Mike.s

Just reading the T&Cs associated with the benefit, it says not available with travel agent rates, I assume you have to book direct with RC to get the benefit or am I missing something?

All depends on what you're looking for, Canary Islands, warm sunny, not too much to see/do (other than extinct volcanoes), Norway, stunning scenery, (think poor mans Alaska) not so warm. Both have a sea day (or 2) from Southampton before you get to the destination.

It was the same menu in each, just missed the big restaurant experience over 2 floors, nothing wrong with the food, just preferred having a single MDR, bit more sense of occasion 🙂

We didn't like the fact that the MDR is actually 4 smaller dining rooms, kind of spoiled the experience for us, other than that Anthem was fab, loved 270, really unique.

Aida looking to start sailing in August, short itineraries, half full ships but it's a start https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/23205-aida-to-offer-cruises-in-august-on-three-ships.html

Mrs Thomas, Not sure I agree with your London Crime rate comments?? https://metro.co.uk/2019/06/16/murder-graph-shows-london-killings-compare-us-cities-9971033/

60000 new cases of the virus in the US today, 10000 in South Africa, Melbourne starts 6 week lockdown, not convinced we'll be cruising in September 😞 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-53330509

Totally agree, too many people in the UK seem to ignore social distancing on land, I would worry that some would also on a ship, it's hard enough to get them to sanitise their hands before entering the buffet!!

Would love to be positive but can't realistically see mainstream cruising starting this year, the virus is still very active and until a vaccine is available they'll be localised flares ups. Let's be honest, who wants to run the risk of being forced to stay in a cabin for 14 days should there be an outbreak on a cruise.

At least it gives the cruise lines some direction of what's expected of them to allow them to cruise, better than just being told you can't sail

The German part of TUI cruises is having a number of new builds, here in the UK the British part of TUI Cruises (Marella) is completely made up of hand me downs. That's part of the attraction to us, we've booked on Marella Discovery next year, in a previous life she was Splendor of the Seas, a class of ship we love

Or perhaps they might pass them on to another joint venture, TUI cruises. TUI/Marella already use some of the older RC ships, would be nice to see them over here in Europe.

We've just received our FCC, when we booked the offer was 2nd passenger gets a 60% reduction on main cruise fare, as a result I have over twice the FCC my wife does. Therefore I need to wait for a similar 60% offer again, otherwise I'll have FCC left over in my name and have to pay cash for my wive's fare, madness.

Thanks Disappointing but doesn't come as a complete surprise.

Do we get a notification of when the refund has been processed or do we have to keep checking our CC statements?