exm

I wonder I don't get these RC offers since I always use my Chase Sapphire Reserve for cruise payments.

9 hours ago, work4cruising said:

I haven't cruised rccl in warm weather in a while, can my dh wear nice shorts and a polo shirt.

Yes, that's perfect. That's what I wear also. PK (pre-kids) I wore a suit, but luggage space and time to get ready for dinner prevent me from suiting up. I feel perfectly comfortable in the MDR wearing a nice short and a polo or relaxed button down shirt.

See:

3 hours ago, publicpersona said:

Now I am sad. Just yesterday, I paid just over $500 final payment for a September cruise. Wasn't due quite yet .. just wanted to take care of it.

 

Or prepay gratuities.

12 minutes ago, Baron Barracuda said:

With stockholders equity now down to $4B (and debt up to $20B+) after losing $1B+ in each of the past two quarters RCL may soon be forced  to shore up the balance sheet by issuing a lot of new equity.  Should have done so earlier this year when stock was trading at $90, or a month ago at $60, or even a week ago at $50.  Now if forced to sell at $35 it would be extremely dilutive and painful.  Unfortunately, faced with continuing losses and an uncertain economy Liberty may have no choice other than to do whatever it takes to keep creditors at bay.  Also, wouldn't be surprised if at least one of CCL, NCLH and RCL is sold this year..   

Great post by the way.

CCL is considered the weakest of these 3. I wonder if merging 2 cruise lines makes sense.

12 hours ago, Seville2Cabo said:

Why do people have multiple American Express cards?  Just curious. 
 

We gave ours up years ago, saw no value. 

Amex Gold is great. 4% CB on travel, restaurants. You get $10 Uber/Uber Eat credit, $10 for Grubhub&More to offset the $99 annual fee easily. Can transfer to most travel partners.

I also have Chase Visa Sapphire cards, but the Amex offers absolutely beat the Chase offers 100%.

Unfortunately I only see Norwegian on my Amex Gold

Absolutely fantastic stock (price) to invest in.

2 minutes ago, pcur said:

Well, since you don't know me, I won't go into the online charities, or food banks, or taking care helping 3 elder family members with the oldest being 98.5, or taking clothing and food down to the mail room in my over-55 apartment building because we are paying huge increases on gas and groceries in No CA details..............................

 

Your opinion is respected.  I DO test and mask to protect other people.  

And that's perfectly fine. Please keep on testing and masking, whatever works for you. It's as someone else mentioned 'personal responsibility'. But please don't be the the one that fights tooth and nail for all others to comply with your personal preference. It's really time to move on from the Covid mandate period.

11 minutes ago, pcur said:

Well you definitely make a lot of sense, but by taking my statement out of context.  The next sentence explains my rationale.  There are many people that will still get VERY sick from COVID.  Said friend above, her vaccinated and boosted sister got VERY sick with COVID over a week ago.  She's not a statistic, she's a real person.  I consider every person I come in contact with to be potentially vulnerable, so I act accordingly by taking my FREE test at home if I am going to a crowded environment:  like a cruise ship.

 

Do you know how many get VERY sick from the flu or a cold?

2 minutes ago, pcur said:

Because if one is asymptomatic, it's still a good idea to be responsible and make sure you're not carrying the virus to other people.  

How many people are carrying the flu virus around each year and are asymptomatic? Is that a problem?

As a parent of 3 younger kids, I find the ad hilarious and I'm glad there's a cruise line out there for adults only.

On 5/12/2022 at 11:22 AM, Rogueperson said:

 

The Anthem homeports at Bayonne which is within driving distance for me.  I've only been on Anthem once.  The only issue i have with it is that the schedule for the Anthem doesn't always work well and many times, when it does, its the Bahamas run, which is very generic.  My wife on the other hand, loves the Anthem and has been egging me to book another one.   So many ships and locations, and so little time 😞

Check the 1/13 Anthem itinerary... I'm on that one, some excellent islands

I had arthroscopic hip surgery done 2 weeks ago (still on crutches) for a hip labral tear. My PT told me that the recovery for hip replacement is shorter compared to my procedure. I was in shock to hear that. The 8 week timeline should be fine in my opinion for you to cruise.

On 2/1/2022 at 11:58 AM, KG1924 said:

You can catch some great deals, but overwater cabanas seem to stay around $1800 USD. We were VERY lucky to snag one for $799 USD last September. But that was with the Adventure being the only ship and we were around 30% capacity so not the typical amount of people. I would say just keep watching the pricing, ours dropped about a week before sailing so you never know!

PS-the overwater cabana was amazing. Not sure if it's $1800 amazing, but we LOVED it

I booked on on Adventure for $999. Absolutely loved it but won’t be spending 4 figures on it.

38 minutes ago, queenfrostine22 said:

Just got off the 8 day symphony.

I have never seen so many kids (many of them coughing & sneezing)

I would guess less than 10% in masks, more worn in the casino than anywhere else on the ship.

The elevators were overpacked and people just kept piling in.

Buffet at Windjammer was very crowded and all self serve. (however, everyone seemed patient and kind)

The crowds are back-some people have forgotten how to act in public.

Was told by multiple workers that we were under 90% capacity.

We got an extra day due to the storm and it seemed that just about everyone was happy about it.

 

 

Trying to figure out the relevance of the item highlighted in bold.

9 minutes ago, FionaMG said:

 

You have to arrange this on your own and at your own expense.

If you are flying back to the US the same day you disembark I highly recommend you bring some of those proctored e-med tests with you and do it on board on the last night of the cruise. Another option, if your last day is a port day, would be to get the tests done in that port.

Don't plan on disembarking and doing it at the airport before boarding your flight. On my recent Odyssey sailing, there were apparently many US cruisers who missed their flights home because the line for testing at Rome Airport was so long and slow-moving.

Thank you, I am wondering if the internet connection will be sufficient though on-board.

We're on an August cruise out of Rome, and I'm so confused by all the testing. First of all, all countries we're visiting: Italy, Greece and Turkey have pretty much dropped all Covid testing requirements. Why hasn't Royal followed suit for those who aren't boosted?

Second, does Royal still provide the "day 5" testing for flying back into the US or do we need to do this at our own expenses when leaving the ship?

2 hours ago, Pandamonia said:

Well the good news is that Royal just put the price up AGAIN LOL

 

Its gone from £50 a day to £73.50 a day as of today online. $91.87 per day 

 

Last cruise I paid $38 plus grats lol

We are in between "sales". Next sale will be later this month closer to 4th of july

8 hours ago, Joebucks said:

 

 

And some people can't afford the vacation or the package. Your point? A lot can be done with $1200 that is more valuable than this.

 

 

Pointing out that the cruise line is just trying to make large amounts of money here. A far cry from the constant "break even plans". Almost no one purchases all of these cocktails and vitamin waters on their own. It is silly math.

 

 

As a bourbon drinker myself, I far prefer Carnival's options. I can buy a 1 liter of bourbon for $130. That will last me the whole vacation. Drink a beer and a cocktail when I want it, bring wine, drinks at port. We never have broken $300 total. I know everyone is ready to tell me a story of conveniences, water bottles, and whatever "premium stuff" I can get in a cup or bottle. Yet somehow, that is not the questionable logic when I can spend 4x the price for what?

 

 

Trying to break it down doesn't change the fact that $1200 is $1200. A lot of us also know that one half is likely not going to use it as much. Perhaps my situation is heavily influenced by having another half that doesn't want to drink.

 

 

I have traveled with friends, girlfriends, family, friends of family and friends, and so on. Never have I ever seen anyone buy 5 "drinks" a day, for a week. Not to mention at full markup price and as a couple. Recite all of the marketing lines you want. 5 drinks a day is over-simplifying what it really is. Take $15 cocktails. At $1200, that is 80 between the couple for a week. is the average couple really craving 80 cocktails?

 

 

Sure the new prices don't help. I've done drink packages before. Each time I regretted it. I overdrank and felt the need to get things I would have never wanted to "get my monies worth". I felt sluggish from all of that crap. Day 1 or 2, it's really fun. By 3 or 4, it's not as fun. At port, it loses more value. Especially when you go to port and you find a dive or even a shop that sells drinks real cheap. 

 

Many people think they are "pulling a fast one" by breaking even. The cruise line couldn't care either way. Either way, you have made them a crap ton of money.

 

Call me crazy, I also like to take a break or a light drinking day here and there on vacation. I don't need it all the time to have fun.

It's all well and good, but we're not all bourbon drinkers. On average on a cruise I drink:

- Specialty coffee and fresh orange juice for breakfast

- A few beers at the pool. Maybe a cocktail.

- A few glasses of wine during dinner

- A few beers at night

Newsflash: before the drink package existed (yes, there was such a time), I probably would have skipped the breakfast drinks but no reason to limit yourself on a vacation. Doesn't mean getting stupid drunk every day. Just enjoying yourself. So yes, the "math" does work for most of us. And yes, most of us are upset that the drink package pricing went up by 20%.

As I mentioned earlier in this thread, $1,200 for OP is based on $85 a day a person. They can do much better.

Enjoy your bourbon on the next cruise. I'm enjoying not having to worry about a huge alcohol bill after my cruise.

On 5/28/2022 at 12:50 PM, mattnday said:

I knew it was expensive but the last time we did it for 7 night it cost like $850. 

 

This go round it it over $1200 for our 7 night Carribean trip on the Allure coming up in November. 

 

They have finally got me to the point where I just wont dot it. I was expecting $1000 but not $1200

 

The total BS part is this is the lower sales price of what I have seen as part of one of their sales.

The normal price was closer to $1400 through my portal. 

 

 

Looks like last time you paid $59/night ($850 / 7 / 2). The $1,200 would be $85 a night which is way to expensive. You should be able to get a deal in the mid to high $60s. $69 a day would end up cost $966 which is really only $116 more over your previously pricing. Be patient, check pricing weekly (I would set a reminder for Wednesday's). It will be drop.

Before kids, I always dressed up for formal night. With kids, mostly time (to get ready) and luggage space prevents me from bringing formal wear. Usually I wear a button down or polo shirt, with a nice set of shorts (yes, they do exist) or some sort of long pants. You'll be fine with shorts, just don't wear bathing suit shorts.

29 minutes ago, MandyMooToo said:

I looked back into posts from a month ago and did not see anything on this but another forum said that RCCL quietly changed their price drop policy and now it is based on when you booked.  They are no longer just honoring price drops before final payment window.  Anyone have details, I cannot seem to find any?

I had my 1/23 cruise repriced last week, so I don't think this is true. It might make sense to start working with a TA.

What an awful experience, and unfortunately this proves this getting vaxed or boosted doesn't stop you from getting Covid.

I wish there was another way for Royal to handle Covid-positive patients, but I can understand that they want to contain any positive patients.

Question to you: is this your first time getting Covid?

I am hoping summer 2023 but what do I know? My eldest is turning 12 in February, and she will not be vaccinated (we all had Covid, so she has antibodies and she hardly got sick from Covid to begin with - just a low fever). So if they don't drop the vax requirements my last cruise will be January 2023 until this policy changes.