rockmom

I guess you've been in hibernation. Pretty much EVERYWHERE has had changes to the way they did things, and many times still do, because of the pandemic. Would most everyone want things to be exactly as they were before? Probably. And newsflash, most things cost more right now. Especially for things like food & fuel, which heavily impacts the cruise industry. I'm glad a ton of the restrictions are gone and do understand that after the last 2 3/4 years, it will take a while for things to get back to normal. I've sailed 5 times this year, and things in February were far more restrictive than September, with far less shows, entertainment, more limited hours, etc. I've also flown about 20 times and stayed in numerous hotels in the last year. Things aren't back to how they were for those things either. Heck, I still can't find things I want in the grocery store and when I do, I'm paying dearly for them. But things keep moving in the right direction. People stomping their feet and having a tantrum over it and complaining that it should be exactly how it was before and cost the same, aren't being realistic. It won't help them get anything more right now. Except maybe high blood pressure.

I'm perfectly fine with wall mounted Malin & Goetz if it keeps massive mountains of plastic piling up all over the place or floating in the ocean. I enjoy staying in luxury hotels and booking suites. But I would also like to see MORE not less things being done to stop the waste. I do bring my own, but I have refillable travel bottles that I fill from my large containers at home. One can still enjoy luxury without contributing to the problem.

Jr. Suites get the Salt Breeze, GS and above have had the MG products.

I don't think you've ever been able to book shows on Serenade. I have only had to do that on Oasis and Quantum class ships. Except for right after the restart when they required them when I was on Navigator due to limited seating because of social distancing measures that cut the amount of theater space by about half.

@Katems75I was thinking about you and your flights--and got me to thinking--you did book your flight to get to Miami to come in a day before the cruise, correct? You don't want to risk flying in the day of, that's how a lot of people miss their cruise and lose their $$. It seems like you're flying from a place where there are not a lot of options, so wanted to make sure you knew to come in at least one day before.

Luggage Valet through Royal hasn't returned post-Covid. The only place there is that service is out of Seattle and that is because it is offered by the Port of Seattle to all cruise lines. Totally different that the luggage valet offered by Royal before the shutdown.

The hold time is usually significantly less when you choose 'I want to book a new cruise'. lol Although maybe with Icon newly released, that's not the case right now.

There's a Halloween sale running right now. That will probably end on Tuesday. The next sale should be Black Friday/Cyber Monday. I'm sure you'll see people posting here in CC when the prices are revealed. On thing about Royal, the prices (even the 'onboard' base prices) are different for each sailing--not just ship, but every single sailing. Dynamic pricing. Buy when you think it's of value to you, then keep an eye on it and if the price drops, you can cancel and immediately repurchase. Keep in mind that the refund to your credit card can take a week to 10 days or so, depending on your bank. But for things that are in limited supply, it's best to grab when you think it's worth it for you.

They got it confused with Portland, OR. (I live near there, that was way worse than anything in Labadee)

You probably won't have even gotten through customs and walked out of the terminal yet. To make a 7:25 flight you'd need to be off the ship before 6 am and that won't happen. Taxi, airport security, check a bag maybe, etc.; no one even with no bag and with TSA pre check to get through security faster would be likely to make that time.

I think you need to work with Royal to 'book' that space, if I recall correctly. It's not generally open, public space. All the ships have some sort of conference facilities as they do market to corporations that they have the capabilities to host large business meetings--and are more fun and cost effective than using a hotel for a conference/convention.

In my experience, the new documents and tags show up about 48 hours after you win your bid. Takes a couple days to flow from the company that does the Royal Up bidding process over to where Royal updates the documents.

It's pretty reliable for email and doing some 'facetime'. But if I was doing a business webcast? I don't think I'd have much confidence. No business center.

From what I see, the one on 16 goes to 15 (pool deck to pool deck) and the one on 8 goes to 7 (Central Park level to Surfside level).

Honestly, the bus ride was more terrifying than the cable car back down, lol. Our driver seemed to have the need for speed on the curving roads carved into the cliffside. But yes, as chmusar says above, you tender in, and if you're booked on a Royal excursion you get on a bus, but get dropped off up top at the cable car entry and given a ticket for the ride down.

I have bid and won 3 times this year. What I cannot stress enough is for you to go to the Royal Up page and read ALL the rules and fine print. Once you bid, you can modify and cancel, but once you win or they move you to a 'pending' pool of bids, there is no going back. Your bid will be charged to your card and your old room is now gone. So if you love your room now and/or need it to be in a specific location such as close to the elevators, or other area, then DO NOT BID. You should also look at the deck plans to see if any Jr suites are in areas where there might be something that bothers you--such as over a loud nightclub or under the pool deck where they start moving chairs around. If you can live with whatever the worst possible location is for the category you are bidding on, then go for it Also, keep in mind that since you're in a balcony now, you'll still just get a single point per night towards your C&A status, you won't get the 2 points per night that you get when you originally book a Jr Suite or above.

If they get the same boarding time as you--but you may have to go through the regular line with them instead of the suite line.

I have no plans to drive it--I was trying to show the OP that Port Au Prince is a very long way from Labadee.

oh, yes, it does say submitted! So anyhoo, that's how you check the status.

When you click on Modify, does it take you to the page and you can see each of your bids, or just the one if that's all you made? That is where it has always showed me the current status. Try going here and putting in the info and it should also bring up what you've bid and hopefully show you the status. https://www.royalcaribbean.com/booked/cruise-room-upgrade

Yes, but you should be able to go in there and see the stature. Such as 'submitted', 'pending', 'expired'. Click on 'modify bid' to see it. You can close out of it without making changes. No worries there.

You need to go into the email they sent you when you submitted your bid, that will have links to click and view the current status of your bids. You can also go to the Royal Up page, put in your name, booking number etc. as if you're going to make a bid, and that will bring it up as well.

Have you gone back in to your bid to see if anything is showing as expired or pending? That is a good first step. You would have received an email when you made your bids, that email will have links to your current bids. The previous times I've bid and won this year, I was notified at least a week or more in advance--but ships were NOT sailing full. Also, it will hit your credit card before you get the email, so if you check your card regularly, you might see it there first. Recently, with ships being very full, sometimes you aren't notified you got an upgrade until you are actually on the ship and in your original stateroom already. That happens when someone is a no-show or is denied boarding for some reason (like being sick). You then have to move your things from one room to the next. I'm guessing you don't have a smart phone where you can check your email, check into your cruise via the app, etc? That would be the fastest and easiest way to monitor if you were upgraded a day or two before sailing. And then the porters would give you updated luggage tags when you dropped your bags off at the port.

There are several threads on this, it comes up pretty often. Labadee is nowhere near Port Au Prince, which is where all the unrest happens. It is a very long drive between the two. Royal's area is a secured compound in an area where there's not much else.

On Royal's website it says 16.