904Duval

3 hours ago, D Alt said:

Doesn't say still what prompted them to test people prior to disembarkation. Doesn't make sense.  But still 17 out of of 3200 is good.  

Agree.  Very confusing.  It didn’t make sense why they tested if asymptomatic. Other travel sites mention a crew member who is from South Africa. All speculative at this point.
Raises questions like- Did that S African person just join the cruise ship? And that person can’t be patient zero for the ship as the other positives are not Omicron (or not proven as such yet).  

Regardless, for past few months cruising been proven to be very safe with mandatory vaccinations and per embarkation testing.  

per 2 other travel sites- “reason for the concern: One of those cases, a South African crew member, is suspected to have the Omicron variant”. 

Unfortunately the stated policy is table max of 8.  That group dining form and table request is bogus.  Best of luck in getting a table of 10. 

It did not work for my group of 18 for 2 tables of 9.  We actually had a group of 22 and just had 4 tables next to each other in MDR. 

29 minutes ago, 1978bucketlist said:

Thank you. I put information in my notes. Hopefully I won’t have to ask again.

I really appreciate that you can get an answer here without snarky comments.

Matt runs a tight ship.  

8 hours ago, deep1 said:

MyFiance'  is somebody elses ex wife, Her passport that she is booked with is in her Maiden name. The vaccine test was done with drivers license and thats still in married name. This morn I was looking through the check ins and noticed she was flagged for "invalid"?  I have to assume the name thing would be the difference? I called and they didn't have any info.  I guess bring the card, the DL and the Passport?

Vaxx Card, DL and passport should work.
 I’m so OCD I’d bring the divorce documents (and prior marriage certificate if she didn’t burn it). 

13 hours ago, Beci said:

And thats perfect!  For those who want to be a part of the process.  booking then transferring is the best of both worlds.  We are happy to have your back and advocate for you... while checking for the best deals!  Thanks for your business! 

I also like to pick my cabin online by myself. And then get my travel agent involved. I don’t understand why someone wouldn’t use a travel agent. 

Travel agents cost you nothing extra. 

Travel agents are paid a commission by the cruise line, which comes out of the cruise line’s bottom line, and not charged to you. Support this important service industry. 

In return you get expert advice and extra set of eyes.  I used my travel agent to herd my friends reservations together and then book us as a group.  
 

Here’s an excellent post by Matt 

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2020/06/15/top-things-you-didnt-know-travel-agents-can-do-your-cruise-vacation

Yes price drop should occur. Even with 2 ships.  Coco cay is huge and suppose to handle 2 ships.  I think everyone who posted state fair market value is around $100 for Beach Club day passes.  
 

You are NOT bidding against yourself if you reserve a cabana as that’s a (presumed)  separate class from the day passes. 

Royal published max capacity for Beach Club is 450. I think there’s 20 overwater and 10 beach cabana which gives a presumed max   capacity of 240 (at 8 passes each) for that class of passes. 

So there should be 210 day passes independent of the cabana. 

On 3/6/2019 at 1:24 PM, melski94 said:

Take a look on amazon for something similar to WineHero.  They are bubble wrap type leak proof bags.  Just check that the size works for the bottles you want to buy.

+1 Wine hero.  I’ve used them and they’re awesome-leak proof and reusable.  Going to use them to carry on my 2 bottles of wine onto the cruise and then use it for carry off my duty free, if I find any good bourbon. 

35 minutes ago, SummerRose said:

I just had a long chat with a RCCL employee and asked about this.  It's not listed for us but on his side he said it's coming to the US and then it goes to the Mediterranean.  That is where it will stay until it comes back to the states until November of 2022.  Then it's going to sail empty to Hong Kong and there are sailings out of Hong Kong starting in January.

 

 

I’m interested in how long it will take to cruise at 25 mph to Hong Kong from Florida/Caribbean.  

Can’t fit thru Panama Canal! New canal will handle post-Panamax ships of maximum dimensions being: Length 365.8m, Breadth 48.8m.  
Wonder is 

So around Cape Horn. Cape Horn to Hong Kong is 16,000 km (9,600 miles) which is 16 days at 25 mph!
 

Need to add the sail days from Port Canaveral (after dropping off paying passengers) to Cape Horn. It’s a circuitous route as Brazil sticks out of the Atlantic. That’s a lot of days at sea for the crew. 

3 hours ago, foxrunner said:

We are on the Allure and the Freedom is scheduled for the same day (April 21, 2022) at C.C. The Beach Club full day pass is  $200 per person. Given the crowd level on the island do you think the price is warranted? I know this is hard to answer but would you spend the money to get into the club? The over water cabanas are out of reach at $1,700 and the regular cabanas in the club are $1,400. We are a group of three couples if that helps. 

You should wait for a drop in price. You could wait for the Black Friday sale after Thanksgiving. I would pay about $100 pp or less for the Beach Club (BC) pass.  The lobster and grouper lunch is worth it. And 2 ships gets a little crowded.  But the BC has a max capacity.  
I would book the regular cabana right now. It includes admission to the beach club for 8 people.  So with your current group you’re getting the cabana for $200 at current price or if you could find 2 more people it’s way worth it. 
You can always cancel whatever you book in the cruise planner when you get a better price. 100% refundable until a few days from sail date. Takes about one week for the refund to post on your credit card. 

It should be available on the cruise planner. There’s apparently a different booking for the passenger as it’s a 2 person jet ski. 

On 10/11/2021 at 12:56 PM, AndrewPunch said:

Got $700 off our spring break cruise by making two separate payments, so yes if your spouse has a card check to see if they have offers as well. 

Pretty awesome! I have received $500 back from Amex already.  Charged $1500 with my Amex card with a Royal Caribbean Rep last Friday the 8th. $500 was credited this past Thursday. Very quick turnaround. 

expiration has been extended another 3 months from the expiration date printed on the label. 

27 minutes ago, AndrewPunch said:

Anyone double dip on these?

The wife and I both have the platinum card mine has the $500 off $1500 and hers has the $200 off $500.  I just used mine will have to call hers in next week for our spring break cruise with the kids. 

Double dipping seems possible. 
Reading the fine print of my $500 off offer it does not state only one offer per a cabin. Only one offer per card member across all Amex channels. So it appears two separate card members could each use their offer on the same cabin.  

If you have two cabins, you could put one card member in one cabin and the other card member in the other cabin.  And then it would definitely work for both cards to the corresponding cabin. 

Looks promising as just received confirmation email.  Fingers crossed.  We will see if it works. I will keep you all informed. I followed all the fine print and used it for final payment after adding the offer to the Amex card.
 

Amex is very reliable on their offers as it already recognized the charge .   I assume it’s now up to Royal Caribbean to validate it. 

Ok MrMarc.  That’ll work.
I actually have the 5 year plan w Medjet after purchasing annual membership with AARP for $12.  Saved hundreds of dollars on the family plan with Medjet. And if I can convince my wife, I would be cruising more frequently. 

Coincidently CNBC has an article today on med evac insurance with Covid international evacuation mainly with Covac global.  BUT that Covac global does NOT cover cruising. that’s a non starter. 

Thanks. I was finally able to pay for voom surf + stream - 4 devices (50% off) on Safari.  Had to log off and close window.  Then reopened and logged on. 
Canceling my key club. 

The Medjet company only transfers (medical evacuation) hospital to hospital.  So it won’t transfer you if you’re just in quarantine and not in a hospital. 

One would assume you should be able to get your money back if just joined today or yesterday. Especially if you stated your start date of coverage as the the first day of your cruise. 

I actually enrolled in Medjet this year as a supplement to my travel insurance. The main reason is it covers med evac to a hospital of your choosing. So it’ll fly you to a hospital near your home instead of a hospital in Miami if you’re hospitalized in the Caribbean. 

Miami and South Florida will take the money from the cruise industry but doesn’t mean they have to like it!  If they can get federal funds, they’ll take that as well. 
 

This whole Appeals Court fiasco was sad and disappointing last week and now after yesterday is a joke. 
 

Like him or not, FL Governor DeSantis went to Harvard Law and practiced law with the Navy JAG.  So he actually knows the legal system.  

Yesterday (Tuesday) I think the stock did a nose dive because the CDC is appealing the Florida case about cruising.  Follow through for today.
As stated by others, prior to this and today is also macro-overall market going down, and for cruising stocks- higher overhead (including gas prices very high) and Carnival has another stock offering to raise capital and all travel stocks going down because of fear of the Delta variant. 
I also think RCL will hit $100 eventually and should have already.  Now is a great time to buy more as the fall and 2022 will be a great time to sail.