CarlaB

This is what I did too. Royal told me they would issue my refund within 30-45 business days. That was well over two months ago and times up. This weekend I called Discover and a very nice rep was able to dispute the charge and hopefully I'll have the few thousand back that Royal has been so dearly hanging on to for months now. I have been following this blog for over a year now and really enjoyed the live blogs and info from the veteran cruisers. Sadly I never made it on a Royal ship as our Anthem got canceled last year and then Oasis canceled back in May. Not Royal's fault but the way they have handled customer service leaves so much to be desired. At this point I'll be happy to have my money back and not sure if I'll ever set foot on their ships even in the future. This latest fiasco with changing ships without notice just adds to my hesitance. I will say it's interesting (and a bit sad) to see the shift in attitudes here from the long time cruisers, from Royal enthusiasts to now disillusioned with the whole company. I've quietly lurked these boards and witnessed a lot of disputes between the Royal enthusiasts and anyone else who would speak something negative about Royal in the past. Some veteran cruisers here ardently stood up for Royal time and time again, even in instances where I didn't think it was justified. Now it looks like everyone is finally fed up with the company and have seen for themselves the kind of selfish tactics Royal uses.

Has anyone ever been to Coco Cay when there were more than 2 ships present and have any experience on how it was? May 27 will be our first time there and our first cruise ever after a hurricane cancelled our Anthem plans last year. And of course it's on one of the days Oasis seems to be in port with two other ships according to that cruise mapper site ?. Originally we were supposed to be there alone but looks like Mariner and Majesty got added. Of course after months of planning my last cruise only to have all of our plans fall apart literally the day before leaving, I should know better than to stress about plans that are months away. Anything can happen!

You could hear them with the connecting door open or fully closed? We have a JS on Oasis next year and were only able to get a connecting one (we're not in the adjoining cabin) and I'm concerned about noise. Mostly from our own cabin as we have two little kids. Is there any bleed over noise when the connecting door is fully closed/locked?

I suggest contacting RCL management too. I sent an email out this morning as well (we were supposed to be on the 11/16 Anthem but canceled). I'm on the Facebook group for this cruise and everyone seems to be receiving varying types/amounts of compensation. One woman apparently went on the full 7 day cruise, complained to management after she got back about all the intenirary changes, and (according to her) received a full cash refund plus $300 FCC and specialty dining and paid wifi for her next cruise. Which honestly I think is not right at all. She got to enjoy the full cruise, food, etc, and should've been deducted at least 50% as others have been in past cruises. Others got back like $13 pp for some port charges. It's all over the board. Anyways my gripe was the bad communication up until just an hour or two before we were supposed to leave as well as the fact that I only received a portion of my FCC back so far (what I think is just the 1 day credit for missing CoCo Cay) but not the full cruise fare I was supposed to receive. I'd like to rebook Oasis this week during the Black Friday sales but don't even have my full FCC I was supposed to get back for canceling. Let's see what happens!

They are on their way now to Coco Cay for a one day stop on Wednesday. It was supposed to be an overnight in Bermuda but because of the rainy/cold forecast there they decided to go to Coco Cay instead. I think that was a good call and the weather in the Bahamas looks wonderful so I hope everyone who chose to stay on has an amazing time! So here's my issue with Royal though. The communication with this trip was pretty bad. We were sent an email about potential intenirary changes the night before departure. At no point in the email did it mention sitting in the NJ dock for 2-3 days straight. I called 3 reps who had no knowledge of the email we got from Royal. Eventually they told us to expect an email at 7 am the morning of departure with additional details. However during this time Friday night Royal updated both the app and website with the new itinerary including the 4 days in NJ and overnight in Bermuda. Which means they at least knew or anticipated this would be the revised intenirary. They should've communicated this right away so folks could make an informed decision on whether to continue or cancel. However this information didn't come until 9:30 p.m. on Saturday morning, the day of departure. At this point many travelers had already left for the terminal and couldn't change plans. We chose to cancel and take the FCC and apparently close to 1,000 other travelers did the same. As of this morning, another 100 or so got off the ship after 2 days docked because of the new change to Coco Cay. They will be getting a full refund even though they were on for 2 days. I do think Royal handled the compensation well. I'll be using my FCC to hopefully book Oasis in May when she comes here to Bayonne. However the communication could definitely have been improved! Super frustrating to say the least but I'm willing to give Royal another shot especially since so many of you here have had such great experiences. I hope everyone has an amazing time in Coco Cay and makes the best of this situation.

They're offering a full refund as an FCC. We decided to go with this option and hope to book Oasis when she's in Bayonne some time next year. Sucks to miss this after months of planning but both our jobs are flexible and our kids are not in grade school yet so we have the flexibility to book again at a later date when the seas are hopefully much calmer. ?

Leaning towards cancelling at this point. So the new itinerary that is showing up on the app is leaving from Bayonne, sea day, THEN BACK to Bayonne and another sea day. 4 back to back sea days. It's like 40 degrees here now so basically we're circling in cold weather which means everyone is either crowding the indoor pools or inside for 4 days. Then an overnight in Bermuda which has highs of mid to low 70s next week and rain and thunderstorms. ? Super bummed out but at this point we are likely gonna cancel. I have two small kids and our main attraction was CoCo Cay and the ease of moving around that island and all the included activities. There won't be much for our small kids to do in Bermuda if it's raining both days. Historically hasn't Royal provided some kind of compensation in an event like this? They've completely changed the itineraries and now have 4 sea says in the cold North! I have called Royal twice and both times the employees don't even know what is going on. I had to forward both reps the email we got directly from Royal. They said the best they can do is refund one day for Coco Cay as a future cruise credit which one rep said would be maybe around $200-300. I thought I read here before that a cruise got rerouted to Canada up North instead and everyone who chose to go got 50% back refund AND a future cruise credit. Does that sound right? Shouldn't we be getting something similar especially given we'll have cold weather and rocky seas for the first 4 days? Sorry for the long post and vent. We were so excited for this cruise we had planned for months and to be completely blindsided like this at the last minute is such a disappointment and so frustrating especially when Royal won't give us any definitive answer. I get Mother Nature is unpredictable but Royal won't even give me an answer. They have already updated the site and app to reflect Bermuda but the rep keeps telling me we're still going to Coco Cay and they aren't aware of the changes when we got an email DIRECTLY from Royal with the changes. ?

Is that just for the standard rejection email or is there still a possibility it could be accepted this late? I mean seems like some people are cancelling so maybe some rooms opened up.

Right! Like I maybe wouldn't have minded Bermuda but it looks like it's gonna rain. So having to miss Coco Cay and being in rainy Bermuda isn't looking like the best option. ? So conflicted on what to do.

We're on this tmrw too. Super nervous because this is our first cruise ever and now there is so much uncertainty regarding the intenirary. If we do either option A or B, does that mean there would be only 2 port days instead of 3? Seems like way too few port days for a 7 night cruise. Idk whether to cancel or not. We booked this for the CoCo Cay stop so missing it would be such a disappointment. What would some of the seasoned cruisers do in this case? Should we go for it anyway? I also still haven't heard back on Royal Up and we're less than 24 hours away at this point. Is this normal? I thought we should have heard back by now with either an acceptance or rejection email. Super bummed because this is not a good way to start off a first cruise.

That sounds perfect! Thank you!

Also, is it possible to hail a taxi or Uber instead right at the cruise port and would they be ok to take two kids? We will not be bringing car seats with us and I'm not sure if we can request vehicles equipped with them easily.

Hi everyone! We'll be on the Anthem this month with a stop in Port Canaveral. This is our first cruise and first time at this port. With two littles under 5, we decided to forgo the Space Center in favor of Cocoa Beach. My question is - how easy is it to take the SCAT bus from Port Canaveral to Cocoa Beach on a weekday? Has anyone done this before and have any information, such as is it a walkable distance to get on the bus from the ship port if we have a stroller and 2 kids? Royal offers a shuttle to Cocoa Beach as an excursion, but at around $75 for a shared bus, it seems so expensive. The SCAT bus says it's only $1.50 per adult, a way better deal on a cool trolley too. Anyway, would really appreciate if anyone has done this method of transport and has any helpful tips or insight!

Was this $275 per person or total? We're sailing the Anthem on 11/16 for 7 nights and I bid $275 per person to go from a Balcony to JS and now I'm thinking I may have bid too much. Still says "pending" on the Royal Up login page.

Thanks Matt! That's reassuring!