15 hours ago, gdwest said:

We have up to this point always flown into the departing city the day before the cruise.  We will be flying from Nashville

to Miami and am curious if flying the morning of would be advisable (or not).  Our flight arrives at 10:55 a.m. with Southwest.

Southwest seems to be (my experience) good at arriving on time...any advise or thoughts??

 

Thanks!

All you need is one little nut to come loose, a red light to go on in the cockpit and delay your flight by a couple of hours and you could miss departure.   In the words of the great Clint Eastwood "do ya feel lucky punk?   Well do ya?"   lol    

You're probably fine  in all honesty... but that little what-if still exists.   

We were in St. Thomas December 2019 and went to Sapphire beach and it was perfection.   I, too, was worried about the crowds at Magens and wanted something less busy, but not desolate.    We walked maybe fifty yards down the beach past the beach bar and found some sun/shade (lots of trees for shade) and parked on our towels right in the sand.  We brought a little speaker so we could have some music.  Kids had a blast and then like sent from heaven a server walked by and asked if he could get us anything.   Ummmmmmm....   does a bear #$&%* in the woods?   Brought us drinks and food all day.

The one thing we did ahead of time was book a private transfer (there were 7 of us), but not sure if you would need to do that.   I'm a worrier, so it set my mind at ease.   

The water was amazing, the beach was fun - and there were lots of kite surfers flying about and made for great entertainment.

Why don't you call and see if you can L&S?   

Cruises will not be sailing out of Vancouver this year.  Period.   We can't even leave the country and come back in without quarantining for 14 days still, and ships are not permitted to port in Canada until February 2022 - Health Canada is taking a much more measured approach to reopening than the US and cruise ships porting are pretty low on the priority list right now.

The Alaska cruises tend to be more expensive, so it may be worth while to move it to 2022 and hang on to that price.   

I just bought day passes for the beach club for April 2022 for $100 less each than they were the last time I checked.   Seems like they are having a bit of a sale.  #headsup

Still $250/day CAD for my April cruise (on Symphony).  But $106 for my December cruise (on Harmony)

There are a tonne of things to do in evenings as a family - 

- music in Central Park

- the promenade has an event almost every night I think

- pools are open after dinner - and they're super quiet and my kids love swimming at night when everything is lit up from underneath - it's really fun

- movies are shown on the Aquatheatre screen

- the Aquatheatre show (kids LOVE this one)

- live music in Bolero's almost every night

- Jazz on 4 has music most nights

- on every sailing I've done on Oasis class there is a family friendly comedy night

- the Ice show is about 45 minutes - so it might work out

- family karaoke

We've travelled on a multitude of cruises with our boys (now 11 and 13) and we've always found something to do at night with them and they aren't fans of kids club so we really spend all of our time together and have never struggled to find something to do.

Have fun!!

Just so I understand - the order prevents any cruise ship from sailing to/from the US until that date?   Or is it possible that under the order they may allow ships to begin test sailings?

On 3/20/2021 at 6:53 AM, vacationlover_mn said:

Similar thing on my upcoming feb cruise- “normal” price is $170, random “sales” for $107.  Since it’s only two of us, and it seems like a fun location, I ended up getting it on sale...

I'd be thrilled with $107!    I'll keep checking.   Good to know it may be possible 😁

Even the day passes are insane.    For our April 2022 cruise (which was meant to be April 2021) a day pass for the beach club was about$100, now they're $250'ish.    There's no way I'm dropping a G-note to sit by the "fancy" pool for the day - it'll be beachside for this crew.

Hopefully they come down - but this is absolutely bonkers.

19 hours ago, Karma5 said:

WE are all in a Grand Suite, thank you....................

We've sailed a few times in GS and up with our kids (twice on Oasis).   Last time they were 8 and 10 and we spent a good hour (or two)  in the suite lounge every afternoon after a busy day of adventure for snacks and some quiet time before dinner.   Everyone brought a book, quiet table game or a device for some chill time before getting ready for dinner.   It was some of our best time together playing games or having chats and connecting.

Funny story - there was an older couple who were in the lounge every day at the same time as us and they were constantly looking at our kids and watching them.   The terrible thing is that we thought they were resenting the fact that the boys were in the lounge - but after about three days they came over and told us how great it was to see a family having this time together and how lovely our boys were.   Huge compliment - and the kids were feeling pretty happy with themselves.💗

My advice is to go and enjoy it and if people don't like it they can move or go sit somewhere else.  Most kids are very well behaved and don't deserve the bad rap they get from Grumpy McGrumperson.

4 hours ago, A&L_Ont said:

 

I just checked the Canadian vaccine tracker site and it now shows that I could get mine between mid June and late August THIS year!!!  

 

Let's see these promised vaccines arrive and that date become a reality. 

We are on a similar timeline here...   fingers, legs, eyes, arms, toes are all crossed!

I pine for the days when these boards are full of complaints about chair hogs, questions about the best drink package pricing, worries about how much to tip, and moaning about a change in itinerary due to weather.   😁

Let's get people vaccinated before we freak out about who will or won't be sailing.   One thing at a time 🙂

U.S. sets coronavirus infection record; deaths near 224,000

^This was the headline of an article issued by the Associated Press on October 24 - and somehow you thought you would book a cruise?   Respectfully, I am as baffled by your actions as you are frustrated by RCL's.   It's not like you didn't know what was happening on this planet - and maybe you didn't do your due diligence re:  refunds and timelines prior to booking?

I totally appreciate how disappointing it is to not have access to monies you have paid to Royal Caribbean, and believe me when I understand the heartbreak of not being able to cruise.  I'm thinking you needed a good vent - and hopefully you got everything off your chest.  In the mean time try and remember that people are dying.   Everywhere.  And nurses and doctors are practically killing themselves to take care of people who are critically ill.. 

Take a deep breath.   Maybe book for 2022 as it seems very unlikely that you will not sail next year (but you never know about that either!).   We moved our Dec 2020 cruise to Dec 2021 thinking that would be more than enough time to clear things up and quite frankly I'll be (pleasantly) surprised if we are travelling by the end of this year.   

Also - it took four months for me to receive refunds for excursions booked on our December 2020 cruise after it was cancelled.   

My husband and I are in for the shot and cannot wait.   

We Lifted and shifted 2 cruises from Dec 2019 to Dec 2020 (from Oasis to Harmony) and I was super confident we’d be sailing by then, but I’m starting to have doubts.  Fingers are crossed. 
 

Also L&S from April 2020 to April 2021 (Oasis to Symphony).   Bummed at this one especially as it was for my DH 50th bday with friends - but it’ll be my 50th in 2022 so we can still rip it up.  😈

Not booking any more 2022 cruises as we have weeks and weeks of condo time to use up - needless to say if we can travel in 2022 we are outtie.   
 

On 6/18/2020 at 6:15 AM, Jenjer said:

Last I looked it was June 22 but that is not a surprise. There goes our idea of a little trip to Niagara falls, cause we all know you have the good falls in Canada. 

Even if you come across the border and it is open to non-essential travel you will have to provide proof of how you will isolate for 14 days.   People are losing their minds here at seeing American plates.   
 

the border won’t realistically open until rates in America fall.  Significantly.   Here in BC I think we had 11 or 12 new cases yesterday.    WA had ~400.    The govt has no interest here in allowing Americans over the border - and Canadian border agents have turned away ~7,500 travellers trying to come up for shopping/sightseeing.  
 

it sucks.   We had major travel planned and have cancelled 4 significant trips.  But until things settle down no one is going anywhere.   

1 hour ago, Djsmrs said:

we are in the exact situation - 

 

Oasis out of FLL booked April 2021 - want to move to April 2022, but Oasis doesn't have any sailings out of FLL, and none match our original itinerary.

 

We had an Oasis Western Caribbean booked for December 2020 and have moved it to Harmony, also on Western Caribbean in December 2021.  Royal had no problem with this trade - but the April one isn't possible apparently.  Fighting this one tooth and nail.

 

I'm not sure why we can do it with one and not the other.

Update:

A couple things to address comments above - 

 Our December 2020  cruise that we moved from Oasis to Harmony in Dec 2021 (still W. Caribbean, but different ports) was SIGNIFICANTLY more.  We have a star loft suite booked, and I'm guessing the price on Harmony was double.  It was moved - no problem at all.  Also sails out of a different originating port.   I would argue that price is not the issue.  We could have booked on Symphony - and that was even more expensive than Harmony, but dates didn't work for us.

Just had an update from my TA - he escalated to his rep who spoke with Miami and despite being told there was nothing comparable in April 2022 vs April 2021 - turns out that the stock hadn't yet been released for the Lift n Shift.  We are now waiting to hear back from Miami - but I anticipate we will be moving from Oasis 2021 to Symphony 2022 (most similar dates and ports of call).  We have a 2BR aquatheatre suite booked with friends for my DH's 50th bday - so we jumped on getting this done as we have a small travel window in April with our friends as we all have kids.

Hopefully Miami will move the booking - can't see why they wouldn't as the move fits exactly within the parameters of the Lift and Shift policy.  Same class of ship, same itinerary (Eastern Caribbean - with most similar ports of call we could find), same length.  Fingers are crossed.

we are in the exact situation - 

Oasis out of FLL booked April 2021 - want to move to April 2022, but Oasis doesn't have any sailings out of FLL, and none match our original itinerary.

We had an Oasis Western Caribbean booked for December 2020 and have moved it to Harmony, also on Western Caribbean in December 2021.  Royal had no problem with this trade - but the April one isn't possible apparently.  Fighting this one tooth and nail.

I'm not sure why we can do it with one and not the other.

I feel like the best response to a question that is so clearly out of bounds is “why do you want to know”.   It really makes people stop and think.    
 

cruising solo sounds absolutely heavenly.   

If you have the photo package and are in the photo with people who do not have the photo package you will still get the pictures.  The catch is when you try to put photos with others who aren't included in the package in a photo without you  the picture will not be included.

We sailed on Anthem in July with a group of 10.  My family of four, my inlaws (family of four) and my parents in law.  My sister in law had the photo for her and her family.  We took photos with her kids and my kids and the pics were included.  However, when we tried to include a photo of my just family without anyone from her cabin the photo was removed from her package.  But we had lots of shots with all 10 of us, and grandparents and grandkids that were all included.   You just need to have at least one of you in the photo.

On 11/25/2019 at 2:36 PM, dowen63 said:

When next month are they closing non tower. We have reservation 6 Dec.

We check in on the 7th and she said the rooms would be closed by then...

Maybe they're closing them end of November?

I've got this hotel booked for a night next month before our cruise - and have been very nervous after reading all the negative reviews.  So I called to see if I could confirm a tower room and the agent told me they will be closing the non tower rooms for renovations and we will be in a tower room.  Seems like they've heard the feedback and are actively working to upgrade the older non-tower rooms.

Phew!  Fingers crossed..

Allure 12/8/19 - email correspondence from Alan, but he's going on vacation and Luciano will be our genie.

You could take the kids to Chocobar Cortes - get 'em all hyped up on sugar and then back to the ship for some pool time to burn it off!  My kids (9&11) are bored of SJ too and will be staying on the ship while I wander for coffee and chocolate 😉

Not all restaurants show a kids menu.  But some do - it’ll give you a sense.   150 And Giovannis show it in the app.  I didn’t search each venue - but you can have a look for your sailing.     The menu in this video is from our allure sailing next month.