firefox247

Cape Liberty only starting hosting Oasis class ships a few months ago.  Many of the people referencing the "easy parking" at Cape Liberty may not have seen it since then.  It's pretty clear to me that neither the terminal nor the parking is setup for a ship of that size.  It would be fine for a Voyager class ship like Adventure, but Oasis is an issue for them right now.

I'm really hoping they figure it out--especially since we are heading out of there just next week--but it's a far cry from an ironed-out operation.  Be prepared to park on the surface lots (even though the garage has tons of free space) because they are saving the entire thing for handicapped/disabled.

And that's an issue too, because many of the people who park on the surface lots don't want to walk back to the pay stations to pay after they drop their luggage, so they pay at the exit and cause a huge bottleneck.

Like I said, it's made for smaller ships, and it shows.  Hopefully they can make some changes.

37 minutes ago, willoL said:

@firefox247 Does OP want to tell us if the situation resolved? There's one more data point for the next poor soul. 🙂

I wish I could say everything is resolved, but unfortunately, it is not.  We are 15 days from when we arrived too, so . . . not great.  😑  It felt like it was finally getting a bit better, but now for whatever reason I really feel it in the afternoon but not the morning.  It does seem to be less noticeable when I move around.

I actually have already seen an urgent care doc as well as my PCP, and both were not very helpful.  I have an appointment with an ENT in August, and I'm just hoping I will be able to cancel that because it magically got better.  Oasis leaves for me in less than a week, so I suppose I'll just have to hope it resets my body or something.  😂🙏

This really comes down to preferences.  We loved Boardwalk with kids, and they would be bored to tears in Central Park.  That said, pre-kids, we would have booked Central Park way before we booked Boardwalk.  The music and scenery make it wonderful at night.

If we get the UDP though, isn't this going to cause a mess if I sold it?  I'm not sure how the restaurant (or whoever does this) would know which dinner to allocate to the UDP and which to allocate to the cert.

And I am guessing there would be an issue as the reservation would be under my cabin because then I probably couldn't make a reservation for that same day for us to UDP since we would be in the same place at the same time.

I'm guessing this cert will just go to waste unless I'm just not understanding this correctly.  I really wish I could sell it to someone else (even for peanuts), but I don't see how it wouldn't mess up our own dinner reservations and/or UDP plan.

We just returned from a cruise on Friday, and I still don't have my "land legs" back, even though it has been over 72 hours since our return.  It's hard to focus as I feel like I'm still on the ship.  This has never happened to me before on any of the previous five cruises I have taken--at least, not to this extreme.

The only real difference this time around was that we encountered rough seas on our return to NJ.  The foghorn was sounding, top deck closed, seasick bags out on the stairwells, etc.  Like my previous cruises, I was taking Bonine every day just as a precaution, so I thankfully did not get seasick, but I could definitely feel the ship rocking.  My wife said it took a bit longer than normal for her to readjust when we returned to land as well, but . . . I am still broken.  😅

Frankly, Googling this problem leads to some scary stories of "Mal de Debarquement," where people can apparently have this condition for weeks, months, years, or even the rest of their lives.  Since I'm past the 48 hour "normal" period for "land legs" to return, I'm getting increasingly concerned, especially since we have a cruise coming up in just a few weeks from now.

I understand that a doctor will be the best to give medical advice, but it appears this is a very poorly understood condition, so I'm hoping some others here have experienced this problem and (hopefully) had it resolve somewhat quickly.  If so, I'd appreciate a comment just so I know others have overcome this and that it's quasi-normal.  I'm trying not to think about how much this could impact my job or personal life if this sticks around for a long time, and any positive stories would be helpful.

12 hours ago, Biker19 said:

Meet someone on the same sailing and book the dinner for them (for a fee).

Maybe I'm just confused how the process works.  I guess I thought it was tied to my reservation and/or SeaPass, so the system would charge if whoever I gave/sold it to didn't have that code on their account.  But you are saying I can just tell them to "charge it to my account" or whatever so that it hits mine instead even though I'm not the one dining there?

Thanks for your help, everyone.  How would I give it away or sell it even if I wanted to?  Isn't it tied to the booking?  The "certificate" appears to be nothing more than a generic piece of paper without any unique barcode or information of any kind.  At least for my specific certificate, I believe it is applied to my booking with an "Option Code."

Pretty sure I know the answer to this, but is there anyway to get a credit for a TA specialty dining voucher if I would rather have the Unlimited Dining Package?  Seems like such a waste to ignore the voucher, but we usually get the UDP.  While it would save us money (always a good thing), it would be kind of a bummer not to have what we are used to having, and we have these vouchers for the next three cruises.

Is this anything Guest Services can handle on the ship, or do we just forfeit the voucher if we get the UDP?

My wife and I used to cruise by ourselves, and it was pretty easy to pick a cabin.  Now that we are sailing with children, everything is more complex.  😅  I'm looking at the deck plans for Anthem, and I see the following in the legend:

• Stateroom occupancy up to 3 available
• Stateroom occupancy up to 4 available
• Stateroom occupancy 5 and up

Some of the JS rooms are only four people, but some are five.  Am I correct in assuming the ones that sleep four only have a pullout sofa while the ones that sleep five have a pullman in addition to the sofa?

Not specific to JS, but for rooms that only sleep three, does that mean a pullman but no pullout sofa?  I guess I thought the sofa pulled out in each room, but maybe I just don't remember.  Did Royal actually install couches in certain rooms that do not pull out while others do?  I'm just trying to envision how all this pieces together, largely because even if Royal says a room "sleeps 4" (or whatever), I might actually want a different arrangement than whatever Royal thinks will work for my kids. 

19 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

You should never have hoped that the lift and shift would be extended beyond it’s posted expiry date. 

I suppose, but that's easy to say with the benefit of hindsight.  Lots of people did L&S not knowing or caring about L&S being extended, but rather they thought that cruises were going to sail by their sail date in 2021.  If they kept those FCCs to apply to those cruises instead of a refund, I think they would have a right to be frustrated when it feels like Royal is locking them into a cruise at an unknown date in the future.

I understand that RCI is a business and they are going to do what they have to do to survive, but I'm sure I'm not the only person who made that decision and will be slightly annoyed by it.

My problem is that a lot of Royal's options aren't working well together.  For instance, I have an FCC from a RCI cancellation (before they offered L&S), and I had to declare if I wanted a refund before Jan 1, 2021.  Knowing I had a cruise planned in 2021, I opted for the FCC and chose to apply it to that sailing.  I figured that the worst that would happen is that I L&S it to next year.

Now, if L&S is discontinued, I'm stuck with another FCC and likely no option to refund any longer.  That doesn't really seem right to me.  A lot of people kept their FCCs and didn't request a refund because of double points and L&S, but if you are discontinuing L&S, I feel you should offer to refund those FCCs in full and just not issue another FCC . . .

Our cruise was cancelled by Royal a few months back, so we have 125% FCCs.  The deadline to request a monetary refund is in two days.  However, we have a situation whereby certain members of the cabin might want the refund while others want the FCCs.  I seem to remember reading that the entire stateroom must choose the same option, but can someone remind me, please?

I think that people forget that the bigger ships are bigger because they hold more people.  Simply having a bigger ship move somewhere doesn't really solve the issue of social distancing.  In fact, if you take the information from Royal's website and run it through Excel, you'll see that all but two ships in the entire fleet have between 23 and 27 gross tons per person onboard (including crew).  While you might expect the Oasis class to have all sorts of room, they are actually right in the middle at 25-26.

The real question is what cancellation options will be offered this time around.  It will be interesting to see if they offer 125% FCC, Lift and Shift, or both.

June 13 was likely cancelled internally by Royal weeks, if not months ago.  It just remains to be seen when they will inform the rest of us of their decision.

4 minutes ago, BeagleAgility said:

Question - just did a shift to a sailing for next year (same boat - approximately same date, etc).  Did the switch but received an email with an invoice stating the new price for that cruise (and showing that I now have a balance). 

 

The rep that I spoke with said that the price protection would take 48-72 hours to appear. Should I be worried?

That doesn't sound right.  My invoice was immediate.

14 hours ago, oddmartinsn said:

Im trying to book june out of BCN, in order to lift and shift to next june. Obviously, with an two month old infant, we can not book, but would it work to book without infant, and add it later on?

Don't do that.  Just book with a different birthday and change it after the Lift and Shift.

3 hours ago, molly361 said:

Yes as long as it is within the 4 week time frame.  I just booked a cheap July 2020 cruise and shifted it to a 2021 July cruise which is about double the price today.  No one knows what it will be next year though

I did the same.  Booked Oasis out of NJ for four people for like $2400 for a OV balcony and shifted to July 4 weekend 2021.  Had I booked it directly, it would have been over $5,000.

As a passenger, should I expect to keep my current TA perks when using Lift and Shift or no?  I'm not sure how that all works out.  My TA is saying that they can keep the OBC, but the free-gratuity promotions cannot be extended to 2021 sailings.  Is this just because the TA doesn't want to do it, or is this a RCL policy or something?  I'm not sure who would be out money in the situation or if I should check other TAs to see if their Lift and Shift policies are different.

Just now, Ourusualbeach said:

This cannot be backdated.  What is last is last and cannot be changed. 

Thanks.  I also have a cruise for June that I expect to be cancelled.  Does this mean I need to cancel it myself to get those benefits like Lift and Shift, or they will allow it if/when that sailing is cancelled?

How does this impact already cancelled cruises?  We opted for a FCC for our cancelled cruise in May.  Does this policy only apply if CWC is done, meaning we have to cancel the booking and not Royal? 

All cruise lines will extend their cancellations for the foreseeable future.  The only question is how far will they string their customers along (and hold deposits/hope cruisers pick the CWC) before they make it official.

Anyone know how the double protected commission works?  I'm used to FCCs reducing my TAs commissionable rate and therefore my perks.  Curious if this means I should be able to ask for the full perk package if they are still getting the money from Royal.  Equally curious who gets the commission if I change agents for the replacement cruise.  The old agency?  The new agency?

I posted about this in the other thread, but this drives me crazy. I thought they might actually increase their offerings as the cancelations went on to incite more people to take the FCC and improve Royal's cash position. This just means I'll be taking the refund now. Stupid policy change by them for the later sailings. 

1 minute ago, Ourusualbeach said:

You don’t have to book by the end of the year.  You have until April 2022 to book and sail 

Right, but the point being that my plan was to let it sit, and if I sailed by then, great, and if not, I'll just request the refund. Now I'm going to have an entire year less to make that decision, because there are so many unknowns (and likely still will be by the end of year), that I wouldn't want to forgo my opportunity for a refund. Just annoying for my specific situation.