AshleyDillo

This is what's crazy to me..when they announced the latest round of cancellations we cancelled the cruise planner items before it locked the cruise planner. Got the cancellation email dated June 2. My refund showed up on June 11. My brother got his refund even faster. He used AmEx and I used Bank of America.

Exactly. The blame really relies in not disseminating the information to those front-line phone reps so they can provide good customer service. They get asked questions all the time that they don't know the answers to and I'm not sure they have ever been trained on how to respond if they don't know. Sometimes they tend to offer their best guess and sometimes they will just go by what they can uncover through Royal's website, which often isn't updated to reflect the latest information in a timely fashion. Some customer reps don't even recognize Royal's separate Travel Agent website as being an official Royal Caribbean website. When @twangster was first posting his exasperation about the issue, the policy was one thing and because of the backlash they back-pedaled and are now offering what they should have in the first place. It was a pretty quick whiplash change, so it's no surprise that someone could call up now and get a misinformed rep.

Regardless of itinerary, I would go with Oasis as it's been AMPed. There's nothing wrong with Allure but without the AMP she just doesn't seem as refreshed. I actually went on Oasis last Thanksgiving. I also tend to prefer the Western Caribbean itinerary over Eastern Caribbean and you get to visit CocoCay.

My advice is try to track down the source of the information so you can tell your TA where to find it! Then they have something they can reference that's in writing and see where it is coming from. Since this is an email in this case, unless you or the TA end up getting it they haven't made an official announcement that I'm aware of that's on their site.

Yes. The walk to the Straw Market is very easy. There are several streets immediately at the port with the typical cruise port shopping and the straw market is located in that area. For reference:

Unfortunately even when there are official releases from Royal Caribbean the agents that you speak with aren't "in the know" about them. They aren't been apprised of all the changes to Terms & Conditions in a timely fashion. There are releases that go out to the Travel Agencies that outline the specifics when they make offers. I believe in the blog post about this, it's showing the letter that was sent out to Travel Agents that have customers impacted by this change. Your TA may not have gotten this email for a myriad of reasons (most of them the fault of Royal's poor IT and communications) so they didn't know about it. https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2020/06/12/royal-caribbean-expands-options-guests-affected-cancelled-allure-of-the-seas-sailings This wasn't originally an option, but they listened to the feedback/complaints they received and some folks have reported success in escalating to get moved to a cruise that works for them. They've posted in Facebook pages and that's trickled over into messageboard posts so if you're reading the messageboards you will see the changes happen in real time. I know @Matt tries really hard to put out accurate information through the blog and not post based on rumors without substantiation or official word from Royal Caribbean.

It may be written in their shipbuilder contracts that if they can't meet deadlines there are monetarily penalized, i.e. Royal gets a break on the costs. The shipbuilder may in fact be on time but it will be all the finishing touches that could cause the delay. Similarly to Allure's AMPlification, some of the interior furnishings and extras could be sitting and waiting for the ship to be floated out so they can begin that step of the process. If those contractors are impacted by COVID-19 it could take longer to completely finish the ship even after it has left Meyer Werft. We don't know how much leeway they left between the anticipated delivery date and the inaugural sailing. I remember from the Oasis AMP that they had contractors still working on the finishing touches as it was sailing back to the US. Royal may be planning to push back the first sailing because they anticipate those last minute preparations may not be completed and that's why they are alluding to the delays already. We won't know for sure until they tell us, so all we can do is speculate. There's about 50ish days until final payment for the inaugural and that's about the same time that the deadline to CWC for a full FCC for the nonrefundable deposits, so we shall see what plays out between now and then.

This link has detail about the excursion, which was helpful for me since I don't have a cruise that goes to Cozumel booked where I could look at the details ? http://www.royalcaribbean.com/shoreExcursions/product/detail/view.do?sourcePage=shorexByPort&ProductCode=CZZF&DestinationCode=FAR.E

That's a tough one. I know that they consider the issuance of a future credit as making you whole when claiming a loss (e.g. you cancel for some reason covered by the travel carrier and it results in a credit) and that won't pony up cash in that case, so I'd imagine it may be the same here and you wouldn't get cash reimbursement for the FCC. That would be something to ask of the insurance companies when you are shopping the insurance policy. My yearly policy definitely doesn't spell it out -- the closest thing to is is that there's a provision if you have to pay a fee to reinstate loyalty points that you used to pay for a trip, then that fee is covered.

I thought CWC covered the change fee as long as you change by August 1? It does leave a bad taste in their mouth, understandable. And this situation has to be extra frustrating. I hope that your TA can persevere and get you the resolution you deserve. I've read at least one success story so far of getting moved to a different ship and date price protected with the same Star Class cabin.

Oh no..refundable deposit stays a refund. But you definitely only can get the nonrefundable deposit as a FCC..at least under CWC it's still the full deposit amount without the change fee.

Still not a true refund, though...only a FCC.

No. And the refund for port fees and taxes (which one would think comes from the same place) may be in pieces as well. You really have to stay on top of it to make sure you end up getting everything that you are owed.

I can't guarantee that every ship has it. I have seen it on several ships, but even ships that I know I've seen it in the past may have supply issues for a particular sailing, so you can never be too sure. If that's the only thing that you drink that would be considered extra without a refreshment package, I wouldn't take that chance and just forego a package.

This is one of the cases where using a TA would really benefit you. I don't know if you're still in the window where you can transfer your booking or not, but you may want to look into that. If you cancel at any points prior to final payment, you would still get FCC for the deposits and they would be issued in the individual names. Once you are past final payment, if you cancel you will end up getting the FCC for the cruisefare. But you have until 48 hours before sailing to cancel in this scenario with Cruise with Confidence. I would keep working with Royal and escalate to try and get the passenger names switched around and corrected just to make it the best case to figure out your options in the future if your cruise does get impacted by cancellations. If the cruise ends up being canceled by Royal then you should have the option for a full refund back to the method of payment, which would be the easiest way to go in your situation with the two different families involved.

Can't you just envoke CWC and move it?

When you use OBC to make a Cruise Planner purchase, it will be refunded immediately. You should easily be able to cancel and repurchase if it's with OBC.

They don't really have the standard vitaminwater flavors that you get in the bottles in the Freestyle machine: https://www.vitaminwater.com/products/freestyle/ As far as what bottled vitaminwater flavors are available, I've only ever seen the XXX flavor on the ships. They definitely do not have any vitaminwater zero options. With the Refreshment or Deluxe package you can get the bottled version or use the souvenir cup at the Freestyle machines. If you only get the soda package, you only have access to the machine flavors as the soda package doesn't include vitaminwater in bottles.

Welcome to Royal Caribbean IT ? Samba would be incredibly easy for them to get rid of at any time. It utilizes the same space that is the Solarium Bistro on the other Oasis class ships which is a complimentary venue. As far as the UDP vs the 3-night package, I can see how that's a tough decision for Allure as Sabor and Samba have lower price points so it makes sense to get the UDP if you wanted to try those venues (provided they remain in their current forms). What the UDP offers is flexibility -- you can visit any open specialty restaurant for lunch. You can pop into Johnny Rockets for a burger or get some onion rings to go. You can get Izumi sushi as a snack or even to go. There's some peace of mind that you don't have to worry about making the most of your dinners because they are at a $40-$50 price point if you purchased them individually.

I've seen it on most ships that I've been on. It will be included in the Refreshment Package and the Deluxe Package

It's not exactly a refund. What you are doing is charging to your onboard account at the casino which eats into any OBC that you would have left. At the casino cashier you can get cash and they charge it to your room with a 5% service fee (no fee if you have casino loyalty status). Some ships even have the ability to add money to the slots machine directly which has no service charge (or didn't the last time I did it). I did that and then cashed out at the slot machine for a ticket and turned that into cash.

As for the differences between the ships, they are really more alike than different. The port actually would make the bigger difference in my opinion -- is Port Canaveral or Miami going to be easier for you? If you are flying for the cruise leaving from Miami gives you two options for airports (FLL and MIA) which may give you more flight options. I did Oasis for Thanksgiving last year:

It's not a credit at Chops as Chops has a set price cover charge. If you have the dining package you won't have to pay the cover charge. The $35 credit limit is for Izumi Sushi as that entire menu is ala carte.

It is not refundable and it can only be applied to one cruise. Whatever you don't spend before the cruise in the Cruise Planner becomes OBC to use on the ship. I've cashed out OBC at the casino before (5% fee) but I'm not sure if that's still an option.

Chops is usually the only specialty open during lunch. They don't have any special Star Class lunch. Portside and Playmakers are open that first day and don't tend to be crowded either if you want options. Nope..CJs isn't covered on Coco Cay. Not sure why..but alas.