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3 minutes ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

Ken does Royal still own Aramara?

With apologies to Ken, no - Royal sold Azamara last year.

https://www.businessinsider.com/royal-caribbean-sell-azamara-cruise-brand-coronavirus-2021-1?r=US&IR=T

34 minutes ago, Harriet75C said:

Also, kids under 12 don’t have their proof available on the NHS app, so anyone know what I need to provide for them?

For the kids - You need to request an NHS covid travel pass by post (Yes,post!) you apply online here NHS COVID pass

We got ours within a week of requesting them, it’s the only thing available for under 12’s.

12 minutes ago, Cruiscs said:

In some Facebook groups people have said Royal said 48 hours. Even my TA recommended me to do it within 48 hours. 

Up to you who to believe, Facebook, Your TA or Royal themselves ….

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/gbr/en/faq/questions/how-do-i-figure-out-when-to-get-pre-cruise-covid-19-test

It’s days, not hours 😀

Couple of years ago we were in 9650 (spacious balcony) and yes, there was a Pullman bed that came down from the ceiling, as well as the double sofa bed.
 

53 minutes ago, ace2542 said:

Haven't the BA strikes been called off? I thought they accepted an upgraded pay offer? Are they still cancelling despite that pay offer?

Nothing to do with the strikes - they're cancelling flights to manage their operations. Apparently.

"The whole aviation industry continues to face into significant challenges and we're completely focused on building resilience into our operation to give customers the certainty they deserve," BA said.

17 minutes ago, FamilyCruiserUK said:

We are sailing out of italy on aug 14 th and our protocols have been up for ages. But i believe you get an email at the 30 day point with updated ones. 

Yep - been on the website for ages, the question was about the App , you get a pop up window when selecting 'Check In' - this doesn't list any testing requirements, but I have no idea if it ever did !

Anyway, we're checked in and prepared to accept whatever testing is required - hoping none. It's stressful enough to worry about BA cancelling our flights as it is.

 British Airways to cancel 10,300 more flights

24 minutes ago, Project-College said:

Someone posted that the checkin on the ap DROPPED the 'precruise testing' text?

Has that happened to anyone else?

Just had a look on the app for our August sailing on Wonder out of Barcelona - Still shows the vaccination requirement but then says that “Health and safety protocols have not been announced. We anticipate both vaccination and testing requirements and encourage vaccine boosters”

Can’t remember is this is any different from before, but I’m still hoping that testing will be dropped for our sailing (14th).

15 minutes ago, ReneeFLL said:

Is there really that big of a difference in a ship that’s made for the Asian market?

Specifically for  these ships - yes. They are not built to the classification standards for western sailings, without major (and expensive) alterations, they'd never pass the coastguard inspections or be able to be insured. That's the reason no one is showing an interst in purchasing them.

Thank you for posting and I’m so glad you had a great cruise - and it highlights just how ‘little’ actions can mean so much to others. Let’s be nice to one another 😘

If it makes you feel any better, I priced a Med cruise in 2 suites for next year before this promotion, came to around £6k. With this promotion it now comes to £7k, but with $1k OBC. 😉

Rarely do RC’s promotions save you anything really - just move the charges around 🙂. It’s a bit like furniture retailers with endless sales…..

You’ll always earn C&A points regardless.

35 minutes ago, little britain said:

You’ll get Guatemala… hit or miss as to whether they are good or not! 
So long as tests are proctored they are fine. 

You need a test to talk to someone in Guatemala ? 😉

Try heading to the UK 'Contact us' page, wait a few moments and hopefully you'll see this:

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/gbr/en/resources/contact-us

By far the best way (at least for us) to get most things sorted. You also get a chat transcript to show what's been discussed/agreed.  

3 minutes ago, sgmn said:

We also had lloyds booked. Yesterday the Lloyds Pharmacy phoned to say they didn't have any stock (I need it done this Thursday) and gave me the phone number of another lloyds. Phoned them and they said I had to book online.  Went online and site was down. Eventually I got online and oops they have no bookings for Thursday,  frustrating and annoying 

Now I have to start again 😒 

I'd heard reports of that on the FB group for our sailing - I'm going to call the branch the day before the tests are booked to check. If they can't do it, we'll head back to Randox at Heathrow again.

Lloyds are really close to us (and a bigger branch), but if we have to drive 20 mins to get to Randox it's no big deal. Always have a plan 'B'  (and possibly 'C' and 'D' as well) 🙂

Meant to say - we have Lloyds pharmacy ‘fit to fly’ supervised antigen tests booked for next week for our Anthem cruise, will report back on how it went.

We’ve also used Randox last month, no complaints.

3 minutes ago, Jaz52002 said:

We are on Wonder of the Seas in July and since she'll be duoble jabbed by then we'll need to get tests in Barcelona

This is our situation as well - our 11 year olds should be double jabbed by our cruise on Wonder in August. Currently, however, there is no way to prove it as you can’t get an NHS Covid pass for under 12’s . Hoping that the government fix that before the summer hols 🤔

More than happy to be corrected 😀.

To answer the OP, as posted above - unvaxxed kids need a physically (not tele) supervised test 1 day before sailing.

20 minutes ago, Another_Critic said:

3.14159265359...

Is that just a “finger in the pi” guess ? 🤣

Just over a week for our 28 points to be added 🤩

1 hour ago, compman9 said:

Thanks, yes awaiting a reply

 

It seems this is a bit of a scam on Royal's part. 

Pay in USD on board, but once you've used it in USD with a US TA, it can't be used in GBP with them (they cancelled the cruise), even though you could have used the original FCC in GBP with them !!!

Suspect it’s more incompetence than by design 🤣  

Probably one of those things where you just need to find the right person to solve it. Might take several attempts to get the result you’re happy with.

Do you get the online chat ?

Go to the ‘contact us’ page, give it a minute and see if the little blue floating chat icon appears:

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/gbr/en/resources/contact-us

I think it’s UK only - perhaps try a VPN if you’re still in Turkey. We’ve used the chat multiple times to change cabins, price match etc. You get an email transcript so there’s no confusion over what was agreed.

4 hours ago, matj2000 said:

Are you sure you are on the Grandeur?

 

I think they scrapped all those old ship a few years ago..

Pretty sure I can remember which ship I was on just a few weeks ago 😜

If you’re booking Lloyds, might be worth giving the branch you’re getting tested in a ring. Lots of chatter about branches having no stock of tests, and not expecting to receive any more. At least according to the FB group for the 2 day Anthem sailing in May.

Wondering if this is going to become an increasing problem this summer, as testing requirements for travel are dropped, there’s less demand for tests, and then less testing providers. I see that Eurofins that RC used last year for the UK sailings have gone.

Had no problems in public areas or round the pool. Absolutely awful in the cabin - so much so we got a 50% refund.

Aft suite on deck 8 on the April 3rd sailing this year.

We’ve always tried to do it via the online chat - when the option appears. For us it’s much more convenient than hanging on the phone and you get a email with the chat transcript.

Go to the ‘Contact us’ page on the UK website and wait for the little blue chat icon to appear. It doesn’t always but keep trying 😀

Are you staying in Barcelona pre cruise ? Might be worth asking your hotel/accommodation provider if they can arrange.

We’ve just done this in Barbados and the hotel were very helpful in arranging PCR tests for the kids.

2 hours ago, Dibbley said:

I guess it really does boil down to the difference between expected and required and where about on the “expected scale” Royal’s stance lies - I am certainly interested in hearing how it is currently being enforced onboard. I know this can change if / when the ships crew changes.

I doubt there is a ‘corporate’  RC stance, and it’s likely to be very different depending on ships and regions. For what it’s worth, we’re just off the Grandeur out of Barbados with two unvaccinated kids - neither wore masks at any time other than as directed when leaving the ship (when we all had to). No other kids we saw wore them either. However, this was on a small ship with only 899 guests onboard and a handful of kids. Neither of ours went to Adventure ocean (if it was even open!) where Masks were required.

Mask wearing was never mentioned by anyone, crew or guest. Interestingly, there was no way to distinguish between vaccinated or non-vaccinated kids, so no way to tell who “should” and “shouldn’t” wear one. 
 

Our kids (11yr olds) have just had their first jab, fingers crossed they’ll have the second in good time for our med cruise on the Wonder in August - ever hopeful the UK government will extend the Covid pass to under 12’s so we can actually prove this !