AshleyDillo

I think you'd have to look at a December 2021/January 2022/February 2022 sailing (depending on your 4 weeks in either direction of the date). If it's the same number of nights, same itinerary, and the OS is available on the cruise that you are looking to switch to you should qualify. ? Wouldn't hurt to have your TA look into it.

Nope! This is from the FAQ that went to TAs: I would hit up Sharla and see if you can get switched to an Oasis ship for NYE 2021 under this policy. Seems like a great deal, especially if they'll do it with the FCC you've already applied. Then if you still want to go this year and it appears feasible, just shop for a replacement ?

From reading the FAQ about the Lift & Shift program, my understanding is you're not tied to switching to leaving out of the same port. This will open up your options to the other three Oasis sisters. Plus for itinerary, I think as long as it's Caribbean it shouldn't matter east/west. Since you're already booked on a NYE sailing, then you can opt to choose another NYE sailing to flip to. Otherwise you could look at 4 weeks before/after (excluding Christmas) to pick a week. I don't know if you drive down to Galveston to sail or fly, but if flying you may want to look at the Florida departures instead. I think Allure sailings are the most volatile because of uncertainties with the new Galveston terminal and her AMPlification. If you're flying anyways, you might as well open up your possibilities of doing Oasis, Harmony, or Symphony as well.

I don't think the holiday meals will be as much of an impact as you would think. You'll be able to find somewhere to eat on the holiday, but it probably won't be at Chops or CP150. That said, I don't think I'd do 2 weeks of UDP if you're the kind that must maximize it to take full advantage. It's just way too much food. I loved the UDP because I had all of the options available for me and that peace of mind was worth it, even if I didn't break even on the plan. Loved being able to pop into Izumi sushi for something light early in the evening or not ordering a full three course meal. It was nice to be able to swing into Johnny Rockets for a late lunch without feeling like it was a waste of a cover charge. Take inventory of which restaurants you'd definitely want to eat at over your two weeks and do the math. It may be better to do a 3-night dining package on each sailing and paying ala carte for other things you may wish to try.

Not sure how the FCC would be handled since they typically have expiration dates and sail by dates. But if you take that out of the equation and compare the cruisefares, it's likely that switching to an Oasis class ship for that sailing would be advantageous. This is where a TA would definitely be an invaluable resource to advocate for you so you can hopefully do exactly what you want to do. I'd almost shy away from Allure because of everything up in the air with her..just makes it easier when you consider all the things that could happen..the terminal isn't ready, they decide to reschedule her AMP and it impacts sailings, etc. Maybe look at the other three and weigh if the added travel expenses of flying to Florida during the holiday season may be a problem for you. I will say that if you are willing to fly on Christmas Day you can find some good flight bargains, typically!

Price out the Allure cruise and make sure it's not cheaper first and then I'd switch over..you'll retain the Grand Suite at the same pricing and that gives you a lot more amenities on an Oasis Class ship! It will give you more bang for your buck, push out your final payment date, and gets to further away from the whole virus situation! The only thing up in the air on that in my opinion is Allure may not be sailing out of Galveston yet by then if they can't have a terminal up and running to accommodate an Oasis class ship. You may want to consider Oasis, Symphony, or Harmony for that same sailing. From what I understand you can go from one NYE sailing to another without issue.

Yes..they did show up there. I know they definitely didn't show up until closer to the cruise. For us it was advertised as a special surf & turf meal (lobster and steak) and a mini bottle of champagne and was closer to a $75-$85 per person price point..can't exactly remember.

It's possibly too early to book the NYE specialty dinners. On Freedom in both Chops and Giovannis they did special NYE champagne meals that weren't included with the dining plans and were much more than the typical meals.

It's actually the Passenger Vessels Service Act (Jones Act is for cargo). Getting waiver isn't as easy as just asking for it. https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/assets/documents/2019-Sep/PVSA-ICP.pdf

I would hope they extend it; I know my Dorian FCC specifically says: Also..my Dorian FCC has a September 30, 2020 expiration..guess it depends on which month the cruise actually was slated to end?

I did a cancel and repurchase on an internet package on April 21. The charge posted April 22. My refund posted April 29...a lot better turn around than I expected!

You shouldn't lose the deposit. If you cancel before final payment your deposit will become a FCC (Future Cruise Credit) to apply towards another cruise. In normal circumstances you would have a $100 per person change fee subtracted from your total deposit, but since they're running the Cruise with Confidence which covers your sail date in August, you won't be charged the change fee.

That's the way it always has been. That's why when they issue the FCC it is only based on the amount of cruise fare in the first place and doesn't include the taxes and the fees. Taxes and fees are a separate refund.

I can see it being an issue once the cruise has already passed and thus sailed according to their system. That's probably partially the explanation some received that nothing could happen until the cruise was officially "over". At that point money has been shifted to a variety of different receivable accounts. We saw a variety of fallout from this -- folks had cruises that were called posted as sailed cruises and they received points, the Royal app didn't update to reflect the cruises weren't sailing and pushed through reminder notifications..all signs that Royal does a terrible job of making their systems effectively communicate with each other. The cruises that I've seen folks getting successfully refunded were ones that are further out and not the first wave which have "sailed". Not that their faulty IT should be an excuse to not fulfill their original written expectations, but I can definitely see it. Have you gotten that to work? Every time I've gone to use it I get an error to try again later.

Looks like this extension is for the 125% FCCs only, so it wouldn't apply to the Cruise with Confidence program.

https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices/warning/coronavirus-cruise-ship I think based on the CDC's advisement the CLIA came up with those restrictions and the cruise lines implemented their guidelines. With the situation being fluid, there's no telling how it might change once cruising resumes. If they start back up sooner rather than later I can see the guidelines sticking for to remain on the conservative side. My mother is in the same situation with several cruises booked and right now is just waiting to see what happens.

Makes sense. They did this for the last round of cancellations. Makes it easier to keep up with if all of the 125% OBCs have the same sail-by dates!

Pretty sure that's what they typically offer when they make big changes like that. They will entice you to keep the cruise with an OBC offer and perhaps even an airline change fee reimbursement, but if you decide you can't take the cruise out of the new debarkation port they will offer the full refund. Some folks would gladly take the offer because leaving from Florida offers different ports of call, especially ones who are already planning to fly in for the cruise already.

Issuing the FCC is more complicated and way more of a manual process to issue. Since they are issued per passenger, they have to separate out the cruisefare per passenger and then calculate the 125% and issue the FCCs. Most rooms are at a minimum double occupancy, so that's at least two FCCs that have to be created. Then you have the cases where FCCs had been applied from things like the Dorian affected cruises or the Oasis crane collapse, so those original FCCs have to be reissued and subtracted from the figure they use to calculate the 125%. The FCC was also the default opt-in by doing nothing, so they need to make sure that no refund was requested. I'm not sure I ever saw a deadline to request the refund and it appears you can change your mind through December 31, 2021 and get the refund instead which is a crazy amount of tracking and recordkeeping in the future. Compound it a little more that they have to still issue the cash refund for the port fees/taxes..but that goes as a lump to however it was paid.

I don't believe any of the 125% OBC have been issued yet so no one really knows. I don't feel that it's going to be automatically available and that you will have to call Royal (or have your TA do it) and apply it to a specific booking as you would a FCC. From there it should be available for Cruise Planner purchases. All this is just going off of what I've gathered from the hearsay folks have reported back when they posed these questions to a Royal rep. I do know that you should be able to apply your FCC even after making final payment on the cruise. Then you will get refunded the portion of the cruisefare that you had already paid that is covered by the FCC. My personal opinion is given the current circumstances if it comes final payment time and you don't have the FCC yet, I would just get the deposit back using the Cruise With Confidence option and not put up any more cash. While I'd love to be optimistic that Royal will be cruising again by August 29, I wouldn't personally make that gamble and put more money up out of pocket to hold a cruise.

Interesting! At first I thought perhaps they got it mixed up with Allure but I didn't think Allure would be able to use the current terminal due to size.

Is this something completely new?

Ours disappeared from upcoming cruises pretty quickly after it was canceled compared to what I see for others. Maybe we weren't as far away from having made final payment so it made a difference? Who knows...I imagine there's all sorts of snags with the way they designed the systems to not make it cut and dry to mass issue refunds.

From everything I've read from others in your same situation, unfortunately no one has been successful in making this argument with Royal.

If you are given the category in the price listing but it tells you that the room can't be booked online it usually means that's the last one in the category available in inventory. You can't price it out through Royal's site all the way through but a TA can and you can sometimes pull up the price through other travel conglomerate sites.