Cruise with Confidence & Best Price Guarantee extended; Final Payment shortened

[Matt]

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2021/10/29/royal-caribbean-extends-ability-cancel-cruises-shortens-final-payment-window-and-extends

[stevendom57]

That's great news. It covers my Nov 12 and my Mar 5 cruise.

[recogneyes]

Thank you so much for all of your amazing updates Matt!  As someone fairly new to the blog, I appreciate all the effort you put into keeping us in the know

[CrimsonCruiser]

I know it's kind of silly to hope that it gets extended to cover my fall 2022 cruise (given that we expect the world to be back to normal by then dear god i hope) but I just like that it exists period and I would love if it kept going. Even though I never want to have to use it...i like the security net it provides.

[Matt]

3 hours ago, recogneyes said:

Thank you so much for all of your amazing updates Matt!  As someone fairly new to the blog, I appreciate all the effort you put into keeping us in the know

You're welcome

[Chadster]

They really like bringing it down to the wire on these things, don't they? Glad they extended, though -- it definitely helps me out, though I do wish they'd have it cover sailings through September 30, 2022, just to be in sync with the FCCs.

[barjpoe]

But now we've got 4 cruise with final payments all due within a 2 week time plus a holiday called Christmas too.

[D Alt]

this is great! gives me time to think about my next cruise and book it before 12/17.

  

[WannaCruise]

This is great news.  Got the email about our March cruise and the 30 day really helps with decisions (or should I say, not having to make the decision in Dec - original final payment).

@Mattcan I ask where you are seeing that COVID-19 Assistance program  is extended until April 30th?  Royal's website still seems to state it's cruises before Dec 31 https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/if-i-test-positive-for-sars-cov-2-what-is-your-refund-policy-and-costs-covered

P.S. - Edited...looks like it's updated now.  Thanks for posting the article.

 

[JohnK6404]

Very nice... I'm hoping they extend the C&A double points program a little further out. The sailing we booked at NextCruise the first week of this month for JAN 2023 falls just outside both the booking and sailing date deadline windows! 

 

[Ampurp85]

C&A double points are already dead.

But I am also both weary and glad at the new 30 day windows. I have a bunch of Jan sailings and that means 3FP all before Christmas.

[PurdueFlyer]

sorry for the bump, but looking for a clarification with regarding the CWC policy.  

I *thought* at some point along the way, there was verbiage that covered you with a refund option AFTER they released the health protocols for a particular sailing (ie, if you didn't like or couldn't comply with those protocols you could get a refund in lieu of the FCC).  I cant find what I'm looking for at this point.  anyone else remember this, or is my brain foggy?

protocols are finally out for my Grandeur / Barbados sailing and in addition to the litany of testing requirements you must purchase a Royal shore excursion for all of the ports of call during December.  womp womp.  

[WAAAYTOOO]

1 hour ago, PurdueFlyer said:

sorry for the bump, but looking for a clarification with regarding the CWC policy.  

I *thought* at some point along the way, there was verbiage that covered you with a refund option AFTER they released the health protocols for a particular sailing (ie, if you didn't like or couldn't comply with those protocols you could get a refund in lieu of the FCC).  I cant find what I'm looking for at this point.  anyone else remember this, or is my brain foggy?

protocols are finally out for my Grandeur / Barbados sailing and in addition to the litany of testing requirements you must purchase a Royal shore excursion for all of the ports of call during December.  womp womp.  

This is one of those gray areas and as far as I know there is nothing in writing to validate this policy EXCEPT for the email notification that is sent to either the TA or directly to you, if you did not use a TA.  I have never seen it anywhere on the website.  The image below is an old protocols announcement (October), but I use it as an example of the language that refers to the ability to cancel for a refund (last para).

 

[PurdueFlyer]

On 11/18/2021 at 1:51 PM, WAAAYTOOO said:

This is one of those gray areas and as far as I know there is nothing in writing to validate this policy EXCEPT for the email notification that is sent to either the TA or directly to you, if you did not use a TA.  I have never seen it anywhere on the website.  The image below is an old protocols announcement (October), but I use it as an example of the language that refers to the ability to cancel for a refund (last para).

 

 

thanks so much for this! 

update:  I called my TA today, and explained that I had seen your note above circulated before.  Since he had to call Royal to initiate the cancellation, i told him to specifically mention that the "protocols were finally announced" and that the client isn't OK with them, blah blah blah.

result:  FULL REFUND!  Said the Royal agent just "entered some authorization code" and it'll be credited back to my AMEX in 30-45 days.  Even though I knew months ago I wasn't going to sail on this, I think waiting until the health protocols were issued definitely helped my case in this instance.

[WAAAYTOOO]

16 minutes ago, PurdueFlyer said:

 

thanks so much for this! 

update:  I called my TA today, and explained that I had seen your note above circulated before.  Since he had to call Royal to initiate the cancellation, i told him to specifically mention that the "protocols were finally announced" and that the client isn't OK with them, blah blah blah.

result:  FULL REFUND!  Said the Royal agent just "entered some authorization code" and it'll be credited back to my AMEX in 30-45 days.  Even though I knew months ago I wasn't going to sail on this, I think waiting until the health protocols were issued definitely helped my case in this instance.

YIPPEE !!  So glad it worked out for you.  I am never comfortable until I see the money back in my CC account but so far, it has been successful (with a couple of minor issues relating to FCC amounts).  

BTW, in case you didn't see it, the cruise line has published COVID protocols through the end of March (something they were NOT doing in the past.  In the past it has been a month-to-month thing) so if you have any other cruises booked for which you want a full refund (between now and 3-31-21) then the protocols are officially out for that time period and you can cancel any/all of those.  I just cancelled 8 more.