Ian T

I am sure this has been discussed elsewhere on the boards but I have not been able to find it, so I am sorry.

My question is how long does it typically take for an advancement in C&A levels to be reflected on your account?

The reason I ask is, all things going to plan, we will reach Diamond during the first leg of a B2B and are wondering whether our C&A accounts will be updated in time for us to enjoy the associated perks during the second leg? 

If not do you think it is worth speaking to Guest Services or the Loyalty rep on board?

6 hours ago, Ray said:

It hasnt been announced yet.

Southampton anyone?????

Well he is from and with all of these travel restrictions in place would make sense for crew to be near ports 

In one of Chris's earlier updates in this series he was talking about travelling to the US to meet the ship; however whilst it seems Chris won't be on board, I am also hoping that Royal will be announcing UK cruises too!

Thanks! I figured as much but thanks for validating. 

Hypothetical question...

Say I booked a cruise as a solo traveller, completed the payment within the prescribed period, checked in online, but then fail to make it to the ship on embarcation day. I presume I would forfeit and not be entitled to any kind of refund. However if that is indeed the case would I still be awarded C&A points for the sailing at the of the cruise?

We have been members of the @michelle fan club ever since we first entrusted our cruise planning to her not long before all this COVID silliness started... great timing and a great decision even if we do say so ourselves!

17 minutes ago, SpeedNoodles said:

You have to be a paid subscriber to read this.

Here is a free to view article from the BBC, with a bonus guest appearance by Quantum (albeit in reference to the false positive out of Singapore some weeks back).

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56336787

I for one hope they do change their mind. My wife has had both of her jabs and I am booked in for mine (first one on Saturday) so if a RCL UK cruise did become available we would book it in a heartbeat

5 hours ago, melmar02 said:

I told my TA which one I wanted to apply it to. This was one of those first round of cancellations, and back then it was tied to the FCC for the cruise fare - they both had to go to the same sailing. I'm not sure if that is still the case or if you can apply a fare credit to one cruise and a cruise planner OBC to a different sailing.

I have applied cruise fare and cruise planner FCCs from the same cancelled sailing to two different sailings, so the condition to which you refer has been relaxed. (Well, I say it was me... truth be told @michelle worked her magic on my behalf as she so often does ).

10 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

From reading the "other" thread, the biggest thing coming out of this change is that fact that you will no longer be able to price compare items that you have purchased in the Cruise Planner.  It will just show that you have already purchased this item and there will be no current price available.  According to "authorities" on the other site, even CSR will not be able to look up current prices for you as they [apparently] can only see the same thing that you can see.  This totally sucks !

My bookings are still in the old format but I can open two tabs - one showing the current cruise planner and the other showing my order history - and then toggle between the two.

Not ideal I know but hopefully the same will be possible with the new one to show you what you need to see.

3 hours ago, twangster said:

Royal ship policy tends to be derived from where the ship departs and they use the age on day 1 of the cruise for the whole cruise even if someone turns drinking age mid-cruise.  Any ship departing from the US will use 21 as the drinking age.  A ship departing Southampton will use UK laws.  I should have asked when I last sailed from Quebec or Vancouver in Canada but never thought to.  

No doubt it's only a matter of time before they point out that had I done my homework I could have booked Grandeur out of Barbados instead!

22 minutes ago, gabeb848 said:

I believe it depends on which country/countries waters you are in. @WAAAYTOOO @twangster, correct me if I'm wrong.

I thought the same; however as this does not apply to the ship itself whilst docked it got me wondering.

8 minutes ago, twangster said:

In my experience if the price of the Royal excursion includes alcohol while on the excursion they implement their standard ship policy.  My guess is they don't want hyper overreacting parents outraged at them for getting their kid drunk and falling down.    Meanwhile if the same kids walk into a bar on the same island and gets drunk that's okay.  

I know it seems a double standard but you can thank all the social justice warriors for attacking the cruise line.  

If you pull out your wallet and buy them drinks, or they purchase their own drinks that's another matter.  Royal didn't participate in the transaction that put alcohol into them so that tends to be okay.  It's not like the local tour guide is going to run into the frame and stop the bartender from accepting your money.  

Excursions on sailing catamarans sometimes include beer or wine.  On these excursions I am confident the tour operators were told not to allow under ship age drinking but it's possible the local tour operators may not enforce that with the same zeal that Royal does on the ship.  YMMV.    

Many thanks... not what they will want to hear of course, but certainly makes sense.

Sorry, but I am full of questions today...

We are looking at booking a RCL shore excursion during our December 2021 sailing and two of the group will be in their late teens (18 and 19).

One of the excursion notes states that guests must be of legal drinking age in order to consume alcohol. This in itself is of course no surprise; however is this the legal drinking age in Antigua (16) or, given that the excursion is arranged through RCL, does the US legal drinking age apply as it does on board?

Given that they can legally consume alcohol here in the UK and know they will need to abstain whilst on board they are, unsurprisingly, hoping that as RCL is effectively merely acting as the booking agent for an excursion with a local provider, the law of the land in Antigua applies; however I would love to be able put their minds at rest (or alternatively give them fair warning!)

1 hour ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

You could do that.  I am not sure about the refund part as I have not come across that particular situation but money can be applied to an onboard account once on board.  An alternative would to get them a gift certificate.  My sister did this for me once back in 2019.  She was not sailing with us but she knew that all I really wanted (other than to cruise) was a cabana.  So a few months prior to the sailing, she called Royal and purchased a gift certificate for me to use towards the cabana.  She didn't even have my reservation number, they were able to look it up with the information that she could provide.  Once onboard, that money was already applied to my on board account.

1 hour ago, HeWhoWaits said:

Putting down cash at Guest Services is probably your easiest path.

Another option is to inform them that you intend to pay a portion of their onboard spending and then pay the amount they use or your intended maximum at Guest Services a couple days prior to the end of the cruise (DO NOT wait until the last night as you'll waste time in line that can be better used enjoying the final night of the cruise).

Both great suggestions. Thanks very much! 

We are (hopefully! ) sailing on Anthem with our sons and their partners in December and I have a question regarding on board spending.

They have their own cabins and we would like to gift each couple an amount toward their respective onboard spending accounts; however we are not sure the best way to go about it... Can we simply pay cash at Guest Services? If so and by some miracle they do not spend it all can they get a cash refund once the voyage is complete?

Alternatively if I link each account to my credit card can I set a maximum spending limit? If yes how do they then arrange to spend their own money (be it either cash or credit) once the limit is reached?

Thanks!

I may get shot down for this but I am indifferent - I plan to be too busy enjoying everything that she has to offer on board to worry too much about what she looks like from the land 

2 hours ago, Mike.s said:

And as those of us in the UK know only to well anything our Government states a number of times has every chance of being changed at will

https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-vaccine-and-testing-certificates-to-be-discussed-by-ministers-tomorrow-12215228

Typical... nothing like timing!

Although if looking foolish on here leads to progress in facilitating international travel when the time is right, then I'll happily take one for the team!  

Again I agree, although I shudder to think how long it would take the countries of the world to reach consensus on what it should look like and how it will work!

Love it! 

2 hours ago, monctonguy said:

 

Vaccine cards/passport will be the norm in the next couple years...for flying, cruising, hotels stays concert events etc...

 

I agree that from a practical point of view this would seem to be a solution; however the UK Government has categorically stated on more than one occasion that they have no plans for a COVID vaccine passport/certificate programme. Currently all we receive is a hand written appointment card which can be far from ideal (here is my wife's from her first jab as a case in point). Instead the UK Government is advising us to obtain a letter from our GP confirming that we have been vaccinated. My concerns with this having had correspondence from GPs in the past are primarily that

(i) this is likely to be open to abuse as the letters (from my GP at least) appear to be in standard Word document format (or similar), so can easily be faked

(ii) as a follow on from (i) I am not sure how we will go about satisfying travel providers, foreign authorities, etc, of a document's authenticity if challenged

Clearly there is much detail still to be worked through... 

Welcome to the boards Patt!

I too am an advocate of MEI (we are also looked after by @michelle).

I also used to book everything direct with RCCL (I am in the UK and thought at the time that it was the only option available) but, similar to @FionaMGI coincidentally made the switch to MEI not long before the world entered its current crazy phase.

It has been comforting to know that Michelle is in our corner throughout the rounds of cancellations, new bookings, further cancellations, etc, and all the ancillary activities that go with them (for example Michelle recently researched the visa requirements for a total of 10 islands/destinations that we hope to visit on 2021/22 sailings, which saved me a whole heap of time).

I don't know where you are based, but in short if you are willing/able to book in USD then I would recommend MEI all the way.

Many thanks to you both.

Hi all

I have a quick question regarding the combined soda + VOOM 1 device package...

It is listed as "CLASSIC SODA AND VOOM ONE DEVICE" but in the blurb it talks about using it to enjoy unlimited soda whilst streaming all of your favourite music and movies.

Given the reference to streaming can anyone tell me whether the package includes basic ZOOM (as the titles suggests) or VOOM Surf + Stream (as suggested by the blurb)? 

Many thanks!

Interesting commentary on this from Tony at La Lido Loca: 

Following a recent cancellation I received a 125% credit for my cruise planner purchases and the reinstatement of a cruise planner credit from an earlier booking that I had reassigned to the newly cancelled cruise; however I had to say goodbye to the USD 100 promotional OBC that came with it.

I questioned this with RCL reps on 2 separate occasions and received the same reply, namely that the promotional OBC goes down with the booking  

12 minutes ago, RCIfan1912 said:

Actually I'm watching the BBC here fun the US, gotta love the internet. I see what they are saying here. 

One dose or jab at the UK calls it (love the UK) protects enough that no one was hopitalized so getting that first dose to as many as possible is the goal here. Interesting strategy and I understand it now. Hopefully everything falls into place and we can all get this done. 

Talking of UK terminology around "jabs" my wife is a NHS phlebotomist and the standard line to a patient when inserting the needle used to be along the lines of "You might feel a little prick..." however that is no longer considered PC and she instead has to say "You might feel a sharp scratch".