RG306

We stayed at the Sheraton Old San Juan last year.  The location cannot be beat.  We are able to walk around Old San Juan all afternoon and after dinner.  However, it is extremely dated, rooms are musty and run down.  My husband was not thrilled with me lol.  I thought it was fine and would do it again if the price was right.  It was expensive and very busy.  Elevators and the lobby in the morning will be packed.  We actually had a much nicer experience pre-pandemic staying in the Condado area.  

On 9/3/2022 at 4:42 PM, Censored said:

I have used Air2sea in the past numerous times without any problems.  But now with all the changes in flights, you must do your own due diligence to follow up on a weekly is not daily basis to see if your flight is indeed going to happen.  I have a flight to Puerto Rico from Toronto and it has changed 3 times already.   My due date to pay was yesterday Sept 2.  I called today to book seats.  But the airline (west jet) tells me I can book the seats outbound from Toronto, but  not coming back!   I call Air2Sea and they inform me the complete flight is no longer available even though I paid.  So now a special form has to be filled out, and someone will get back to me within the next 7 days?   The only good thing is that the price I paid is protected. But the flights available are not on exact  embarkation/disembarkation dates meaning I have to pay extra for hotel night stays.   I now must wait to see what happens and and wait to book hotels when I know the dates.  I have sent an email to "choiceairsupervisors.com"  to register a complaint and escalate this.     If anybody has any advise, please pass it on.  Also need best hotels to stay near port/airport.   thx.

This is really unfortunate as WestJet did schedule changes for the fleet back earlier this year so they're only flying in out and of San Juan on Saturday (they do have codeshare connectors on alternate dates but with limited availability).  Air Canada is the only direct option from Toronto.  

We are booked at the Kimpton Vividora in the Gothic Quarter.

I got tempted by Royal's Wow Sale and an offer by my TA while wallowing in the sorrows of my cancelled Explorer cruise a few weeks ago.  We should be finishing up our cruise right now but unfortunately flight cancellations and covid restrictions that were still in place here in Canada meant it was a no-go.  Now we have a year to plan, an amplified ship and a lot more onboard credit.  

Who's joining us?

11 hours ago, Swar said:

My wife and I like water, snorkeling, rain forests, drinking, eating, beautiful sites, and rum. Do not like tour buses, guided city tours.

Going to the following islands (out of San Juan) starting 13 March on an Explorer B2B.

Recommendation on at least 2 fun things to do on each island. Never been to any of these places. THANKS!

 

 

St. Thomas
St. Croix	Rhythms at Rainbow Beach
St. Maarten	Maho Beach, Burger Magic
St. Lucia
Barbados
St. Kitts
Aruba
Curacao
Bonaire

St Thomas - Magens Bay or we love taking the ferry to St Johns.

St Maarten - any beach day - Maho, Orient, etc. last couple times we've just taken a water taxi over and rented chairs in front of Holland House.  They have great food and service.  St Maarten also has great prices on liquor for us Canadians.

Barbados - Calypso Cruises has a phenomenal snorkelling catamaran excursion.

St. Kitts - Day pass at Marriott or Hyatt

Aruba - Eagle or Palm Beach, UTV through ABC tours was so much fun.

Curacao - We rented a car from Advance Rent A Car in Curacao and it was such an amazing experience.  They provided us with a cell phone, map of sites (best beaches, view points, hiking trails, where to see turtles/flamingos, restaurant recommendation) and GPS.  We had the best time and explored the entire island.

Bonaire - Water taxi to Klein, or Woodwind Bonaire (it was a fantastic snorkelling experience).

We love Southern itineraries and have another booked for February St Croix ad St Lucia will be new for us. Our interests are similar so I will be following closing

17 hours ago, HawkeyeSarah said:

We were booked in a Crown Loft Suite and were told today we were downgraded to a Jr. Suite. We are pretty disappointed and it doesn't feel like we are getting the same value for what we paid. I realize new ships bring higher price tags, but I booked for the itinerary and the room, not the ship so this feels like a bait and switch.    

Are they honouring the sky class perks and offering onboard credit? Any word on repricing?

47 minutes ago, AlmondFarmer said:

Did a quick count. Allure has 88 suites grand and above. Wonder has 60.

Shortly before ship change announcement there were 7 suites grand or above available on Allure for June 5, 2022.

By this math there were 21 Allure grand suite or above reservations who will be downgraded to Junior Suite.

A family traveling with me who had a two bedroom grand suite on Allure were offered Wonder Junior suite or refund. 
 

Bummer.

It's really unfortunate for full suite guests.  I underestimated the impact when the announcement was first made.  We were booked in a JS for September 4, 2022 and were moved to a cabin on the same deck so all is well for us.  Currently, our cruise planner shows the "balance" of our reservation (we were paid in full so this is the total of reservation of the wonder before correction and moving over payment), it's over $7000 cdn MORE than what we paid just for a junior suite.  We got a great deal when we initially booked on the Explorer, moved to the Harmony and then moved to the Allure.  I know we are not the only ones in this situation so I'm not sure how much "incentive" Royal has to make this right for others when they can command so much more for cabins.  I feel bad for people, I for one just want to be able to travel again...

Our booking was updated today.  We booked a JS deck 8 port side and were moved to a JS deck 8 starboard.  Fine by me

We've definitely had a lot of conversations about booking private excursions with just us or ensuring that we're booking through operators that keep group sizes very small. I'm also not interested in doing excursions with unvaccinated people, no offence to anyone who has made that choice. But especially with European excursions that's a long day in close quarters. It's definitely a little nerve wracking.

1 hour ago, PPPJJ-GCVAB said:

Hi.  Not sure what category this falls under. 

I am wondering if any readers have stayed at or know anything about the YVE Hotel Miami.  I am looking for a hotel that is not utterly expensive to reserve 13 rooms for 1 night or 2 before our cruise in April.  Prices are outrageous and I am trying to keep costs as low as possible for everyone cruising with my family.

Appreciate any suggestions or information.   

I have not stayed at Yve so unfortunately cannot give you feedback. We usually stay at the JW Marquis or Kimpton. Or have stayed in South Beach.

however if you are reserving 13 rooms, you should be calling the hotels directly and speaking to their sales director about getting a group or booking through a company that will do that. It should gain you some sort of discount. 

following, we booked a W guarantee for our Feb cruise. it's our first time ever booking a guarantee cabin, so we're going in with low expectations a junior suite in the worst location.

13 minutes ago, JeffB said:

This is a solid take. We tend to over focus on the path to resumption of sailings from US ports as if it's a one way street to that objective. It's not. I actually think the port agreements thing in the CSO was good (without some of the enforcement provisions). OTH,  I'm not sure that the cruise lines weren't pursuing more COVID robust agreements on their own (that is in the HSP).

I have a Celebrity Equinox sailing booked in August that had a stop in SJ. About 3w ago, I got notified that the SJ and DR port calls were cancelled and replaced with a sea day and a call at Nassau (not great but glad to be sailing). I doubt this news will change Celebrity's operational plans even though it is 60 days out. Too many moving parts.  

Reality is, it can change again and again once you're onboard. I think this is the attitude we all need to have towards travel for at least the next year or two regardless of the type of travel we do. Be flexible. We're privileged to be in a position to do so. A smile and some kindness go a long way  
 

The adventure of seas vlogs kicked it off for me. I had a Europe cruise that kept getting moved because of COVID and refused to book anything else and wasn't planning anything for the Europe one either. Now I have a southern Caribbean booked for Feb.  even though both are so far out, I'm excited again and have started planning again

16 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

Shore agreements will be gone as soon as the CSO is.

Maybe but not to be political as much as things have opened up in the US and Covid seems to be a thing of the past, a lot of countries are still very restricted, under vaccinated, dealing with COVID outbreaks, and many of these ports do not have access to the same resources as the passengers and staff of the cruise lines. Tourist dollars matter but COVID outbreaks are also deadly and costly so there likely have to be some rules in place around how freely people can travel for a long while yet.

I want my family to be safe but I also want to keep others safe especially if they don't have access to preventative (vaccines) or post care we do.

I'm curious to how long this agreement is in place for as it caps capacity between 50-70% for each line and requires 95-97% vaccination rates. The article even said that NCL would be 100% vaccinated. 
 

We just booked Explorer out of San Juan for Feb and honestly, I'd be very happy to sail with all of this still in place. 

We caved and just booked a 2nd. Explorer in Feb. between the price, itinerary and double points promo we figured why not. I just don't have a clue what sailing out of San Juan will look like. 

Just one now - allure sept 4, 2022. It was recently a lift & shift from this summer. Last man standing of the COVID cancellations for us.  

We've stayed at the JW Marriott Marquis and the Kimpton Epic & both were fantastic stays. Great views, amenities & service. Short cab/Uber to port. 

On 5/24/2021 at 11:17 AM, FionaMG said:

If there is another Oasis class ship doing the same route I would say there is a good chance. We were booked on Allure (in Europe) last year. We took advantage of the L&S and switched to Harmony for this year, since Harmony is the Oasis class ship that is doing the Western Med route this year. Still not sure if it will go ahead (waiting for news from Royal) but I am pretty certain that if they were to cancel it they would offer L&S again, which would put us back where we started on Allure!

We were supposed to be on the Explorer in 2020, L&S to Harmony for 2021 & as of yesterday just L&S for Allure for 2022. For what we paid for a Junior Suite & a 7 night Western Mediterranean, I will gladly L&S until we can make this vacation happen. But my god do I really hope that by 2022, I actually get to be back on a cruise ship

But to answer your question, the representative didn't care about the ship for the L&S just the itinerary & date. They went through each port so it had to be very similar and plus or minus 2 weeks of the sailing date a year later. 

16 hours ago, SCP said:

Hi everyone,

It's my first post here, I'm just looking where to spend my FCC valid until Dec.2021, on a Caribbean Sea cruise, including flights from/to London UK and looks like we/costumers are going to pay their current business non sailing.

Me and my family were about to go on a Vision of the Seas, departing from San Juan  on 21st March  for a 7 day cruise calling 5 different ports, when this Covid19 developments forced us unfortunately to take advantage of the FCC the day before non-sailling order. Now we have to find another cruise WE SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO DO THE SAME TRIP COSTING SAME MONEY, to show some kind of commitment and respect for the clients.

The offers at the present are disappointing for me, not even the future cruises are looking so interesting due to low port calling, more days at the sea and the most of them going to the non interesting only Royal Caribbean CocoCay business, but also now are MORE EXPENSIVE.

For the most inattentive people, boring days at sea means you going to spend much more money inside the ship and you are not going to visit nice different places, CocoCay again is only good for their profits, because you are not going to spend your money elsewhere, this is 100% Royal Caribbean. 

Does anyone knows about sales?

Cheers 

 

 

 

We booked our next cruise through an agency that had group rates for 2021 secured pre-covid 19 and it was comparable to our current rate. There are deals out there you have to seek them out. 

Also, airline rates are the same way. Much much higher for next year. Flights for the cruise we booked are astronomical right now so we’re waiting it out. 
 

We all have to remember how unprecedented of a time this is, these companies are trying to stay afloat.  Many among us have lost their jobs and are facing uncertainty. Cruising is a luxury. I for one am looking forward to embarking again next year.  I am also very aware of how lucky we are to be in a situation that booking our future trips (even at an increased cost) is a concern right now. 

On 4/12/2020 at 4:07 PM, WannaCruise said:

A little off topic but this is what we're struggling with now.  As you say, spring break (or Ontario March break for us), is a specific week and airlines know it....so the price is $$$.  We always book opening day as the price only goes up from there. (Last year we even booked the two ways separately).  But with everything so up in the air now, what do we do?  Will the March cruise even go ahead? And so, do we wait on flights?  Or if it goes ahead, will we switch cruises to juggle another cruise that was cancelled?  Flights open up very soon.  Don't know what to do...

One thing with spring break as it's a different week for different places (e.g. unlike Christmas)....so it probably covers a large range.  We were on Symphony last March break. Yes there were lots of kids...including ours... but the ship is so large and with multiple activities going on, that it never felt crowded or overrun by kids.  So it may also depend on the ship.

We’re in the same boat but for reading week. We booked the Freedom out of San Juan. Flights have opened up and they’re  astronomical.  More than the cruise. typically flights are cheapest on opening. We’re going to hold off and hope for a price drop. 

On 3/14/2020 at 4:46 PM, bcarney said:

Even if they are protected, it's still twice the amount of work to earn the commission-once on the booking side, and then again on the cancellation and rebooking side (which they won't get another commission on).

Royal did say they were protecting commissions on both the cancellation and the rebooking that an FCC is applied against. The TAs are under a lot of pressure and uncertainty, I’m glad that Royal is doing right by them.  

3 hours ago, Rene Desmarais said:

I booked my flight in the last week of Feb. so this is out of Air Canada's window of Mar 4 to Mar 31.

Exactly, WestJet’s policy is also a limited window. Which means we lose money. 

7 hours ago, F1guynz said:

With the Cruise With Confidence programme could you not not just can Carl, wait for the FCC which I understand takes about a week to issue and then rebook at the cheaper rate?

You can’t apply the fcc to the same cruise it was issued on. It could also take weeks to have it issued. If the price drops further we may just cancel for the fcc and rebook with payment if we decide to go.

14 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

You should be able to upgrade if the cost of an upgraded cabin has dipped sufficiently.  Get your Travel Agent to arrange an upgrade for you.  If you booked directly with a Royal, call them directly and don’t accept it if they tell you that you cannot upgrade. You can, if the prices have dropped enough.  Escalate to a supervisor if you don’t get the answer you want.

I booked through an agent who said she gave it her all today and they wouldn't budge.