LifesEz

Ah, Cruisellama. I love your positive attitude. You put a smile on my face. I am not impacted like the others on the August 21st cruise. Aug 21st, is the first of a B2B2B2B on Symphony for me. 4Xs for 28-Nights, August 21~September 18th. Can you tell I am suffering from the withdrawals of CDC NSO/CSO Syndrome? Every time I take a shower, being that close to so much water gives me the shakes. Sometimes they have to call the EMTs to drag my water logged, shriveled body out. Therefore, I must waive the luxury of disembarking on the return to Miami. The Symphony Lounge sounds like a better stop than Port Miami. I hear they may have food. But not getting off is my doings, not Royal's. Well, unless you consider Royal a contributing factor by enticing me with such great cruise itineraries after the CDC forced me into that 16-month withdrawal period. My August 29th is an A2, unless Royal would like to put in a better suite. (Are there any better? Well, maybe the Royal Suite. Maybe). I hope my fellow Insiders understands, I love Royal Caribbean Cruises. When I used to sail with that one that is not Celebrity, but starts with a C (phtt, phtt), looking around I would think, 'I guess "Choose The Fun" on a cruise ship means bunny hopping around the Lido Pool to oldies music." In port, I would look over and skyward at Royal Caribbean ships and think to myself, "Hmm, no bunny hop music. What's going on over there?" By noon, August 29th, I expect to have personally forgotten all about the August 21st~August 29th change of itinerary. I just feel sad for my fellow August 21st passengers. For example, one who has already been to Nassau 23 times. (Funny how much Nassau sounds like Cozumel). We all booked the original itinerary hoping to see something new. All of us were aware of the risk. All of us who didn't cancel accept the change. Just would like a better answer. Considering all the other Royal ships going to those same ports, in the same general time frames, they deserve a better answer than 'Port Planning.' But Cruisellama, thank you for the smile!

All good answers. Everyone is aware and expects the flux. We all know the contract. Perhaps I am not explaining the question correctly or with the comparison details? What we would like to know is, 'How to get a better answer from Royal to questions like these?' Why is Odyssey going to Jamaica, Aruba, & Curaçao Aug 14~Aug 22, and August 28th ~ Sept 5th? But not Symphony to Labadee, Aruba, Curaçao August 21st~August 29th? Odyssey carries 3844 to 4805 passengers. Symphony 5475~6314. But neither near full capacity. Why is Symphony August 29~Sept 4th going to Labadee, Jamaica, Coco Cay. But Symphony August 21~August 29th is going to Nassau instead of Labadee or Coco Cay? Nassau is no Labadee or Coco Cay. Last I heard, Nassau was still building around the port. In short, why does Symphony August 21st~August 29th seem to be absorbing the entire force of the 'Port Planning' issue? Do you see why we feel there is something more to this that requires more than the answer 'Port Planning?'

Ampurp85, that is logical. If we were on Family Feud, I would say, "Good Answer." I just have a feeling there is more to it and looking for how to get a better answer out of Royal than 'Port Planning.' Like what was the Port Planning problem, and how did it happen? How can we get that? I am just having problems with Symphony losing out at every port? Southern to Eastern is not a small change, especially when it is mostly Northeastern. Not even Coco Cay in place of Labadee? Nassau? I thought they were busy building up their port? I even heard Haiti had an outbreak, however, I am on a B2B2B2B. The very next Symphony cruise is pulling into Labadee September 1st. I find thinking less than a week later while looking two months into the future as a good answer is lacking substance. Plus, Odyssey is not that many fewer pax coming in less than 2 weeks later. Just too many questions for a simple, 'Port Planning' answer.

Let me make sure I understand the facts correctly. If any are wrong, please correct in detail. There are many in this cruises Facebook group that have been wondering this question and the logic of the answer by Royal. I am asking here for the group. Our original August 21, 2021, itinerary was 8-Night Southern Cruise: Labadee, Aruba, Curacao. June 7th we get a letter starting, "Due to changes in port planning, we had to make some adjustments to our itinerary." Adjustments? It should have read, "We are throwing out the entire original itinerary." The itinerary is now 8-Night Eastern Cruise: Nassau, St Thomas, St Maarten, St Kitts & Nevis. However, Celebrity's Millennium, the very first ship out of North America had a stop in Aruba. If I heard correctly, passengers originally booked on Independence of the Seas were changed to Odyssey, who then has that itinerary changed to our original itinerary of Labadee, Aruba, and Curaçao on the Sept 11th & 25th. Let us not forget there are far fewer cruise ships on the water approved to sail by August 21st, 2021. It appears there was no problem with the ship before and will be none with the ships after in those ports. We would sure like a better explanation of why Royal had to have us sacrifice our ports and thrown out our entire itinerary when other ships in the family are taking and partially taking the same ports before and after our cruise. Why Royal could not work in even a single one of our original ports? The generic explanation of 'Port Planning' after the long awaited return to cruising, when there are fewer ships on the seas and other Royal Family cruises before and after hitting some and all the same ports turns the "Port Planning" answer into a 'PR Nightmare' for Royal open for deep questioning. Who ever came up with that answer should be asked to further explain not only what and why, but how it happened and why Symphony drew the short end of the straw. Therefore, I am asking for a great number of unhappy passengers on that cruise. Many who have already cancelled. How can 'We as a group' get a better explanation from Royal Guest Experience details of why the change when others are going? Attached is the first page of the letter. The second page is just yada, yada of trying to convince us will we will be so much happier with the change. Reminder to all, this is a Symphony cruise, the largest and one of the newest ships in the fleet that has an up charge in fares. If we want to plan excursions in advance, all the Labadee, Aruba, and Curaçao were cancelled. Below is the current selection. The only one during the cruise is 2 Nassau PADI diving. We have 4 after returning to Miami. Perhaps as ointment from the burn of the itinerary change. If the answer is Royal needs time to arrange excursions, then why move from Aruba where they already had excursions events on Celebrity at the time of this posting? If I sound very upset and disappointed, you should hear some who booked the cruise. Again, many so upset they already cancelled. Let's just say the Royal Soup Answer of 'Port Planning' tasted like dirty dishwater from the palate all the way down to the stomach. I got off the phone after booking and checked my inbox for my receipt. I found my itinerary change letter arrived in my inbox before my confirmation receipt. So Royal knew of the change while advertising and selling the original itinerary. In fact, the old itinerary stayed up for days after we got the letter. I am open to the possibility of my making any errors in the stated facts or wrong conclusions in this issue and apologize in advance. However, the overall question and scenario is correct. This is very unlike what many expect from Royal. It is like one bad apple in the barrel after 15 months of bad apples. If we are all extra sensitive to this change, I am sure that plays a part. $ $ $.pdf

We have a B2B2B Aug 29th, Sept 4th, & Sept 11, ending Sept 18. We bought Coco Beach Club Full Day Passes very early on-sale for the 1st & 3rd Cruises at $64.99 & $58.99 per person. However, we did not purchase for the middle cruise because it was Labor Day week and the costs were much higher. Even the current 'Sale Price' for Memorial Day Weekend is now $178.99. I know, how can I pass up such a sale, right? Well, thanks, but no, thanks. Looks like Chill Island or exploring all the free things to do at Coco Cay that cruise week.

Came close to taking that TA myself. Went for Ovation's Alaska May 5th instead. The wife retires in a few years, then we can TA and spend a few weeks in Europe before returning. Yes, take a jacket. In 2019, it was worthy of a jacket in early May. Copenhagen was down right cold. Try to lunch at the Hard Rock Café on Old Park Lane. That is the original Hard Rock Café and has all the original displays (Opened June 14, 1971). Hard Rock Cafe London on Old Park Lane, the original and first-of-its-kind restaurant, will remain on Old Park Lane and is celebrating 50 years this June! If they are still in some lockdown, check to make sure they are open. The food is good as well. Even if it is crowded, across the street is the store that used to be a bank. Ask for the store's downstairs tour, that is the vault. They give them all the time. A lot of Rock & Roll memorabilia. If you go in the Café, immediately turn right and sit up on what used to be the stage. That is where Paul McCarthy and Wings held their first gig. You can also get directions and take a short walk and see 3 Savile Row, John Lennon's old home. They have a small display in the front to try and keep out traffic, but do not be intimidated. London Law gives you the right to walk in and look around anywhere. You have to see the stairwell to upstairs. It is beautiful. The roof of 3 Savile Row is where the Beatles play their last concert, a free one. There is a plaque on the side of the building. I know all this because a friend of mine was Stevie Nicks Security when she went there to deliver some items and gave the employees a free concert. Ask the story about how the Café started involving George Harrison and the Ritz down the street. Oh, and do not say you are looking for Randy. Always say Randall if it comes up. That was my friend's name, and he got slapped when he told a young woman his name. Other country slang can result in innocent humorous reactions. Attached are pictures of John Lennon's house and stairwell at 3 Savile Row and the memorabilia down in the vault. If you blow up the blue plaque on the house's wall you can read that it is for the Beatles last concert on the roof.

I should add I have zero TA background. However, as retired Engineering, Tooling, & QA management with Boeing, I have learned how to not accept bad work, then to get resolution. At 36,000 Feet, you are very happy that I did.

Similar issues here. Just gave my soon-to-be-former-TA a 'Last Chance Demand to fix By--" Date else I was sending an email to [email protected] With 1) Booking #; 2) Ship; 3) Sail Date; 4) Guests; and 5) Reason why I want it out of the TA and back to RCCL. If you still get stiffed--Send the email including the explanation you gave the TA a reasonable timeline (Try 72~96 hours of regular [non-holiday] weekday as reasonable). A normal TA would rather give up, than have to answer to RCCL and still give up. Bad form for them.

Double points with a few qualifiers like when it was made and that your C&As were on the booking to my understanding. You can read about it on the RC C&A page. It is why I am in a suite on all 5 cruises I have booked. (Total 41 Nights x Suite (2x2=4) = 164 points) 17+16+28= 61. Another 5-Nights in a Suite (2x2x5) should do it if correct. https://www.royalcaribbean.com/crown-anchor-society

Then congratulation to your friend. Your friend got a great deal and just beat me to it. At 11 pm PST on that late night of the opening hour for non-agents to book, I was looking at the 3/18 and talking with the agent for OS 1628 right next door. While the agent was entering the data I accidentally went into the 3/25 bookings and saw the RS cost was only a few hundred per person more and shifted to 3/25. (I have the Allure Transatlantic to Barcelona 4/24/22 and wanted a little more distance between the cruises) By early morning when I woke and thought about doing a B2B the cost of the 3/18 OS was still a bargain, but more than my 3/25 RS. The 7-Night price for the RS on 3/18 & 3/25 had to be about the same, so I know just how much your friend got a great deal. Had the 3/18 RS been open I would have grabbed it. Had the 3/25 RS not been available, I would have been their neighbor and 3 of us would have been on that cruise.

Just when I thought there was nothing to add to this thread, CruiseWatch.com just sent me a price drop notice on Navigator of the Seas, March 2022 (I have March 25 7-Nights out of Port of Los Angeles to Cabo, Mazatlan & Vallarta). Except the price drop is for 3-Nights & 4-Nights out of Ft Lauderdale to Bahamas. And here we thought that ability to be cruising in two places at once was a mistake. Funny the Caribbean Cruises are not on the RC website. I bet those are price drops to their lowest ever. Just like CruiseWatch.com claims. ?

One booked now and will add as time rolls. I have 4 RC Cruises booked & planned elsewhere right now. As they clear, LA rises to the top since it is only hours drive to the port .

I am so happy RCI is being bold and aggressive in pricing and hopefully follow through with an aggressive marketing tactic for the West Coast Market. I used to work in management for McDonnell-Douglas. Boeing sold more planes by being bold and aggressive with pricing and advertising. Results? Boeing bought out MDCorp. I retired from Boeing/McDonnell-Douglas. There is a lot of $$$ in those hills waiting for a targeted marketing campaign. Fight! RC fights and RC wins. Mpoole3, those prices were definitely aggressive. I looked at those 3/18/22 suites and was trying to decide between the GS, GT, or OS. Eventually, my choice was to go bold like RCL's pricing and decided on the OS. While the agent doing some typing putting my order in the system, I accidentally hit the 3/25/22 week during a refresh and saw the RS for just hundreds of dollars more. When the agent came back on the phone, I asked him if the 3/25 RS was still available at the price and switched to it. Dang it. Now I will be getting on when you are getting off. If we were on the same cruise I would have thrown a party in the RS on a sea day and had a group in. I was so very concerned Royal Caribbean might be cautious by resting on their name for being the best, or worse yet, tentative in attacking the West Coast Market. The West Coast market is 'ripe for the picking' with an aggressive marketing campaign. I know, I have stood in those other market lines to board at Long Beach and heard random people talk. Looks like they are going after that other large line. I love it! If Royal was to bring an Oasis or Quantum class they would so outclass 'that other line's' large 'Pan...' that RC would hand down win that route. Do a Coco (that already has name ID by the well known WC restaurant) on the West Coast and go north from LA as well? Game Over. Oh well, I can dream, can't I?

Glad you got a deal, AlmondFarmer and Kudos for starting this thread. I got a 7-Night Royal Suite midnight MST for the two of us 3/25/22. I was such a deal, I could not pass it up, despite having a TransAtlantic in the Aqua 1-Bd on the Allure just 3-weeks later. This morning a Grand Suite on the same 3/25 cruise costs more. I checked the same Royal Suite for the 3-Night & 4-Night following our return. Would you believe the Royal Suite was more per person on both of those individually than I paid for both of us on the 7-Night? It was. I would never have received such a deal without this thread, updates, and all the great people in the 'Refresh Party' keeping me up to date, moment-by-moment. But you started the ball rolling.

March 25th~April 1st 2022 7-Night. Thank you everyone for keeping me on top of all this with the 'Refresh Party.' Especially Twangster, PPPJJ-GCVAB, and JohnT83. I couldn't have done it without you. If you are on the NOS Mar 25th~Apr 1st 2022 stop by and say, 'Hello.' If not, I am sure we will meet on another out of LA. I have family all over SoCal and visit often. Now I can throw a cruise in as well.

Thanks PPPJJ-GCVAB. Between you, Twangster, JohnT83, SmokeyBandit, and DDaley I don't feel so lonely (or silly) constantly checking, including getting up and checking several times in the middle of each night since midnight Monday. Every once in a while I take a few moments to check on my RCL stock, but mostly watch RCL cruise videos. It is getting pretty bad when I can say the next line on a Symphony Full Ship Tour before the host says it. Can't wait to get back on any '__ of the Seas.' How bad is it? After several cancels I have a B2B2B on Symphony, Aug~Sep. Only RCL I have been on was a 5-Night Empress including Havana. I am expecting Symphony to be quite a culture shock, but hear terrific things. My last cruise was just under the wire out of Long Beach returning March 8, 2020. But it was Carnival. Thus, why I am excited to be at the 'Refresh Party' for NOS. For our party, I brought chips. The wife swears says she brought the dip. But I don't see any. ?

May just be me making a Booking Search Error. It is possible the 2~5 & 6~8 might be the way the system feeds results not knowing an old programmer might try what I did. A potential 'Sorry.'

New Cruising technique? Same ship, two coasts at once?

I did the Nov 21 ~ Apr 22 search. Still no bookings possible, but I noticed it gave both 2~5 & 6~8 Nights cruises. What confused me was when I went back and looked both LA & Miami were departure port options for each month, in a series of months or individually.

Good to know others heard that method as well. I wasn't on the board then. Seems like I heard Danny G of Harr Travel say it a few weeks ago in one of his update videos when talking about clients getting their request for the June Bahamas before Tuesday. So I thought it might be a regular pattern. Does anyone know with any degree of certainty if Travel Agents sometimes get advance notice and/or access? I know we have some on here, but don't know if they can say anything.

Maybe Travel Agents notified Tuesday and the rest of us Wednesday.

The thing about Port of LA and & Long Beach for out West is besides the airports, "All Freeways Lead to LA." It is easy to get flights (often multiple per day) from DETroit, MSP Minneapolis, CVG Cincinnati, DFW, LAS vegas, SEAttle, DENver, MCOrlando, MIAmi, ATLanta, JFK, and many other airports To one of several airports: LAX, LGB, SNA, BUR, ONT. Approximate drive from airports to the Port of LA (depending on time of day and traffic) are: Long Beach (LGB ~20 mins); American, Delta, SouthWest, Hawaiian LAX (~20+ mins); You name the airlines Santa Ana (Very Close to Disneyland SNA ~35+ mins); Alaska, Allegiant Air, American, Delta, Frontier, Southwest, Spirit, Sun Country, Untied Burbank (BUR ~40 Mins); SouthWest, American, Jet Blue, Alaska, Delta, United Ontario (ONT ~1 hr); Alaska, Avianca, China Air, Delta, Frontier, Hawaiian, Jet Blue, SouthWest, United, Volaris Even for an expanded trip: San Diego (SAN ~ 2hrs); Lots of sights, beaches, and ocean Palm Springs (PSP ~ 2Hrs+); Take in the sun and culture Las Vegas (LAS ~5 hrs); Vegas Baby! And Sightseeing further away: San Francisco (SFO ~ 6.5 hrs); Phoenix (PHX 6.75 hrs); Salt Lake (SLC ~ 12 Hrs) For example, SLC (~12 hrs drive to Port of LA) you arrive in SLC, a hub for Delta & United then fly x-Hours + or drive 7 hours to LAS, stay for x-Days during weekday is cheapest, then fly, bus, or drive (5 hrs) a one-way to Port of LA or Disneyland). If you drive from SLC you can stop at Zions National Park and take in the sites. There is so much to do on your way to a B2B 3-4-5 night to turn it into a memorable family, couple, or friends trip. So lots of points to extend a 3 or 4 day with seeing Mother Nature (beyond what you see on the East Coast), sites, entertainment, and take in your cruise. That makes a 3-4-5 nights more worth the long trip from the East Coast). Even Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) is about midway as the Port of LA and Port of Miami about 20 hours. In short, there are lots of options to many airports, then drive a rental and 'See The West'. (Written by a born and early years raised Mid-Western Boy converted to the West Coast)

I love all the Florida and East Coasters who say they would prefer NOS 7-Nights from LA because 3 and 4 nighters seem too short for a plane trip that far. Now they know how we West Coasters think. NOS 3 and 4 Like in Miami will get the LA locals, but 7-Nights or more will draw even the Rockies to LA. Denver and Salt Lake are major airports with Non-Stops to LAX. Much preferred to Long Beach (LGB) for Carnival. I will so welcome RCL to SoCal. Not just because it gives us a local option, but because it gives us a local option of the best cruise line.