Dad2Cue

More and more it seems like book for 2021 and lift and shift and HOPEFULLY cruise in 2022. I have no idea if my 2021 cruises will be some of first cruises selected to happen. Because of the likely limited capacity, I can't be sure that my stateroom won't be cancelled if the cruise happens. Then, if my Jan 2021 cruise happens, I doubt that I want to be one of the first to take a cruise. I just as well lift and shift that cruise now and pretend it was a good deal compared to the listed 2022 price. I could also look forward to my first B2B in 2022. I have 5 cruises between Jan 2021 and Jan 2022 and I don't need any more. It would be nice if the rest of the 2022 schedule was released because I would also likely lift and shift my Trans Atlantic for April 2021 to April 2022! I can't afford to wait past the final payment date to decide because that would involve shelling out even more money. I already have two nearly fully paid for cruises over a year from now.

I admit that I only have 5 booked cruises that I monitor for price decreases. Two of the cruises were a lift and shift where the price guarantee was much lower than the price in 2022. The other 3 cruises are spaced out in 2021. I have only seen price increases in a long time although there seems to be ample availability --- no fun!

Personally, I feel really good that I don't have any cruise planner purchases. I don't think I will bite on this one.

That would be nice ... effectively, a "future" cruise credit becomes an "earlier" cruise credit !!! Something tells me it won't be that simple. I might try that later when actually going on a cruise seems more certain. Maybe Royal will start booking virtual cruises that can be enjoyed from the comfort of home. What was that song, "Living in a Virtual World"? Maybe it was a "Material" World --- I'm too old for the virtual stuff.

It was L&S before the final payment date. I'm indifferent about the Jan 2022 cruise. I mostly would like to get the entire $1,500 applied to an earlier cruise. I believe that when I did the L&S it more or less cancels the cruise with confidence provisions. I think there will be change fees and/or cancellation fees.

This concerns a January 2021 cruise that was lifted and shifted to January 2022. The only purpose was that it was going to be something warm to do in January. It was relatively inexpensive but it was paid in full so approximately $1,500 tied up in a cruise more than 16 months away. I'm okay with that but now we have other cruises booked before this cruise that have only the deposit paid. I think that doing a L&S changed some of my cruise with confidence options but I'm not sure what options are left. My main interest is moving money to another cruise that might happen sooner. The nonrefundable deposit was $500 and there wasn't a FCC involved. The L&S provided price protection and a significant savings. What happens IF ... #1 I want to UPGRADE my cabin? I probably lose the price protection ... right? #2 I want to CHANGE to a different cruise? Is the change fee $100 per person ($200 total)? #3 I want to CANCEL the cruise? Is the cancellation fee $500 and is $1,000 refunded or will it be a FCC? #4 I want to SHIFT MONEY to pay for an earlier cruise? Can I leave the $500 deposit but move $1,000 to an earlier cruise? Thanks.

@deep1 I got right through to a royal vacation planner to reschedule the cruise but then the post cruise dept had to move the FCC. Actually the royal vacation planner was in communication with the post cruise dept and that was when I was placed on hold. The royal vacation planner did apologize occasionally for the delay because he was having trouble getting through to the post cruise department. I'm not really sure why I was placed on hold because they didn't seem to need me for anything except to announce at the end that they got everything done. I said thank-you and that was the end of the call. I have done a pure L&S that didn't involve a FCC and that seemed to be quick and easy so moving the FCC must be more of a challenge..? As for which cruises qualify for a L&S that is for Royal to decide. They seem pretty flexible but it might depend on what Royal rep handles your call. It seems like a second opinion never hurts if you don't like the first answer ?

I think that is allowed. I "rescheduled" a paid in full cruise that was largely paid for with a FCC. I say "rescheduled" because it was booked refundable so there was no restriction on date, cruise length, itinerary, etc. A L&S can only be one year later + or - 30 days and limited to similar itinerary, same length, etc. It took awhile so if you are calling Royal be prepared to be on hold for a long time.

I didn't know about that ... thanks. I did manage to do that with my very first FCC and received a $1000 CC refund from a previously paid in full cruise. That was nice. I think I can deal with getting a FCC on another couple of cruises that I have booked nonrefundable and have only paid the deposit. Now I just need to L&S those cruises before the final payment date or else I might get stuck with another big FCC if I decide to cancel later. That is another thing I don't completely understand ... if I make the final payment does just the deposit become the FCC and does the remainder of the cruise fare get refunded?? I don't really want to make any final payments just to find out. One "good" thing is that prices on future cruises seem to be much higher so it becomes easier to apply the full amount of the FCC.

So far, I have a "manageable number" of FCCs. However, that assumes that cruises will resume at some point --- hopefully in the near future. As the months of cruise cancellations add up, the window for using FCCs is getting smaller before they expire. Also, I don't need to be the first person to return to cruising so I have applied my large FCC to a distant cruise in August 2021. I'm not too sure when my FCC expires but I think it is the end of 2021. If I accumulate more FCCs then I need to seriously start considering a B2B cruise. My guess is that Royal will need to extend the expiration dates eventually but then the survival of the company comes into play. I find that the "dollar amount" of the future cruise credit is more of a problem. When the value of the FCC exceeds the cost of the future cruise, you have to wait until after the first cruise and apply the remainder to another cruise. I've already decided to upgrade to a GS just to be able to use the entire FCC on one cruise. My other dilemma is that I now have 5 future cruises booked in the next 15 months. I used to be a 1-2 cruise per year person.

I hate to admit this but I recently booked a Jan 2021 cruise just so I could lift and shift it to Jan 2022 ... It was a big savings compared to booking the Jan 2022 directly. I'm not that sure the Jan 2022 cruise will even happen but at least I will have a place to park a FCC if my April 2021 doesn't happen. I think I'm going crazy!!

Shall I go ahead and lift and shift my Jan 3, 2021 cruise to 2022 now or wait awhile until closer to the final payment date? After the January cruise there is a trans Atlantic cruise in April 2021 which was supposed to have happened April 2020. I cancelled the April 2020 cruise and received a large FCC. Assuming that England will let me get off the ship in Southampton I would like to go. Unfortunately, there are stops in Canada, The Azores, Spain and France too. I suppose I can lift and shift that cruise just as soon as the schedule for the rest of 2022 comes out. Then there is my August 2021 Alaskan cruise which I think might still happen --- I promise not to get off the ship in Canada. I just don't need anymore large FCCs. Am I correct that CWC involves no cancellation/change fees and only my deposit amount becomes a FCC??

Big Ten Conference cancelled the fall football season. They may play a conference schedule in the Spring. What is this world coming to??? Looking forward to basketball season now ... Go Hawkeyes!

Thanks ...I guess it all depends on when cruising restarts. A January cruise and an April cruise needs to happen first.

Oops, meant to say Diamond level.

If everything works with 2 cruises before the Alaska cruise, we will be Diamond level by then. What will that get us?? There is a "golden" room on deck 4 but I don't know what it is for. I don't think the size of our suite will matter that much ... the larger balcony seems like it will be nice for sightseeing in Alaska.

I realize this thread is more about Oasis class but I would like to know what it is like on Quantum in a 1 BR GS. We will be on an Alaska cruise in August 2021 and we are suite rookies. We are on deck 12 near the aft elevators which that is important to me. The concierge club is on the same deck which seems convenient but I'm not sure what happens in there. Coastal Kitchen is just up 2 decks on deck 14. I'm not sure what else we need to check out.

We have already lifted and shifted a January 2021 cruise to January 2022. We retained the same pricing and yes, the final payment date moved ahead as well. The reason for the lift and shift was because of a good deal on another January 2021 cruise that we booked to replace the first one. So now, we need to decide by September 30th if we want to go and if it is safe to go on that cruise. We have only paid the deposit on this new cruise so the financial risk is not too great. In any case, the worst that will happen is that we will lift and shift this new cruise. If we do, that will result in a back to back cruise in January 2022. We have never done a back to back before so that will be something to look forward to. Please tell me this will all be behind us by January 2022 ... please!

I cancelled a trans Atlantic cruise to England back in late March. At the time, it was becoming clear that all my flights and hotels reservations were being disrupted but Royal hadn't cancelled the cruise yet. Royal handled my 100% FCC relatively quickly but I probably should have waited another week to allow Royal to cancel the cruise. My FCC has bounced around to future cruises but I finally parked it on a cruise in August 2021--- I should have waited before applying the FCC but live and learn I guess. In retrospect, the extra 25% would had been nice but a refund would have been better. My only hope is that Royal starts to cancel future cruises before the final payment date because I will have another decision coming on October 3rd. My airline tickets were another matter. Just yesterday, I received notice from my credit card company that they have resolved my dispute in my favor and the temporary credits have been made permanent. At least your experience with the airline was positive. A couple of hotel credits trickled in quickly so that was good. Now I need to go to work on my England rail passes that are still valid until January 2021 but it doesn't appear that I will have much use for those. I can only hope they are refundable or that the expiration date can be extended thru the end of 2021.

Yeah, that's what I do. I have a statistics degree and their numbers and calculations never cease to amaze me. I have pointed out obvious errors that would result in me paying more. They just insist the price is what it is.

Is the base price 20% off to begin with and then an additional 25% off or what??? That is my problem because I never know what base price they are referring to in order to calculate the percentage discount.

I have seen numbers like that too. I have never been able to understand how their percentage discounts are calculated because they never seem accurate to me. Same can be said for prices on the cruise planner. I swear they just put any percentage discount because they think nobody will do the math. I usually price a cruise online and then call in to get the actual price. Sometimes it is the same but usually not. Recently I called in to reprice a cruse based on a price I saw online and it was $400 less than the online price showed. I wasn't going to complain. The biggest mystery to me is that sometimes the cruise fare is the same but the taxes/fees are totally different. I really like it when the taxes/fees are $100 less because that price carries forward and always stays the same even if I reprice later on.

I had just turned 18 and there was a reason for enlisting. Suddenly, the whole world opened up to me. I am very grateful for the experience I had. I was just in Pennsylvania a couple years ago. It was to visit the site of the Battle of Gettysburg. I also visited the grave sites of my distant ancestors who immigrated from Ireland in the late 1700's. They were buried in Pennsylvania in a farmer's field but there used to be a church there. . It is amazing what you can see from google earth. The whole trip was in conjunction with visiting friends in Virginia. That visit was followed by a cruise from Cape Liberty to Bermuda. Read about the "cruise ship" Sea Venture that ship wrecked in Bermuda. It all ties into the Jamestown colony in Virginia. The cruise included a stop in Boston ... I'm a big Boston Celtic fan from the Larry Bird era. The current rendition of the Celtics are good too. I shouldn't forget the excursion to Lexington and Concord. Arguably, the best state fair is in Iowa. It is best when all the politicians come to Iowa before the Iowa Caucuses. If you like bicycle riding, Iowa has an annual ride across the state that attracts an estimated 20,000 bicycle riders from all over. It is affectionately called the Tour de Corn but the real name is RAGBRAI. There are some states that try to imitate. Sorry, no state fair or bicycle ride this year during the end of July thru August.

You can keep the Canadian air in the winter but I don't mind it in the summer. The opposite goes for the hot Gulf Coast air we get in the summer. When those two air masses collide the weather becomes interesting but prone to violence.

@Mrs. Thomas I traveled extensively in Europe while in the Air Force. I also managed to see a part of the Middle East. I have even been to East Germany and the Soviet Union ... two countries that technically don't even exist anymore. I experienced culture shock and reverse culture shock. My own back yard seems best to me now. If cruising isn't safe, I have only seen a few of our National Parks. I have at least driven through most of our States but the southern States pull me the most. The mountain States to my west are a close second. To be honest, I can say I have liked everywhere that I have been. I do miss cruising too.