son3cruisers

Just took a look at some shore excursion for our March “ enhanced “ sailing and noticed this :

My sailing is March 2024. 40% off

This sounds great! I looked but did not see a Vitality cafe on Rhapsody OTS, correct? I see a Park cafe.

Strange, I just checked ( for our March cruise ) and the beverage package is listed at 40% off - not a senior sale. Price is $68 CAN per person/ per day which is about $50 US dollars, $566 CAN total with gratuities. Not a bad price, actually best I’ve seen in a while.

This was not offered on the March 9th sailing when we booked.

So the new “ enhanced “ sailings are showing online as able to book. Interesting addition, for our sailing, instead of departing / returning from Colon on Sat , there is an option to depart / return from Cartagena Sunday to Sunday.

There were quite a few staterooms available on our March 9th sailing, as we checked quite often. I’m curious to see how many will continue with this new sailing, or if it will be changed again ( which sounds like others on here are quite confident it will!)

Heres an example of some pricing for March 2024 😂😂

I agree. But we got quite a good deal on this cruise as we booked when it was first released. So booking another cruise right now is almost double the price we paid. Thinking maybe its best to keep this for now and see how it all rolls out by December, the PIF date. If it does sail on this new itinerary, our flights will work. We would just need transportation from the airport to COLON now.

Good to know. This is for the Panama Canal sailing on Rhapsody in March. They just completely changed this cruise itinerary actually, so it will be interesting to see if prices change too.

Really? Well just to clarify thats before gratuities. It was over $700 in total with grats for a 7 night cruise, so closer to $100 a day Canadian.

So if Im understanding this correctly, if we cancel completely, without rebooking another cruise, (there is nothing we like) there will be no compensation for our flight changes/cancelations? We will only get a refund in our deposit? Thinking maybe we should hold on to it, as others have said this is a strange itinerary now and it might change yet again?

Seriously??? Wow, they want $84 / $89 Canadian a day now, on sale- thats before the 18% gratuity.

Very good point.

This is so disappointing. And yes, they are offering no incentive- not even stateroom credit. A $200 flight change reimbursement? We booked COPA airlines, so we will want a full refund, which $200 will not cover as will not use this airline again. We are booked on the March 9th sailing so the replacement for us is an overnight in Aruba and Curaçao, just did those ports last March.

My March 2024 cruise is not available to book , so it depends on the ship.

We too are on the March 2024 sailing- Panama City to Colon. We are flying in and out of Panama City. Good prices on flights with COPA airlines, ( Panama airline) with direct flights from a few US airports. I’m hopingRoyal will offer a transfer service back to the airport when we disembark in Colon. We have a 12 pm flight booked, and it appears it’s about 1 hr to the PTY airport from Colon. I’ve also read there is not much to do in Colon other than the locks.Not the safest port to be wandering around, although there is a Raddison Hotel at the Colon port with a mall attached. Our roll call is very quiet!

We booked a Royal ship for a Panama cruise in March 2024. 7 nights. Rhapsody of the Sea. Starts in Panama city ( which I've just recently learnt is Fuerte Amador), visits Puntarenas and Quepos, Costa Rica then does a full transit through the locks to Cartagena and disembarks in Colon. This is all new to us so any advice is welcomed! Such great info on this forum. Too soon to book flights, but looks like COPA airlines has some good flights ( times) out of Miami to PTY. Hoping there will be some information on transfers or how to get from the airport to the different cruise terminals posted by Royal soon. Fun is in the planning!

There was a huge police presence this morning- so many vehicles parked on the pier- with Coast guard officials waiting as we disembarked ( we continued on to St Martin. ) So I would assume they will be taken into their custody and sent back home. Rumour has it, if you are in international waters, you are taken back? But if you make land it’s a different story. Not my expertise, so I’m not sure what happens now. Glad they are safe. Captain did report 2 children were “ in distress” but all 35 souls were safe on board.

On board the Millennium Left Tortola on our way to St Martin. Just watched an amazing rescue by crew . Captain announced the Coast guard alerted him to a migrant boat floating a drift. 35 people ( 2 children) are all now safe aboard the ship . Not sure if we are turning around back to Tortola or heading to St Martin. More details to come

We will be onboard Saturday as well! Glad you enjoyed your cruise! Would also like to hear about line ups at Main dining. In Aug, on Summit there were definitely some staffing issues and also a wait for dinner even with reserved times.

You turn around, and take the same route back. Now, we did meet someone at the top that went through the outdoor arena area ( looked like a large outdoor tennis court) and said there was a path through there as well . When we walked back down, we made it to the other side ( left off the tender) and the views were also spectacular along the water.

We had hiking boots on, but I’m sure a good pair of runners would be fine. I would recommend bringing hiking boots for this cruise though if you plan to adventure out and about. Some of the best views require a bit of off road through some rugged terrain. The picture below might give you a better idea of a bit of our climb. We went up a few of these sets of stairs, thinking about three different sets? Then a winding road through the houses and a bit of uneven ground to get to the top. There is only one road to follow. When you get off the tender , turn right and follow the road up.

As PRMSSK just posted on another thread, ( as I too am concerned about inclusions that are suddenly left out of the AI package descriptions) If specially coffee or tea wasn’t suddenly included in the classic package, I’m sure current cruisers would be posting on here about it. I think ( and hope) it’s just a typo, as it is still included under the “drink package comparison “

You would think, right? but, unfortunately I don’t think that’s the case anymore ( but I hope it’s just a misprint) As per the “new” package listings, it does not list specialty coffee or tea in the basic package. Only in the premium or zero proof package. Under “compare packages” it does still list specialty coffee and tea, but NOT in the new description of package inclusions. So confusing. I too booked under the AI - a year ago and set to sail in March. Hopefully someone who is currently sailing can confirm what is now included.