Atlantix2000

If I make a series of posts saying cruising will resume in each month between March 2020 and December 2022, do I get to claim I was right when one of them proves correct? No, no I don't.

No one is forced into making final payment. Passengers can cancel, and it's actually in Royal's interest for you to cancel so they don't end up issuing FCCs with 125% of the value. So again, Royal is doing the right thing financially for their company and their investors. It's a game of chicken, who will cancel first. Royal has clearly decided it is better for them to wait until after final payment to cancel. Since that's been the pattern for months, I would say it's transparent, just not what you want to happen.

Hmm, I wonder how many tickets you would be required to book for a multi-year/decade/lifetime galactic cruise? I mean, if you have kids along the way, do they start charging extra or is that built into the price based on your age at the start of the cruise. How does the solo supplement get applied in this case? The mind hurts at the possibilities!!!!

Wow, I actually know about the difference in date formats but just couldn't see it this time! This will be much easier a decade from now. No one should have any trouble understanding Feb 32!

If you mean Feb 22, 2021, I guess I have to bring your attention to the following article: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2020/12/02/royal-caribbean-cancels-cruises-through-february-2021-while-preparing-restart And the discussion here:

You didn't mention what year you were sailing, but if things are "normal" by then, you would definitely not need to haul your luggage off and on for a consecutive cruise. If COVID procedures are still in effect, who knows. Maybe they would prefer the cabin attendants not to touch passenger luggage, maybe they would still do this service. We won't know for sure until someone has the opportunity.

There's still pretty good odds the one month at a time cancellations aren't over yet. Of course, hope for the best, but I hope you recognize that your family MAY be on one of the first cruises.

I believe the flu vaccine is also regionally localized (Asia vs N America vs Europe, etc) so they'd need to be a bit more specific. Having the US flu vaccine for the year is supposed to provide protection against the strains expect in the US. That's not going to be relevant if you're traveling to Australia. In general, I don't think flu vaccines will be required for international travel. I can see temporary Covid vaccine requirements until the spread is well contained world wide. It will get people more willing to travel if they can feel safer in a plane. For other diseases, you definitely want to do some research. Even when shots aren't required, there are recommendations for vaccines when you travel to other parts of the world. We don't get every vaccine available, just the ones for diseases we are likely to encounter.

It's not the size that makes it look bad. It's the bottom of the O and S appearing to get cut off when they overlap the darker color at the bottom. It just looks like a giant mistake.

Among others, https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2020/11/09/top-8-royal-caribbean-double-points-questions

Still true on board. For shows in the main theater, getting in line early only matters if you have someplace very specific you want to sit (like front row, or dead center). In general, the main theater is not going to run out of seats so they don't bother with reservations. For smaller venues like the ice arena, it's possible for seats to run out so you may want to get in line earlier, but I've never had an issue.

Here's another thought. Where are you from? If you live on the east coast of the US, your normal 4-5PM dining time will be 4 hours earlier at 12-1PM. In this case, you're going to have to eat at a different dinner time than normal anyway so you might as well temporarily adjust your eating (and sleeping) schedule to whatever the local clocks say. Days are also going to be much longer in Alaska in May so you will still be eating well before sunset if that matters to you.

You're not going to get a better answer than bring your own. You clearly have preferences and those preferences are very subjective. If you ask people to compare shampoos, most would say, shampoo is shampoo whether it comes in an unlabeled plain white bottle or it comes with a name I've never heard before.

Ahh, I misinterpreted. I must need a vacation because the thought of reading about someone else's vacations sounded like fun!

Is your blog public? With all your traveling, I might find it interesting to browse.

I think the poster wants to know if they can go to the Trellis bar and get a drink from a specialty restaurant's menu. They obviously have the ingredients and know the mixes if that is where the drinks are made. But are they available or do you actually have to order from within the specialty restaurant?

Wow, this could lead to some serious inflation of the number of Diamond and up cruisers. I'd be concerned about perks getting scaled back a year later!

Points are only based on nights sailed, not who pays or what they paid.

Alternate perspective: Ending contracts probably makes it easier to move people from ship to ship. If someone is contracted to work on Adventure of the Seas, but that ship won't be sailing (for example), then why keep that contract in place? They can rehire the best workers from across the fleet for the few ships that will start sailing first. As new ships are added, these workers are then already trained on the new protocols and can be spread back out across the fleet.

Interesting. I've seen those type of signatures at another major cruise forum, but I didn't think people used them here. So I looked in my Account Settings and found it's an option to view them. I don't recall ever turning them off, but maybe I did!

I bet the new deck plans are supposed to show a different key for the symbols. Notice how 1570 and 1270 go from no symbol to triangle and all the triangles become stars. I bet * on the new plans = triangle on the old plans but someone didn't update the definitions.

Yes, he gets the extra points (3 per night if solo in a JS) but technically, no, you don't also get those those points assigned to you. You keep the actual points you've earned individually, but as a couple, you get all the benefits of whoever has the most points. (Of course, this only makes a difference when your points would normally put you at different C&A levels). The reason I point this out is because once one of you has more points, that person has to always be the person to earn the extra points or you negate the benefit. Check out the math: Neesa & husband start at Gold with 10 pts each. They take a 7 night cruise where Neesa earns 14 points (24 total) and husband earns 21 points (31 total). Now husband is Platinum and Neesa also gets Platinum benefits on the next cruise. If they take another 7 night cruise but reverse roles: Neesa earns 21 points (45 total) and husband earns 14 points (45 total). You're back to even and both Platinum. If they take another 7 night cruise but keep same roles: Neesa earns 14 points (38 total) and husband earns 21 points (52 total). Now, husband is only 3 points from Emerald status which would make Neesa happier!

All the articles I can find basically quote each other that the CDC wanted to extend "to Feb 2021". But does that mean the no sail order would have ended Jan 31 or would it have extended all the way through Feb? I don't think I'd be looking at anything before March 2021 just to avoid the frustration of another move.

Is it truly automatic though? Probably better to call and make sure your C&A accounts are linked.

The flu vaccine is probably the worst example to use for comparison. There are many strains of the flu and each year the vaccine in the USA is made up of the 4 strains the scientists believe are most likely to circulate in the USA. (Other countries choose a different set of strains based on their research for their areas.) Sometimes the research is wrong so the vaccine is ineffective because a different strain spreads the most. Sometimes the research is right, but you happen to get sick from a different strain. You might ask why they don't just put every strain into the vaccine every year and the answer is it would be too expensive. Most other vaccines are much more straight-forward. You take a measles vaccine and you have immunity to measles with almost no chance to get it.