CrznTxn

Yes, you cannot receive 4 drink vouchers to use anywhere, anytime and then get a few more drinks during Happy Hour for free. If you go to the Happy Hour in the Diamond Lounge you must use your vouchers. Personally I like the anytime, anywhere.

I hope the approval process is a quick process. The CDC has not shown they are in any hurry for cruise lines. I wonder if it was RCCL or CDC who set the test sailing dates. All of this is questions and conjecture on my part. I am sure RCCL has been talking to the CDC and they would not announce the July cruise dates unless they had assurances on the approval of the test sail approval.

We were supposed to be in Coco Cay for 2 days last December but it was cancelled as all the others. We purchased the Thrill Waterpark for $50PP and the Club for $80PP back then. Fast forward to this coming August we will be there again for 2 days. The current price for the Waterpark and Club are much more than we are willing to pay for so we will just take the free beaches and lounge around for the 2 days. The prices are even higher than the local entertainment park here in Dallas and they have a lot more to do. I will keep looking often but do not believe we will see the pricing as low as it was bar some miracle.

We were told by Royal this afternoon that they would transfer room for room to Indy.

We just cancelled our July 4th cruise through Royal (Casino) and booked another next year. During the call we were assured that if the ship changed from Liberty to Independence on our other cruises this year then the rooms would be moved over in the same location and everything would remain the same. We would not have to rebook or lose it (whew!).

Independence of the Seas is also a Freedom class ship so essentially they are the same ship except for a couple of cabins. Some of the venues (restaurants) are different but the Promenade, Dining, Theatre and Ice Skating are all there.

We are booked on Liberty in September. Since they are the same class of ship I hope they transfer the rooms to the same location and the few that are different can be rearranged. Since we are booked through the Casino, if we have to rebook then we loose that cruise, they will not transfer it.

Hope to see the WOW bands on all Royal ships. Used the Medallion on the Princess cruises we have been on and they are definitely worth it. Our door would unlock as we got close and that in its self was a huge plus. The only drawback was the lack of a ship card to keep the room lights on. Our steward gave each of us a business card he had made just for that purpose. Got him a good tip at the end of the cruise.

The ship sponsored excursions vs third party and the different places everyone has found during their adventures.

Order the drink of the day and then a slow walk through the entire ship reacquainting ourselves with our home away from home that we have not visited since January ‘19 and hoping we see some familiar faces. Stand by the Starboard railing watching the dolphins swimming by.

That means it may be only 2 weeks away for our August check-in. ? WOW, they let us check in for our August sailing this evening, I almost passed out in joy.

We have been on Liberty several times and the texting function was not available. As @Matt stated on Adventure, the texting icon showed up on our Liberty app this year but do not know if it will work. We have a July cruise on her and hope it is functional. ?

CDC's next move would make me feel better if they had required every commercial airliner that flies from a US airport to follow the guidelines that the cruise ships have to and there was a track record on how long it took them to react to that. If there is no announcement on a reduction on the 60 wait from accepted test and issuance of a Conditional Sail Certificate then the best we can hope for is an early/mid September sailing out of the US. Sure am glad I booked the Adventure of the Seas out of the Bahamas in August. At least I will be able to take at least ONE cruise before the end of the CSO, unless I am picked to do the "Sail to Nowhere" test cruise which I am already packed for. Pretty sure unless the CDC accepts the Freedom as a "one for all" there will be no July or August cruises from US ports. The only other saving grace for the cruise industry would be the judge striking down the CSO this coming Monday but with RCI and Carnival now seeming to accept the conditions and move forward to start the test sailings that probably will not happen.

Royal Caribbean will have an agent or more at the air terminal to meet you and get you to the shuttle with your name in the system. We use the same service on our out of town cruises and it is great.

Here is your perks list for the suites. Only two perk additional from the Grand suite.

If they cancel or reduce the Adventure sailings (have an August sailing) I hope they allow us to move to a US sailing on the same date.

To me it amazing that the CDC is using a document from the Galveston Wharves dated July 2020 when we had no vaccine and really were trying to understand even the basics on how COVID_19 spread. As always they are a day late and a dollar short on current information and science.

This is only one portion of the tremendous pressure that is coming to bear on the CDC at the moment which, IMO, caused the "no mask mandate" to come out yesterday. They and the WH administration have in the past four months insisted on the mask mandate, even with the vaccine that was touted as the miracle cure for getting back to normal, and it became apparent that to move forward and not lose all credibility with the general public it had to be removed. That is the first step. The negotiations which I believe are happening as one would in normal course of business and court dealings may result in the CSO being modified to allow the cruise lines to operate soon and to save face for the CDC which they desperately need right now. This would make the judges' ruling easier and can be shown as a win-win for both parties. Either way, I just hope we can get sailing soon.

We purchased our flights for our November Navigator cruise out of LA as a refundable fare. It was less expensive than we have seen in a while and it has gone up $100 already. The adder for the refundable fare was $28. The other reason was I had enough air miles with the carrier for my ticket so we just had to purchase the wife's. We chose the refundable fare as Southwest will not release its Fall 2021/Spring 2022 schedule until mid-June. If SW has a cheaper fare or our SW air miles cover the flight we will cancel what we have and book with them. Did not want to wait and have a big price increase hit us.

Two of the Carnival ships listed sailing out of Galveston have been in port there getting all of their crew vaccinated. Not all their ships are in port doing this but the ones they mention starting have. Easy enough to achieve the 98% for the crew and they can require the COVID documentation for the 95% passengers. No restrictions for having to show documentation of proof of vaccination out of Texas as of yet.

Looks like Delrio is not holding his breath on the judge's ruling tomorrow and has decided to go where the grass is definitely greener and not protected by barbed wire put up by a cattle baron.

My wife spotted this on her Galveston Facebook page for July sailings. Maybe our July 4th Liberty sailing may be saved after all.? They list one on July 3rd and one on the 15th out of Galveston as well as one out of Miami July 4th.

Also have multiple bottles of hand sanitizer hung on various parts of their long sleeve, long pants clothing for easy access and emergency use in case someone gets close.

For me it is the unplugging of the electronics to the outside world and visiting outside places. My workplace is worldwide so I receive emails and calls 24/7 and have not had a non-communication vacation since January 2019, even though we have forced "vacation reduction" during Thanksgiving and Christmas. Going in "airplane" mode when I step onboard the ship is one of the big things I have missed during this pandemic. Visiting foreign ports and seeing old friends is what we are getting more excited for.

A big ? to you @twangster for the right thing. We have corrected the Royal personnel times before when they have erred in a price quote or refund. We have a cruise booked on Navigator over Thanksgiving and realize that they will probably sell out that sailing. We did notice that the pricing was way below what we were used to seeing but we booked it through the Casino so we know they will make up the fare difference on us. Have fun on the Odyssey on her maiden US voyage.