JasonOasis

Even though Newark is closer to Cape Liberty, Southwest does fly out of LaGuardia. If you haven't been to LGA in a while it is a completely new experience with the new terminals now open.

My first cruise with Royal was on Adventure of the Seas, after that cruise the next cruise I went on was Norwegian Epic. Some friends of mine here in Chicago are loyal NCL cruisers and I was out voted as to which cruise line to take so in 2010 I ended up on Epic (that is an ugly cruise ship at least from the outside). I took another Royal Caribbean cruise in 2011 with my sisters again on Adventure out voted again because Adventure was cheaper. However, my first experience with an Oasis Class cruise ship didn't happen until 2012 on Allure of the Seas. I will never forget being in the cab as we approach Port Everglades and seeing this beautifully designed ship sitting in port and being mesmerized. And once I stepped on board and saw the Royal Promenade, Boardwalk and Central Park for the first time I was blown away I couldn't believe this was a cruise ship and I was on it. That 2012 Allure cruise was also my husbands first cruise ever. We had met in early fall of 2011 he had never been on a cruise, wasn't interested in cruising he liked going to resorts in the Caribbean and staying there for 7 days. I made him take the cruise I was like I paid for both of us therefore you don't get a vote this isn't a democracy (and for some reason he decided to stay LOL). He couldn't even be bother to look at pictures he just wasn't interested in cruising because he loved his resorts. However his reaction when he saw Allure in port was no ****ing way!!!!! WHAT?!?!?!?! That is what we are getting on no ****ing way (priceless). Once he stepped onboard he was in utter disbelief like I was that this was in fact a cruise ship. The Boardwalk, the Aqua Theater and seeing a full size carousel on a cruise ship was like oh my God wow. The most memorable part of my first cruise on Allure was strolling through Central Park at night after dinner and sat down on one of the benches, the musician was playing softly we had a drink in hand and we were transported to another place, we forgot we were on a cruise it was a magical moment.

It is definitely wider that that Carnival Excel Class cruise ship behind it. Carnival can keep their Excel Class ship I have no problem waiting for something Iconic.

No I'm not making a decision for you I'm just giving you the information. Which is if you cancel your ticket and you purchased a non-refundable ticket American Airlines will charge you $200 dollars per ticket and issue you a voucher for the difference assuming your ticket was more than $200 dollars. However changing your date of travel to a later date is also an option and there are no change fees but you will have to pay the difference in the fare if the fare is more expensive than what you've already paid.

No change fee but you will have to pay the difference in the air fare if the fare is more expensive. If the air fare is cheaper they will issue you a travel credit for the difference. I agree it is confusing but that is why we have blogs, we can all help each other out.

Yes I am too.... I've held off booking any cruises between October and December of 2023. Normally I would have already had my end of year 2B2 7 night cruises lock in but I'm waiting for ICON!!!! I'm hoping the stars align for me and my husband and we can get on the inaugural cruise. We've never done an inaugural cruise for a brand new ship ever so I have my fingers crossed that the inaugural cruise won't happen during the week of Thanksgiving 2023. I would have to come up with a really good believable lie that could get by my mother as to why I'm not at Thanksgiving dinner. My mother (she had 5 children) is an expert lie detector I don't understand how she knows a lie from the truth even over the phone.

Depends on the type of ticket you booked. If you booked a fully refundable ticket then it is easy as pie just cancel the ticket before they closeout the flight. However if you have not purchased a fully refundable ticket American Airlines will charge you $200 dollars per ticket in cancellation fees. American like all other U.S. carriers dropped change fees which allows you to change your flight without incurring a change fee but they have re-instituted their pre-covid cancellation policy which charges a $200 dollar cancellation fee if you cancel your ticket outside of the 24 hour grace period the Federal Government gives all passengers. If it has been more than 24 hours since your purchase your ticket then you will loose $200 dollars per ticket that you cancel.

Both Walgreen and CVS have been charging for covid test for some time now depending on how you answer the questions on the screener. When asked are you taking this test for travel purposes, if you answer yes to that question they will charge you the full amount for the test. To date I've never paid for a covid test at CVS or Walgreen and my most recent test was when I got home to Chicago from Miami late last week after a 3 night weekend cruise July 1-4 followed by a few extra days staying with friends in Miami. I still have elderly parents one of which is immunocompromised so I alway test after I take vacation.

I have a feeling that it will live up to the hype. The last time I think Royal was this secretive about the launch of whole new class of ship was for Oasis and she certainly lived up to the hype. I'm confident Royal won't let us down and our patience will be rewarded in September!!!

Doubtful.... Remember cruise lines did not have to opt into the program but they all did so voluntarily because it is better for cruise lines to work with the CDC than work against them. Keep in mind although the rest of travel industry in the US has long put covid behind them the cruise industry in this country is still in a precarious situation in their relationship with the CDC. For lack of a better way to explain it cruise lines and the CDC are like frenemies and at the end of the day the CDC not the cruise lines still has the ace in the hole. It is doubtful that at this point in time any cruise line sailing out of the US would voluntarily opt out.

According to google maps from my house in Chicago to PortMiami if I were to drive it would take me 21 hours and 27 minutes. Your post peaked my interest seeing that I've never driven to Florida and I was hoping it would fall within the 18 hours you prescribed. However at over 21 hours I just can't see myself spending that amount of time behind the wheel of a car and it would be me driving because my husband is the worst driver I've ever met. I let him drive once on our way to Wisconsin Dells we didn't even make to past O'Hare before I made him get off the expressway so we could switch. I don't know how some people got a driver license.

There have been quite a few threads on this topic Matt has even posted great information on the main page of this blog advising people not to fly in the same day your cruise departs. I would implore you to read not only this thread but the many other threads on this very topic because all it takes is a lengthy delay or a cancellation and your cruise is over before it even begins.

You can fly on the zip-line 10 stories above the board walk, but no iFly on Oasis Class ships.

You are correct it is hard to sit down and talk to a representative at NextCruise Desk if you are a walk-in. What I do is make an appointment there is always an appointment book and representatives will always go with those who have an appointment first. If there are no-shows then they will go with walk-ins but the wait for walk-in tends to be long especially during the middle of the cruise.

Welcome to the Boards. I like to be back onboard at least an hour before departure. Normally the all aboard time is around 30 minutes before the ships scheduled departure time but I would advise you to not cut it that close. If you are exploring a port on your own the captain does not have to wait for you and over the past 13 years that I've been cruising I've seen more than a few people running down the pier as the ship pulls way.

I would say it depends on the current book onboard offer. If you already know the future cruise you want to take and your current cruise sets sail in the next week or two at most I would wait and see what offers they have onboard. This past January on Anthem Royal had a great offer for those who booked onboard and they were running an unbelievable sale, which is when we booked our December 10th, 8 night Harmony cruise. If you booked a Star or Sky suite they we're offering not only a reduced deposit but also up to $700 dollars in onboard credit per cabin. We booked our 8 night cruise onboard in a 2 bedroom Aqua Theater Suite it was the only Star suite left and the price including taxes and fees was $9300 dollars and my husband and I have the full $700 dollar the onboard credit. Weeks later at home we book a second cruise on Harmony in December, a 6 night cruise leaving December 18th of this year creating a b2b they had no Star suite available so we booked a Crown Loft. There are three problems and one mistake we make the mistake was we knew we were doing a b2b but decided not to book the b2b onboard. As a result of that mistake the first problem we have is the total cost for Crown Loft for a 6 night cruise was $8600 dollars (that sale Royal was running was over). Next problem we have no onboard credit for the 6 nighter because we booked on land. Lastly once we add on the deluxe beverage package and if we decided to add on the ultimate dinning package our 6 night cruise will actually cost more in a Sky Class suite than what our 8 night cruise costs us in Star Class suite all because we didn't book the 6 nighter while we were onboard Anthem when we booked the 8 night cruise. The lesson we learned is if you know what ship you want to sail on and a general timeframe for when you want to sail if the pricing onboard is within your budget book it and transfer it to your TA later. Don't wait to see if you will get a better price later because that strategy didn't work out for us.

I love CocoCay. Of the last 4 cruises that I've done since October of last year on Symphony, Anthem, Wonder and Freedom the only cruise that didn't stop at CocoCay was my 12 night Anthem cruise this past January. For now my next cruises aren't till December 2022, a b2b on Harmony and for now we are not stopping at CocoCay instead the cruise will stop at Labadee. I like Labadee but CocoCay is better in my opinion.

There is also no data collected pre-cruise. Just because an individual tests negative 2 days prior to boarding does not mean they don't have Covid when they board the ship. If a person develops Covid like symptoms or test positive (remember asymptomatic's) while onboard or after a cruise it is irresponsible to jump to the conclusion that the only place they could have gotten Covid is onboard the cruise ship. On our flight down to Miami from Chicago this past week for our weekend cruise 3 night cruise on Freedom I could count on 1 hand how many passengers onboard my 100% full flight were wearing masks and I don't even need all my fingers to count them. According to the CDC the incubation period where a person my have no symptoms at all is now up to 14 days and there is the possibility that an individual could still test negative during that up to 14 day incubation period. With an incubation that now can go up to 14 day it is nearly impossible to say 100% where an individual contracted Covid. The idea that every person who boards a cruise ship is negative for Covid is a fallacy. Look at Singapore when Royal was offering cruises to nowhere and all passengers had to present a negative Covid test. Yet Royal still had to contend with positive cases on multiple cruises (some cruises were cut short other canceled) even though none of those cruises at the time stopped at any ports of call and all passengers were presumed negative pre-cruise based on their negative test. Testing people after a cruise unfairly targets the cruise industry and would once again set the cruise industry up to take the brunt of blame for continued spread of Covid. I understand the need for requiring adults to be 100% vaccinated but pre-cruise Covid testing needs to go away and there is no reason whatsoever to test people post-cruise.

According to Cruisehive Norwegian was forced to cancel another cruise on Norwegian Sun. This time it was a 9 night Alaskan cruise it was to set sail on July 5th that was axed last minute as the vessel is still undergoing assessment with the US Coast Guard in Seattle. It has been a tough spring and summer for some Norwegian passengers, who've seen their Caribbean, Alaska and even European Cruises all canceled. I can't imagine what the people on the July 14th cruise are feeling, they have to be on pins and needles hoping and praying the ship is ready to set sail for their cruise which for now is still schedule to depart.

On Freedom this past weekend Playmakers was showing several baseball games, but in addition to baseball they were also showing tennis, cricket, football (we call it soccer in the US) and other sports. Even though there are a lot of screens in Playmakers they do not only show sports that happening in the US and there is no guarantee that Yankees vs Red Sox will be on any screen in the bar and unlike most sports bars on land the bartenders at Playmakers do not have access to remotes to change the channels on the screens . If the game is that important I would suggest as others have already suggested that you buy the internet package.

The picture that CrimsonCruiser posted are the same cups they had on my 3 day weekend cruise on Freedom. They look and feel cheap and no insulation. But I understand Royal has to cut cost where they can for now to deal with the debt they where forced to take on during the shut down and every little bit helps. You have to ask for the cups which is something something I don't mind because in my opinion it reduces waste. When I cruise I always but the drink package but I've never used the cups, my husband does and he will bring them home but even still in most cases they end up in the trash because he never uses them at home and I can't take the clutter. Having said that I do hope at some point Royal does go back to the other cups because some people really do enjoy them and collect them as souvenirs whereas these new cups will most certainly end up in the trash as there is nothing collectable about them.

I just got off Freedom of the Seas today (free cruise thanks to Casino Royal) this was both my husband and I first 3 night weekend cruise. While I agree it is a totally different crowd than the typical 7 night or 11 night cruise if we lived in Florida we would definitely do it again, we had a blast, the party just didn't stop at all. Luckily we are both off for a few more days but I can understand how these types of cruises may not be for everyone.

Multiple airlines fly nonstop to BCN. Next summer you will be able to fly nonstop to BCN from JFK, EWR, IAD, CLT, ATL, PHL, DFW, BOS, and ORD. There could be flights as well from SFO and LAX next summer but I'm not 100% positive about those flights resuming.

The Bartender pulled out a separate bottle from underneath the bar after being tipped with $20 dollars cash????? LMAO!!!!! There was no shows scheduled in the Aqua Theater at all??? According to the OP Royal didn't cancel the Aqua Theater shows they never even scheduled them. Whoever this person is you have admire their commitment to posting this trash every week to 10 days, the hit and runs keep getting more and more outlandish. At this point I read them only to laugh at the ridiculousness of the post.

I know no one wants to think about this especially at the beginning of summer but if you have a cruise booked this upcoming holiday season (Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years) please that SpeedNoodles advise. If you are flying you either need to leave 2 days before your cruise or if you can't leave 2 days in advance you must leave at least 1 day early but on the FIRST FLIGHT OUT. By now I'm sure everyone knows what industry I work in and I'm telling you this pilot and flight attendant shortage is not going to be fixed by the holidays. The flight attendant shortage should start to ease by late summer of 2023, as airlines are hiring flight attendants. However, flight attendant training can be up to 8 weeks long depending on the airline. Airlines don't do new hire training year around because the FAA requires all current flight attendants to go through recurrent training. The pilot shortage is going to last for a least another 3-4 years maybe even up to 5 years. To be a FAA licensed commercial pilot in the US is not easy or fast, it takes at least 3 years to go through all the training then on top of the training a new pilot must have at least 1500 hours of experience (most pilots gain this experience by becoming flight instructors). If In individual is extremely dedicated they can go from zero hours to the flight deck of a regional carrier in 3 years but the norm for most people is around 4 or 5 years. Last year was a good year for pilot schools, but thus far 2022 has been a great year for pilot schools as more people look to become pilots and most airlines have dropped the bachelor degree requirement. In my opinion the pilot shortage probably will not ease up until 2024 unless Congress raises the mandatory retirement age to 67, which for now seems highly unlikely. If you have a cruise planned during busy holiday travel periods either this year, or next year or if you are looking to book a cruise this year or next year during holiday travel periods and need to fly to the port it would be in your best interest to fly out 2 days in advance, because we (the industry) don't have the staffing and there is no easy way out of this mess for the airlines.