3kidsncats

Pretty sure OP wasn’t asking for, or expecting a full refund. OP also paid for insurance, as was clearly stated in his original post. Actively encouraging someone to board, who has been showing signs of potentially contagious illness (ie, throwing up) goes against the cruise lines health screening protocols, I believe, and is a clear indicator that profit far outweighs the health and safety of passengers and crew. These kinds of policies are part of the reason we cancelled our TA cruise and flew to Europe instead. As it turns out, a land trip can be every bit as good of a vacation as a cruise.

Because a cruise is the only form of travel that exists.

Of course, but if a company plays ball too hard, they also run the risk of alienating their customers to the point that they go elsewhere.

I am so sorry to hear about everything you and your wife have gone through — I know it has caused a tremendous amount of stress for you, that has a detrimental effect on your overall well-being. I’m sure you both really needed this getaway, and I sincerely hope you are able to reschedule it soon. I applaud you for making the difficult decision to not board. It was the right thing to do, and you don’t deserve the pushback you’re getting here. Warm regards to your wife and hope she has a quick recovery from Covid. And thank you for sharing your experience — it made me feel a lot better about the travel insurance policy I bought today for our cruise later this month. We have coverage with our CC, but not medical, so I went ahead and spent the $200 to be well insured. It feels a lot more like money well spent after reading your post.

He finds it upsetting that the cruise line thinks it’s ok for people who know they are sick to be encouraged to board anyways. It is in the best interest for society in general if schools, workplaces and places like cruise ships, try to mitigate spread of illness by creating a system that encourages sick people to stay home until they are recovered

Physicians no longer get a crystal ball with their medical license. They actually have to wait until symptoms present to initiate a diagnosis.

Your trip did start — you left your home and went to Disney. As soon as you loaded up the car and drove away from home, your trip started.

Nope. It was a relatively new booking with no fcc.

I factored in the taxes and fees. Like I said, I can only go by what info was noted on the website (did not see any restrictions noted) and what I was told by two different reps.

Pretty much every band, ship performance or otherwise, had their gigs cancelled in March of 2020. Or postponed. And postponed. And then cancelled.

Led Zepagain is a great tribute band that really captures the sound and style of the original band— Jim (bass player) and Swan (lead vocals) are friends of ours. They have performed on several Royal cruises over the years.

I did not see any restrictions noted on the fare, and it was much the same as previous cruises when i was able to upgrade. Both reps told me that the policy had changed. I generally don’t take what they say as accurate, because there can be a lot of variance in what you are told at any given time, but in this case, it seemed they were all sticking to it.

You may have seen a “local” tribute band (ie, one that lives in the area of the home port for the ship) or a band that was made up of the regular onboard musicians and is being marketed as a tribute band but is not actually performing as such outside of the cruise line. Previous to covid, RCCL was flying in entire bands for 1 single cruise, or occasionally a couple B2B cruises. Much like they do for comedians. But it’s more money to fly in 4-8 people, and reserve cabins for them (usually double up assignments). And with airline issues, delayed/cancelled flights, there is the added issue of they can’t reliably fly in the band day of - which would mean putting them up in a hotel potentially the night before. And yes, live entertainment workers were hit incredibly hard during covid, with most being independent contractors and not eligible for unemployment benefits. In our state, they were able to qualify, except if one had been paid for a single gig via w-2, then their benefit amount was based on that, and essentially amounted to no benefit. It was tough, and now venues are changing direction with the kind of bands they are hiring (ie, skewing younger, so booking classic rock bands less frequently if at all).

It was just the posted fare on the website — and they will upgrade you. They just add an additional fee in the $50-200 range over and above the website pricing. And yes, I was quite taken aback as we have upgraded after final payment several times, and never had this issue. I called more than once. It’s a new policy, apparently. But definitely changes the way I will approach future bookings as I’m quite a fan of being able to upgrade with more flexibility.

Unfortunately they won’t let you upgrade after final payment at the current fare. They will upgrade you, at an additional premium over the current new booking fare. I tried twice — once the current fare for an OV was lower than I paid for an interior and they wanted $100 more to switch me and the second time the fare was $50 more than I paid for 2 categories above, and they wanted $250. Which makes me think I won’t book in advance anymore. I’m fine with no obc for lower fares after final payment, but don’t like not being able to upgrade anymore at current pricing.

If the lunch is a make it or break it benefit, I would just reserve lunch at chops for a fraction of the cost.

If they say they can’t find good tribute bands due to covid, that is a line of BS. I know, because my husband is in one, and one of his agents books some of the bands that perform on Royal ships—plenty of these bands would be very happy for more work as they were all hit really hard financially during covid. It’s more likely they don’t want to book them, at least not yet.

We’ve been playing, lol, but no lottery luck so far.

If you have an iPhone, you can put the set sail pass in your wallet, so no worries about internet

I have next to no experience to add, except that we do have a deck and muster station 🙂

Hopefully it works for you if you are still waiting for your assignment 🙂

It’s not uncommon for someone to cancel at the last minute (especially now with Covid). The cruise line can make more $ by accepting an upgrade bid. At that point, they don’t care about selling the lower category the winner is vacating, they are just looking at the additional $$ for the bid. ie, someone in a JS cancels one or two days before sailing. They can move a balcony passenger to the JS, on OV to the balcony, and in Interior to the OV. Selling the interior at that point is not the goal. Getting the bid $ on the JS, Balcony and OV are the goal

The early acceptances move inventory and the late ones fill last minute vacancies

I love your original post — so spot on!! Part of the bid process for me is the fun of getting a great deal, the excitement of getting that winning bid email and the opportunity to maybe get an experience I couldn’t otherwise afford. Not winning is never going to ruin my trip.

I’m guessing the playfulness of OP’s thread starting post was missed.