Cancellations have started :(

[Jill]

Next 3 Symphony are cancelled per passengers onboard that just got announcement from the Captain. Jewel and Serenade have cancellations too. 
 

Hope this all blows over quickly 

[Rene Desmarais]

Cancelled Sailings

Last updated January 7th, 2022

As a result of the ongoing COVID-related circumstances around the world, and in an abundance of caution, Royal Caribbean International is pausing operations for the following ships:

• Vision of the Seas’ return to cruising is postponed until March 7, 2022

• Serenade of the Seas sailings from January 8 – March 5, returning after dry dock on April 26, 2022

• Jewel of the Seas sailings from January 9 – February 12, returning on February 20, 2022

• Symphony of the Seas sailings from January 8 – January 22, returning on January 29, 2022

We regret having to cancel our guests’ long-awaited vacations and appreciate their loyalty and understanding. Our top priority is always the well-being of our guests, our crew and the communities we visit. Despite stringent health and safety measures, including vaccination and testing requirements for guests and crew, and extensive contingency planning, we have had to move forward with this decision.

Guests booked on these cancelled sailings are receiving assistance and compensation options, including a full refund. Guests have been notified by email of their compensation options.

Our teams will continue to consider every option and resource to keep cruising safe and enjoyable as the world and the cruise industry continue to adapt.

[smokeybandit]

In hindsight it'll blow over quickly. But it'll feel like forever to get through it.

[Beaker]

And so it begins...I'm glad we had looked at other alternatives.  Still flying to MCO on Sat Jan 15th.  I've always wanted to drive to the Keys, I'll get that chance if they cancel Harmony on the 16th.  

[KenC]

Anyone hear anything concrete about Symphony canceling cruises for next three weeks?

[JennaRCB]

Here is the latest update: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2022/01/07/royal-caribbean-cancels-cruises-4-cruise-ships-few-weeks-due-covid-19

[jaygee2729]

That's a great idea. Our first leg of our flight to San Juan is to Miami. 

[JennaRCB]

24 minutes ago, Beaker said:

And so it begins...I'm glad we had looked at other alternatives.  Still flying to MCO on Sat Jan 15th.  I've always wanted to drive to the Keys, I'll get that chance if they cancel Harmony on the 16th.  

I'm also hoping everything is good for Harmony on the 16th! (especially since I got upgraded to a balcony )

[Pooch]

26 minutes ago, Beaker said:

And so it begins...I'm glad we had looked at other alternatives.  Still flying to MCO on Sat Jan 15th.  I've always wanted to drive to the Keys, I'll get that chance if they cancel Harmony on the 16th.  

If you end up with Plan B, I’d love to hear about it cuz that would probably be mine too!

[Patchy]

Are there any common denominators among these ships (eg southern Caribbean itineraries where they are having challenges with ports)?    Or do you all think it comes down to staffing issues?   

[Ampurp85]

Most of these ships haven't been sailing yet and/or have a positive rate that is hitting double digits. I am sure they would rather move healthy crew to less ships and sail that way. Harmony, Allure, Oasis, Mariner, Indy, Freedom, Anthem, Navigator and Liberty have less positivity rates and should sail without issue. I cruise in like 2 days and think my Indy sailing will be fine as I haven't even heard of many cases.

[CruisingwithCandM]

Our cruise is on the list... Gutted at the moment. 

[Jolly Ogre]

Gosh I hope ours on 1/30/22 still goes.

I booked that back in 2019 and even with a refund or FFC it would not cover the cost of a new booking now.

[AshleyDillo]

1 hour ago, JennaRCB said:

I'm also hoping everything is good for Harmony on the 16th! (especially since I got upgraded to a balcony )

Also in the crossing my fingers boat for Harmony!

[CrimsonCruiser]

First - huge hugs to anyone affected. I hate things being dropped out from under me so I can't begin to imagine how this feels.

 

Second - and selfishly - I know August is so far from April but seeing them reach out so far on even just a few ships gives me dejavu I am not thrilled about. Crossing all my everything that this is just precautions and things aren't on a trend we don't want.

[Jill]

1 hour ago, smokeybandit said:

In hindsight it'll blow over quickly. But it'll feel like forever to get through it.

I’m really hoping this is the beginning of the end of this frickin virus. At least the pandemic part of it. Really hope all those infected with Omicron get long lasting immunity to future variants. It’s the only way out of this black hole

[Riversong518]

I have a sinking feeling about my April sailing. Hope I’m wrong! 

[Seafarer]

13 minutes ago, Jill said:

I’m really hoping this is the beginning of the end of this frickin virus. At least the pandemic part of it. Really hope all those infected with Omicron get long lasting immunity to future variants. It’s the only way out of this black hole

Ditto. And also feeling sad for the passengers sitting in their hotel rooms planning to board tomorrow. That's a lot of dollars wasted on travel to Miami due to a last minute cancellation. I don't want to see that repeated in three weeks and will monitor closely. Hoping that we've hit the peak and will begin to see a plunge in covid cases very soon.

 

[SummerRose]

After Harmony on Dec. 26th I'm not surprised at all.  They can not enforce their protocols onboard and omicron is too contagious for a lackadaisical approach.  And they can't take care of or keep up with the sick passengers either.

[SpeedNoodles]

15 minutes ago, Riversong518 said:

I have a sinking feeling about my April sailing. Hope I’m wrong! 

April is a lifetime away (in Covid time). Heck, I'm only going to mildly obsess over my Jan 29 Odyssey sailing.

[Vancity Cruiser]

We just landed in Miami 2 hours ago after 12 hours of travel through snowstorms from Vancouver to find our Symphony sailing tomorrow is cancelled. Literally got the notification at the second wheels touched down. Obviously disappointed but we knew things are crazy and anything was possible. First reaction was let’s see if we can get on another Royal cruise sailing in the next day or two. Unfortunately Royal has all sailings through January frozen for new booking and no one at customer service was any help.

Ever the optimist, my wife got on the phone with Norwegian and long story short, we are boarding on Norwegian Joy in 17 hours. What a wild ride!!

[SpeedNoodles]

13 minutes ago, Vancity Cruiser said:

We just landed in Miami 2 hours ago after 12 hours of travel through snowstorms from Vancouver to find our Symphony sailing tomorrow is cancelled. Literally got the notification at the second wheels touched down. Obviously disappointed but we knew things are crazy and anything was possible. First reaction was let’s see if we can get on another Royal cruise sailing in the next day or two. Unfortunately Royal has all sailings through January frozen for new booking and no one at customer service was any help.

Ever the optimist, my wife got on the phone with Norwegian and long story short, we are boarding on Norwegian Joy in 17 hours. What a wild ride!!

I'm glad you are finding a way to salvage this, especially after the troubles getting there!

[3rdchocolatier]

We go for our Covid tests at CVS tomorrow morning, then first thing Sunday morning start the drive down for our Monday Indy Cruise.  May it all go as planned with the cruise Gods watching over all cruisers.

[Vancity Cruiser]

28 minutes ago, SpeedNoodles said:

I'm glad you are finding a way to salvage this, especially after the troubles getting there!

It was a wild ride for sure! I was ready to cut our losses and book a couple nights in a hotel and head back but my wife always finds a way to make things happen

[Nate Y]

Worried about my Delta flight and cruise on Indy at the end of the month...

[kittenmom]

I'd rather them cancel cruises than risk the health of both crew and passengers.   We have 3 weeks booked for March that are paid in full.  If they cancel and offer us the 100% refund plus 100% FCC... I'll be doing the happy dance!   

[PurdueFlyer]

55 minutes ago, Vancity Cruiser said:

Ever the optimist, my wife got on the phone with Norwegian and long story short, we are boarding on Norwegian Joy in 17 hours. What a wild ride!!

that's like the Hail Mary of last-second cruise rebookings.  good work! 

[CruiseGus]

57 minutes ago, Vancity Cruiser said:

Unfortunately Royal has all sailings through January frozen for new booking and no one at customer service was any help.

Some of the February sailing are also marked as SOLD OUT and have been removed from ability to search them.  Haven't looked at any March yet

[SpeedNoodles]

19 minutes ago, Nate Y said:

Worried about my Delta flight and cruise on Indy at the end of the month...

I'm determined to not worry about the end of the month for at least another week or two. I just refuse, lol.

[Jill]

1 hour ago, Vancity Cruiser said:

We just landed in Miami 2 hours ago after 12 hours of travel through snowstorms from Vancouver to find our Symphony sailing tomorrow is cancelled. Literally got the notification at the second wheels touched down. Obviously disappointed but we knew things are crazy and anything was possible. First reaction was let’s see if we can get on another Royal cruise sailing in the next day or two. Unfortunately Royal has all sailings through January frozen for new booking and no one at customer service was any help.

Ever the optimist, my wife got on the phone with Norwegian and long story short, we are boarding on Norwegian Joy in 17 hours. What a wild ride!!

‘Atta girl! I like the way your wife thinks! 

[smokeybandit]

2 hours ago, Vancity Cruiser said:

We just landed in Miami 2 hours ago after 12 hours of travel through snowstorms from Vancouver to find our Symphony sailing tomorrow is cancelled. Literally got the notification at the second wheels touched down. Obviously disappointed but we knew things are crazy and anything was possible. First reaction was let’s see if we can get on another Royal cruise sailing in the next day or two. Unfortunately Royal has all sailings through January frozen for new booking and no one at customer service was any help.

Ever the optimist, my wife got on the phone with Norwegian and long story short, we are boarding on Norwegian Joy in 17 hours. What a wild ride!!

Sometimes a trip to the dark side is necessary. 

[FionaMG]

1 hour ago, Vancity Cruiser said:

my wife always finds a way to make things happen

Well done! Hope your alternative cruise is a huge success.

[b0o5h]

My wife and I are on Symphony on Feb 5th, really hope it happens.

[Strife]

Well there goes my vacation, can't even get one every other decade apparently.

[Pattycruise]

3 hours ago, Vancity Cruiser said:

It was a wild ride for sure! I was ready to cut our losses and book a couple nights in a hotel and head back but my wife always finds a way to make things happen

You are one lucky person!!! Buy the wife whatever she wants, she saved the day!
I have a Monday Freedom sailing. Tomorrow we’ll find out if Covid denies us our trip, Sunday we are set to fly to Miami but now an ice coating heading our way for the time we are supposed to be traveling.  .  We just had one this past week with 2 deaths and 2 40 car pile ups.  I’m thinking the travel Gods are saying stay home!

 

[AAD]

[AAD]

8 hours ago, Beaker said:

And so it begins...I'm glad we had looked at other alternatives.  Still flying to MCO on Sat Jan 15th.  I've always wanted to drive to the Keys, I'll get that chance if they cancel Harmony on the 16th.  

That was out backup plan too for this 12/31 cruise on Symphony. Had the car rental reserved. After some research… Here is where I would have stayed-  https://www.parrotkeyhotel.com

[Swar]

On Brilliance right now. Talked to the head of host services earlier tonight. @16 peeps with Covid (13 crew/3 pax). BOTS will get some of the crew off of a cancelled ship tomorrow in Tampa. He said there is plenty of crews for all the ships, but now they can increase service even more. This ship is empty, I kinda like it. 

[GaryAA]

8 hours ago, b0o5h said:

My wife and I are on Symphony on Feb 5th, really hope it happens.

We are on this cruise too. We were on the Symphony December 4th with no problems. We’ve applied our FCC’s to this cruise for a suite again so it would be a hassle to cancel at this point. Our agent had a hard time getting the credits applied for the Feb 5th cruise, don’t want a re-do of that.

[levib2]

Wondering about Brilliance out of Tampa.....

As a result of the ongoing COVID-related circumstances around the world, and in abundance of caution, Royal Caribbean International is pausing operations for the following ships:

Vision of the Seas’ return to cruising is postponed until March 7, 2022

Serenade of the Seas sailings from January 8 – March 5, returning after dry dock on April 26, 2022

Jewel of the Seas sailings from January 9 – February 12, returning on February 20, 2022

Symphony of the Seas sailings from January 8 – January 22, returning on January 29, 2022

We regret having to cancel your clients’ long-awaited vacations and appreciate their loyalty and understanding. Our top priority is always the well-being of our guests, our crew and the communities we visit. Despite stringent health and safety measures, including vaccination and testing requirements for guests and crew, and extensive contingency planning, we have had to move forward with this decision.

Our teams will continue to consider every option and resource to keep cruising safe and enjoyable as the world and the cruise industry continue to adapt.

Guests affected by these cancelations will be notified shortly and presented the below compensation options to consider, provided they did not already cancel under our Cruise with Confidence policy.

For Serenade departing January 8, 2022 ONLY:

Booked guests will receive a 100% refund of all funds paid, which will be returned to the original form of payment. Additionally, a 100% Future Cruise Credit will be issued in hopes of welcoming your clients onboard with us in the future.