leaveitallbehind

I understand child trafficking and parental abduction concerns, and while I also under understand your situation, it is rather unique. My point being that I am not aware of any cruise line requirement to have a notarized document from the second parent confirming consent for a child of a solo parent who posses the necessary ID and documentation for themselves and that child, to permit that child from traveling on a closed loop cruise with the solo parent. I'm certain that there will always be those reported cases where such a letter will be indicated as coming in handy, but it is not, again to my knowledge, required. Which was the OP's question.

I believe the OP indicated a 6:00 PM international flight with a targeted 3:00 PM airport check in time. Not much time for any comfortable NYC sightseeing plus the concern with luggage. A long time to wait at Newark, although much less stress and hassle than JFK. I would take Newark any day over JFK, especially from Cape Liberty.

Good point.

Everything changed with the shutdown. If you think about it most of the original Revolutionizing plans would have been completed 2 years or so ago but for that. As I mentioned before with the focus now on new "E" class ships and with the "S" ships being more of the mainstay, the "M" class ships may eventually fade away or just continue with special itineraries. They will certainly be maintained, but likely not further improved. Again, as always, JMO.

IMO, it sounds rather non-specific to me. "Making improvements" doesn't exactly sound like a commitment to the original Revolutionize plans. Guess time will tell

I have also never heard of any type of ad from RCCL pushing the purchase of a gift card. In particular interfering with a setsail pass. I don't think this is legit RCCL information. JMO.

Well JFK is at least an hour and a half away from the cruise terminal with any kind of traffic. I don't know how much sightseeing - in NYC or out - you would be able to comfortably do with a 3:00 PM target arrival time at JFK. I would be more concerned on getting to JFK without any issues. Newark would be far easier in that respect. Again, JMO.

I agree and it is very likely that they would be doing updates, refreshes, etc., with the current booking levels and revenue recovery. I'm just saying I don't know of a firm plan in place in particular with some of the older ships to Revolutionize them as originally planned in 2017.

That is different if they were traveling alone with you without their parents? If so, that would be required. But a child traveling with a parent of the same name should not be an issue.

If I ran into such an agent I would ask to see their supervisor or a representative from the ship. I'm not aware of any such requirement for a solo parent traveling with their child on a closed loop cruise.

Is everything else related to the pass and the app in tact? I am far from any sort of a tech person but wondering if your smartphone or something related to the app was hacked to result in that. Just saying as I've never heard of that before and it just sounds really weird. Again, I hope you get it worked out.

Wow. That's odd - never had that issue. Doesn't sound legit as RCCL related. Hope you get it resolved.

No. The one on the phone, along with the proper boarding documentation, is all you need. We haven't printed setsail passes in several years. If you want to print one out as a backup that's fine, but it's not necessary for boarding.

You are absolutely correct. New and recently launched ships are always priced higher with their fares and likely with the planner packages. And the new shorter mega ship itineraries with Perfect Day also seem to carry a premium.

Unless you are divorced or separated, or under some sort of custody agreement regarding your children, I don't think any documentation is needed to travel without your spouse, but with your children.

I think the pandemic influenced a lot of plans. First, with the Revolutionized schedules that were in place themselves, all of which post 2019 had to be canceled. Second, with the shutdown extending as long as it did with no incoming revenue and literally billions of $ lost, the budgets and financial plans were completely revamped and reprioritized, with the Revolutionized plans basically scrapped - at least at the time. With newbuilds now taking the priority and many of the already older ships now several years older, I'm not sure which of them that were planned to be Revolutionized now will be. Just have to wait and see, I guess. JMO.

We just transferred points the other day to our upcoming November cruise and the transaction was same day to the planner as OBC and we have already used the points for planner dining purchases.

Agree and two of them in the NYC area could pose a traffic challenge unless any sightseeing was started and ended early. I obviously was just guessing EWR for proximity to the port.

So assuming Newark, arrival at 3:00 for an international flight is wise. As a reference, the airport is only 15 minutes from the pier. So whatever you decide with sightseeing, if in the immediate area, I would be wrapping that up by 2:30 latest.

Unfortunately as mentioned there is no option to remain on the ship as reboarding for the next itinerary commences by 11:00 and you will need to be off well before that. Also unfortunately, there is very little to do around the terminal area and, unless well coordinated, any sightseeing that may require going into NYC or any surrounding area would likely compromise your stated timeline of 3:00 PM.

We cruise frequently with diver friends who have exclusively used private dive companies in Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire, and several other southern Caribbean ports of call. I would suggest just using google for the different ports of call you are interested in. They will offer dive times to fit morning or afternoon preferences based on your ports of call and are familiar with coordinating departure and return times with ship times. Unfortunately I don't have any direct dive operators names, which is why I suggested the search. But our friends dive one or two times, depending on itinerary, with every cruise.

It likely means that the general category staterooms outside of those consigned for the GTY are sold out. It can also mean that those other than GTY that have been released into general inventory to date are sold out and others may be released for sale at a later date, as not all inventory is released at once. The inventory sold bay way of GTY will be assigned at some point.

I think a key point to keep in mind is that, although under the RCG family, Celebrity and RCCL are separate and independent cruise line companies. They also have distinctly different offerings and target demographics. As such they have developed their own loyalty programs and associated benefits to suit their own purposes, a process that began long before they offered the concept of benefit reciprocity. I don't think the idea of this, including the most recent alignment of tiers with the reciprocity, was ever aimed at equalizing the benefits, only just offering a sharing of benefits at each tier level when sailing on each. The discussion of which loyalty program is better at which level always will generate differing opinions as they each have different benefits. It is IMO just a matter of which cruise line suits any given cruiser for the different reasons they select to cruise with each line. The loyalty programs and their associated benefits are secondary. But as I cruise both for different reasons at different times, I am glad I can enjoy the loyalty benefits of each when I cruise with them.

Have to agree. The cruise lines make an effort at consistency and as the menus are essentially the same on each ship the quality should be the same as well.

Agree that is not normal. Cancelations, OBC credit, and rebookings are typically immediate and a single transaction. Maybe try the on line planner versus the app. We have had better success with the planner. But either way, definitely call.