be refunded for not be able to adhere current protocols but I'm not sure that is still a thing. Just want to have my ducks in a row before getting Royal on the phone.

If you log in to your Royal account and select "Pay remaining balance" it will tell you the date of your final payment. I just checked our April sail to verify how much time we had for cancellation as we are probably going to cancel due to protocols and this buys us more time.

Great, thanks everyone for the info! I guess I hadn't thought about just making her a no show but that's a good idea if Royal wants a fare increase for dropping her. I was getting a little nervous with current prices for our booking at almost triple what we paid. I will give Royal a call and see what they say. Thank you for the kind words! In reality almost all her classes are AP, so that with also trying to decide on a university for next year really has been a bit much. I really don't know where she gets her drive from as her parents were average students at best. I kind of wish she would throw a party while were gone........but I think there is about a 0% chance of that happening. LOL

I'll try not to make this too long but here is our scenario. We typically pull our kids (8 & 17yo) out of school the last week in April and do a family trip somewhere as our local town has a pretty big festival which gets the kids a shortened school week. We had Freedom out of San Juan booked April 21 for a steal of a price which was then L&S to Symphony out of Miami for April 22 which was much more expensive but done as an even swap. Now my oldest ,who is a senior, is stressing about missing 3 days of classes (seriously, who takes AP calc) and is considering not going. What changes with my reservation if she doesn't go and what options do I have to keep my price close to what I already have booked?

We have our own snorkel equipment and the best we found was the hit the Chill Island beach area first thing in the morning. Lots of Sting-ray in this area in the mornings but they tend to head out as people show up.

Way back before kids and the wife sold travel we used to book last minute cruises under a special "agent" rate. The only stipulation was we were never assigned a room until we arrived at the ship. We would have to grab the lead porter who would then get the ship manifest and find out the room assignment to us. I would bet you could do the same now! We always sailed for next to nothing but the stress of waiting to get that room assignment was killer!

Stop watching the news, problem solved! ? Most news networks ratings are in the toilet following the election and covid coverage so this is getting the attention now. Now start packing those bags!

I noticed something interesting to my on my Lift n Switch from last month. We had a GTY balcony room booked for April 20, we lift and shifted to April 21 and when I received my email confirmation I noticed now that I had an assigned room. Don't know if this was done accidentally or if its the norm for a L&S move? Our experience with GTY rooms in the past has been positive.

Your not wrong there, on that last trip to London we pre-bought our parking for two weeks at what I thought was $105usd, I get by CC bill and it was Canadian and was actually ~$75usd. I thought $105 was a steal but geesh I'll take it. Don't get me wrong, for U.S./San Juan flights DTW is where I would head too. I hear people complain about cruising out of San Juan due to flight costs but SJU from DTW is about as cheap as you get for a direct flight.

I had to chuckle at this as being from Michigan we typically drive to Toronto for Europe or Caribbean flights. I have always found it to be significantly cheaper, not to mention long term parking is less as well. Our flight to London from Toronto in 2019 was a quarter the price of flying out of Detroit and the Detroit flights had lay-overs in, you guessed it, Toronto.

Just wanted to share a couple things I found interesting follow a Lift n Switch. We were supposed to be on the Freedom out of San Juan this coming April, well with final payment days away we decide to reschedule a year in the future. We had a crazy good deal on a balcony room that we didn't want to loose the rate on, unfortunately there was nothing we could switch to out of San Juan that would fit my crazy work schedule. We did find a sailing on Symphony though out of Miami that would work in April 2022 so figured we would see if they would do the switch. Sure enough it was on the approved list even though it wasn't the same original port and triple the cost. Very cool it was so easy, as we expected to have to call a few times to get this done. Second was the even though we had a guaranteed room rate (they pick) for our first booking, when I received the invoice for the re-book I now had an assigned room number. Not sure if this is normal or maybe was by accident but worked out well. Now the bad part, another 467 days to wait. But who is counting!

Haha, I don't post much but you drew me in. My wife was a AAA travel agent for about 10yrs during the late 90's thru early 2000's and I would say your comments are a little generalized and more geared towards individual agents themselves. I know this will not be the case with all branches but the branch my wife was at still has some of the most traveled agents that I know and always provided top notch service no matter the destination. With that said between the wife being an ex agent and myself being a control freak, we typically handle our cruise bookings on our own. Like many here on the forum I watch for price drops like a hawk and its just easier for me to pick up the phone and get the price adjustment. We then transfer our booking to a friend who still works at AAA so she gets the commission and then add on our travel insurance. The wife earns more money now in a completely different career field but I will say we have never traveled as much as when she worked at AAA travel.

We used to get foreign currency before traveling through one of our credit unions but the fees got to be a bit much. Now before we land somewhere we look up nearby banks and just hit up a ATM. Our credit union ATM cards have zero fees for international transactions, the conversion happens automatically at a non-marked up rate and we've found most ATM's throughout Europe don't charge any extra fees.

We are booked on the same cruise and plan on waiting as long as possible even if it ends up costing a bit more money. On top of that I've found the best pricing at the 80-90 day out mark so we have a little time. Good Luck

I think it is for two reasons, first trying to limit capacity in case ships are permitted to sail but at limited capacity. Second would be they are taking advantage of all the 125% credits by raising prices and pushing back credits to later sailings. I have a April trip booked on Freedom and it is more than doubled now, we rebooked not long ago (balcony 2 kids, 2adults) for $2100, current price is right at $4600! Fingers crossed it isn't canceled.

Serious question, how many perks do people really use now that are tied with each tier? It seems way back when when we were gold status that we received a coupon book with lots of good freebies but in recent years and at a higher status we rarely see any perks we can use. Just wonder if this is really a selling point or if it more of a strictly personal status?

I just wanted to throw out there that maybe food consumption should be added to the spreadsheet. I know whenever I have a drink package I typically eat waaay less due to being liquid full! So put a few dollars back on the cruise lines side of the scale. Side note, if I'm on a drink package I typically tip a bit if the bar tend goes above normal duties like remembering what I was drinking or coming around more often to make sure you are never empty. I will say though when I've traveled through Europe that dining is much more enjoyable than stateside, due to the laid back atmosphere with the waitstaff not in a hurry to move the table along.

I'm just a casual forum reader and rarely get drawn into many topics but you seem to have some sort of vendetta/bias towards the U.S that is largely based on personal opinion. Currently the percentage of people who have or have had Covid stateside is ~1.76%, no where near 10%. Different countries have implemented different strategies for containment and it is what it is. Cruise protocols will be implemented and those who wish to travel will be obligated follow those protocols or not travel. Ultimately if you are uncomfortable with the rules in place stateside, you have to do what's best for you and your family and then decide if you want to cruise from a U.S port.