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I have a question that I don't think has been asked or answered here yet. Nor is it covered in any FAQ that I have seen. 

I have two cruises coming up in April that I will likely need to cancel. They were booked through a big box TA. I don't expect to use the TA again for a future cruise booking on Royal. I have several cruises booked in 2021 through another TA and would like to use the FCC for them.

Is it true that the FCC will be issued to the TA that I am booked with?  If so, how can I get the FCC transferred so that I control it?

1 hour ago, direptor said:

It seems Quantum is leaving Singapore in March 2021 for Tokyo and there are currently 2 10 night sailings round trip from Tokyo. No cruises after that for now.

The prices on those two cruises are outstanding.  Especially when compared to what Celebrity offers on Millennium.

after those two Japan cruises, Quantum is doing a TP to Seattle.  After that, nothing is published.

Adding to the west Coast discussion. My wife follows Mario, the Diamond Concierge on Serenade, on FB.  Recently he posted something like: west coasters, see you in May ‘21.  So either somehow he knows he will be coming to Voyager in that time frame or perhaps Serenade will be doing some cruises out of the west coast beginning in May ‘21.

On 1/15/2020 at 8:04 AM, Miaminice said:

You can get promo chips (different color) for non-refundable OBC in the casino. If you win, the winnings will be paid out in regular chips which can be cashed in. So if you are lucky, that´s how you get it from the casino...

If you are intent on cashing out at the casino, just bet both sides of a more or less 50/50 even money bet.  For example bet half on red and half on black at the roulette table - if it comes up green you are out of luck. You could insure your bet against a zero by placing a small bet on zero at the same time.

Heavy duty magnets have many uses.  We hang our snorkel gear from one.  My camera bag (with camera inside) goes on another.  I can also hang jackets (when on cool weather cruises), backpacks, and even string a clothesline between two of them. I now have seven heavy duty magnets and I am sure I will find a way to use them all!

1 hour ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Oops, meant to say Symphony in 2018.

 

Harmony was 2016. 

 

With the exception of 2017 they have had one a year since 2014 when Quantum was launched. 

Don’t forget Ovation in 2016. That makes up for missing 2017.  So they will average one a year from 2014 to 2025.

1 hour ago, anteldel said:

Do any recent cruisers know if Symphony has a Pickleball court?  If so, what was the schedule. TIA

As mentioned a few posts ago they had Pickleball on Symphony when we cruised her in November.  It is played on the sports court. They have portable nets but no lines so boundaries are more or less a guess.  They had open play two times in the early morning and a tournament one afternoon.

3 hours ago, pstone1 said:

 

That’s exactly what we are planning to do!  Hope it goes smoothly!

When we changed ships from Brilliance to Ovation at Barcelona in 2016, Royal actually transported our luggage directly from ship to ship and provided a bus to take us from dock to dock. They provided special luggage tags. You had the option of walking if you desired. Everything went very smoothly EXCEPT they had also promised to deliver wine we had carried on board Brilliance to drink on Ovation. The assured us it would be no problem and the wine had already been tagged with our information.  Unfortunately it was left behind on Brilliance!  However they did give me free replacement bottles of wine on Ovation to make up for it.

I sent an email to Royal Caribbean requesting they consider doing something about moving luggage and they agreed.  The fact that there were about 60 people changing ships probably helped.

If you book the prior cruise on Rhapsody, send an email to Royal Caribbean guest relations at least 6 months in advance and see if they are able to do something.

7 hours ago, Saab4444 said:

Well, if your would start this cruise in Barcelona like Oasis you would have only one stop (Tenerife) on Reflection as well...

We booked Reflection as well because we wanted a TA out of Rome.  From the looks of things, the only possible Royal TA out of Rome is Odyssey and the jury is still out where that TA will leave from. If the Odyssey TA looks irresistible the Reflection booking is fully refundable.

When we did a TA out of Barcelona on Freedom in 2017 we had a stop in Cadiz, and three stops in the Canary Islands.  That was also a 14 day cruise out of Barcelona so the starting point for Harmony is no excuse for the crappy itinerary!

8 hours ago, 4774Papa said:

I spoke with Maritza at Royal C. about Odyssey and she said that it would not be going out of Rome for a TA.

I was a bit shocked by the prices for the three day cruise from Rome to Barcelona  as well as the TA from Barcelona home.

Wow, that would be a surprise!  It is supposed to be home ported in Rome.  They would have to have a one way to another port like Barcelona and then start the TA there. Thanks for letting us know!

I think the price on Reflection has already gone up!  We may have to look more closely at Connie.

By the way, in 2017 we did a cruise out of Rome and then did a one way flight on Vueling from Italy to Barcelona that was pretty cheap.  Short flights in Europe on discount carriers are always a reasonable option.  No need to cruise from Rome to Barcelona!

2 hours ago, 4774Papa said:

Got a call from Royal.  I asked about TA cruises from Rome to Florida in Fall of 2021.  Wanted to compare to Celebrity and others.

 

First, Royal had no TA from Rome at that time.  There was one from Barcelona and could have done an expensive three night Rome to Barcelona as well as TA.  However, price for 3 night cruise (balc) was like $1200 each and the TA was almost double what the Rome-FLA TA was in 2020.  PRICES UP

 

Booked on Celebrity instead.  Constellation had balcony for 15 day TA for $1809 pp.

We are considering the Celebrity Reflection TA out of Rome for Fall 2021.  
 

The only possible Royal TA from Rome in that time frame is Odyssey but I think that won’t come out for a few more weeks.

We are doing a couple of Royal Caribbean cruises in the spring that visit Vanuatu, New Caledonia and French Polynesia.  I bought the Voom surf and stream internet package for both cruises.  I was wondering if anyone had recent experience with Voom in this part of the world.  I ask for recent experience since SES networks (the satellite service provider) launched a bunch of satellites in the last 2 year including 4 more in April 2019. Thanks!

Searched for newly released transatlantics in the fall of 2021. The Anthem out of Southampton on Oct 20 came up with pricing.  When I tried a mock booking, it said there were no cabins available for 2 people.  I suspect it is not really released yet.

On 10/24/2019 at 5:51 PM, varoo said:

 

It looks like you will have plenty of time to make your connection, but I just want to offer a piece of "security blanket" advice that should relieve you of any time restraint pressure.

 

Talk to the concierge on your first cruise, explain your situation, and ask him/her to coordinate with the concierge on the second ship so they will know to expect you and will put you on the manifest for the second cruise.

 

We were once in a similar situation, transferring from a Celebrity ship to a Royal Caribbean ship and needing to travel from one port to another to catch our second cruise in a different city.

As it turned out, we were delayed in transit so we did not arrive  until nearly an hour after the boarding time cutoff, just as they were starting the muster drill. 

But because they were expecting us, they had us on the manifest and one of the ship's officers even met us at the gangway to take our passports, check us in and hand us our seapass cards right there.

 

We were so grateful to the concierge who handled the arrangements for us, because if we had simply shown up so late on our own, we would have been denied boarding.

 

 

 

What a great suggestion.  Thanks a bunch.  We have been cruising so have not been following Cruise Critic much and just checked in today.

Also thinking about booking a rental car at the airport. The local edition Hertz opens at 9 AM but the airport location is 24 hours and has a better inventory of vehicles.

Looking to book summer/fall 2021 cruises.  Typically these become available in November or December. Any announcements with a deployment schedule?  We have a future cruise onboard booking certificate that is burning a hole in our pocket!

On 11/2/2019 at 7:23 PM, Jlmet64 said:

Does anyone have a compass that shows Pickleball play on Symphony? Or has anyone played on this ship? Thank you in advance

They had open play Pickleball yesterday from 8-10 AM and it is scheduled again for Friday at 2:30 PM.

They don’t have any lines down so it is a bit of a guess for boundaries.

There is a rumor that Symphony now has Pickleball.  I will be on board in a few weeks and will report back afterwards.

Do Transatlantic cruises from Europe typically come out at the same time as the European sailings?

5 hours ago, AZSwissGal said:

 

I went to a travel show here in Arizona today.  There was a presentation by a Royal Caribbean representative and when she was talking about all the new ships coming out over the next few years she stated that the first ship of the Icon series would be stationed in California, but that they did not know yet whether that will be San Diego or Los Angeles.  I do believe she was mentioning sometime in 2021, but am not sure if I remember correctly.

 

Rita

 

ICON on the west coast almost makes sense.  Since ICON runs on liquefied natural gas (LNG), they will need a place to refuel.  There are no LNG facilities in Florida (yet) and I don't believe any are are currently under construction. There are several in Texas and one in Louisiana. There is also one in Mexico near Ensenada and one in Alaska.  Maybe they plan to use Ensenada for refueling? 

3 minutes ago, hcat said:

Where are you picking up the rental car..airport, other site? 

Getting there and the car transaction will also take a bit of time unless they are bringing it to you???

 

 

We have a car reserved at the Hertz location near the cruise port. We will probably Uber to the car rental office to be safe. They open at 7:30 AM on Sundays.  I am going to be there in a few weeks after a different cruise and will try to talk to the manager and see if he can somehow flag the reservation so it is expedited.  I am Hertz #1 Gold. Not sure if that will help!

In February, we will be on Celebrity Edge out of Fort Lauderdale.  The day we get back, we board the Harmony of the Seas in Port Canaveral.  The cruise leaves at 4:30 PM and we need to be on board by 2 PM. We have a rental car lined up to drive to Port Canaveral.  The drive is about 3 hours.  I believe if we hit the road by 9 AM we will have sufficient buffer to get to the ship with time to spare.

What is typically the earliest we can disembark if we walk off with our luggage?  We are hoping we can get off Edge no later than 7:30 or 8 AM. 

I have a question about non-refundable deposits.  I know that deposits for suites are non-refundable.  Does this include Junior Suites?  We recently booked a Junior Suite and during the booking process it said it was a refundable deposit.  Just making sure there won’t be a surprise if I cancel!

On 8/29/2019 at 3:09 PM, springaussie said:

It appears now Departing Sydney 12 April 2021 Brisbane 14 April Darwin 21 April and Singapore arrive 26 April. Good luck getting Royal to confirm this Emmy. 

To bad it wasn't arriving in Singapore a day earlier.  That would set up Sydney to Singapore on Voyager followed by the Ovation B2B from Singapore to Seattle. It would not take much to twist my arm for that one!

Voyager still not listed on the web site though.

41 minutes ago, Billy Baltic said:

 

Maybe. I thought the quantum class was designed with an eye toward cooler climates. 

It is, but it will be sailing out of Fort Lauderdale so that certainly is not cool spot.  Quantum sails out of Singapore - that is not a cool place.  

Besides Southampton is a cooler climate home port, even in summer.

1 hour ago, Billy Baltic said:

 

This leaves a big gap in Odyssey’s schedule during the summer months. Any idea where’s she’s going?

Maybe sailing out of Southampton for those warmer summer months?