PPPJJ-GCVAB

I would like to take a moment to wish everyone a very Happy and Healthy 2021!  May this year bring us all back to the sea...enjoying what we love the most with...family, friends, each other...celebrating good times, and CRUISING!!!   ?  ?️

I would like to take a moment to wish everyone a very Happy and Healthy 2021!  May this year bring us all back to the sea...enjoying what we love the most with...family, friends, each other...celebrating good times, and CRUISING!!!   ?  ?️

I concur with Hagar...takes several days for the "resolutions department" to manually apply FCC's.  Sometimes you even have to call more than once to be sure that the "back-end" staff are actually working on it!  It's strange that this huge corporation still has to get certain things done MANUALLY!!  Patience helps...but it will get done!

Interesting choice of words ?

Refunds of cruises is variable for me. 
In cases where I have a refundable deposit before final payment and I choose to cancel I have been getting refunds in 7 to 21 days.
Refunds of cruise planner purchases are back to pre-pandemic timeframes.
I had over 20 cruises booked with them going into this pandemic.   There have been enough WTF moments dealing with various cancellations that it has soured my opinion of the cruise line.  Around 75% of those 20 bookings cancelled gracefully.  I'm down to 4 cruises booked that are non-refundable and I'm hoping they eventually cancel so I go through the refund process as painful as that may be.   
Where I struggle with refunds is when Royal introduces shenanigans when cruises are cancelled.  I've had a couple of cruises where Royal is playing games.  In separate cases they have covertly changed refundable bookings to non-refundable and you only have 24 hours to catch when they do this or they refuse to switch it back.  Then the cruise is cancelled and they only allow FCC or change the options since it was not a refundable booking (which it was).
For two other cases where they cancelled the cruise and we requested the refund option they ignored that and proceed differently. 
One was issued as FCC despite requesting a refund.  Eventually this was resolved and a refund was issued 78 days later.
The other is pending resolution.  This time they chartered the ship for a 2022 cruise and they gave us three options.  The option for price protection was to a date that had no cabin availability for what we had originally booked.  How they thought this was equitable or doable remains a mystery.  We chose the refund option.  Following up several weeks later they claimed we were not eligible for a refund since we cancelled the cruise.  They chartered the ship and they cancelled the cruise.  After escalating they have stated they will refund our deposit in 45 days.  Time will tell.    
To be completely honest I've lost faith in Royal Caribbean.  I've cruised them a fair bit and up to this point they would always do the right thing when things went wrong due from everything like hurricanes or a crane fell on a ship. 
I get the company is struggling and navigating uncharted waters but that doesn't give them license to lie, cheat and steal.  All I want is honesty and fairness even if it takes months to do the right thing, the thing they say they will do but then they proceed in a different direction making false claims and refusing refunds that are clearly due.  
My personal approach right now is to book nothing more with Royal until the pandemic is clearly over and everything is back to normal.  Once bitten twice shy sort of thing.  
I like Royal in general but they've lost their way in this pandemic.  Once I see them getting back to the Royal I used to know I'll come back.

I had B2B Symphony cruises in Feb.  One was a casino comp and the other was a regular priced cruise.  @michelleis going to L&S the regular priced cruise to butt up against one I already have in Feb 2022 to give us a new B2B.  I called on the casino comp and they would not move it (price protect) so I just cancelled it for a cash refund.
It's so weird with the casino comps.  Sometimes they will allow you to move them forward and sometimes they won't.  Today they wouldn't.  I should have known that they were never going to let me cruise in a JS for $258 PP on Symphony !  It seems so short-sighted to me though... it seems that they would rather have me move my casino comp forward and keep my money than to deny me that opportunity and have to refund everything.  Whatever.  Too bad that I lost that great casino deal...there was $150 free play on that one, too !  Dang...

Hello.  Yes the FCC will carry to April 2022 (I am contemplating doing the same thing and spoke to RC staffer and that was confirmed).

Hello.  Yes the FCC will carry to April 2022 (I am contemplating doing the same thing and spoke to RC staffer and that was confirmed).

Yikes, a full year without cruising.  Who could have ever imagined !!!  ☹️

Me, too....with some onboard credit to compensate...

2.5 hour drive to get a Pumpkin Spice Latte?!?!? Now that's dedication!! ?
 
Seriously, though, glad you were able to make extra time yesterday so that today is a nice leisurely trip. May all the remaining steps along the way be equally smooth!

This is very exciting news !!  I think you're making the right decision.  My advice is.....don't wait any longer than you have to.  The price of our new build has already gone up $5K since we signed in Sept.  They simply cannot build them fast enough down here.  It's a balmy 75 degrees here today. My daughter (western MD) sent a video of a steady snow.  NO THANKS !!!  SOOOO glad to be down here where it's warm.

New update.
Decided that JAX was too close so we drove another hour and ended up in Palm Coast.  A very cute community close to Flagler Beach and north of Daytona.  This will leave just a short 2.5 hour drive in to PSL for tomorrow.  Our FL realtor will give us the key to the rental and then bright and early on Thursday we will unload the truck and return it to the local U Haul.  Things seem to be going frightfully  well.  I'm sure there is some surprise waiting for us somewhere....
For now though, all is well.  Last leg tomorrow !!!

Congrats...enjoy the adventure all the way until you step foot into your brand new, built just for you...HOME!!! ?

I have been waiting and watching for May 22 like a hawk! Seriously- checking non stop.     Just booked the Villa on the Symphony and can’t believe I got that room! And for an amazing deal.  I actually booked on line to make sure I didn’t lose the room and will call my TA later this morning.    We were supposed to be on harmony in a 2 bedroom ATS this past May - would have been first time star class. As long as the wait will be, we will have more space and can have more of our family join us!  Love all of the insights I’ve gotten from this forum.  ⚓️⚓️⚓️

Update:
Had the closing on our VA house this morning and headed south with a VERY full 26' U Haul truck !  I can't believe everything fit in there, but it did.  I was even able to fit a number of my favorite Hibiscus (or high biscuits, as I call them) in there.  YIIPPEE !!!
Florence, SC is about 1/3 of the way so that's where we are spending the night, tonite.  JAX will be the next stop tomorrow night and then on to Port St. Lucie on Thursday.
We were able to secure an adequate rental home for the next year.  As long as it's reasonably clean (and I am assured that it will be) I really don't care much about it.  It's just an interim place to sleep.  It's in one of the newer gated communities (The Cascades) so I'm sure we'll be very comfortable there until our house is ready (Sept/Oct 2021).
I have accepted the PT job for my old contract as an Independent Contractor.  I will not be doing any work on that contract until probably early Dec. as I have to get to the new house and get settled.  Looking forward to it, truly.  It will be nice to be back with the old team.
Anyway, on with the new adventure !  How exciting.
RELEASE THE KRAKKEN !!

I think the reality here is that there is virtually no way to completely keep the virus from getting on a ship. The important thing is the timely recognition of it’s presence through testing. Then the mitigation taken to isolate those who are infected and to stop the risk of spread. The Healthy Sail protocols plan for this eventuality by having on-going testing, designated isolation cabins, positive-pressure medical facilities, virus killing air scrubbers, and a robust sanitization protocol to prevent spread by surface contact. Also, by limiting passenger load to help with social distancing. And, of course, masks.
Sailing with the risk of Covid onboard is reasonable to me if I know an infection will likely not become an outbreak...and the risk of being held captive in my cabin is lessened by these common sense protocols and practiced reactions which quickly identify, isolate and treat patients while protecting the rest of the passengers and crew. Time will tell. Delaying it will do nothing except further hurt those who depend on the industry for their livelihoods.
 

that is the perfect answer, No one knows. I think we will find out when we find out. I would assume Matt will be on it as he has all the other news he picks up. Thanx again Matt, and who ever he gets his info from.

I  booked a cruise for next June and had been checking the Cruise Planner since I booked, with no real discounts.  I got in this week and saw pretty sizeable discounts on drink packages, internet, excursions, etc.

It has been my experience that the cruise planner "sales" don't really start until a little closer in than a year.  The prices on my cruise planner items for 1+ year out cruises (beverage package and dining packages) are still relatively high....but those for October 2021 and sooner are going up and down.  The notable exception to this "rule" was the Coco Beach Floating cabana "deal" for $1049 for a Jan 2022 Oasis sailing (I know...not much of a deal, really).
...and when they do start reducing the CP prices, I suggest that you completely ignore any % off advertising.  The percentages mean nothing.  Just look at the bottom line - the actual price that they are charging and go by that.
It is my guess that as soon as they announce a restart-sailing date, CP prices are going to jump up and stay high.  It's just a guess.  I have no inside information.  I would suggest that, if it is financially possible, that anyone who is seriously considering CP purchases, to purchase now and watch for price drops. I know it's a long time for Royal to be holding your money...but I think it's a good investment.  Of course, I could be completely wrong...I usually am.  ...in which case, you can always cancel and re-buy if the prices go down.  Last year's Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales were a disappointment.  Maybe they will be better this year.

Black Friday generally nets the best deal.  However, my advice is book it as soon as you are comfortable doing so.  Then monitor prices and get price adjustments as the price changes.  You will always get the "best deal" that way.  There is no guarantee that Black Friday will always be the best, and there is not guarantee that the price won't increase once sailings resume.  Best way is to lock it down.

Now for the big question,  Did a passenger/crew not follow the protocol or did the process not work?

We quite enjoyed Blue Lagoon.  It's a nice ferry ride over.  The beach itself is relaxing with loungers. There are a few float things you can use and you can also book the aqua park for a fee.  Lunch was fine...typical bbq from what I remember.  We didn't sign up for the dolphin part but we did walk over and watched for a bit.  It's pricey but was a nice day.

A bit of misinformation, I think.  You can definitely change ships and port of origin.  The thing that they seem to be a stickler on is that the itinerary must be "called" the same thing (eastern, southern, western) and must be the same number of days.  You cannot shift to a holiday cruise if your original booking was not a holiday cruise.  Good lulck

@Leroyr55This is the most important piece of advice anyone can give you when selecting a new ship to try.  
My thinking is that any cruise/ship is a great one as long as you do your research and set your expectations accordingly.