loupana

Couple from the East Coast

Couple from West Coast

$210 USD per PCR test...Ouch...

Because of Royal Caribbean new policy of not doing PCR tests onboard for International travelers to return home. We canceled our  B2B cruise on Symphony of the Seas. January 15th (paid in full with Airfare) and January 22nd (final payment due tomorrow).

Happy to report, I got 100% refund.

I specifically stated I was promised a PCR test to return home and booked Flights via Air2Sea on day of departure because of this. I then said because of this change I request 100% refund. Agent put me on hold to talk to someone in resolutions. Took a few minutes but came back and said I'm entitled to 100% cruise refund. But he needed to call Air2Sea to see what refund I was entitled for the Airfare. Very happy when he returned and confirmed that they will fully refund my Airfare as well.

Total time on phone was maybe 20-25 minutes.

7 hours ago, cruzincanuck said:

This was the last straw for us. We were set to cruise on Jan 9th.  With all the changes over the last week and now having to try to get a PCR on disembarkation (not to mention the cost), it is no longer a vacation for us.   A feeling of relief has come over me now that the decision was made this evening.  It just proved the the stress that had creeped up on me over the last few weeks with this new variant and trying to roll with the changes.  We will try later in 2022.

Wishing all  happy holidays and a great & safe vacation to all who will cruise.

So true. We feel the same since we made our decision yesterday...

Well this officially has us canceling our Jan. B2B cruises. With all the good things that Royal was doing taking care of passengers that test positive during the cruise, is now gone. It's just too risky to take a very expensive test at the airport where if we test positive we are screwed and on our own. We have enough hurdles to jump through, I'm just not going to deal with this as well.

I will NOT be booking any cruise that needs a flight, just not worth it. I will re-evaluate in the spring when I have more options in NY\NJ and Boston where I can easily drive.

2 hours ago, bookbabe said:

Got an email from Blue Cross Ontario this morning confirming medical coverage for Covid even with the new variant and the advisory.  (I don’t have cancellation through them, just travel medical, so no idea if there’s been changes to their cancellation coverage.)

 

I just got the same email. Very Happy with Blue Cross sending this out. Will make my final decision on traveling on Jan. 12th, 2022...

50 minutes ago, mjox32 said:

 

So those of us with Cruises in the next 4 weeks.  Are you going?    As of this moment we still plan to go.  More stress... ugh  😩🤷‍♀️

Well my cruise is on Jan. 15th, 2022 (Barely after the 4 week mark) and I just made final payment today. We still plan on going. I have Blue Cross Insurance and it is still valid. But will take advantage of Cruise with Confidence if things go absolutely sideways.

3 minutes ago, paulajj said:

I wonder if you phoned celebrity flights and asked if they can find you a different direct flight. Wouldn’t hurt to try. I would be upset too. 

My case is slightly different because it is Royal Caribbean Air2Sea. They recently  changed my flights. Original flights were connecting from YOW > YYZ > MIA. New flights were the same connections, but new times. I called Air2Sea and was able to change to direct flights from YUL to MIA. In my case the flights saved me almost $300, since this was an actual cheaper flight. But the notice (see below) in their email did state that if the flight was more expensive I would have to pay the difference.

The only negative is parking around YUL is more than double than what it is at YOW. So we booked a Holiday Inn close to Airport that allows us to park for 15 days. So in the end the cost is more less the same but so happy it is a direct flight.

Flight is Jan. 14th. We'll both have our 3rd vaccines by next Tuesday, so as of today we do not plan on cancelling. If they change my flight last minute to connecting flights I think I'll cancel. Just hope I don't succumb to the fear.

Tough call, I would be so upset

13 minutes ago, LouCoop said:

No isolation will be at home.

I may be screwed, I don't have a direct flight from YOW. I have a domestic connecting flight, so based on these rules, I'll have to stay at point of entry until I get test results before I can continue home. We'll see how things shake out in the next couple of weeks.

Couple of YouTube videos I've stumbled onto... Hopefully not already posted, they are a couple of weeks old

Add me to the list, I got the email from AC that my Jan 14th flight changed. I was told not to do anything wait for a phone call or another email within the next 7 days because my cruise is still over 30 days out.

1 hour ago, Maitaivegas said:

I’m on Symphony 1/29 and my DBP is $60.99 in USD

I'm doing B2B, I just quoted the first leg of that cruise because I had already purchased the DBP for the second portion.

The Jan 22-29, 2022 leg is currently priced at $60.99 USD.

For this leg of the B2B I did purchase the UBP a few weeks ago when it was $72.88 CAD (approx. $57.38 USD) Glad I made that purchase when i did.

Symphony of the Seas Jan. 15-22, 2022

Well not the sale I was hoping for today.

All prices below are CAD$

When I first booked the cruise (about a month ago), I didn't purchase UBP because I was hoping it would go down for Black Friday Sales...

UBP was $77.14 about a month ago

UBP changed to $93.10 about 3 weeks ago (I assume in prep for Black Friday Sales)

UBP today with Black Friday Sale $81.13

Guess I should have purchased a month ago, we'll see what happens for Cyber Monday.

I agree with @Another_Critic most likely room not assigned yet, try again later.

3 minutes ago, ladysail2 said:

I thought a person had to be 70 yrs of age and 6 months past the 2nd shot to get the booster?  Have they lowered the age requirement, or are you simply wishing you could get a booster?

No rules have not changed, someone commented that maybe all can get the booster at the 6 month mark. I'm just stating I hope I can get the booster at 6 month mark.

3 hours ago, Fouremco said:

FWIW, DW and I were easily able to get appointments for our booster shots for the day following the six month wait. Unlike the difficulty experienced getting appointments in a timely manner for our 1st and 2nd shots, this was so quick and easy. Barring a sudden disruption in the supply chain, I too think that the shots will be available for each age group as their six months are up.

I really hope so, my 6 month date is December 15th (I am 59) and I have B2B cruise booked on Jan 15th. Would feel better if I had my booster...

Oh yeah, huge price increase for UBP. We have B2B on Symphony in January. Jan. 15-22 UBP was $77.14 CAD and is now $93.10 CAD. The second week Jan. 22--29 was $73.88 CAD and is now $87.76 CAD. I fully expect pricing to go back to what it was for Black Friday Sales.

I'm very concerned since I booked a January cruise (Royal Caribbean) but if Celebrity is doing it I'm sure Royal will follow. I truly hope they would not leave you stranded on your own if you test positive. As long as the cruise line still honors the Cruise with Confidence program even though you are taking that final test off the ship. But have my doubts.

No Umbrella's in December 2019...

Just did a mock booking for my in-laws, both over 70 and are 5 months from their second Pfizer shot and they are both eligible to book now. My wife is going to call and get them into the same time slot this week.

On 11/3/2021 at 2:40 PM, gnome12 said:

Use the 3 numbers from your postal code followed by 00 (If postal code M3C 1T9 use 31900).

lol, that's what did to get my credit card to work at US gas stations on my drive to NY/NJ a few years ago...

12 minutes ago, Jcol5786 said:

For the PCR test my wife and I went to Guest Services on the 3rd day of the cruise. They gave us a QR code to scan which brought up  an appointment scheduler. You don't need the an internet package to access the scheduler however you do need to be connected to the "guest" wifi which is the same wifi that  the Royal App uses. We had to fill in our names and cabin number and indicate that we required the test for travel. At that point we were given the available appointment times. We selected Saturday at 8 am which was the last day of the cruise. Shortly after we both received emails confirming our appointments. There were lots of available appointment slots. The testing is done on deck 3 in a large conference room which they have sectioned off. We checked in at around 7:55 am and went straight in and had our nasal swab. They do both nostrils for about 5 seconds each, they did not go very deep. We were told that the results would be emailed to us within a few hours. They confirmed both my wife's and my email address just to make sure.  They said that if we didn't get our results there is a web-site that we can check. At this point we went off to breakfast and then up to the Solarium. About 9:30 am my wife's phone chirped indicating an email had arrived. It was her results. I logged into our single device Zoom account with my phone and saw that my results had also just arrived. So it took about 90 minutes from being tested to getting the results. As an added precaution we went down to guest services and asked if they could print out our results which they did. Very easy process and the results were accepted by the ArriveCan app and Canadian border inspectors.

Thank you for the details, it is very helpful.

Although this does not sound like a PCR test. Glad it was accepted by ArriveCan and Canadian Border.

Here is another vote for Trikes of Aruba, one of our best excursions we've done in the Caribbean. We enjoyed it so much we've since done Trikes of St. Maarten and hopefully in Jan. 2022 we can try Trikes of Cozumel.

I'm also interested in details on how and when you requested PCR test for return trip to Canada.