Chadster

AHHHHHHHHH! Thanks to quick work by @AnnetteJackson and Kelley at MEI (and of course, Sharla, even though she's off on her getaway!), I was able to leverage MEI's presence on/sponsorship of this board to snag one of the aft balcony cabins that popped up for the June 4 sailing of Adventure of the Seas! I went from booking myself into an interior cabin on Grandeur a little over a month ago to the exciting notion that I'll get to have a great view as a newer ship with more options for dining and activities sails away and along! It wasn't a free upgrade, of course, but when all is said and done, I'll have spent just $400 extra to be on a newer ship and have an aft view and spacious cabin, plus a little to get myself up to Cape Liberty!
THANK YOU SOOOOOOOO MUCH, MEI TEAM!!! ?
Maybe now, I can breathe and take a break from obsessively watching availability and pricing, all while plotting and planning. I tend to get laser-focused on things, and I certainly have been with my upcoming cruise. What a ride -- but oh, my, what a sailing it'll be at the end!

In the immortal words of Ric Flair...
WOOOOO!

In the immortal words of Ric Flair...
WOOOOO!

who are working especially hard during this Covidilemma - waiting on hold with the cruise companies (ALL of them!), rebooking, refunding, repricing, upgrading - WHATEVER.  I imagine they are all putting in LOTS of extra hours to help their clients.  (We're looking at you, M.E.I. folks, but also so many more of the great ones out there!).
We appreciate you!

AHHHHHHHHH! Thanks to quick work by @AnnetteJackson and Kelley at MEI (and of course, Sharla, even though she's off on her getaway!), I was able to leverage MEI's presence on/sponsorship of this board to snag one of the aft balcony cabins that popped up for the June 4 sailing of Adventure of the Seas! I went from booking myself into an interior cabin on Grandeur a little over a month ago to the exciting notion that I'll get to have a great view as a newer ship with more options for dining and activities sails away and along! It wasn't a free upgrade, of course, but when all is said and done, I'll have spent just $400 extra to be on a newer ship and have an aft view and spacious cabin, plus a little to get myself up to Cape Liberty!
THANK YOU SOOOOOOOO MUCH, MEI TEAM!!! ?
Maybe now, I can breathe and take a break from obsessively watching availability and pricing, all while plotting and planning. I tend to get laser-focused on things, and I certainly have been with my upcoming cruise. What a ride -- but oh, my, what a sailing it'll be at the end!

They have to remove all that stuff. It's a maritime law.

Carbs don't count on cruises....calories, sugar, nothing....

She's off until Friday on a getaway, and even offered pass a booking request I made today along to someone if I wanted to book before she got back on land.
I don't know about anybody else, but to me, that's good customer service.
Given the availability of my preferred cabin type on my target cruise as of this moment, I told her I think I can wait til then, but if that changes, I'll let her know.

How much did she save you? I don't think you mentioned it. ?
All I know is, these are clearly very fluid times with inventory, and now is definitely the moment to have a travel agent/advocate on your side!

How much did she save you? I don't think you mentioned it. ?
All I know is, these are clearly very fluid times with inventory, and now is definitely the moment to have a travel agent/advocate on your side!

NO. B2B GROOOP CROOOZ!!!!!!!!
Seriously, if you book the B2B outer and inner loop cruises in August, mid/late Sep, Oct, Nov, or Dec it's only $20,200 per person!! That's $1,000 pp less than any other time! C'mon, that's just two gently used Hyundai's per couple!! ?  ?????

@Chadster Same for me, after saving me an additional $800.00 on my August 2020 sailing on the Mariner yesterday Sharla let me know she was taking a quick getaway, and same if I could not wait she had someone who would take care of me, NOPE! I'm waiting for Sharla she has earned that from our family. Did I mention she just saved me another $800.00? She is amazing! I hope she has a most wonderful and relaxing getaway :)

She's off until Friday on a getaway, and even offered pass a booking request I made today along to someone if I wanted to book before she got back on land.
I don't know about anybody else, but to me, that's good customer service.
Given the availability of my preferred cabin type on my target cruise as of this moment, I told her I think I can wait til then, but if that changes, I'll let her know.

She's off until Friday on a getaway, and even offered pass a booking request I made today along to someone if I wanted to book before she got back on land.
I don't know about anybody else, but to me, that's good customer service.
Given the availability of my preferred cabin type on my target cruise as of this moment, I told her I think I can wait til then, but if that changes, I'll let her know.

Time wise, Royal's cancellation policy seems a lot more generous since the cut off to move your cruise with Carnival is March 31 and only good for sailings through the end of May. I'm okay with no OBC for peace of mind closer to my sailing. It's not like they are offering a whole lot of OBC anyway.

Just spent about 2 hours in total on hold but I was able to get my June sailing on Navigator upgraded in a big way!  Went from an interior room to an ocean view balcony and I'm getting $60 back after the entire process!  It was very much worth the wait!  Just saying if you have an upcoming sailing, it might not be the worst idea to give them a call now with everything going on.  Figure the worst that they could say was "no we can't help you".
Good luck and stay healthy everyone!

I called Casino Royale with the call taking less than 10 minutes.  We were upgraded from our Ocean View balcony room to a GTY Junior Suite for a whole $3.00.  We said we would never spend the money on a suite but couldn't pass that deal up.  Enjoy your upgrade!

Emailed my TA this morning. She's looking to see if I have any potential upgrades out there for better or equal to my Royal Up bid.....while I annoy all of you on these boards and pretend to work. 

have to bump off to make this happen, but this is my ultimate bucket list sailing.
 

GROOOP CROOOZ!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just as a note -- I was able to track down the cruise I think you're talking about based on the different prices I got on mock bookings. Here's what it looks like to my non-educated eye:
Booking 2 people gives you an option to let Royal pick your room (aka, a GTY). That's $229/person ($622 with tax total). If you pick your own as 2 people, it's $389 each ($778 plus tax).
Booking solo, you don't get the GTY option, and therefore pay the "normal" rate.

I'm officially dehydrated from drooling. 

with me i am high risk candidate according to the guidelines from CDC but i am not going to live in a bubble.  i leave in less than a month for a 10 night Caribbean sailing and my suitcase is packed and cant wait for some much needed relaxation.  after that will be back a short time then off for European cruise with some time on land before and after cruise.  i am by far not elderly and continue plan on enjoying life to the fullest.  heck maybe the ship will be so empty thats more for me to enjoy without chaos.  i personally cant be in dry dock too long and if i am going to get sick it could be literally anywhere whether home based or cruise based.

Chalk mine up to not feeling very creative at the moment I created my account. It's one of the many nicknames my friends and family use for me. Usually on message boards/forums, I try to come up with a name that somehow ties in to the theme of the board -- so I really should've come up with something involving cruising. But, you know, other times, I like pulling out my all-time favorite...and now I wish I had.
"Landshark". That sounds like a creature longing for the sea, no? Well, when it's not delivering candygrams.

Thank you both for the insight; doing a day-of, nonstop flight from Washington early enough cuts my cost considerably, according to my amateur travel math.
An e-mail has been dispatched to my travel agent, and I shall be switching to Adventure! "Lady G" will still get my love on my Christmas cruise! ?