Lost my cabin due to social distancing. *cry*

[jupiter03]

I just got an email that I've lost my cabin for my spring break 2022 cruise. The email said they would automatically move me to a like-for-like cabin, but it was a 1K cabin, which were sold out months ago, so there are no like-for-like cabins they could move me to. I booked this cabin back in Dec 2019 when it was an Allure of the Seas cruise that later got cancelled and moved to Liberty. I booked this cabin specifically for the separate bunk bed room for my kid. 

I took a quick look at what's currently available and all the rooms stink. I didn't book a guarantee, but I feel like that's what I'm getting. I talked to Royal Caribbean and it sounds like I'm going to get what I get and that's it.

This is a cruise that I had to claw back from my terrible TA and couldn't transfer to MEI since it was booked so long ago. I feel powerless. I'm so upset. 

 

[Pattycruise]

Perhaps they’ll upgrade?

[jupiter03]

Thanks, yeah, I really have no idea what they can move me to. A regular OV cabin would be a significant downgrade, since the 1K is about 2x the size. It is much cheaper though, so if they do that to me, I would hope that they would lower my costs.

I took a look at what balcony options would be available if I were lucky enough to get an upgrade. They are mostly all terrible cabins, like right above or below noisy venues, in a connected room or near elevators, which I would never have chosen. The whole reason I chose the 1K was for the space and neither upgrade/downgrade can provide that. So disappointing.

[Matt]

My only advice is keep an eye out over next day or so. People cancel all the time. Maybe someone like you would cancel and you can slide in

[Rpmatl]

As Diamond Plus member, I booked a transatlantic cruise in 2019 for April 2022 and since it’s our 25th anniversary, I booked a Crown Suite on the Allure (900sq ft). Royal changed the ship to the née Wonder of the Seas (largest ship on the ocean) and instead of moving us to an Owners Suite, they offered us a Junior Suite (294 sq ft), but we got to keep the royal genie and a $300 onboard credit. I told them it was unacceptable and was there a suite available on another ship and they said yes, the Odessey but it would be another $10K -

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing and said give me a credit and I will rebook for a transatlantic in April 2023, when they start taking reservations. Royal told me that all cruise credits had to be used by December, 2022.

Therefore, I’m getting a refund. I’m not sure what Royal is doing, but this terrible customer service!!!

[wordell1]

3 hours ago, jupiter03 said:

I just got an email that I've lost my cabin for my spring break 2022 cruise. The email said they would automatically move me to a like-for-like cabin, but it was a 1K cabin, which were sold out months ago, so there are no like-for-like cabins they could move me to. I booked this cabin back in Dec 2019 when it was an Allure of the Seas cruise that later got cancelled and moved to Liberty. I booked this cabin specifically for the separate bunk bed room for my kid. 

I took a quick look at what's currently available and all the rooms stink. I didn't book a guarantee, but I feel like that's what I'm getting. I talked to Royal Caribbean and it sounds like I'm going to get what I get and that's it.

This is a cruise that I had to claw back from my terrible TA and couldn't transfer to MEI since it was booked so long ago. I feel powerless. I'm so upset. 

 

I'm a little confused.  I'm on this same cruise and the change happened last December.  I was rebooked on Liberty from Allure at that time.  Did you get rebooked then and the new cabin was cancelled, or are you just now getting moved?

[Jill]

If the category was “sold out” it’s likely it was pulled from the booking engine on purpose. 
 

Symphony was showing interior and ocean view as “sold out” in the early sailings and gradually they became available. 
 

Don’t fret yet. 

[AshleyDillo]

This is happening to a lot of folks on a lot of different cruises, including me.  I've seen someone post they got the email and they they had a guarantee oceanview room and hadn't even been assigned yet. Another was someone who had the Royal Loft Suite which has absolutely no like-for-like option. It will be interesting to see what the reasoning for those rooms needing to be moved.

My MEI TA did call and confirm the email was legit but the change hadn't been made yet so she couldn't do anything yet.  We specifically chose a room for reasons I'm sure they won't consider in a repositioning but are a huge deal to the one that holds the pocketbook.

[twangster]

6 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:

This is happening to a lot of folks on a lot of different cruises, including me.  I've seen someone post they got the email and they they had a guarantee oceanview room and hadn't even been assigned yet. Another was someone who had the Royal Loft Suite which has absolutely no like-for-like option. It will be interesting to see what the reasoning for those rooms needing to be moved.

My MEI TA did call and confirm the email was legit but the change hadn't been made yet so she couldn't do anything yet.  We specifically chose a room for reasons I'm sure they won't consider in a repositioning but are a huge deal to the one that holds the pocketbook.

I'm still trying to get my head wrapped around a Royal Loft not being socially distant, the reasoning other folks are being told.

Weird.

[GKMCruising]

8 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:

We specifically chose a room for reasons I'm sure they won't consider in a repositioning but are a huge deal to the one that holds the pocketbook.

This is almost exactly like the fiasco with people and the merge from Allure to Wonder. Just because two rooms have the same deck code doesn't mean that they're "equal" in the eyes of whoever booked the original cabin.

[AshleyDillo]

2 minutes ago, twangster said:

I'm still trying to get my head wrapped around a Royal Loft not being socially distant, the reasoning other folks are being told.

Weird.

Yeah..it makes zero sense. It's like they wanted to pick folks at random but forgot to put parameters in to prevent this.

[smokeybandit]

I still don't understand why having any cabin class nearby each other is a social distancing concern. 

[twangster]

The other things that is weird...why tell people now when they don't know what cabin they are moving them to? 

Why not wait a week and tell folks they are being moved and here is their new cabin? 

This approach just causes stress and worrying.  

[AshleyDillo]

2 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

I still don't understand why having any cabin class nearby each other is a social distancing concern. 

Maybe they're bringing more crew onboard and need guest cabins for them to quarantine.  Who knows. My TA said she was told the changes start tomorrow.

[GKMCruising]

44 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:

Maybe they're bringing more crew onboard and need guest cabins for them to quarantine.  Who knows. My TA said she was told the changes start tomorrow.

That was my guess - but it still doesn't explain the loft suites.

[twangster]

I feel like the CDC is about to drop something on us.  CSO 2.0

I feel their hand in this.  

[THE TeresaMcChane]

My kids got this email, they are in a GTY balcony and do not have a cabin assigned yet, so they are moving then from an unassigned cabin to a different one?  Doesn’t make much sense. 
 

we are on same sailing and did not get an email.

[pcvchristine]

Yeah, the folks in guarantee rooms getting this is downright perplexing. 
 

I haven’t gotten anything, which is funny since I only just booked (so you’d think maybe I’d be first to reshuffle). In my mind that gives some credence to the idea that they need to clear a specific section to use for quarantining or perhaps to balance stateroom attendants. 

[WAAAYTOOO]

Someone from my 11-14-21 Allure sailing said they had gotten such an email yet we have not.  Seems so arbitrary.

[wozswoman]

I don't understand the social distancing in cabins.  On our sailing ending on the 3rd the cabins on both sides of us were booked as well as the next one over.  

[twangster]

17 minutes ago, wozswoman said:

I don't understand the social distancing in cabins.  On our sailing ending on the 3rd the cabins on both sides of us were booked as well as the next one over.  

The CDC doesn't understand the first thing about cruising.  In their minds everyone is in one big cabin sleeping on different bunks.  I think they saw a movie about a Navy ship with dozens crammed into a small space and that is what they think cruise ships are like.  

[PG Cruiser]

I got an email today that Royal is assigning me to a different room on my Odyssey sailing on November 15th.  Social distancing was also the reason given

[Yo2slick]

Land vacations are looking better and better until all of this madness is over, sadly I'm starting to think this will never end. 

[twangster]

Read between the lines, Bayley already knows what the CDC wants next

If the CSO is extended or not is irrelevant and this may be Royal's display to the CDC that they will comply with CDC recommendations even without the CSO being formally extended and/or CSO 2.0 being published.  

Clearly there is communication and conference calls occuring with the CDC.  There must be a CDC recommendation that if cruise lines want to ease vaccine requirements then they must space out guests on board.  This also imposes a built in capacity limit of ~50%.  Very sneaky CDC.  

[GKMCruising]

4 minutes ago, twangster said:

Read between the lines, Bayley already knows what the CDC wants next

If the CSO is extended or not is irrelevant and this may be Royal's display to the CDC that they will comply with CDC recommendations even without the CSO being formally extended and/or CSO 2.0 being published.  

Clearly there is communication and conference calls occuring with the CDC.  There must be a CDC recommendation that if cruise lines want to ease vaccine requirements then they must space out guests on board.  This also imposes a built in capacity limit of ~50%.  Very sneaky CDC.  

I got to thinking about this last night and made the same comment to my wife about the vaccine requirements - that they must be enacting some sort of spacing so they can add more unvaccinated guests. Maybe it'll wind up being like the shows currently - some cabins / sections designated as vax only, other areas being "general population" rooms?

[twangster]

3 minutes ago, GKMCruising said:

I got to thinking about this last night and made the same comment to my wife about the vaccine requirements - that they must be enacting some sort of spacing so they can add more unvaccinated guests. Maybe it'll wind up being like the shows currently - some cabins / sections designated as vax only, other areas being "general population" rooms?

New cruise live blog... "Cruising with GenPop"

[twangster]

Didn't the CDC once float the idea of using a cabin every other sailing?  Cruise 1 use one set of cabins, cruise 2 use the cabins that were empty in cruise 1.  Cruise 3 back to cruise 1 set of cabins.   This reduces the opportunity for spread if a guest is undetected positive, cruise ends and new occupants move into that cabin.  

Explains why they are displacing Royal Loft Suite guests on a particular cruise.

[twangster]

Wonder if my B2B and B3B in the same cabin will get modified.  Same guests in the cabin so maybe not, unless it creates havoc with the "A" set of cabions versus "B" set of cabins.

No emails yet.

[GKMCruising]

8 minutes ago, twangster said:

Didn't the CDC once float the idea of using a cabin every other sailing?  Cruise 1 use one set of cabins, cruise 2 use the cabins that were empty in cruise 1.  Cruise 3 back to cruise 1 set of cabins.   This reduces the opportunity for spread if a guest is undetected positive, cruise ends and new occupants move into that cabin.  

Explains why they are displacing Royal Loft Suite guests on a particular cruise.

Yeah, despite the fact that we've basically proven at this point that surface transmission isn't really a vector and the "contaminated" air inside the cabin should be long gone before the new occupants have access to the room.

It would also partially explain why I haven't heard of anyone on the Wonder inaugural with us getting and email yet - it's a brand new ship, so there can't be any contaminated cabins yet.

[GKMCruising]

I'd be interested in trying to compile a master list of affected sailings/cabins, see if there's any noticable pattern - itineraries, ports, sailing dates, which decks/cabins, etc.

[fireclan]

Gosh, it may be a new Royal Caribbean policy:

 - you can pick your cabin but can't keep your cabin.

Hopefully, everyone will be assigned a cabin they can deal with for the length of their cruise and still have a great time! After all, you're still on a cruise!

[UNCFanatik]

Royal is going to mess around and face another wave of cancellations. They are not compelled to follow the CSO now. I know they are trying to appease the CDC Gods but at what cost to their business and customer satisfaction. Covid cases are in decline in the US especially in the South. I know there is  concern about the Fall/Winter in NE states but Royal cant keep this up. Ignore the CDC just like we do on their other numerous recommendations for our daily lives. The CDC has been defeated in court over the CSO. 

Covid will be endemic and we need to act as such and move forward and drop all the needless restrictions that have been proven over the last 1 1/2 years to not stop the spread of Covid. 

[Matt]

28 minutes ago, UNCFanatik said:

drop all the needless restrictions that have been proven over the last 1 1/2 years to not stop the spread of Covid. 

Richard Fain said since restart half a million guests and only had one hundred and forty one cases. That's the protocols working extremely well, especially when you consider how much it has spread on land.

[UNCFanatik]

7 minutes ago, Matt said:

Richard Fain said since restart half a million guests and only had one hundred and forty one cases. That's the protocols working extremely well, especially when you consider how much it has spread on land.

Point taken but you cannot lump all protocols all together and proclaim each one of them is effective. And remember that is 141 REPORTED cases of people WITH symptoms. You cannot believe that out of 500k people that only 141 people had cases of Covid. That defies logic and general statistics. I can guarantee you that more than 141 people out of 500k had Covid since the restart. 

Effective Protocols:

Vaccine Requirements

Reduced Capacity 

Not Effective Protocols:

Masks. Especially staff wearing masks outside and at Coco Cay

Staff serving buffet...ice cream...drinks...etc. 

Debatable protocol:

Testing. Only gives a snapshot. People could still have covid cases and board ship and there is the whole matter of presenting a fake document that says you had a negative test. If they tested all passengers at port then that would be more effective but that is a logistical nightmare

 

[alamode123]

14 minutes ago, UNCFanatik said:

Point taken but you cannot lump all protocols all together and proclaim each one of them is effective. And remember that is 141 REPORTED cases of people WITH symptoms. You cannot believe that out of 500k people that only 141 people had cases of Covid. That defies logic and general statistics. I can guarantee you that more than 141 people out of 500k had Covid since the restart. 

Effective Protocols:

Vaccine Requirements

Reduced Capacity 

Not Effective Protocols:

Masks. Especially staff wearing masks outside and at Coco Cay

Staff serving buffet...ice cream...drinks...etc. 

Debatable protocol:

Testing. Only gives a snapshot. People could still have covid cases and board ship and there is the whole matter of presenting a fake document that says you had a negative test. If they tested all passengers at port then that would be more effective but that is a logistical nightmare

 

Not exactly a scientific definition of effectiveness. More like protocols you like or don't like.

Contact tracing via the new bands is also very important.

I've received one of the new cabin emails. I'm in a wait and see attitude. Better than cancelling cruises.

[UNCFanatik]

1 hour ago, alamode123 said:

Not exactly a scientific definition of effectiveness. More like protocols you like or don't like.

Contact tracing via the new bands is also very important.

I've received one of the new cabin emails. I'm in a wait and see attitude. Better than cancelling cruises.

I dont like them because they have not shown to be effective to reduce the spread of Covid. 

AND they are not doing consistent contact tracing. AND contact tracing is only effective if someone with a case of Covid can be identified. There have been passengers on cruise ships that have had unreported and unknown Covid cases. And Royal cant track all 500k passengers since the restart when they go come down with Covid. 

[pcvchristine]

I feel like the actual reason isn’t social distancing in the sense of not having anyone next to you, but more to spread people throughout the ship to reduce choke points and balance the number of cabins a stateroom attendant is working with (since that’s a potential vector). Or else, as others have said to create a quarantine area. 
 

I would be a bit surprised if the cruise lines are gunning to get rid of vaccine requirements already. No doubt they will eventually, but I feel like they want the requirements to keep spread on the cruise ships low and keep them out of the news. But who know. 

[GKMCruising]

15 minutes ago, UNCFanatik said:

And Royal cant track all 500k passengers since the restart when they go come with Covid. 

Not definitively, but if someone goes to the doctor a couple days or a week after going home and is diagnosed with COVID, you can guarantee the CDC is going to pin that case on Royal. So honestly, that number probably isn't too far off for symptomatic cases. Sure, there have been more asymptomatic cases than anyone will ever know, but that's the case even on land.

[alamode123]

18 minutes ago, UNCFanatik said:

I dont like them because they have not shown to be effective to reduce the spread of Covid. 

AND they are not doing consistent contact tracing. AND contact tracing is only effective if someone with a case of Covid can be identified. There have been passengers on cruise ships that have had unreported and unknown Covid cases. And Royal cant track all 500k passengers since the restart when they go come with Covid. 

This isn't the place to discuss protocol effectiveness. PM me if you want to know stats on various effectiveness. Looks like you'll be surprised.

[jupiter03]

14 hours ago, wordell1 said:

I'm a little confused.  I'm on this same cruise and the change happened last December.  I was rebooked on Liberty from Allure at that time.  Did you get rebooked then and the new cabin was cancelled, or are you just now getting moved?

I was rebooked to a new 1K cabin after Allure was cancelled. Now the 1K cabin is in jeopardy (lost). I've been checking for price drops ever since and cabins became unavailable in June, so I'm assuming sold out. There are only 10 of these kinds of cabin on the whole ship, so not surprised if they were sold out. 

Nobody else on my facebook group for this cruise got this email, as far as I know. Others mentioned that they have observed no social distancing in cabins on recent/current cruises, with people on all sides next to them. So this is something new.

12 hours ago, twangster said:

The other things that is weird...why tell people now when they don't know what cabin they are moving them to? 

Why not wait a week and tell folks they are being moved and here is their new cabin? 

This approach just causes stress and worrying.  

I agree, I would have rather just gotten the email saying "sorry, here is your new cabin". We spend a lot of time in our cabin, so cabin is very important for us. 

 

3 hours ago, GKMCruising said:

I got to thinking about this last night and made the same comment to my wife about the vaccine requirements - that they must be enacting some sort of spacing so they can add more unvaccinated guests. Maybe it'll wind up being like the shows currently - some cabins / sections designated as vax only, other areas being "general population" rooms?

I suspect you may be right, but how would they know if we are vaccinated yet or not? They haven't asked yet. Also, this is a spring break cruise that is priced much higher than all the other March cruises, so I'm guessing it's already sold very well, so will they bump people that already booked to meet a lower capacity? (this is rhetorical, I know nobody knows this)