Reigert2008

It’ll be interesting to see how this type of thing plays out. It looks like Disney is having some “issues” with the Star Wars Galactic Cruiser experience, which is essentially a land based cruise.

Just noticed this on a Cruise Compass from last week.

on the Oasis last week they had the self serve "spigot" in the Cafe promenade.  Would I use it? Not on your life, since i witnessed someone refilling thier "nestle" water bottle with thier bottle firmly touching the spigot.  

I would just ask for a glass of water from one of the bars or restaurants.  It's a shame that people cannot follow the rules.  At some point Royal will probably remove the self serve stations for many things if people can't act appropriately.  

1 hour ago, AdvanceTripper said:

Hi all - I'm sure this has been answered somewhere, but I cannot find the thread and I'm a noob...so please have patience. 

I have a 16 year old transgender (M/F) traveling with us on Allure in July. She is very sensitive about her new name and not using the dead one. While the reservation is booked in her dead name, can we have the SeaPass name changed? 

For context, her driver's license will have the dead name, but list gender as F. So does the passport. (that's a name change-in-process government waiting period). Plus, she presents as female.

I think in this case you will need to reach our to Royal or your travel agent.  They will best be able to get you the correct information and ensure you have any documentation that may be needed to facilitate things.  Good Luck!

The wife and i were just talking about this.  We just got off Oasis 2 days ago and have our next one in about 9 months and we feel that we're just "hanging out" waiting for our next cruise.  We do have a couple of non-cruise trips along the way for business and leisure, but we really just want to be back at sea.  We've done 3 cruises since August and it has been amazing.

Personally, I would not take anything other than bottled water or "powerade" off the ship.  Rules constantly change it's not worth the risk that suddenly bananas are a prohibited item. Even a "full day" is not more than about 8 hours, so i'd think if you eat a good breakfast on the ship you'd be able to make it

5 hours ago, Patchy said:

So essentially we would stay on the ship for the entire 7-day sailing except for CocoCay (which we LOVE).

I’m not sure why you would stay on the ship. We’ve been to the same ports many times and always find something neat to check out. We don’t typically do excursions so we just wander on our own and have never been disappointed.

29 minutes ago, cookie10* said:

Ok I know it's been a while since I have checked in for a cruise, but we are less than 90 days, and it states that check-in is unavailable?? What am I missing? 

If you look in the Royal App, it tells you when your check in will be available.  

1. Open App

2. Select Cruise (if you have multiples)

3. Tap on the "person" icon at the top

4. There will be a Check in box with the date in it.  

I did this on the latest version of the iPhone App, so your experience could vary

7 minutes ago, teddy said:

I got something similar for our cruise this weekend after reading your posts. 
 

I’m all about tech, but I like hard copies, too. 

I'm team documents as well.  I make each cabin a "packet" that includes the travel documents, receipts for cruise planner purchases, set sail pass, laminated luggage tags, printed images of passports, drivers licenses, vax records, tests, etc....

I also put them in order in the packet so that we have them in the order we need them. 

We generally breeze right through the building and into the MDR for lunch!

1 hour ago, S. Noble said:

Talk about snail mail

Totally!

To be fair, they had stopped all "mail off the island" and were really only doing inter-island mail.  Same thing happened in Nassau, back in August.  We didn't get that post card until right before Christmas.  With COVID restrictions, many classes of mail were stopped or slowed down drastically and post cards are very low on the list.  I'm often surprised when we actually get the post card even within the US

This is an issue I bet non had ever considered.

https://www.local10.com/news/local/2022/01/23/cruise-diverted-to-bahamas-after-arrest-warrant-issued-for-crystal-symphony/?outputType=amp

The article linked below states they confirmed a death onboard the Oasis with Atlantis Events.  Atlantis then referred them to Royal for the cause of death.  
 

https://www.advocate.com/news/2022/1/21/death-reported-onboard-atlantis-events-oasis-seas-cruise

“A death has been confirmed aboard Atlantis Events' 30th Anniversary Cruise on Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas.

The Advocate has confirmed the death with Atlantis Events. While a representative said the death was "nothing out of the ordinary," they referred The Advocate to Royal Caribbean for comment on cause of death.”

2 hours ago, Nate Y said:

Anyone else get this?  The wife and I got emails saying our boarding time had been pushed back an hour and to show up an hour later than scheduled.  What's really strange to me is that earlier boarding times than ours are still available.  I split the difference and picked a time a half hour earlier.  Eager as I am to board and start using my drink package, we also wanted to check out the matinee park anyway.  Its a little confusing to have them tell me to show up an hour after my selected window instead of straight up giving me a later window.

 

I’d suspect that people with the earlier times also received the emails.  Sure you could still pick an earlier time, but you want to arrive an hour later like the email says.  
 

they don’t give the times, since they’d have to customize the email based on windows and as you noted, you could still pick an earlier window. By them telling everyone to come an hour later than scheduled they can use the same email.  

17 minutes ago, FamilyCruiseFan said:

Question on guaranteed rooms... Does anyone know if you book a guaranteed room (say balcony cabin) and didn't like the assigned location, are you able to call and change it to something else available (assuming there were other open rooms and it wasn't a full sailing) with the same room category?  Never took a guaranteed room before but was considering this in the future. Thanks for any helpful info! 

It probably depends on the type of room.  You probably don't have any worries with a balcony or above category.  We have done a lot of Interior GTY rooms and the basic rule of thumb is that if you have any reservations about where you may be put, then just book the room where you want.  So far, we've been lucky!

Maybe it's Schrödinger's Cruise !

This is probably the only "fear" i've even had about cruising, and even then I haven't spent much time on it.

Over the course of a week, we certainly don't spend a ton of time with the servers or the cabin attendants and most of that time, both us and the crew member are fully masked, so that gives me some amount of comfort in the situation. 

46 minutes ago, JohnK6404 said:

Just FYI... I ordered mine on 1/3/22... shipped on 1/13/22... delivered on 1/18/22.

Thanks!  I just checked my order email timestamp and it was late on the 10th, so we'll call it the 11th.   I'll give it until Monday to see if it gets updated and then I will start calling / emailing them for updates.  

27 minutes ago, Zurc said:

Thinking that the difference b/t this outdoor crowding and those at football game, is the effect it could have over a week’s time on the assigned waitstaff, stateroom attendant, bar staff, etc. on this cruise.    

A crowd at a football game doesn’t Interact every day for a week with a team’s football players, coaching staff, training staff.  (But I can’t say the same for a theme park as some families may stay in hotels there for a week! ). 

Hoping Oasis’ crew stays CoVid free , for their health, and for those of you cruising on her soon!

 

 

I agree, i really think the concern on the board is largely for the crew and thier safety, closely followed by how it could affect peoples cruises on the Oasis in the next few weeks.  

Overall, it's really a bad look for the Royal.  You'd think they would have limited capacity more, dropped the price for the 3rd party, or some combination of both.  Time will tell if it comes back to haunt us all.

On 12/31/2021 at 8:50 PM, Matt said:

FWIW, I buy KN95 masks from https://bonafidemasks.com/. There was concern from buying from some places is if they're legit or not. I'm sure that got sorted out, but their masks work and more comfortable than some of the masks I got from amazon once.

@Matt Thanks for the suggestion, we made an order about 10 days ago and are waiting for them to ship.  I'm sure experiences are different, but about how long has it taken for yours to ship in the past?  When i ordered, it said they try to ship within 3 days, but it could be delayed up to a week.  I'm not at the "panic point" yet, but will need these masks at some point in the "nearish" future.  Thanks!

8 minutes ago, Sharla said:

I always get the soda package so I subtract that from the cost to see if the DBP is worth it

That's exactly what we did when we first started cruising and getting the refreshment package.  Say, the Refreshment package is $25, the soda is $10, so that's really only $15 more which works out to about 4 "fancy coffees", but then you get all the other benefits of the refreshment package, which we enjoy as well.

5 minutes ago, Matt said:

Every order they take, they get a bigger piece of the pie of gratuities for that day

I had always wondered how that worked when we buy a package.  Now that I know this, I will make a better effort to visit my favorite bartenders more frequently.  It's mostly café promenade for my coffees, but with the new drink menus with more "mocktails" I've been in more of the bars, than usual.

1 hour ago, twangster said:

Like just about anything in life WE set the price that companies charge for packages like this.  

If people are willing to pay they'll keep charging that rate.  If collectively WE don't buy something at their price point they will eventually lower the price.  

As long as people are paying they will continue to accept people's money.

The deluxe drink package isn't required to have a great cruise.  If the math doesn't work for you, don't buy it.

I agree with @twangster on this.  The price is set by what people will pay.  I also think there are ways to bring down the "total cost" of the trip to help offset the pricing of individual items.  I think many times, people look at the price of individual components in a vacuum and lose sight of the total cost.  We once had some family that freaked out about the cost of the cruise in Florida and we compromised on a cruise from New Jersey, but then the flights to New York were at least double what we would pay to Florida, losing the savings on the cruise and getting worse port stops.  

For us, we "require" the Refreshment package.  We have a price point that we "like to get" at $23 per day, and anything less is amazing (we recently got it for $17!)  To ensure we can get the package, we always book the cheapest room we can, regardless of category (generally it's Inside GTY).  We also typically don't do excursions and explore on our own (harder during these times). 

At the end of the day it's all about choice and what you can live without on the cruise.  I also think that too many people want to "break even" on each thing. We both get the Refreshment package and I certainly break even (i drink a ton of coffee ), but maybe not her since she could probably do with just the soda package and then pay for bottled water, but we like the convenience of prepaying for it and then not having a bill at the end.  

Happy cruising!

25 minutes ago, Stephen White said:

It was through Delta Cruises. They give you time to make your deposit (they make it then you reimburse them 6 months out)

Then you may be (unfortunately) at the mercy of Delta Cruises policies 

This is a "fan site" and while we all try to be helpful, you will need to work with Delta Cruise on this particular issue to ensure that you have the best and correct information.  

Please stick around in the forums!  We tend to have a lot of fun and you never know what you will learn from the people here.  

9 minutes ago, DisneyWorld30th said:

So I was glancing at some of the ship maps and most of the ships (if not all) have dedicated Conference Rooms.

I have peeked into these conference rooms when sailing and everytime I have sailed, they are not being used.

So why do these exist if they are not used often?  Why not create some sort of Flex Space when the rooms aren't needed, something else can be done in these rooms?

Just a thought...

There are actually quite a few cruise conferences that occur on ships across many lines. I've also heard of "team retreats" that occur.  I suspect they get used enough to make them justified and in most cases there is so much other stuff to do, that changing the space may not make sense.  They also tend to be in low traffic areas of the ship, so maybe that's it as well.

If you are able to visit St. Kitts, please take a moment to visit Captain Jack's Treasure Chest in the port area.  It's your typical souvenir shop, but the owner of the store has excellent customer service.  When we were there back in December, we were not able to roam town freely after our excursion, so we were unable to visit the post office and mail our postcard to our selves home.  We decided to buy the post card at Captain Jack's, but he had no stamps available to get it to the US.  He then offered to let us pay him for the stamp and he would get the stamp and mail it for us!  This was back on November 13, 2021.  That postcard arrived in the mail yesterday, January 19, 2022.  Not sure when he actually mailed it, but the postmark is from January 2022. 

It's now my personal mission to get the word out about this shop.