nate91

Good info! I had no idea that the stateroom attendants would move your stuff, I thought I would have to pack everything up and move cabins myself.

Hello! Looking for advice on this! Booked on NavOTS 11/3/2022. 4 night cruise. Looking to book the 10/31/22 3 night and make it a BTB as it is SUPER cheap. However, we booked into an OV GTY on 11/3, and room has not yet been assigned. Checked in today and can see using the barcode trick that we will probably be in a given room. Was hoping to book that same room for 10/31, but even though 10/31 is almost empty, that specific stateroom is booked. 11/3 is almost fully booked. So trying to see what my options are. OV GTY on 10/31 is a great deal, but we were looking at paying to assign a room on that cruise if we could match the same cabins. However, now that we can see that 11/3 is almost a completely full ship, and the specific cabin we are (probably) assigned on 11/3 is full on 10/31, what is the best way to get the same cabin on both ships.

(And yes, I know we could pay to upgrade our cabin on 11/3, but prices have gone up a significant amount (more than doubled), and that would eat the budget to even book the second cruise.)

Anyone know an affordable way to get the same cabin on both cruises? Could a TA do this or is that out of their control?

I think I heard something somewhere on this forum, or maybe another, about a big launch event or ad campaign in New York City sometime in Sept for Icon? Cannot remember where I saw it or confirm whether true. Other than maybe waiting on that (which may indicated that she will homeport in NJ), maybe there has been a delay on Icon and she won't debut as early as expected? Really no idea, just theories.

This thread has been very helpful. Excited for that (hopefully) upcoming announcement. I think if RC doesn't allow unvaccinated after said announcement, I may take a Princess cruise, since they and Virgin seem to be the only ones welcoming the unvaccinated. But hopefully RC drops everything and I can get back to the good stuff! In the meantime I have a Universal trip planned as well! Land vacations until then!

There's no more CDC regulation on it now. So the cruise lines could still say they are 90% vaccinated, but internally calculate that number including all crew and only including guests over age 18, for example. So that might allow a higher percentage of actual unvaccinated passengers, while still being under the guise of an unregulated "90%."

"Should" is on that page 125 times. "Must" appears once. It seems relevant that if cruise lines were to 100% follow the CDC guidelines requiring vaccination, they would need to require boosters (first AND second, for those who qualify). Considering how few Americans have been boosted, it seems unlikely that cruise lines will do this. So they may just throw the baby out with the bathwater, so to speak, and just pick a couple things that are low burden for cruise ships (eg reporting of symptoms before entering the cruise, having a quarantine space available).

When was this written? Early 2020? CDC recommends literally EVERY intervention ever tried for COVID, including sneeze guards and partitions, which have been thoroughly disproven. There's no way any cruise line will enforce all these 'recommendations,' considering that they are way more restrictive than what they are doing now. So they will get to pick and choose which ones they want to use. The CDC is (of course) not making this easy on cruise lines.

Hopefully the cruise lines will see through this and realize that CDC recommendations have always been over the top safety-isms, and if you want to follow all of them, say goodbye to that raw cookie dough or medium rare steak!

First question was a little confusing. I almost voted for Absolutely!, then realized that Absolutely meant that I refused to sail with the unvaccinated. 

I have a feeling that every line will very quickly match the least restrictive line. Azamara has already put out no testing, Princess has accepted unvax cruisers, so I am hopeful that cruise lines will be moving towards the least restrictive environment possible!

9 minutes ago, Rackham said:

I'm going to assume mandatory quarantining for COVID will still be in place like any other contagious disease aboard. For example, they're not letting people with norovirus shoot craps in the casino.

Would not recommend the norovirus craps.

Literally just danced around the house with my wife.

Also...the CDC just VOLUNTARILY gave up power? There's gotta be more to the story. But I will be in my mental Viking Crown Lounge celebrating!

On 7/1/2022 at 1:26 PM, twangster said:

Grandeur is still with us btw.

Congrats on getting a refund.

Thank you all for your help! I believe Majesty is the one that is gone now, I had cruises booked on both during the pandemic. I haven't followed cruising as closely, now that I am excluded, cruising has gone from a source of great joy and anticipation to something that's kind of depressing to think/read about. So I mixed up my ships!

Got an email from the corporate office saying that they are issuing a refund and confirming the credit card, since it was originally booked in 2020 (on Grandeur OTS, RIP).

On 6/27/2022 at 6:00 PM, Pooch said:

Have you emailed mbayley@rccl.com?  Move it up the chain.

Well, that was quite effective. Great idea, thanks!

Unfortunately, they said that since they were originally non-refundable FCCs, they do not have expiration dates extended and they will expire. For the same reason, they have refused me a refund multiple times.  It does seem ridiculous since I originally booked before vaccine requirements and now they literally will not allow me to sail.

Hello! I have come to an unfortunate scenario where I have about $280 in FCCs that I don't believe I can ever use. You see, I never got the "Fauci ouchie" as it is so lovingly named, and therefore one of my favorite pastimes is a...past pastime. Me and my wife just got married, and we have been trying to get as much FCC refunded to us as possible, but RC is refusing to refund this final amount. But I have heard that you can transfer it. So I figured I would ask everyone here. If anyone knows how I can get a refund, let me know, otherwise I can transfer it to Matt, as a thank you for running this blog, (or if he doesn't want it, the first person to respond to this post). I have already done the book a cruise, wait until the protocols were announced, then get a refund, but now that protocols are announced in perpetuity, I don't think this will work. But I have heard that FCCs can be transferred. So let me know, and thanks in advance for the help!

8 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

That is very unfortunate.  They should have refunded you for those cruises (the CWC FCC's, anyway) if you could not meet the COVID protocols.

Yes, you are definitely in a very weak position now.  I know what you are saying about booking a cruise knowing that you will not be taking it BUT I do believe that, at this point, it is the only way you are going to get your money (or most of it) back.  If you think there is a chance that you will qualify (i.e., get vaccinated) by the end of next year, then you can just sit tight and wait.  If, however, you do not plan to ever meet the vaccination mandate then you may have little choice.

I recommend that if you believe that you will never have any use for FCC's, that you engage a strong TA (one who has fought this battle before), have them book any qualifying cruise (see #2 below) in the future and then have THEM fight the fight for you.  Consider the following:

1.  You would eventually have to make final payment using all of your FCC's plus some cash for things like taxes, port fees, etc. so you would be loaning them that money on a temporary basis.  Then wait for the protocols to come out and cancel for a cash refund. The refunds are not quick.  It will be some weeks (maybe months ?) before you get your money.

2.  Since the COVID protocols have already been announced through the end of March 2022, I would guess that you would not be able to book anything before then; otherwise they would claim that you knew the COVID protocols when you booked and probably disqualify you from the cash refund.  So your booking would most likely (the TA will help you with this decision) have to be for a cruise April 1, 2022 or later.

3.  There is always the chance that they will end the ability to get a cash refund in the future.  There is no guarantee that this policy will keep going indefinitely.  In fact, I am fairly certain that it will not....which is why I liquidated all of my FCCs and cancelled all of my upcoming cruises (through 3-31-22) for cash while I had the chance.

4.  This would NOT be a "deceitful" move as far as engaging a TA.  As soon as that cruise in PIF, the TA would get their commission, even if the booking is cancelled later, so they would not be "working for free" to help you out of your situation.  In fact, I would be very up front with the TA and let them know exactly what you are doing so that there is no misunderstanding.  I'm not gonna lie.  This will be a lot of work for the TA but they will know what they are getting into up front so they will either do it or they won't.

Good luck @nate91.  Royal Caribbean really mucked this one up when they refused your cash refund on your CWC FCC's (they were probably justified in refusing cash for any non-CWC FCC's.  I think I got super lucky thanks to @michelle).  That was bogus BS.

Any contact info for @michelle? I think I'll need some help on this one haha!

3 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

@nate91, I just re-read your post and I think I misunderstood.  Do you have a cruise booked using your FCCs or do you just have in applied FCCs ?  I am pretty sure you cannot get a cash refund of “loose” FCCs.  They would need to be applied to a booking in order to get them refunded.  

Yes, I have "loose" FCCs right now. I have recently freed them from their associated reservations, and they are all three FCCs because I was refused a cash refund when protocols were announced for past cruises. I would feel silly booking a cruise I know I wouldn't be going on just to wait for protocols to be announced to cancel in the hope that I could get a cash refund, even though I haven't been able to before.

I have three $500 FCCs with RC. One was a Cruise with Confidence, I believe the others were not, can't remember at this point as they are all from at least 6 months ago to over a year ago. They all have a book by date of end of April 2022, with Sail By of end of December 2022. With current protocols, I am not allowed to sail on RC. So my question is, how can I get that money refunded, as cash instead of a future cruise credit? When I took the future cruise credits, mandatory vaccinations were not a thing, and I am not keen to book a cruise for December 2022 to possibly have to cancel it again for more future cruise credit. I feel that although I took future cruise credit initially, since policies have changed since I took it they should give me an option for a refund (unless policies change by April, or they announce that policies will change at a given date in the future before my sail by date). Anyone had any luck with this? My experiences with Royal have morphed from AMAZING (pre-pandemic, onboard the ships) to AWFUL (post pandemic, dealing with agents and my money over the phone), and I'd like to make it as simple as possible. Thanks!

Just received this:

 

IMPORTANT UPDATE

THE ADVENTURE DOESN’T END HERE

We’re writing to let you know that we will no longer be running our Free Ship-ing ™ Instant Win Sweepstakes!

There are still plenty of ways to find adventure this holiday season. Take a look at our Black Friday deals to build your ultimate vacation with incredible savings and perks.

Maybe they realized just how many free cruises they were giving away? Assuming $1500/cruise, one cruise per minute is $2.1 million.

Also, even aside from the heaviness of the water, if you have a lazy river that goes from say, the port side to the starboard side, and the ship tilts a tiny bit, all the water will rush to one side of the river and the flow of the river will be ruined. Ever seen the videos of cruise ship pools in a storm? Imagine a storm with a lazy river. Dangerous amounts of water coming out of the river. I love a good lazy river, but it will never happen on a cruise ship unless they can fit it into the footprint of a typical cruise ship swimming pool.

I have this on two cards...which is an amazing deal, but I'm not cruising right now. Bummer, wish I could take advantage.

21 hours ago, SpeedNoodles said:

I guess the point is you don't have to make final payment until January if your cruise in in February?  And wouldn't your final payment for a February cruise be in November?  90 days?  Or was  yours 120 days?

My cruise on 2/4 has a final payment date of 10/27. So however many days that is.  

So they're suspending final payment after most guests have made final payment? Seems a little pointless. I have two February cruises that this would be nice for, as I don't like the current protocols, but my final payment is due in early October. What's the point?

I called in yesterday and spent 2.5 hours trying to get two FCCs applied. One was from three months ago and still has not been applied, Royal had to speak with a supervisor to get that one taken care of.