CrznTxn

If you mean the purchase in the store and use on your own, no. If you mean the scheduled drive-up test with you or them swabbing your nose and them running the test and giving you a written or email result, yes. Royal DOES NOT accept self administered off-the-shelf tests.

We bid and received a RoyalUp on our first return voyage last August out of Nassau. We thought it would be great to move from our balcony to a Junior Suite after a long respite from cruises. We went from a very well located mid-ship balcony to a rear facing, obstructed JS. The room was nice but every morning we had several yoga and stretch classes right outside our balcony so relaxing for an early morning coffee was never private. The "obstructed" view was the superstructure of the ship and it effectively blocked most of the view. We agreed that from now on we would stay with our "choice" balcony or other room and not do any more bids. This upcoming cruise we received a RoyalUp email and the pricing for the upgrades was atrocious. We called Royal and was able to upgrade to a JS for less money than the RoyalUp AND we were able to pick the room. Best part is the cruise is a double points cruise and the upgrade through Royal doubled our double points. 😀

Immediately upon setting foot on the ship, go over to Adventure Ocean and you and your daughter check out the schedule, meet the staff and see if your daughter has any issues. There will be same age children or really close also sailing and it would be a good time to let her check it out. Our grandkids love it and are always wanting to go back. It can also give you time alone during the cruise to explore the ship, talk to other adults or just sit out in the sun. There are plenty of things for both of you to do together on the ship and know you will enjoy your time together on the "big boat". Enjoy!

Me too!

I'll go one step further... I'm hoping by May, the coronavirus and all its variants will no longer be public health issues.

They can be home test IF they are proctored.  You can order proctored tests that Royal Caribbean accepts from https://www.emed.com/products/covid-at-home-testkit-six-pack?hsLang=en (6-packs only) or https://store.optum.com/royal-caribbean/ (2 or 3 packs.  Always have one more than you need in case you accidentally mess up one - it happens).

You definitely get the C&A points for your "free" cruise. Since the return of cruises we have been on six "free" cruises through the casino so you know they were not free. 😜
We have received the double points for each of our cruises that we booked last year and have several to go for this year. Enjoy your upcoming cruise!

I think Royal has found a good balance that brings value for the vacation dollars spent.  A luxury cruise experience sounds great but they costs luxurious dollars.  A budget cruise sounds easy on the wallet but are often too budget oriented - you get what you pay for, or not.  
Certain companies I gel with.  I have tried other lines, several of them as I sought to check out the grass to see if it was greener over there.  This has helped me validate my feelings about Royal.  In the end Royal feels like home, if there is such a concept, for a cruise line.  
I like that Royal doesn't include everything as that would drive the price up and I'd pay for things I don't want or need.  
I like that Royal offers activities for a wide variety of ages.  I may not have young kids anymore but the kids areas and activities keeps them occupied so they aren't all swamping my space because they are bored with nothing to do.  When I travel with family or friends that have younger kids the kids programming allows me and my friends to spend some time together while their kids are occupied.  
Sometimes I want to jump in a bumper car or lace on a set of skates and sometimes not.  On Royal there are those things for me if and when I feel like it.  Even when I don't sometimes it's fun watching other people have fun.  
I cruise Royal not because of the Crown and Anchor Society but those benefits certainly don't hurt and it is one of the best loyalty programs in the industry.  For me I just enjoy many different aspects of a Royal cruise.  I haven't had bad experiences on other lines but it just doesn't feel like home like it does when I first board a Royal ship at the start of any cruise.  

If you let Royal know (i know, you have to wait on hold to talk to someone) they will tag your reservation for whatever special occasion you are celebrating. We have the wife's birthday cruise in May and our anniversary cruise in June so noted and it is on our cruise receipts. In the past they have given notice to us and provided a little "treat" in celebration, not much but was nice. If you want something bigger you will have to purchase it or bring it.

We were going to bid on an upgrade from a balcony to a Jr Suite on our upcoming March cruise but when we contacted Royal (it is booked through Casino Royale) we found that to go ahead and upgrade through them was actually less expensive than the RoyalUp and we are able to double our double points 😁. May have been less due to the wife's casino and our C&A status but their RoyalUp minimum prices seems to have increased lately and I have been unable to manually "modify" the bid to less than their minimum.

We were going to bid on an upgrade from a balcony to a Jr Suite on our upcoming March cruise but when we contacted Royal (it is booked through Casino Royale) we found that to go ahead and upgrade through them was actually less expensive than the RoyalUp and we are able to double our double points 😁. May have been less due to the wife's casino and our C&A status but their RoyalUp minimum prices seems to have increased lately and I have been unable to manually "modify" the bid to less than their minimum.

There is also, sometimes, white night. Last ship I was on for that it was blinding with all the white suits and dresses strolling down the promenade. Some even dual purposed with the '70s disco party in their white leisure suits! Have not seen those in years!

The early times are most popular. Earlier to start the vacation the better. Give yourself a little leeway from the airport. It is not very far and we took a taxi over. Standard boarding times are 11:30 to 3:30 in 30 minute increments although we were able to snag an 11:00am boarding on our upcoming cruise through the wife's diligence in checking every day on the App. This trip is a drive for us so we just leave a little earlier. Flying into FLL is easy so you should not have an issue with 12:00 ~ 12:30.

Yes, according to our Facebook groups, it sailed!

Yes, according to our Facebook groups, it sailed!

The perks as said before are loaded onto your Seapass card. Besides the drinks, which seems to be the favorite, you also get 1 day of Voom for each person. You have to log in separately per person but you can use the same device which would give you 6 days if all of you are traveling. We have used it the last several cruises needing only the one or two days between us to contact home. The photo discount may not show when you look at the pictures but should be there at checkout. That also means each of you can get a photo. There will be a letter in your stateroom describing the perks so you can go over it there. The best for me however is the Diamond Lounge. The coffee maker there gives excellent coffee, espresso and cappuccino. I'm there every morning and sometimes the evening. Oh, they also have continental breakfast there and snacks during Happy Hour. Have Fun and enjoy!

The perks as said before are loaded onto your Seapass card. Besides the drinks, which seems to be the favorite, you also get 1 day of Voom for each person. You have to log in separately per person but you can use the same device which would give you 6 days if all of you are traveling. We have used it the last several cruises needing only the one or two days between us to contact home. The photo discount may not show when you look at the pictures but should be there at checkout. That also means each of you can get a photo. There will be a letter in your stateroom describing the perks so you can go over it there. The best for me however is the Diamond Lounge. The coffee maker there gives excellent coffee, espresso and cappuccino. I'm there every morning and sometimes the evening. Oh, they also have continental breakfast there and snacks during Happy Hour. Have Fun and enjoy!

To save and print the Set Sail Pass on two pages you need to click on print this page and select Save to PDF for the destination,  and then in more Settings change the scale to 80% to reduce it to two pages. Save the file and print it out from the saved file. A little more work but I always save my cruising files on a thumb drive and take it with me.

We minimum bid to a Jr Suite from a Balcony in August just for grins not expecting them to take it. We did and although the extra room was nice the extra cost was really hard to justify as we spend hardly spend any time in the room and we went from a very nice location to an obstructed view in the rear. Now we can say "Been There - Done That" although the better half is warning me she WILL be bidding on another Jr Suite for her birthday cruise in May.

We minimum bid to a Jr Suite from a Balcony in August just for grins not expecting them to take it. We did and although the extra room was nice the extra cost was really hard to justify as we spend hardly spend any time in the room and we went from a very nice location to an obstructed view in the rear. Now we can say "Been There - Done That" although the better half is warning me she WILL be bidding on another Jr Suite for her birthday cruise in May.

We minimum bid to a Jr Suite from a Balcony in August just for grins not expecting them to take it. We did and although the extra room was nice the extra cost was really hard to justify as we spend hardly spend any time in the room and we went from a very nice location to an obstructed view in the rear. Now we can say "Been There - Done That" although the better half is warning me she WILL be bidding on another Jr Suite for her birthday cruise in May.

Use this link to see if you have a RoyalUp without having to wait for an email:
https://www.royalcaribbean.com/booked/cruise-room-upgrade
We have sometimes missed the email or it did not come and we still had RoyalUp offers available. Have fun on your cruise!

The Ovation balcony rooms are very nice. I took some amazing shots of the Alaskan scenery from ours this last year. Enjoy your cruise.

Be careful of the link, looks like phishing to me, not proper name for the figure skater and not the correct You Tube website.

Be careful of the link, looks like phishing to me, not proper name for the figure skater and not the correct You Tube website.