AnnetteJackson

It was our 7th wedding anniversary and we decided to take the 2019 holiday cruise on Mariner since we never had a honeymoon. We had so much fun but one of our favorite things is the unlimited dining package! We are foodies so we tried every restaurant. We went to Izumi Hibachi twice because the food was soooo good! 

The card I got from the cast of Grease on the Independence.  I do production photography for the actors and this is the first time the cast did anything like this.  What a great bunch!

It's 2020  .... 

Took our grandson on his first cruise in February- 4 day Mariner out of PC.  Love the picture of him in a “Superman” pose on the flowrider!

Our last cruise was the Anthem cruise that was truncated due to suspected COVID cases (which proved to be completely false).  We were supposed to go to the Bahamas and ended up in Bermuda instead.  The nice part of the cruise was the reduced capacity - I think we sailed with around 60% capacity.  It was nice, even though shorter than it was supposed to be.  We had a great time.  We were supposed to receive OBC for 50% of the cruise fare and receive an FCC for the other 50%...essentially a free cruise...but somehow we came out ahead by about $650.  No idea how that happened.  We went out with a bang !!

My (then) 19 y/o son did the second leg of my back to back with me back in Jan-Feb.  I encouraged him to go Quest even though I was too tired to go.  He went and ended up being a team captain. 

The next day we kept running into people he knew from the night before....he was very chatty with everyone, high fives and fist bumps all around....and this is a kid who struggled with anxiety through his teen years.  Ever since that week on Adventure, he has been able to deal with his anxiety in a much more positive way.

That story is pure clickbait. "The Carnival Cruise Ship That Spread Coronavirus Around the World"
Give me a break. Let's conveniently forget that the virus spread across the world on airplanes, which were never stopped at all and given a free pass for being the primary means of transmission from one country or continent to another.

Thinking a bit more about this... I wouldn't do a river cruise just because Royal started offering them.  I like C&A points as much as everyone else but not that much.
It might fit better under the Azamara brand.  "Azamara River Cruises" even sounds better.  They are better at small ships and it fits their model better unless some other brand is built or acquired for the concept.  It doesn't seem to fit RCI so I doubt C&A points would be on the table.  

Is anyone else looking at 2021 vacation possibilities every weekend? My wife gets worried and excited everytime I pull out the laptop and "browse" while watching football and drinking a couple beers. It may not be a giant number for many, but I never have 3 "big" trips planned out for 1 year. 1 trip to Hawaii and 2 cruises.
Just upgraded from a 3day getaway to Alaska via Quantum 7day on may 24th out of Seattle. Went with cheapest room available on this one because it was just so darn cheap($1280 for the 2 of us). This cruise was actually $100 cheaper than my 3day I had planned... no brainer.   Anyone else going on this one? YOLO book it

I thought the same thing, "at least no ships dealing with getting around storms this year"

As Beta is approaching the Texas/Louisiana coast, this crazy hurricane season would have done a number on cruising - if all the lines were operational.   So might be a little silver lining to the Caribbean sailing season being delayed.  I remember going through the naming alphabet a few years ago, but don't remember the gulf coast getting this beat up.

We don't have access to the whole "game plan" for it actually starting, but I think we usually have a good idea of the immediate next steps.
In my opinion, I see two things that need to occur first:
End of the No Sail Order Royal Caribbean submitting their health policies and protocols to the CDC It may not occur in that order, but those are two tasks that need to be complete before anything else related to cruises restarting can occur.

I'm not sure anyone here can answer this question, we just don't know.  
I'm pretty confident though that Royal is running these through these exercises right now, creating a plan and getting ready to implement it as soon as word comes down.
When CDC does finally give approval I'm sure we'll quickly know when the first Royal cruise will be.

I’d like to see some sort of Cruise with Confidence stay in place. I wonder how many people continue to take their cruise knowing they are sick. I’d like to see some incentive for people to stay home when ill. 

Muster 2.0 sounds like it will be permanent

Was your Feb 2020 Anthem cruise booked with a travel agent? They should have a record of it as well.
Worst case, RC can look it up based on your cancelled cruise date info.

Hello all,
This is my first post on RC Blog, and I want to start by saying thank you to everyone who has posted so much great information.
My parents and I have booked a 9-night Western Caribbean, on The Anthem of the SEAS, in February of 2022. After what seemed like weeks of research, and a lot of wondering if we were crazy for even thinking about booking a $21K+ vacation for 3. But we decided “what the heck,” and we booked the Royal Loft Suite for our first experience with Star Class.
I am so unbelievably excited, but I would be lying if I said I am not also nervous. My parents are relatively experienced cruisers (diamond plus;) while I have only been on a couple of cruises. We feel like we have scoured the internet in the last couple of weeks searching high and low for everything that we can expect from an SC suite. But we still have a few questions regarding do’s and don’ts while in SC.
1.       I understand that we can have meals served in our suite.
        a.       Is it over the top to do this often? Or should we limit this request to one or two occasions?
2.       We are driving to the Port in Beyond NJ. Is there anything special for embarkation day aside from the Genie meeting us? Or is it just a follow the signs situation?
3.       Are gratuities truly complimentary?
       a.       I know the Genie is not included but should we plan to tips others as well?
4.       Should we book anything in advance of the Genie contacting us. Or should we wait for everything until our Genie checks in with us?
       a.       IE: Cabana’s at Labadee, Shows, other excursions, etc.?
5.       The normal ultimate beverage package does not include the mini bar drinks. Is this the case in SC. What about the ultimate dining package? Is there anything different in SC?
6.       What other do’s and don’ts can you guys think of? I know there are a lot of do’s, but please let me know what we should avoid. We want to get the most out of this experience, but we don’t want to be to needy or a PITA.
I’m sure I will have more questions over the next 18 months but for now that’s about it. Thanks again for any insight you can give.
P.S.
I am contemplating Blogging or Vlogging this experience, but I have never blogged. Any suggestions or tips?
 

A 4 device plan allows 4 devices at once.  The 5th device to log in will be given the choice to randomly kick out an already logged in device.  
You'll share a log in.  Choose credentials you can share with others.  

As @Matt mentioned on the home page, RC is implementing later check-in times. Some of them much later than most of us, from what others have said, would ever check-in. I'm onboard with what  @Matt lives by that earlier the better, as far as getting on board and starting your cruise. With that being said, will boarding before noon be a thing of the past, with all the expanded cleaning protocol?  I know past boarding times have been more of a suggestion and the times have not been adhered to. Is that also a thing of the past? Will passengers be forced to choose a boarding time and stick to it? Will departure times also be getting later?
Lots of questions with unfortunately, no answers in sight at this point.
Happy (future) Cruising!

I agree with Annette, call again. You may get a different (worse or better) answer. If you like the answer, act on it! Good luck
 

There have been some situations in this ever changing rules with Royal where they allowed parents to take the FCC and use it.  It did depend on which person you got to help you in the call center.  I agree that the person that paid the bill should have some say so.  I was fighting with one a couple months ago and the person in the call center said if I had the kids write to say it was ok for the parents to have the FCC they would do it.... had a lot of fun asking the client of the 4 and 7 year old to have them write me an email or letter!

There have been some situations in this ever changing rules with Royal where they allowed parents to take the FCC and use it.  It did depend on which person you got to help you in the call center.  I agree that the person that paid the bill should have some say so.  I was fighting with one a couple months ago and the person in the call center said if I had the kids write to say it was ok for the parents to have the FCC they would do it.... had a lot of fun asking the client of the 4 and 7 year old to have them write me an email or letter!

My agent has made a number of changes for me recently, some easy, some complex.  
This past weekend at least one change required she call Royal.  Within an hour of telling her what I wanted to do I received an email from Royal.   It was one of those automated emails when you purchase or cancel something in the cruise planner.   This was expected since I was moving that cruise to a different ship and sail date.  I had booked excursions with OBC so I didn't bother to cancel them myself since there was no credit card involved.  This served to tell me how long it took for her to reach Royal and get my cruise changed.   A few minutes later I checked "My Cruises" and my new cruise was there with the right cabin number. 
I changed three cruises this weekend and all were done within hours. 
One of my changes involved a NextCruise booking that had Next OBC.  That OBC was lost in the migration to my new ship.  I emailed her and within minutes she had the NextCruise OBC restored (another phone call to Royal).
I'm not sure why your travel agent is having a hard time reaching Royal.  My agent is able to work with them very effectively right now.  
 

@KJones great point that you brought up that I didn’t even think to mention. From past experience, I have found 100% of the time that US based agents offer better deals and incentives than Canadian based agents, and that includes Costco Canada. ?