Snotarni

Somewhere at Royal Caribbean... working feverishly on our refunds and FCC calculations... LOL! ?
 

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. 
 

Phone died...  no answer yet.  RCCL lines must be flooded ?. I may try again tomorrow.

Yeah... I tried that yesterday but never got a call/email back... so, I called again this morning, and still I wait... ?

My sister’s company is supplying antibody tests to FEMA for the next 5 years. All 3 major cruise lines have called about antibody tests. 

Yeah... I tried that yesterday but never got a call/email back... so, I called again this morning, and still I wait... ?

Good luck trying to get this switched.   I have called 3 times already and spent 2.5 hours in the phone.   They need a supervisor to adjust the price.  I have been promised calls back and hung up on twice!

1000+ this statement.
We live in the mid-atlantic region, so for us, we actually could drive to many ports.  Miami would be a killer drive @15 hrs, but we also have NJ and Baltimore to sail from without taking an airplane.  
To add onto your thought of getting to the cruise port.  I wonder if they will open ports in stages, not because of the state, but due to location.  For example:
  Open Miami up 1st and due to the proximity, FLL can be put on the back burner.  Open Cape Liberty and leave Baltimore to the bottom of the list  Galveston is a tricky one.  It is really out there from airports, but mid-westerns can drive there. I agree with the author of the article.  I feel bullish.  I look at my kids (25-30 yrs old) they will not have an issue to get on a ship IF the price was right.  If the cruise lines do drop lower than an all inclusive they are going to sail.  This will allow these cruise lines to grow in the future bc they hooked them at a younger age.  My kids would love to cruise, but right now it is cheaper to go to KW or New Orleans and rent an Air B&B.    
I am 55, and I will have no issue at all getting back on a ship, vaccine or not.  
 
 

I am almost positive our July 15th sailing on Adventure isn't happening.  Mentally preparing for the loss already. 
This sailing is a tough one to swallow for me personally.  Booked it almost two years ago, scored an unbeatable deal on a category VP (a room category that I have been so looking forward to trying out), great port intensive itinerary with ports I have never visited, $18 DX, great drops on all excursion, Phantom on Broadway tickets pre-cruise, and most importantly, 9 nights kid free with Hubby.
Needless to say, I was not a happy camper yesterday after Carnival's announcement.  That to me is pretty much the nail in the coffin.  And there is not Plan B for this one in 2021.  So at the earliest it will be 2022 before I can replace it.  And then who knows what pricing will be like.  I am so sad...

If they start Aug 1 but decide not to have my Aug 2 Summit sailing go, I'm not sure if I'll laugh or cry or scream in rage. Maybe all of the above as I go through the five stages.

8/7 Navigator...   we'll see!!

I currently have a Symphony July 25.. I am hoping Royal opens July 24 the day the CDC order ends but if not I will have to move it to Labor Day weekend and just hope there is no hurricane... I still have an FCC from hurricane Dorian from last year lol.. But I am just happy there looks to be light at the end of the tunnel and I am ready for cruises to resume!!! 

Received (after asking on RCCL on FB Messenger) my FCC for my 3/12 Indy Cancellation.  I had to call my TA and they called Royal to get the Certificate Numbers;  then my TA had to call Groups (at Royal) to get the Value.  So, all in all, I got to apply them to a September Cruise.  Now, I'm waiting for the Cruise Planner Purchases to be refunded from that cruise.  Finding that if your TA books you through groups to get you a good rate, seems to make it harder for RCCL to peel your refunds/credit out and it takes longer.  That's been my experience (and what I've been told by the RCCL folks).   The people I've dealt with thru the FB Messenger at RCCL have been nothing short of awesome; they're passing on a very tough message, but have always responded to me in a pretty timely manner given what I'm sure is a very fluid and crazy situation.   I'm hoping that after all of this, that my September cruise on Navigator actually sails!  

Received (after asking on RCCL on FB Messenger) my FCC for my 3/12 Indy Cancellation.  I had to call my TA and they called Royal to get the Certificate Numbers;  then my TA had to call Groups (at Royal) to get the Value.  So, all in all, I got to apply them to a September Cruise.  Now, I'm waiting for the Cruise Planner Purchases to be refunded from that cruise.  Finding that if your TA books you through groups to get you a good rate, seems to make it harder for RCCL to peel your refunds/credit out and it takes longer.  That's been my experience (and what I've been told by the RCCL folks).   The people I've dealt with thru the FB Messenger at RCCL have been nothing short of awesome; they're passing on a very tough message, but have always responded to me in a pretty timely manner given what I'm sure is a very fluid and crazy situation.   I'm hoping that after all of this, that my September cruise on Navigator actually sails!  

Received (after asking on RCCL on FB Messenger) my FCC for my 3/12 Indy Cancellation.  I had to call my TA and they called Royal to get the Certificate Numbers;  then my TA had to call Groups (at Royal) to get the Value.  So, all in all, I got to apply them to a September Cruise.  Now, I'm waiting for the Cruise Planner Purchases to be refunded from that cruise.  Finding that if your TA books you through groups to get you a good rate, seems to make it harder for RCCL to peel your refunds/credit out and it takes longer.  That's been my experience (and what I've been told by the RCCL folks).   The people I've dealt with thru the FB Messenger at RCCL have been nothing short of awesome; they're passing on a very tough message, but have always responded to me in a pretty timely manner given what I'm sure is a very fluid and crazy situation.   I'm hoping that after all of this, that my September cruise on Navigator actually sails!  

I don’t think you can expect the drink package to be any lower than $34 PP/PD.  That’s pretty low !

Cutting the grass = one solid hour of thinking about how much more you'd rather be on a cruise than cutting the grass

@Vacation Crazy   I received my refund for Cruise Planner items (DBP and Voom) cancellation (that I executed on 04/22) for my 13 Dec Cruise last night!!  Now... I still haven't received my refund for the Cruise Planner Purchases from 3/10 yet, but...  ?
 

There’s no rhyme or reason how they’re processed. Someone in this group got their FCC for a cruise AFTER my date. That was a May cruise. There are people from March and April who still haven’t gotten anything. Screwy for sure. 

If they're smart ..... they'd be using this blog to get a sense of the pulse of the people.  What's trending.

Now I wish those Coco Cay Cabana prices would drop.  They are still $1800 and above.   I wonder if they ever get purchases at that level?

I had a short sailing on Independence scheduled for July 3.  This sailing has not (yet) been canceled by RCI.  Just before our final payment deadline, I chose to cancel under the "Cruise with Confidence" program, understanding that since I had a non-refundable fare, our deposit would convert into a future cruise credit to be used by December 2021.  Our TA confirmed as much when I asked her to cancel.  
This morning I was checking my credit card and saw that RCI had refunded me $200...just about two weeks since I cancelled.  
Anyone else have similar experience?

I was on a call today and we were told that in reality it is taking them more like 45 business days on the first round to complete the cancellations and while they have put that out for the other two rounds, they hope that they can do those faster.  Royal is supposed to be sending an apology to all guests as well.
Not posting this for people to attack on it, or comment really... Just wanted to post it somewhere so people would see this and maybe ask for everyone to be understanding of those that are working on all of these cancellations.  The person that you call in at the call center is not the person that is working on the cancellations.  Your Travel Planner does not have a way to speed the process up.  This is a Pandemic that was not planned for and everyone that is left working is working hard to process these cancellations.
 

It doesn't.
My husband brought up a good point when we were talking about this. A lot of people can't just look at a map and know where to go. I'm one of them - the kinesthetic learner in me has to physically go there to know where something is. Maybe emuster would be some sort of digital check in at the muster station that has to be completed by day one. Two or three stations (for outside stations anyway) could be manned by one or two crew members. This way you could go for a couple minutes when convenient and not everyone would be packed in like sardines for 30 minutes. 

Good Luck!!!