Midwest Cruiser

I'm at a cost basis of around $48 a share. Wish we would have had a little more free cash at the time to buy more. Told my financial planner that the stocks were going to pop back up. Also agree with @Cakemeister that the debt paydown needs some more time before the Dividends would be back into the picture.

Actually selected the option of having an already booked cruise. Just gave them our Confirmation number and said it takes usually 10-14 business days for the refund to show up.

I believe you can get the WOW bands in Black, Blue, and White. Purpleish/Pink is Star Class only. The WOW bands worked great for us on the ship. You still will need to use the Seapass Card to get off at port stops. Yes they can be reprogramed for future cruises on ships with that tech(Oasis class except Allure, Quantum, and Icon).

One last question, We have not received our refund for the ultimate drink package for the canceled cruise. Has anyone had experience as to who to ask for when calling in?

Update for all, Just received email from Aon which is the Insurance that is selected when you book through Priceline, also who is the Insurance when booking directly with Royal Caribbean. We have been approved for refund. Very pleased and relieved to have this news and reimbursement. Followed the instruction, had the doctors paperwork filled out and also submitted the discharge paperwork showing all tests performed and diagnosis. Online submission was on March 2nd received email confirming acceptance of claim on March 19th. Little guy is doing well and recovered from Influenza B, Double ear infection, and Pneumonia. So all is well and time to finally rebook our next cruise for Dec 8th to replace the lost one!

We will reimburse You, up to the Maximum Benefit Amount shown in the Schedule of Benefits, for the amount of the unused non-refundable prepaid Payments or Deposits for the Travel Arrangements You purchased for Your Trip, when You cancel Your Trip prior to departure for a covered reason, including cancellation fees. Trip Cancellation must be due to one of the following reasons: 1. Your, a Family Member’s, a Traveling Companion’s, or a Business Partner’s death, that occurs before departure on Your Trip; 2. Your, a Family Member’s, a Traveling Companion’s, or a Business Partner’s covered Sickness or Injury, that: a) occurs before departure on Your Trip; b) requires Medical Treatment at the time of cancellation; and c) as certified by a Physician, results in medical restrictions so disabling as to cause Your Trip to be cancelled; or If I'm reading and understanding that correctly it should be covered....

Thank you, No we are not on this one. We are in Sky Class Crown Loft thought.

We have trip insurance through LeisureCare and our son just came down with confirmed Influenza B tonight, We sail out on Sunday on Symphony. It is just my wife an I that are cruising. From the way i understand the language, that should still be covered by the trip protection? We have no one to watch him and wouldn't really want anyone to watch him while sick to infect others, parents are older and really don't want to ask them for their health to. Any thoughts or guidance would be appreciated.

Has anyone been to Nassau lately to see progress of the Project, or any new information?

We have kids 3 and 7 and I couldn't justify booking a DCL because of pricing compared to RCL. I think we would do a day at Magic Kingdom then travel to Canaveral for a RCL sailing to cover the Disney side of the experience for us. I will be interesting to hear what you think and the rest of the group thinks in comparison after the trip. We love Oasis of the Seas. Have done Star on her last March. Who is your Gene? We had Letti and she was really good.

After our Sailing on NCL Encore, I can say with confidence that we won't be going on NCL again. Cruise was fine, ports were good, food was good(except for getting food poisoning from the MDR the night before debarkation), very small amount of activities for kids to do on the ship except for the small kids splash area and the splash academy(which they enjoyed). IMO the laser tag dedicated area was a complete waste of useful space where they could have had the sports courts. Definitely felt the smaller waves compared to Oasis class which was probably to be expected. Room was good for Ocean balcony, Kids enjoyed the bunk bed coming down from the ceiling. Looking forward to our Symphony sailing in 17 days.

I have always booked our cruises on my own and through Priceline(has been good to work with so far). So far so good, I have a dedicated person with their email and phone number to figure out issues(which we haven't had). We are not against TA's, this has just worked out the best for us so far granted all of our cruises have departed and arrived back in the US, now if we were to do any other departure destinations outside of the US I would book through a trusted TA.

@Matt has a nice short on YouTube for this....

Dang, Now I wish I would have seen this earlier, Was our busy season on not much time for other activities on the forum. We just did our final payment for Encore in January. Looking at it now as an experience, but this review confirmed my suspicions from reviews i have read and watched. Had the chance at booking our favorite Oasis for the same time out of Miami.

Looks like the Ultimate Panoramic Suites are also going on her like on the AMPED Oasis.

It was really fun and unique experience that we would do again. Yes to everything you mentioned. The short walk up to the pools or the suite sun deck was awesome. We missed out on more of the Coastal Kitchen by not being closer to it.

Sorry for the delay, busy planting season for us up here. Just add that in the comments in the Genie questionnaire, and you will also be able to reiterate that to your Genie when they walk you to your room and go over the schedule they have for you. The tours are at no extra cost. Any other questions, don't hesitate to ask.

I know today is the last day to book with the past deposit amount and tomorrow it goes up to the 10% for suites. Did royal lock everyone out of the suites today to book and will reopen tomorrow? I have checked for multiple suites and can only find JS or the UPS on Oasis available for January of 24 and also for Icon, and odyssey. Then looked even for Jan of 25 and Suites are unavailable to book. This is after looking on Monday and there were most of the Crown (17th floor) open to be booked. I'm guessing they didn't want lots of suites to be booked then dropped in a month.....

Just a thought here, would it be of benefit to the group if there was 2 new selections on the Forums main page to add Star class/ suite class Discussion and then ship reviews? Nice new change to the site to get things more organized? I can use the search bar up top but don't seem to find what im looking for.

Woof. Our January 28 2024 on Encore sailing, if I switched us over to a royal sailing that same day or weekend(Oasis out of Miami or Symphony out of Everglades) I think we might be happier.

I'm in the same camp. With how Covid went down, and the tensions, it doesn't seem in the best interest of a Company to step into that market quite yet. Now if there becomes high demand in the initial Disney sailings over the first year, then it would maybe make financial sense to place a ship over there.

Excited to hear of your experience also. We are booked currently on Encore for January of next year. If your experience is anything but great(we are on the fence of even sailing with NCL just doing so because we have friends on this cruise and my father and his GF), I'm ready to cancel and book either Oasis again or Symphony for that same day.

She was great. She helped direct us when we were trying to find the Star checkin at Terminal A. Also talked to her at Coco Cay at the Large pool.

Those lounge chairs on the end of the bed are very comfortable. We are in a Crown Loft Suite on Symphony next March(have to take a NCL cruise with the Family, wish it would have been RCL in January). Looking forward to experience that.

So here it is.... After our first time in Star class with the Genie, I will have to say it is going to be different going back to anything else. Our experience on Oasis was great but there were a couple things to comment on Sailing out of Port Miami. We flew in 2 days in advance and I'm glad we did. We had a winter storm almost wreak havoc on our flight but we were lucky. We stayed at the Hilton Downtown and had a good experience for the price. Only downfall is their elevator system and how it works. All other amenities were good, pool was awesome and warm as bath water. Embarkation was a little disjoined, there was supposed to be a dedicated location with Individuals in Purple shirts, this wasn't visible and a cause for confusion. The stand wasn't set up until almost 10:30, which is the earliest you can check in, I was just anticipating a roped line with better signage. After this the processes of Embarkation was seamless. You have your luggage taken by Star Class porters and is "Delivered to your room"(more on that later). You enter the terminal with your genie and up to Suite security check-in. Then its onto the lounge for a brief stop and then onto the ship. Luggage delivery.... That was a disappointment, at about 3pm we went back to the room and were going to get ready for sail away and supper following. We had no luggage, called the Genie and she was on it, then 5 minutes later nothing still, I finally walked down the hall and low and behold they were sitting like everyone luggage, in the Hallway, with our attached Purple Star Class Tags. Crisis averted but disappointing. Best Sail away we have had! Suite deck is absolutely the place. Also we were blessed to board on the Port side which means we were able to sail to downtown, do the turntable, and sale all the way back out. That is how every sail away should go if I was in charge at Royal! Room was great and lived up to the Ultimate Panoramic Suite. Amenities were great, bed was comfortable, over abundance of Closet space for the Wife and myself. Products requested were in the room and never in short supply, Climate control and comfort was easy to adjust(need for keeping shades closed during day or lowest setting for cooling due to all the glass). Bathrooms were great to have 2, never bothered my wife when she was getting ready and could quick use one or the other. One disappointment that I would have with the bathrooms is the toilet paper. That had to be the absolute cheapest they could find. I swear you could 5 fold that stuff and still be able to trace words on a book through it. I understand that the plumbing on the ship is not meant for heavy duty trash down the toilet, but an upgrade to that paper would be nice. Was nice to be able to have a shower or bath if you wanted and fit(6'7" doesn't fit well into most tubes), shower for me with the rainfall worked awesome and didn't have to bend over to rinse off my head. hahaha I was on the fence about the Genie and if we would utilize their services to what we would think would justify the added cost. I would say ours did have the added benefit. We were able to have her book or adjust times for reservation in restaurants and add more shows to our schedule(saw Aqua 80's twice and in exchange for Cats). It was nice being escorted on and off the ship, and having that luxury experience. She was able to have different items delivered for us to snack on(Playmakers nachos and wings, Tiramisu for a late evening desert, Tapas from Vintages, and chocolate covered strawberries) along with a nice gift that she had delivered to our room. **Pro note if you have to much food and you have a great bartender up on the suite deck, we would bring some of the food up to them and they would put it in the back area. That was a huge hit and gesture that they were really grateful for and didn't waste food. We ate at All of the Specialty Restaurant's. Still our #1 favorite is 150 Central Park. Chefs table was also a great experience to have all the parings and explanations. Playmakers Campfire cookie is still awesome even though it didn't come in the skillet like before. Most under rated place is Port Side BBQ, the food was awesome and the 3 meat option could easily be split 2 ways. We were advised to book both Chefs and Hibachi ahead of time, but we just go with the flow and let the genie rearrange our schedule to make the times work. Plus we find it fun to sit with new people and interact. Shows were great with the Genie having the best seats reserved. 3rd row dead center for the Aqua shows, middle of the Room for the Comedy show, and right against the railing for the Ice show. We could have our drinks messaged to her ahead of time and have them for the shows. My wife also took advantage of the Starbucks drinks available to Star Class and had them delivered every morning to our room. . Galley an Bridge tour was also something to see and take in. Cool to see behind the scenes. Debarkation was also awesome, we met her by the elevator bank, were able to bypass all floors and were walked off the ship. You then get handed off to a Suite dedicated person at the terminal, Genies can not go any further than up to security. We were taken directly to security/customs on the street level through the suite elevators and out to our Uber pickup location. We walked with all of our luggage, this gave us more time to pack and organize the last night. Overall it was top notch. Going back once you are spoiled with this experience to anything less now isn't going to feel the same. The way we justified this was 3 years without a vacation, and we were originally booked on Wonder for January of '23 in a GS and I'm always looking for a better price. I stumbled onto this sailing and cabin by chance. Full disclosure this cruise booked was $10,928, our Wonder was only $1,000 cheaper and we would have had another $1,800 into it with the DBP and VOOM, Dining Package..... That is the one thing I will always look at now moving forward with a cruise for any room are the added costs and if it can justify going to Star Class. Welcome any question or comments!! Central Park 150 Central Park Tenderloin for 2 Our room view just out of Port Miami Suite Lounge View from Hilton Downtown Fitness Center Bridge