mattg43

Had new first time passports delivered last week. Took just under 9 weeks from receipt on their end. 11/25 to 1/25. Consider also there were multiple holidays during this period. Advertised time was 6 to 9 weeks.

My wife and I have cruised 3 times before without passports and will again next week if the ones we ordered do not make it in time. One of the cruises we took was to Labadee in 2018. That is a RCCL private area so no issues. Just make sure, which it sounds like the OP has, that they are originals from the state. Also make sure any difference in names between the ID and the BC are linked by a legal document. That means a wife needs to bring the marriage certificate if she took her spouse's name. My wife and I were at the post office in November ordering passports 9 weeks from a cruise we had just booked. I made the decision to just pay for standard 6-9 week service and if they made it in time, great. If not, no big deal. This cruise is just Nassau and Cococay. Really wanted them for the Oct cruise to Mexico due to distance to the US Embassy.

Cruise line insurance will only cover the cruise. We get insurance through tripinsurancestore.com to cover the entire trip including flights, hotels, etc. If your airline loses your luggage, the RCCL insurance will not cover you. Also, when searching for quotes, keep in mind that you only need to insure the non refundable portion of the trip.

Water (not bottled) and some juices are free. Soda requires the smallest beverage package, about $8 to $10 a day per person. Check the cruise planner for more information.

Wait, you thought acupuncture was a cure for a smoking addiction?

Well since their gains in 2020 and 2021 were in large part due to fear of covid, when that fear subsides, it makes sense that more people would return to brick and morter stores vice strictly online.

Sure they have protections, but if someone drains your account, that's your money gone until they can put it back. If someone commits fraud on a credit card, that's the banks money.

I currently am using the Capital One Quicksilver card. 1.5% cash back on everything. I can either request a credit on my account or use it directly to cover Amazon purchases. Considering others that give more on certain categories, but need to find the time to figure out if they're going to be on average better than the straight 1.5%. But of course you have to be disciplined to pay it off every month no exceptions or no rewards program is worth it.

If you are only going to use it for cruises, it's not bad. 2% I think goes to OBC with some new customer perks. If you want it for an every day card, it's not good, only 1%. If you don't pay it off in full every month (outside of 0% promotions), no benefit program will make up for the interest charges. Not sure why people don't use credit cards. It's free money and safer than a debit card. Everything outside of my mortgage and car loans go on a credit card. Pay it off every month and pocket, in my case, 1.5% in free money on every dollar I spend.

I never book refundable. If the fee for refundable is $150 as it was with the last one, it's only $200 for my wife and I if we had to move the booking to another ship/sailing. Moving a booking is unlikely for us, and definitely not worth paying $150 on every cruise to maybe save $50 once in awhile.

$16 per day per person is a great bargain for 3 meals and all the in-between service received. People who don't want to tip that minimal amount should just stay home.

It could also go up. If you buy now and it drops, you can cancel and repurchase

I assume the VAT tax is not covered by the drink package, but added to the seapass account?

Got ours about 45 days out for a Jan 23rd sailing.

Never made much sense to me to book refundable. It's an additional $150 to save a $200 change fee in the rare case that you need to change it. Spend $150 every cruise to maybe save $50 once in awhile. Assuming 2 people of course, but even at 3 it's not worth it unless you're changing every other cruise.

Fudging an insurance form is also known as insurance fraud. Generally not recommended.

Must have at least 100 shares.

I sent the forms in via email and had the OBC in my cruise planner in about 24 hours.

Why would you dispute something through a credit card before calling RC? That would be the fastest and cleanest way to resolve it. There are likely charges involved on RC's end when you do that.

Just got the new invoice about 24 hours after. Waiting for it to pop up in the planner, hopefully before midnight. 😉 Edit. It just showed up. About 20 minutes after the email. Nice!

Early in the week I submitted for a Jan cruise. Email confirmation came the next morning and got the updated cruise invoice showing OBC. Immediately was in my cruise planner account. Sent one in last night (Thanksgiving) for a cruise in Oct 2023. Got the email this morning saying it was approved. No new invoice yet, and nothing in the cruise planner. I was surprised it was approved for a cruise so far in the future, but would have liked it before needing to grab a good price on the drinks package today. Sent both in with the paper form to the email address.

Booked a cruise 1 Oct. Had to call for the invoice. I didn't get a single email confirmation. The website errored out twice when submitting payment. The only way I knew it went through was my credit card app notification on the 2nd try and then subsequently seeing it when I logged in to my account.

Kind of strange that Royal Caribbean is still operating under the assumption that a vaccination prevents you from getting covid. Why does vaccination status determine if you need a test or not?

I think you are fine. Check the CDC site to be sure, but I believe a test 5 days from exposure would give you the yes/no on the trip. In other words, if you have not gotten it by then, you won't.

What is across the hall from 7264 through 7272? The map just shows nothing...