topnole

We booked last Sept and were in a suite in Allure recently. Our original booking was on a different ship and we moved it to Allure. I was a little worried they wouldn’t apply the double points from the promotion and I’d have to waste time calling to get it sorted. By somehow they applied it right and we got our 24 points (12 for the suite x 2 for the promotion). You got the same for being solo. Congrats on becoming Diamond. Each subsequent step is harder, but who cares. Enjoy the journey and the rest is just gravy on top.

I’m not paid to make those decisions and clearly there are no easy solutions for any of the cruise lines. But I’m not sure dropping the current protocols is in their favor. Whether testing helps or not, many folks like the optic of it because it makes them feel safer. And yes, it would be a bit easier without testing. Particularly for us as we have unvaccinated kids. But it may well be the cost of doing business for the companies and the passengers. Time will tell. The reality is that none of the current protocols impacted my cruise much, if any. I think most people feel this way, so I tend to think the companies will stick with the current status quo for a while yet. It sucks for the employees having to mask however. But again, the reality is there are no easy solutions. A highly contagious virus (of any kind) and a packed cruise ship don’t go particularly well together. The solution may just play itself out naturally in the next few years as nearly everyone finally gets Covid. Hopefully after that, immunity for more and more folks kicks in long term. Who knows.

I live my life normally too and just got off a cruise and did it no differently than I did pre-Covid. But I’m relatively young and healthy. A negative for the cruise lines is a large percentage of folks cruising are in a high risk category category for either age or health issues. My assumptions about the future with Covid and cruising are not based on what I think of Covid or how I behave, but instead on what I think folks think who have never cruised or do it very infrequently. I’ve talked with friends since our return and most have zero desire to get on a ship in the near future because of the public perceptions. If Covid outbreaks happen a lot and get highlighted by the media, that the cruise lines will take a hit on potential future bookings from newbies. By the way, in the good old “normal” days, cruise lines stocks would generally have abnormal negative returns once news hit in Noto outbreaks. The perception of virus outbreaks has never been good for business and the cruise lines must show they can contain them to be sustainable for the long run. People don’t want to get sick when traveling intentionally. Doesn’t matter whether it is flu, Covid, or whatever. If spread is happening a lot and is highlighted, that is bad for business.

I really hope this is not the way it “should” be. I for one wouldn’t prefer to cruise on a ship that has so much Covid that the quarantine ward is full and random cabins all over the ship have Covid positive passengers. Feel bad for the room stewards who then get exposed and then potentially expose the other 10 or so cabins the serve. Folks can argue about severity or the need to return to normal, but Covid is one of the most contagious viruses we know of and it will spread like wild fire on ships if folks just continue on their way like the old “normal” way of doing things. The reality is that the cruise lines will be out of business if Covid optics look bad for an extended period of time. The hard core cruisers will cruise regardless. That isn’t near enough to sustain these cruise lines. They need new customers all the time and the once every couple year type customers. Many of them won’t cruise if ships appear to be Covid incubators.

Dazzles isn’t the same as it used to be. They use it for karaoke. What a waste of a great venue. They have a place specifically built for karaoke called the “On Air” club and they decide to diminish the best live band space in their entire fleet. Just Brilliant. Blaze probably opens in the 10-11 range, but probably doesn’t even get a crowd until 11-12. The crowds in there are probably hit and miss depending on how many younger folks are on board. Never been a fan of Blaze because the set up and dance floor location is so segmented. It was a serious step down from voyager and freedom class dance clubs (which they have now done away with anyhow).

I saw that too. As if that is a big deal or new. 1-5% of the folks on CC practically live on ships. Note, this couple still owned their home.

You can wear flip flops in any restaurant. Rare would this be enforced in specialty restaurants let alone WJ.

Off and on in the US. It used to be a few times a year. Now they seem to keep extending it. But often they just jacked up the prices before they do it. So only sometimes is it a good deal to cram that 3rd or fourth in a cabin. Keep in mind, 3rd and 4th can cheap be to add to a cabin regardless depending on the cruise. Also, keep in mind the first two must be adults before a child is “free” and like I said those rates for the parents will be higher than normal 95% of the time to offset the free kid aspect. Basically, there is no such thing as a free lunch (or very rarely at least).

There are plenty of Royal Caribbean kids toys onboard in the stores. We bought them for our kids of similar age. They liked them. Warning, they are relatively cheap Chinese made products. So they will of course break quickly.

It’s called John Wayne toilet paper. Ruff and tuff and don’t take crap off of nobody.

Yeah we just got off a cruise and the reality of potentially having my cruise ended due to a positive Covid test hit me about a week before. Luckily we had no positive Covid tests.

You might be smart to get a proctored test as they may require that for a refund. Regardless of FCC or refund, I’m guessing you will pay prevailing rates for whatever new you book. I would take the full refund unless there are some significant advantages to transferring it (like double CA points or still getting cruise with confidence) that you otherwise wouldn’t get with a new booking. You never know what can happen in the future. Money back in your pocket is always better all other things being equal.

If it is Covid it is a full refund for bookings in the US. At least that is what I think. Not sure elsewhere. I’m sure you can look it up easily.

You should get a full refund. So you don’t need to transfer the funds to another cruise. But so check with how you are booked. If you are under cruise with confidence I think you simply get a full refund.

Well. I’m not sure I see the controversy. If people are testing positive (3 times) 6 days before a cruise and then lying on the survey, they are extremely selfish and they are the problem. No one should be endorsing or encourage this. The rules are in place. I’m not arguing for or against them. Just that they are there and if you choose to cruise then that is what is required. We all know that if we test positive for Covid we shouldn’t be traveling anyhow. Doing this will just bring back more strict protocols. There are folks that are sincerely unaware they have Covid traveling. We don’t need people purposefully spreading it on public carriers.

Boldness of line is irrelevant. My wife had a very faint line and she was very sick. Like couldn’t get out of bed sick. Mine turned dark in a matter of seconds. I was mildly symptomatic, but functional the entire time.

The darkness of the line is irrelevant and doesn’t indicate how acute or severe. Since you tested positive you should notify them and get the process started to get your money back. When you do the health survey you will be asked if you tested positive in the prior 10 days. So they will know unless you lie which is not something I would not do. This is health survey for a public carrier holding thousands of passengers and I’m guessing the ramifications of lying about having Covid and being caught lying could be significant. Plus you have now posted this information on a public website. I don’t know if there would be liability associated with lying on the survey, but I sure wouldn’t want to risk that and I sure wouldn’t want to board a ship and risk infecting people. That would seem very selfish and in some situations very dangerous (assuming you passed it in to a more high risk person). We don’t know how long the current strains are contagious for after testing positive. Stay home. The ships have enough of a Covid issue as it is.

Correct. 5 booked in a cabin always has two reservation numbers (5th has their own number). Are the Royal ups done based on the reservation number or the cabin? In other words, is the system set up to handle it or is Royal up just not an option for 5 in a cabin? Just curious as I’d like to try to bid on a suite if it allows me to do it for all 5 of us. Since we have a baby in a pack and play, we are able to be in most cabins that cap at 4 people. But ideally we could bid on a 2 bedroom grand suite or a CL suite.

Or just preparedness in the crazy regulations of Covid. A little planned redundancy isn’t a bad thing.

Can anyone comment on the two reservation numbers even though we are in one cabin together? Anyone have experience with this?

We booked directly with Royal.

They are a capital intensive company that was disallowed to earn revenue for something like a year. That did kill profit and put them in an extremely unattractive financial situation. We are lucky any of these companies even exist now. Add in the supply chain issues and labor shortages and it is a nightmare for them. I just got off a cruise and all told my observation is that things can and will improve. But they are dealing with the issues as best as possible. People are free to choose with their wallets. My guess is cruisers will come back realizing they got a good bang for their buck and that Royal is doing their best given the horrible situation they operate in now. If I’m wrong, we will see the repeat cruiser %s go down significantly. Time will tell.

Ok. Tnx. Wonder why we don’t get any emails. Is there a setting for that or just random?

Are you saying invites don’t go out until 3 days before the ship departs? I thought it all happened much earlier and assignments were typically last few days before departure.

Never bid on one and have no emails prompting me about it. So I went on Royal website and did the last name and reservation number. A box popped up saying make sure you are within 30 days of your sailing. So you can’t bid until then? I swear I’ve read people already winning bids that far out? Also, we are a family of 5 and this time we are in an ultra spacious stateroom. So that means the 5th always has a different booking number (even though in same cabin). How does that work with Royal up since it may only show the booking for 4 out of 5 of us when I put in that reservation number? Am I going to stump the cc experts here with that last question? Any advice/expertise is appreciated.