AlohaLivin

Pre-cruise what?

We are thinking tht we will get a policy that is a medical one. The airlines give a voucher for a year, so not compensable, and for the cruise only a non-covid cancellation for in the last 48 hours would apply regarding “loss” in terms of the cruise. That would be then $300-500 for the non-medical part alone. And existing conditions, most likely to be the problem if there is one, aren’t covered unless you get the insurance closely after your deposit is made (which was done long ago for all our cruises). I have been trying to compare those policies. Anyone else get a medical (non-cancellation) policy?

It is on the app for our November Allure and Symphony.

Happy side note - active military and military retirees can earn a MLife Pearl status for their service via any MLife associated casino (there is a similar program through the Caesars group). I know this is true for the US military, it may include others. Hooo-rah!

We always struggle with this port. The first time I went I was nine years old on one of the early cruise ships (my parents were early cruisers, back when people truly dressed for dinner and the pool was a dark, yucky large hole back in the olden days - I never thought I would follow them). It wasn’t much then in my opinion, not much now once you have seen the basic historical parts of the island. That said we did a really high-quality foodie tour a couple years ago that we really liked. Glad to Provide information on that if you’d like. We’re either going to stay onboard or go over to the Atlantis Casino (since we cannot always avoid a stop here). Not trying to be negative, just not a lot of options. But if you’ve never been to this port, a good history tour would probably be interesting. And note that the walking foodie tour includes some historical aspects.

Thank you! You need to meet our cruising friend Chris, I think you two would totally get one another. He uses these kind of graphs to choose cruises and developed a program he uses to help him now. I love having cruise friends with the kind of data you two produce! We are careful with money hoping for a acceptable retirement years out from now, but we do the opposite with cruising and usually cruise in suites. The prices on those can definitely be wonky. * fair disclosure - the next cruises two were lift and shifts and we have zero latitude to complain about our prices on those two as we were going to do our first Empress cruises. It is the three additional ones that are more a concern.

In other words, possibly not sol and dreams do come true, it could happen to you thanks!

We are on Symphony 11/6 and Allure 11/4 - our next two up. We have another in April 2022, on the August 2022 and the one booked for Dec 2022. Partsay through all 0d that we will pass Diamond and reach d+. it may be somewhere along the line those cruise Rakestraw, the first two definitely won’t since those were left in shifts over to larger ships/

And @dswallow That is what I had understood, so the SOL applies It is just a great deal of cash, cumulatively, down the drain so while we were on the topic I thought I would clardiy (maybe hoping for a miracle ). Thanks for verifying the info though

I have had so many answers to this question that I’m not sure what the truth is – what about those of us who have booked ahead quite a distance and then become diamond (and Diamond plus) Will Royal add that discount or are we just SOL?

Hi Yes, add 3 months to the date on the box for all current batches (per emails from the distributor and manufacturer). If your box is marked 9/1/21, for example, the new expiration would be 12/1/21.

The ones we just purchased through the Royal site have an effective expiration date in March or April 2022 (you add 3 mo to what is marked on the box as the expiration date).

I have noticed that there is a great deal of variation in the competency and organization with different CVS branches. I suppose that could be really be said of any of the chain stores/restaurants. But because I once lived an equal distance between 2 cvs’s and used both and then recently moved residences, the disparity across the cvs locations is particularly evident to me. It is tough to trust anyone or any place with this particular task, a heavy duty “shot” of anxiety ahead of each sailing for sure @CrusingfromClayton that has been my experience with them for all tests/vaccines - there is a 2 week window.

Did you get a price adjustment by chance?

True, it doesn’t give much time. But we would have contact the concierge the week prior regarding most reservations - in our case not a lot would change I guess. But it does Leave at one to wonder what “promotions” would not be applied (and the CNA points would be a moot point for Sky to Royal suite move). We like the cabins we have, so if we usually think if get moved that’s cool and if we don’t that’s cool. It’s usually a matter of bidding on one or two Royal suites, most of which are too big for the needs of just the two of us (especially considering another 6000 or so to the total it would add).

I have never been certain of the true meaning of this (operationally that is) caveat. We have only bid for royal suites from sky level suites and haven’t bid anything much beyond the minimum (not willing to bid thousands more than we were already paying). But I can’t imagine paying out that much cash and them holding some benefit back (whatever benefit that might be - free drinks, full access to all restaurants, etc).

@TXCruiser Thanks. I have not seen one of the tables for the 195–100 batch, but I know they do not sync with the lot numbers - expiration dates on 195-200 batch chart, so I have to assume that the expiration would be January 15 2022 based solely on the 3 mo extension. The rate at which everything related to this virus, directly and indirectly, is changing is making the getting solid information difficult (and then it changes )

For some reason I can’t open that attachment, the error says “forbidden.” I guess the only thing any of us can do at this point is use the most conservative of the dates that we find. It is frustrating! But as a healthcare provider I can say it is far from the first time I have found conflicting reports/claims from representative of insurance companies (although this time we have a conflict between an insurer and a manufacturer ).

@TXCruiser what did the attachment show? And do you show 12 months between those dates on your boxes?

From Optum (the RCL link) it was 2 days for us. I think that is typical - they should have shipped that day or the next at latest. Their email is [email protected] and they respond within 24 hours (they have an 800 # but think they are closed now until Monday).

UPDATE - I emailed Optum (UHC) directly regarding the expiration dates as I could not find verification for the kit lot we received (195-100). I did not want to assume in this case as the consequences for being wrong would be rather negative. This is the text of the letter that I received: “ Thank you for contacting the Optum Store. Since the launch of the BinaxNOW™ COVID-19 Ag Card, Abbott has continued testing for product stability to extend the expiration date and have shared these results with the FDA. Testing has been completed to support a shelf-life (expiration date) of up to 12 months. On April 6, 2021, the FDA granted a 12-month shelf life to the BinaxNOW COVID-19 Home Test. This means the expiry date you see printed on your test kits has been extended an additional three (3) months. For example, a test kit with an expiration date of 2021-09-27 (Sept. 27, 2021) will now expire 2021-12-27 (Dec. 27, 2021). This means the expiry date you see printed on your test kits has been extended an additional three (3) months.Please keep in mind that this letter was issued back in May of this year and batches with new lot numbers will not be on the list as it does not get frequently updated, however this shelf life extension still applies to products whose lot numbers were not listed here. Your product is still valid and I can assure you with certainty that it will still be valid up to 3 months past the expiration date listed on the box. If you have any additional questions please let us know. “

Same question with have. I can find information on one 95–000 land 195-200 lots but zip on the 100 lot. Still searching!

Since my mother had died 2 weeks before we boarded, it was all a little surreal, and having old and new friends onboard made it so much nicer for me! We didn’t post pictures of people at our little party because I didn’t think I should put pictures of people without their permission (although I wanted to. ). They’re great memories for us too! We enjoyed the big panoramic suite, it was definitely different than any suite we had been in prior. The downside is that there are two small bathrooms, but there is a small “second bedroom” that has bunk beds that would be great for people traveling with children). But that view!

Hi! @FionaMG @BobWaterman We are the friends that Fiona discussed that had the chocolate cake. It was a wonderful birthday party and we had such amazing people there to help us celebrate Eric’s 60th! Fiona and Ferdinand made it extra special The good new is that it is super easy to get the cake, you go on to the Royal Caribbean gift url (https://www.royalcaribbean.com/royalgifts/ , but it was malfunctioning today) and order it there for your cruise. I would confirm with the maître d’ a few days before the cruise and also note it with the room attendant at the beginning of the cruise. The cake is seriously delicious, you would not imagine that a cake on a ship would be that good, but it’s pretty amazing! I brought some napkins and little paper plates just to make sure we had something for the cake. I also made a special birthday topper. FYI, If I were you I wouldn’t bother with decorations via RCL (of course it depends on the age and gender of the recipient). You can get great, inexpensive sets of decorations from Amazon and I found it super easy to hang them up with the little plastic hooks that they supply into the metal structures on the ceiling. I will attach some photos to show you the cake and some of the decor. Happy birthday to your daughter and good luck with it all! Lynn