sk8erguy1978

My addition .... Disconnect! Put the phone in your safe (or airplane mode if you must use it as a camera) and enjoy the company of whomever you're with. If sailing alone then go make some friends for the rest of the trip and enjoy their company.

I love staring out into the darkness of nothing on my balcony just before calling it a night!

Same. Not with MEI but an agent nonetheless. Yep. Not sure what a travel agent had to do, but I had to write an email to someone and it was finally approved. Maybe someone can enlighten me, but if I'm not mistaken, Royal clearly benefits financially from people not using an agent. I just feel it's a jerk move on their part to be like ... Sorry, you waited too long, that money is ours now.

I'm not in Star Class but Sky Class so cannot speak about the included amenities like drink packages but the planner definitely knows when you purchased something. It is a bit wonky, like it says I booked this pub crawl but doesn't say anything for drink package. I like to see what I purchased at current rates to know if it's less for a reprice. (Example, I paid a lot less for the pub crawl in the attached photo.)

Same here. I receive 2-3 emails a day sometimes more. Deals on new bookings, Cruise Planner sales, "hey you didn't finish booking your X night to Y" and more. I have plenty to share LOL! I have a Gmail filter that sends anything with "unsubscribe" in the body of the text to an alternative folder. I'd send it straight to trash but sometimes real email gets mixed in, so I'm continually monitoring it. I "turned it off" for Royal Caribbean because I wanted to know about the sales, but honestly, it's easier to just check periodically, or keep up here where Matt or someone else is always sharing promos. The emails are ridiculous, every day, same sale as yesterday ... Be thankful you're not getting any. LOL I'm turning that filter back on for Royal LOL.

?Nope! I can keep sleeping in the lifeboat or other areas around the ship ... I would be more curious how to drink without an onboard account! LOL Don't leave your drink unattended or stowaways might steal it!

Yes, last year this happened to me a few times. Apparently, the port fees (?) could change slightly and they will not re-price those. SO, you'll get the new rate with your original port fee price which explains the price difference. Last year was the first anything like that happened to me. I was using an agent.

Exactly. It'll help cover the deductible. I'm actually going to call and ask my insurance company about coverage. I personally don't worry about medical but the costs can quickly add up, worth it. This will be one of the first cruises without a third party coverage.

They have health but it's very minimal. https://www.chase.com/card-benefits/sapphirereserve/travel

Yes. The health coverage has me wondering if I should just get cheap insurance just for that. We shall see, whatever the wife wants lol. The interesting thing, Chase representative said I don't need to pay for cruise in full with the card for the benefits. Curious how that works.

Enjoy and stay safe!

Very true. It's sad that in these situations everyone gets worked up about refunds and ruined vacations. During the next few hours peoples lives are going to change forever. There will be massive destruction & probably loss of human lives. They will be in my thoughts as I selfishly enjoy my safe Labor Day weekend in New York.

You will. You're still on a cruise enjoying a few days of relaxation. I am sure, as already stated, Royal will be overly generous about the situation as well.

Hide in a lifeboat.

I'm a Chase Sapphire Reserve customer and was concerned about the overlap and another big yearly fee, but maybe I'll look closer. Do you have to use a travel agent to move the deposit from one CC to the next? I have a booking for next December but no agent tied to it and might be past the *give to an agent without a fight* period.

A problem I can certainly solve! ?

I've been doing this "trick" for some time now. LOL.

This is why I advocate never to use a debit card and always a credit or charge card. Why put needed cash at risk. Banks claim they will not hold funds but I don't believe them.

YEP! They are slick. We were going to sail Pride of America (cancelled) and once the promotional came up for our sailing, even though it was a touch higher, it brought the drink package down to just shy of $400 (as you said have to pay gratuities). The other free at sea or whatever they call it is BS too. $50 dollars is what you get for "free" excursions. The "free" flight is just a few hundred too.

Never been in that situation to know my reaction, but I'd probably go.

100%. I've heard too many stories of them being overly generous with refunds. I suspect this is just a stressful time for all. Once the storm settles (pun?) everything will work out in the end. I feel terrible people are going through this, I know I'd be stressed out too.

Anthem next month and it's now $52 at 30% off. Yesterday it was $61 at BOGO 1/2 off. They are really just moving too many numbers for me to even try anymore LOL. I got in on the $49 30% off sale a few weeks ago and cannot be happier. (Although, I'll take $48 lol) ... Every day I'm checking!

Which unfortunately seems to be the problem, Royal's offer is (assuming I read original post correctly) FCC for days missed or you can cancel and receive a FCC minus taxes. So, if they aren't willing to refund taxes, I suspect Royal Up would be forfeited as well. BUT. Royal Up is part of the cruise fare, but probably a separate line item that the RCL call center agent didn't know what to do with? This hurts my head -- good reason for Travel Insurance even if it's with a credit card. Also good reason for an agent, let someone else fight your battles. ?

You're out a lot of money just in taxes, if a few more calls doesn't get better results, you're probably better off going for the 2 nights and relaxing a bit. You might end up with a better offer in the end than a future cruise credit for the 2 missed days. A friends cruise was diverted a few years ago and they received 50% off their cruise fare as an OBC which they didn't need to spend it all and could 'cash out' the balance.

Welcome! All the shows are included. You don't have to book them ahead but if a show takes a reservation those guests will enter first then about 15 or 30 (I forget) minutes before show they will allow everyone else as first come first serve. I'd recommend checking out your cruise planner and making reservations if there are any (as @marti314 confirmed my suspicion, there shouldn't be). Not like it costs anything, if you don't make it no biggie.