em.down.the.rabbit.hole

Well I'm on my last full day onboard of Anthem OTS and about to go and get tested onboard for our back2back sailing next week...and guest services rang...their land based team informed them that unvaccinated kids cannot do back2back sailings!!!  The land based team told crew that they had already communicated this policy to us.  They hadn't and all onboard with kids doing a back2back were informed this morning that they are being kicked off tomorrow!  I booked the back2back directly with RCL ... appealing behaviour!
But apparently I can take the kids back home, where the covid rate has sky rocketed, let the kids run a higher risk of picking up the virus, and then return a week later, do a PCR test on all passengers and if negative, reboard the ship with the same unvaccinated kids.  But I'm not allowed to get off tomorrow, pop down to the testing centre near the port, take a same day pcr test, and reboard the ship later on in the day as a new passenger.  But turning up next week and doing the same is fine.  BONKERS !!!
We thought we had 2 weeks onboard so had spread out all the activities and were due to do certain activities/shows next week.  If we had known beforehand then we would have at least been able to pack everything into one week.  As it is I'm only being offered refund on next week's cruise and no compensation for this week's cruise!  Very poor behaviour so far ... all I get onboard is "we're so sorry" ...

Good luck .. me and my TA have been showing them that they owe us $325, even the numbers they gave us show they owe us but they will not budge. They even went so far to try and refund me $200 back to My cc and removed it from another booking. This is fraud and they need to be held accountable. I am paying off my cruise except for $325 and telling them I am considering it Paid in Full ... they can figure it out or I might get a lawyer or advocate involved. My TA, Amex, is beside themselves at how much RC accounting system is a load of crap.

well 4 is better than 3.  ;).
Sounds like it pretty straight forward then.....will be nice to stop buying drink package ?

You activated disco mode

You Only Live Once

what is YOLO...sorry don't know this acronym....

YOLO and double points moved up our timeframe to get to Diamond Plus by 5 years

From my understanding Royal doesn't...I keep track on a very long list in a spreadsheet (even tracking expected amounts on FCC and OBC being issued, although best of luck if they get these wrong (especially OBC) as there standard response is tough and Royal has no discernable escalation processes in place so customers are therefore abandoned at this point by Royal).  I'm owed over $500 in mistakes on OBC and no hope in getting these and no escalation route to resolve it either.
Also, keep a record of any price drops as the jiggery pokery that they do to put this through on the invoices is sometimes questionable.  Always keep screenshots of payments made (ensuring the amount is shown on screen and that payment was made successfully, even if 2 screenshots are taken).  Especially if applying FCC as Royal love to tell you that this figure includes cruise planner items!  And with the potential for price drop invoices being issued after final payment and the balance then becoming OBC - good luck!
I think Royal needs to issue a blanket $1000+ bonus to every TA and directly booked customer to compensate for all their hard work navigating this cumbersome process, working out and tracking inaccuracies on Royals behalf!  I say bonus but really it's compensation to help shore up loyalty for the badly managed mistakes.

From my understanding Royal doesn't...I keep track on a very long list in a spreadsheet (even tracking expected amounts on FCC and OBC being issued, although best of luck if they get these wrong (especially OBC) as there standard response is tough and Royal has no discernable escalation processes in place so customers are therefore abandoned at this point by Royal).  I'm owed over $500 in mistakes on OBC and no hope in getting these and no escalation route to resolve it either.
Also, keep a record of any price drops as the jiggery pokery that they do to put this through on the invoices is sometimes questionable.  Always keep screenshots of payments made (ensuring the amount is shown on screen and that payment was made successfully, even if 2 screenshots are taken).  Especially if applying FCC as Royal love to tell you that this figure includes cruise planner items!  And with the potential for price drop invoices being issued after final payment and the balance then becoming OBC - good luck!
I think Royal needs to issue a blanket $1000+ bonus to every TA and directly booked customer to compensate for all their hard work navigating this cumbersome process, working out and tracking inaccuracies on Royals behalf!  I say bonus but really it's compensation to help shore up loyalty for the badly managed mistakes.

Those of us with skills to set up spreadsheets and generate PDFs would be able to keep track of our transactions fairly easily.  But what about those who just want to see everything in a bill or a statement (mailed or paperless).  Everyone (who so desires) should be able to go to their account on the Royal website and see ALL of their transactions.
As it is, if you cancel three beverage packages on three sailings, you will get three separate emails about your refunds.  Speaking of emails, am I the only one who finds their emails not to be "reader-friendly".  
Pardon me, I'm grumpy ... I haven't been on a cruise since November 2019

From my understanding Royal doesn't...I keep track on a very long list in a spreadsheet (even tracking expected amounts on FCC and OBC being issued, although best of luck if they get these wrong (especially OBC) as there standard response is tough and Royal has no discernable escalation processes in place so customers are therefore abandoned at this point by Royal).  I'm owed over $500 in mistakes on OBC and no hope in getting these and no escalation route to resolve it either.
Also, keep a record of any price drops as the jiggery pokery that they do to put this through on the invoices is sometimes questionable.  Always keep screenshots of payments made (ensuring the amount is shown on screen and that payment was made successfully, even if 2 screenshots are taken).  Especially if applying FCC as Royal love to tell you that this figure includes cruise planner items!  And with the potential for price drop invoices being issued after final payment and the balance then becoming OBC - good luck!
I think Royal needs to issue a blanket $1000+ bonus to every TA and directly booked customer to compensate for all their hard work navigating this cumbersome process, working out and tracking inaccuracies on Royals behalf!  I say bonus but really it's compensation to help shore up loyalty for the badly managed mistakes.

From my understanding Royal doesn't...I keep track on a very long list in a spreadsheet (even tracking expected amounts on FCC and OBC being issued, although best of luck if they get these wrong (especially OBC) as there standard response is tough and Royal has no discernable escalation processes in place so customers are therefore abandoned at this point by Royal).  I'm owed over $500 in mistakes on OBC and no hope in getting these and no escalation route to resolve it either.
Also, keep a record of any price drops as the jiggery pokery that they do to put this through on the invoices is sometimes questionable.  Always keep screenshots of payments made (ensuring the amount is shown on screen and that payment was made successfully, even if 2 screenshots are taken).  Especially if applying FCC as Royal love to tell you that this figure includes cruise planner items!  And with the potential for price drop invoices being issued after final payment and the balance then becoming OBC - good luck!
I think Royal needs to issue a blanket $1000+ bonus to every TA and directly booked customer to compensate for all their hard work navigating this cumbersome process, working out and tracking inaccuracies on Royals behalf!  I say bonus but really it's compensation to help shore up loyalty for the badly managed mistakes.

From my understanding Royal doesn't...I keep track on a very long list in a spreadsheet (even tracking expected amounts on FCC and OBC being issued, although best of luck if they get these wrong (especially OBC) as there standard response is tough and Royal has no discernable escalation processes in place so customers are therefore abandoned at this point by Royal).  I'm owed over $500 in mistakes on OBC and no hope in getting these and no escalation route to resolve it either.
Also, keep a record of any price drops as the jiggery pokery that they do to put this through on the invoices is sometimes questionable.  Always keep screenshots of payments made (ensuring the amount is shown on screen and that payment was made successfully, even if 2 screenshots are taken).  Especially if applying FCC as Royal love to tell you that this figure includes cruise planner items!  And with the potential for price drop invoices being issued after final payment and the balance then becoming OBC - good luck!
I think Royal needs to issue a blanket $1000+ bonus to every TA and directly booked customer to compensate for all their hard work navigating this cumbersome process, working out and tracking inaccuracies on Royals behalf!  I say bonus but really it's compensation to help shore up loyalty for the badly managed mistakes.

@em.down.the.rabbit.hole. Going to Cyprus from Copenhagen we went with Lufthansa via Frankfurt. I will say it was very different as everything else. Long queues everywhere because they have to check coronapass and cyprus flightpass for all pasangers. One really have to be patient travelling these days ?. About the ship yesterday we went to Izumi (early) and it was all empty so we had basically 4 waiters around us. The food was fantastic as always. With only 520 onboard the casino was ofcause emptier than normal. Every second slot machine is turned off for social distancing. Again, a different experience ?. For me its was ok as I dont smoke. Probably the cleanest air ever in a casino ?.

Do let me know what it's like pls ... I'm doing this cruise in 48 days.
Did you fly out on one of the private charter flights?  I'm on one from Manchester and a little shaky about flying in on the same day of sailing.  How did you find it?
Have a fab cruise and enjoy all the yummy food, sun ?, and fun.

Finally onboard RC again ? Just left⁹ Limassol 15 mins ago. As Matt told all ships sail with low capacity. Jewel this week sail with only 520 guest (normaly aprox.2800). So yes its very different but I think it will be a unique experience with a very high level of service. 3 crew per 1 guest. 

But is that only because of the Conditional Sailing Order, which expires Oct 31st, or does that go beyond that date?
If this rule ends on Nov 1st, then it won't be an issue for Anthem.  They already cancelled the Anthem cruise out of the US that started before that date.
 

I would not trust this promise at ALL.  I have never EVER known of a cruise planner purchase being transferred to another cruise.

When Royal gets things right, they really get them right, but clearly when they get them wrong, they get them really wrong.  I know my sympathy isn't much, but for whatever it's worth, you have it.

Hurricane dorien in 2019 saw the Allure extend from a 7 night cruise to 11 nights.  During this time RCI cancelled our last port because it was the Bahamas (in the path of the Hurricane) and added 2 new ports (Honduras & Cozumel).  Most of the Americans onboard jumped ship at the 1st available opportunity whilst us brits lapped up the extra days inboard.  Everything was comped - the extra days, ports etc... whatever drinks/Internet/dining packages we had were just extended free of charge.
I would imagine if you needed laundry doing then you may just need to ask.
On Allure (as it hid behind Cuba waiting for the florida ports to re-open) they started to offer the remaining nights for the next cruise at ridiculously knocked down prices (royal suites for mere hundreds of dollars).
Oh, and we got 4 extra crown and anchor points without having to ask ... happened automatically.

Hurricane dorien in 2019 saw the Allure extend from a 7 night cruise to 11 nights.  During this time RCI cancelled our last port because it was the Bahamas (in the path of the Hurricane) and added 2 new ports (Honduras & Cozumel).  Most of the Americans onboard jumped ship at the 1st available opportunity whilst us brits lapped up the extra days inboard.  Everything was comped - the extra days, ports etc... whatever drinks/Internet/dining packages we had were just extended free of charge.
I would imagine if you needed laundry doing then you may just need to ask.
On Allure (as it hid behind Cuba waiting for the florida ports to re-open) they started to offer the remaining nights for the next cruise at ridiculously knocked down prices (royal suites for mere hundreds of dollars).
Oh, and we got 4 extra crown and anchor points without having to ask ... happened automatically.

Hurricane dorien in 2019 saw the Allure extend from a 7 night cruise to 11 nights.  During this time RCI cancelled our last port because it was the Bahamas (in the path of the Hurricane) and added 2 new ports (Honduras & Cozumel).  Most of the Americans onboard jumped ship at the 1st available opportunity whilst us brits lapped up the extra days inboard.  Everything was comped - the extra days, ports etc... whatever drinks/Internet/dining packages we had were just extended free of charge.
I would imagine if you needed laundry doing then you may just need to ask.
On Allure (as it hid behind Cuba waiting for the florida ports to re-open) they started to offer the remaining nights for the next cruise at ridiculously knocked down prices (royal suites for mere hundreds of dollars).
Oh, and we got 4 extra crown and anchor points without having to ask ... happened automatically.

Hurricane dorien in 2019 saw the Allure extend from a 7 night cruise to 11 nights.  During this time RCI cancelled our last port because it was the Bahamas (in the path of the Hurricane) and added 2 new ports (Honduras & Cozumel).  Most of the Americans onboard jumped ship at the 1st available opportunity whilst us brits lapped up the extra days inboard.  Everything was comped - the extra days, ports etc... whatever drinks/Internet/dining packages we had were just extended free of charge.
I would imagine if you needed laundry doing then you may just need to ask.
On Allure (as it hid behind Cuba waiting for the florida ports to re-open) they started to offer the remaining nights for the next cruise at ridiculously knocked down prices (royal suites for mere hundreds of dollars).
Oh, and we got 4 extra crown and anchor points without having to ask ... happened automatically.

Hurricane dorien in 2019 saw the Allure extend from a 7 night cruise to 11 nights.  During this time RCI cancelled our last port because it was the Bahamas (in the path of the Hurricane) and added 2 new ports (Honduras & Cozumel).  Most of the Americans onboard jumped ship at the 1st available opportunity whilst us brits lapped up the extra days inboard.  Everything was comped - the extra days, ports etc... whatever drinks/Internet/dining packages we had were just extended free of charge.
I would imagine if you needed laundry doing then you may just need to ask.
On Allure (as it hid behind Cuba waiting for the florida ports to re-open) they started to offer the remaining nights for the next cruise at ridiculously knocked down prices (royal suites for mere hundreds of dollars).
Oh, and we got 4 extra crown and anchor points without having to ask ... happened automatically.