Kathleen

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.

Would love to hear why Serenade is your favorite ship!

We have airfare booked on Delta for a September cruise to the Greek Islands. Just this week Delta has now extended their “no change fees” policy on tickets where travel would be through September 30, 2020. They are giving you through September 2022 to reschedule your travel . This provided me with a good bit of comfort knowing if we opted out of cruise our airfare would be able to be used on future travel without loosing the exhorbitant change fees, especially for international travel! I had read that United and American had lengthened theirs and I am now happy to see Delta has done the same.

Me too. I sure wish Delta would follow suit and allow changes for flights through September 30.

@Baked Alaska my husband is a fly fisherman also. Last time we cruised Alaska (2019) we went in May and had fabulous weather but he did not fish then. I know salmon are generally later in the season than May, but other than salmon what other species are prevalent. We live in Kentucky and have a place in the Smokies where he does a lot of fishing, but that is mostly trout. TIA

This Itenerary looks interesting. We sailed Alaska on Ovation but slightly different Itenerary. Wasn’t Ovation sailing in 2021? Was there a reason you’d sail Quantum and not Ovation originally? We enjoyed both the cruise and ship. Considering cruising Alaska again. Would love your insight. ( I fear the way I phrased my original question may have seemed rude. Was not intended, the delivery is lost in the Typing!! ?

Favorite cruise was Alaska on Ovation. Nothing better than just lounging and watching the beautiful scenery go by!

I don’t believe all Junior Suites have 1 1/2 baths. I was told only the spa Junior Suites have such. We had one on Ovation and loved it.

That is good news. Fingers crossed ?? I was sad to read it might not happen. Was looking forward to a few of the new things happening.

Saw that Explorer’s Amp May be canceled. We are sailing September 27, which was after her spring Amp. On the Facebook page for the sailing the below was posted. Any truth to this? Guess it’s hard to spend oodles of money on a ship when no revenue is coming in.

Couldn’t agree more. RCL is one of the few things worth following!

We were able to access our cruise planner a little under a year away. When Black Friday rolls around keep a lookout then for some specials.