BBQluver

On 7/24/2022 at 2:50 AM, Eli_6 said:

Another suggestion for future cruisers in tender ports: If you do not have priority debark, you need to take a carnival excursion or schedule any excursions late in the day at tender ports.  They have very limited tenders and a lot of platinum and diamonds.  This is the priority lounge 20 minutes before debark starts and there are people lined up in the hallway still.  They are even doing zones for priority. I have seen people with zone numbers as high as 30 for priority guests.  My guess is not priority and non ccl excursions will be hours getting off the boat. 

Was this at Holyhead?  When I first booked our Busybus excursion from Holyhead, I didn't realize that tendering would take as long as 2-3 hours. Our August 12-21 cruise had Isle of Skye as the first port of call. It was changed to Holyhead. The reason given by John Heard was that there was not enough tender boats to support passengers tendering at Isle of Skye and rough waters there. I don't see Holyhead being an improvement in the situation. Two hours to tender and then the time to tender back make for a short day in port. I am hoping the process is improved within the next couple of weeks.

Thank you for the review. If all goes according to plan, we will be boarding Pride in August for a British Isles cruise. The sloths look fun. I hope the same Red Frog band is there when we cruise.

Happy Cruising!🍹🚢

On 5/8/2022 at 8:15 PM, crusin okie said:

In researching cabins I have found valuable info and photos on:

 

https://www.cruisedeckplans.com/DP/deckplans/

 

I subscribed for the expanded capabilities and have never regretted it.

Thanks for the website link. The site has features that I have found useful.

On 5/31/2020 at 1:24 PM, caribbeanfever said:

June 13th Cruise was cancelled on May 20th and we got refund credited back to our Royal Caribbean card on May 28th, except for $200 and some odd dollars. That was for one cabin. Nothing on the other cabin yet. Hopefully everyone that got cancelled way back in March and April are getting money back soon 😊

We also were canceled by Royal on May 20th.  Our British Isles cruise had a June 12 departure. Received a full refund of all payments with a credit on our AMX card account on May 28th. When I received the email cancelation notice with our options, I chose the link for a full refund instead of FCC. No phone calls needed. Maybe since Royal has brought back 100 layed off employees to handle customer service, the refunds will be processed a lot faster. I can not understand how we that were canceled in May have received our refunds, but others that were canceled in prior months have not.❓  I booked direct with Royal so didn't need to wait to speak with a TA or Vacation Planner to process my request.

I booked directly with Royal in July 2019 for a June 12 2020 British Isles cruise. I purchased my air fare and travel insurance through Royal. All excursions were made through the Royal. On May 20 my cruise was canceled by Royal. When I recieved my email advising me of the cancelation options I selected the link for requesting a full credit refund instead of FCC. The request form took a couple of minutes to complete. I received a credit refund on my credit card account for ALL my credit card charges on May 28. 🤑  The total process was all automated; no phone calls to Royal, Air2Sea, or the travel insurance company.

I think they (Royal) will wait another week or so to see how the lift & shift program is working. If it is generating a decent number of cruise transfers, then I believe the cancelations by Royal will be close to the first of June. They want to avoid as many refund requests as they can for as long as possible.

If the other passenger that recieved the FCC certificate opted for a refund instead, wouldn't the credit refund go to the credit card account that was used to pay for the cruise costs?

Edit> As you were. I didn't read the OP correctly. They were not asking about FCC. Sorry, but I couldn't find how to delete my post.

When I checked the Royal website notice for health and travel I did saw that the notice about the letter requirement for over 70 was gone. There wasn't any mention of screening for underlying medical conditions prior to boarding. The notice is dated April 29 so I  hopeful that I will be able to cruise even though I have diabetes.

7 minutes ago, wolfcathorse said:

if it says severe compromised conditions, controlled asthma shouldn't be a reason for denying boarding. And she didn't mention diabetes? My DH is on an insulin pump so he can't hide that, but his diabetes is controlled, he's the most healthiest 67 yr old diabetic I know. If his doctor says he's fit to travel in spite of diabetes, will they let him board? I have mild controlled asthma, I can lie about that at check in, as long as they don't search my luggage and find my rescue inhaler. Am I to trust what a call center rep is going to tell me if I call for a clarification? This is so confusing! And disheartening, we may never get to cruise again!

The way the current policy is written indicates that your DH would not be allowed to board no matter that his diabetes is controlled. The following is a portion of Royal's Travel and Health update. It can be found at the top of their web page.

b. Effective Friday, March 13, boarding will be denied to any person with a severe, chronic medical condition, including those specified by the CDC. Guests of all ages will be screened prior to boarding, regarding underlying health issues that may prevent them from sailing, i.e.  chronic heart, lung, liver, or kidney disease, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, or cancer.

I also have diabetes in a controlled stage. Since I am over seventy years old I would be required to have a doctor's statement. The medical letter form that Royal is using has no option for the doctor to state the diabetes is controlled. The doctor is certifying that the customer has no compromised conditions. So it is a case of go or no go.

1 hour ago, SNJCruisers said:

Appreciate the link, but since I'm borderline and under 7.0 and 10+ years from 70, I think I'll be OK.

The problem I see is that the cruise line is approaching the underlying conditions as yes or no response. They aren't considering a yes, but under control answer will allow the guest to board. Since the physician's didn't apply to you, you probably did not read the letter that the over 70 have to provide. It requests that the physician certify that the guest has no underlying medical conditions such as ... then lists several conditions, one being diabetes. Right now that is a cruise stopper for me.

On 4/12/2020 at 4:25 AM, SNJCruisers said:

Could you please provide me with a link to where you saw this online.

I am not sure what other cruise lines are following the CDC guidelines, but Royal Caribbean website has listed their Health and Travel Update on their website. Just in case the link does not work, you can go to their website. They have a link at the top of the page. https://www.royalcaribbean.com/cruise-ships/itinerary-updates

As long as diabetics are banned from cruising, I doubt I will be able to cruise again.

On 4/8/2020 at 3:30 PM, molly361 said:

Rubber stamp ordered - Check

7 day to become a doctor online course signed up- Check

 

I'll be available to sign letters shortly for a small fee😇

 

Dr. Art Vandelay should be the doctor's name. 😉

8 hours ago, TexasRCH said:

I am 75 and have diabetes.  The way I read the form is says I can not cruise. My Doctor agrees by the way. The form does not say any thing abut being well controlled  It just says diabetes.  .  Therefore I have canceled my cruise for 15 family members in July. 

That is how I understand the meaning of the medical conditions letter. I am 71 and diabetic, also. If the policy is still in place for our June cruise we will also need to cancel. If the policy is on going, I will never be able to cruise with Royal again. What good do Future Cruise Credits do me? 😟

On 3/13/2020 at 6:03 AM, Fun2snorkel said:

Do Doctors have a form they just fill out - kind of like a kid going back to school?  Or is Royal supplying the form?  And do we have to get a note for every cruise taken in a year?    This really makes no sense to me. And if you are cruising in a week or two, as I would have been if not cancelled, how do you get a note if you are already on your way to the port?

 

So many questions!

Royal has a form that is to be completed by the doctor. The form has a place for the patient's name. Also a place for the date. I thought I had read that the form must be dated not more than seven days before the cruise, but I don't see it on the Royal health alert.  Then the following is the information that the doctor certifies:

To Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., The above-noted patient is seventy years old or above and wishes to sail onboard a Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. cruise ship departing on ____________. I hereby certify that this patient does not suffer from any chronic illness (e.g. heart, lung, liver or kidney disease or immunodefi ciency status due to HIV/AIDS or diabetes) which would make this patient susceptible to complications arising after infection with the Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV)/COVID-19. I attest that this person is fit to travel on a cruise vacation.

There isn't an option to state that the patient has diabetes, but it is under control and the patient is fit to travel. If this form is still required for my June cruise I will be denied boarding. 

8 hours ago, Merion_Mom said:

 

How long ago was that?

It was in July 2018, I booked GTY in Feb 2018, received my cabin assignment in April 2018. It was an Alaska cruise on Radiance of the Seas. I have read that even if you have received your cabin assignment with a GTY booking it is possible the cruiseline can reassign you later.

We did Radiance southbound in July 2018. We flew to Anchorage a few days early and checked out the area and enjoyed the Fourth of July fireworks. Being the land of the midnight sun, the fireworks show did not start until 11:45 p.m. We rode the train from Anchorage to the Seward port. The sunset photo was taken at 11 p.m over Cook Inlet. The train is traveling toward Seward along Cook Inlet.

3 minutes ago, TomC21 said:

I recently booked a GTY balcony cabin on the Mariner sailing October 25th. How soon do they usually assign the cabin. I’ve never done a guarantee cabin before, as this was a last minute decision.

thank you

Tom

As close as your sail date is, I think you will be getting an assignment within the next week or so. However, I have read that some people didn't get theirs until they arrived at the port. I got mine on a GTY cabin about 90 days before sailing.

We stayed at the Quality Suites in Historic Downtown. Shuttle service is available to and from both the airport and train station. They don't have a restaurant, but there are places to eat within a fifteen minute or less walk. We were there in July 2018.  

We enjoyed renting a car in Skagway and driving to Emerald Lake. Nice photo spots along the way. Another positive is that you can reserve the rental with Avis with no deposit and if you need to change plans there is no cancelation charge. We loved being able to stop wherever and whenever we wanted to.  

Our daughter and family just disembarked from the Breeze today. I asked how the cruise was. She must have gotten the same wait staff in the MDR. Two hours for meals, wrong food delivered, servers were not friendly. They did have a good room attendant.

Thanks for the information. I have saved it to my drop box for planning before leaving for our cruise in July. Looks like I need to change my MTD reservation on Day 1. The time I reserved is during the muster drill.

Thank you so much for taking time to post all your experiences. It is very useful in planning for everyone. I hope you have a chance to include the cruise compasses.

The link has been updated. The OP didn't update with a new post, she corrected the link in the trip report post. When I clicked on it last night, it had the compass programs for the May 2018 northbound sailing.

The OP of that thread posted the compasses from last year by mistake, they haven't reposted this year's yet. Those are also northbound, not southbound, so the ship leaves much earlier. Northbound leaves at 4:30 from Vancouver, southbound left at 8pm from Seward.

The compasses have been updated. There is not a new posting. She updated the link on the the first post so that the compass pdf files are the one of the 2018 northbound sailing she was on.

Thanks for the report. I appreciate the menus and the daily compass guides. They help me with planning for our southbound trip coming up in July. We live in Oklahoma, also. By July we will be ready to cool off in Alaska.

As an addition to my above comment, I noticed that the Compasses that were posted are dated for June 2017. Were the activities more or less the same for your cruise this year?