Lovetocruise2002

The suspense continues lol…let us know what happens when you get on board. I am even more intrigued now.

I interpret that as: Don’t know, not willing to commit to anything.

If we can remember this, then we can keep this thread open. But it’s getting close….

Seriously, once you get on board, to Deck 16 Swim & Tonic, look up. You won't be sad that you did not win the RU.

What?! No way! That makes me sad, next time please come say hi. I love meeting people from this RB Blog community. That was the sailing that almost did not happen for us either because of health issues with my Dad, so when you mentioned your Mom, that resonates with me. We also will be spending some time in Rome in July after our Voyager sailing. Can't wait to follow your adventures!

For a September sailing, assuming you did not make final payment yet, you are still free to change flights and you would not be charged a change fee by Air2Sea.

No secrets here. And I only won twice lol. But my gut tells me that it is easier to win with 2 people, rather than 4. And @mom2mybugs, why not just bid on all that you are interested in? That way if you win, you’re good with any of them. For Icon inaugural, we bid on anything that we would be happy to move to. But I bid the highest on the room category that I suspected was still in inventory.

Have you tried to call them? I book frequently with Air2sea but have never tried to change after final payment. However, with a 2 hour difference, it would not hurt to call and at least ask if they will waive the change fee.

Exactly! Gave up guessing long ago!

This is the official interim page. https://www.facebook.com/share/bmabYSpVFuWfVZtG/?mibextid=LQQJ4d The other one is a fake.

You can bid on as many as you want, but the system will only let you win one.

We can all help @Matt by reporting the non-legit page.

Omg...some of these tangents from live blogs lol...first Batman and underwear math, now lucky red undies

An add on comment re: Oasis rink...it's definitely smaller. Back in the days of our first few cruises (20 something years ago), Hubby used to drag his hockey skates on board. He no longer does that. Not only is it pure chaos, but the ice surface is awful for moving around. I know nothing about skating or ice surfaces, but Hubby tells me it's not worth it. He and the kids still go for a skate each time we cruise, but don't expect much.

This type of sailing is on our bucket list! I am glad that your Mom is able to go with you guys. Such a blessing!

Marla is awesome! Tell her that Sabrina and family say hello. We had her last year on HM in the Villa and ran into her again during Icon inaugural. I am super happy that you decided to blog this one. While I have nothing booked for Icon in the near future, we do want to sail her again one day. And I am super interested to know what the uncharges are for SC. Rumour has it that they have changed it to include few more things, but then someone said a few weeks ago that was not the case. So please let us know what your experience will be. Good luck on your RU bid, but it might be a blessing if you don’t win it. That balcony has zero privacy! You will see when you get there. Go to Swim&Tonic and look up. You can practically touch the RLS balcony.

But that has happened to others. Most of them stem from the last round of Black Friday CP purchases/refunds. Too many! Even with the help of my TA, my head is spinning.

I actually wondered the same thing because even I am second guessing if cancelling and re-booking is worth it.

Hubby just told me that some cruise lines are already offering Iceland/Spain cruises for August 2026. I asked him where he saw this, he said a FB ad, and of course he could not tell me which cruise line lol. But last night, I took a look and he is right. Cunard already has sailings open to Iceland/Spain that are focused on the total eclipse in 2026. They are almost sold out. Not that I would want to go on Cunard at this point in my life. Princess has already announced they will have sailings going that way as well, and Holland America too. If Royal or X could commit to such a sailing to Iceland/Spain for the total eclipse in 2026, I would seriously consider it. Can you imagine seeing the beauty of a total eclipse in Iceland?! I want in. But I don't want to sail Cunard, Princess, or Holland America lol

I can add to this! I just made final payment for VY sailing early July. Thank goodness I told my TA to pay about a week ahead of final payment (which was yesterday). Anyway, to backtrack, for this VY sailing, I too re-priced a bunch of things over Black Friday for this particular sailing. Everything was refunded back properly except for a VOOM purchase (which I am currently still debating with them over). Anyway, the day I made final payment last week, I also pulled my Air2Sea that was attached to this reservation because I upgraded our seats by booking directly through Delta. As always, as soon as I get off the phone with Air2Sea, I always text my TA to pull a copy of the booking confirmation to make sure that Air2Sea didn't re-price anything. She pulled it and everything checked out and she went to make final payment a few hours later. Well, that is where things got wonky. The system would not let her make final payment because it said that we were trying "over pay". For reasons still unknown, Royal's system shows that we owe less that we do. Now, a few might think, great, pay less, even better. But what my TA and I were both afraid of (cause the last 6+months I remember reading everyone's horror stories about sailings getting cancelled after final for amount owing related to CP purchases) was that if we paid less, later, once the system sorted itself out, it would show that we underpaid and I would get cancelled. So my TA had to call it in and we paid the amount that I was actually supposed to pay. Problem is that now on Royal's end, it shows that we overpaid, and they are still investigating. My first thought was that it was related to what they owe me for VOOM but the amount the we "overpaid" does not match the amount they owe me for the missing VOOM refund. It's a mess. So this time, Air2Sea did not trigger a re-price of my cruise fare, but cancelling Air2Sea just before I made final payment, definitely triggered something wonky in the reservation related to CP purchases. The common theme here is that all CP purchases in this reservation were bought/re-priced during BF. That seems to be the running theme with everyone here. I have now learned 3 more lessons through this: 1. Never wait the very last minute to make final payment. Can you imagine if I had waited April 9th (yesterday)? It would have been much more stressful for both me, and my TA. 2. Do not buy/cancel anything on the actual start day of Black Friday. 3. Always check, and double check, after making any adjustments with Air2Sea. And @TessFromFlorida it's 100% their crappy system that cannot do basic math and refund purchases in a timely manner. And @Jax I am tagging you on this because I know you texted me asking if I made final last week, and this was way to long to text back on my phone lol

I already told Hubby last night I want to be on that solar eclipse cruise, if we are still around lol

Because we live in Southern Ontario, it was an easy 30 min drive a bit further south for us to Colchester Beach. We saw 90 seconds of totality. It was stunning, unlike anything I have ever seen. For once, I have no pictures to share because the 4 of us wanted to just soak in all 90 seconds of that beauty. But here is one of Hubby before totality, and one just before totality. It wasn’t a cruise, but it sure was an awesome day! It could only have been better if I was seeing it from the suite sundeck somewhere

Happy Birthday @AshleyDillo!

I had Hotel Indigo booked for the longest time (since prices were released) but recently let it go. The price never went down, and for what we could get for the same price at H10 or Marriott Grand Flora (even better room for our family), it was a no brainer. And I never loved the location of Hotel Indigo. I just grabbed it initially because it's IHG and most of my points are there.

I can't take credit neither! I got that term from @PRC way back in the day!