libbismom

I believe Royal has referred to Hideaway beach as a new adults only area on Coca Cay, that will increase overall island capacity navy 3000 guests. And it will open in time for the inaugural sailing of Icon. Maybe he got confused because they keep linking the opening to Icon. 

10 minutes ago, little britain said:

Has anyone offered their steward a cash incentive to still service the room twice a day? Wondered what the going rate was? 
#askingforafriend 

They had just switched to once a day on our cruise on Anthem in April. The room steward said they monitor how often he entered rooms by his key card. So I’m not sure that is an option for cleaning service.

I have heard they can setup & putaway the beds, but can’t do cleaning service both times. But I don’t have first hand experience with that. 

9 minutes ago, lovesnow said:

Sorry do they sell beach towels that say CocoCay on them

There is a shop run by Royal that sells items with Coco Cay and other Royal logos. But it might be closer to the entrance area of Coco Cay rather than in the section with the Straw market shops. 

4 hours ago, nelblu said:

By the way on my Sept. 5 Oasis sail, my documents were examined some 5-6 times before getting on ship.  The feeling that I got, except for the check-in at the kiosk, was special emphasis to the Vaxx Card.  Did that happen to you.

 

Also, when you boarded the ship were you met by many staff members clapping and yelling "Welcome Back" while passing under an arch of balloons or was this simply because ours was the first sail.

I don’t think I had to show my documents that many times. But it was at least three times for some of them. They did scrutinize the vaccination card very carefully. 
 

They had a balloon arch & several staff members clapping & welcoming us back as we boarded the ship. And we received the individual welcome back certificates last night thanking us for being among the first to return to cruising. 

3 hours ago, luckyinpa said:

. can i assume more than enough chairs under shade around there? 

In my opinion, there are very few chairs under the shade around Oasis Lagoon. We tried to find some around 1, so sun would have been directly overhead. We were on the side closest to the Snack Shack and buffet place and there were only a few chairs at the very back that had any shade.  There were more options for a shady spot in the beach area. 

4 hours ago, LorraineP said:

Oasis 10/10 out of Bayonne. We are from PA. 

My husband and I got rapid antigen tests at our local CVS for our trip on Oasis out of Bayonne (9/19 departure). Perfectly acceptable at embarkation.

We brought a printed copy of the results along with our set sail passes. Each person has to show ID, Set Sail pass, vaccine card, and negative test result. It was easier to have all that printed and not scrambling to use the phone to show the test result or set sail pass. 

2 hours ago, flamingos said:

You have to bring your own towels from the ship and oddly, you had to go to the pool deck to check them out.  I didn't see the rolling desk at the embarkation deck. Maybe they don't want people congregating there because of social distancing? 

Currently on Oasis, there was a QR code for us to scan and state how many towels we wanted for Coco Cay so they can deliver them to our room the night before. We are supposed to be able to swap them out for dry towels at several places on the island. 

I heard the cupcake class and other food classes had to be cancelled per CDC Covid regulations. 
 

Bingo is also all paper games - no electronic tablets. 

To answer some prior questions:

- one of the members from our social media group is on b2b sailings and said we were changing captains in Port Canaveral. Captain Tore Grimstad was scheduled to take over today. There hasn’t been any official announcement that a change took place. 

- Boarding did start early on 9/19. We had 12:30 checkin time. When we walked to the terminal at noon, the sign said they were boarding the 2-2:30 group already. 

- Our room attendant said the ship was empty earlier than usual that day, due to early arrival in port because of the medical emergency. (That may have allowed them to clear the ship and start boarding sooner.)

- He said the medical emergency was another stateroom attendant who suffered a heart attack. He said the man will be ok. 

I think it is very likely that the cruise could be sold out, at least up to the capacity they are booking for that time. Many people pushed cruises to next year. And number of people had a lot of Future cruise credit to use due to cancellations, so may be booking longer sailings & higher category cabins. 
 

Although I think it is unlikely that cruise will be cancelled, you may be offered a Lift & Shift option if it is. Even though the general program ended in the spring, we were offered the L&S option last month when our September cruise on Enchantment was cancelled. 

2 hours ago, The sea calls my name said:

Can I get both my husbands results and my results sent to my cell phone? He doesn't have app ability on his. Also is the proctoring done through zoom and if so can it be through your computer?  These technology requirements are challenging for us old paper and pencil folks.  

My understanding is that you can use the same device (phone, tablet, or computer), but each person needs to create their own account in the Navica app. When you do the test, you have to show your ID and they confirm it matches the person logged in. 
 

Here is a video where someone recorded the process so you can see what it is like. there are others on YouTube also. 
 

A number of people seemed to be frustrated with Royal because of these changes (2 day for vaccinated, PCR only for unvaccinated children).  These are in direct response to the recent CDC updated recommendations.
 

I think Royal is still trying to follow the CDC guidance, maybe hoping the CSO will be allowed to expire at the end of October. And other cruise lines announced changing to these protocols this week before Royal did. 

9 hours ago, ilovetotravel1977 said:

I am wondering if you all think Royal "might" extend their covid protocols for passengers testing positive on board and flying them home after October 31?  

My guess is that the October 31 date was in conjunction with the CDC’s Conditional Sail Order. As a way to assure the CDC that they will limit the exposure of the positive passenger to the general public.
 

A lot has changed since Royal first put that out. I don’t think Royal will be quite as generous if the CSO is not extended beyond Oct 31. 

26 minutes ago, ReneeFLL said:

Do you live very far from the FedEx processing center? They can hold it there till you can get it. Ours isn’t far from the airport.

I’m not sure if I could have them drop it at the local FedEx office. Whenever I track something through FedEx, my stuff is loaded on the truck in a city more than an hour from where I live. (Small town life 😀)

52 minutes ago, Anton said:

People may want to prioritize buying these tests now that CDC has revised the CSO to lower the testing requirement for fully vaccinated guests from 3  days to 2 days.  This test is alluded to in the revised order as being acceptable.

 

 Thanks for the heads up. This just reinforces that I need to do this for my mid-September cruise.

 I know they use overnight shipping, but I was hoping to wait until our forecast high temps drop from mid 90s to low 80s later this week since you are supposed to keep this out of the heat. 

I’ve seen several posting on social media that Oasis is scheduled to go under the Verrazano bridge around 7 AM tomorrow. 

8 minutes ago, brillohead said:

That's only helpful to people who are on Cruise Critic, and they aren't the ones who need the reminder.

And how many people on Cruise Critic ask questions that could be answered by going to the cruise website: can I bring alcohol/ water/ soda/iron/ extension cord, etc on board?  Some of the answers I’ve seen here don’t always match the official guidelines. 

2 hours ago, F27TW said:

i cant wait to see it try and make it under the Verazzano Bridge .. especially lightly loaded ... that big thing gonna crash right into that bridge.

  
I wonder how many people driving on the bridge as Oasis approaches will be afraid that it will hit the bridge? It is difficult to judge the clearing at a distance. 
 

And I am trusting the engineers got the math correct for the bridge clearance when Oasis was modified and scheduled for Bayonne. Or I will be very sad when my cruise is cancelled this fall. 

For washing any food containers in my room:  I cut up a paper towel in small squares and put some in a small zip bag with a squirt of dishwashing soap. Then pull one out when I need to wash something. (I double bag them so they don’t leak, or pack with toiletries.)

 For a cruise, I just need a few to wash out my re-usable water bottle. Although I usually pack everything but the kitchen sink, I haven’t brought food storage containers on a cruise yet. 😂

9 hours ago, djefferis said:

Bottom line however - understand WHAT you are signing when you pay your money for something and if it doesn’t go for some reason - what your refund options are.

Good post. Our September cruise to Bermuda was recently cancelled. We could have opted for 125% FCC, expiring Sept 2022, or a refund.
 

The 125% was tempting, and we do have a cruise booked for next April. But I’ve read too many posts about difficulty with using FCCs, especially if you end up cancelling the cruise you applied them to. We opted to take the refund as a sure thing (eventually 😂) and not have to stress about the conditions of the FCC. 
 

And I agree that they mis-typed the years. Many of us have been confused on dates, etc in the past year. 😀

4 minutes ago, DJLDRUMS said:

The way things look if the test Cruise winds up to only be two days then there's 11 days before the sailing. I assume that the Oasis will have to make a stop in Miami to get provisions first.

Oasis test cruise is six nights: Aug 22-28. Takes awhile to get to Coco Cay from NJ. 😀

Odyssey had a bumpy start to its first cruise, with several cancellations along the way. I think many of the bloggers & such booked the Mardi Gras inaugural cruise before the sailing dates collided. 

Here is the post where it said the selections would be random, but you get more entries based on C&A status.

They said it would be a lottery style draw. But that C&A status impacted the number of entries you received. So each Pinnacle who applied had a greater chance of being invited than someone in the lower tiers. 
 
Royal already had over 300k applicants before that final announcement in July that people could still apply. Most people won’t get chosen, just based on how many volunteer slots are available after also selecting employees and travel partners. 

3 hours ago, SRF said:

I just got off the phone, and FINALLY, they seem to have everything fixed.  Her name is right.  Both upcoming cruises show up.  Her past cruises show up.  Her status and points (linked from my account are correct).

I would suggest you take a screen shot of the account with the correct info, just in case. 

And it was good to hear the end of the story & that it finally got straightened out.