Suncoastsailors

9 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

There is always a chance, but the pendulum has swung the other way for Carnival.

I wonder if they are also having difficulty getting crew who are willing to be vaccinated. 

10 minutes ago, dukenmelo said:

Can someone please tell me the earliest flight you would feel comfortable booking out of Seattle after a cruise?  

We are booked at 11:25 am and I expect we will have plenty of time. The only question is what will the delays be with covid testing, if any. Otherwise I would say 10:30 would be the earliest I would be comfortable with for departure. 

1 hour ago, Glaciers said:

 

The Fairfield is just over 1/2 mile from the closest light rail station from the airport, Westlake. Not a bad walk but it may be inconvenient schlepping luggage.  From Westlake you could catch the Monorail to the Seattle Center which would be about ¼ mile from your hotel.

 

 

Although there are several hotels that have “Downtown” in their titles, they’re not actually downtown. Although the Fairfield is kind of close to the Seattle Center, the area is a bit funky with not much going on, hence the good rate.

Plan to take cab or uber to hotel from Westlake. Lived in downtown Seattle from 3 months. Yes it is a little off the main downtown but walkable to the market in the morning. Price is write and it is close to the port. 

11 hours ago, RetiredRich said:

Flying in the night before a August 28 cruise and staying in a motel near Sea Tac airport.  Thinking about using shuttle express over a taxi to get to the port.  Getting too old to handle heavy luggage and have hernia also.  Will also need transport from port to airport after cruise.  Best ideas ???

We have booked Fairfield Inn Downtown, reasonable rate, near the space needle. Plan to take the commuter train from the airport which ends near the hotel. From the hotel to the port use uber or cab. If you are going to Seattle I would recommend staying downtown if possible.  After cruise we plan to take cab to the commuter train stop and take train to airport. We have done this before and it worked well.

34 minutes ago, Buckwheet said:

Interesting. 

Now I assume we are going to get a refund for the Victoria port fees. 

I wondered the same, but of course they are giving us a couple extra hours in Ketchikan. 

2 minutes ago, Don Kehote said:

Friendly reminder that you can carry a virus without suffering ill effects from it, and still pass it on to others who do.

Exactly my point. So why not state that all crew will be vaccinated. I don't really care that they had vaccine available to them if they choose to refuse it. 

2 minutes ago, embarkation75 said:

That is exactly how I read that. 

Crew quarantine will not work because a vaccinated passenger could test negative at embarkation and positive the first sea day, spreading the virus among crew.

(Separately, we are making vaccines available to all crew members and they will have gone through a quarantine period when joining the ship.  As an extra layer of protection, crew members will wear masks while on duty and be tested regularly)

They are making vaccines available to crew???? I though 100% of crew must be vaccinated. Crew will wear mask and be tested regularly??? Does this mean they will not all be vaccinated? 

10 hours ago, tallyho8 said:

At 8:30 this morning we got an email from Carnival from the casino department offering us a free obstructed balcony room on an Alaskan cruise and free drinks while in the casino. They had a big list of different cruises to go on this year. I had some work I had to finish before I could book it and finally got around to booking at 10:30.

 

Sorry, all sold out. Reminder, self, don't hesitate next time......

Per my offer most were gone in 30 minutes.

On 5/15/2021 at 5:58 PM, Blizzard54 said:

I feel better about my B2B's coming up this fall.

 

If you don't mind me asking where are your fall cruises. I am looking at the Jewel out Cyprus 7 day in October, but am concerned this more wishful thinking on RCCL's part. 

On 4/8/2021 at 5:35 PM, V2David said:

My complaint isn't so much they have jacked up the prices.  My complaint is waiting 3+ months now for a credit (which I was promised in 45 days) and now they are telling me it could take up to another 4 months to get the credit.  7+ months?  That just isn't fair.  And this was coming from a supervisor.

 

Look, I could have kept my original cruise, paid the whole thing in full, and then just waited until they canceled the cruise and requested a full refund (or cruise credit +25%).  I chose not to do that, because I didn't want to pay for the whole cruise and have them sitting with my money when I knew we weren't going to sale.  So that is on me.  And that seemed reasonable at the time.

But to have to wait 7+ months potentially for a cruise credit is complete BS.

And I knew people would bash me because I don't post on here a lot.  That is fine.  But I find it humorous if anyone posts anything negative about RCL that you bash the poster.  LOL.  I am a big cruising fan.  I love cruises.  I obviously have been on a lot.  But I don't appreciate the BS coming from RC management.

 

I hope RCL survives.  I hope the cruise industry thrives.  And I am still looking at booking future cruises.  But as I don't have my credit yet, I will be looking to book them on another line.  There are some good deals out there if you look hard enough.

 

If I lose my $1k credit, so be it.  I am not overpaying for an RCL cruise in a suite.  Or maybe I will find something else when/if they ever issue me my credit.

 

Happy Cruising!!

 

 

I also was due a refund in 45 days that never came. When I called was told it would take at least 2 weeks again for a refund. They said a mistake was made, but I wondered if this was a possible sign they were running out of funds. Also when you cancel a cruise, why cant they send a confirmation of cancellation. 

I agree whenever you criticize the cruise line you will get plenty of push back from it's loyal CC fans. 

3 hours ago, lyst said:

 

How would she know she is allergic to a vaccine she has not be given?

2 minutes ago, JsMom2 said:

2 weeks is the standard amount of time they will tell you.  But it should go faster at this point, as they are caught up on refunds.  If you don’t see it in 2 weeks, definitely call back!  

Perhaps you did not read my original post. I waited 45 days for a refund and called on day 45. Now they say it will be another 2 weeks on top of the 45 days. There was some kind of error. 

21 hours ago, dswallow said:

If you canceled so quickly after booking, you're well within the time to just call your credit card company and explain what happened and dispute the original charge.

No need to dispute at this point. Pretty sure I will get my money. RCCL just handled the situation poorly. 

6 hours ago, JsMom2 said:

What you are experiencing is not normal.  Call and explain the situation.  They just need to do a workflow to push your refund out.       Remember they are dealing with outdated technology on both the reservations and accounting sides.  Is there any chance the refund did come back right away, but you missed it?  Remember if you put down one $500 deposit, the refund usually won’t come back as a single $500 credit.  Double check your statements and then call the cruise line.  

They made some kind of error and my refund was not sent. Now they say it will take two weeks. The cruise I booked by mistake and cancelled March 30, 2022 Quantum of Seas is now off the board. Perhaps this had something to do with the mix-up. Believe me I have called and talked to a supervisor, still two weeks. This is what made me question the financial viability of RCCL. Thanks for your concern.

1 hour ago, taglovestocruise said:

They have plenty of cash on hand. As evidence of the strong interest, Royal Caribbean highlighted a 30 percent increase in cruise bookings since the first of the year versus November and December 2020. The company reported that bookings were “aligned with expectations,” for the second half of 2021 and at higher prices compared to 2019. While about half the consumers with canceled trips in the quarter took cash refunds, they reported that they had been able to offset the cash outflow with 75 percent of the bookings made since the last update coming as new bookings. As for the end of the year, the company had $1.8 billion in customer deposits.

Since the onset of the pandemic, the Royal Caribbean Group raised over $9.3 billion plus deferring debt.  The CFO, however, believes that the company still has significant additional debt capacity. As of the end of 2020, the company had $3.7 billion in cash on hand while it expects its cash burn to continue to range between $250 to $290 million a month, giving the company nearly a year’s worth of cash without additional financing. The CFO also stated an additional cash infusion of 1.5 billion would be easy to attain at year end 2021 if needed. 

 

If they are so rich with cash then why wait 45-60 days for refunds? Why sell cruises they know will be cancelled? Why delay official cancellation for cruises they know are cancelled? Why do they often delay cancellation until after final payment? Borrowed money in your bank account does not make you wealthy. They are using future cruise deposits to pay refunds on cancelled cruises. While they hold onto refund money as long as customers will tolerate. 

2 minutes ago, Tree_skier said:

I'm confused by your original post.  There just isn't enough info to give you advice. Did you actually pay for your cruise in full when you booked it or did you just the deposit? You said it was an error. Did you not mean to book? Did you book the wrong cruise/date? Was it a refundable fare? Have you contacted your CC company and put a dispute in?

I booked and paid deposit. Yes booked wrong cruise. Refundable within 24 hours. Called for refund immediately. No need to dispute charges unless refund does not come within the next two weeks. Just very upset that RCCL knowing the made a mistake with my refund would make me wait another 14 days. 

1 hour ago, neverbeenhere said:

60 days refund - give or take a week or two. That's pretty quick considering refunds received in the last year. I'm not thinking the definition is quite right.

You may be right maybe it is more of a Ponzi scheme.

Nice that so many of you got your refund in less time. I did not and have not. Those who believe in the financial stability of RCCL go ahead and keep giving them your money. Maybe they can use it to pay back my refund.

55 minutes ago, cruisinfanatic said:

Mine took a week

You sure post here a lot to be throwing the company under the bus

I post a lot?

I booked a cruise Feb 14 2021

 and realizing I made a mistake called within 15 minutes to cancel. I was told 45 days and have waited the 45 days with no refund. Called today and was told it would take another 2 weeks. Times have been tough with the pandemic , but this is not acceptable.  This makes me wonder if RCCL is running out of money to make refunds. When you need to take in new money/reservations to pay off old refunds owed it is called a pyramid scheme. Is this what things in the cruise industry have become. You may want to consider this when you make a new reservation especially with RCCL.  

On 1/28/2021 at 3:40 PM, Suncoastsailors said:

Today 6.5 % of the nation is vaccinated. If cruise lines would mandate the vaccine for crew and passengers and give a realistic start date. Those who want to cruise can focus on getting the vaccine. Let the ports of call know that all crew and passengers will be vaccinated. This seems like the answer to cruises returning. Testing can be relaxed, ship precautions can be reduced. Even if someone gets the virus onboard it won't spread to other passengers or crew. Those who don't want the vaccine can cancel, but those still booked on cruise ships want to cruise.

Since I started this topic vaccination administration has accelerated. It is now expected that there will be enough supply to vaccinate the entire US population by July 2021. Mandatory vaccination of crew and passengers seems sensible, at least for the first few months of cruising. Cruise lines could request permission to restart on the basis of full vaccination. This certainly would help ease concerns of all involved. It is time to set a date, a goal. Sorry for those unable or unwilling to vaccinate but we need to start somewhere and be successful. 

On 2/10/2021 at 12:18 PM, jsglow said:

Well, that's a possible compromise but not how the law currently stands.

Only problem with this is if someone onboard has severe illness and needs to go to hospital. Wouldn't the port need to offer care. This is over course a remote possibility but would be the argument of the port country government.

On 2/10/2021 at 12:22 PM, ighten said:

will this include those who already lifted and shifted from 2020 to 2021

 

Sorry missed one of the answers --- Hopefully looking good then

Yes, at least it did in my case. TP Sept 2020 to 2021 then to 2022. 

I hope RCCL is monitoring this thread. If so they will see there are or will be many vaccinated passengers that would love to get back to cruising.