FionaMG

Odyssey does not show up on Royal's site as sailing from Rome in September 2021, only September 2022. That's why I queried what site the OP was looking at and whether they meant 2021 or 2022 since they didn't mention the year in their post. The only ship currently showing from Rome in September 2021 is Harmony.

A representative from the Italian tourist board said yesterday in an interview with the British TV news channel Sky News that Italy was planning to open up to third-country tourists, including from the US and the UK, as early as the 12th of May. I don't have a link to share but I did actually watch the interview, so it's first-hand information. That said, I'm not sure where you're seeing Odyssey sailing out of Rome in September, as she's sailing from Haifa, Israel, through the end of October. Unless you're talking about 2022? In which case heaven help us all if things aren't more or less back to "normal" by then.

Doesn't that disqualify him from working for them...?

It's also worth price comparing one spacious cabin against two standard ones. I did this recently and found that the larger cabins (both the spacious ocean view and spacious balcony) worked out to be only slightly cheaper (about $120 overall) than two standard cabins, to the extent that if I had decided to book I would have gone with the two cabins for the sake of the extra bathroom.

We will be making final payment for our Harmony cruise in September unless Royal decides to cancel it first. We are really hoping to go, so this is obviously the primary reason for paying the balance but even if it gets cancelled after final payment we will be happy to L&S or take an FCC.

We have had an ocean view guarantee twice on Oasis-class ships. If I remember right we were allocated our cabins within a couple of days after making final payment. On both occasions we were allocated one of the forward-facing rooms at the very front of the ship. I really like the layout of those. On the second occasion, SIL & BIL, who were travelling with us, were allocated a room on deck 3, in the middle of the ship, so bear in mind that booking together doesn't mean you will necessarily get rooms together.

We normally book ocean view or, on the ships that have them, promenade view. A balcony has never been worth the extra money to us and on the couple of occasions when the now sadly demised upgrade fairy gave us one we were notoriously ungrateful, using it only to hang swimwear and other unmentionables out to dry! However, now that Covid has come on the scene, we are a bit leery about not having a balcony, in the near future at least. Plus, having reached Diamond, the balcony discount often makes a balcony cabin cheaper than one without, so I think that is the way we will be going for the time being. Once Covid is past we may rethink our strategy.

This happens from time to time. They were missing from my September Harmony cruise yesterday. The last time it happened they reappeared a day or two later but I didn't notice any difference to the offering.

Now if only they would extend that set sail date by a month... I'm looking at Oasis out of NJ in May 2022. The prices are good but I can't bring myself to pull the trigger. An extension to the CWC programme would be just the incentive I need but with the start up looking ever more likely I can't see it happening. ?

I check the cruise planner for our Med cruise practically every day but have yet to buy anything. Partly, I got stung by Royal taking over 3 months to refund my CP purchases from our L&Sed Allure cruise (and only then after @michelleintervened on my behalf), which has made me very hesitant to pull the trigger for this one until we know for sure if it's actually going to go. The other issue is the prices. UDP has been toing and froing between 194 and 216 dollars since this time last year. That's crazy money. The 3-night DP has not budged an iota from 124 all this time. Excursions too have gone up and down but always within clearly defined parameters of never more than about 20 dollars and since we've been to all the ports several times I'd need some deep discounting to entice me to get the credit card out. However, at least with the current slight glimmer of hope it's becoming a more enjoyable daily experience as I feel I can almost look forward to sailing rather than it being a chore I feel compelled to do just because I'm a cruise nut.

All of which just goes to show how everyone's taste differs. I saw Cats a gazillion years ago in Edinburgh and really enjoyed it. I don't think I've seen it on one of the ships; if I have, it clearly didn't make an impression. Not sure if we would go and see it if it's on Harmony in September. I guess it would depend what else there was to do around the ship at the same time. Hairspray was the show on our first-ever Oasis cruise back in 2012. DH left after 15 minutes, which involved having to squeeze past umpteen people because we were right in the middle of a row. I stuck it out for the whole thing but swore I would never go back and watch it again. Grease was the one we all enjoyed the most. I would definitely go back and see that one again. DH and I saw the Portuguese version of Chicago in Lisbon the night before we flew to Florida for our last cruise (Thanksgiving 2019) but have not seen it on a ship. We both enjoyed it so it would be interesting to see the English version.

I hope things will soon open up the other way as well.

How are you going to narrow it down?

Thanks for sharing. We should have been watching one on board Anthem today. So sad. Can't wait to get back on board. We are feeling a tiny glimmer of hope for our late September cruise on Harmony as the vaccine roll out is gradually speeding up here in the EU. I have fingers, legs and eyes crossed.

Yesterday I came within a couple of clicks of booking on Oasis for next May but my head won out over my heart and I couldn't bring myself to fill in the credit card details. ?

I have my room keys from all of my cruises. ?

Agree with everyone who says the online booking process needs to be more user-friendly and sensitive. I get particularly frustrated when I want to check dates/regions that are more specific than the options offered. For example, if I'm looking for a Western Med cruise between 15 September and 15 October I really really really don't want to have to hunt amidst early September/late October sailings and those going to other destinations such as the Baltics, Canaries and Greek Isles but at the moment that's precisely what I have to do.

I will add to this excellent advice by saying to get to the meeting point for the morning excursion as early as possible so that if there are several buses going you get on the FIRST one. Later buses will wait for stragglers and will return to the ship later, cutting into your time between excursions. I can say this from personal experience. We did two excursions in Rio de Janeiro and thanks to my straggling family members we were on the LAST bus, which got back to the ship a full 45 minutes after the first one. We only just had time to go to the bathroom and grab a sandwich from the WJ to eat on the run between the two!

That exact thing happened to me once. No idea why. The only way I was able to fix it was by uninstalling the app and then reinstalling it. That did the trick.

Welcome @LovetoCruise87 ?

Maybe via Athens as Greece has also reopened to US citizens, I believe.

I think it's just a matter of time before they announce something for Harmony, given what Marc Walker posted on his FB page. Of course her size means there are limited options from the get go. I am hoping still to be able to sail at the end of September but that's going to require a lot of stars aligning. DH thinks it's toast already. We'll see.

The original L&S programme ended some time ago. Since then, with each new round of cancellations, Royal have been offering specific - and generally more restrictive - L&S options. For example, for the Quantum Alaska cancellations everything had to be the same with the only leeway being a week either side, whereas people cancelled from Odyssey's inaugural season were given a much wider choice, which could be any sailing at all on sale at the time of the cancellations that was the same length or one day shorter or longer than their original sailing. It's always worth phoning and asking, the worst they can do is say no.

Royal have been allowing a second L&S if they cancel your new cruise.

What if you got the chance to go on an "absolutely-cannot-turn-it-downable" cruise? I mean, let's face it, who knows where you actually physically are when you're on a zoom call... ?