711Dave

Hi td,  We'll be on this one also.

Just booked the Refreshment package @ $19.99 for 12 night sailing on the Enchantment OTS from

Baltimore from 11 March 2023 to 23 March 2023.

I did it on the App, my PC indicated RCL's system was under maintiance.

Sign into app, then on first screen where ship is horizontal look near top with the 3 icons and click the ship.

Next screen shows Beverages packages at bottom.

For clarification in this instance, do jr.suites qualify as a suite or a non suite ? 

I see the Walgreen's Rapid NAAT 2 hour testing is acceptable by Royal Caribbean but how about Walgreen's Rapid antigen 2 hour test?

Is that one also acceptable by Royal Caribbean?

Thanks 

17 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

It’s super simple.  Just send your TA an email with the confirmation number and let him/her do the transfer !  I think you have a great plan !

Thanks WAAAYTOO,  Appreciate it.

I sent a request to our TA, who I have previously used, this afternoon to make a booking for an October 2021 cruise but have not heard back from her. She has given me a quote earlier today.

The current sale "Beat the Clock" ends at midnight tonight.

To not miss out on the pricing I plan to book it on RCL's website a bit later this evening.

What is the procedure for transferring the bookings to the TA in the morning?

TIA

23 hours ago, Morganno said:

Our letter says they will post to the account but we booked through a travel agency.

The same day our travel agency said click here to say where you want to use your FCC NOT ONE THING about being able to apply for a refund.

I'm not at all happy about it. I understand they lose commission but given the situation I found it very sneaky of them to offer no way to tell them to get  a refund. 

Now I read from facebook that the same TA are taking 3 months to issue cash refunds.

 

Assuming the "letter" you refer to is from RCCL I believe the account you are referencing is your credit card you used with the TA. That said when we cancelled our booking ( for a cash refund) we did so online but I also sent the TA an email stating what we wanted to do. After out TA signed off on the cancellation RCCL refunded the cash directly to my CC, not to the TA. I have also heard that TA's in Britain (Belgium?) have to play by different rules than our U.S. TA's so that may make a difference.

22 minutes ago, eaglesfaninfl said:

I agree Waaay...consider our situation. We will be in NJ in November and have a cruise planned out of Baltimore over Thanksgiving. Most of our doctors, including both PCPs, are in FL, where we live much of the year. Since we are both in our mid-70's, we would have to fly to FL and back within a week of the cruise to obtain the certificate, then drive to Baltimore. An alternative would be to go through the hassle of getting a PCP in NJ, including any testing the PCP would require. The third alternative would be to cancel the cruise and that is probably what we will do!

We love cruising and have enjoyed every cruise we have been on, but after a certain point, it just isn't worth the aggravation.

Carrying through with what Eaglesfaninfl stated I would be very surprised if any PCP would go out on a limb and sign off on your health unless you would agree to sign a release of responsibility (or whatever it is called) if something went wrong while cruising.  

3 minutes ago, RBRSKI said:

Congrats Man, May I ask, do you know what the cancel date was?

Sure do.  The Cruise cancellation was on March 25 and the Cruise Planner purchases was on April 10.  Hope this helps.

3 minutes ago, Kcusack89 said:

@711Dave so we're you part of the second wave of cancellations or did you cancel on your own

Yes, I was a part of the second wave.  As soon as I heard RCL extended the "no cruise zone" I called my travel agent to advise him to cancel using the cash back option. With wifey and I being just shy of 80, I was very wary of taking the FCC offer of 125% because not knowing what the future holds for us and for RCL.

Our Cruise cancellation confirmation was March 25, today is April 24. Pretty fast.

Our Cruise Planner purchases were cancelled on April 10, expecting refund about May 10.  We'll see.

Brightened up my day somewhat. We were supposed to depart from Baltimore to Bermuda today on the Grandeur.  Sob, sob, sob.

Refunded Cruise Cash payment has showed up in Credit Card account.  Took just about 30 days from cancel date.

Thank you RCL.

So here is what I think is going to happen. Time frame obviously unknown.

The new cases and active cases of COVID-19 must get to ZERO (0) before things restart. Right now we are still in the upward arc of new cases (the US had 1254 new cases from 7:43pm to 7:43am overnight per JHU). When the new cases start to drop that should be the top of the curve and an equal time period down for the cases to get to ZERO (0). However, the down time will probably be less due to newly approved medical reasons. 

So assuming (a bad thing to do) a January 2020 start and a July 2020 peak then Feb. 2021 is not out of the question, but more realistic time would be November 2020. Then another month or so for repositioning, restocking, recalling crew and disinfecting (again) the ships.

That said my best guess is around the Spring of 2021.

Looks like that RCL is telegraphing that things are not going to get better in the near future. Seeing how 11 April is 3 weeks from Saturday and the crew are being sent home in 6 days that pretty much says it all. 

Have you thought about disputing the transaction through you credit card company? It might be something to look into as I have not heard of anybody mentioning it on the blog. Good luck.

While knowing that RCCL is "expecting" to resume it's sailing schedule on 11 April (I believe) the following might have an effect on the Bermuda two night stay on the Grandeur leaving 24 April. Here's a great chance to get a 14 night stay for the price of a 2 nighter (with a wink). 

Effective March 17, 2020 all persons arriving into Bermuda will be required to self quarantine for 14 days, and be subject to Public Health monitoring. Additional information is available on the Government of Bermuda COVID-19 website.

Earlier this week, the government introduced the requirement that all arrivals to Bermuda must self-quarantine for 14 days. This decision, while effectively closing our borders to tourists, was taken in the best interest of Bermuda.  We encourage Bermudians traveling overseas to return to the island as soon as possible as we cannot guarantee that further flight cancellations will not occur.

Carnival Pride seems to have docked this morning at 10:00 am according to Cruisemapper

Grandeur OTS due in on the 19th at 7:00am

Here is part of the release from the DOD pertaining to travel, both national and international. As I read it, it only is for the military deployment so how it is going to affect us civilians remains to be seen. 

DOD bans all domestic travel for personnel and families amid coronavirus crisis. Pentagon officials late Friday announced a total domestic travel ban for all troops, civilian personnel and their families until May 11 in an effort to limit their potential exposure to the coronavirus. 

The Department of Defense issued a stop movement of all personnel to, from or through locations designated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as Level 3 COVID-19 areas effective March 13 and for the next 60 days.
The stop movement applies to all forms of official travel, such as permanent change of station, temporary duty and government-funded leave for uniformed and civilian personnel and includes personal leave and other non-official travel for uniformed personnel. Level 3 locations currently include most of Europe, South Korea, China and Iran. However these are subject to change as determined by the CDC.

https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/2111550/dod-directs-stop-movement-in-response-to-covid-19/

Gotcha, Thanks SpeedNoodles

Did I miss something?  I though it was a 30 day shutdown starting at midnight tonight and ending about 13 April.

Well, it looks like I don't have to make a decision.  Governor Hogan of Maryland just closed the cruise port in Baltimore for ???

We have a 24 April sailing on the Grandeur going to Bermuda for 2 nights. 

We are waiting until 17 April to make the big decision unless it is made for us. 

Seeing how we are 79, in relative good health and if we need to make the decision ourselves we will probably defer to what the CDC is recommending, take the FCC and rebook for 2021.

That is unless things improve drastically.

We have a 24 April sailing on the Grandeur going to Bermuda for 2 nights. 

We are waiting until 17 April to make the big decision unless it is made for us. 

Seeing how we are 79, in relative good health and if we need to make the decision ourselves we will probably defer to what the CDC is recommending, take the FCC and rebook for 2021.

That is unless things improve drastically.

Thanks for asking this question, I was just about to ask the same question.

We are on the Grandeur in 24 April 2020 with 3 staterooms and the cruise planner is currently offering the All Prints package for $119.99. Trying to decide whether to buy. 

First a comment .. In the small print the package is able to be cancelled within the first 48 hours of the cruise.  "Cancellation requests must be processed in the first 48 hours of the cruise, after this all photo packages are non-refundable".

Now my questions .. 

1. What are the regular prices for photo's per each?

2. What is the regular pricing for the digital package? 

3.  "Photos of other guests not travelling in your stateroom will be linked to their own stateroom."      So I take this to mean a picture taken of the 6 of us would be linked to all three staterooms  with the other two having the option to purchase and ours included in the plan.

Comments?