USCG Teacher

I got the same surprise not too long ago.  We had a cruise booked quite a while ago in a JS for 3 people.  My daughter decided not to go so I thought they would do a reprice for 2 people at current rates. We only booked this cruise so my daughter could use her $250 FCC which wasn't her money to begin with.  I thought it would be a nightmare scenario because the price of the cruise had gone up in the room category we had but we might have saved a bit of money if we switched to a 2 person JS, repriced it, and made it nonrefundable
I forget what all happened but my daughter told the Royal agent we could apply her $250 FCC to our cruise fare.  The cruise price reverted to the price had we originally booked the cruise for 2 people --- no reprice was done plus we got the $250 FCC applied to our cruise fare.  The cruise was refundable so her share of the deposit was also applied to our cruise fare.  We had only paid the deposits on this cruise but our remaining balance due decreased significantly. We kept the same room and it was still refundable and no change fee.

It seems like cruises that have been booked before the CWC policy ended, have a bit of leeway. I had booked a cruise on my Oct 2021 sailing. I was fully expecting to pay a change fee for moving the sailing but to my surprise, no change fee. Moved from a 4n Freedom to a 5n Grandeur with ease. 

I saw people sitting in bathing suits and dining.......I can't say if they were dry or not. Considering it is a beach club, I would venture that towels are okay and so would being wet. That is just my humble opinion, ymmv. ........but I have little doubt they will kick you out or look smugly if you show up wet and/or in a towel. 

Bathing suits are more than acceptable since everyone there is in a bathing suit to begin with.  It's an open air seating area anyway.

This is my normal nightcap at home, except I tend to use Crabbie's alcoholic ginger beer vs. Gosling since Kraken doesn't have QUITE enough of a kick. 😉

I suspect what's going on is the inability to shake the legacy of Concordia.  
 

Thanks everyone! I was able to snag a 10AM slot and are officially checked-in!

Just a +1 on this comment. Literally the same experience.

Just a +1 on this comment. Literally the same experience.

We took this excursion as well.  One of the best excursions we have ever done.  TBH I was surprised that I enjoyed the turtle farm.  It is much more complex than I imagined it to be.  Hell was kinda lame but the turtles and stingray city were awesome.

Hi all!
After having our flight home cancelled twice and spending two additional days in Seattle, we are back home.  Here is my report on the Alaskan cruise and the Ovation!
Embarkation
Our check in time was 11am and we showed up at 9:20 am to find at least 30 people in front of us.  After listening in on conversations, it was apparent that most of the people in front and back of us were not entirely prepared to check in.  Oh well, their loss.  Thanks to this Forum, we were prepared and when the gates opened, we were on the ship by 11:10 am.  Easy peezy.  MY SUGGESTION for easier boarding....just print everything and have them in order. Set Sail, vaccine records, covid test, just have physical documents ready.  Internet was intermittent and people trying to check in with screen shots were having trouble.
FOOD!
I start with food because that is our thing and the first thing we did other than making reservations was eating at the Windjammer!  Food was overall a 9 out of 10.  
Windjammer - only ate there for one lunch and 5 breakfasts.  Breakfast could use some variation but food was hot, looked good, and filled our tummies with overall joy.
Izumi's - ate lunch and dinner there.  Rolls were overwhelming.  Sashimi plate was excellent for cruise sushi!  Fried chicken appetizer was yummy. I though 2 times was enough for Izumi though.
Wonderland - food was overall imaginative, fun, and tasty.  Some stand out dishes included desserts and the liquid lobster.  Would not go more than once per cruise, but would definitely go every cruise.
Chops - Solid steakhouse.  Good wine selection.  Bone-in ribeye is outstanding.  Lobster bisque and mushroom soup were outstanding! Ate there twice.
Jaime's Italian - OUR FAVORITE.  I am a classically trained chef turned lawyer.  Fresh made pasta was exactly what sold us here!  The sauces were tasty and in the correct proportion to pasta unlike Americanized Italian places.  Funny, Jaime's is British-Italian, but the food here tasted closer to what we have eaten in Italy than most places.  Stand out dishes included Pavlova dessert, ALL pastas, Meat plank, and burrata cheese!
MDR - This is the only place where I experienced service issues but I will address those later.  Food was overall okay.  Above average.  Nothing stood out, nothing was bad.  Oh...order the Baked Alaska! Last time I had Baked Alaska and Cherries Jubilee was in 1984 LOL.
Room Service - prompt, hot, edible.  
Hot Dog Stand - good enough to satisfy cravings.
Sorrentos - Not bad at all.
Fish and Ships - fried to order and worth at least one trip.  By the way, I am not sure this works for all ships, but UDP worked here for fried lobster tails and premium items.
Cafe Two70 - Nice change of breakfast pace and quiet place to enjoy breakfast, enjoy incredible views, and play some card games or board games with the kids after breakfast.
La Patisserie - Not quite Starbucks, but got me going in the right direction every morning and every evening.
Solarium Bistro - It was okay.  I was happy.
DRINKS!
Since I watched many bartenders open new bottles of liquor and paid attention to them making my drinks, I can say that the drinks were not watered down, but not exactly super strong, except for limoncello!!!  Wine selections were nice considering this was a cruise ship.  Cocktails were tasty.  We loved the Bahama Mama and anything with KRAKEN! 
Service
Guest services lines were a little long at times.  I am always up at 4am and go to sleep at 11:00 pm so this was not an issue for me.  The ONLY issue we had was that the pre-purchased Arcade credits were not properly applied to our kids' sea passes and there is no way to figure out arcade balances other than stopping by Guest Services or manual computations.
Service at all specialty restaurants and bars was excellent.  MDR service wasn't bad.  It was slower than I would expect, but I am not one to eat in 45 minutes and run off.  A 90 minute full service meal is more than acceptable.
Ship Condition
Did I mention that the Princess Ruby ship in front of us was rust stained and looked dilapidated?  Ovation was immaculate!  Enough said.
Activities and Entertainment
Enjoyed all of the shows and trivia.  We did Flowrider, Ripcord, Bumper cars, Northstar....pretty much did everything.  I highly recommend Northstar at a port and not at sea.  We did it twice, once at port in Seattle and once at sea.  Nothing much to see at sea.  Ripcord by iFly was simply AMAZING.  Do it.  All ages.  Do it.
Internet
We had one surf and stream and one basic.  Get basic.  Either way, internet is slightly better than DSL from 2005.  
Complaints
A. Stupid people.
B. Dumb people.
C. Some public toilets did not flush automatically and were inconvenient when I forced my kids to poop outside the room in the public restrooms.
D. Nothing to do from 4am to 6am.  
E. Too much to do from 8am to 11pm.
F. Either Pixels has two different versions, or I fell asleep at the first one.  My friends showed me pictures of the second showing and it looked quite different than ours.
G. Make Solarium pools aged 25 plus please!  Too many teenagers and college kids.  It was gross.  Spent more time in the indoor pool with little kids and enjoyed it more.
HIGHLIGHTS, KEY TAKEWAYS and TIPS
1. Got to meet Chris Wong.  Nice guy.
2. Stop gambling while you are ahead.  I made out with winnings of about $370 from penny slots.  Not bad.
3. Take advantage of the trivia games in between activities and meals.  It is a waste of time to go back to your room for 30 minutes and come back out.
4. If you get the Food packages, RESERVE AS SOON AS YOU BOARD!  We saw too many people complain about wait lists because no reservations.
5. If you are unsure of the Deluxe Beverage Package....I drink one glass of wine or beer a month.  Period.  On the cruise, I had at least 4 cocktails, one beer, one glass of wine, and 3 specialty Americano or Lattes each day.  On top of that, I had one soda a day and took back 4 bottles of water to the room each day.  It is worth the money to get a package.
6. Find the secret spots early.  The outside seating at Windjammer ALWAYS had seating, and we spent breakfast there while the ship's back was turned facing Dawes Glacier.  Trust me.  Also, Deck 5 next the the Art Gallery, but aways from the smoking section...chairs facing the ocean and unusually warmer than most places on the ship considering its outside seating.  Grab a glass of wine from the Wine bar and sit here to relax.  Quiet and peaceful.
7. READ THIS ONE. Finding whales and other sea life....Watch the TV channel that tells you where you are and shows the ship's front camera.  While watching, you will often see streaks of water (wake) left behind by dolphins, orcas, or whale....then grab your binoculars and look outside, you will see them passing!  Great way to find sea life.
8. BIGGEST TIP FOR ALASKA RIGHT NOW! DO NOT OVER PACK.  We each had one carry one rolling suit case and a back pack.  Wore suits and dresses on formal nights.  You do not need all of that clothing.  You simply do not.  Pay $35 to have underwear and T-shirts washed.  Its cheaper than checking in suitcases on the plane.  Plus, our flights home were cancelled twice and we were lugging around our luggage alot of that time.  Thank God we packed light.  You do not need all of that clothing.  
HUGE THANKS TO ALL OF YOU AND MATT for making this trip so amazing despite Covid, anxiety, the long wait, staffing shortages (which we experienced none), and despite raining the entire 13 days we were in Alaska or Seattle.  Thank you!

No surprise here. For every person that says they will no longer gamble if smoking is not allowed in the casino, there are just as many who say the main reason they do not gamble is because of the smoke. The lines just have to choose who they want hear the complaining from. For whatever reason they choose to weather the complaints of non smokers. Maybe we need to be more annoying 😜.

We had that on our way to Vancouver through LAX. The LAX flight was oversold, and they asked for volunteers.  We asked if they could move us to the direct flight to Vancouver and they did that. Saved us 3 hours in travel time.  No money offered, but seeing as the direct flight was originally 2x the price as the one we booked, I call that a win.

Just got off the Oasis yesterday after boarding on June 10th. We were hearing that the ship was around 90ish percent full. I can honestly say that the staffing may not be 100%, but we had no issues. Had My Time Dining at 7pm and was seated immediately every night. Dinner took around 1.25 hours on average, but could have been faster if needed and you asked. Always found seats in the buffet and only had to wait about 8 minutes one day to make sure we washed our hands. Overall they seem to be getting things done. I will say the line was longer for MTD if you did not have reservations.

I am thinking Symphony, Anthem or Odyssey because there is more space and more to do on those sea days. It's also a boon that they will end up either in FLL or MIA, that saves on round trip airfare. 

@rjac I think they are assigned just like the other cabana areas and you will find out where you are when you get your ticket on the ship.

Oh yeah, I DEFINITELY had a Genie overseeing all of my daily activities!

Oh yeah, I DEFINITELY had a Genie overseeing all of my daily activities!

Was that Star Class?

Not only that, but YEARS before iFly, the Coast Guard offered a similar feature on their Island Class cutters.  With berthing up near the bow of a ship that rode like a cork, when you were pushing through rough seas you could find yourself suddenly awake hovering above your rack for a hot second.  Good times in the "anti-gravity chamber!"

Would also suggest checking to see if the gratuities were prepaid with the cruise fare.  Either way, a very generous gift.

Are they hiring?

Being able to see them in the app helps but I don't blame you. It got worked out but something screwy happened in the app/system (shocking, I know) with our pre-made comedy reservations and they moved to a different night. The concierge took care of it of course, even telling me "I will walk you down to the show myself if I have to."

you are correct.  I also emailed them for my reservations but I always like to confirm and don't assume anything.

You can also make CK reservations pre-cruise via e-mail.