JasonOasis

Australia gets shut out again, still no Oasis Class... It looks like Allure will do 3 and 4 night short cruises out of Port Canaveral for the fall/winter 2023/2024 Northern Hemisphere season.

I agree I think Oasis Class ships beat Quantum Class ships any day of the week. I know Quantum Class ships were built to cruise through all 4 seasons but I love the openness that you feel on Oasis Class ships whereas Quantum Class ships feel more closed off.

Exactly what I'm thinking another hit and run, probably the same person who did several hit and runs last week.

I was watching PTZtv today Sunday March 6th looking at the Port Everglades webcam and watch Celebrity Edge back out of their berth then stop and afterwards they ship without turning moved forward and pulled back into a berth. I was wonder if anyone had any information on what was going on? It isn't a normal sight to see a depart then stop and then return to her berth.

I like what you did there Red Hot followed by Virgin Voyages Resilient Lady. I don't think Icon is going to Australia right out of the gate. I think there may be a better chance of an Oasis Class ship (perhaps Allure) arriving in Australia in late 2023 for the 2023/2024 Australian spring/summer season.

Most reps are still working from home. I called Royal 3 days ago the rep answered and apologized continually for their dog barking in the background. I've had calls drop or fade in and out while on the phone with Royal reps it just depends on the internet connection they are using. My job has transitioned to a hybrid system there are days I work from home and there are days I'm in the office but when I work from home all my calls are made via internet connection and the call quality at times does vary.

You are leaving out a lot of details here, because there is no policy that grants passengers a full 100% refund if they test positive once onboard. If a passenger/s test positive while onboard Royal will cover all onboard medical cost related to treatment and if required any land based required quarantine also if required they will fly you home using private not public means of travel. How long was the cruise? Was a test administered onboard the cruise or did they feel like they perhaps had COVID because of symptoms they were having? At what point in time during the cruise did they test positive? Welcome to the blog I'm sorry you had this experience but the policy you are talking about is for passengers who test positive before boarding the cruise then Royal will provide a full 100% refund.

I don't think that will happen before June of 2022. I think one of the reasons cruise lines operating in this country institute vaccine requirements was to assure Caribbean nations and Latin America that they would not make their COVID situation worst by having large numbers of unvaccinated individuals come off a ship onto their shores. Look at how cruise ships were turned away from some port at the height of Omicron and Grand Cayman still hasn't reopened their ports to cruise ships the new reopening date is now set for March 21st. These islands in the Caribbean have limited resources (hospital space) and they can't afford to be overrun with COVID. In a most recent survey that came out 4 days ago most of the Caribbean and Latin America have not reach 40% vaccination rate. Grand Cayman which is still closed report just last week that 90% of their population is now fully vaccinated (they are the exception in the Caribbean) yet they remain closed to cruise ships. Many of the Caribbean islands and Latin America don't have the infrastructure necessary to store large quantities of vaccine and most of the vaccines that have been created worldwide require extremely cold storage, so they are not ordering large quantities of vaccine because it would only be wasted. There is also vaccine hesitancy in a lot of these countries among other reason why vaccination rates are so low in the Caribbean and Latin America. I said all of that to say this I think the vaccination requirement will remain in place until more countries in the regions mention see higher vaccination rates.

You now are looking into other cruise lines because you were not allowed to board before first time cruisers who actually purchased a suite. No disrespect but I don't know if I'm buying what you are trying to sell us. I'm diamond plus with Royal and the perks that come with diamond plus status far outweigh not being able to board first if I'm not staying in a suite.

Where there taxis actually waiting outside terminal A this morning or did you have to wait for taxis to show up? I'm asking because I just want to see if taxi's service is getting back to normal because in November when I disembarked Symphony as well around the same time you did there were no taxis waiting at all outside terminal A. We still made out early morning flight but there was a bit of anxiety when we saw a line for taxis and no taxis in sight at all.

If on the last night of the cruise your bill is $0 dollars and you still have an OBC remaining go to the casino and transfer the remaining OBC to a slot machine and cash it out. Don't feel like you have to spend all $916 dollars during the cruise, you can get your money back in the form of cold hard cash by going to the casino. On our upcoming Harmony cruise which isn't until December 2022 we already have a $700 dollar OBC. I'm going to hold off on booking any shore excursions until we are onboard but whatever remains of the OBC on the last night of the cruise I'm cashing it out in the casino. Never disembark the ship on disembarkation day and leave unused OBC because more than likely once they close out the cruise your OBC is gone and Royal probably keeps the money.

Navigator of the Seas is an awesome ship, she was amplified recently taking her from great to awesome. Even though Navigator isn't the biggest or newest ship Royal has still managed to pack a ton of fun things to do into the ship. There is literally something for everyone to do an enjoy on Navigator. On days when you are at sea the cruise compass if filled it all sorts of activities taking place around the ship, however when the ship is in port there are less onboard activities as there are less people onboard but there are still things to do onboard. And yes you can stay onboard the ship in any and/or every port of call. If you want to go up to the pool deck soak up some sun and enjoy some bar drinks on a day when the ship is in port you most certainly can. The spa is also open on port day and there are other things you can do onboard while the ship is in port. As far as show are concerned there are all sorts of shows some take place in the theater, others take place in Studio B (the onboard ice skating rink which you can also use when cast members are not using it for rehearsal), late night comedy shows, live music, dancing the night away at the club. There is just as much fun going on at night onboard as there is during the day. You have chosen a awesome ship and a great cruise for your first cruise, have fun and enjoy yourself.

I've always wanted to do a Panama Canal cruise I just wished there was a slightly larger ship in Royal's fleet capable of sailing through the canal. My husband wants to do a 2023 or 2024 Panama Canal cruise but he doesn't like cruising on small ships and he has made it clear that Voyager Class is the smallest class of RC ship that he will get on (he loves all the activities the larger ships offer). Since he leaves vacation planning to me that may mean we might have to book with NCL because it does look like Norwegian Joy and Norwegian Gem both of which I think are slightly larger than Rhapsody will sail through the Panama Canal. I think I can trick him into getting on a Radiance Class ship (I don't think he knows the difference between Radiance Class and Voyager Class) but every time he sees a Vision Class ship he makes sure to tell me to never book a cruise on one of those ships because I will be sailing alone.

They are doing it to keep places like Windjammers from experiencing overcrowding especially since Windjammers stall has around 40%-50% of all tables blocked off for social distancing. Royal will probably resume charging as they relax social distancing and open up more tables especially in Windjammers.

Anime is definitely a bigger deal in Asia than in the US and the pictures of the entrance to the Ultimate Family Suite scream anime. I think all of that was done before the ship left Chantiers for Marseille, or if it was done in Marseille then the train was too far down the track for Royal to reverse course on the fit and finish.

I was on the January 31st Anthem 11 night sailing and I agree with some of what Patchy stated. I thought most of the entertainment was good but I did note in another thread that they did tone down Spectra's Cabaret. The dinning experience at Chops was by far the worst I've ever had on any cruise ship from the food to the service it was absolutely terrible. If you are in the solarium and you end up with a chair that has no padding Patchy is 100% correct that metal bar is right on your rear end because the chairs are so saggy. I was able to find 1 bar tender who made strong drinks, every other bar and bar tender the drinks were absolutely weak but I over looked it because I had the DBP. There were other issues that arose but one thing I noticed with Anthem this time around was most of the crew were not from the Caribbean or Europe like they've been on many of our past cruises. They also were not as friendly with the guest as what I'm use to experiencing on a Royal Caribbean cruise, I got the sense that most of the non-officer crew members were new to Royal Caribbean and they were still learning what Royal Caribbean and their guest expect and perhaps there may have been some cultural divides there as well. I included all of this in my post cruise survey and I hope Royal takes those survey's seriously and fixes whatever is going on on Anthem because it is clear they need to improve some things on Anthem. Even still I enjoyed my 11 night cruise to the Caribbean and even ask the captain to turn the ship around because it beats staying in cold dreary Chicago any day.

The price isn't locked in simply because the item is in your cart. If you see a price you believe to be a deal purchase it and if the price goes lower you can cancel the purchase and re-purchase it at the lower rate. But putting an item in your cart and leaving it there does nothing because the system will automatically reprice all un-purchased items in your cart once a particular sale ends. I've learned that lesson the hard way as well but in most cases I've gotten lucky and was able to catch another sale. Now days when I see something in the cruise planner that I know I'm going to buy once a see I price I like I buy it and then I will continue to reprice it later as the cruise get closer. I no longer put things in my cart and leave them because that does not lock in the price at all.

That's me I''m so over packing suits to wear on cruises, when I'm on vacation I don't want to wear a suit I wear one to work everyday when I'm not working from home. On cruises I pack some nice jeans and button down shirts and of course fancy shoes to wear to dinner every night. I think I stopped wearing suits on cruises in 2017, I get some people love the formality of formal night and I did enjoy it for quite some time. I took my first cruise ever in 2008 but by 2017 I was over it, no more wearing 2 piece suits on cruises for me.

Do you happen to know what is the highest capacity any Royal Caribbean ship is currently sailing at? I know my Symphony Cruise sailed somewhere near 60% and that was before Omicron and our Anthem cruise set sail at 34% capacity according to the cruise director. Are there any ships sailing now higher than 60% capacity? The reason I'm asking is heading into spring and summer as Royal increases capacity could that increase capacity result in them employing a Carnival style lottery system to insure they hit 95% vaccination rate

Royal had some great deals on Harmony of the Seas December 10th sailings we booked our first ever Star Class suite Aqua Theater 2BR Suite for $9534 dollars total. While on the Anthem we booked an Aqua Theater 1BR suite at the next cruise desk at $7,172 dollars they didn't have any Star Class suites available. This week an Aqua Theater 2BR suite came available and since we normally book the DBP and the UDP at the new higher prices for the DBP it was just worth it to upgrade to Star Class and get the the Star Class treatment where the DBP and UPD are already included. I'll admit the suite is probably to big for just my husband and I, I think it can sleep up to 6 or 8 people but at that price there was no way I was passing up the deal especially seeing normally Star Class suites are so expensive we would never be able to afford one. Full disclosure that is the non-refundable fare as the fully refundable fare was over $20,000 dollars total. No way in the Lords name am I paying $20,000+ dollars for am 8 night cruise. However I have enough experience as a cruiser that I did get the insurance. LOL

I assumed screening passengers was the same thing as testing passengers perhaps that is my mistake. How else can you screen for COVID-19 except by have the person take a test? Either way I don't think the CDC would look to favorably on cruise lines dropping the pre-test requirement any time soon whether it is mandatory or voluntary. I think as long as the CDC classifies COVID-19 a pandemic cruise lines have to continue to walk a tight rope because the CDC and Fauci would like nothing more than for the industry to give them a reason to shut them down again. Most Americans might be ready to classify COVID-19 as endemic but so far there has been no indication that the CDC is even willing to entertain the idea of moving from pandemic to endemic.

I don't think the pre-cruise test will go away before summer and if I'm really to be honest I don't see it going away before 2023. The CDC isn't ready to give up control and believe it or not cruise lines in the US are still walking a very tight rope with the CDC hovering over their shoulder, so it might take a few more months before that test goes away. I think there is a far better chance of the CDC and Biden Administration dropping the pre-arrival test for vaccinated international arriving passengers coming to the US first before they even consider dropping the pre-departure test for cruises.

According to Royal ever since 6-12 year olds could get vaccinated their vaccination rate among passengers has been hovering between 95% - 98% per sailing and the order excludes children who are not yet eligible for a vaccine. Now that is good news because it means children who are not yet eligible do not count against your 95% as they can't get vaccinated. According to the article on the main page of this site this is one of the reasons why Royal opted into the CDC program because they already are exceeding the requirement the CDC has in place for cruise lines that opt into the program. The biggest benefit I can see as a result of opting in is masks become optional while indoors for all vaccinated guest, make are expected (not sure if that means mandated) for unvaccinated guest and it would appear as though children would only have to wear a mask while attending Adventure Ocean youth programs.

Your first cruise on Oasis of the Seas you are going to have a so much fun while onboard, soak it up and enjoy every minute of it, because you blink and the cruise is over. Great choice for your first cruise and enjoy, enjoy, enjoy yourself. As far as the DBP there are some drinks that are not included but you will only be charged the difference but for the most part depending on what you drink you should not have to worry about being charged for drinks while onboard.

I agree on the Anthem extra firm, as much as I didn't want to get off the ship when our cruise ended I don't think I could take much more of their extra rock hard mattress and we even had an extra mattress topper put on the bed on top of the one the already had, but that mattress would budge one bit. It felt good to get home and sleep on our Tempur-pedic. Firm is okay but rock hard firm is ridiculous.