Starry Eyes

2 hours ago, Mum2Mercury said:

I just turned 58, and I'm  satisfied with what we're paying from a third-party insurance agency

My post wasn’t about rates it was about the number of different insurers offering policies and the limits on medical coverage on those policies. The offering will vary by place of residence (county and state) as well as age.  When the oldest person was your age, we had more insurers offering us annual policies including some high medical coverage limits ($500k or 1M).  As the oldest traveler was into 70’s then into 80’s, there were fewer choices and lower medical limits on annual policies.  

8 hours ago, grandgeezer said:

I just used the $10k number because that was the number that was posted. We were well aware what a medical transport back to the US would cost, probably three times that, still not a big deal. I mentioned getting lucky by doing it.

I understand you took the 10K from another poster and I’d have made the same comment if the number had been triple.  Would 300k in medical plus medical evac for one of you had been a big deal? Even worse, what if a serious accident resulted in both of you sustaining life severe injuries?  Yes, during your cruising you were lucky while without travel medical.  I hope your luck continues in you post-cruising years. So far, we have been lucky with travel medical; I hope we never need to use it.  I also hope I don’t need to use my auto or home insurance. 
 

When we age our higher limit travel medical options seem to decline.  I wish a company offered a high deductible, high limit, annual (or multi year) policy to cover those of us concerned about really catastrophic travel medical events. 

2 minutes ago, Mowater said:

Don't get the "I knew there was more to the story." It shouldn't matter who RC sent the refund to...it wasn't my card. Why am I doing the leg work for a $14 billion corporation?
They say they won't fix it. So I asked the question I asked.

Just now, Mowater said:

Yeah. I thought of that too.

Frustrated as you may be, be careful not to cut off your nose to spite your face if you still want to cruise with Royal Caribbean.  In your shoes, I’d rant a bit, but then I’d try to work it out with the other party.  

2 hours ago, grandgeezer said:

When we started cruising in 2003, we made a conscious decision to self insure, both travel and medical. We were both in excellent health and the finances to do so, and we felt lucky. We ended up with 47 cruises and 494 days at sea. We also had to fly to and from the ports. The $10k bill mentioned would hurt a little bit but wouldn’t change our lifestyle on iota. The money saved was invested and grew like weeds. 
I’m guessing the actual savings, plus the growth from investing it makes the $10k look like chump change.

 

I’m glad neither of you ever had a serious medical issue during your cruising years.   Between medical expenses and medical transport back to your own country, such an event can cost far, far more than $10k.  

 

2 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

I have no issues with self insuring the trip.  That is a fixed amount and won't change and I will take that risk.  What I will never do is self insure medical as there is no upper limit on what the potential cost could be. 

That’s how I feel as well.  
The medical coverage and med evac limits on many travel insurance policies are way too skimpy for my tastes.  While having $25,000 in medical coverage (Royal plan limit) is far better than none, it still won’t cover a the medical expenses from a really serious accident or illness.

18 hours ago, Matt&Carolyn said:

That's a good idea, I hadn't thought about it! We normally don't do specialty dining, but it might be worth looking into!

Many of us without allergies enjoy lunch in a specialty restaurant on embarkation day.  It is a relaxing way to start a cruise…perhaps even more so in your case.

5 minutes ago, CruiseIreland said:

Isn't there an embarkation lunch in the MDR for Key purchasers?

The embarkation lunch for Key guests is typically held in the MDR.  Some ships also offer a special lunch for back to back guests; that may be in the MDR as well.  However, on embarkation day the MDR is not open for lunch for all guests.

If those are the only two items of significant interest to you, then I’d say don’t buy the Key.  Instead, book lunch at a specialty restaurant on embarkation day (a nice experience for less money than the Key).  The MDR is open for breakfast on debarkation morning.

If other Key benefits also quite valuable to you, my opinion might be different.  Also the price of the Key varies.  Obviously it is much more tempting to buy the Key when the price is lower.  How much per day?  What ship?  Have you considered renting a scooter, especially it is a large ship?

33 minutes ago, ONECRUISER said:

Choice, Rare but last yr a rock slide ended up stopping us from getting back to the Ship by over 6hrs. It was a Royal sponsored so Ship waited, free rm service that nite and got our $$$ refunded back for the excursion

Thank goodness that is a rare event.  Of course, your delayed excursion that day held the ship for any cruisers on non-ship sponsored excursions that day who arrived even slightly ahead of you.

Due to the age exclusion, the OP’s party may not have the option to select a ship sponsored excursion.  All they can do is research their vendors and select excursions with care. On St Maarten and St Thomas, the OP can probably find reliable excursion vendors and return to the ship in a timely fashion, barring a major rock slide or other incident.

21 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

The problem with this is most private have a higher price for just 1 person. Couples or families it's less expensive but for me as a solo it's a higher cost and not worth it. This really depends on the size of the group you want to book. I just dont find deals for 1 with private excursions. I just skip or book something else. 

I mentioned private excursions because the OP is traveling with parents, so there are at least 3 people in the OP’s party, maybe more.  A private excursion could also be designed and paced just for that family’s interests and needs. You, of course, have different needs and tons of experience.

What ports are impacted by this issue?  In many ports you might find that you can arrange better private excursions or book directly with excursions operators…just be sure to be back to the ship on time.  You can get more info on the port of call forums.  

On Royal Caribbean, the MDR is not open for lunch embarkation day currently (though people who purchased The Key do receive a special lunch served in the MDR).  If you do not want to go to Windjammer for lunch, you could pay for a specialty restaurant that day (Chops is probably open on Brilliance).  Windjammer in the main lunch option on port days; it is quiet if you are on board while others are in those ports you have do often visited.  Do not expect the MDR to be open for lunch on port days.  The MDR is open for breakfast on port days.

17 hours ago, renza said:

It shows my number on my wallet, but how long does it generally take before it appears in the app. I wanna change my room and it won’t let me until it’s a signed and shows.

Lately by the time my cabin is officially assigned there are no longer any available cabins left in my category ( or it one or two remain, they aren’t more desirable then my assigned cabin).   I hope you have better luck, but don’t get your hopes up.  There’s no way to know how long you will be in barcode status.  Your official assignment could come soon or it could come just before the cruise.  I will add, though, for several cruises when I have saw my cabin via bar code soon after check in, my assignment became official exactly 30 days out. YMMV

We are not pool people either, yet I consider the pool deck (with plenty of deck chairs) a very important part of the ship….after all, to avoid crowding, passengers must spread out.  I hope for excellent pool weather, especially on sea days, even though I won’t be in the pool.  If there is a wonderful pool deck and conducive weather, the pool people are happy and they are not crowding the non-pool-people’s spaces. Same thoughts apply to kid’s clubs and other attractive areas/activities we don’t happen to use.

26 minutes ago, LEMJMcC said:

Well, actually some have an online check-in date one day earlier than those in the JS, according to the Royal Caribbean mobile application.  But we all plan to travel to the terminal together, check-in, and hopefully board together.

Check in starts 45 days prior to the cruise.  Simply count back 45 days and you can tell which of the two dates you see on the app should be correct.

9 hours ago, Candleonwater said:

DD received her rejection email about 30 days before her cruise. It all depends on how full the ship is. Her email arrived the same day her ship showed as sold out.

That’s unusual timing for a rejection.  On the have had bids cancelled in that timeframe when our gty cabin was assigned.  We were able to re-enter bids.  

18 hours ago, buckeyefrank said:

it could be two different ships on either side of a dock.

That was my immediate impression as well.  

Some rates are offered for “new bookings only.”  If the gty rate you saw was for new reservations only, it would explain why the customer service agent could not see  it while logged into your old reservation number (as old reservations would not qualify for that rate).  It would also explain why they had to go through that convoluted process of obtain a new reservation number to get the rate even though you did not really qualify.  If the rate was for new booking only, you were lucky they waived the booking rules; it may not happen next time.

2 hours ago, island lady said:

 

Wow...that's low!  Will be curious to see how many on Allure on Monday.   We don't usually do the short cruises, but have never been on Allure.  Since she is still in PC, very convenient for us to finally meet her, and I really want to see Mamma Mia.  🙂 

Yes, we thought 30 Pins on a 7 day Oasis class sailing was quite low.  When we saw how few people were in the Suite/Pin waiting area in the terminal we suspected a low Pin count.  Still, I was surprised by the number 30 at top tier event.  

Posting that graphic might give heart to newer Pins that that they may sometimes make the 30 Pin cut-off for CK access, even on big ships.  You never know…

4 hours ago, firefly333 said:

The one thing I want is free wifi the whole cruise. The rest seems subject to change like oh too many high level this time only top 30 can eat in ck and use suite lounge. I'll never be top 30 lol maybe if I do little grandeur idk but other than the wifi, nothing else I want or expect to get. I have 18 rcl booked so i will hit pinnacle but not until after my TA unfortunately. Takes soooooo long. 13 days + 10 for TA is a lot of wifi to pay for, but the rest is  nothing to me.

 

I'm interested in trying HAL  have done most of the others. My friends claim HAL has the best food so I want to try it. 

The number of pins on board varies.  There are only 30 Pinnacles on Wonder this week.

5 hours ago, BillOh said:

Wonder is docking in St Thomas and people on board say the Dominican Republic stay has canceled, they appear to be on the normal eastern itinerary for Wonder, but skipping Coco Cay (as planned)

Yes, those of us on Wonder are in St Thomas today and we will visit St Maarten tomorrow.  As Mike mentioned, the changes are due to dock damage in San Juan (a dolphin mooring pier was damaged by an MSC ship).  Note:  CoCoCay wasn’t on our original itinerary.  We missed San Juan plus our two consecutive days in Dominican Republic (one of those was a Labadee replacement).  Mileage from St Maarten to DR then on to Port Canaveral is too great to keep even one decently long day in DR, so both DR calls were canned.

9 hours ago, Sonic2012 said:

This is my first attempt at Royal Up. Is it normal for offers to disappear?(I’m 3 days out) they’ve been showing submitted and now they’re gone. I wasn’t expecting anything, inventory was low and I just wanted the experience. I bid on two different upgrades if that makes any difference.

Are you looking for your bids via the cruise planner by chance?  The cruise planner typically closes about 3 days before the cruise, so it may not be the best way to find your bids to check status.  Go back to you confirmation email or use the sign in page at https://www.royalcaribbean.com/booked/cruise-room-upgrade

Several times when the barcode trick worked, my official cabin assignments came right at the 30 day mark.  Not every time, mind you. I see from roll call posting the OP is >30 days from sailing, so based on my experiences would not be shocked if that assignment appears on day 30.

Do you mean the deck numbers are on your set sail passes though you did not notice them previously?

If so….Muster station and deck number often appear on the set sail pass when when a cabin number is discoverable by barcode trick.  I don’t think it suggests your official assignment is or is not imminent.  OTOH, with each passing day  your cruise gets closer and so surely you official assignment does too.  
 

You sail in a few weeks?  Still more than 30 days?

Unless she has another trip planned that make this a better time to renew the passport, I’d wait to renew.  I’d plan to board with the passport (given Bermuda’s rules).  I’d have BC plus DL available as a backup in the unlikely event the passport is challenged.  I’d renew the passport upon return.