ampurp85

I was only able to get a deal on 1/5 cruises, all the rest went up even with the OBC offer.

I can't wait to get on in Oct. The reduce capacity is going to be great. I am glad they only have a few shows and we will have all the opportunities to see them. Shows are usually what we miss on a cruise because they have so many other activities. Other than CocoCay, we aren't planning to get off at any other ports. 

OP will be able to enjoy drinks in the SL and then use their vouchers wherever, even CocoCay. 

@Tony ONope, it is any drink up to $13

We visited Italy as a destination on out own in Oct 2017, heat was bananas until we went to Egypt in 2018. That being said I understand RCG tours are expensive but Italy is a whole lot of everything. We used the trains, buses, ferries etc and I can say that none of them were even close to being on time. Even at a low-peak travel time we still had crowd and transportation issues. I can't imagine traveling right now with Covid restrictions to the EU. 

@Tony O The new C&A tier drinks don't have to be ordered from the happy hour menu, it is any drink from anywhere up to $13. 

@KLMB If you are staying in a suite you have access to suite lounge drinks from 11-11. That means you can have what's in there and then go to any bar and use your vouchers.

@LeeW Actually the current rules for negative covid test are until Dec 31st. 

@ace2542 Yes they will give you a refund if you are denied boarding, it is listed in the FAQs. I know of 2 families from FB who were denied because they didn't have negative covid test. 

I don't know where or why people thought they could be tested at the pier.....maybe because of the unvaxxed situation. Most ships are sailing at least 90% vax, the testing they have available is limited, not for 900+ pax. But you would think people would connect the dots. If RCG was offering testing to the vax it would have been listed.

Also remember that you have to be an C&A member to get the points. I am traveling solo on a S2S and getting 54 points for 9 nights of cruising because I am solo in a jr. suite on both ships.

RCG is NOT testing vax at the pier, only unvax who will be paying out of pocket for it. if you don't show up with negative test result within 3 day time period, you will be denied boarding. 

The answer to your questions depend on your sailing date. Currently there is very limited priority anything. Suites can board about an hour each way meaning.....if your scheduled time is 1pm you would be able to board around noon or as soon as check-in opens. Or at 2pm if things are delayed on your end. If you check out live blogs, they speak of people who showed up earlier than their scheduled times, waiting in ridiculous lines.

With reduced capacity, priority is not really a thing.....that also goes into the seat reservations and early reservations for flow riders, etc. So it really comes down to if the first day lunch and included internet is worth it? IMHO I would just get the multiple device internet plan.

I cruise mostly solo, I actually will prefer an inside room over an OV or balcony. I like the dark, and hate port windows. If I want a balcony it will have to be a suite as at least there are perks included with the increase price. 

The 9/26 was cancelled as that was the one charted by the country music fest. 

My check-in time for the rest of my party held a week while we waited for their passports. Check in for my Oct Allure opened on the 2nd of Aug. They did expedited passports end of June and they came Aug 6th, so I finished their check-in on the 8th.

I am managing a restaurant and currently, we sanitize pens every hour. We also take the cc's to scan. With as much sanitizing going around, we have never had an issue. I imagine the ships will be the same. Live blogs have talked about how often we will be required to use sanitizer and we all know RCG keeps a pretty clean ship. I think you will be fine, especially since a huge chunk of pax will be vaxxed

I read they are pretty strict about boarding times unless you are in a suite/pin. 

I think the Chops situation is still set for the original boarding times when people would come on as early as 11am. I believe they will honor the reservations starting at 1pm.

@mabt The wrist bands are to signify vaxxed.

I had Chops on Mariner and it was meh, not great but not bad. The side offering were the best part. At $54 I would say its a no for me, only because it seems like quality wise its barely a step up from the MDR.  I will be on Allure in Oct, my first oasis class ship, and my plan is to wait until I am on board and see what calls to me. The UDP is too much food when we are staying in a suite and have access to coastal kitchen.

Currently no cruises will be sailing at full capacity, they will be full (not taking any more bookins) based on capacity restrictions. Fain said initial start up will be 30-ish percent and increase up to 10% after that. So if Oasis starts in Sept then by Dec they might be at 50%. Currently Adventure and Freedom are still at 35-ish percent. This is all up in the air as people might cancel based on protocols.

I would say if you can check-in and then after a negative covid test being shown at the pier. 

IMHO any ships that were not part of the initial  restart, were not going to sail. As far as port changes, that is to be expected and just because that happens doesn't mean ships won't sail. I have also known that protocols and restrictions would be here and here for a while. 

Mariner was my first and only RCG ship that I was able to sail on before the shutdown. To answer your questions. Only oasis and quantum class ships did reservations for shows and such. On Mariner if you had the Key or were staying in a suite they had seats reserved. Now for the restart you have to book entertainment once you are aboard. Idk when you are travelling but if it goes back to that, it will still not be available in the planner. With MTD ymmv, we had no issues. I originally booked the same time in the planner but on a few nights, with the show schedules, we just walked up and got a table. As far as the casino, we went twice. The first time the smoke was pretty nonexistent, but that was during a sea day. We went in the evening and left after 5 min because I cannot handle the smell at all. The mariner is a very nice size ship, I was able to get my baring's pretty fast. I have about 80 days to my first oasis class so I don't know whether I can say Mariner will be more relaxing....however I can say it was very relaxing to me.

My understanding is that only unvaxxed paying the fees can get tested on board. They don't expect a lot of unvaxxed so I would imagine that the testing is limited.

Post like this and the people who agree with them are what's wrong with the world today. Nobody has any sense of accountability. Everything is someone else's fault. There was no gun to your head telling you to book a cruise during a pandemic. This is a business, there job is to make money. The fact that they try to do this humanely is a bonus. I have only sailed once with RCG, it was a decent experience. When sh!t hit the fan, I didn't book any vacations because I wasn't interested in giving interest free loans. Then to make this worst your complaining over a small inconvenience, you will be made whole by the refund...just not when you want.

Depends on a lot of factors, some people have already checked in for cruises departing that late. Others have cruises leaving in 9 days and still can't check in. There are a myriad of threads asking this question, there is no rhyme or reason to how or when check-in opens.

@Ukigirl I  was told the same thing, that they may not even get most of the fleet back until 2022.