nessachelle

19 minutes ago, mom2tcdx2 said:

I wonder if my sailing will see more suites open up as it gets closer?  Right now it is down to only 13 junior suites, 2 of the grand suite, Sky loft, grand loft both all gone.  We put a bid on the grand suite with the smaller balcony, but doubtful we would get anything from that with it showing just one left at this time.  

 

Its just interesting seeing many with such a large number of suites available.  Since we are just barely under 2 months, I wonder if they will see some people choosing to cancel before the final payment is due?  

Highly possible.  For the last couple of months for our cruise there were very few suites showing. After final payment many came available. We are just over 3 weeks out now and before they started giving out royal up wins yesterday there were 10 grand suites showing available, 6 owners suites, 9 CL suites and enough junior suites that I didn't even bother counting.

11 hours ago, jonj said:

On our 1/29 Odyssey they assigned the GS and higher suites last. not sure if that will be the same for you. They did the JS, ov balcony, ov in that order according to post from our group. 

Received my notice this morning that my bid was accepted.  We went from a 4D ocean view balcony on deck 8 to a grand suite on deck 9 on Oasis. Total cost is less than half of what it would have cost me to book a grand suite on my own.  

People on my role call on the book of faces started receiving their notices today that they had won their royal up bid. We are still 25 days from sailing. I have never heard of anyone finding out this early. My bid is still locked but I haven't gotten anything yet and my card has not been charged. As of this afternoon their were still 8 grand suites available for my sailing.

What I would be concerned with when using a prepaid card is having them doing authorizations on the card during your cruise then having the final bill settle on that same card. Those authorizations can take a while to fall off so that money could be tied up for a while. You will want to make sure you have enough to cover both the authorizations and the final bill.

9 hours ago, moonltnite said:

We'll use ours if we get sick between now and the cruise (we ordered them yesterday) - then again as a "pretest" prior to doing our proctored EMed tests.  

 

This is our plan as well.  I already have a 2 pack of the non-proctored home tests here that I had to break into the other day when I was feeling under the weather.  

7 minutes ago, jonj said:

From what I read it is luck of the draw and no way to know what you will end up with. If you are not happy with that option I would not bid. When my bids came up I didn't bid on that option because if I couldn't get a JS or a GS I would stay with the balcony cabin I had which I was happy with location. 

This is what I did as well.  We are in an OV balcony deck 8 on Oasis.  I had options to bid for larger balcony up to owner suite. I put in bids only on grand suite and owner suite. My opinion was that I am very happy with the room I already have but if I was going to spend more money on the room I only wanted it if it came with full suite benefits. 

4 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

I assume you meant win a Royal Up bid - I think just over two weeks recently reported, but most seem to be a week or less.

Yes, I meant win a Royal Up bid. I apologize as my fingers were moving faster than my brain when typing that and it wasn't completely clear what I was asking.

What is the earliest anyone has received a Royal Up?  We are just under 4 weeks out and I just checked the bids I put in. I put in 2 bids, one is showing expired the other shows pending but am unable to change my bid.  Fingers crossed but it seems like it would be very early if it really happens.  I know others have seen this status then have had it revert back to pending and able to edit.  I will try not to get my hopes up too high until I see the charge hit my card.

47 minutes ago, syesmar said:

Yes. Multiple posters on the HAL board report their insurance covered testing pre-cruise (some including shipping) even before January 15.

Thanks for that info. I assumed it might cover it but wasn't sure. Looks like I need to get a claim started and see what happens.

25 minutes ago, exm said:

Agreed. The emed tests are $25 each (pack of 6), so that will bring it down to $13. I am unsure if the insurance will cover the entire 6-pack though.

Has anyone tried to submit a claim through their insurance for the proctored eMed tests?  When I ordered mine I received all the info from them to submit a claim for them but haven't tried it yet.  I do believe since they are proctored they may be covered under insurance just like the current tests are that you would get in a clinic. 

17 minutes ago, Mabel the Great..Dane said:

I am sailing on the Odyssey on March 20.  I've read other posts where people who are cruising around that same time have received emails notifying them about Royal Up opportunities.   I used a travel agent--does that affect whether or not I would receive one of these emails?  When I go to the Royal Up page and input my information a text box pops up saying I need to be 30 days out from departure date, but apparently others don't have that issue.  Just trying to figure out if I should be on the lookout for one of these emails or not because I used a travel agent instead of RCL directly. 

No, I used a travel agent as well and received the email directly from Royal with my royal up options.  I received the email around 45 days before my cruise.

45 minutes ago, SRF said:

 

What expiration date did you get?

The six we received are all 12/2/22, which of course is about 2 weeks short of our December cruise. Hoping we wont even need them by then but who knows.

I certainly hope not, I just made final payment on my Feb 13th Oasis cruise.  Royal pulled nearly all the February Oasis sailing from their website some time around the 1st.  Best guess for this is to control capacity with the recent spike in positive cases onboard.

7 hours ago, cruisegirl1976 said:

fingers crossed.

My husband just called and told me our tests showed up at the house today. Never received a shipping notification nor a delivery notification from Fedex. When I logged on to eMed this morning to check the order status it said no tracking number had been assigned.

12 hours ago, cruisegirl1976 said:

I ordered the 6 pack emed ones on Wednesday the 5th, shipping was $34.88, still haven’t received them.. anyone else have this issue?

I ordered mine Thursday the 6th, received email same day that my order was approved. As of today I have not received a shipping notification. Based on shipping times I have seen I expect to see something tomorrow.

16 minutes ago, elleluv said:

Placed an order for a 6 pack from eMed last week - shipping was $38.36 for FedEx next day air.    I'm not sure if the price has gone up for everyone, or if it's dependent on location.

 

Mine was $38 and change from eMed on Thursday for the six pack. Also still  haven't received a shipping notification so they are experiencing delays.

My cruise isn't until December 2022 but as of right now I cannot find a way to use my OBC prior to the cruise. I have $500 obc from Carnival and an additional $150 from my TA.  I know the OBC from the TA wont be available until we board but I would expect the $500 from carnival should be available.

When Royal changed the payment date for my February cruise I just emailed my TA and she sent me a new invoice indicating the new payment date.  I did have to contact her but once I did she quickly responded that yes it had been changed and sent over the new documents.

Labadee is still showing on my Feb. 13th cruise on Oasis. Still waiting for the change so I can start planning excursions.

My DBP is still higher than what I paid but I did grab The Key this morning for $19.99  and Dinner at Giovanni's for $30.99. I have been watching the price of the key since I booked and prior to today the cheapest it had been was $27.99. I booked the DBP at $57.99 back in October and today it is showing for $60.99. This is all for Oasis for the Feb 13th sailing.

2 minutes ago, chamima said:

 

 

 

So it seems the quickest way to get your passport is NOT to use the expedited service!

Seems that way. I did receive notice today that my passport has been approved so I should have it in the next week or so.

Feb 13th Oasis still showing same prices as the past couple of weeks. Trust me, I'm watching like a hawk for those price drops.

4 hours ago, chamima said:

 

OY!!!

What a mess. I hope yours comes soon.

How did you sign up to get the notifications?

https://passportstatus.state.gov/

Just check status and at the bottom it gives you a spot to fill in your email for updates.

Just to add to the insanity that seems to be passport processing. Just got notice today that my husbands passport is approved and should be delivered to our house today. Mine is still showing as processing.  We both applied on 10/25, passport tracking shows they received both applications on 10/27. I paid to have mine expedited, he did not. Neither of us have had passports in the past. Total time for his start to finish just under 4 weeks. Total time for my expedited passport TBD.

My husband and I just applied for our first passports. Time showing currently on the website to check status shows 5-7 weeks for expedited and 8-11 weeks for non-expedited. This is from the date they receive your application, not from the day you mail it in.  They received both of our applications on 10/27. I paid for expediting, my husband did not. So far neither of us has received any updates and website just shows "In Process".