Reigert2008

We’re sailing in August and have just the stops in Nassau and Perfect Day. Was wondering if any of the people sailing in July were told if they needed the Bahamas health visa for the “day stops”.  I’m “the planner” for our group of 7 and have warned everyone that it “could” be a requirement, but haven’t seen anything yet that tells me yes or no. I’m sure Royal will provide us information when they have it, but want to stay ahead of this since not all parties are will be traveling to Florida at the same time.  Thanks.

note: all parties are fully vaccinated

I wouldn’t th8nk anything of it until sailing is “really back”. Some vendors didn’t make it through the shutdown and I’m sure that new contracts need to be worked out for some locations.

Agree, i think it’s at capacity.  We’re on an august sailing and they just sent my wife a RoyalUpmoffer.

1 hour ago, Jennifer Burke said:

Hi So going on Allure on December 5th. Never been on a cruise that time of year. A couple of questions. 1. Is it still on the warm side? and 2. Do most women wear holiday wear for the formal night? i.e. would it be odd looking if you wore a sleeveless pink dress in December?

I would check weather.com for the daily averages for where you are actually visiting just to be sure.

We’ve cruised to the Bahamas in January and we’re fine in our regular “summer clothes” most of the time. We did find the water a bit too cool for us to swim in the ocean,but the pools were fine.  At night it could get a little cool when the ship was moving.

We’ve also cruised to Alaska in September and when the ship was moving it was really cold and we needed our layers, but our day in Juneau was 85 degrees and I nearly melted

I can’t answer about formal night, since I wear my “good jeans” and a polo shirt and she wears khaki pants and a nice blouse.  We don’t dress up for formal night since we are not bringing fancy on vacation, since we both dress up for our daily lives.

1 hour ago, AshleyDillo said:

Matt posted them in the Royal Caribbean Dining group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/royalcaribbeandining/permalink/2892278091035732/

I nabbed the non-alcoholic page for you.

Thanks! My nearly teen niece will be excited for her fancy drink options!

13 minutes ago, SpeedNoodles said:

Why can't Americans do the Vancouver to SEA sailing?  They can take a ferry from Washington to Victoria, BC - I guess I don't understand the difference (Sorry to hijack the thread).

I literally wondered the same thing, but was afraid to ask!

17 minutes ago, Eswort said:

Matt mentioned on his live a little while ago that the 6/19 sailing has only around 900 passengers, this makes me nervous that I’m going have yet another cancelled cruise (one I thought would be more definite) I’m scheduled on the final sailing out of the Bahamas September 11th, do you think they can continue these sailings at 1/3 capacity? 

I could be wrong, but I thought they were increasing capacity every so many days on these cruises as they ramp up to full cruising. Of course, things are always subject to change, but i personally don't think any of the Bahamas sailings are in danger, since they are actually going now, but who knows.

We have done it a few times.  You basically get whatever incentive the ship/Royal  is offering and make your deposit on board.  They will send it to your travel agent for you for the rest of the paperwork and such.  Sometimes you get a lower deposit or  maybe onboard credit.  

Every time we cruise, we take a list of possible weeks and itineraries that we think we want to do so that we are ready to pick one if the deal is right.  Sometimes if you can move your selection up or down a week or two, you can get a better deal.  

It also helps to look up some pricing ahead of time so you know a "ballpark" figure to compare to the NextCruise offer(s)

Any of you amazing people on the Adventure have a link or image of this updated fleetwide drink menu that @Matt mentions in his post?  Being non-drinkers, I am particularly interested in the non-alcoholic drinks that could be available.  I always feel i am missing out since I'm not sure of drink names and what is in them.  Thanks!

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2021/06/18/adventure-of-the-seas-live-blog-day-6-sea-day

Every few years, Royal Caribbean updates its drink menu for locations that do not have a specialized drink menu. One noticable difference with this year's edition is there is a focus on drinks sourced from Caribbean islands, as well as more attention to low alcohol and no alcohol drinks.

Royal Caribbean set up a sampling event where some of the new drinks could be sampled.

Don't worry, the menu is just a starting point, so you can still order all of your favorite cocktails.

After 4 Disney Cruises, we switched to Royal due to price.  We had some family members that had been on Royal and Carnival and the ones that used Carnival tended to be “boozers” giving us the impression, right or wrong, that Carnival wax the “booze cruise line” so we picked Royal. Coming from Disney, we could have gotten an Junior Suite on Allure for the same price as the interior cabin on the Disney Fantasy.  We did get a Central Park Balcony on that first one, but now do interior to save money and do more cruises.

We’ve been very happy with Royal and for what we do on the cruise, it’s been a very similar experience.  We do miss our Disney stuff, but being annual pass holders at Disney World we get our mouse “fix”.

I’ll never say never, but I expect we’ll be “Loyal to Royal” until the end. At some point we will probably do some Celebrity ones, for some different itineraries, but it will be a while.

58 minutes ago, GatorCruiser said:

Where’s the popcorn eating emoji, this is about to get interesting.

I predict this thread gets locked by tomorrow

I seem to remember that Royal says to not book flights before noon, just in case.  So, 12:03 is technically OK!  However, you may also want to look into the Luggage Valet service that Royal offers.  We didn't use it since we fly Southwest and it was not an option at the time, but it would make like easy!

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/does-royal-caribbean-offer-luggage-valet

i think the best way to find out this answer is to contact Royal directly.  Policies are changing every day for many things.  Seriously, I check the "what's allowed" page at least a week before I cruise and then again the day before we leave, just to make sure.

Same with the TSA policies.

I really wish these vaccine threads would be locked and stop getting created.  I think it’s time that we all move on.  We all know what the policies and requirements are and no matter what our individual opinions are on it, there continued conversations about them are not productive. I’m sure there are other internet locations where people e can debate the topic.

im sure policies will change over time, but at the end of the day the choice is to follow the policy or not participate.

stay safe

1 hour ago, Timp1966 said:

First time cruiser (honeymoon) can someone explain the ultimate dinning package? They have a 50% off for our cruise but I don’t quite understand what it all entails. TIA. 

Since this is your first cruise, I would recommend not doing the dining package.  I’m sure the food in the speciality dining locations is amazing, but the included options are equally amazing.  We’ve never felt that we are missing out by only eating the included options.  on the larger ships (such as Oasis class) there are so many included options that have a wide range of items. 
 

Your first cruise is the one where you can feel out what you’ve got and learn what you may want to add in the future.  I do recommend getting a beverage package, we do the Refreshment Package and enjoy our times.

Saw this on Facebook today.

 

We've been planning our family cruise since 2019 and with COVID it has had many changes.  The first thing i told the other families involved was that "ports are not guaranteed" and can be changed at any time, even on the ship.  I'm sure that the cruise lines are doing the best they can with the ever changing environment and they are in a non win situation.  If they cancel it, people are mad, if they change it, people are mad.  

We even had a November 2021 cruise where both the ship and the ports changed.  Sure it was disappointing, but until everything is back to normal, there was no need to fret over it.  I'm sure we will still have a great trip.

We were able to check pin to an August sailing on Freedom, but I don’t remember how many days out we were.

We purchased our flights to San Juan specifically for this offer.  Sure wish it was on the whole purchase though!

We booked an August Freedom to replace an Allure cancelation since we personally feel "more confident" that it will happen, but as @Matt says, there is not a good way to know for sure.  You just have to be prepared for any changes that may occur.  

Good Luck!

10 minutes ago, Josh C said:

I don’t.. we’ll know for sure Saturday but my understanding is that you can check in at any point in the designated time frame and they’ll scan your card, put a sticker on it and you’re done.. I’ve heard.. the timeframe is a couple of hours but might be longer due to the extended boarding process. If that’s the case, I don’t see why the bars would close.

I think they will have to to close the bars for some period of time (maybe towards the end of the window) to force people to actually go to the station. Humans tend to put things to the last minute and without a nudge some probably won't go.

Of course, we did have an issue once where we went to the station with everyone else, scanned our cards, and then still received a letter in our room saying we missed it.  We just had to check in at guest services and they were fine.

17 minutes ago, icf75 said:

I have a 13 year old who I wont be getting vaccinated, and I am booked to travel on Allure 22nd August.  Currently I am thinking of cancelling and getting a FCC (its the only option apparently) as I don't like the sound of the 'health protocols'. Assuming RCL make cruises only available to vaccinated children forevermore, do you think I am within my rights to ask for a refund? as I will never be able to use the FCC.

You can certainly ask for a refund, but i wouldn't be surprised when they say no.  When you cancel on your own, you are bound by whatever the current policy of the company will be.  The FCC will have an expiration date (maybe even as early as 2022).  Good Luck.

Has anyone ever stayed at the Hollywood Beachside Boutique Suites?  If so what do you think of them?  Thanks in advance!

https://hollywoodbeachside.com/


609 North Ocean Drive
Hollywood, FL 33019

On 6/3/2021 at 9:07 AM, Matt said:

Easiest thing you can do is just fill out the yellow form on RoyalCaribbeanBlog.com and they can assign a new agent to you

Sometimes I feel like this should be a pinned post

I just made the switch to MEI after our latest cancellation and our (now) previous agency has dropped the ball.  Once we get this new cruise through the paperwork.  I still have one other cruise later in the year with the previous agency, that i may pull back from them and manage myself.  

The best thing for anyone to do after they have been vaccinated is to make sure that your primary care physician has it documented in your file  They can then generate any type of proof you would need whether that be a new CDC card or a letter (depends on what you need).   My PCP uses the "Epic" system so I can login to my health record and see all the vaccines i have ever received, even the COVID one(s).  I get my flu shot each year at my PCP, but need to prove it to an employer, so after I get the shot, they print out a letter with the details of the shot and the dates that I then give to my employer for the file.  

Where I live we have 3 main health care companies, so if I have to go to one of the others for anything (mostly for the employer) then I get a copy of the documents and take it my PCP so it is all in my "real health file" in case there is an emergency.

If you did not get the COVID shot(s) from your PCP organization, then you can take your CDC card to the PCP and they can scan it into your file, that is what we did for my in-laws so it now shows up in thier files.

Hope this helps.