Pattycruise

I don’t recall seeing mention of using Air2Sea to book your flights. My understanding: There’s some sort of guarantee they’ll get you to the ship if your flights are delayed. In simpler times I could find them online and see what flights they would potentially book me on,-based on the cruise reservation I held- then I’d have an idea if I would have to book the day before or not. With the adjustment of cruises leaving later than typical (the ones I’ve looked at) it likely opens the travel window a bit for “day of” travel.

I’m watching the morning news in NY and it’s about how Broadway is reopening. will it be every other row blocked off like it currently is on the cruises? Are they making you hand sanitizer? When you can go to indoor dining before your show, like a cruise, or go shopping in stores, like a cruise, how is it any different than a cruise?

Here is a link to their page-they will do the testing, complimentary, while you are onboard https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/can-i-book-back-to-back-cruises-at-this-time

Royal didn’t sell anything for the Bahamas. It was automatic removal and Medjet home if you tested positive. Medjet paid for by Royal. They even had you driven from airport to home.

I think they ought to put a time limit.....that would stop that nonsense! Nothing worse than sitting in a chair and seeing the vacant ones with towels on them for hours on end. (mind you I'm sitting in the shade in a corner, this girl burns! LOL)

It saddens me to see that there are fees for what was once free-on select sailings-such as North Star. Now to see that they are considering charging for casitas (I've never seen them yet)..... I know I was in the category of "scrapping the nickels" to take my kids on a cruise. It's now like Disney with the "pay extra to skip the lines". Only those with money can truly enjoy the luxuries, the rest will have to settle for the leftovers. I wish there was another way. yes, I get why they do it-because they can! And I am fortunate that I can afford to take my family on a cruise every few years, so I DO count my blessings.

I have a cruise booked for February on Anthem out of NJ and one for May on Oasis out of NY. I was just in the cruise planner and I am floored that they've changed the format for booking. Internet price they show on Oasis May sailing is now for one device and says "up to 30% off depending on number booked" (something to that affect.) You must click on the the "add to cart" and then select the guest and how many devices you want in order to see the pricing for the week. This will be a big adjustment (and a pain!) The Anthem booking in February is the "normal" way-it shows the price per device so you can see the pricing per day for 1, 2, 3 or 4 up front without having to click and add to cart and then select devices.

Hubby tested negative with a rapid AND PCR test prior to a trip out of state. The very next day from testing he started to not feel well, so we assumed a cold. As the week progressed we decided a Covid test would be prudent. He tested POSITIVE! he spread it to his sister and niece while myself and daughter never contracted it. so was it a faulty test (times 2)? was the test not administered correctly? Was it “too early in testing” for him to pop positive? (Based on past research it says you are spreading 2 days prior to symptoms) so people can be positive and not know it! Also some test and then go out partying like it’s all good, only to be caught up in that next test. Negative one day doesn’t mean negative some other day. It’s a crap shoot. I wonder how many test positive after going home? Let’s face it the contact tracing testing onboard just means negative at that time….perhaps the incubation period hadn’t happened yet

Yet J&J vaccinated are not yet recommended for a booster. I’ve read about the Canadians not being accepted for their mixed vaccinations…..so I’ll be watching this closely

The additional potential problem, I see, is if RC doesn’t recognize your positive result (past that 2 week quarantine period) and you test negative on an antigen test-as some are indicating you might pop positive on a PCR- and get on a cruise using that antigen negative result, undergo RC rapid TEST and happen to test negative BUT were caught up in a positive case of contact tracing requiring a follow up PCR test-that could lead to your “free ride home” if you are still testing positive on a PCR test. mind you I’m not sure what the testing policies are on each cruise, but that could have easily happened on the one I was on where testing took place on day 5 of a 7 day cruise

Royal didn’t tell him, a nurse did. It’s true. Some people still test positive up to 3 months after an infection. aruba now makes an exception (as does Bahamas and I’m sure other locals) if someone tested positive within the last 3 months they only need to supply the positive Covid result , no other testing needed. Of course the positive test result would need to be at least 2 weeks prior to entering their country. (The standard time to quarantine having ended) I believe the author is asking if Royal Caribbean makes that same exception. It appears it’s not in their FAQ., so perhaps they are addressing it. Loss of revenue for sure!

It’s a bag you can buy in most any port…those have the name “Bahamas, Puerto Rico” etc. mine was an ugly 1980’s pop colors. Easy to find in my oversized bag. this is an example of one. https://www.mercari.com/us/item/m94584771907/?gclsrc=aw.ds&gbraid=0AAAAADR9UGf_U7g1XIE28q7y7rWaTFVS9&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=12877497088&utm_content=t0&adgroup=121903074456&network=g&device=m&merchant_id=369439465&product_id=m94584771907&product_id=353409924462&gbraid=0AAAAADR9UGf_U7g1XIE28q7y7rWaTFVS9&gclid=Cj0KCQjwvO2IBhCzARIsALw3ASqthaxqCeq8-pB-TT7vlRR_wWEgPig7Uefxgr-902zJRHAVHpsQcOgaAoMVEALw_wcB you can google passport bag but those are plain dark colors with way too many pockets for me. I’d lose the bag in my oversized bag travel bag.

Is it possible to cancel the excursion and rebook using In board credit? The only issue could be if it becomes “sold out” immediately when you cancel. perhaps photos, the gift shop-perfumes/cologne-jewelry, specialty good that’s not included (coffee etc)

yes, the safe is the best place! when I had to pull out all the paperwork to fork over-in our case, passport, airline ticket, Bahamas travel visa——and the vaccine card at the Royal check in—-it was easiest to have it clipped into the passport so no worries of it floating away when it was passed around I have an ugly small “passport size” bag that I hang around my neck or throw into my oversized bag- The passports all slip in easily and it zips closed. I write everyone’s names in marker at the top of their paperwork for when it comes down to me handing out the paperwork , and each passport has a sticky note with the first name sticking out. It makes it very convenient to hand it out and collect and see who missed giving the passport back to me. (And of course I double check the vaccine card is still clipped in) I just purchased my daughter an “ugly passport bag” ….I hope she continues the tradition when she travels.

I just came back on August 14 from Adventure of the Seas. We could not book prior to boarding Ince onboard you could book i did not try to make changes to anything I booked so if if that’s permitted. i spoke with a woman who booked the headliners first show and when she attempted to book on the last day of sailing to see the last show the app would not allow it-stating something to the effect she’d already seen it-one booking per person. very sad because there was room at that last show! non vaccine people (kids I guess) had to sit upstairs. They looked for the “vaccinated bracelet” when you scanned into the show. mud still check in to see if changes are made.

I paper clipped each family members vaccine card into the back cover of their passport. One of the cards was in a plastic holder. No one who asked for the cards had an issue, they only looked at the front of the card. I did not try to use pictures on a phone, I felt it was “too much fumbling”

How does the annual policy work? I just booked 4 cruises for next year. 2 with hubby 1 with daughter 1 with friends coyjd they be covered under me? Or do they all need their own policies? what if I add more cruises? thank you!

I was on the same sailing. I’m sorry you had that experience. I thought it was a pretty good experience. Only one person I encountered in windjammer with an attitude was when asking for coffee. He didn’t seem thrilled to have to pour it. The only reason I wound up at his station was they were making a fresh pot at the front station. Other than that the servers were nice. I couldn’t check in for the flight going to or from the Bahamas and I think it was because of all the paperwork they needed to see at the airport- Bahamas Travel Visa, vaccine card going down and the CDC form, negative Covid results coming back.

Monday I tried to modify the bid but when I clicked on modify/update it then showed 3 of the bids “expired” and one bid pending. (Unable to modify the bid) I found out the Tuesday before my Saturday cruise we won on the bid. It was the pending bid.

Oh there were chair hogs, but since it was a reduced capacity of cruisers there were plenty of chairs! if you think about those 160 kids a lot of adults will be “stuck” with them unless they are opting for adventure ocean, which means less adults in the solarium and the shows!

Funny I was just thinking about this as I’ve booked a few cruises. I’m considering assigning one credit card to each cruise. Unfortunately I wouldn’t get all the bonus points by using my Royal Caribbean credit card, but I’d be able to track it much better.

Just went through this. Do NOT use another staterooms tag#. The bags go to the room #, not to the name. when we did luggage check in with Royal, at the airport in Bahamas, they wrote our cabin # and deck# onto a tag and affixed it. deck 10 -my cabin was 1292….the girl wrote Deck 12 on 2 if the tags, thankfully I was watching and corrected her. I don’t know where it would have went. despite this being a decreased passenger cruise they did manage to mess up luggage delivery (we had a note in our keycard slit asking if we had extra luggage that wasn’t ours to contact guest services ! So I wonder if the guests used the wrong cabin number?

I just got home today from my August 7 Adventure of the Seas out of Bahamas. It was great to be on a ship again. I heard we had 1,000 passengers. The ship never felt crowded. Masks were mandatory for venues unless marked otherwise. Some venues were vaccinated only. (My understanding is Only kids under 12 were unvaccinated) it was great to walk into CoCoCay after noon and be able to find a front row seat at the beach…I actually plopped down in the second row figuring the front row was taken! shows were not crowded. I did find out if you booked the headliner for his first show you couldn’t go to his final show. I imagine it was to avoid additional commingling if guests for contact/exposure purposes. windjammer-you had to be scanned in and they scanned you out. I asked on the way out as to why and she said “contact tracing”. Well after that I scanned in, grabbed breakfast, scanned out and ate elsewhere. Yes, you scan into shows too….idk how they determine who exactly to contact trace , but I figured I could easily avoid the “windjammer nonsense” by scanning out quickly! Subsequent visits to windjammer they did not say contact tracing, they just said “necessity”. LOVED LOVED LOVED 2 days at CoCoCay. The “kids” and hubby did the empty water park and then bellied up to the pool bar on day 1. 2nd day hubby and I went to the beach and the “kids”did the pool bar and then the floating bar at Chill island. (my “kids” are 18, 20,22,29) Very easy to get loungers poolside. birthday dessert-we had a celebration onboard and they can no longer do anything “big” but they did carry a slice of cake with a lit candle and our 2 waitstaff and dining room manager sang with us. I can’t believe they had a lit candle! I was ecstatic ! royal up. Nice idea, doubt I’d do it again. I did go from junior suite to owners suite. Bonus was suite lounge from 5-8(as shown in the cruise compass) but it was actually from 4:30-8 for complimentary drinks. YEAH! So this was a nice benefit. Also breakfast at Giovannis. The owners suite on Adventure was beautiful BUT it’s right below the pool deck-so party at pool deck at 11:00pm, sing along to the song! Dragging and pounding of chairs and whatever occurred at midnight/1am (not bad for me I’m a late night person) AND at 7am. Room attendants or others were slamming doors as early as 6:30am. (Stateroom 1292 on deck 10) why I wouldn’t do it again. I could have spent that money on other items. I really don’t spend a lot of time in the stateroom. So for me, it was nice, but I doubt I’d do it again. casino allowed 4 players at the 3 card poker. And it was limited at other tables too. It was nice to not be packed in and there weren’t too many smokers, so another benefit! (Mind you this is the first time I’ve actually engaged in long term play-usually I walk through, find it crowded and Smokey and keep moving) main dining room was very empty. easy to get off the ship. We could go have breakfast and we were told to wait in our stateroom to leave (no herding in a theater!) most seemed to mask as they were required. Some lady was at guest services loudly complaining that more than 4 people were getting on an elevator. I was guilty of inviting a party of 3 to join hubby and I. My own family is a party of 6-so IDK if she saw 6 and assumed it was just rule violators? Whatever, with so few people on the ship there was no elevator nonsense of packed elevators and “long” waits. below are pics of main dining room 5:30 seating and Chill Beach-sorry they are out of order. It shows how much space there was. my “kids” enjoyed this cruise. They understood the pluses of reduced capacity (no wait at water park, a lot of room in the CoCoCay pool bar, not crowded at silent disco) but they also realized they were fortunate to make friends within the “limited supply of people their age”

That’s what I’m thinking

Did some onboard bookings last night. I believe it was explained it was better to take the C&A discount as opposed to WOW as you would lose the WOW OBC if you change sailings. (C&Adiscount on these sailings we’re fine)I could be mistaken, between wearing masks and an accent I had to ask numerous times for clarifications, but the gist was I was better off with my level of discounts