raahc

if you ask me. they shouldnt even accept new booking until the pandemic is under control but that is just me and i understand that buisiness wise that would be fatal for them .

if you ask me i think they are full of it. they can show flexibility like disney for the final paument. its very frustrating . 

yes but would you put your final payment down. if you ask me that would be pretty dumb to do so knowing that you might not get your money back in cash. this is what i find frustrating . i find it stupid to make people pay final payment when you dont even know what is going to happen. 

We decided to L&S our April 21 cruise to April 22 because of all the uncertainty floating around.  We actually saved some money and I would hope by 2022 everything is back to normal.  I would highly recommend looking into L&S, some people have gotten ridiculously awesome deals switching ships and upgrading rooms and paying the same rate.  Can't hurt to try it!  Good Luck!
 

Unfortunately it doesn't seem that things will change.  Since Royal has pushed out their Cruise With Confidence program, most of the terms have remained pretty consistent and the only way to get a full refund without a refundable deposit is to make the final payment for the cruise and then have it canceled by the cruiseline.
The good news here is that if you cancel with Cruise With Confidence, you will get the full $500 credit towards rebooking another cruise whereas prior to the pandemic a cancellation would have resulted in you losing $100 per person.  You may want to look into a Lift and Shift and push the cruise out to January/February 2022.  (Might I suggest Harmony January 16, 2022 - sail with me! ?)  This way you will maintain your current rate that you booked and it pushes out your final payment a bit.  Either way you are either going to lose the $500 or have it tied up, but at least a L&S lets your decision come further down the line.  

We booked Allure for March 2021 (also upon release two years ago) mainly because we thought she would be amped.  The fact that she didn't get amped would not stop me from sailing her.  What will stop me is our borders being closed and possibly quarantine still in place.  I have until mid-December to decide....

I am with you and completely understand your fear @Lovestotravel

I've heard horror stories from my friends of bed bugs in their hotel room and rental car that left them scratching their skin off.  We are super paranoid, but like @Lovetocruise2002 said, we try not to let it stop us from travelling. 
Here's a funny story for you!  On our first cruise Oasis, we followed the same procedures we do for hotel rooms.  We left our suitcases near the door, stripped off all the sheets and inspected the seams with a flashlight, inspected the room and headboard and even behind the pictures.  We hurried up and put the bed sheets back together, and low and behold, knock knock!  Our stateroom attendant came to greet us!  Can you imagine?  She must have thought we couldn't wait to get it on .. ?
 

Another point that might come in to play.  Royal has asked Galveston to delay the new cruise terminal.  Without it, I don't see how allure will make it into Galveston. The sailings still show availability,  but I expect they will have to cancel them.

Hi everyone, I know we get heated debating which dessert is the best one to order, or if a balcony room is worth it, but let's keep these basic rules in mind when chatting here.
No profanity No personal insults No political discussion This includes tropes about politicians and generalizations about political parties No debating religion Keep your posts relevant and accurate to each specific thread. We can all have our little fun within each thread but please make sure the information you're putting out there is correct and current.   Topics not related to Royal Caribbean may be removed. Posts or comments encouraging cruisers to break any Royal Caribbean policy is not allowed and will be removed.

Hi @gi333
I started planning for our cruise about 6/7 months before sailing (returned last month) and didn't know where to stay as well.  RC blog is amazing!  I had so many options ... MCO, Orlando, near the port or Cocoa beach.  I finally decided  on Melbourne - so grateful to @AshleyDillo  

We stayed at the Fairfield Inn & Suites Melbourne Viera Town Center for two nights.  It was very clean, new, and we loved the area, very peaceful and quiet!  Wish we had stayed longer!  The hotel is really amazing.  I was able to save a lot of $$$ too!
We flew into MCO, picked up a car from Hertz, and shopped around Orlando area, had lunch, then drove to Melbourne.  The next day, we visited Port Canaveral and Cocoa beach.  
On embarkation day, we returned the car to Hertz, hopped on their shuttle and was at the terminal and on board the ship by 10:45 am!

I've recommended the Fairfield Inn & Suites Melbourne Viera Town Center before.  It's not on the beach, same as Titusville, but it's roughly the same distance, just south of the port instead of north.  @raahc can vouch it's a nice hotel/value!
It's about a 30 minute drive to the port but it's a brand new hotel and tends to be cheaper than some of the Cocoa Beach offerings.   Then you can rent from one of the rental car companies from the airport and drop it off the day of the cruise at the rental car agency.  Enterprise is actually located at the port and is probably the closest rental agency, but most of them are really close.

OMG, I thought I might be the only one.  I Googled how to purchase stocks and then closed my browser too!
I have a hard enough time trying not to look at my mutual funds each day.  They have dwindled to beyond recognition in just three weeks ?  I have to stop checking!

OMG, I thought I might be the only one.  I Googled how to purchase stocks and then closed my browser too!
I have a hard enough time trying not to look at my mutual funds each day.  They have dwindled to beyond recognition in just three weeks ?  I have to stop checking!

OMG, I thought I might be the only one.  I Googled how to purchase stocks and then closed my browser too!
I have a hard enough time trying not to look at my mutual funds each day.  They have dwindled to beyond recognition in just three weeks ?  I have to stop checking!

Yes, I noticed
They are trying to figure it out how to recover for all the money they have lost, I guess. ?

I wouldn't chase status, cruise to enjoy each cruise.
The notable exception is the 340 reduced single supplement for solo cruisers.  That has real cost savings IF you cruise solo.  For me that has unlocked access to affordable bucket list type cruises which is exactly why I chased hitting the 340 mark, but I do a lot of solo cruising. 
In many ways Diamond Plus benefits are being scaled back to be a very small incremental over Diamond.  With more ships losing the Concierge Lounges or denied access to the Concierge Lounges when there are high numbers of C&A on board this benefit is becoming harder and harder to enjoy and you don't get anything unique in the CL, it's just another version of the Diamond Lounge with different occupants.  
An extra day of free internet only has value if you tend to buy Voom.  The 30% off the Deluxe beverage package only has meaning if you tend to buy the beverage package and sometimes you can get 30% pre-cruise.  The free bag of laundry is nice and has value for me.  Being a cruise nerd the additional behind the scenes tours were great but once you've seen the bridge on a ship do you need to see it again for every return visit?  Maybe yes, maybe no.  Later reaching the level to get Meal with an Officer is still enjoyable for me because I am a cruise nerd who likes to learn unique details through this interaction.  
Crown and Anchor Society is very successful and while there is rumor and speculation of changing levels and thresholds they are are from unsubstantiated sources.  The program is working quite nicely so why would they mess with it?  They will continue to fine tune benefits for each level but changing points required for each level is very dangerous.  If they do ever merge the loyalty programs across the brands there could be some changes but who knows how that would work out, it's not worth speculating or taking action on a theoretical change that might never occur.  

Thanks for the extra info.  I did note the difference in occupancy.  My concern is that I have severe motion sickness which I can manage with meds, but I'm not sure how I would fare with smaller ships than Oasis class.  I felt quite a bit of movement on Harmony, and even with Oasis, but both times were weather related even though it wasn't hurricane season.  The seas are very unpredictable!  The Edge class sounds great, if I can break away from RCI ... lol.  Thanks again!  
Hi Michelle!  The Edge class is sounding better and better!  I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it.  We are looking at trying a different class of ship for a change rather than continuing to sail on Oasis class.  Much appreciated!

Hi there 

I was on the EDGE last year and really liked it mostly because it was a little smaller than like an Oasis class but has all sorts of cool and modern fun things and areas to explore AND the motion stabilizers are top notch on these new builds - it maybe that you could try one out in a Caribbean sailing where weather is generally not an issue - And the Rooftop Garden and Solarium were by far 2 of my favorites.  Always good to try something new !

Celebrity's Edge and Apex are indeed the newest and largest ships in their fleet, but they are nowhere near as large as Oasis class. Oasis class ships are 226,000-228,000 GT and can house about 5,400 passengers at double occupancy. Edge class, on the other hand, is about 130,000 GT and only houses 2,918 double occupancy. That's right, it's almost exactly half the size.
They're not even as large as the Quantum class ships, which are about 168,000 GT and house 4,180. But they do seem to have drawn a lot of inspiration in design from Q class, particularly the Eden space that sounds a lot like Two70. And like Oasis, Edge class offers a large number of on-board specialty restaurants, as well as a broader number of entertainment options than the smaller ships.
Celebrity as a whole doesn't do modern-day mega-ships, since they are "premium mass market" and try to offer more boutique itineraries than the big mass-market lines, along with the upscale service and amenities you find on their ships. But Edge class will probably be a good fit for you.

You can continue to watch the cruise or ask your TA to do that for you.  The sailings are dropping in price and there are some good deals to be had.  Once you have paid in full and its past your paid in full date, you can complimentary upgrade your room to a higher category but not get a refund for the difference in price you paid.  Right now the cruise lines are so busy with the cancellations close in, that I/m sure its hard for the inventory management team to work too far out to look at pricing that might entice people to book close in cruises.  May 24th while close is a long way away from today with a lot of things that could happen.  Just keep watching.

We are going May 24 with "Harmony of the Seas" I hope by then Coronavirus will be gone. And non of my future cruises are drooping in price . 

Wow....don’t we all wish we knew when/if prices were going up or down ?  We don’t. Nobody does. It’s all part of the game we play. There are so many factors, as Neesa said - OBC, booking incentives, resident rates.  They all have “value” so you have to consider them all in the price package.
I have so much respect for those cruise friends who are heading out this week and who decided, against all of the unknowns and scary situations to forge ahead and stay the course.  I also respect those who decided to listen to their inner alarm bells and make alternate arrangements.  That’s a very hard thing to do when you have so much time, effort, money and emotion invested. God love all of you.
Whatever each of you decides to do, good luck, have fun and be careful.

Yesterday I checked the price of my cruise in April on Harmony for a Boardwalk balcony room for 2 people & the price was $2005.40, meal @ Johnny Rockets, Rock climbing lesson & soda package & $325 OBC which I got when I selected to keep the perks that originally came with the boardwalk balcony room when I booked the room 2 years ago. NOW THE PRICE OF THE SAME BALCONY ROOM IS $392 CHEAPER, SO THE PRICE OF THE EXACT SAME CRUISE & ROOM IS NOW $1,613.80. BUT if I call & ask for a price change I will loose my obc, meal @ Johnny Rockets, Rick climbing lesson, & soda package & $325 obc which means I will be loosing a value of $450 because the soda package is $62.93x2=$125.86 +$325=$450.86

I completely understand as I am very, very sensitive to fragrance, perfume, etc.  Thankfully, I didn't smell any perfume or have a problem with their hand sanitizers, but I also brought my own everywhere we went.  I would plop my mini bottle on the table!  A few times, the Maitre D' or someone else would come and shake our hands, or we'd touch the menus, then I'd use my hand sanitizer again.  I brought a big bottle to refill my little ones.  I don't go anywhere without my own, it's fragrance free!

So surcharges, taxes and port fees are more than the cruise?