AshleyDillo

In Florida you order certified copies of a marriage certificate from the county clerk's office and you can get birth certificates from our Department of Health. I think it's different in every state probably where to get them.

Certified copy is the key term. I ordered one to send away for my passport because I didn't want to send off my original birth certificate.

I don't see that's a requirement. It says if you don't have one the birth certificate works.

I'd try on a different web browser to see if it still happens. I'm 58 ish days out and I can bid.

It's more of a if you have more than 2 people in a room, there's a bid to turn your one room into two rooms. Say you booked your four person family in a single room, they'll offer a RoyalUp that gives you two separate rooms.

Fun! I am slated to fly from Pittsburgh towards the end of September, so I will have to look out for this guy.

Actually I would highly recommend doing a cruisetour where you have a land tour and a cruise. We did the 7-night 8B cruisetour with Royal with a Seward to Vancouver 7-night cruise and it was fantastic. Most of the major ports on Alaskan cruises are pretty standard, but we chose the 8B cruisetour because it was the one that had the most segments by train of the landtour. Absolutely amazing!

If you are looking for warm, I would suggest trying a Southern Caribbean cruise that hits Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao. Looks like you hit most of the other Southern Caribbean ports already. Or you would also look into a Panama Canal cruise. On the complete other end of the spectrum, maybe consider Alaska. That was probably my favorite cruise I've ever been on.

Mexico's only requirement is that the passport be valid at the time you enter the country. You will be fine with a February 2022 expiration. If you are worried about what Royal says in their FAQ about needing the passport to be valid for at least six months after your cruise, also bring your birth certificate and driver's license as a backup.

Actually if you purchased items with OBC and cancel, the OBC is available immediately for use. Meanwhile you have to wait several business days at a minimum to see the credit card refund show on your credit card account statememt.

Yes. If you are in the same room you just leave everything in your room and hop off the ship with your passport/birth certificate/drivers license and go back on. If you are in different rooms, you let the room steward know and they will arrange to have your luggage moved over to the new room. Just take your carry-ons and anything important with you in that case.

If you aren't specifically buying Royal's protection plan, usually trip insurance is covering you from when you leave your house until you get back home. If something happens and you are past that 48 hour mark and can't cancel, that's where your trip insurance would kick in. If your trip is delayed/extended the trip interruption costs will cover hotel costs. meals, incidentals for expenses that you incur. Those are headaches compared to the big expenses relative to medical expenses, so if you could absorb those costs out of pocket and it not financially devastate you then it's probably okay to self-insure those.

The only way to use the OBC on items already purchased is to cancel and rebuy them. Keep an eye on prices, because we always advise that you can always cancel if the price drops and take advantage of it. In that case if the OBC is loaded and available you can use it then. Otherwise, OBC can cover the gratuities that get charged daily. You can use it in the casino, but if you go through the cashier they charge 5% if you don't have Casino Royale status. Sometimes they have it set up that you can use it at the slot machines with no added charge, but that's been hit or miss for me.

That is correct.

It's been there for at least this past week. I have not seen the ship-specific protocols yet that list out the venue access and such.

That's specific to the policy purchased. Different carriers offer different coverages and different exclusions.

Oh yeah..that one was a nail biter! Even planning to come in the day before didn't work out...I have been hearing horror stories about airports and flight cancelations all over the place because of the increased travel demand.

Yes. It may require straightening it out with Guest Services, but it will be refunded as OBC. They may still charge $10 for those on the dining plan.

That's referring to the provided coverage for vaccinated guests and ineligible for vaccination guests (under 12s right now). No clue why the date for that is different than the end date on the requirement for those who are no not vaccinated to need insurance.

Just reading the details, the cheaper one sounds like the better time. Only 6 people on the boat. I guess the only factor is you have to deal with the ride to the resort where you'll catch the boat and have lunch.

Royal Caribbean opted to do test cruises, so they do not need to hit a 95% vaccination threshold to sail, so the only limitation is actual capacity.

I am also getting reports that you get a wristband for being vaccinated. I'm not sure how I feel about them going that route when they could have noted it more discretely, but I suppose it is easier to tell who belongs in the all-vaccinated venues that way without having to check ID at the door.

No disagreement here. What I quoted was with respect to the question of Royal covering costs for those vaccinated who aren't required to purchase a policy.

They do some crazy accounting things with numbers. We had a huge mess from a canceled cruise where we opted for the 125% FCC and the 125% OBC. They generated the FCCs but then I later got a credit card refund for the cruise fare. Then part of the onboard purchase was refunded too..it was a big old mess that the TA had to work for 8 hours to get sorted out.

Sounds like this would make a good story for the podcast, @Matt