Fairlynew

Check your credit card activity.   My card was charged for royal up a couple of days before I got the email notification 

We sailed another cruise line last week.  All passengers were required to be fully vaccinated (if eligible) and have a negative test no more than 2 days prior to the cruise.   Upon boarding, we were advised that all passengers would be required to take a Covid test on day 3. This did not bother us; it made us feel safer.  I am wondering if RC is also requiring all passengers to test during the cruise.  I have also seen that some cruise lines are requiring both a negative test 2 days in advance and a test at the port for all passengers, even those who are vaccinated.  Is RC doing this?  

I will go slightly off topic.  We are sailing from canaveral today.  We stayed at the swan at Disney last night.  We used Disney transport to explore resorts.   We only saw 2 groups not wearing masks.  Signs all over said masks mandatory.   A lot has been written about cruising being safer than Disney.  I agree because we don’t know vaccine status of those at Disney but I was pleasantly surprised at the mask compliance.  

One advantage to the aqua suite on oasis is that aqua theater show on oasis is spectacular!   

Remember that a lot depends on the concierge.   I have sailed Sky class 3 times.  Two of the three the concierge was outstanding.  The other time, our experience with the concierge was so bad that we lost all trust.  We preferred to stand in line for regular guest services. At least we knew we could rely on them. 

Yes because lots of things on ship are closed while in port

I won a Royal Up bid from a GS to a CLS and was notified about a month prior to sailing.  Timing is very unpredictable.  A friend on another sailing went from a Jr. Suite to a GS and was notified about 2 weeks in advance.

I am in the minority.  I prefer the GS to the CLS.  I felt isolated on Deck 17.  

@SpeedNoodlesi am sorry for the stress in your life right now.  I hope that both your husband and the horse recover quickly and fully.  Please let us know how they are progressing.  Also, remember to take care of yourself.  

Thank you.  I still enjoyed the trip.  Good friends, beautiful scenery and good food make everything better

That excursion got cancelled when they changed our port time in Juneau.  Our group ended up booking a white water rafting trip that got close to the glacier.  Unfortunately, i tripped and fell in Seattle the evening before we boarded.  I fractured and dislocated my shoulder.  After spending most of the evening in the ER, I boarded the ship the next day.  I was traveling with friends and decided that they, along with the ship's staff, would take better care of me than my husband.  I was right.  I was going to be in pain anyway; the beautiful scenery made it much more tolerable.  I did not however think that white water rafting was the best thing for me to do, so I stayed on the ship that day.  My friends thoroughly enjoyed it, though.

I am in the minority.  I prefer the 1 BR GS to the CLS.  I like being more in the middle of the "action".  I felt like we missed a lot of fun things when we stayed on Deck 17.  Having said that, I love the CK and the suite lounge, but it was too easy to get into a rut and only go there when in a CLS.  The GS is also less expensive.

Be careful in choosing travel companions.  I have friends that have traveling styles I enjoy more than those of my husband.   I enjoy traveling with him as well, I just adjust expectations 

It is difficult.    For a variety of reasons, we will be cruising in Europe over the holidays.  Even though our party is all fully vaccinated, we are limited to cruise line excursions.   Few of the excursions are appealing but we will probably choose the best of the worst in some cases and remain on board in others.  We choose this trip because it was the best way to visit our adult son who is participating in a fellowship program that prohibits him for leaving the EU for the 12 months of the program.   This is his only free time and with covid on the rise in Europe, we feel safest in a “cruise bubble “. 

It is stressful to get all of the documentation and tests together before the cruise.  On the other hand, once I got on board, I felt very safe-safer than I feel going to my office.

Congratulations.  You will love sky class!    I was on independence out of Galveston a few weeks ago with a boarding time of 1 pm.  I was in a junior suite, which also allows boarding an hour early.   Traffic was lighter than expected and we got to the port at 11, breezed through checkin and were sitting in a waiting area by 11:20.   We were nowhere near the first people seated.  I’d estimate that there at least 100 people already there.   Boarding was done in order of where you were sitting.  No one asked if we were in a suite or not.  Our friends who were in a grand suite were about 10 minutes behind us.  We were allowed to save them seats to board with us.   Again no one asked and we did not mention suite status.  We were on board by 11:45.    The cruise was about half full so that may have made a difference.  Bottom line, you will probably be able to check in but you may have to wait to board

I was there a couple of weeks ago and did not see seaweed anywhere 

I just got off a 5 night cruise on Independence.  Passenger count around 1600.

We leave on Friday.  I am in a junior suite.   Is there a separate boarding area for suites in Galveston?  If so, are those traveling in a junior suite eligible to use it?

thanks

I just like the fact that Jr. suites have a tub.

We did not have any priority disembarkation on Ovation either.

On ovation, Sky class got NO priority at boarding.  In line with everyone else.  Only “perk” was ability to flex arrival time by an hour

We are trying to decide between Mr. Sanchos and Nachi Cocom-what are the pros and cons of each?  What are transportation options?  We are a mother/daughter group-all adults.  Some of the group are dedicated beach bums while others might like a spa option.  

All suites above junior suites were listed on the web site as "sold out" as early as June of this year.  We found out then that our son would be in Germany for the year and I started trying to book a suite on Allure for a 7 night Mediterranean cruise for 2022 to coincide with a visit to him and there were no GS or above to be found.  Perhaps they limited the inventory early in anticipation of this change.  Hopefully, this is the case, and it will work out well for those of you who were lucky enough to book early.

I agree with the scoring system being a little off kilter.  However, on my recent cruise, I was happy to rate most every employee I came into contact with a 10.  They were, almost without exception, outstanding!  The one exception, and this was a biggy, was the suite concierge.  I have traveled in Sky Class before and have routinely had excellent service from the suite concierges I have encountered.  The suite lounge on Ovation was usually empty, or almost empty; even so, we did not have confidence that the concierge understood or acted upon our simple requests-such as the luggage valet forms.  She had no idea what to do with them.  By day 4, we either just figured things out on our own or went to guest services if necessary.  I did not rate her very highly.  We would have complained while on board, but did not know who to complain to.  The CK staff was aware of the issue because after day 3, they realized that we thought we had dinner reservations each night (we had an email confirming this pre-cruise from the concierge) while they had no record of the reservations.