RG306

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 🙂

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 🙂

Well, we have received a big blow regarding our Wonder of the Seas booking for May 15th out of Barcelona. I had a look at our Cruise Planner and to my surprise discovered that our Crown Loft Suite (CLS) cabin on deck 18 has been removed and replaced with a balcony cabin on deck 10. We have received absolutely no communication from Royal Caribbean (RC) or any explanation of why this has happened. Our CLS cabin had been confirmed six weeks ago and a revised invoice issued by RC, so this came as a complete surprise to us.
I immediately called my TA who also knew nothing about this and are currently trying to sort the matter out and obtain an explanation from RC, but this happened about 10 days ago and we are still no further forward in receiving any explanation or what our options are going forward.
My wife and I are extremely disappointed and upset about this as we were really looking forward to this cruise and were delighted to have been allocated the CLS cabin on Wonder in line with our original booking on Harmony, which was lifted and shifted to Allure and then finally transferred over to Wonder.
Message to Royal Caribbean; this kind of action and customer service is absolutely DISGRACEFUL and needs to be called out. We have been nothing but loyal to you over several years, having spent a considerable amount of our hard earned money on cruises with you now and feel absolutely let down and betrayed by your recent actions.
Very poor show Royal Caribbean 😡😡😡
 

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.

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.

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. 
 

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. 
 

This!!! Like being dressed in a space suit and following someone and washing everything they touch is anyones idea of a good time. 
As a healthcare provider when they tell me the pt is positive and I have to dress in full PPE I assure you there is a lot of colorful language that comes with it!

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.

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.

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 ?

I really don't see that many people who will get into diamond or D+ as a result of this promo who wouldn't have gotten there eventually anyway.

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 ?

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.  

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 ?

So good to be back to reading the blog and regularly checking the topics for helpful information. I was a regular reader, until COVID, and then it was difficult to tune in as regularly. It is nice to be reading and planning upcoming cruises and seeing the many familiar contributors with well earned expertise!! I used to love reading your insights and am once again looking forward to it. Our first cruise isn't for 6 months but we have finally begun browsing the cruise planner and purchasing excursions and such. Anyone else feeling the "hopeful cruise vibes"?

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.

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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.  

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.  

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.