Cutigerlady

Hmm, odd the prices on my cruises went up significantly!  For example, deluxe beverage package had been hovering around $53 and now $71 (no thank you, I'll pay as I go).  Dining package was $119 and is now $145 (5 night/Oasis class).  I have one cruise in September and one in December.  

We were on a Christmas sailing in 2019 and it was a blast!  I'm not sure how COVID will impact things though.  They gave out gifts to all kids 18 and under, photo with Santa, hot chocolate & free drinks.  They had holiday sing-a-longs, special trivia, movies, etc. Pretty much every activity had some sort of holiday theme.  I didn't get the memo that everyone goes to the main dining room breakfast in matching Christmas pjs!  There is a special meal for Christmas Day dinner.  If you want to eat at a specialty restaurant, there was an extra charge and the only real difference was a mini bottle of champagne.  We were in Nassau on Christmas day, but we decided to just stay on the ship.  It was a great decision because it was empty on board and every excursion was pricey.  We hope to be on the sailing right before yours this year!

Just an FYI that if your teen has the refreshment package, we had to give him the ability to charge to his band (sadly, it’s been long enough that I forget why!). My teen is responsible and didn’t buy anything from his band that I didn’t know about.  I also discovered my credit card didn’t get linked correctly and when you hit $500, they cut off your privileges until we fixed that. 
 

We also got the surf & stream package for everyone to make it easy to communicate about where they were and the TV is so limited, he used it to stream his YouTube stuff at night.  He also loved he could text his friends.  I’m the one who accidentally racked up the high roaming bill and eventually your carrier suspends your phone (I got lucky and had a strange international plan through my company so my $900 bill ended up being $9). 
 

My teen wasn’t a fan of the teen club group activities, but he did go there to play video games and ping pong or other stuff. We did give him permission to use the gym (he’s an athlete and needed to be working out while we were on vacation). 
 

He loved the freedom and can’t wait to go back!

For my Sept cruise, I saved a bit on refreshment package for the kids ($18) and my Dec cruise I got the same deal for the kids’ refreshment package and $38.99 for the Beach Club.
 

We are renting the over the water cabana in Sept and will decide if it’s worth it to keep the passes in December. I’m hesitant to book anything for December at Coco Cay because the last time we were there in December it was freezing cold!  
 

I’m trying to decide if the unlimited dining plan on Symphony 5 nt for $125pp  is a deal or not. We normally are not fancy food people, but they have lots of restaurants we have never been to. Based on the alcohol package prices, I think we’ll be buying individually  and packing our own wine. 

I moved out my December cruise to next December and I do see water park passes available for Coco Cay.  I also see them for another cruise I have in September.  

We have sailed on the Harmony and Mariner out of Port Canaveral. I have a 14 year old son and he really liked RCL over Disney (we sailed on the Dream) because there was more activities that interested him and fewer screaming kids onboard. My wallet liked RCL better too!  
 

We booked an Eastern cruise, but ended up on a Western thanks to a hurricane. My boys love Coco Cay!  There are plenty of places to hangout while he does the rides. I did the big slide once, but I’m claustrophobic so that was more than enough!  We also went to the water park/zip line park in Costa Maya and they loved that too. At that park they have elevators to get you up to start of zip lines. There was a nice quiet pool you could hangout by while he did the slides here too (you can buy a cheaper ticket to exclude the slides/zip line too). We did an Island tour in Cozumel that I think they liked more than they would admit!  
 

We like the Mariner for short trips when we can’t be gone over a weekend.  We have yet to get off the ship in Nassau and just enjoy a less crowded boat!  While the ship is smaller than the Harmony, my family had plenty to do and enjoyed it just as much. 

I lifted & shifted from Sept 20 to Sept 21 and my travel agent has applied 2 price drops to my new reservation.  I'm in the US.

We L&S'ed our holiday cruise to 2021 back in June....

Right after we got off our cruise on the Harmony, we booked a last minute Christmas trip on the Mariner.  I really loved this ship!  I thought the size was perfect!  My kids had just as many things to do and it was super easy to navigate around.  We booked another trip on her for September, but L&S to 2021 recently.  

Another option is to stay at the hotel at the airport and take the shuttle to the port. It is very easy to get to the port from MCO!

I’m going with IT glitch!  My 2 L&S cruises in 2021 are missing. I’m guessing they are fixing the no remaining balance issue that appeared yesterday. 

Also, Johnny Rockets is free for breakfast. 

My husband and son did this class on our last cruise.  They really enjoyed it!  It sells out, so you will want to book in advance and it took almost 2 hours.  They said it was a great group of people and they came back very full!  I took my other son to Johnny Rockets while they were gone because sushi is not his thing!

I was able to switch from Independence of the Seas (Dec 20) to the Symphony of the Seas (Dec 21).  I would push your TA to call again!  In my case, I was on a Western and I was worried they were going to say Western + Perfect Day was not the same itinerary.  They did allow it because I was on a 5 night right before the holiday sailings and in 21 I didn't have many options.

There was a limit before the pandemic. If they think it is going to be crowded, they implement a return ticket process for some of the slides. They also started to add early entrance into the water park that you could purchase on board (I can’t remember the cost).  
 

When we first got into the park, they encourage you to ride the big slide while the line in short. We never had a problem with really long lines. The crowd thins out after lunch and then my kids rode the slides until their legs couldn’t climb the stairs anymore!  
 

We loved our cabana experience here too! 

I thought any time there is a price drop before final payment, you can call to get the price adjusted.  That hasn't changed with CWC.  I took the price adjustments in CWC for when the price drops after final payment.  I have called numerous times to adjust my price before final payment.

If you want the kids in a separate room, you have to be connecting, next door or across the hall. I don’t think they would allow the 1688/1388 combination. We were on the Mariner in two interior rooms in December with a 13 and 8 year old. I couldn’t get connecting rooms because we booked last minute. 
 

We are going back on this ship in 9/21 (pushed out from this year) and found the 2 BR suite was roughly the same price as 2 connecting balcony rooms.  
 

Our kids loved this ship!!  

17 minutes ago, erinsmom03 said:

We haven't been to Coco Cay since 1999. I wasn't sure which cabana to go for, Chill Island or South Beach. But I figured that either of them would be great, I'd just get the less expensive one and give it a try. One person posted that South Beach might be less expensive because it isn't as quiet as Chill Island...anyone else have any insight in the price difference?

I think South Beach is cheaper because it is farther away from everything.  If you want a quiet place, this would be what I would choose. 

Thought it was interesting that 45% are taking refunds, 55% FCC.  Millennials are asking for refunds, families (assume he meant Gen Xers) and Baby Boomers more likely to take the credit. Also mentioned that certain nationalities have higher propensity for refunds.

Certainly doesn't sound like anything will start much before the 4th quarter.  They don't want to begin sailings until their 4 pillar strategy can be implemented and that is still being worked out.  Sounds like China will be first to resume, then maybe limited sailings in US to Coco Cay.  Probably will use larger ships or amped ships which better support appropriate social distancing requirements.  

Analysts didn't seem thrilled that they are not seeking out more debt opportunities like competitors.  

Bookings for Q4 and 2021 are up, especially among loyalty guests.  I'm sure L&S is the thing driving that!  Doesn't sound like they are rushing to cut prices to fill ships.

I submitted a screenshot of the L&S rules from the website and gave them copies of the original receipt and the new receipt.  They did come back to me to confirm the cost of the new cruise and to make sure I didn't have any pending claims for the original sailing.  I just emailed everything to them.  

We found that once your teens are considered adults (13), it isn’t significantly more to book a second cabin. We prefer the extra space. On the Mariner, we stayed in 2 interior cabins and I would do it again in a heartbeat!  

I think that they are doing L&S to get us to select ourselves out of cruises at the end of this year for some of these Caribbean and Bahamas itineraries.  You must decide by August of this year. If the restrictions are still in place at the end of next year, I bet they offer something similar. We all think we got deals to push out our trips. They definitely did this for a reason!

I switched from a Western Caribbean to a Western Caribbean with Perfect Day. In my case there was no Western Caribbean itinerary that was even remotely close to what I had booked.  When asked what I wanted to switch to, I gave them the ship & date. When they brought up it wasn’t the same, I told them there wasn’t one that was identical to what I had, but it was the same itinerary type. The agent asked the supervisor and she okayed the switch. In my case, it’s the sailing right before the holidays, so I didn’t have many options to pick from. 

5 minutes ago, jp2746 said:

I just tried.  They told me that there were no options for me since they are not cruising out of San Juan until October and our cruise in August.  So, we are just out of luck.  I asked if we could change ships or ports and I was told no, you can not unless it is another ship going out of the same port to the exact same places. UUUGGGG!!!

 

I am really frustrated because I want to cruise this summer before school starts.  However, I am pretty convinced now that only Carnival will be sailing at this time.  So, I would like to transfer this cruise to next year and book something on Carnival.  I can't have two sailings booked and hope one gets canceled, but if our August gets canceled, it may be too late to book anything else.  

You should call back and try again.  I switched our departure port, ship and what ports we are going to. I had a similar issue that there wasn't another cruise in the time frame doing the exact same itinerary.  I told them that it says it just has to be the same itinerary type.  I found another 5 night cruise that said Western Caribbean for the same month.  I also have to work around school schedules, so I didn't have much flexibility.  

So after I had to call back after being hung up on and then resistance that I couldn't switch to a Western Caribbean with Perfect Day from a Western Caribbean,  the supervisor did end up approving the L&S.  There was not a Western for the same date and since this is the cruise right before the holiday sailings, I don't have much flexibility to move it.  I ended up saving over $6k from what the going rate is for the Symphony cruise in '21.

Edited to Add: I went from IAS to Symphony

Apparently I booked one of the rooms as a refundable deposit, so my next tact was going to be that I would just cancel and eat the $200 deposit on the other room. Fortunately, I didn't have to go this route! I was very patient, respectful and kept telling the agent I appreciated all of his help.