Kathleen

Sharla was recommended from this site and I have found her to be super attentive and she continually checks for price drops without asking.

I do believe that your exact category room has to be available. We were booked in a 2 BDRM Grand Suite and when we L&S’d there was only one Saliing in the 8 week window we could L&S to due to our room not being available on the other sailings. Needless to say we grabbed it even though we preferred another date. You may want to see if your category room is available on any sailings during the 8 week period you can L&S to.

And if you don’t like any dates available can you not cancel pursuant to Cruise with Confidence (since they’ve extended that program since this thread began) and get a FCC in amount of deposit you can apply to any future cruise reservation?

Glad to hear you can take advantage of Lift and Shift. I agree those would be 2 quick vacations next year but thAts a good problem! It’s a hard decision. I might be tempted to cancel with CWC prior to payment and just apply the FCC of your deposit towards your December cruise. I think it might depend on what you would be lifting and shifting to also.

I think I read someone else had trouble L&S from regular itenerary like yours, 7 night Western to 7 night western plus Coco Cay. They considered it a different itenerary. It’s worth a try though.

What is your Itenerary? I remember reading @Baked Alaska L&S to a different port.

Full payment is not due until 90 days before your new date that you lifted and shifted. We L&S Oct 2020 to Oct 2021 and my new confirmation list payment due on July 12 2021

Explorer to Odyssey!

We were able to Lift and Shift our cruise from a 9 night Greek Isles 2020 to a 9 night Greek Isles in 2021. The itenerary was mostly the same except a port or two within the itenerary was different. My understanding of itenerary was “9 night Greek Isles”, “7 night Western Caribbean”, 7 night Alaska Inside Passage round trip, etc... even though exact ports may differ. Different ship, same basic itenerary and a huge savings by keeping our original pricing. We paid no additional monies. Hope it will work ou for you.

I shared a similar story on another thread. Last Wednesday, we called our TA right away with interest to L&S our October 2020 cruise to the Greek Isles. Our TA spent 1 hour 45 minutes on hold, like yours, just to get disconnected. He was emailing me all the while he was on hold and the last email I got from him on Wed. was a " got disconnected, have no idea if I got anything accomplished, going for a walk, and I'll call back later" type email. I had great sympathy for his frustration, as I could only imagine if it were me. Being disconnected after being on hold for so long is one of those "head exploding" moments. To his credit, he came back that evening and was able to hold/reserve the room through regular reservation process to make sure it was available (because it was a 2 BR Grand Suite, it was the only one available) and began the whole L&S process again Thursday morning. Thursday he spent over 1 hour 20 mins on hold before accomplishing the L&S. We are incredibly grateful for his professionalism and perseverance for us. We were successfully lifted and shifted from 9 nt. Greek Isles in Oct 2020 on Explorer to Same Itinerary on Odyssey in Oct 2021. It was a win/win for us.

As I understand it, Cruise with Confidence just ensures you a future cruise credit and not a refund. Not sure if that matters to you. I don’t know about the airfare and I’ll yield to a pro in that one😜.

That’s a good one! No truer words.

It took our TA hours with Royal on the phone to accomplish our Lift and Shift of our October 2020 cruise to the Greek Isles. When we read about the program Wednesday morning we called our TA right away. He was on phone with Royal for 1 hr 45 mins on Wednesday and then got disconnected, causing great frustration. At that point, he did a very smart thing and booked the room under regular price to make sure it was still available since he knew it was the only one ( we were booked in a 2 BR Grand Suite), and then started the whole process again on Thursday, upon which took an additional 1hr 20 mins., after which he was able to send us our new confirmation with the reduced price of our 2020 cruise. He was able to shift our October 2020 Greek Isles Cruise on Explorer in 2BR Grand Suite to a 2 BR Suite in Oct 2021 on Odyssey to the Greek Isles for the same price we had secured for our 2020 cruise on Explorer. It was a significant savings and we are so very thankful our TA persevered through much frustration, and he’s a professional used to dealing with it! He reported, like others did above, that there were many details that once worked out had to be checked and approved by supervisors, amounting to much time on hold.

Any in July since you have a 4 week window either side? And wow, a $9000 pp Junior Suite???

For us, the monies that Royal Caribbean has is not full payment but instead our deposit. There was no requirement we pay in full prior to moving our sailing. Our cruise was not scheduled until October 2020 and full payment would have been due until end of June. We could take advantage of the Lift and Shift program and they merely moved our deposit and gave us the price of our 2020 sailing in October 2021. For Cruisers whose sailing are mid August through December and have not had to make final payment will be able to lock in their current price by just transferring their deposit to a sailing in 2021. It won't work for everyone, but some, like us, if your willing to make decision to delay now, it was better than the FCC granted through the straight Cruise with Confidence rules.

Upon purchase they will add an 18% gratuity to each package purchased. For example if you sail for 7 nights at $60 per day, your drink package for one person would be $420 plus 18% for a total of 495.60 per person for total cost of drink package. That may help you with your budgeting also.

As others have said, the deluxe Drink Pkg. varies by each individual sailing. Most 2021 sailing drink packages are running on the more expensive side at @ $70 per day per person. The 2020 sailings seem to be experiencing some very decent low prices for the drink package around $40-$50 dollars per person per day. For planning purposes, I'd allocate around $60 per person per day to your budget.

It took our TA hours with Royal on the phone to accomplish it but in the end, I agree with you, I thought it was a win/win for us. I Hope others will check and see if Lift and shift can work for them, but as we learned, you will need ooodles of patience. Our TA was on phone with Royal for 1 hr 45 mins on Wednesday and then got disconnected, causing great frustration. At that point, he did a very smart thing and booked the room under regular price to make sure it was still available since he knew it was the only one, and then started the whole process again on Thursday, upon which took an additional 1hr 20 mins., after which he was able to send us our new confirmation with the reduced price of our 2020 cruise. Because he snagged the room Wednesday at the original price, we were able to know exactly what it would have cost and exactly what our savings were. If He wouldn’t have had to do that, due to his aggravation on Wednesday, we wouldn’t truly know the savings.

I know what you mean. We were set to sail the Greek Isles out of Rome on Explorer of the Seas (whose Amp has now been delayed/canceled) in October. It was a cruise we have looked forward to for quite some time. Recently, though, the anticipation of the cruise has been overshadowed by worry. As soon as I saw Matt's Blog post on Wednesday, I researched same itineraries for October 2021 and once I saw that ours was available and on Odyssey of the Seas, we decided to jump. Our room, a 2BR suite, is limited and since there was one available our reschedule became easier to accept. The price differential was significant (the room we booked would have been 6000.00 more total over 4 people had we not been able to carry forward our original pricing) making it all the much easier to accept cancellation for this year. As an added perk we are now sailing on a ship with Suite Class so we will gain some additional benefits with our room now on Odyssey. I look at it this way; we have traded a vacation which became overshadowed with a little worry to one filled with excitement and anticipation again. And as they say, "time flies", and that year delay will be here before you know it. Because, like you, we need a vacation, we are hopeful that by the time we would have sailed, we can somewhat travel within the states, to a vacation spot that allows further distancing, and enjoy some R&R that way for 2020.

We will be 10/10/21 if all goes as planned. We are looking forward to it again.

LOL @Baked Alaska I don't care what you call it, because of the Blog and all of you, I was able to take advantage of it and turn a worrisome upcoming vacation filled with worry into a vacation in filled with anticipation and excitement again.

Many, many thanks to this blog. We were scheduled to sail a 9 night Greek Isles itinerary in September in a 2 BR Grand Suite on Explorer of the Seas. This morning I pulled up this blog and thanks to @Matt I was alerted to the new LIft and Shift policy. I emailed our TA right away and he called me back and we were able to get transferred to a Greek Isles sailing in Oct on Odyssey of the Seas for the same price. I feel less stressed worrying about whether we would feel comfortable sailing and we are sailing on the Odyssey for the same price. Since there are so few 2 BR suites I feel especially thankful to Matt and everyone who is apart of this blog, that I became aware and could act so quickly and understand the need to act quickly. Thank you, Thank you! This is why I enjoy looking at this blog and reading everyone's helpful advice. Because of that, you have made a worrisome vacation decision for this year turn into a vacation filled with excitement.

We are booked on Greek Isles cruise out of Rome September 27, 2020. I am leaning towards not going but was hoping the cruise with confidence would be extended so no deposit money would be lost. Delta has extended their “ no change fee” for our air fare and we can rebook flight through September 2022 if we opt to cancel and reschedule.

There us a screen shot of the Royal Caribbean in a previous topic that appeared a week or two ago. It may help you clarify with your TA. I have copied it below. Thanks to @mworkmanfor posting on the previous topic.