bhoffman

Thank you all!

This is for Voyager of the Seas. Can someone tell me what time we can get on the ship in Athens? Also, we will be in a junior suite and it is listed on the website for booking as a suite category room but will that translate on the ship? Priority tenders and eating breakfast in the restaurant specifically. Thanks all!

We will have a group of 6 with a day in the Santorini port. I am trying very hard to avoid the mess of the cable cars. Is it possible to have a private guide meet you before needing to get on the cable cars and transport us by car or boat? If so, could you please share and contact info? 

Never mind it’s back! Strange though!

Given the itinerary of our cruise (Israel, Egypt and Cyprus) I thought I would check the Royal website. Our cruise is not showing anymore. Does this mean it’s canceled? It is not listed under dates to book. Any insight? 

I know no one has a crystal ball. We just decided to book a European cruise for summer 2024. There are some suites available but not a ton. Should we hurry and book tonight or chill and wait? We have 3 for sure going but maybe a 4th so not sure how that works if we have to cancel the 4th person and move the 3rd into the same cabin as person 1 and 2. 

We lifted and shifted the 2020 cruise before it was cancelled and Royal cancelled the 2021 cruise

21 minutes ago, Bobal said:

Not sure about the different rules but just for info in every case our cruise was cancelled  by RC and presumably #bhoffman's cruise was cancelled by RC too

Yes, they cancelled our August cruise on Odyssey out of Rome. 

My travel agent was told that since our August 2020 Mediterranean cruise was lifted and shifted to Odyssey August 2021 cruise that has now been cancelled that  we are not entitled to lift and shift again. So frustrated. They won’t price protect another cruise for us and won’t lift and shift. Nice. She is calling back today to try to get someone else but....has anyone else been told no second lift and shift?

50 minutes ago, bhoffman said:

I’m sorry, I’m sure I missed it somewhere but is there a place to see all of our options if our cruise was cancelled? Thanks! 

51 minutes ago, bhoffman said:

I’m sorry, I’m sure I missed it somewhere but is there a place to see all of our options if our cruise was cancelled? Thanks! 

Never mind I found it!

I’m sorry, I’m sure I missed it somewhere but is there a place to see all of our options if our cruise was cancelled? Thanks! 

Ugh...I hope this changes for the summer European season. We are not willing to sink all that money in to Royal if the cruise won’t go so we may just have to cancel closer to final payment time. 

We unfortunately had to lift and shift our Greek islands cruise out of Rome from August 2020 to August 2021. Now looking like that probably won’t be happening.  Anyone heard any rumblings if a second lift and shift may become an option? We have a great price and I hate to lose it....

7 hours ago, Jimbo said:

Greek Isles? Interesting...I booked an Owners Suite, not sure they would allow me to book a Owner's Loft Suite would they? Just checked another sailing, yes they  do have regular Owners Suite's  also.

Yes, Greek isles. I had a Grand suite booked and switched to a Grand suite on the Odyssey. I would think they would let you switch. It’s worth a call! Good luck!

58 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

Are there any other ships and sailings that (August) Explorer of the Seas can shift to besides Harmony of the Seas? Just want to know what my real options are before shifting.

We were sailing Explorer from Rome summer (August)2020. Did lift and switch to Odyssey summer (August) 2021.

4 minutes ago, JBSteelerfan said:

 

Agent just came back again saying not same itinerary and ALSO now, can't change to a different class of ship.  We were on Explorer and tried to move to Odyssey. 

We switched from the Explorer to the Odyssey yesterday with no issue. Same itinerary though just one year apart.

3 hours ago, livylotte said:

 

That doesn't sound right to me. Surely the med is the med. I would call back and speak to someone else.

3 hours ago, Agathabumble said:

Hi, I've been told I cannot change my August Explorer med cruise to Odyssey med cruise as they cover different parts of the med and it would have to be a Harmony cruise. They have also said I would need to pay extra taxes as they are are higher on the harmony than the explorer, is this correct? 

I actually was successful changing my August Explorer 2020 cruise to Odyssey August 2021 cruise. It was the same itinerary with the exception of one port though. Anyway, we had no issues. 

We had great success getting our August 2020 Greek cruise from Rome “lifted and switched” to August of 2021. Our agent at Amex was a champ and got it all situated for us. Our original deposit was switched over, price protected and assigned cabin numbers on the new cruise. Couldn’t be happier! We even got all of our onboard credit applied to the new cruise. Just FYI what a good deal this was for us, for the same cabins on this same cruise with a new reservation we would have paid almost EXACTLY double what we are paying by switching our reservation over so yay! Which is funny because I was coming up against my final payment this week so I emailed the corporate offices 2 weeks ago and said sure I’ll pay my final payment but I want the same cabins on the same cruise next year and they were super rude and said no way. Welp...guess that just happened and I don’t have to make that final payment until next year so it’s even better then I suggested to them! Very happy with this arrangement. 

4 hours ago, julieanne99 said:

We have a cruise in July.  The balance was due 4th April, but they extended by 30 days.  We have no intention of paying them any more money - but just need to hang in and see if they extend the current suspension for a further month and then we have full ATOL protection for the deposit, flights and hotels.  I would not advise anyone to pay - FCC may simply not be worth anything.  

How and when did they inform you that your final payment wasn’t due for another month? Only asking because we have a final payment coming up for an August cruise that I would love to get by non refundable deposit back for.

At this point our only option with the airlines since it is so far out (August) is getting a credit minus a $450 fee per ticket. I’m sure that will either change to getting a credit without the fee or if they cancel the flight or move it more then 1 1/2 hours we can get a cash refund. As it gets closer I’m sure our options will be better then they are now. Basically playing chicken with the airline now waiting until it gets closer to deal with the tickets.

We booked with the cruise line then immediately moved the reservation to our travel agent. We have an incredible price plus a ton in onboard credit so it pains me to give up the cruise but no way am I chancing them having a 5 figure hold on my money to chance getting $750 back. 

1 minute ago, matj2000 said:

 

Why did you do that?

Why did we book with a non refundable deposit? Honestly we didn’t even know there was an option. We booked this upcoming cruise while on another cruise and they never asked if we wanted to or not. Saying that, I’m sure it afforded us a cheaper price (I’m guessing) and we have trip insurance for normal cancellation issues which in this case of course it doesn’t help. It covers the normal issues one might have with travel. So I’m sure we would have booked with the non refundable fare based on that insurance anyway. Silly us, we didn’t see a world wide pandemic coming. I’m less concerned with the $750 deposit then the $13,000 in air fare we have Booked to get to the cruise although getting the $750 back would be nice too. 

I agree. I am just hoping they cancel the summer before our final payment in May but I think the odds of that happening are low to none. I think they will continue to go 30 days by 30 days.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/tamarathiessen/2020/04/11/europe-borders-may-close-to-september-due-to-us-covid-19-threat/#9555056431f7
 

Yet another hypothetical situation at this point but if the European countries close their borders as this article describes COULD happen anyone thinking Royal will immediately cancel all summer Mediterranean cruises? Curious as we have one scheduled in August which we have our final payment coming up in May. I have no intention of going on it, too many unknowns to hand over that much money this early in this reality we have going on. Of course we booked with a non refundable deposit never thinking this situation would come up. I’m hoping IF this happens Royal will cancel before our May final payment is due and we can get our $750 back. Wishful thinking I’m sure. 

On 9/5/2019 at 3:01 PM, bbwex said:

It's in Ephesus, Turkey.  The RC's Explorer of the Seas will be there at the same time, and someone got to the one tourguide I had heard was the best.  ☹️

I am trying to find a good guide in Ephesus...can you spill on this good guides name?!