fabfashionmama

I booked my March cruise in September. I called a little over a week ago for a price check. Cruise room dropped $916, but it was after final payment, so I got it for OBC.

You can always call and reprice a cruise. The pre-covid policy was you can do it up until final payment. The best price policy just allows you to do it well into final payment and get OBC.

When I booked a cruise onboard for 2023 they told me it does apply.

I received an email directly from Royal announcing the mask protocol change for my New Years Eve cruise. It wasn't hidden and I didn't have to go looking for it. I never had any concern about transparency because I know change (good and bad) during these difficult times is inevitable and may be effective immediately. I expect it, look for it, and am ready to deal with it. If I wasn't, I would find something else to do until things settle...but everything seems to be affected right now. Why should I expect cruising to be different...
I'm on the Anthem now in the middle of a 12 night cruise...6 nights to go. There has been no change to the current masking policy. I'm hoping it stays that way. If it changes...I change. Whatever I have to do to keep cruising!

Royal has cruises departing basically every day.  There is no way to announce new immediate effect policy without impacting some people close in.  It seems to me that they did a great job getting you set up pretty well for the relatively small policy change. 

I think this is all a bit overblown. All they are doing is adding a few extra rooms where you have to wear your mask INDOORS. One is in a dark theatre, the other is in a smoky casino.  So avoid the casino and sneak a few deep breaths with your mask down while people are watching the show. 
When your job changes the rules, do you also throw a fit? Probably not if you want to keep your job. This is no different. 
I think Royal has been the most understanding and accommodating organization in regards to their customers needs and wants...giving back money, giving you incentives to stay. I mean come on. 
Change is going to happen!! (it's always Last Minute to someone)
And if there is a medical reason you or your loved one can't wear a mask all the time, then get a medical exception. 
Much ado about nothing. 🙄

@BrianB, I agree completely with your assessment. For some, I think it is this last minute shift, in a situation we are all weary of, no matter what our level of risk tolerance is.  We personally chose to sail under the previous guidelines and had a truly wonderful cruise, despite the “put on/take off/etc” of the masks indoors.  We personally believe masks are theatre for the most part if they aren’t N95s, but the rules are the rules and we chose to sail, which means to us choosing to observe the guidelines. 🙂  I personally have a lack of tolerance for people who know the rules, choose to go, and choose to break those rules, as if they don’t care that the cruise lines will suffer for their childish behavior.
IF the new guidelines require wearing/removing during meals and drinks in addition to theaters, etc, we would be sad and postpone cruising for a bit if we had one coming up soon.  My husband works in food manufacturing, 12.5 hour shifts, in a mask. For him, that wouldn’t be a vacation. So, for us, we would choose to wait. For others, it won’t bother them, and they would choose to sail. As you and I both know, both are personal decisions, and neither is wrong.  So many have no tolerance for choices different from their own, which leads to the bickering on social media. 
I think it’s great that RCI is sailing again, and they allow cancellations for situations like this. 🙂 Not many vacations you can say the same for.
Hopefully the current drama over Omicron will prove to be wrong, and Omicron will be one more step toward exiting a pandemic. Hopefully, THIS will become COVID’s last hurrah. (Wouldn’t that be great?) 

There’s a very old joke about a prostitute that I won’t repeat here.  But the bottom line is this was a HUGE problem until Royal threw enough money at you?  So how big was the problem really?

Jesus. This whole thread is ridiculous. When it comes down to it, we are talking about the option of going on a vacation. A lot of people in the world don’t even get the opportunity to do that. I am about to go on my first cruise on Sunday post COVID.  I’ll sleep with a mask on if they want me to at this point. 

My wife and I have a cruise booked with our 3-year-old for May. I'm hoping he's eligible and fully vaxxed by then.
My wife has a PhD in biochemistry and has spent her career studying infectious diseases. I've spent the pandemic working in a hospital. We have our reasons. Many reasons. Science being the #1 reason. Same reasons he's been given all his other vaccinations.

Yes, lets hope this will all be behind us by then! Back-to-back cruises sound like a fun plan to me ?
We were so looking forward to this cruise in January 2021, but with all that is going on, I don’t think cruising in January (if it’s a go) will be enjoyable. Still have a couple months to see how things will evolve. 

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!

Your final payment gets moved to October 2021.  We did the L&S for our October 2020 cruise to October 2021 and our final payment was moved to July 2021.