IRMO12HD

On Oasis in September we were able to do Chef's Table for $75 instead of $99 by waiting till we were on board. 

This post made me sad;
I hear and feel your frustration and disappointment, I personally would not be leaving my kiddos behind that young in the kids club (my own trepidation) but mine is now a teen. As others have said these protocols have been in place forever (since sailing started again) but hearing this does nothing to help with what you are feeling. This is a HUGE disappointment but as @SpeedNoodlesnoted we do not have protocols for February yet but I feel confident in saying here I don't believe a call to the "head office" will change much as they are transparent & clear, please don't take this as a personal a front, they do this to protect themselves and limit litigation IF someone came back and tried to accuse them of something related to this mess we are going through. 
There are protocols I whole heartedly DO NOT AGREE WITH, period. BUT if I want to sail I know I must adhere to them. You can wait and see what the protocols bring or not, as CWC is still in effect plus I believe they are possibly doing cash refunds due to not being agreeable with the newest protocols but you have to wait for February protocols to be released for this scenario. You're family Holiday may not be exactly as you imagined but can you make it work? Maybe there is someone in the fam that would stay back with the kiddos? Maybe a land vacation is in order?
I wish for you peace and a solution that works for you and yours, but if you are going to sail sadly we have to accept the cruise lines protocols no matter how we personally feel. I am sad you are heartbroken BUT when you step back and breathe take solace in the fact you have an amazing family of 20 who are here, healthy, safe and who enjoy each other so much you can commit to a vacation together, I wish for you a calming and agreeable solution to your situation. 

Thanks. I'm sure we will. Doing the B2B has been great so far. We were kinda bad though. I have a big container and this morning I poured a whole bottle of wine in and had a sip here and there. Let's just say we were feeling better and better as we checked in and I felt awesome during the live stream. If I EVER do a B2B again I'm going to do it just like that!!!!
 
Sorry about your vehicle, we just bought a house needing a ton of work that I am doing myself. Replaced all the water supply lines from meter to fixture, removed the old outdoor electrical panel and put an upgraded shutoff outside and a new panel inside as well as working on replacing all the interior electrical little by little,  in the middle of replacing the roof as well,  not to mention a ton of other stuff to do. But no more apartment living for me so I'm happy to do the work, though the roof is going to be a major pain. 
 
Anyway as soon as the live stream updates and becomes available I will try to do a post with a direct link. I was able to do a little walk around from Liberty dunes through our interior room and part the library,  card room,  and library as well as trifft the promenade and down to deck 4. I think it went very well and should have a bit of information for those who haven't seen the ship in a while. 

Once the page swapped to "Pending" with no other option to modify it stayed like that for a couple weeks before my bid was accepted. 

On our two visits to St Maarten, we did a couple different things.
First Visit: We rented a car at the port, drove over to Orient Beach and went parasailing (Awesome!) and then went to visit Topper's Rhum for a tour and tasting. (VERY good rum.
Second Visit: We booked a tour to visit Topper's Rhum again (had to re-stock!), followed by a lunch at Topper's Restaurant (same owner, different location), and a very nice visit to the beach nearby. We booked this through a third party site.
FYI: Topper's Rhum and Topper's Restaurant have now moved into a new location in the same facility since we last visited in January 2020.
 

Adding yet another vote for Bernard's Tours - we were fortunate enough to have Mailman as our guide for the Island Tour II. When we went, Orient Beach had not yet recovered from Irma (this was spring of '19), so they substituted Grand Case for our beach stop.  Oh, and that rum punch...

Yes sandals work, anything that you don’t mind getting wet.

I love those fruity rice krispy treats !  It's one of my favorite snacks.
So none of your party is even trying the Coastal Kitchen ?  I find that somewhat odd.  I have never been a Windjammer lover so it's hard for me to understand why anyone would prefer a buffet to a nice sit-down meal but I guess it's a good thing everyone doesn't like the same thing !

St. Thomas was also very hot. They require you to wear mask everywhere but most people kept removing theirs whenever a crew member turned their backs....only to be reminded again of the policy. The plan was to catch a taxi downtown and explore but with the mask mandate, the party opted to just visit the shops along the port. I got off, got some color-changing nail polish and a highly touted lemonade and returned to the ship. I saw several large lizards who wanted something, as they started walking towards us as we snapped photos. I took a nice nap and woke up to my party returning, they of course went to Windjammer. Side rant: Windjammer was just okay before the pandemic happened, post-pandemic that place is inedible IMHO. Five days in and the selection has been the same, the only change has been the carving station. I ate in there the first day and haven't been able to find anything since. My party loves it though, they can always find food. Of course I had other plans but out of courtesy I sat with them for a bit while they ate and told me what they did in port. I knew today was the day I would try the famed roast beef sandwich and it also did not disappoint. I got it with the gravy and then horseradish on the side. The bread was the only meh part but after the gravy settled in, it became softer and more delicious. Fun fact, there are several little birds in Central park and they want your sandwich. Some guy came out on his CP balcony and yelled a few swear words to his neighbor and went back in, so I also got a show.
Yesterday we received a cheese and fruit plate, today they sent us a dessert plate. My party found all of this odd as the fruit plate had 3 small slices of different cheeses, some grapes, a half of strawberry and 2 packs of crackers. They stated how can we all share this, that isn't enough for 5 people. I shrugged and told them to enjoy. They were even more unimpressed by the dessert one as it had 1 chocolate-covered strawberry, 2 fruity pebble kind of rice krispies and a Dulce de leche bite. I have no idea if these are suite treats or gifts from my wonderful TA. Every single one of us is excited to see the Aqua show tonight and I can't wait to enjoy a few more daiquiris. There was an Alpha, Alpha,Alpha....shortly before we departed St. Thomas and I hope they are okay. I just realized as I am typing this I haven't received anything from C&A, I know I am a lonely gold but I expected something.

The comedy show was actually pretty good. Both comedians had pluses and minuses. It appears that they overbooked the showing as a few people were turned away. I had some sprt of delicious frozen daiquiri in a tropical flavor that may be go to drink now. We hit sorrento for a slice and they were pretty good. I went back to the casino determine to only spend $50. I hit pretty big, it covered all my incidentals......  so at this point I haven't spent anything on this cruise, minus the fare 🤣. While in port BFF brought a fortune voodoo doll and everyone believes that it was responsible for my good luck.
My party loves the Windjammer and instead of doing CK they had dinner there, I waited and ordered room service. The quesadilla are really good and I definitely recommend. I have been the only one to partake in CK breakfast and lunch. The rest of the party has only had Windjammer and the MDR once for breakfast. I will say the Windjammer, from my observations, has very limited selection. I haven't seen a lot of staples, but my brother is obsessed with the make your own pasta station.
Today we are heading to Port to do some shopping and of course I plan to hit the casino after OceanAria. Everyone keeps talking to me so I've only been able to get through 1 book so far. The plan is to relax later with another one. I keep saying "the plan is..."because they rarely work out. The concierge informed me it is time to tell them my disembarkment preferences, I can't believe it's only two days left.

Greetings from the Solarium Bistro! Just docked at Coco Cay and Freedom showed up not long after.




150CP last night was deemed “the best meal I have ever eaten.” Very pleased with all the food and service so far! This fried cheesecake was the best dessert EVER!! A must-try. 

In reality, that is only one level up (category).  The 4 basic levels or categorys are, Interior, Ocean View, Balcony, Suite.
Your Promenade View is in the "Ocean View" category ie you have a window to see something, in your case the Promenade.  The other Oceanviews offered would be considered a slight upgrade (of course opinion of an upgrade sometimes differ, but it is the cruise lines opinion we are talking about)  then your other offers would be a true category upgrade to a balcony (but not yet to suite level)
 

You got her too?  What are the odds we'd get the same check in lady?

Just did my check in at midnight for Allure in December!  First time trying out this validating thing with our PDFs in Ontario (that is what I submitted at midnight).  Let's see how long it takes and fingers crossed I can actually get out dry dock soon!

I'm on Freedom right now. I checked in at my scheduled time at 12pm at Miamj. There were already a long line of people that arrived early and had to wait outside. They did not allow them to go in early. 

It was far too hot in St.Maarten. I brought my mother a tennis bracelet from Effy, tried some guavaberry rum and then had lunch at CK. Some of CK's food is a touch too fancy for me but I do enjoy the Flatbread. We are undecided on whether we will eat dinner at CK or get room service, my vote is for room service because tonight the MDR has mushroom risotto. I broke even again in the casino because I hit a minor jackpot of $383. I cashed out and another lady sat down and hit a little over $3000, I kicked myself. But at least I'm not in the red. Since I am enjoying myself it works out fine. I've met 2 pins so far and they crack me up. They told my brother his bag wasn't big enough to hack all the snacks. I have been keeping track of all our wonderful servers for the survey.

Captain just announced approximately 3120 on this sailing. 

This ship is beautiful!! Upon stepping foot into the promenade, the size difference was immediately apparent, Oasis class is huge! 
We had an 11am boarding time and got to the port around 10:20. We ended up being ushered inside to start the multi-check process around 10:40, walked on board by 11:10!! The terminal is sooo nice. 

I am officially on team suite.. balcony life is entirely too cramped for my standards. I am new to having to squeeze around each other at the foot of the bed! And I absolutely miss the more accessible closet space. 
Tiny cabin 10554 pictured below.


After boarding and grabbing our key cards at the (ready and waiting!) cabin, we went straight to make dinner reservations in central park. This space is so amazing, I love it. 


First thing to do post reservations was the water slides! The pink/orange ones are more tame and the green toilet bowl one is crazy fast. I recommend plugging your nose on the exit whoosh to save yourself from water rushing up there. 



Hot Flowrider action this afternoon!

Norwegian Gem and Scarlet Lady behind us in port. 





After Playmakers for lunch and a start on our beverage package usage, we hit the Solarium and a rain cloud came through from Miami Beach. We stuck it out in the hot tub and were protected from most of it under the awnings. 


Sail away from the Solarium forward deck

Trying to nap now to catch up on lost sleep, the red eye is rough. 
150CP for dinner tonight! Our first Royal specialty restaurant. Getting excited for fried cheesecake 🤤 

The vaccine info on the app check-in has now disappeared completely 

I used my phone and got the message visit emed.com so I did from my phone and chose the option to start the test and did everything from my phone

Being as we knew we would become Diamond during our B4B (Aug~Sept, 2021), on our first cruise we went to 'Next Cruise' and booked a 'Balcony' for Explorer, October 2022. Two weeks later we went back and changed it to an Allure 'Central Park Balcony' November 2022.
After 3 week of cruises, we were Diamond. We returned to 'Next Cruise' to get it repriced. Because it was not yet in the system, we did not get our Diamond Discount. But they gave us options. They told us how to call from the ship phone to do it, wait till we got home to call and do it, or to come back in a few days and see if the system had caught up to our Diamond level.
We waited till the late afternoon of the busy last day of the cruise to return to 'Next Cruise.' Our Diamond Status was in the system. Fortunately, the price had changed in our favor with the $450 off/60% second discount.
They repriced the cruise, we kept our onboard credit, and received the higher 'Diamond Balcony Discount' right there on the cruise.
That is not an opined answer. That is an actual recent experience.

Definitely check it. Ask. Since it is a gift earned by Royal's Loyalty program, be polite, understanding, with just a touch of persistence.
August 29th, 2021, the Loyalty Ambassador put a silver 'Platinum Sticker' on our seapass card over the word 'Gold,' because that was all she had available.
A few days later, when we were used to having the card to verify discounts, we went to Guest Services, and they reprinted a new card for us.
However, when we made Diamond on our mid-September 2021 Symphony B2B, we talked to the Loyalty Ambassador the day before our B2B, reminding her we were changing to Diamond at the end of that cruise and would be Diamond for the next cruise on our B2B.
Knowing the change to Diamond in advance, she was prepared. The Loyalty Ambassador told us to come back to her desk next to the Schooner Bar on the B2B between noon and 4. Being prepared, she printed us a new seapass card at her desk showing our correct level as Diamond. It felt so great to achieve our goal of Diamond. That seapass card worked at the Diamond Lounge because we went there a couple of times, including to get our airline boarding passes printed the night before our flight.

Now we can hardly wait till we have completed our March 25, Navigator Royal Suite, Mexican Riviera out of the new cruise Port of Los Angeles, and our May 5, Ovation Grand Suite, Alaska out of Vancouver to reach Diamond Plus (You never know in this crazy cruise time, which is why we pushed so hard to make Diamond in August & September).
The recent move in our Royal Stock and Options has been nice as well. With a little more move it will pay for our first cruise as Diamond Plus, Allure Repositioning Fort Lauderdale to Galveston in 2022. A stock and options profit paid cruise with more discounts, drinks, etcetera would be extra exciting!


 

Up until final payment date you can always call and have a booking repriced using current rates/discounts/promotions, including the Balcony/Suite discount from your Crown & Anchor tier. So anytime your booking would price out less than you previously paid you can do this. But they can't simply adjust a discount already set on your booking as discounts are based upon remaining balances after applicable discounts get applied in a certain order, so everything changes.
 
Now some countries don't allow this, like UK-bookings have never been repriceable like this; they had to cancel subject to non-refundable deposits and rebook to get current rates -- though at least during the Cruise With Confidence period, everyone has had benefit of repricing, even up through 48 hours before sailing.

Thanks' everyone. I am doing my spreadsheets and planning for my Jan sailings. If I can get my diamond status on the 3rd cruise it would save me quite a bit.

Just Skip, not a problem. I just got off a B4B on Symphony a few weeks back. I changed between several cruises.
After we were allowed back on, I went to the Loyalty Ambassador, Mary, at the beginning of the next cruise around noon,
handed her our seapass cards, and
she either put a little sticker on it saying our correct level, or when she had blank cards, reprint new cards the card with the correct level.
Additionally, she handed us all our pins for our new levels. 

It generally took about 7 days for the system to catch up with us, and being in suites, by that time, we were changing again.
However, the system may not be ready to give you 'Next Cruise' correct level discounts, unless you are longer than 6 days.
That was the only place where we had an issue , but it recorded, and we corrected it on the last night of the 7-day cruise.