AlohaLivin

5 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Is this someone who passed away on Allure during this cruise ?  How awful.

Yes, on Allure.  I didn’t see myself having to do crisis intervention on the ship, but you do things you have to do sometimes and I was glad to help. She is a dear woman.We’re checking in on her frequently and got in touch with a few others that have met her to try to fill some more of her time. 
 

P.S. We are so sorry that you aren’t with us!

We are onboard Allure - yesterday there was no Voom. We connectivity around 8ish this morning. Wouldn’t matter a lot to us other than being unable to reach those caring for the furkids at home. It was a real frustration yesterday to a cruise friend who had one of her cruise companions die onboard on the first sea day as she needed contact with home/family more than usual

24 minutes ago, Kris816 said:

I will be cruising to the eastern Caribbean in a few weeks. Now, that Florida is on daylight savings time and the islands we will be visiting are an hour ahead, does anyone know if the ship will change to local time or keep ship time? Thanks!

We just got off the symphony and for the first time in our cruising lives the times are all over the place For the first two nights the wake up call from the ship was an hour too early even by the ship’s tIme (and the time change doesn’t explain it unless the “wake up” function differed from the ship’s clock).  The third night, still in the same time zone, we used our wifi-connected cell phone and it woke us up an hour too late.  I have no explanation for any of it  Maybe next week on allure the clock situation will be less bizarre/

6 hours ago, SpeedNoodles said:

It's always good to have a back up.  Tony from La Lido Loca filmed his first at-home, proctored test and after he'd done the swab and closed the book he accidentally caught the stick on a sleeve and it went tumbling off of the table.  Test over, invalid.  He had to start over.  I'm now paranoid about them (i.e. cats and dogs locked in another room during testing!).

That one scared me too. But we ended up doing it in front of our home computer, I protected the desk like a firebreathing dragon. But all went well/

11 hours ago, teddy said:

I certainly didn’t enlist for discounts 30 years later….hell, I won’t even use veteran parking spots….but I figured I’d check it out for Royal and was surprised.  

You didn’t?!I I am shocked. Can’t say we have seen any of the veteran parking spots, but today when Delta called for any active duty military or retirees to board early we were up there quick as a flash for a nice leisurely stroll onto the plane. Nice, small perk after 30 years even if it wasn’t in our thoughts so long ago.

19 minutes ago, teddy said:

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/qualifications-special-pricing
 

/snip

To qualify for a military rate, an individual must be classified as one of the following

3. Veterans with an Honorable Discharge serving a minimum of 2 years, or 6-months in an active war zone, in any of the United States service divisions listed above. Proper identification in the form of a DD 214, plus a current photo must be presented at time of check-in.

 

I interpret this to mean my 5 years active duty and honorable discharge qualifies me.  
 

We booked our January 2022 cruise from Barbados with a military discount. I plan on showing up with a copy of my DD 214.  

Great! It can definitely vary with different lines. Some (most?) also allow for military/veterans from all of North America. It is a small discount, as I had noted, but even if it’s $100 that is $100 in your pocket.

29 minutes ago, levib2 said:

I forgot to tell my TA that hubby is a vet, 3 years service.

Really hard to get in touch with her....Is it worth the wait on the phone?  Not sure if they would give extra discount or tell me we already received a 30% off promotional discount.

 

I know that there are discounts for retired military (10-30 years) and active duty. I did not think that there were discounts for all veterans. I could be wrong on that, but many organizations divide the line there. Even for us, with Eric serving 30 years, the discount on a cruise (when it is offered, which is 25% of the time at best, is typically only $200 or so.

5 hours ago, ZuggsandMimi said:

 

I am so sorry, you must be mega frustrated.

We will test Thursday am for the first of a side 2 side. I won’t lie, I am so nervous! We have had a booster dose weeks and have masked when we were around people, but this virus is so contagious that it is still a fear. We haven’t had a vacation in two years, and even then it was scheduled a week and a half after my mother died, so we need this badly. 
 

I Hope that you all get to reschedule very soon

18 minutes ago, SpeedNoodles said:

Since this was my first suite experience I have nothing to compare it all to, but I found her to be very easy to talk to, eager to help in any way, and is warm and engaging.  When I stopped in to thank her and to say goodbye at the end of the cruise, she got up and gave me a big hug!

Sounds super positive though - Warm and friendly. Most of the concierge‘s is on Royal and Norwegian a very nice color you get the rare “fake flirty” types, but most are nice and very helpful! 

3 minutes ago, wordell1 said:

Is the suite concierge able to make show reservations pre cruise?

Not really, at this point, from what I understand from the concierge for the symphony as the schedule isn’t finalized. But they can make them on day 1. I realize that makes the first day really hectic, but this is a situation at least until we get past these Covid protocols.

11 hours ago, SimGuy said:

How far in advance of sailing do the suite concierges contact their assigned guests?

Example - we sail on Symphony on this Saturday, 11/6… the welcome letter from the concierges came yesterday (10/31).  It seems the only difference now is that suite guests do now need a reservation for shows. In the past there was a special area for suite guests that didn’t open to everyone else until maybe 10 minutes or so before a show (so reservations weren’t needed). Now they are allowed to go earlier (but may require getting there very early, as in 30-45 minutes before), but reservations are needed. Not much they can do other than that with social distancing now. 
 

@SpeedNoodles So glad you had a great cruise!!! So tell me about Elaine… we know and like Dexter, but have not met Elaine (the Allure is a S2S with our symphony cruise).

We uploaded our vaccination records into the app a few weeks back, but they no longer show in our app at all now . Definitely doesn’t say in progress. We sail 11/6. Of course we have photos of them and will have them with us. Even though we’ve had three vaccine doses and have been very careful to wear a mask on top of that, this whole testing process can be anxiety provoking. I’m sure many feel the same even though we all understand it is important.

15 minutes ago, bryresangel said:

Hello,

We have about 50 full-size candy bars left over from Halloween. Would bringing them for the crew be a good idea (sorry @CHRIS WONG no Rice Krispy treats)? If so, where would I drop them all off at? Thanks!

We have a good 3 lbs of chocolate left too, but thinking that could end up a giant melted piece pretty easily!

On 10/25/2021 at 7:01 PM, Danielle OG said:

This is for anyone who has recently sailed: how does one sign up for the fitness center? Do I reserve a time slot? Does it have to be in advance? Is there a time limit per person i.e. one hour? Thanks!

 Fitness center? On cruise ships??? If there is a reserved time, I will gladly give you mine

On 10/27/2021 at 8:12 PM, Baked Alaska said:

How much weight or credence should I put into the bid-o-meter? That is, is a "weak" bid according to the bid-o-meter really "weak?" By what standards is it judged "weak?"

We ignore it, but obviously that is not a scientifically validated winning technique  

9 hours ago, Atlantix2000 said:

Last I heard, almost every cruise port is listed as high Covid and based on their definition of high Covid, so is most if not all of the USA.  So if you're comfortable traveling now/soon, I wouldn't worry about it.

As a healthcare provider I see it a little differently perhaps (in terms of how I look at the data  and calculate the risk for me). I find the state department ratings pretty useful, I’m not so cynical to think that there’s no good reason for them to rate a country as “do not visit” other than clear data. But it doesn’t really matter now because Royal Caribbean is allowing only bubble tours on this island (and three others that are considered high risk by them in comparison to other ports) and so no one will be roaming around St. Kitts for the time being.
 

2 hours ago, AlwaysRollin said:

Our 11/27 Allure cruise originally had St Kitts on the itinerary but it was changed a few days ago, (they traded St. Kitts and DR for CocoCay and San Juan).. maybe your St. Kitts will get axed as well.

It was just added it on. We’ve had this itinerary changed twice now. I actually don’t understand why they’ve added at St.Kitts since the state department has it listed as “do not visit” because of the high Covid rate. We may just stay onboard   Bummer

I put my 3rd dose, but they really are referring to the 2nd dose (or the final one of the series in your vaccination protocol currently considered to mean you are “fully vaccinated”, which I guess now with J&J would be 1). It would therefore, by my reading, be fine to have your booster does the day of your cruise if desired as I read it (and that is what makes sense given that the booster is an extra dose at this point)

Our Nov 14 Allure cruise has just made two changes to our already altered itinerary- we now will go to San Juan (been so many times not much left to do) and St Kitts (where we somehow have never been). But I keep hearing warnings from people about these “bubble” requirements that had been in place at least until recently and I am wondering if anybody knows the current status? RCL had no tour options up until this afternoon but still there are only 2 options. I would like to know if independent tours are in option for us at this point, but I don’t know where to find the answer to that.

Mine were mid October. They were ordered about a month ago (via Optum). So the new expiration mid January. Don’t think we can count on ordering them now for anything in 2022 at this point.

5 hours ago, Traveler said:

There will be many photographers and no issues to take 100 pictures and more (actually you should take more so you can chose).Take into consideration that the photographers are not really "professionals", I think they were trained for few days and become one , some are good , some are not that good. 

That is one of my rare complaints about Royal over some other lines – the quality of photographers. I’ve had some amazing photographs on other lines where their knowledge of photography and their repertoire in terms of poses are often quite good. On RCL, the often very young photographers are very typically amateurish (over and over the hand in the pocket pose for a man - I told my husband to just say no ). There is one we liked and that is the one from Labadee 2 years ago that is on this profile  - we were a little shocked when suddenly we were floating around the Caribbean and up pops a photographer!

Every place and situation has rules. Are there always going to be the grown versions of oppositional disorder onboard who just need to give the world the middle finger ? To quote @Matt, Yup. But most of us understand the guidelines and can live with wearing the requisite clothes to dinner on a cruise without much whining (since there is always Panama City Beach where the rules are “anything goes” for those who prefer that style).

@twangsterso I have wondered, are those zippers not scratchy??

3 hours ago, SpeedNoodles said:

Did they call or email you when it was declined? 

Hi!

I think back on almost every circumstance I ever had that was similar (since unfortunately most of us have had our card numbers compromise a few times…) the vendor (whether Amazon or someone else) always reached out about the card being declined and asked for an updated card. I would think there should be someone, somewhere, to contact at RCL to get the card updated as cc issues have become a rather common occurrence in our current society. But if there’s not, surely they will reach out to you! Don’t give up hope we’re all sending super positive vibes your way.

On 10/13/2021 at 11:38 AM, AshleyDillo said:

The Suite Lounge should have a Happy Hour where the drinks are complimentary and won't require the vouchers. There may be a limited menu of liquors, wine and beers that are included. In addition to Happy Hour, on Oasis class ships wine and beer should be available 11a-11p but there have been reports that this is varying from ship to ship.

Yes, there is unfortunately a limited menu. I ran into the problem once on Allure (polite and there’s not a lot I want to drink, so limiting me makes it a problem). On the positive side, I now have a list of drinks that should qualify for “free” in the suite lounge (and happy to share it with anyone who might be interested).

Pre-cruise what?