WAAAYTOOO

In case anyone is interested, the "bait" is back out there. The Royal Suite (which I relinquished as part of the L&S) as well as an Owner's Suite (which wasn't there when I booked the RS) are both showing for the 11-22-20 Empress sailing. The OS has a particularly attractive price ($1468 PP). So, if anyone is interested in taking a nicely discounted cruise next Nov (probably a Thanksgiving week) in an Owner's Suite or higher (maybe ???) you could book it now and L&S. The bad news is that final payment date has now come and gone, so if you wanted to do this you would have to pay the balance in full when you book. Still a very good deal !

So sorry to hear of your mother’s passing. But glad to have you back among us.

Wow ! Blast from the past ! How are you, Kris ?

That’s the spirit !

No

I just checked my first sailings, which are Nov. 6 and 13 on NAV. We had already checked in but when I went to look at the boarding passes it made me pick a boarding time. This was not there when we did the original check-in last week. The earliest time was 2:30. We chose 2:30. Now....I fully expect these cruises to be cancelled, but it's nice to see that they are implementing boarding protocols. It's a step in the right direction, even if these particular cruises don't happen.

Me too. I guess I'm a dinosaur. I still love the RCCL Visa card !

I know. That's what Michelle said, too.

I know, right ? Sooo happy about how this turned out. I was told by some "experts" over on CC that they would NEVER L&S an Empress RS to a Star Class suite. I actually believed that myself ! But they did.

Thank you !!!

Thank you !!!!

So this thread is as close as I can find to my L&S news. I'm hijackin' it. Last week @michelle booked the Royal Suite for me on Empress (11-22-20, 6 night Western Caribbean) with the express intent of L&S'ing it to next year. According to the website, the appropriate cruise to which to shift this would have been a 6 night Western Caribbean cruise on Odyssey. YIPPEE ! That sounds great. Since the appropriate shift from a RS on Empress to another ship is an Owner's Suite, I was happy with that idea. So she called and they stone cold refused to make the shift to Odyssey even though the website showed that sailing as an appropriate "match" AND there was an Owner's Suite still available (Odyssey only has 2 OS so it was a surprise that one was still available...but it was). Nope. Nope. Nope. She tried doing the online L&S. Nope. They outright refused. I was so disappointed. I have read of so many people moving their Empress suites to Odyssey and simply could not understand why I was being denied. If I had been there in person, they would have labeled me a "Karen" for sure. LOL @michelle got a call this morning from the L&S team with the bad news for a second time. Not only would they not shift me to Odyssey, NOW they wouldn't even shift me to an Oasis cruise that had been their offer last week (this offer never made any sense. It was a 7 night Eastern Caribbean cruise which violated all of their "rules" - different number of nights, different itinerary). Now I was steamin'. Poor Michelle. She is so patient. She texted me to let me know that they were "evaluating our options". I was resigned that this was just not going to work out. I asked Michelle to please just CWC and get an FCC for my deposit. She said "okay". Maybe 10 minutes later she texted me that they were offering to shift my Empress RS to an Allure Star Loft Suite during Thanksgiving week (6 night 11-21-21) !! I almost dropped the phone ! So they were willing to give me a $12.5K SLS on Allure but they couldn't see their way to giving me a $9K OS on Odyssey ? Whatever. I'll take Star Class every time !!! So.... @michelle is the queen of L&S negotiations. I don't know how she does it....but she is awesome. I'm soooo happy !!!!!!!

We were on board during the last few days of filming. I still have not seen the movie !

Ditto

I love your new photo !

This is actually not quite accurate. If you book any suite through the casino it is definitely subject to the normal NRD rules just like any other booking. The rules for casino comp upgrades (as is your case) have different rules b/c the offer was based on a non-suite....but trust me, if you book a full suite through the casino, you are subject to NRD penalties.

Welcome to the boards, Dicey. Glad to have you onboard ! Too bad you had to cancel. The GPS on Oasis is incredible. We were in that room in Dec 2019.

Actually, I’m surprised that they even brought up the issue of the kids being (or not being) minors, as minorship (is that even a real word ?) has nothing to do with the rules governing FCC’s. It is my understanding that some people have had success having FCC’s re-issued but it’s not the rule and I probably wouldn’t count on it.

Yippee ! I guessed it !

Pali ?

I don’t believe this is possible on Royal Caribbean. The Trans Atlantics are seasonal. They go one way in the spring and the opposite direction in the fall. There may be other lines that go in the opposing directions but I doubt it. It would be nice, wouldn’t it ?

I find the desserts, generally, to be fairly tasteless. Even my (and @Sweety) beloved Red Velvet Cake could be better ! I do still love the Grand Marnier Souffle though.

Currently, the Unlimited Dining Package is $76 per person on the 3 night itin (that works out to be just slightly more than $25 per day) and $99 per person on the 4 night, which makes it slightly LESS than $25 per day....so basically, $25 per day. When you consider that it includes lunch on both boarding days, in addition to dinner plus lunch on any day that they are open (hit or miss ) then it is a pretty good deal.

I just booked an Empress cruise yesterday (Nov 2020) with the intent of L&S it to Odyssey in Dec. 21. Guess I'll find out soon how that works out !!

I would definitely consider purchasing the 3 day UDP as well. That way, you will get lunch on both embarkation days (unless they change the rules on us before they start cruising again). Right now the UDP is a pretty good price. I paid $76 PP for the 3 night and $99 PP for the 4 night, which is really quite reasonable considering all of the dining options on NAV. B2B is so easy if you have the same room. You don't have to pack a thing...They will tell you where to meet to get off the ship and then you will be back on the ship very quickly (usually within the hour). Since they don't have to vacate your room, you can go right back to your room once you reboard if you want. Of course, this is all pre-plague and I have no idea how B2B will work once they start cruising again. I have even heard whispers in the shadows that they may not allow B2B at all....at first. ...but I'm not going to let that worry me at this point...