baltodave

I'm fascinated by all the responses. Obviously, it's why Royal give everyone a choice. For the reasons already stated, my wife and I almost always prefer late dining (but we don't travel with kids). And this is in spite of almost never eating late at home. If we are ready early, there's always the Windjammer (but not since the restart) or we grab a snack at Sorentos or Cafe Promenade to hold us over.

Hi Everyone, I've had it with cruise.com and would like to change TA's. I've read on this website how wonderful MEI is and wanted any recommendations for particular agents. Cruise.com has been good about getting us discounted cruise fares (due to their groups) and some extra OBC but I'm at the point where I'd rather have great customer service. We've sailed on several cruises in the Caribbean but we would like to book an Alaskan cruise and Mediterranean cruise (I know nothing about each) Now, for my issues with cruise.com: They are very hard to reach by phone. We had a cruise cancelled (9/26 Liberty OTS) so I called to do a "Lift and Shift" for the same cruise 10/9/22. We even got the same stateroom. Well, when I accessed the invoice online, it shows a balance of over $700 (and the original cruise was paid in full!). So I exchanged emails with their customer support dept and they said they are waiting for a price match from Royal Caribbean. Can someone explain what's going on there? Thanks for any information you all can provide.

Our Liberty 9/26 sailing was cancelled and we did a Lift&Shift for 10/9/22. We had a bunch of cruise planner stuff purchased (drink pkg, internet, excursion) and there was no mention other than a refund (and still waiting for that).

One more thing (and this is a bit off topic). But I have found the best Cruise Planner prices during Black Friday week.

Funny. Just got an email from Royal showing all the cancelled Cruise Planner items. I guess I'll just wait for the refunds to be to my credit card. Too bad. It would have been very nice to get 125% OBC on a future cruise.

Sorry if this has already been asked. I remember that last year if you had a cruise that was cancelled and you had made some Cruise Planner purchases, you could opt for 125% future OBC on a designed cruise. Well, we were supposed to be on the 9/26 Liberty OTS sailing and had some cruise planner purchases (Voom, drink pkg and excursion). Our agent said that the only option would be to get a refund for our cruise planner purchases and would not be able to transfer them to a future cruise. Does this seem correct? Thanks!

Check-in is still not available for our 9/26 Liberty OTS sailing. I just keep checking every morning.

With all due respect I don't see it that way (and I am not a lawyer). Also there are two sides (some people tell me 3) to every story. Here's my take: The First Amendment prevents governments from limiting speech. NCL claims that its desire to request evidence of vaccination constitutes speech and Florida's law prevents them from doing that. The 14th Amendment basically says states (e.g. Florida) cannot pass laws that are in conflict with federal laws Finally, I don't recall learning constitutional law in the 3rd grade (in fact, I had to just look up the 14th Amendment) So, I don't think this is so cut & dry and will be interesting to see how this turns out. IMHO, the big question is whether or not businesses requesting vaccination status constitutes "free speech".

Are you saying that if we use one of the large TA's (we use cruise.com), we may or may not be able to try out "Royal Up"? BTW, our service has been fine and that when cruise.com gives any OBC, it shows up on our account the 2nd day of the cruise. This means, you can't use the TA's OBC towards any cruise planner purchases. Therefore, in our case, it goes towards gratuities (we only prepay them if we get notice of an increase).

I just received an email from the travel agent selling the Country Music cruise and she told me that in prior years, they did have ice shows and Quest game on the days they didn't have Studio B booked. @redraider629: Don't know how old your daughter is but the Quest game is very "R" rated (and a blast!). If you go on another cruise, you should look out for it. It's usually towards the end of the cruise, late at night (10:30 and/or later) and held in Studio B. I tell my friends to just take a nap that day so you're awake for it.

Do you remember if there were ice shows the nights the group didn't have Studio B booked? Also, was there a Quest game?

Wow! I had no idea! My wife and I are on that sailing and neither RCL nor our TA (cruise.com) has notified us of this. In fact, we've already made our final payment. Neither my wife or myself are country music fans (I looked at the music lineup and have not heard of anyone). We also enjoy the ice shows and Quest Game (which are held in Studio B). I just emailed our agent to see what she says. But, we are a bit concerned. We booked and paid for a promenade view room (wanted to try it) as well as a few cruise planner items (drink pkgs, Voom, and an excursion).

First, I apologize if this idea has already been floated. Also, I'm not a lawyer so I would love it if anyone familiar with the law could chime in. If the Florida law forbids companies from requiring customers from showing evidence of vaccination (or legitimate medical reason not to have it), Could RCL ask guests to voluntarily show evidence of vaccination? Also, (and this might be a stupid idea) what if stateroom attendants were instructed to NOT enter staterooms (for cleaning, changing sheets, etc.) if the guests have not shown shown evidence of their vaccination? Have these ideas been discussed?

Hi Everyone, My wife and I are going on Liberty OTS Sept 26 to Western Caribbean. In prior sailings we've gotten 2-device Voom and one of the things we've been able to do is to text between the two of us (we both have iPhones). We have not purchased Voom yet and was thinking of getting just 1-device Voom but that would only work if the Royal App is available on Liberty and if it can be used to text between us. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Anyone know if the Royal App is available on Liberty and if it can be used to text between us. Thanks!

Vision leaves on Mondays for 11-night cruises out of Ft Lauderdale.

I can vouch for this. However, you are not limited to "lift and shift". We had a cruise (with Allianz insurance) cancelled due to COVID and simply changed the dates (on the policy) to a future cruise. Our future cruise is more expensive (more nights) so Allianz just charged us the difference. Bottom line is that you won't get any money back for premiums on cruises cancelled due to COVID. However, you can simply change the dates. Pro-Tip: When we book a cruise, we fully intend to buy insurance but we don't do it at the time of the booking. We do it at a later date.

We converted ours. It's always better to book flights with points (rather than with cash). Even if you book "Wanna Get Away" fares (the cheapest) and then cancel, you get your points back.

I remember reading somewhere that RC hopes to have the chatting (texting) feature of their app rolled out by the end of 2020. However, that was "BC" (Before COVID). Does anyone know if they are still working on it? In particular, I'd like to know if it will ready for our Vision OTS cruise at the end of January 2021. Thanks!

We bought "The Key" for our 5-night Indy cruise on 8/31. It turns out to be $44 more than 2-device Surf 'n Stream. So for additional $44, we get the following One of the fist on the ship on embarkation day They hold onto our carry-ons. Embarkation day lunch from Chops menu Great seats in Studio B for ice show Nice sit-down breakfast on disembarkation day and ability to cut the line on the way out. The other perks don't interest us that much but for the additional $44, we thought it was a good deal. Of course, none of this matters if you aren't interested in getting Voom internet.

We used to bring them but don't anymore. Since most of the walls are metal, the walkies don't work very well (and can be annoying to others). If you daughter has a smartphone, (and depending on which ship you will be on) , you might be able to take advantage of texting. And if the Royal app on your ship does not support texting, you can consider a Voom package where you'll be able to text over Wifi.

Great information (thanks!) and for our next cruise we might choose Travelx. We've been using Allianz and while they do let you change the dates, they do exclude COVID related illnesses.

So, if the "guarantee" stateroom category is more expensive (or same price) than one where you select the stateroom, what's the advantage?

Sometimes when pricing cruises, there is very little (if any) price difference between having RC selecting the stateroom vs. you selecting the stateroom. In fact, I've seen situations where it's even less expensive for you to select your own stateroom. So, is there any advantage to having RC select the stateroom for you? Thanks all!

Is there a way to get Cruise Planner pricing (e.g. drink packages, dining packages, Voom, etc..) before a cruise is booked?

First, I want to apologize because I have a few questions and thought it would be cleaner to put each one in a seperate post. How does the "Cruise With Confidence" promotion affect refundable vs. non-refundable fares?