Rob&Ana

1 hour ago, Matt said:

Can you be more specific exactly what they mean? 

It's not heard of pre- or post-pandemic for DL access to be restricted when there are too many top tier members onboard. Not that it bothers me at all, since I'd much rather go to almost any other bar for my drinks.

So this new system is set to start next cruise it's suppose to limit access during happy hour to the Crown Lounge when the numbers are high. No idea what the numbers are. But it's like what's happening Wonder.

3 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

You’re being told on Jewel that the D’s are going to restricted from the CL during Happy Hour ?

No, the info is that the new system (if there is a high count of D, Dp and Pin) will be enacted as of the next sailing. Like what's happening on Wonder.

3 hours ago, Matt said:

Regarding the issue with Diamonds on Wonder, that cruise is a casino signature level cruise, so it's just a one-off as best we can tell due to the unique nature of that sailing.

Not sure this is the case as we are on Jewel and starting the next sailing they will start this new system. This is the info that we are being told at this time while onboard.

This is really sad, slowly Royal is pushing out it's best employees. The same thing is happening on the ships. It really is too bad, the question is how much are we willing to accept before we look elsewhere....

Just got an email today stating they would not accept self administered tests for transatlantic sailings....

"Accepted Tests 
Guests can take advantage of telehealth antigen tests to satisfy their pre-cruise requirement. Proof of a negative test can be the printed or digital results. Unsupervised self-tests will not be accepted for transatlantic sailings. To learn more about our accepted tests, "

Anything charged to your Seapass card will consume your OBC (refundable or not). 

We feel really bad for the overworked crew members. Our 3 weeks on the Serenade of the Seas was very enjoyable and it's always better to be on a ship then at home....in our opinion. Let's hope they can get the staffing issues resolved soon but in the mean time we will still keep sailing.

We found a similar situation on Serenade of the Seas a few weeks ago. MTD line with reservations was very long at least 40-60 min for some people to get a table, lots of shortages and many bars closed because they had half the bar staff on board. The crew did an amazing job but I felt they were overworked and the managers and top officers were pitching in to help reset tables etc. We had an amazing 3 weeks aboard but maybe the solution would be to not load the ships up so much....maybe at 70% capacity.

I hope they are able to get more staff as the ones on board were being worked quite hard.

We recently got off the Serenade of the Seas and I think you should be fine. Your flying from TO so no issues at the airport with immigration or COVID tests and if you take the Skytrain(30min) to the port you should be able to get to the port with lots of time. Boarding does not start until 11am but the norm is a small delay so maybe noon. Assuming your flight is not delayed you will be sitting in the Vancouver port waiting to board the ship before noon.

Enjoy your cruise.

We will be sailing on a few RC ships this holiday season and I feel confident that the text in the (RC App, under Safety) is quite clear that they will provide free of charge a test to international passengers that require one.

When we were on the Ovation recently is was vaccinated guests only.

I would do it! Diamond is totally worth it!

Enjoy your cruise!

In our case we have 3 bookings in Nov 21 and Dec 21 that were all GTY and they assigned the cabins the same day they sent out the cruise doc's (30 days before)

I have never received cruise doc's without the cabin number...so far...

We cruise quite a bit so I make a lot of calls regarding repricing and normally I have not had any issues until a few weeks ago. I had 2 cruises booked thru the Casino (still RC) but when I called about new price the casino agent told me he did not have the same price as I was seeing on the RC website (I do a mock booking with same conditions to confirm the lower price) I kept insisting so he said that he would pass the information to his supervisor and in 24 it would be resolved. I called the next day and the new agent told me that she could see I spoke with the other agent regarding the price drop but no info on pricing or anything...I asked to speak with a supervisor and they told me that they checked and the price today was higher than what I paid so they could do nothing....

I was quite mad as between the 2 bookings the reduction was over $560US. I did not take a screen capture of the price drop because the first agent assured me it would be resolved in 24 hours...big mistake....it wont happen again.

Great to hear! Hope they enjoy!

Another advantage to booking thru RC Air2Sea is they get you to the ship...if the flight was cancelled or changed they make arrangements to get you to the ship. This is especially handy if the cruise ship is late getting back into port and you are going to miss your flight home. They will rebook you before you even know there was a problem.

You can also call them to book a cruise and ask for a deal. I sometimes check the RC website for a specific cruise and make a note of the price, then call the Casino and they usually match the price plus offer a Casino 10% discount. I do this when I am going to book something anyways...

When I have played in the past with promo chips and won a hand they don't touch the promo chips only put down my winnings next to them. They only touch your promo chips when you lose. I then take the real chips and put them away and keep playing with the promo chips until they are all gone.

I have a few bookings in Dec on the Navigator and the message changes from Unavailable to Closed to Opens Nov 5th... I was able to check into my Dec13th cruise 2 days ago....still waiting fir the rest.

14 minutes ago, Reigert2008 said:

I would double check the testing requirements, I think everyone needs to be tested regardless of cruise length.

 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/the-healthy-sail-center/getting-ready-to-cruise

 

 

Yes I was under the impression that the testing is for every cruise. Not sure where I saw the that 3 day cruises did not require it....

Royal offer the test free so we were going to get it anyways just in case.

We did Ovation this year in September and they offered a Tour of Seattle and then drop you at the airport if your flight was after 4 or 5pm we did not take it because we did not qualify as our flight was at 3pm....hopefully for next time.

Not sure the ships test will work with the new 2 day requirement. If they tested you on Friday you would be OK but they will test you on Thursday...so you will not qualify unless they have a special exemption for B2B. (Maybe you will be able to get a test that morning before you disembark...but I would doubt it....)

We leave the Oasis on Dec 12th and fly to LA to board the Navigator on the 13th...but because our first cruise on the Navigator is only 3 days I think they don't require a Covid test to board....I think we will ask to a test on Oasis just in case.

Great looking ship, can't wait to try her out.

I wouldn't do it....I would book another cruise with the $1000 in another interior cabin. Prices are good now...very easy to find a 7 day cruise for under $1000.

1 hour ago, Va4fam said:

I understand the criteria for the double points but have a scenario that I'm not sure of.

 

Booked a January 2023 cruise before the September 30th deadline.   What happens if we move the cruise to 2022, would it qualify for double points?

 

If you booked a refundable booking you can make changes to the sailing date, ship and category but if you booked a non refundable you can't change the sailing date...  so you will have to cancel the booking and lose the deposit and rebook.