WAAAYTOOO

I'm glad to see this is happening as I had heard a rumor that TA's were told they would honor cruise planner pricing VIA an OBC difference and it would be automatic.
When I first heard that I was curious if it was true.  Now it appears to be so.
Great news.

Wow.  Let's dust this one off.  It looks like this cruise actually WILL sail and they did not shortened it....and at this point it doesn't look like they will.  It was in hibernation for a VERY long time and I thought for sure it was doomed.  What they HAVE done, unfortunately, is completely re-do the itinerary which is a much less interesting itin than it was.  We are now going to Nassau, St. Thomas, St Maarten and St. Kitts.  So no more Aruba and Curacao...which completely sucks but I will just be happy to be back on a cruise, so I will make the best of it.
I am very, very disappointed that I will not be cruising with @Lovetocruise2002and her family.  We planned this one together and now we will have to go alone.  I will miss sailing with you, but we have other cruises planned together for later on, so I will just have to look forward to those !!
As most all of you already know, Dan and I are not taking the COVID injections so we will be among the unvaxxed on this cruise.  I think it will be of benefit to present this live blog from the unvaxxed perspective, providing information for any who are interested in what the unvaxxed "rules" and experiences will be.  It is NOT my intention to debate the virtues (or vices, as it were) of the injections.  I will not respond to any discussion relating to the injections or our decision not to receive them.  This is about our cruise experience and how it may differ from cruise experiences we have had in the past. I hope that respondents will respect that and allow this blog to live.  Thank you for that.
Just to be up front about everything, there are still a couple of situations that could derail (I guess I should have said "sink" LOL) this cruise for us.  In addition to not being injected, we also refuse the deep nasal swab...so if we are not able to find a PCR test that will satisfy the pre-boarding requirements, we will not be able to go.  We also need to find out for SURE that they are not mandating the deep nasal swab at the pier or onboard.  Those are questions that our Genie can answer for us (hopefully) so we are moving forward with plans to sail until we have information that would have us do otherwise.  The good news is, if we decide that we cannot cruise due to vaccination requirements/restrictions, we will get a full refund for this cruise...so it's kind of a no-lose situation for us.
Royal has made it clear that there are certain situations/locations where unvaxxed will not be welcome.  We still do not know what those places/activities are but again, our Genie will be able to help us with that information, I'm sure.  Short of not being allowed in the casino (which would also be a deal-breaker for us) we will comply without complaint.  Even if we aren't allowed off the ship at the ports of call (due to ports of entry requirements, for example) that will be a-ok with us.  We likely wouldn't get off at any of the new destinations anyway.  Once I have some intel on what restrictions will be in place, I will be sure and provide that information.
And speaking of Genies, we have not yet been contacted.  It's been so long since we sailed that I cannot remember exactly how far ahead of time they reach out !  I can't remember if it is 30 days or 60 days.  Of course, I suspect there will be many things that are different now from what they were 16 months ago, so nothing will surprise me, truly. Today is 57 days out and we still are not able to check in but I understand that many people are unable to check in for their cruises at 90 days right now.  Won't panic about that.

?  Oh well....hopefully we can meet on a different cruise.  We will be spending Halloween on Vision (PR) I HOPE. Not sure if there's any movement on Vision yet or not.

@ChrisK2793Remember the Big Caveat! ? That is great news if it holds true. Now, where is that intern?
 

A magnanimous offer from Royal. Bottom line, we get the difference back as an onboard credit, and if we dont use that, it gets refunded. Basically they are honouring the original bookng cost which is outstanding.
 
Dear Guest,
Recently, we reached out to inform you of the changes to our deployment planning and how as a result your reservation was going to be moved to a new ship. Since then, we’ve received some inquiries regarding Cruise Planner purchases and want to provide you with some clarity.
Regardless of whether you choose to stay on the new sailing or choose to cancel, your Cruise Planner purchases will automatically drop from your reservation. You’ll receive a full refund of funds paid to your original form of payment within 14 days.
If your reservation has been moved to the new sailing and you re-purchase like-for-like Cruise Planner items and there is a price increase, we’ll reimburse you for the difference via an Onboard Credit added to your SeaPass Account. This credit will only be added if the products purchased are the same as those you previously had. For example, if you originally booked a 1-device VOOM package –  re-purchasing a 1-device VOOM package would make you eligible, purchasing a new 4-device VOOM package instead would disqualify you from the credit.
Once you’ve completed your Cruise Planner purchases, the credit will reflect on your SeaPass account by Day 2 of your new sailing. This Onboard Credit can be used anywhere onboard and if at the end of your cruise you haven’t used the full amount, any remaining funds will be reimbursed to your credit card on file. Below, you’ll find some FAQs answered for you regarding this offer.
We hope this has clarified some of the confusion around your Cruise Planner purchases. We look forward to having you back in onboard very soon!
Sincerely,
Royal Caribbean International

Yep, that's what I heard. The minimum bids started at $10 for a promenade stateroom up to $50/pp for the Balcony. It's only a 3 night cruise, but the balcony on this sailing was a good $400+ more when I booked, so I'm very happy with it. I'm only traveling with my son, so I was fine with an inside, but having a little more space will be nice.

That used to be a pretty tell-tale sign..if so, that's a pretty good upgrade price!

Thank you guys, I appreciate all the nice comments. We actually booked or really I did refundable on this one, so how does that help us? My TA, MEI said we can just move it to another cruise, how does that work? Just literally take the money paid in and move it to any cruise down the line? The August cruise is paid for already, its a Lift and shift so its all paid up or I think we owe 80 bucks because of taxes/port fee differences. Thanks again guys, truly appreciate everything.

The time to get worried is when you get an email out of the blue cancelling your cruise planner purchases when you didn't cancel or change anything. 

Yep, a glitch that happens a lot more than it should

Congratulations !!!

I’m pretty sure that anyone who is unvaccinated and does not want to comply with the protocols can receive a full refund as opposed to FCC, if they choose that option.

Hmmm....this is really a hard thing to quantify.  Some people truly enjoy the service of a Genie and some think they are completely overrated and unnecessary.  How's that for a non-answer ?  I'm going to be completely honest, here.  I am one who loves, loves, loves the Genie and Dan honestly doesn't really care for the Genie service.  The first time we did SC it was so new and so different from anything we had ever experienced, we both really enjoyed it.  The second time and the third time, etc. Dan began to resent that the Genie always seemed to be interrupting us for one thing or another.  The door bell and/or phone seemed to ring incessantly...which is true. They were always bringing something or dropping by to take something away.  If Dan got his way every time, we would probably never do SC again.  It's just too much commotion for him.
To answer your question, yes, I think having a Genie is going to be even more important in the restart than they ever were before.  Once they start to ramp occupancy back up I think things like specialty reservations are going to be more and more difficult to get.  I think things like expedited boarding and disembarkation are going to be more and more valuable.
One of the services of SC that I really love is the fact that they do your laundry for you.  You can have it sent out once a day, twice a day or never. I really enjoy this service.  They bring it back to you on hangers with your unmentionables in a bag.  There are so many things that are nice....
Is it worth the money ?  I guess I think it is. Many disagree.  It's hard to really quantify the level of service that SC provides.  Many will say....I'll just buy the UDP and the DBP+Voom and I will have the same thing, minus the Genie and save myself $$$.  But that's really not all there is to it.  On the first 2 SC cruises, I hosted the CC Cabin Crawls.  We had no less than 40 people on each of those who came to our cabin and were offered all the beer, soda, water, and food from the specialty restaurants (most of that food came from Jamie's/Giovanni's).....all at no charge.  We also offered champagne and wine (which we paid for but it was very inexpensive).  It was so much fun to show off our suite and have everyone enjoy themselves.  On each of those Cabin Crawls I know for SURE that we "sold" Star Class to at least 3 couples....so it's probably in Royal's best interest to cover such events.  Sky Class gets complimentary room service from the MDR menu.  Star Class gets room service from any and all of the Specialty Restaurants.  Big difference.
As far as what the Genie can do that you cannot do for yourself, the only thing that really comes to mind are the reserved seats at entertainment venues.  It's nice to be able to arrive at an entertainment venue just minutes before it begins and have the specific seats that you want, reserved for you.  Here is another example.  We had a credit card issue on one of our SC cruises.  The CC company (which was the Royal Caribbean Visa card, BTW !!!) began declining our onboard charges.  YIKES !  That was a real problem for us almost instantly as we charge considerable $$ to our onboard account at the casino.  The Genie talked with the revenue dept. and it was resolved - or so we thought.  Next day....charge declined.  By now, Dan was furious not to mention the fact that it was embarrassing when the casino pit boss had to tell us that our cash withdrawal had been declined.  Oh boy....  We tromped down to Guest Services, hoppin' mad.  It just so happened that another one of the Genies just happened to be there...and b/c the Genies all know who the SC guests are, even if they are not the Genie, he recognized us and asked if he could help.  When Dan explained the problem, the Genie disappeared behind the GS door and reappeared very shortly - this time with the ship's Revenue Manager - and this time, the problem was fixed...for good. Perhaps our Genie should have done this in the first place, but it was nice that it finally got handled properly by a fellow Genie.  They truly are a team.  We are always told that if, for some reason, our Genie is not available, feel free to ask any Genie for help. 
If you can afford it, SC is definitely a treat.

Yep, we are still on this one for now.....but it is very likely that we will cancel this one SINCE they chartered the following cruise (1-16-22) and we had planned a B3B SC from 1-9 through 1-30.  When they chartered 1-16-22 they moved us to 1-30-22 but now we have a week's break...we would have to disembark on 1-16, go home, wait a week and come back for the last 2 of our cruises.  AND b/c the Owner's Panoramic Suite was already booked for 1-30, the only SC suite left was the Star Loft and they refused to price protect it so we had to rebook at the prevailing rate which totally sucked.  So right now, we are still booked on 1-9 and 1-30 but I am 99% sure that I will cancel both of those and just keep 1-23.  My whole purpose of doing this was to do a B3B SC and the charter totally dicked that up.  So I will be satisfied just to do 1 week SC and do the B3B thing another time.  Unless they change their casino access restriction for unvaxxed, we will probably end up cancelling ALL of our upcoming cruises....so it's all up in the air.

It looks like this cruise has completely disappeared from the website.  Even CruisingPower shows it as "Not Available".  Now....this could very well mean that it has reached its capacity and simply has no more rooms available, but when your cruise disappears from the website it's a bit disturbing.   As others have opined in the past for other itins, I just wish that Royal would leave it ON the website but show that it is sold out.  It sure would help with the panic reaction.

Thanks.  Not entirely in the clear yet.  I still have to find out about the casino situation and the testing but still keeping a positive attitude.

So for those curious about RoyalUp Bids after Covid, I am pretty sure mine was just accepted. I was in an Inside Stateroom and bid the minimum on most every category, with the exception of the Spacious Interior & Ultra Spacious OV that I bid considerably higher than the minimum. All my bids are now expired except for my bid for an OV Balcony. It was for $50/pp which was the minimum bid. I only added it last night as I suspected many of the categories I bid on are rooms that the cruiseline is keeping empty (categories that were never available). My bids for the 2 categories above were more than I bid for the balcony.
Now just waiting for confirmation and new room assignment. We leave on Friday.
 

I’d take this with a grain of salt, ….. but I just had to call Royal’s Corwn & Anchor department about something else … so while I had them on the line, I also asked if people with ZERO C&A points get double points too.  She put me on hold to talk to her supervisor, then came back a few minutes later and said whether you have Zero points or 1,000 points, you’ll get double the usual points per night for your booking category as long as your C&A number is connected to your account both before the double points booking deadline and before your final payment date, whichever comes first.
 

Thanks all, figured knowing RC sites but gave me a scare

Thanks.  Not entirely in the clear yet.  I still have to find out about the casino situation and the testing but still keeping a positive attitude.

It's likely that the onboard price is going to be more than the Cruise Planner price for Izumi but how much more is the question.  If your cruise is in 2021 you can probably purchase the meal through the CP without paying the up-front separate gratuity but if you wait until you board, they will almost certainly pay a separate grat on top of whatever the base price is.
Even if you prepay you can still have the Concierge make your reservations for you.  

Hope that is the last time this judge moves his goalpost for the CDC. They are stalling for as long as possible.

Ephesus was just added to our Odyssey Holy Land/Greece October 2022. 

Have already started planning for Allure on Aug 22! Only 55 days left!!!?