Biff215

@kjones123 Thanks for sharing! We’ll be in the same “boat” next Saturday for testing, I think we’ll try OnPoint. Are you on Quantum?

Hey @Matt, have you ever heard of OnPoint or if they’re accepted by Royal? The cost savings over eMed since we have existing tests would be significant, I just fear a disaster if I’m told at check-in that it’s no good.

I have the same question now that Walgreens is no longer an easy, free option. The eMed tests are a bit expensive and it’s annoying that you need extras in case something goes wrong. With OnPoint, you provide the test which is nice considering I have a bunch on hand already. Has anyone successfully used them to board a Royal cruise? https://onpoint-testing.com/product/certified-teleservice-covid-testing/?gclid=CjwKCAjw7vuUBhBUEiwAEdu2pD8xTcr9bSC4yULHQ70vMiN_0RH6cLc_OyBV_h0BpSfjiR_s2O18thoCuF8QAvD_BwE&fbclid=IwAR0Bl_rH3_AqXNZ2WEHhBtsFEKld4coIN84iCPMyT41ClVvvZglLsrhmyDg&fs=e&s=cl

I ordered yesterday but never received an email confirmation. How long did it take?

I see that too, but once you click one, it changes to 11/20/2007 for me and then I can't correct it to anything past 2017. I tried on my phone and my computer, so it seems consistent. Please let me know if you see otherwise. Thanks!

We were going to grab that too. This is the issue I’m encountering with the date: I can choose my date initially but then it switches to 11/20/2007 and when I go back to the calendar to fix it, 2017 is the latest year. I just fear buying it if this is a site they’re no longer updating and then we don’t get our stuff!

We’re looking to buy them too for our Quantum cruise next month. While our sail date and ship are on the first page, the checkout page only goes up to dates in 2017. Did you experience this too?

My daughters experience on Adventure in July (she was 12) and Symphony in December (she was 13) was that the entire (12-17) group stayed together in the club for activities, even when the group was quite large (50+ teens on Symphony jammed into the club). As others have said, the club is really only a starting point for most teens and they go from there. I also agree with those who believe 11 is far too young for this group. In addition to the issues with appropriateness, there were some activities such as ice skating where parents of 12 year olds had to be present. It was weird that they were included in the teen club yet treated differently. Personally I think 13-17 would be better.

My daughter has found most of the teen events via the app since the restart. If the activities aren’t loaded yet for you, you can check out an earlier itinerary on the same ship to get an idea of what will most likely be offered. If you haven’t done this before, go to the person icon at the top of the app and choose “Select a different sailing”. Then scroll down and choose “Get more details on ships we support”. Choose your ship and the current week’s sailing to see everything that’s going on.

That’s super fast! We disembarked Symphony around 9:00 in December. After waiting in about a 15 minute line on the ship, we quickly got through luggage collection and customs. The taxi line was pretty long, however, especially if you had 4+ people with too much luggage to fit in a standard taxi. We probably waited about 20-30 minutes but fortunately weren’t in a rush.

Thanks, Matt, I knew I read that here too but hoped it had changed by now. I’m guessing that it’s more than just COVID related as Harmony still seems to have the full version. Maybe a cast member left the ship before their contract ended? I just really hope this isn’t a permanent change due to Indy’s shorter cruises.

Typically yes, they use a lower deck for quarantines. I also think they try to keep the occupied cabins together for staffing purposes, so if there are less bookings or lower capacity, it pays them to move some people around.

I had assumed the same thing but some recent vlogs I’ve seen appear to show the “new” version still. Even the app for this weekend’s sailing lists it this way: Slick back your hair and pack your poodle skirts. Summer Lovin’ is in the air with our larger than life concert version of the hit Broadway’s musical, "Grease." Including all of the famous songs from the 70s hit movie, you’ll hear the romantic twists and turns of Sandy and Danny, two summer loves who navigate the tricky social waters of Rydell High School while keeping their reputations — and relationship — together, so come and join in on the fun and get your singing voices on!

I’ve noticed this same thing. While I like the guess that it helps keep the unvaccinated numbers low, this falls apart when someone simply goes around it and books two rooms for that same family of four. Either way you’re giving Royal the ages of the kids so they can still figure out the potential percentages. My guess is that it’s been used to keep capacity at a certain number while also keeping the used rooms together as much as possible for staffing purposes.

I’ve read a few reports of a modified Grease show on Indy. Apparently it’s called “Grease in Concert” and primarily only includes the songs? Does anyone know why this is happening and how long it might continue? We were on Symphony in December at the height of the Omicron wave and they still managed the full Hairspray performance so I was just wondering what was going on.

Wow, that’s crazy. We are on the 5 nighter this Saturday so that makes me think we may miss that or Flight unfortunately. It’s going to be interesting to see what they manage to salvage from the 7 night itinerary.

We’re on Symphony December 18. Someone in our Facebook group heard from someone on board today that they’re expecting 5,800 for our cruise next week. We’ve been on Harmony at full capacity so we know it will be ok but that was pre-COVID. I just hope Royal makes the necessary adjustments to other areas like entertainment and Adventure Ocean.

We have unlimited dining booked for Symphony in two weeks. I’m looking at the available times for guests reserving them a la carte and it’s concerning me. Some nights, there are only late reservations available. With a 9 year old who lives for Adventure Ocean and a teen who always finds friends, we definitely want to eat around 5:00-6:00 each night. Should we just cancel now, eat in the MDR, and avoid the disappointment? Or do they hold enough spots at each time that we can likely grab something as soon as we get on the ship? We do have the earliest checkin time fortunately. My thought was to give it a shot and if it truly doesn’t work, then I would go to guest services and request a refund. I’m sure that’s not guaranteed but I’m hoping they would consider it given the situation?

“Sustainable” has nothing to do with safety, it’s just a certification for tour operators. You’re typically going to be safer on excursions sold by the cruise line as Ashley mentioned above.

Is the teen club considered “vaccinated only” since 12+ technically has to be? Or are masks required while in the club?

We’re on Wonder in April and only the 3 night package is available. Now it’s only a 5 night sailing but I’m still hoping they’ll offer it. Three nights isn’t enough to try them all (neither is 5)!

Just definitely be aware that your stateroom attendant may be “nice” and take the towels without actually returning them in the system. Through six other Royal cruises we’ve never had this issue and I would have thought they were told not to take the blue towels. Maybe they get a cut of that $25! ?

Update…got a call back from the same rep at Royal who said she heard back from the ship and could now process my refund. So hopefully in the next few weeks it will go through. Lesson learned, don’t ever assume your stateroom attendant is taking care of it and don’t leave the ship until you’re sure everything is accounted for!

Unfortunately this is “normal” from my own experience, we got the same emails for our cruise out of Nassau two weeks ago. You can ignore those that that don’t pertain to certain guests. Of course Royal could have narrowed this down on their side, but I just assume they’re placing the responsibility on the guest, but it can be confusing. I also got the same error when trying to sign up my son for testing. The workaround is to copy the reference number they give you then do it manually. You can do this by clicking the link they give you when you get the error. I apologize for not remembering the specific wording, but it will work that way. For us it was super useful to use a roll call here or Facebook group to deal with these various “issues” as someone else is most likely dealing with them too!

Yep. If they had traded them out that would have been appreciated and then my responsibility to return them.