MiniChunks

1 hour ago, Hammergirl said:

Heard from agent last night and she was finally able to request a refund. She said up until that point it was showing "pending" and she was not allowed to ask for a refund. So she said I will see my refund within 45 days and then I have a $1000.00 FCC that will come back to me as well. 

I'm glad you got it ironed out. It just goes to show you how bad their IT/Cust service is though. I was able to get the very same thing done days before you were, but you were getting the run around. Dealing with them pre and post cruise is a joke. Still love cruising with them though. 

8 minutes ago, lr657 said:

We have had several previous cancellations. Once you request a refund you are told that you can expect it within 30-45 days. We have had at least 10 cancellations and only our 1st cancellation took longer than 30 days. We received our last few refunds within 3 weeks. Give them some time, they have 2 months worth of cancellations to deal with. 

1 minute ago, smokeybandit said:

The email you got said refund time frames are 45 days. 

I believe OP's issue is that Royal is not even letting her cancel and request a refund at this point even though they've announced the cancellations. 

3 minutes ago, superduper123 said:

I did this in Dec 2019. Great itinerary!

It was a great itinerary. It's definitely one that I wouldn't mind doing again, but at this point I'll take just about any ship going anywhere!

3/2/20 11 nights on Serenade of the Seas. Disembarked 3/13/20. We were lucky enough to be on one of the last full cruises before all this crap started. 

We were also lucky enough to call on Costa Rica, Panama, Columbia, Aruba and Curacao with no hitches in our journey. Made all ports and returned on time. 

1 minute ago, Hammergirl said:

I just emailed her and asked her to try again as that kind of money is to much to just let hang out there until they decide to cancel it in their system. I did not have a group rate, so I am not sure what the issue is. 

That sucks. I had just made final payment Sunday, then they cancel it Tuesday. They've got over $10k from me.

14 minutes ago, Hammergirl said:

I have a March 13th cruise booked and had to pay my final balance a few weeks ago. The total for my cruise was $7,000.00. My agent has called twice now to request a refund but is being told we cannot yet because the cruise has not officially been cancelled in the system by Royal. Has anyone had this happen? If so, what was the outcome for this? When do they cancel the cruise in the system? I saw one person say they don't cancel it until the cruise is supposed to return to port, which for me would be March 20th. You can bet I am not letting them keep my money for 2 months when they have already announced it won't be sailing!

 

This is crazy that they are pulling this crap!

I replied to your question in the other thread, but they allowed me to cancel everything with the cruise still showing in the planner. I wonder if you had a group rate or something through your TA that is causing the issue? I booked direct. They apparently won't send confirmation of the cancellation(believe me i fought for that), but i have since gotten email confirmation of the beverage package being cancelled. I did not cancel that separately, so something is working over there.

22 hours ago, Hammergirl said:

Was your cruise still showing up under your cruises? Mine is and so agent said it has not officially been put into cancelled status and is only in "pending" status. 

Yes. I called within a few hours of the cancellation announcement. I had 3 bookings for the same cruise (9 people and 2 cabins) and they were all still showing when they allowed me to cancel. 

2 hours ago, Hammergirl said:

Interesting - my agent just called to request a refund for my March 13th cruise and they told her it is still pending. She has to wait until it is cancelled before I can request a refund. Has anyone else experienced this? If so, how long does it take to go into cancelled status?

I called before noon this morning to request a refund on my 4/11 Freedom sailing and had no problem. I'd try again. 

I just made final payment on our April 2021 cruise, and am still holding out on booking flights. We are also in the group that typically books flights very close to the time they are released, but they were extremely expensive back then, and then COVID hit, so I never booked. I'm still pretty confident we won't be sailing from San Juan in April, and will wait another month or so to seriously start looking at airfare. 

7 minutes ago, Roger88 said:

Germans are very peculiar about the time of drinking. They dont drink ANYTHING before Noon. Then they can drink a beer or two till 6 p.m and later they can basically get drunk from anything. I wouldnt recommend drinking vodka in the morning. It will make your heart weak and you might not even make to the night if you drink vodka in the morning. 

God, if that were even a little true, I would have died every day on every cruise I've been on. 

1 hour ago, island lady said:

 

Short term, no interest loans.  RCI loves them!  😄 

It's seriously frustrating. They know the boat isn't going anywhere on April 11, but they still collect the money or your out your deposit. It would be one thing if it was just a small amount, but we splurged and booked the 2br grand suite for us and the kids. Not that I can't afford to pay them, but I'm out $1250 if I don't pony up another $5k for them to play with until they feel like giving it back. There's plenty of other things I'd rather do than let them hold it for me. 

5 days until final payment. Come on Royal, cancel through May. I don't want to give you more money in order to get my deposit back!

4 hours ago, firefly333 said:

Hush, I'm april 25th and cancelled the credit card I put the deposit on. Dont know what to do. I'm hoping they extend some lift and shifts or something at the end of january so I have some options.

My cruise is actually L&S eligible, but of our 2 family's going, we have 5 kids in 3 different schools from 2 different towns, and the mom of the other family is a teacher from a different town. Getting the same week off for spring break next year would be a miracle in itself, but the other 3 adults also need to get the vacation approved. April break is tough for my wife to get off, and since she got it this year, it's not happening next year. I'd really just love my money back without having to fork over more first. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you for a L&S extension. 

I hope they cancel through the end of April. Probably not realistic, but I've got a 7 nighter on Freedom in a suite on 4/11, and I'd just like to get my deposit back without loaning them another $5k for 2 months. Final payment due 1/11/21

40 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

There was no option but being prepaid and non-refundable at the hotel I booked.  Indeed the 1,292.48 price for the four nights on the harbor in a suite would be the smallest loss to take,  over the total cost of the rest of the Aussie trip, of which fortunately the rest will be refunded in total, with the hotel being the hold out. 

 

That amount may not mean much to you...but I still intend to try to get it back, with U.S. Citizens not being allowed to travel to the country of Australia.  

Is that not covered by travel insurance if your trip is cancelled?

2 minutes ago, Tatka said:

 

Yes. Sounds scary, but I feel it was a necessary measure.. otherwise cases would rise and all colleges (we have 100s of them) will be forced to close.

 

They KNEW rules and even signed papers.

I have no issue with this. Perhaps a lack of refund is a bit extreme, but I have no problem with the Universities setting a zero tolerance precedent regarding large gatherings. Having school aged kids myself, I appreciate how difficult it is going to be keeping in person instruction going. My kids just went back to school for the first time today since March 13. We've done so well in New England keeping COVID numbers low, it would be a shame to have to shut everything down again. 

8 minutes ago, Tatka said:

 

 I am talking about Massachusetts/New England  and results.

 It definitely depends on all measures taken and stage of pandemics.

 

In MA we take it seriously virtually everyone wears masks in public and especially in enclosed spaces. (we have a law from May 6th about face coverings). I heard that in Mid-West it is not like that.

 

 I believe college kids in some of Boston universities are suspended without refunds for attempts to host parties.

 

Northeastern Univ in Boston EXPELLED 11 students without refunds for "gathering in a dorm room" according to an article I read. 

1 hour ago, LorraineP said:

When we stayed in the YC balcony twice I was curious & the day we were leaving asked to see an inside YC. It was so small, hardly anywhere to put clothes & only sitting was a small chair. Google & take a look, think you would be very disappointed. 

I have to disagree with you here. My parents were in a YC inside when we had the balcony and their cabin was much bigger than any other inside cabin i've seen. It was at least the size of a spacious balcony on RC(minus the balcony obviously)

22 hours ago, syracr said:

{original Poster again}

Folks,

 

Please take the YC discussion to another thread.

 

Thank for your cooperation.

My apologies for helping the derailment of the thread. If there's one point to take from my previous comments though, is that I would not sail Seaside from my experience on the ship. While she is beautiful, and sparkly new, she's tough to navigate, overly crowded and very chopped up in her layout. I've sailed Royal on enough occasions, whether it be spring break or off season, to have seen the best and worst of crowding. Nothing i've seen compared to the crowds on Seaside. She is a beautiful ship, and if you're looking for something different, I guess shes not a bad option, but I would book Royal over MSC 10 times out of 10 if I wasnt in a suite. 

2 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Aren't YC cabins more like JS's than real suites.

That's what the brochure indicates

For the most part you are correct. They do have 2 Royal suites, but those were not available when i booked. I did luck out and score a handicap accessible room 18024, which is above the Royal suite on deck 16. I believe the RS takes up the equivalent of 18024 and 18022 in the image below. 18024 and 18029 are very large cabins with enormous balconies.

Before I get flamed, I was told that by booking that room i could be bumped out by someone with a need for it, so i did not "take" that room from someone who needed it. 

21 minutes ago, LorraineP said:

I agree with you we did venture out of our exclusive area on a port day to look around, was like RCL pool deck, crowded. If we couldn’t stay in YC we would certainly not book. 

We thought the pool deck was far worse than anything we have ever experienced on Royal. They did have a ton of deck chairs, but it was so many that it was impossible to move around on the pool deck. Also of note, while there were a TON of chairs, there were zero to be had. 

13 hours ago, John&LaLa said:

 

Not my cup of tea. Did that with Haven, to many kids. There was so much to do on Allure TA.

 

Front row Mama Mia

Cupcake class multiple times

Guacamole class 

Sushi Class

Aqua Theater balcony

Any specialty restaurant 

In suite parties

In room coctails delivered

Custom cake

 

 

You can get these services with YC

 

There may be a few more activities offered in STAR class like the things you mentioned above, but we were in YC on a spring break cruise last year, and Royal has nothing that can compare to the YC lounge, restaurant and pool deck. Touching on your comment about kids, we only saw 4 other kids that were not our own in the YC and it was spring break. For a family of 5 we paid $4600 for a YC deluxe balcony, but every time i've checked lately it's been closer to $10k, so the value may not be there anymore.

Having said all that, the rest of the ship was terrible IMO. Way too crowded and the flow of the ship is beyond confusing. We had no idea where we were, or how to get where we were going most of the time. The buffet's were bad(except the pizza), the staff were not very friendly and the pool deck was an overcrowded disaster. We will continue to cruise with Royal as long as the kids are coming with us. If it was just the DW and i, i'd take another hard look at the YC. 

1 minute ago, bouhunter said:

Any room anywhere near the centrum on Serenade is going to have noise at night, even on decks higher up.  I looked at the deck plan and have to believe those like 4580 are going to have some serious noise pounding when things are happening at night in the centrum.

I have to disagree. We spent 11 nights in there and heard nothing. As previously mentioned, there's a heavy door leading off the centrum that is always closed. 

24 minutes ago, Dreamer115 said:

Thank you MiniChunks, that is exactly what I would like.  Were the rooms loud because of their location?

Not a problem at all. I agree 100% with @Sunshine3601 about the noise. 4580 is the first room in that hallway off the centrum and there was no noise at all. The heavy glass door leading from the centrum into the hallway blocks almost all of the noise by itself, and once you close your cabin door, there's nothing. Another bonus about the location is that there are only a few rooms in that hall. You don't have a lot of foot traffic going past your room making noise. I would book this room again in a heartbeat. 

I can't believe I didn't take a better picture of the room than this, but it seems to show exactly what you're looking for. This was the view I had laying in bed. The windows could have used a cleaning i suppose.