whitsmom

I always bring my own!  They can't guarantee what brand/quality of any the the products as everyone is different. That is why there are so many different products on the market.  If you don't mind what kinds you use, then your lucky.  Me - I do care!

Our favorite cruise to date was our Alaska cruise on the Radiance.  Hubby had just had a heart attack and stint 27 days prior to our cruise.  Thankfully, we did good and the doctor said that a cruise would be restful and gave us this blessing.  He said no fly for 4 weeks and we missed that by 1 day so the doctor said he could fly.  To make this cruise even more memorable, we were schedule to go with two other couples (one from Grand Rapids and the other from Houston).  Long story short, the husband of the Grand Rapids had a heart attack two weeks after my hubby and he had to have open heart surgery so they had to cancel.  The other couple from Houston, the wife blow her Achilles tendon and had surgery.  But she came with a scooter and did great. 

We did a humpback whale excursion but instead of humpbacks, we saw lots of Orcas. 

On 10/27/2020 at 1:47 PM, PaulRC said:

Who closed the border the US of Can?

Canada closed ports for ships carrying more than 250 people.  We don't cruise until October 2021 so hopefully the ports are opened back way before that.

Same price that I got a while back when it dropped.  It was $57 and dropped to $43 when I purchased it earlier. I just open Canada opens back up so that we can actually go!

1 hour ago, HeWhoWaits said:

Another option that doesn't rely on any airlines - drive it. Austin to New Orleans is only about 8 driving hours each way. By the time you drive to the airport, go through security, wait for your flight, sit in those tiny seats for a while, wait at baggage claim, and travel to your hotel the time saving is probably only an hour or two.

Also driving will help with being exposed to extra germs at the airport, plane, and transportation to hotel.

My DDP was $57 and today it was $43.  I purchased it so I really hope our L&S October 2021 will be a go!

I wish mine was on sale...still $57.

Your final payment gets moved to October 2021.  We did the L&S for our October 2020 cruise to October 2021 and our final payment was moved to July 2021.

On 7/23/2020 at 8:45 PM, Dan Curtis said:

WE have been visiting the bourbon trail, we’re not even huge bourbon fans, but the country side in Ky is so beautiful and all the horse farms near Lexington are nice to visit, also enjoy the Smokey Mountians, we had a cruise canceled in May, have not tried to rebook anything yet. 

Fellow Kentuckian here!  We love bourbon though!!  We are just south of Louisville and a little over an hour to Lexington (daughter & family are there).  Kentucky is a beautiful place for sure.

We finally got all our CP refunds last week from our L&S cruise.  Now we are just going to wait to repurchase anything to until we see that the cruising does actually start back...

19 hours ago, Jolly Ogre said:

Who is going to enforce this as they dont even enforce the time or capacity limits on the hot tubs now?

We are taking our granddaughters to Great Wolf Lodge this weekend and when I talked to them the other day they told me that they have workers that their only job is policing the social distancing in the water park as well as the hotel and etc.  They also have an app now and we can use the app to order and pay for food there.  I did rent a indoor cabana for our 2 days there just to have our own space.  They did say that the Hot Tubs are CLOSED due to not being able to maintain the distancing.  I feel like RCI will have to close the Hot Tub also as they are so small in comparison of the pools. 

18 hours ago, cookie10* said:

We L&S as well. BUT we are still waiting on refunds for drinks and dinner package i cancelled in early May!!!!

Us too!  I can't figure out why we can't L&S our drink, dining, and VOOM packages.  I mean those are all only RCI anyway and would be no need to be waiting for refunds.  I can see the excursions as those are not RCI.  My 45 business days will be up on July 2nd so we will see it they come thru (I am not holding my breath...)

1 hour ago, JLMoran said:

For me, first choice would be a Norway & Iceland that explores a number of the fjords in each country and has a good number of port stops to see the culture / try the local cuisine. Second choice would be an itinerary that stops at Croatia, Montenegro, the Greek Isles (Mykonos, Santorini, Athens), then Italy; maybe including Valetta, but I think that's on the wrong side of Italy to fall inside the usual Greek Isles / Amalfi Coast kind of itinerary.

We did a Iceland land vacation last February and it was our BEST vacation so far!  We saw the Northern Lights 3 nights in a row (one being from the plane flying to Iceland).  We now want to go back and see what their summer is like.  Our tour guide told us their high temp in summer is around 60.  Norway/Iceland cruise will be on my radar too!

A client of my hubby told him that his sister is/was given one of the test vaccines and has had no ill effects from it so far.  At least they are "really" in the testing phases.  Fingers crossed!!

2 hours ago, Pima1988 said:

@Baked Alaska

We are in the same boat.  We booked a clamshell at Labadee.  Beach bed came up at a great price and we decided to cancel the clamshell.  We are still waiting and it is coming up on 45 days.

However, if you booked it with OBC it seems like it is back immediately.  The only problem is you now need a spread sheet.  This was OBC, cancelled re-booked, at lower price and purchased this with OBC and cc. This is your cc saying refund, and new purchase!

We are now at the point OBC is for DBP only!

I had to do an excel spread sheet so that I can keep it all straight!  I did tell RCI on my last communication with them regarding my refunds due to our Life & Shift; I told her that RCI should L&S the drink packages and internet packages and etc that are strictly RCI.  I told her that I understand the excursions as those may change but the others are all Royal's anyway.  She told me that I had a valid point and she would share this at their next meeting/briefing.  I mean it is a win-win for them really as they wouldn't have to do those refunds on top of everything else right now.

Freedom October 14, 2021 (L&S fro, Oct 8, 2020)

You might have a little longer getting thru the airport due to all the Covid-19 stuff now.  So that might need to be factored in your time frame.

In April, I cancelled and re-booked the UBP and received my refund in 7 days.  In May 17th and cancelled and re-booked my VOOM and I still haven't received my credit.  When I looked into it, they told me that it will take 30 days...

On our L&S we did from Oct 2020 to Oct 2021 we had the UBP and Internet which did not transfer (I didn't get it super cheap like some did), however, those things are totally RCI and I can't for the life of me figure out why those weren't included in the L&S.  Of course, they are higher currently.  I will just have to watch to see if they go cheaper.  I still haven't received any refunds credited back yet but I don't expect many until at least June 21st (30-day mark). 

I feel the same way too!  We aren't retired yet so we don't have the luxury to cruise multiple times a year; however, I really enjoy the planning that comes with cruising.  We decided to L&S our October 2020 New England-Canada cruise to next year, which turned out to be a good decision as they are now cancelled.  I really do wish that our cruise planner (UBP & Internet) purchases would have transferred.  I understand the excursions as those might change as those are 3rd party but the drink package and internet is all RCI. 

We did L&S for our October 8th New England-Canada cruise to October 14th but our cruise planner purchases did not transfer.  I am still waiting for the refunds to show up.  They said 30-45 days before refunds will show up.

On 5/29/2020 at 5:48 PM, Karen Rose said:

I have booked a fly cruise on 16th August  but i would like to lift and shift to August 2021  it was booked as a package can we L&S all of the package we have paid for flights and don't want to lose all the money already paid due to something out of our control

We did the L&S for our October New England-Canada cruise for October 8 2020 to October 14 2021.  We had flights booked (on our own) thru Delta.  They gave us an e-credit as I cannot book the new flights until 300 days out.  I'm not sure how that works with RCI booking the flights as most airlines are 300 or so days out.  Good luck!

On our Radiance cruise (Vancouver to Seward) in July 2018 we had AT&T cell reception the entire time (actually better that we have at our own home).  We did use VOOM and did not have any issues that I can remember.  We were doing the Northbound Inside Passage and you can see land on both sides mostly so I am sure that is why. 

A - No

B - Maybe

C- Yes (I don't like people I don't know in my Hula-Hoop anyway)

We did our L&S from October 8 2020 to October 14 2021.  I think the same (mostly) ports are there; however, we were on the Adventure and now we will be on the Freedom. Do you have a TA or did you do it all yourself?  I wish you luck in getting it all resolved.  It may take lots of different phone calls to finally get to someone that will be willing to work with you.