Sandy A

Monday departures are proving to be a problem for obtaining rapid 2 day results. It seems kind of useless to me, as you can have a negative test on Saturday and have Covid on Monday. I agree with having everybody fully vaccinated, but this last minute Covid test is adding additional stress to what started out as a pleasant care free cruise.

I beleive that there will be many good deals coming up on Royal Caribbean as all these restrictions being put in place will cause many people to cancel their cruise. Several of my friends have already cancelled due to finding it impossible to schedual a last minute Covid test even though they are fully vaccinated! Having a negative test taken three days prior to cruising, is no indication that you are Covid free upon boarding. The extra stress and expense involved overrides the anticipation of having a great time aboard. I am very happy with having all passengers vaccinated, but if Royal insists on last minute Covid testing, they should provide the tests, at their cost upon boarding! That’s just my take on this situation!

I would love to see all indoor smoking stopped. We love gambling onboard, but the casino has become unbreathable. Since there are few smoking areas on board, every evening crowds of smokers enter the casino to smoke. Not gamble, just smoke. I too have smoke allergies and start to cough so much that I have to leave the casino. Well, I guess I am saving money by leaving, so that's a plus.

My cruise of 04/04/20 on Independence of the Sea was cancelled. The money for the port charges and taxes was refunded . The balance was issued as a "Future Cruise Credit". I supposedly had the option of submitting a form to change the FCC to a full refund. I have since discovered while booking a future cruise, that this is not a simple credit on your next cruise, but a credit to be used only when booking a future trip. It cannot be used as on board credit towards purchases made. Since there is no advantage to me to have Royal holding on to my money, as this was to be a free cruise, and I could not apply the credit to port charges, gratuities or excursions I decided to find that refund form and submit it. Well, there is no such form to be found on Royals web site. I will have to contact my travel agent or wait on the phone for a Royal rep. I don't know why they would say just fill out the form, and then not provide one.

Today I called Royal to find out why we had been "Demoted" from prime to choice. We have been on 7 RC cruises since 2017 and always enjoyed Casino rates and free drinks in the Casino. On cruise number 6, on 9/30 Majesty, we were told by the Casino host that we did not qualify for free drinks. I was asked to pay $3.00 for a small bottle of water. We are booked on another cruise on 1/11/2020 and upon inquiring was told that with their new system, the points earned only are good for one year and I was short for this new cruise. Nobody explained this when we booked. My Emails requesting an explanation for the downgrade also went unanswered. Fortunately, we are not really big drinkers, but $3.00 for water while we are gambling just is a bit much. It may be time to price other cruise lines!