PigsCanFly

18 hours ago, brillohead said:

Okay, here's a different version of this question.  I'm not a gambler, so not familiar with how this works other than what I've seen posted here.

I'm doing five consecutive cruises in Nov/Dec.  I'd prefer not to bring all my cash (for tips and excursions that don't take credit cards) with me for all five cruises, but I'm also cheap (frugal, whatever you want to call it) and don't want to pay huge ATM fees, etc.

Can I just charge $500 to my room account on a slot machine, cash it out, and they'll charge it to my credit card on file like any other purchase without a surcharge?  Would it show as a "cash advance" (and trigger fees from my credit card company)?

We do that always.  We do have club royal status, so there is no 5% charged.  Our credit cards have never charged for a cash advance fee (on a cruise ship)

8 hours ago, sabres431 said:

We are sailing Nov. 7(20 days) and still no official word.  Not expecting much to change, at the very least there won't be more restrictions so we're assuming we'll need testing.

We are on the Symphony on Nov 6th.  I am assuming that we will be required to take the pre-cruise test on the 4th.  

It is good to see that there are still some folks that believe that doing the Right thing is the way to go.  Thanks for the reminder that we still exist!

3 hours ago, coreyfr said:

That’s what I am asking. Can you purchase it just like the beverage package or other things after you book your cruise?

I did not see a way to purchase it in planner, but Someone else may be more helpful

4 hours ago, coreyfr said:

Can anyone enlighten me on this? Thanks 

The offer does not explicitly say that it does not apply to OBC.

I used the offer and purchased dining and soda package thru the planner.

I plan on using the offer for my wife's card to prepay grats for 2 upcoming cruises.

I also plan on using offer for our Son's card to prepay grats for 2 other upcoming cruises.

If the OBC purchase shows up as a purchase from royal caribbean, it should also work.  Where do you plan on purchasing the OBC from?

I agree with the others re: the dining package not being worth the cost.  We ended up with several excursions that included meals and only ate a breakfast and lunch at the resort.  

I added the 500/200 to my AXBlue card on Oct 8th, ordered 3nt dining & soda pkgs for 3 of us on Oct 8th and received the $200 credit on my card on Oct 11th.

We (3) did the test in late September.  It went very smoothly.  Less than a minute wait in queue, test & wait 15 minutes.  Monitor returns, checks result, has you verify result and shortly after that, we each received both an email & the Navica app showing the negative result.  Whole process took < 1/2 hr each.  We plan to use our other 3 tests on Nov 4th for our Nov 6th Symphony cruise.

I wonder if moving some rooms may be to more evenly distribute the staterooms with people in them for the stateroom attendants?  One could have all of the rooms in his area full and another may have very few.  Just a thought...

We have always had the confirmation email with the invoice attached.  The latest less than a  month ago.

1 hour ago, LuCruise said:

Very smart with the menus!  Was wondering how they would re-use (or thought perhaps a new print out every table, but that's a lot of paper waste).

 

We got off the Oasis on Oct 3rd.  In the MDR there were several nights that there were no paper menus available for our table.  Not having my phone, the waiter handed me his phone to see the menu.  After we ordered, he went to the next table and handed his phone to the people at that table.  I am guessing that it violates almost every new health safety regulation.  I brought my phone with me after that.

10 hours ago, marshhawk said:

 

 

How do you order the laundry set up?  Is it part of completing the final paper work, or is it something that we set up on board?

 

Oh, and if we want the fridge empty before we board, can we request that?

 

 

 

On HAL, we always prepay the laundry package.  We are early 60s and late 20s son, and it makes the required pre-packing easier and the luggage smaller.  HAL has done a very good job doing the laundry efficiently and usually next day delivery. We got our upcoming 21-day Rotterdam laundry for the 3 of us @ $7/day.  Well worth it for us.

re: fridge, if it is loaded, we just ask the stateroom attendant to have it emptied out and it is emptied out first day.

You will love Holland America for their great crew!

We got off Oasis otS on Oct 3rd, points posted on October 9th.  We are finally Diamond +!  We have been trying to get there since March 2020.  12+ cruises cancelled since then.  We needed 10 more points and got 28.  

49 minutes ago, RGEDad said:

No, No No

The Local tests that you buy in the store are NOT proctored and are NOT accepted by cruise or air travel.

The "accepted tests are the Abbott BINAX HOME Test (Not the Abbott BINAX SELF Test). The Home Test also have a clear warning to NOT open the package until instructed to do so.

Only the tests purchased from eMed (currently sold out) , or Optum (2 & 3 pack) are Proctored and accepted.

You can certainly use the locally purchased Self test to validate you own condition, but there is no medically certified report provided (unless things have changed in the last several months).

****

By the way: eMed is currently out-of-stock - Just looked at their web site this morning

https://www.emed.com/waitlist?hsLang=en

 

"While we replenish our inventory, eMed verified tests are available in packs of two or three from our partner, The Optum Store.

We invite you to join the waitlist for the eMed six-pack configuration and we will contact you as soon as tests become available."

 

 

Thanks!  I did wonder about the 2-pk since when we did the proctored ones last month they were adamant that the sealed box was unopened.  You saved me some serious stress by pointing out that the local ones are NOT proctored.  It would have made for a very hectic week between our November and December cruises trying to find the tests.  I hope that emed gets some stock soon.

On 9/17/2021 at 7:12 PM, roxybear135 said:

For those of you who have done the test, can you please tell me if the hours during which you can get the test done are limited or is it 24/7?  Also, do you need an appointment?  We have a cruise booked for 12/26 and I think the only way we will be able to do testing is with the at home test given all the closures for the holidays, and I can't find anywhere online about the hours that someone is available to monitor you to do the test.  Thanks!

We bought a 6 pack from emed and used the first three on Sept 24th for our Royal cruise on the 26th.  We 3 each had a wait of less than 1 minute and had results in less than 30 minutes.  The results appeared in our email and our navica apps.  We plan to use the other three for our Nov 6th cruise.  

Our local non-chain pharmacy sells 2 packs of this test for $26.  They have a 2022 expiry date, so they are a newer batch.  We plan on buying them locally for our December cruises.

On 10/1/2021 at 7:02 PM, 12cruise2 said:

If you are changing ships, I don't think the two cruises can be called back to back.  Better check with Holland America for sure about what you have to do re covid testing.  We sailed B2B in Alaska and did not have to do a test between the two cruises, but again, going from one ship to another, better check with HAL--and get it in writing.

We are sailing B2B on Rotterdam in December.  If HAL did not require a test between cruises, that is great news.  If they do, did they have a onboard testing option?

10 hours ago, mjkacmom said:

I agree testing is here for a while, but schools are accepting proof of a recent positive covid test in place of a negative covid test, since you can get a false positive for weeks after having covid. When my high school kids had covid, they were nervous they would not be cleared for spring sports because they were still testing positive, but the school amended their policy of requiring a negative test for participation. 

Why would a positive covid test be accepted in place of a negative test.  What am I missing?

On 10/8/2021 at 10:20 AM, CruiszBug said:

Mine is $200 off a $500 spend... woohoo!

Ours was also $200 off a $500 spend on our amexblue.  Purchased  3nt dining pkg and soda beverage pkg for the 3 of us tonight and already got an email from Amex saying the offer was redeemed.  

I just logged in to check out final payment due dates.  Unfortunately, all I see is 0 points, 0 booked cruises and 0 previous cruises.  Something is broken, I will try again in a day or two.  If none of the 4 cruises I have booked (and fully paid for 3 of them) are no longer booked, HAL owes me a bundle of $.  I am guessing it is one of those Saturday night specials that sometimes happen with the IT folks.

3 hours ago, 87turboii said:

Quick question, if we sail out on Monday our two day precruise test has to be done Saturday or Sunday correct? Friday would be considered 3 days? Having hard time finding a spot that does rapid antigen on Saturday.

We used the emed Abbot test.  They are available 24/7 and take less than 1/2 hour.  It was very smooth for us.

On 9/26/2021 at 5:31 PM, stephensfamily5 said:

My husband and I plan to sail on Dec. 12, 2021 on the Rotterdam.  We love to enjoy coffee and a light breakfast on an open back deck if there is one available.  It looks like there is some deck behind the Lido buffet.  Is there seating available there?  

 

We will be on Rotterdam on Dec 1, 2021 and are staying onboard for your cruise.  Can't wait to sail the new ship!

We also just got off the Oasis yesterday.  I made use of the app to make our show resys once onboard.  It was very easy (since I had my 28 yr old son do it for us ☺️).  I have always been a 1s and 0s guy, this new tech is an obsession I did not grow up with.  I was at the PUB last week and the guitarist was doing a great job with 60s & 70s tunes.  I noticed that a couple in their 20s were sitting at a table, each focused on their phones for 25 minutes, typing away, seemingly oblivious to the entertainer 20 feet away. Welcome to the new world.

On the Oasis last week the Freestyle machines each had a crew member pushing the buttons.  Just hand him/her the cup and let them know your choice of beverage.  It may have been more efficient than when I pushed the buttons in the past!

I have left a table game to move to a different table and had to wait a bit until they recognized that I left the other table before it could recognize me at the new one.  I don't know how DW & I could use the same card at the same time.  We just got off the Oasis and I played mostly table games whenever they were open.  My total points was ~7500 for the week.  I was approached on day 2 by the casino host saying they had a new 'instant rewards' certificate policy.  He handed me a free Jr suite cert. right then and explained that, depending on points earned, it could be upgraded during the cruise to a grand suite cert with $ freeplay.  I did not make the upgrade since things (shops, casino) closed early on the last night due to a crew member medical issue (non-covid related).

We booked jr suite with the next cruise folks.

We were on the Oasis last week.  Our hotel shuttle offered us a choice of times for departure.  Unfortunately the choices were all 10am.  We were at the port ~10:20 and our boarding time was 12:30-1pm.  We assumed we would need to wait.  When they first called for boarding ~11am, they called for Pins and suite guests.  Being in a jr suite, we went up and asked if that included Jr suites.  They did not know & asked someone else who said no.  5 minutes later, they included Jr suites also.  We were onboard at ~11:30am (1 hr before our boarding window started.)