sk8erguy1978

I came here to say basically this! A GOOD agent can be worth every penny. My agent was travelling last week on the inaugural sailing of Adventure, which I didn't know it at the time. I sent an email about an upcoming final payment & about another cruise - wanted to switch, blah, blah, blah. Kathy from MEI not only had her 'auto reply' stating to expect a delay in response, due to out of office, WHY she was out of the office AND someone to contact if it was an emergency. I decided it wasn't an emergency and patiently waited. Once she replied, I had her full attention and not only did she answer questions thoroughly (giving me way more info and answering questions I didn't know I had) but handled the cruise with upcoming final payment AND booked the cruise I was looking at, IN the room I wanted, for LESS! (Let's not forget, while onboard Adventure). Like you @Jill I decided to use a travel agent because I wanted to do a group thing December of 2020, also while I was at it, I gave her my September 2020 cruise. The December cruise I was hoping to get a bunch of friends and make it a group rate, and having run a group thing myself once, wanted no part of doing that again LOL! Kathy, for the last two years this upcoming September, has been amazing and treated me like I've sailed 10000 cruises with her, yet, due to the pandemic, I've sailed ZERO. TL;DR: A good travel agent is worth way more than they are paid by Royal Caribbean and at $0.00 cost to you, it's a no-brainer.

Welcome to the forums. I've personally been at a table with about (going off memory) 12 and I'm sure they would have figured out how to get a few more. I'd speak to the main dining room when you board to see what they can organize for you. With 21 people, guessing about 10 cabins (give or take a cabin) have you considered a group rate? I believe the minimum is 8 cabins and you'll get some perks, nothing life changing, but a "freebie" nonetheless. When I did a group rate it paid for my (and wife's) drink package with enough left over to spread a little OBC to everyone. (I considered spreading it all but many said to keep it, plus not using a travel agent (BIG MISTAKE) I earned the drink package ?).

Yep! I was under the false impression all Odyssey crew was vaccinated, until I watched one of @CHRIS WONG's vlogs where he mentioned getting the J&J vaccine after already joining the ship; So, the crew isn't fully vaccinated yet. So, with all those employees traveling to the ship, a few positive cases was inevitable.

This is a GREAT tip. Example: We decided to cancel a cruise, prior to notifiying our travel agent I went and cancelled our Cruise Planner purchases... Even though I cancelled our Beach Club cabana it still showed up as "sold out" in the planner ... maybe a wait-list? No idea because technically there is now one. In fact, because I had purchased it, it didn't show sold out just "you purchased on ..." when I cancelled it flipped to sold out. Same for us, the beach bed is $149.99 - $199.99 (for South Beach) vs $321.98, I'm thinking the wife will enjoy the bed more than having access to the club. I'd consider the cabana again but it was a hard pill to swallow at $800, now it's $1200 ... I'm good. ?

It could be sold out? I wouldn't be too concerned, as Freedom of the Seas is part of the initial restart with a date of July 2nd. https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2021/06/04/royal-caribbean-announces-it-will-restart-cruises-the-us-july *edit: It is strange the first available date is September, but could be anything, really.

Same! Especially delish concoctions!

Flying from NY so any FL port is fine by me!

Yes! I really enjoyed the innovation and changes in both Oasis & Quantum class ships but still keeping the feel of a Royal Caribbean signature ship. I have faith Icon will not disappoint continuing that trend. I've already warned the wife, I need a new ship (& class) smell, so Q3/Q4 2023 we are cruising LOL.

Sure, let's go with "virgin" ? ?

Let's not forget about the chemistry lessons of drink mixology.

Too early to book? Asking for a friend! ?

I saw it the other day but wrote it off as it remembered I was looking for Oasis cruises. I too was incognito, but didn't close and reopen the browser to clear any lingering cookies, cache, etc. Since I am looking at a cruise on Oasis in January, because, sadly I might be replacing Oasis this September (although same ship is a coincidence), I'll keep a closer eye on that behavior.

Wasn't sure if it was 1 at a time or more. So, if I have two drink packages could I in theory snag 4 at once? That would easily solve @Tami's issue without making a project out of it.

Welcome to the forums! Not sure you can get 5 at once, I believe what most people do is collect them during the day. "1 Johnny Walker & 1 Water Please" for example. Having refillable water bottle(s) wouldn't be a bad backup plan. I find the water provided in Cafe, Windjammer, etc perfectly fine. Enjoy your first cruise!

You're welcome. Not sure when your cruise is, but always check back and keep track of what you paid. If the price drops, they don't exactly adjust, but you can cancel and rebook for the new price.

Welcome to the message boards! I think you're looking for the Cruise Planner: (not sure if it will show you shuttle information, but it's where you can buy and view on-board things, like WiFi, drink packages, schedule meals, shore excursions and more). https://www.royalcaribbean.com/booked

Personally, I'm a OV Balcony or better kinda guy, wife too. That said, I'd like to experience both of these cabins, mainly for people watching. A Boardwalk with obstructed ocean view seems like a good compromise for me (I'd say & us but not sure the wife would want it over OV ?). Either way, so much to do on Oasis screw the cabin! LOL

Welcome to the forums. Coco Cay is a private island owned by Royal Caribbean as such there will not be any requirements when you disembark the ship... HOWEVER, there may be protocols in place to board the ship on embarkation day. With March being so far in the future, I'd worry about it when it's closer, the rules/protocols are changing daily.

So much to see & do in NYC! She'll love it.

I'm on that sailing too, also in the FB group, although I am in the middle of a "deactivation" just to get away for a while ... anyway, I too have enough confidence in it sailing that we might not make final payment. Wife just started a new job and its not clear (and may not be in the next 2 weeks) if she can take the time. Originally, I was all-in, figured cruise would get cancelled and I can preserve my great GS price, now I don't feel that way and don't want a huge FCC. I started eyeing Oasis out of Miami in January - or maybe go for that "new ship smell" on Odyssey. I was looking forward to seeing the changes on Oasis - and that Miami itinerary has new places - so that might win. Anyway, rant over, fingers crossed for you guys, I know most (myself included) are transplants from September 2020!

Our first Royal Cruise was in 2007 and only our second cruise. While this site wasn't around yet, I did participate in another forum (not CC) that helped me learn A LOT. I felt so lost and clueless on our first cruise I didn't want that to happen again. Somewhere between Royal # 4 (Oasis 1/2010) and Royal #5 (Oasis 1/2012) and beyond, as I'd search for something Royal related, a blog written by Matt would pop-up. Over the years I came to rely on those search hits as fact and had a better grasp of what I was researching. I forget exactly when but that other cruise forum started to die off a bit, there was an update, and I think new owners which killed (at least for me) the sites usability. The biggest issue was how slow it was, page loads were probably in the high seconds to minute+ (again, going off memory, this was a while ago). Anyway, I would creep the forums here from time to time and of course keep up on @Matt's blog posts and decided to join July of 2019; I missed that other site's friendly atmosphere and saw it here. So, while I did join with a solid Royal Caribbean foundation (a lot -probably most- from Matt's blog posts), I've still learned a lot these last 2 years and try to contribute when I can... I type fast but some of you, WOW it's like you have the information ready to copy/paste ? LOL. I know I'll continue to learn from Matt and this community. If I may steal (and modify) a quote from Hagrid when Harry said he'll need a wand: "A wand Royal Caribbean information? Well, you'll want Ollivanders Royal Caribbean Blog. There ain't no place better."

You're welcome, but honestly, thank you.

Our last few cruises have been in a Grand Suite. As I look at cruises to book and some of the increased costs from what we paid, I have been trying to justify the unjustifiable LOL.

It was truly amazing! One of those moments of generosity you rarely get to see in life. While I couldn't participate in the moment as it was "background noise" while grilling, it inspired me to do my little part and become an insider. For the past year+ I've come to rely on Matt's blog posts and the community here to be up-to-date with the constant change. Making the decisions I needed to do regarding cruises wouldn't have been nearly as easy without Royal Caribbean Blog. Helping to keep the circuit breaker on is the least I could do.