steverk

That's an interesting take. I hope it's correct! I'm on the same sailing and have been thinking about it ever since they announced it as a dead head. I find it interesting that they haven't announced a 4 night cruise out of Galveston immediately after its scheduled arrival. My theory is that they have a 4 night charter of Allure and getting to Galveston in time means going with the dead head instead of paying passengers.

I sailed on NCL's Pride Of America once. I was warned that the experience on Pride is far different than other NCL ships. Indeed, the on board experience was below average in every way. You sail Pride of America for the itinerary. Not the ship. However, it did expose me to a few policies that would be fleet wide as follows: Royal allows you to bring two bottles of wine and a 12 pack of soft drinks on board. NCL does not. Royal will give you a price break for the 3rd and 4th person in your room. NCL does not. The shareholder benefit on Royal can be used for gratuities. NCL does not allow this. Are these show stoppers? Probably not. But it is good to know these things ahead of time.

I think I had a run in with the same guy. A real hard case who needs some serious straightening out. In my case he didn't like the format the CVS used for its results and simply refused to accept it. Absolute nightmare

I see that Celebrity Infinity will relocate to the Caribbean in April. Celebrity Cruises Cancels 29 Sailings as Ship Relocated to the Caribbean (cruisehive.com) Does anyone know when they will release the Caribbean in itineraries for sale?

I've been to Alaska twice. Once interior and once in a balcony. A balcony is better, but looking at the prices, I could do more than 2 cruises interior for the price of a balcony. It wasn't that much better! The same reasoning can apply to your cruise. If you can afford the suite, and don't have the time for multiple cruises, then go for it. If not, then I'd be hesitant to spend the extra dough.

OBC will carry over. I use mine for gratuities.

I've been to all three, but Icy Straight Point was so long ago, that my experience there would be useless. On the others, all are highly walkable ports. I'd suggest the hop on hop off bus at Victoria. You can book it in advance or just purchase the tickets at the pier. For Skagway, the White Pass railroad is a must see. For my upcoming Alaska cruise, they are offering a train ride up the mountain and a bicycle ride down. I'm really looking forward to it! Juneau is also very walkable. I've heard the Mendenhall Glacier is a must see, but I didn't last time I was there. I will this summer. There's also an arial tram right off the pier that looks great. Once again, you can purchase in advance or purchase there. I'd purchase there as there isn't much point if you have low lying clouds, which are common.

I believe this would be a "refundable" OBC. This means it will be refunded to you after the cruise. I've never had any left over, so I can't really say if that happens or not. As @SpeedNoodles says, you can cash it out in the casino to be sure. Also, it can be applied to your tips, which should eat up a good bunch of it.

I think the key here is to book at least a 7 day cruise. Families may be there, but probably not many college kids.

There's another thread started about the Allure repositioning cruise. It changed from an 8 night Ft. Lauderdale, ABC (minus the B) islands, Galveston itinerary to a 4 night "Deadhead" cruise. I'm not sure why or what it might mean. I was on that cruise, so hopefully, I'll hear more today.

I see it when I go to www.royalcaribean.com/account. I never received any notification about it though. Thank you to @LonB for starting this thread. I'll contact my TA today about it.

This should answer most of your questions: Shareholder Benefit | RCCL Investors (rclinvestor.com) Like @AshleyDillo mentioned, it is $50 for cruises 5 nights or less and $100 for cruises 6-13 nights and $250 for 14+ nights. This is true for both Royal and Celebrity. I would have expected SilverSea as well, but that isn't listed on the web page. Is it worth it? That's a personal decision. I looked at my ability to risk loss, the number of times I planned on sailing and my overall financial position. I felt it was a worthwhile thing to do, but YMMV.

I never received a response, but my credit is now available to spend.

I flew in the day of to Bahamas over the summer. Everything worked out fine, but I find it stressful. Over Thanksgiving we flew to San Juan PR the night before. Good thing as my son had a problem with his flight and barely made the ship. I'm a firm believer in flying in the day before. It's just a lot less stressful

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. When I flew American or United I was allowed to select seats at that time. On Delta, I was allowed on one flight, but not another. YMMV

I've always felt the prices were about as good as I can do on my own, but only once did I ever dig in to it in detail. That said, they do have a price guarantee. If you find the flight for a lower fare, they will match it. I've never had the occasion to try, so I don't know the details on this. Even if it is more expensive, they've bailed me out twice now and their service is worth spending more.

Yes! I do it all of the time! Your TA can call in, but I find it easier to go directly to them. I've never had trouble with them restricting my flight choices when I call, so there are many more options than the website offers. One time the even found my son a flight that wasn't on the air2sea, American airlines or travelocity websites. It's an amazing service with many benefits. For example, they will get you to the ship even if there's a problem with your flight. They're also very helpful if your flight gets delayed or cancel. I never fly to a port any other way.

Shiplife youtube channel released a video about Jewel last night. Rather disturbing! According to the video, Jewel is returning to port with 103 crew and 6 passengers testing positive. If this is really true, then we should hear more today.

I sailed out of Galveston for Christmas and had an issue with the cvs tests. Making a long story short, one agent looked at our pdf test results and said they were a cover page and not a result. I was able to bring up the results from my text message. He saw the cover page and said that's what he needed. I reported it to guest services while on board. They agreed the pdf should have been sufficient, but I don't think royal ever did anything to correct the situation going forward.

Royal's new take on the human cannonball?

I just submitted my request for an upcoming cruise using the exact email that appeared earlier. I'll let you know what I find.

I usually send it in about 90 days out and haven't had an issue when I send in an email to [email protected] that says the following: Please process the shareholder benefit for my upcoming cruise as follows: Guest Name: XXXXXXXX Ship: Liberty of the Seas Sail Date: December 19, 2021 Booking Number: XXXXXXX My brokerage statement is attached. Please let me know if there are any issues. I've tried the on line form and never had any luck. I've never tried the PDF. Thanks! Steve

I've never sailed out of New Jersey, but I experienced NJ hospitality at the airport once. I had to go between terminal A and C. I found the bus, but I wasn't sure which bus went to terminal B and which one to C. (Turns out they all ran the same route to all terminals, but it wasn't clear.) So, I asked the driver, who sarcastically replied "its real simple!" Since that really didn't answer the question, I asked again. She grunted and pointed her thumb at the back of the bus. You just gotta hand it to NJ. Nobody else says hospitality quite the same way!

I agree with everyone that it is too early to know how things will be in March. That said, I just returned from a cruise to cozumel, roatan and Costa maya. Everything was open and the excursions went off as normal. The masking rules weren't always clear, but the ports were otherwise normal.

Went on liberty dec 19. I felt it was great. No complaints A couple observations though 1. Unlike other ships, liberty did not have hand washing stations in the Windjammer. 2. There were enough people on board that the elevators were very full. People wanted to limit the number to 5, but it was impossible to find an elevator with so few on it.