WAAAYTOOO

Ugh. Not a good sign

Michelle was just on the line trying to help me and she said the lines just went “dead” so I know it’s happening. There’s just nothing that anyone can do right now. It’s a big fat Charlie Foxtrot and a hot mess. Nobody’s fault. I just thank God that it’s her doing it and not me !

Even if you decide to hang back with the noobs, it will not mean more than a few minutes’ difference in boarding time. It’s not really that big a deal.

Has the price of the upgraded cabin fallen below what you paid ?

I am not aware that Royal is offering upgrades in exchange for not cancelling. Most likely, the upgrades that you are hearing about are the result of the fact that the prices on some upgraded cabins have fallen to below the price that they paid for their current cabin category. This can happen after final payment date has passed. That, combined with the glut of cabins becoming available due to CV cancellations, has caused a temporary dip in close-in cabin pricing. Royal will not refund any money (due to a price dip) but they sometimes will allow passengers to upgrade at little or no cost. These are the “free” upgrades that you are currently hearing about. Bottom line - it never hurts to call and see if a price drop will allow you to upgrade your cabin. If your Cruise is in the next 5-30 days, the chances are pretty good that there might be a deal for you. The further out you go, the less likely that becomes. Never hurts to try ! And....congratulations !

As @HeWhoWaits mentioned, most, if not all, of the cruises outside of the cancellation time frame that I have looked at, have been much more expensive.

Nobody knows, of course....but I'm guessing that if we have many more onboard positives, the government will make it so onerous for returning passengers that the cruise lines will have no choice but to shut down some or most operations for a period of time. As many others have expressed, it is not the fear of becoming infected or sick that has me concerned, it is what will happen when I try and come back on dry land. New work rules and new government screening rules are taking the decisions away from us. I'm not saying this is a bad thing...I'm just saying that slowly, but surely, our options are being reduced.

I believe it is "The die is cast"

Personally, I DO think it has just been luck, so far. Hopefully with the heightened awareness and improved protocols in place, the luck will continue.

March 2021 or March 2020 ? Enjoy San Juan ! It is a beautiful place to visit.

The first 2 weeks of January are usually pretty cheap, as cruises go. Obviously, you must avoid New Years, but after that, it is usually pretty good. The only negative here would be if you are flying as that is the depth of winter and flights present an additional risk.

That's the spirit !!!

Nah...the airlines would NEVER do that !!! I don't blame you one single bit about worrying about your homecoming. It's realistic and not outside of possibility. Stay safe.

Very interesting information, Matt. Thanks. Like Ashley, I had also been under the impression that one cancel, all cancel. If it works out the say you are suggesting, it would be very good news for some people who are trying to remove only 1 person from the reservation. Thank you !!!

UGH. Are you having to fly through the UK to get home ? Try and enjoy your time there. I will worry about you until you get back !! Safe travels.

Thanks, Ashley. I feel bad for them. They really caught it between the eyes on this thing. I guess this explains why yesterday's cruises out of FLL didn’t go.

Are you back ? I was wondering if your return trip was going to be affected. Sorry to hear about your Delta award miles. Hopefully you will be able to recoup from insurance. I’m just glad you’re home safe and sound (hopefully). I know John and Laura were spending a few days in Spain. That could be problematic at this point.

I just heard on the news that Princess has ceased all operations. I didn’t catch what the timeline was. Can anyone confirm ?

It isn't the same as the one on Anthem but they did the best they could with what they had. We enjoyed it very much !!

I think there are plenty of samples of people doing both. If I were considering postponing, I would be looking for alternative dates and pricing out a resked. I think many are finding rescheduled dates to be much more pensive than the cruises that they are considering cancelling.

One bright spot, I suppose...

Oh what a disaster and such a shame. What an incredible adventure it would have been. I don't even have to ask how many hours and hours of planning this all took. So sorry for you both.

Hey, Kate - Since final payment date has not yet passed, you can cancel your cruise and rebook. That would get your mother's money back....but then you are faced with having to rebook at perhaps (or perhaps not) a higher rate. Your other option is to let things go and just have her be a "no-show". In that case, the only refund you would get would be her gratuities (if they have been prepaid) , taxes and ports fees. If you choose to have her be a no-show, there is no need to do anything. In fact, it is probably advisable NOT to tell them ahead of time. This is b/c you are in a cabin that can accommodate 4 people - and those are pretty rare. If you tell them that you are losing one, they MAY try and snatch your 4-person room from you and move you to a 3-person room (much more plentiful). Why let them do that ? Unless the rules change between now and July, there is absolutely no penalty for someone being a no-show. Why have the uncertainty of them maybe moving you when you don't have to. Do you have a good travel agent ? If you do, simply have them price out the options for you. They can tell you how much it would cost you to rebook just the 3 of you. That may be a good option or it may be very costly to do that. You won't know until you look into it.

Assuming there are no agency fees/penalties, you should get a total refund/FCC for everything, eventually. Pre-paid gratuities, taxes and ports fees will be immediately (5-7 business days) refunded to the original form of payment. The remaining value is the cruise fare. That will be presented in the form of a Future Cruise Credit(s). Important to note: EVERY cruiser will receive his/her own FCC in the amount of their individual cruise fare. Only the person to whom the FCC is provided can "spend" the FCC. So if there are 2 adults and 2 children on the original reservation, 4 FCC's will be provided. Only the person's name on the FCC can "spend" it on another cruise. In other words, you cannot take your children's FCCs and apply them to a cruise that just you and your husband are taking as a replacement cruise.

I see. Well, normally when you have a casino comp, you either accept the comp "as-is", which means if they are "giving" you an Oceanview balcony (in your case), then you just take the room, pay taxes, ports fees and gratuities and off you go. You are required to pay the full price of whatever it happens to be, at the time you book. OR you take the basic comp that they have given you and you upgrade it...pay the add-ons and pay the full balance right then. Either way, you end up with a fully paid cruise - either original or upgraded. As you have heard many of us say in other threads, it is very difficult (impossible ?) to make ANY changes to a fully paid cruise. My guess is that they are telling you...basically you would be cancelling the comped cruise and rebooking a new cruise. That is probably why it seems like so much money. So yes...I agree that it is probably not going to be possible to upgrade a comp at this point. You could have, originally, but not now. 1. Have you already paid the balance of this cruise ? IF so, I think you're d.o.n.e. 2. If you have NOT yet booked and paid for this cruise, then you should be able to upgrade it as I detailed above. I have zero experience with URComped so I have no idea if you can apply the Club Royale upgrade rules to a URComped comp. My guess is....no.