EmersonNZ

That will be absolutly fine. You'll need to make the bookings etc but they they can be your +2 without an issue.

As mentioned you just need to give them a call and let them know you would like to drop the package for one member of the cabin and they will happily do it. As a responsible host RCL wouldn't want to have a policy to force someone to have a alcohol package that maybe shouldn't have one for one reason or another (Be it health, religion, etc). The issue they were looking to avoide is where one person would buy the drink pacage and then buy drinks for the whole cabin (You couldn't get more than one drink per visit to the bar... but I imagine easy enough to waait a few minutes and go up again or go to a differnt bar etc. I guess another example of some idiots making things difficult for the majority (Not RCL fault, I'd have done the same if i was them).

They will certainly be looking to recover their additional operating costs (and not just fuel, inflation will mean many of the good and services they buy will be increasing and of course the increase in fuel costs will fuel (sorry) inflation even more. If they add a distinct surcharge I’m not sure. Will we pay more for the total cost of the cruise (fare, food, drinks, excursions)? Of course. It is either that or Royal reduces their margins which I am not sure they are in a position to do.

If you cancel the previous package you can then rebook it at the new lower price. I tend to look on the cruise planner every couple of weeks and often cancel and rebook things like the dinning package, drinks packages and excursions if I find better deals. My golden rule is book it at a price you are happy with then every time you get to rebook at a lower price is a bonus.

This was a no brainer for RCL for many reasons. First and foremost was safety of crew and passengers. Included in this is the mental health of crew from Ukraine (And yes the mental health of Russian staff is also a consideration. I think the state of the Ukraine staff who are seeing their country invaded may be of slightly more at risk than maybe the Russian staff, though, again many of them may have lost loved ones in the invasion themselves. War creates victims on all sides). While I don’t know if there is any physical danger to the ship or passengers the heightened tension and political uncertainty would be of concern. Secondly demand. While I am sure many will still want to travel to Russia I'm pretty sure the demand for the short to medium term won't be what it was. Many people will actively choose not to sail on itineraries that include Russia while I suspect those cancelling or choosing not to sale because an itinerary doesn’t include Russia will be a far lesser number. Thirdly legislation. I imagine many countries in Europe (and elsewhere) will impose sanctions/port entry bans on ships/aircraft that include Russia in their itinerary. Then there are likely to be things behind the scenes we don’t see. Possible economic/supply disruption in Russia caused by sanctions may be of concern to RCL for example. Then the question of what is the right thing to do… that gets into a political discussion so I’ll leave that out…

I guess that would be a simular process to what airlines do when they overbook flights. You make offers to those wishing to go on a different flight upping the compensation until you find a volunteer. If no one volunteer the small print allows you to deny boarding. I also imagine RCL has a lot of data on the historical democracies of those traveling and can rather accurately estimate the number of unvaccinated they should expect on any given cruise given the booking patterns they see. Add a decent margin for error and I would be surprised if they found themselves in this situation too often (if at all). They could also stop selling tickets to certain cruses when they reach 'x' number of children on board. They collect this information when you book so could simply stop the booking process when 'x' number children have booked and then offer other sailings through the booking process. I really don't see this being too much of an issue for RCL as there are plenty of ways they can mitigate this occurring.

Don't forget you can also ask for bottles of water as part of your drink package to take back to your room. You can also get cans of coke etc from some locations which again you can take back to the room to drink later. One cool thing on the Oasis is the Bionic bar which is 2 robots who will prepare drinks for you. Drinks from the Bionic bar are also included as part of your drinks package. Enjoy your cruise I am sure youa re going to have an amazing time

It is interesting seeing how many comment they would prefer the casinos to remain smoke free (Add me to that list). I don't go into the casino becuase of smoking. I am sure RCL has done the math on revenue if they were to ban smoking though I wonder if they might find that afer an inital dip they would see an increae as they attract new players who don't go now and those that do still come anyway after a short period of adjsting. They did a study in NZ after smoking was banned in bars, casinos etc and after a 3 month did casio patrionage and spending actually increased (Simular for bars, restuarnts etc..

Whoopie... I'm so used to calling it 'West Island'

Thank you! I'm a bear of small brian... it takes mae a month or 3 to start writing the current year in dates (Changed in the title )

I'm not too sure the safe bit is an issue.... Looking at the per million death rate of COVID in NZ & Aust verese anywhere eelse in the world I'm not sure we can argue it isn't safe day (NZ = 11 deaths per 1M, Aust = 182 per 1M, US = 2,846 per 1M, UK 2,66/ per 1M for example). I knwo the enquiries we have for internation students wanting to study is through the roof (almost 30x pre COVID enquiries per month) and after quality of educaiton the second biggest reason for applying is saftety. Easy to travel is another matter. I'm pretty confident by the end of the year both NZ and Australia will be open to fully vacinated tourists with no quartine and little if any protocles in palce (RAT for things like a cruis where it crosses international borders might be in place and marsk entering into areas with people with vunerabilities like rest homes/hospitals etc seems like a reasonable thign to hand on to for a while etc). Of course.... as the last 2 years has shown the future is so easy to predict in the past .

I did notice that wordign but I'm not sure if that si because it was sent to NZ/Aust residents so used that wording or if they actually meant it was only for NZ/Aust residents.

Great news. Royal Caribbean has confirmed 'Double Points' will be avalable for all sailings departming Australia through 30th April 2023 for bookings made before 31st March 2022. (I.e Make a booking by end of March this year for a sailing through end of Arpil next year out of Asutralia and you'll gt double points. RCL has austomatically updated any booksing that have been made previously to include this offer. Double Points Update Dear Crown & Anchor Society Member, We have great news to share with you! Over the last year, we’ve received many comments and feedback on our Double Points promotion which you were unable to participate in due to the halt on domestic and international cruising for Australians. Today, we are excited to advise that we will be offering the Double Points promotion for bookings made by our Australian members through 31st March 2022 for sailings departing prior to 30th April 2023. This means that your booking will qualify for double points! You do not need to do anything at this time, as your points will be applied to your loyalty account within 14 days of the end of your cruise. We also know Australians simply can’t wait to get back to enjoying the world class experiences onboard our ships. From catching waves on the FlowRider surf simulator, to battling it out on the indoor dodgems or watching breathtaking shows that come alive with robotic dancing screens at Two70 – our ships are jam-packed with non-stop entertainment. Our Quantum Class ships will be sailing from both Brisbane and Sydney in 2022-23 offering up adventures in New Zealand, tropical vibes in the South Pacific or fun filled weekend coastal getaways closer to home. Thank you for your continued support, trust, and patience as we worked through protocols and local government guidance. We look forward to welcoming you back onboard soon. Sincerely, Royal Caribbean International

I couldn't agree more. Get your cert through your local dive store. The pacing will be a lot better, facilities should be better (and if they aren't, find another dive store) and when you get to the cruise you'll be able to enjoy some amazing dive locaitons without having to worry about going through your training.

I should have put a language warning on the link . Being a student mag it can be rather colourful at times. I havn't been on Cruise Critic for some time but will make sure I enroll on the roll call.

The Student Mag (Critic) at the uni I work at does a really good review each year of the fish and chip shops around Dunedin. Their top rating for the last few years is Tahuna Camp Store which I would have to agree with. https://www.critic.co.nz/features/article/9163/the-20th-annual-critic-fish-and-chip-review

I suspect that we'll see cruises in NZ for the summer season (Maybe not at the very beginning but by Christmas). I would be shocked if all passingers 5+ entering NZ did not have to be vacinated/boosted (Though that is the case with most countries)

We are booked on that cruise.It'll be strange visiting our home port (Dunedin).

Lion King and Beauty and the Beast are out. I can't see Disney giving the right to Royal any time soon. Phantom could work as could Les Mis (though you'd have to recast the two child roles to teens. Aida, Evita, Chess could be done well if you are looking for a 'modern' musical. My sleeper... Back to the future the musical. Part of me would love to see Starlight Express on the seas.... It could be absolutly carnage and make the ice and aqua shows look like childs play

I can't see them changing any time soon. The cost of buying rights (or developing an origional show), creating sets, costumes, training performers, musicans etc etc is probably something they aren;t keen on doing at the moment. As for Cats.... While it was a great show to perform in (It took me ages not to get tongue tied in Jellicle Cats) it certainly isn't my favourite musical but I wouldn't say I hate it. I certainly wouldn't walk out on it and always love to see how shows are interpreted by different casts etc.

Also consider downloading the shows you might wish to watch before you elave home. While Royal as the best Internet at Sea (There advertisment tell me so so it must be true) it is wifi at sea. Speed will not be as fast as you normally get at home and at peak times you may experaince some issues streaming. All the popular streaming services (Disney+ and Netlex for example) allow you to download shows/movies to your devices and then access them when you computer/tablet is offline. By downloading a few shows beforehand you essentually have your own backup just in case the ships wifi is not as good as it could be when you are wanting to watch something.

Yes they are all NZ/Aust flight crew flying the bubble flights. Aslo any crew who flies ne of those flights can't fly any other international flight for 14 days before they scheduled NZ/Aust flight and must test negative twice during that time. I see flights and cruise very different to each other. A flight has assigned seating and very little movement on board. With masks mandatory during the whole flight there is actually very little case of transmission (the airport is a whole other story). I'd see a cruise ship like an indoor entertainment venue, say a night club or bar etc. If you allow those open then you should low cruises (Which we do in NZ/Aust so I'd have no problem with cruising with the right precautions etc). I do have a concern that cruising does traditionally attract an older clientele (Says the 40ish year old who have been on about 15 cruises) which of course are more likely to have server reactions if they catch COVID. For their sake I would like to see everyone vaccinated before cruising even if NZ and Aust are COVID free (I'd hate to see a case that say a boarder worker went on a cruise only to find they had non symptomatic COVID and spread it to someone who might not be able to fight it as well as me due to age or medical conditions etc). I think comparing cruises to flying actually doesn't help the argument to start cruising again. If we instead look at similar activities like indoor entertainment establishments, gyms, swimming pools, bars etc I think we can form a far better argument why cursing should resume (At least in NZ/Aust).

Maybe you could borrow some of our Pfizer stock? (It's the only one being used in NZ and apparently we've ordered enough for us and mos of the Pacific). Interestingly we've also got others on order, I guess better to hedge your bets to cover supply issues and any issues with a particular one. As for cursing between NZ and Aust I can't see it this side of Christmas but It wouldn't shock me if the second half of the season goes ahead between the two countries. Both governments would have to be satisfied that staff on the ship(s) have been thoroughly quarantined and tested (And probably vaccinated which seems like the industry has settled on anyway). There will be a lot more scrutiny on reporting of people with illnesses on board and not sure either government will trust ships to self report anymore so it'll be interesting to see how they handle that. I think 2022/23 will be our fist full season with overseas guests but maybe we'll get some cursing between NZ/Aust in 21 if not early 22.

New Zealand Schools should be in session April 3rd. Looking on the Ministry of Education website Term 1 2023 run from Mon 1st Feb until Friday April 16th. Term 2 is Monday 3rd May until 9th July. I just looked at your itinerary and you are going to have a fantastic time (We actualyl do the same trip on Ovation in Jan 2023). The sounds (Which ironically are actually technical Fiords) are truly spectacular. When every I have visitors and want to show them some 'wow' New Zealand I'll take them to Milford Sound and do the boat tour which goes out into the sound. Your next port is Dunedin where we live. The ship docks about 30 minutes out of the city but there will be free bus tranportation from the cport to the city. The port (Port Chalmers) itself is worth a look around with some nice little cafes and old buildings etc (The first ever ship carrying frozen goods left Port Chalmers for England in 1882). Dunedin has some amazing architect including the Railway Station and the University)/ Also home to the worlds sterpest street which was a killer running up for ruby training (On the way up you thought you'd die... on the way down you knew you'd die). Also some amazing wildlife tours etc. Christchurch is called the garden city and truly deserves it title. This summer (if they sail) will be the first time cruise ships have visited Christchurch since the earth quakes in 2011 (The main port out of action for cruise ships until this year. Ships went to Akaroa which is about 45 minutes from Christchurch and itself a beautiful location Wellington is the capital. Don't miss going to Te Pap our national museum. I'm not a museum fan but I promise this is one you want to go to. Make sure you are awake as the ship comes in through the sound to Picton. Fantastic port town which si the ferry link between the South Island and North (Picton to Wellington Ferry). Some amazing wineries are within easy reach of Picton and any trip around the sounds will be amazing! (I spent some of my summer holiday there this year and loved it). Napier is an interesting city. Nearly totally leveled in 1031 by an earthquake the city was almost completely rebuilt in a Art Deco style which is kinda cool. If there is anything you want to know in particular feel free to reach out. I hope you really enjoy your time in Aotearoa/New Zealand (Aotearoa is the Maori word for New Zealand)

As everyone said no issue with elevator noise. I'd go for it.