Temeculaguy

like others have said, the website has been wacky all week. One of my cruises vanished (just so happens it's the one I got an unreal deal on early in the pandemic) but I called and was told it is a system wide problem and the TA confirmed I still have my suite which is now sold out and before selling out was 4x what I paid, that was not the booking I wanted to vanish. It all came back tonight but on my wife's login it's still missing. Wait till Monday, but if you already bid on royalup, the third party that handles it still has your offer so you are probably good. I just checked my upcoming offers/bids and it works but it probably didn't yesterday. I've noticed they tend to issue royalup offers 3 days before sailing right now, I'm sailing in two weeks and have tracked previous sailing that have a bunch of suites until 2-3 days before sailing and then suddenly they are all gone. If you are sailing next weekend, it will likely happen tue, wed or thur for a saturday sailing, if it is further out no worries about the website, it should be fixed.

15 hours ago, DTMCD said:

Anthem out of New York last year - my first ever cruise! Literally the week before Covid took over the world. Boarded the ship 7th of March, got engaged on board and now my next Cruise will be my honeymoon in August'22 - cannot wait! 

I Love, Love , Love this story! My story is similar bit not all on Royal, yet cruising nonetheless. My wife and I had our first overnight date on a short 3 day cruise that she arranged as a birthday gift to me. Three years later I proposed on a cruise, in Cozumel at the Mayan temple of marriage (long story but the excursion desk helped make it happen) because she is Hispanic and her ancestry (according to her dna) is Mayan. We were married on a cruise with 100 of our friends and family also on the cruise. Next month, on our anniversary, we will be in Cozumel, this time on adventure of the seas. I believe for the remainder of our time on this planet we will be forever tied to cruising. Your story is so similar to ours that I think you will see cruises as a component of your marriage. We are in in our early 50's now but we both see cruises as not just fun but a romantic reminder of our bond,  I hope for you that every cruise from here on out will be your honeymoon all over again, I know it is ours.

Viking Serenade, I think about 1992 or 1993.

While I liken myself to be new to RCL I did sail on the viking serenade 25-30 years ago, I remember needing to shimmy sideways to get into the bed since it was about 6 inches from the wall on both sides and the toilet may have been in the shower or so close it got wet when you showered. It was built as a ferry and had the capacity to carry 500 vehicles before being converted into a RCL cruise ship. I had a blast but would avoid that ship today had it not been sold long ago and scrapped by the third or fourth owner after RCL. It's a great frame of reference that makes any ship today a pleasure.

We're going to try all the classes Royal has to offer, going on Adventure, Radiance and Liberty in the next twelve months which represent the three oldest classes in use and then work our way up. Looks like the pre-1995 built ships that were primarily ocean view windows and porthole exterior rooms, limited balconies and suites with the rooms concentrated on the lowest floors have all been removed from the fleet so it appears to be a "can't lose" situation when picking on RCL right now. We've been on those older style ships on other lines and I'd prefer to avoid those, but I don't regret having gone on them and they were all fun in their own way.

Something weird just happened for AOS, for the last week the last coupe of sailings in July were sold out of inside and OV rooms, now there are a ton available. Its possible there were 100's of cancellations if it was a group but unlikely in the same day since it affected more than one sailing. It is also possible they moved a bunch of minimum bids up since it happened seemingly overnight. It is also possible they expanded capacity and the limited capacity was limiting the cheaper rooms. I wonder of if the last few July sailings just had their bids accepted? Personally I want it to be all Royalup since I'm in early August but it looks like whole blocks are open, like 20 rooms together so I'm thinking it's a bump in capacity since I would thing royal up is more spotty since not everyone does it or even gets the e-mail, rather than everyone in the entire section of a ship did it looking at what is now available.

During the last two sales my 3 upcoming cruises all had different prices. Right now my August is going for $58, my Jan 2022 is $50 and my July 2022 is $54, I got the Jan 2021 for $42 but when I did a L/S after it was cancelled, they made me take me a refund of the drink package. I agree with the others, buy it and if it goes down, cancel and re-buy. That $54 is the lowest I've seen because it's in Alaska, been L/S twice and in that time it's usually $67, goes to $58 during sales but the Jan 2022 is out of Galveston and we've been L/S once, it's always been cheaper, between $42 and $54. To me it seems to be related to the cost of the cruise, the one that was cheapest always has the cheaper beverage package and the most expensive cruise is always the most expensive, regardless of the sales.

I appreciate all the advice, I'll stick with the zoom surf and stream and just buy a day in the Bahamas if i need it (and as pointed out Mexico is covered already). I tried searching the forums before posting but didn't find that March thread regarding the same topic.

Has anyone used the AT&T cruise plan https://www.att.com/international/cruise-packages/

I booked voom surf and stream with my drink package and it came out to about $100, same as the ATT plus ATT has a $50 talk and text no data plus both ATT plans are priced per month. Don't need much usage but traveling with two other couples and would like to be able to text amongst the six of us for logistics but I do like to check my home security system now and again. The Att cruise plan includes the ports we visit and costs about what voom does. Not sure of it covers coco cay but voom does. Has anyone done both and can compare the experience.

I'm new to RCL but I've found this is a complicated arena to get data on as few want to share info because technically the readers are their competitors. I'm going out on a limb, going on one of the adventure sailings out of Nassau in August but now there are domestic options so it's unlikely tons of people will sign up  from here on out plus you have to factor in capacity restrictions and our flight is essentially sold out as are many (no two seats together left) as we are about 6 weeks out and anyone looking to book will pick another sailing, I know I would have had I not booked it months ago when it was the only option because air has doubled in price since then. Prices are a bit higher now than when I booked and I booked a JS then bid on a GS and an OS. Only a couple of GS left and a bunch of OS left. I bid about 60% of the difference for GS but near minimum for OS hoping some GS would get moved to OS and I could have their GS. Per couple currently stands at 2850 for JS, 4600 gs and 7300 OS. But I paid closer to 2600 for JS, so my question is, do they go off the dollar net from the customer or the difference between the current prices. I gave all the details because I don;t care that much, I'm fine with a JS, if I get the upgrade, great, if not, I'm still on a cruise and not at work plus I'm not paying 7300, if I get the GS for a grand or the OS for 1500, great, but I don't see 5k more value, that puts it in viking territory.

I got a vax very early on and they ran out of cards so my card was a photocopy of a blank card. I insisted on getting an actual card at shot #2 and was lucky enough the same nurse was there to sign again for shot #1 but I know numerous people who's card is a photocopy of a blank card filled out in pen. This happened when they discovered the vials had more doses that anticipated so there was more vaccine than cards at some locations in the early days. My state (california) has since issued digital cards if you need a replacement or if you want a backup. I'm not here to defend California, admittedly the place is nuts but people lose paper cards, people's houses burn down, paper gets wet, things happen and mandating the original card seems a bit arcane. Since California is about 1/8 of the US population and has a digital vaccine card now, I would imagine acceptance will be forthcoming.

4 hours ago, emmef said:

You can bring 2 bottles of wine onto the ship on Royal. 

Is it 2 bottles per person or per couple? On vacation, 2 bottles per couple is about one day for us on vacation. Hopefully RCL has sommeliers on staff, we appreciate their craft and enjoy supporting them, cruise ships seem to often employ soms and we enjoy learning from them, it's one of the things we love about cruises. Land based vacations it's hit and miss.

On 6/16/2021 at 3:16 PM, CruiseGus said:

that and the size room with full tub with shower, sometime i wish i had never had my wife in anything other than an inside room.

Just recently booked into a GS albeit for my 65th, now she asks when I mention a cruise "are we getting a suite" and i know she aint talkin a JS either

I feel you, I booked a JS, GS and an OS pre-pandemic as we are new to RCL. But the lift and shifts put it out of order since Alaska got L&S twice and now the JS is last in July 2022. Unfortunately that JS  is Alaska where the upgrade cost is double other destinations but I have a sinking feeling I'll be paying it. Damn Covid

7 hours ago, Ampurp85 said:

I think it is a coin toss....as a half black woman, separate but equal does rub me the wrong way. However as said woman who has been working in restaurant business during Covid,  I kind of agree. When people get to drinking and enjoying themselves, protocols go out the window. I have had Covid and been vaccinate and understand my risk is minimized but at the same time I don't want to be sick at all. Therefore to minimize the risk I can understand having designated areas for the vaccinated and non-vaccinated. Whatever makes my cruise safe and fun, is what I am all about.

Eloquently put. Race, creed, sex, color, orientation or religion are not things most people want separate treatment for but this is different because it is based on risk as you pointed out. You spoke of your personal risk but I contend its also a risk to the industry. In California you can choose to build a home where it regularly experiences wildfires but you can't get fire insurance and if you can you will pay much more due to risk. When my kids were teens, their car insurance cost more, due to documented risk. If cruises end up with just a few cases onboard the news will spread like wildfire and cancellation of whole cruises will cost them millions. Especially in the first few months, they need it to go perfectly, everyone is watching. In time capacity will increase and rules relaxed but these first few months are critical to their future, they are essentially test cruises with paying customers. They don't want to tell the unvaxed they can't go, but they really don't want them to go in the beginning or at least they want very few to go all in the name of risk management. I support individual rights but I also understand that those do not override a private company's need to minimize risk at such a pivotal juncture.

I have never cruised on RCL but have three RCL cruises booked in the next 13 months and am curious to see the differences. It was never brand loyalty, just that we live near the Los Angeles and San Diego ports and RCL hasn't had much of a presence in Southern California for a while. As my wife and I have moved into new age and tax brackets we get a little pickier, we have more vacation time so we can afford the time and the money of flying to a port but that wasn't always the case. We are native Californians, tattoos and surgically enhanced body parts on display seem normal to us, so the carnival crowd didn't bother us in fact we probably are them. What bothered us was the lack of specialty dining, limited suites, wine offerings and a few other things the older or smaller ships can lack. I was reluctant to switch because it means forfeiting loyalty and casino perks (sometimes free rooms) since I spend way too much time and money playing cards. I do like the suite offerings on Royal, were trying all three, JS, GS and OS on three different ships. Royal seems to have more rabid fans so I'm optimistic. One little thing I really like, probably not important to most, is the wine list and the beverage package rules as it pertains to wines above the price limit. On some lines, if they have a price limit of $13 and you order a $15 glass, you pay the whole $15. From what I've read with Royal's DBX, you just pay the difference. Plus the 40% off on bottles with the DBX serves as a backstop in case we don't like the offerings by the glass and from the wine lists posted, the prices are reasonable and selection suits us. Were not wine snobs, I prefer hobbyists but I've had land based tropical vacations at high end resorts impacted when I see the cabernet on ice when I approach the bar for the first time. I can improvise on land, I can always find a store nearby, on a cruise I am stuck. Maybe we are wine snobs.

I'm vaccinated, I have a greater risk of dying traveling to the cruise than dying on it from covid. Benjamin Franklin once said: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." I love me some Ben!  100 years from now Benjamin Franklin will still be quoted, the CDC, not so much.

thanks to all, we booked Air2Sea and got about $200 per person off vs expedia and airline site plus some protection/assurance of arrival included for our August Adventure of the seas out of Nassau. I can happily say it's not the super saver fare, but the main cabin and you can pick your seats, super convenient. I still can't pay to upgrade to preferred or main cabin extra as my reservation still shows pending on AA but it's only been 24 hours since I booked. Anyways thanks to the posters for the tips. Last year we had a European cruise cancelled, we bought the flight and the cruise insurance, not only were they worthless and didn't pay, we didn't even get the insurance ( sold by MSC and UAL) refunded when the cruise and airline gave us refunds independent of the insurance. They wouldn't even take our calls. Maybe these rates are just for these initial cruises but Air2Sea may have gotten me as a customer for life. I get an actual person in 3 minutes to answer my questions and I pay less than websites? What is not to love? TA couldn't have been more sweet, price was unbeatable and I'm happy. That is the art of customer service!