BND

Towels belong to Royal, not the cruiser, so, nope. Their rules clearly state 30 min.

Not to be nit picky, okay, I'll pick a tiny bit. It's actually less than 10 days (9 days or less) so a 9 day cruise does not require testing but 10 days does.

We've cruised out of T1 a couple of times and also have had a couple of port stops there. We've eaten at Grills a couple of times too. Too bad I don't like Bloody Mary's lol. We'll just head over at checkout at 11. Since we're the first boarding group at 12, worst case is we sit in our car in the garage for a little bit whether it's T1 or T5.

LOL. Well, documents say T1, but Port Canaveral schedule says T5. I'm inclined to believe it's T5 as once Wonder arrives, she's at T1 Harmony returns on 6 Nov to T1 to drop off guests and then leaves around 11 for FLL. CG inspection is that morning for Jewel and boarding starts at 12. Oh, and the fact our docs for the second leg of our b2b on Jewel (13 Nov) also states T1, but that's the date Wonder arrives in PC and is scheduled at T1 and we know Oasis class is always at T1. I just think our docs are incorrect. The PC port schedule has IN and HOTS until 6 Nov Wonder starting 13 Nov at T1 and Mariner and Jewel at T5 which makes sense for parking. So, I'm going with T5, but we'll know for sure on the 6th.

This will be our first cruise on Radiance class. Of course since we're doing the first cruise back in the US, earliest boarding is 12 due to CG inspections. We're out of our hotel at 11, so we'll prob just sit in the parking garage if they're not letting people in yet.

And, that's why the whole thing is ridiculous lol. I've said all along it's about liability. RCI has no liability if someone lies/uses someone else's test. While I don't think testing is the answer, I do find it funny that anyone thinks Royal doesn't know what everyone is doing.

Um, we know that. Not like we're new. DH told them when he talked to them, but that didn't seem to be an issue. Everything is working fine now. My point was about the algorithm. It's not like we haven't traveled many times and know the process.

Well, they do have them for a reason.

I've been expecting an announcement any day. Especially now after Carnival has extended it to 15 nights. We're doing a b2b (7 night and 6 night) and no testing since neither is longer than 9 days. Kind of ridiculous to treat 10 nights differently than a b2b, but whatever.

This happens every once in a while.

For all of our b2b's (3 so far) we have been given our cards turnaround morning (twice before we left the ship and once in the terminal before reboarding). We have then been walked off and back on as a group. We were also given "in transit" cards which we have never used. Supposedly (from other's reports) you can get off the ship and return later, go through security and bypass check in using in transit card and then reboard with your new card. Also, we didn't get our card back on EN this past Apr. They told me I'd get it back, I knew better. It's the only card out of all our cruises that I don't have.

Our TA doesn't do that. She literally pays the cruise line directly using our cc info. It's one reason I prefer a friend/small TA over the big ones.

We have a couple of back up cards. Our primary one is our Amtrak Rewards MC. Just on Sunday, Amtrak moved banks for their cards. Our new one was declined yesterday when I got my hair done. DH called and was sent to the fraud dept. The explanation: algorithms haven't figured out spending patterns so it was seeing small purchases as evidence of fraud. DH decided Sun/Mon would be a good time to buy about 15 $.99 books for his Kindle so they shut the card off. I was pissed as we lost out on over 250 Amtrak reward points from my hair appt. I had to use another card. They turned it back on and it worked for the $75 groceries I bought today. I just hope it doesn't give us problems on our upcoming trip. We leave on Halloween for 5 days in FL and then a b2b on Jewel. No way the algorithm can know spending patterns it's never seen, sigh... Anyway, in my experience most people pay off their cruise at least a couple of days before like we do, just in case something happens.

We never carry a balance on our cc so it doesn't matter when we pay it off as we pay off the card every month. Our TA is a good friend and we try to work around her schedule too as she also works full time. Being a TA is something she now does for friends and family so she sometimes needs to work around her schedule which is fine with us.

We're boarding for a b2b when she gets back to PC on Nov 6 🙂

I have our TA pay it usually 4 or so days ahead. And, when we do a b2b, we pay them both off at the same time.

Even last Nov we didn't have to make reservations in the WJ so I don't know how often that was actually done. I know it was talked about at the time that the app and compasses even stated it, but no one actually needed them from what I remember.

I wonder how they schedule the port since they can't do it very far ahead. Not all ports will have availability.

I just randomly checked a 7 night eastern sailing (Sept 2024) and all JS mid and aft are sold out. There are 3 forward on deck 11 and a few on 10 and 9 available. You're paying for a lot of bells and whistles that some will never use. But, cabins are obviously selling.

We have had the same experience a couple of times. We were over our limit and they just told us to have a nice day. But that was about 10 years ago. In all of our cruises, we have never seen anyone stopped at debarkation so it's not all that common. We buy our jewelry and watches at a store we've been going to for years. It was not recommended by the cruise line or other cruisers. It's a small family owned chain in St Thoma, St. Maarten and Key West that was recommended by the President of the Co my DH used to work for. They do not report to anyone and never ask for our ship/cabin info. We always try to stay under our limit. Prices have gone up a bit the last couple of years so that's getting harder to do. I do wonder when the US will raise the $ limit as it's been the same for years. We never buy cigarettes (no reason to, absolutely no one we know smokes) and have only brought back liquor one time (two bottles-Christmas presents for our sons). CBP usually asks about cigarettes and liquor and we can always truthfully say no. Those interest them a lot more than t-shirts and magnets and apparently even jewelry.

Norovirus isn't the topic. I still don't get it. People get sick. It's part of life. I literally just got over who knows what. I had a 99-100 deg temp the last two days. I visited my parents who live 3 hours from me in So VA and I returned home two days ago and developed a temp in the afternoon on Fri. I tested neg for Covid. No idea what I had or how/where I caught it. Doesn't really matter. No more than the many viruses I've had over the 62 years of my life. I expect no compensation for anything I have ever caught in my life.

I don't get this need for "compensation". No one gets it for the flu (which is highly contagious right now, moreso than most, if not all viruses). The fact they gave you anything for something that is not their fault is amazing. The ship did not give her covid. The fact it was day 5 means she could have caught it anywhere prior to embarking or a prior port. She self reported which was her/your choice. At this point,, unless I was really very sick I wouldn't. You got a credit, right? Personally, I would take what they gave me since they really don't have to do anything as it's not their fault she got sick. It's not anyone's fault. It's called LIFE.

Our last cruise in July took two weeks to update. Don't sweat it til you hit 3 or more.

Point is, no one knows for sure right now although the language on RCI says no. It would never enter my mind to do it.

Closed loop out of the US are subject to penalties for debarking anywhere other than the embarkation port. European rules do not apply here.