Digjharper

Would also just like to add how pleasantly surprised I was at the flight change cost refund from RCI. They promised up to $400 change cost per person and when we did do the flight change (ABZ-MIA) it came up at about $375 per person. It also included a slight wee upgrade but we had no choice as these were the only seats available.

I was ready for some arguing about this but in the end, RCI paid the full cost with no questions asked within 3 days of me posting in the receipts for the flight change.

Well done RCI.

For anybody who has not decided what to do with the options offered for the cancelled cruise, seems like a slightly better deal being offered. 

When I first got the email I called up and they told the new price worked out at £100 cheaper for the option 1 which was the one leaving on the 7th April. I have been holding off doing anything due to trying to get flights changed but last night I called again. 

This time price was over £400 cheaper than original cost (now approx £1650) as well as getting an $175 on board credit. This is for a guaranteed balcony room. 

Went ahead and booked it. 

19 hours ago, Another_Critic said:

I wonder why the Indy TA on Apr. 28 (MIA to SOU) was not listed for Option 1?

Strange thing is, my wife and I did have the Indy cruise booked but had to swap to the now cancelled cruise as my daughter decided she is getting married on the 9th May.

1 hour ago, little britain said:

The Brilliance TA in 4/25 has just been cancelled. 
 

Option 2: Re-book any other Royal Caribbean International sailing

If you prefer to re-book another sailing not included in Option 1, we’ll waive any non-refundable deposit change fees.
 

my TA has a ton of OBC… if I love to another cruise will it be under the same booking ref so will my OBC be protected?

 

one for @Ourusualbeach perhaps? 
thanks x

Yes, we were on same cruise and obviously got the email and quite sad it’s not happening.

We have already booked our flights to arrive in Miami on the 10th but the replacement option they have offered leaves Miami on the 7th so our flights would have to be changed. I noted on the email they say they would pay up to $400 per person for international flight changes. Checked KLM (who are flights are booked with) and to change dates we are looking at £550 for the two of us so costs are covered.

Anybody tried claiming back flight change costs and how easy is it to get done (quickly)?

Might I ask to those on board what the options were for shore excursions whilst in my old work location of Luanda?

I was last there last summer for two months and did wonder if a cruise ship was to visit, what attractions could the passengers enjoy? Quite honestly, I could not think of much.

We are very fortunate here in the UK to be able to have more than one passport. Just renewed my second one in February so thats me got 5 year gaps between renewals and always one available whilst the other is being renewed.

Did the premium service and got it back in less than a week.

Very pleased to see that its now highly likely that the cruise will be stopping off at my old working location of Luanda in Angola.

It will be interesting to see what excursions are offered to the passengers. Anybody looking for some good food and drink locations let me know and I can give some advice (was last there in August 23).

On 12/13/2023 at 2:40 AM, BND said:

As far as you know.  As I said, then what when they get back?

Maybe they own more than one house or car so after the cruise they just stay in one of their remaining houses and drive one of their remaining cars (or motorbikes 😀).

On 10/20/2023 at 2:47 PM, orville99 said:

Adventure is scheduled to go to Cadiz for maintenance in late October 2024, and will return to service the first week in December. We are booked on her first cruise after she comes back on 12/7/24.

Really? We are due to do the transatlantic on it leaving Barcelona on 24/11/24 so perhaps we are getting a different ship for the journey?

7 hours ago, jenushkask8s said:

We are onboard and heard the first announcement yesterday while having lunch at Chops (so roughly 1-1:30pm).

 

We found out today around noon that we weren't getting in until 4am.

 

Here is the letter we got in our room this evening. 

Regarding the cost of changing flights - I recall our first ever cruise with RCI on the Anthem in May 19 that was delayed 24 hours in retuning to New Jersey (after a medical diversion to Nassau), pretty sure RCI said they would pay for all (not a limit mentioned) of all required flight changes. They also gave all passengers a day of internet use free as well.

One reason why we never have flights planned for the same day as arrival in port at the end of the cruise but I certainly understand this is not an option for many.

We did the Anthem TA last month and on the Friday before departure, they sent an email stating that UK NHS self testing kits were acceptable to be used as proof on being negative pre boarding. They then issued a correction email a few hours later so sometimes they do get it wrong.

However, in this instance of the OP, the policy was quite clear and stated many times by RCI in emails and on their website. Ask yourself too, how many other people were denied boarding because of similar circumstances or was the OP the only group denied? If they were it tells you that others read and understood the policy and were prepared properly.

As for the matter of being told over the phone 3 times, I am afraid that unless OP recorded these calls, it would be very hard to prove anything that was stated in any conversation (unless you had access to the calls from the RCI side since they record them).

6 minutes ago, SRF said:

 

Why are you getting an administered test?

The email I got for our 12 night says:

 

Accepted Tests
Guests can take advantage of in-person, telehealth, and self-swab tests. This includes unsupervised testing. Proof of a negative test can be the printed or digital results, a clear photo of your self-test result, or your actual self-test in hand. 

This is what I got below which is relevant for us leaving on the Anthem on Monday. I will take them at their word, print out the email and show them the negative NHS test they stated would be suitable.

As a reminder, all guests ages 12 and older will need to provide a negative COVID-19 test result upon arrival to the terminal. Guests who are up-to-date must test within the 3 days prior to our boarding day. Guests who are unvaccinated or not up-to-date will need to complete either an antigen test in 24 hours prior to boarding or a PCR test 72 hours prior to boarding. At home, unsupervised lateral flow tests - such as those provided by the NHS or other healthcare providers are now accepted for your sailing! Learn more about our requirements at www.RoyalCaribbean.com/health.  

55 minutes ago, ace2542 said:

But it is the azores is a Sunday. Any other day would be great but Sunday in Portgual a lot of things close though they may open for 5k people coming off a ship. I am hopeful they do.

Don’t worry, they will be.

Obviously the OP is at the wind up but to a certain extent I agree with him/her/they.

Probably RCI could encourage more passengers to join the cruise if they added a “sunshine” resort to an expected low sun exposure route.
 

To give RCI some further advice, they would make an absolute fortune if they could also include Las Vegas as a stop to an Autumn Transatlantic cruise 😂 

Had numerous Euro trips this year for long weekends, football and cruises and would say our passports have been stamped approx 50% of the time. As another poster stated, all movements are recorded electronically so no big deal.

1 hour ago, njkruzer said:

We're on the Anthem TA.  I'm expecting double points. Cruise booked and paid for in 2021.  5hen cancelled and moved to this year.  My understanding was sail by date of December 31st controls.

Yes, correct. I made an earlier post about this as I was unsure as Royal Caribbean had two different dates on their website. I got confirmation from them that until the end of the year (provided it was booked pre 2022) it’s double points.- see below.

Thank you for contacting our Customer Service Department regarding your Crown and Anchor membership

Kindly note that your cruise will qualify for the double points, it will be 24 pts per passenger for the 12 nights cruise. 

Please let us know should you have any other questions.

Just looking for a clarification on this. We are on the anthem TA in October and I always thought we had missed the double points promotion as it ended on 30/9/22.

Had a wee google and got the Q&A on the C&A Double points promotion and it contradicts itself by saying two different things. It says the following so which one is correct?

On the transatlantic cruise on Wonder earlier this year there was was particular "lady" who was the loudest and most obnoxious person I have ever encountered on a cruise. She also happened to travel the ship on a mobility scooter.

Like us, she hailed from the UK, albeit a different part and like us she enjoyed doing the morning and early evening trivia quiz. Everyday she was there with her hen pecked husband who just did as she instructed and was writing down her answers whilst she was busy on google trying to get the answers. She was obviously not fast enough with her fingers as she kept on telling the quiz master to slow down and even then, she still got some answers wrong. She also got upset when there were any USA based/themed questions in any quiz and as she ofter shouted out "how am I meant to know the answer to this question".

She took things far too seriously and certainly put people off attending but one fellow Brit got a round of applause from the other contestants when, after another one of her complaints, said "please do us all a favour and shut up". I really hope she is not on our Anthem transatlantic cruise this October 😎

27 minutes ago, Sarahjane001 said:

Hi - my nephews are coming out to cruise with us, and I need to get a Covid test booked for them to board Symphony of Seas at end of July.

We live in Florida so for myself and my husband it's no problem but who do I use for them seeing as they are UK citizens? I will be using CVS as I normally do, and it would be easier if I can take them with us and we all get the tests done at the same time, but CVS (Minute Clinic) seem only to allow people with insurance and obviously they don't have that being that they are visiting from overseas. So, who do you all use for this sort of thing? Would I need to do the video type test at home?

They could take lateral flow tests from the UK with them and do the video call - we have done this before. They could also go to Walgreens (not sure about CVS) and they will do the drive up lateral flow tests - we have done this as well and they don’t care about your nationality.

Similar situation to the OP. We had the choice of a 11:10 or a 17:30 out of Barcelona today after leaving the Wonder. We picked the later one to cover for any eventuality. However, the earlier one would have been fine as we arrived at airport before 09:00. This was after a hearty breakfast in the Windjammer followed by a 50 Euro taxi ride to the airport. 

However the nice lady at the KLM check in desk allowed us to check in all our baggage so we took the metro into the city centre and now enjoying a dine beer and tapas on the Rambla. 

According to the info board beside the elevators on level 10, we are going to enjoy some extra daylight today but might be bit dark whilst walking in Palma😎

Just a follow up on this, absolutely no issue with using UK administered Covid tests to gain entry onto the ship and the actual cruise. We took kits with us from the UK and called into the appointment from our hotel room in Naples FL the day before our cruise. We tested negative so went and used the printer option at Office Depot. Presented these forms at FL and accepted without so much as a second glance.

Really enjoying your posts Laurieal and I think, like us, you are on the top deck enjoying an evening drink whilst awaiting our departure from Malaga followed by a gentle trip up the coast to our next destination. Should see a lot of the coast before darkness arrives.

My wife and I both got the drive through Walgreen test done today at the same time (we were both in same car). Wife got her (negative) result back 30 minutes later, I am still waiting for mine to come back. 
 

Thankfully these were back up tests as we both did online monitored ones earlier in the day via a UK site. We are in the Wonder of the seas TA leaving tomorrow and the lady doing the online tests told us we were the 7th couple she had done that day who was on the same cruise. We were both negative on these tests so these are the ones we will use tomorrow.

I was in Fort Lauderdale last few days and we visited the Walgreens on South Federal highway. I have arranged for a lateral flow test for both my wife and I as back up for our video monitored ones we are doing via the UK to allow us on the Wonder TA cruise this coming week.

The nice lady also suggested we took our second booster jab so we both ended up getting a moderna shot there and then. We were most impressed considering we are UK citizens.

Whilst we were sitting waiting, we saw two gents run out the fire exit with numerous high value goods from the store. A very interesting day.