Last minute booking Med cruise - is there anything I need to know?

[jjsparkles]

Hello, I'm brand new to Royal and quite new to cruising in general and looking for some opinions please.  We've been looking at Med cruises and are almost ready to book for 17 October 2021 - it's very last minute and I just wanted to ask here if there's anything obvious I may have overlooked?

 

We're in the UK, plan to fly to Barcelona (Easyjet) the day before the cruise and stay overnight. Then cruise on Harmony of the Seas for 7 nights. We'll stay another night in Barcelona at the end of the cruise and fly home the following day.

 

I'm thinking of booking an Ocean View Stateroom with Balcony guarantee. The only obvious problem I can think of is that it might not be in a perfect location, but other than that is there anything I should be worried about doing this? We would like a balcony, but I'm not keen on the Neighbourhood/Central Park type of balcony which is why we've opted for this one.

 

We'll probably pick one of the soft drinks options, veering towards the one that includes coffee's etc - does this offer value? Just wondering about paying for them separately instead.

 

I can't find much information about excursions either, maybe I'm looking in the wrong place, but my understanding is that we would need to do a cruise arranged trip especially for days in Italy. Is there somewhere I can find a rough price for this? I don't seem to be able to find it. 

 

We're both fully vaccinated so I've been reading up about the tests required etc and don't see any issues with that. 

 

I'm nervous to go ahead and book because it looks pretty simple and I feel like I'm missing something, which is why I'd really appreciate your thoughts. Are we mad to try and do this with only 3 weeks to go? 

 

Thanks in advance 🙂

 

 

 

 

[little britain]

Assuming you are from 🇬🇧 

Order Day 2 PCR for your return as rules don’t change till the end of October. 

Create login for Uk Gov PLF site which you need to complete within 48 hours of landing back in Uk and you need the booking ref from the Day 2 test ^^ to complete the form

Have paper copies of vaccination  (available from nhs site)

Complete documentation to enter Spain. 
 

Currently you can only do ships tours in Italy. 

[carolyn22]

Is your cruise port intensive?  I did a 7 day one a few years ago with only one sea day. I was in a balcony cabin but would have been just as happy in an outside one since my days were filled with excursions.  I could have used the price difference to pay for some of those excursions. 
 

Have fun!

[jjsparkles]

15 minutes ago, little britain said:

Assuming you are from 🇬🇧 

Order Day 2 PCR for your return as rules don’t change till the end of October. 

Create login for Uk Gov PLF site which you need to complete within 48 hours of landing back in Uk and you need the booking ref from the Day 2 test ^^ to complete the form

Have paper copies of vaccination  (available from nhs site)

Complete documentation to enter Spain. 
 

Currently you can only do ships tours in Italy. 

Thanks, yes we’re in UK, Scotland. I’ve got the info for the return test and will make sure we print our docs. 

[jjsparkles]

8 minutes ago, carolyn22 said:

Is your cruise port intensive?  I did a 7 day one a few years ago with only one sea day. I was in a balcony cabin but would have been just as happy in an outside one since my days were filled with excursions.  I could have used the price difference to pay for some of those excursions. 
 

Have fun!

Thanks. There are 4 port days but actually not planning to do them all. We just want to relax so will go with the flow. I’m thinking that the excursion info isn’t available until you’ve actually booked ne I can’t find anything. 

[Twolittleboys]

16 minutes ago, jjsparkles said:

Thanks. There are 4 port days but actually not planning to do them all. We just want to relax so will go with the flow. I’m thinking that the excursion info isn’t available until you’ve actually booked ne I can’t find anything. 

 

I will be on the same cruise, just 10 days earlier. I am pretty sure you can find everything you want to know about excursion prices, entertainment schedule etc. posted either in the long Harmony post here or on FB. To me the prices do seem quite inflated but at least so far you can do your own thing in Spain.

 

As far as the drink package is concerned, it probably depends a lot on what you drink. I had the soda package and did not like it. It doesn't work as well if you have a port intensive trip and I prefer my soda in a can as opposed to from a fountain (at times it was a bit flat). I would estimate how many sodas/other drinks you will likely drink per day and then compare.

[jjsparkles]

1 minute ago, Twolittleboys said:

 

I will be on the same cruise, just 10 days earlier. I am pretty sure you can find everything you want to know about excursion prices, entertainment schedule etc. posted either in the long Harmony post here or on FB. To me the prices do seem quite inflated but at least so far you can do your own thing in Spain.

 

As far as the drink package is concerned, it probably depends a lot on what you drink. I had the soda package and did not like it. It doesn't work as well if you have a port intensive trip and I prefer my soda in a can as opposed to from a fountain (at times it was a bit flat). I would estimate how many sodas/other drinks you will likely drink per day and then compare.

Thanks. I’ve actually just found a brochure by using google and seems lots of excursions on offer. 
 

good point re the drinks. If we’re in ports we may not use as much as we think  

 

Thank you

[Twolittleboys]

5 minutes ago, jjsparkles said:

Thanks. I’ve actually just found a brochure by using google and seems lots of excursions on offer. 
 

good point re the drinks. If we’re in ports we may not use as much as we think  

 

Thank you

 

Not sure if you are finding the actual brochure as the current one really doesn't offer a lot of choices (around 10 per port). Also the prices have gone up a bit - presumably partly because many now include a full lunch.

 

There is an app from Royal. Not sure if it works if you are not currently booked but I can see other cruises than my own so I would guess it works either way. That would give you a good idea of the offered excursions (and entertainment etc.)

[glentally]

2 hours ago, little britain said:

Assuming you are from 🇬🇧 

Order Day 2 PCR for your return as rules don’t change till the end of October. 

Create login for Uk Gov PLF site which you need to complete within 48 hours of landing back in Uk and you need the booking ref from the Day 2 test ^^ to complete the form

Have paper copies of vaccination  (available from nhs site)

Complete documentation to enter Spain. 
 

Currently you can only do ships tours in Italy. 

Thanks for the info little britain, OMG If my cruise leaving Barbados on April 10th is anything like you describe I'm out !!

[CaroleC]

13 hours ago, jjsparkles said:

Hello, I'm brand new to Royal and quite new to cruising in general and looking for some opinions please.  We've been looking at Med cruises and are almost ready to book for 17 October 2021 - it's very last minute and I just wanted to ask here if there's anything obvious I may have overlooked?

 

We're in the UK, plan to fly to Barcelona (Easyjet) the day before the cruise and stay overnight. Then cruise on Harmony of the Seas for 7 nights. We'll stay another night in Barcelona at the end of the cruise and fly home the following day.

 

I'm thinking of booking an Ocean View Stateroom with Balcony guarantee. The only obvious problem I can think of is that it might not be in a perfect location, but other than that is there anything I should be worried about doing this? We would like a balcony, but I'm not keen on the Neighbourhood/Central Park type of balcony which is why we've opted for this one.

 

We'll probably pick one of the soft drinks options, veering towards the one that includes coffee's etc - does this offer value? Just wondering about paying for them separately instead.

 

I can't find much information about excursions either, maybe I'm looking in the wrong place, but my understanding is that we would need to do a cruise arranged trip especially for days in Italy. Is there somewhere I can find a rough price for this? I don't seem to be able to find it. 

 

We're both fully vaccinated so I've been reading up about the tests required etc and don't see any issues with that. 

 

I'm nervous to go ahead and book because it looks pretty simple and I feel like I'm missing something, which is why I'd really appreciate your thoughts. Are we mad to try and do this with only 3 weeks to go? 

 

Thanks in advance 🙂

 

We booked 10 days prior to departure! Sailed on Harmony from Barcelona on 12th September. Flew in the day before as you’re intending and stayed in a lovely hotel near the beach. The only difference is that we flew home straight after debarking. 

 

We opted for an Ocean View Balcony cabin as the price was not much more than the other balcony categories and we prefer to choose our own cabin rather than leaving it to chance. Have read too many horror stories of where pax end up when booking guarantee cabins.

 

We paid for a Drinks Package as we both like to relax with a few drinks whilst cruising ( I also enjoy specialty coffees which are included) and didn’t want to be hit with an unexpectedly large final bill lol.

 

We didn’t do any ship’s excursions as I thought they were very overpriced. In Palma you can get off on your own which we did and had a lovely time wandering around the cathedral and surrounding area. There was a shuttle bus from the ship to the town centre which we used, 10 euros return which I felt was good value as it was quite a distance. There are beaches that can be reached either by taxi or local bus. In Italy, you have to book an excursion with Royal to be able to get off.

 

The paperwork and tests that are required appear onerous, however, now that we’ve done it once, we wouldn’t hesitate to do it again. It certainly was well worth the effort. If you have any questions regarding the requirements, let me know.

 

Happy cruising ⚓️

 

 

 

Edited September 25, 2021 by CaroleC

[CaroleC]

12 minutes ago, CaroleC said:

We opted for an Ocean View Balcony cabin as the price was not much more than the other balcony categories and we prefer to choose our own cabin rather than leaving it to chance. Have read too many horror stories of where pax end up when booking guarantee cabins.

Okay so I’ve just had a look at the pricing for the 17th October. The Ocean View Balcony Guarantee is almost half the cost of the other balcony cabins. In this instance, I would definitely consider booking the Guarantee and then once I’d been allocated a cabin number, if I didn’t like the location I would ring Royal and request to be moved. From reading on CC, in this scenario you don’t mention you have a Guarantee cabin. Just do a dummy booking to establish which cabins in the same category are available, choose one then ask for a move to that cabin number.

[jjsparkles]

15 minutes ago, CaroleC said:

Okay so I’ve just had a look at the pricing for the 17th October. The Ocean View Balcony Guarantee is almost half the cost of the other balcony cabins. In this instance, I would definitely consider booking the Guarantee and then once I’d been allocated a cabin number, if I didn’t like the location I would ring Royal and request to be moved. From reading on CC, in this scenario you don’t mention you have a Guarantee cabin. Just do a dummy booking to establish which cabins in the same category are available, choose one then ask for a move to that cabin number.

 

Hi, thanks so much for your replies. 

 

That was the main reason I wanted to check if I'd missed something, because the price for the ocean view balcony was so much cheaper. I'm hoping capacity won't be massive so we may end up lucky, I'll be happy with any ocean view I think 🙂

 

I've been researching the forms etc and all looks to be easy enough. The only slight complication is that we are in Scotland, cannot get a flight direct to Barcelona, so will need to drive to Manchester, hence the hotel stays - it's the only way we can do it with flight schedule/times.

 

I'm fine doing all of that, but when it comes to booking the day 2 test for the return and completing the passenger locator form - well let's just say the guidance is as clear as mud...We will be landing in England and following the gov website advice it says that if we are then going on to Scotland we should follow the test procedure in place here. We can obviously do that, but when I try to order a test, it asks me to put in my flight info, which will be England, so I may end up with a different test - I know there is talk of possibly changing the tests required PCR/Lateral flow, so will need to wait a week or so to see what they finally decide.

 

Other than that I am beyond excited to be able to experience Royal for the first time and really love the look of this ship 🚢

 

Thank you again 🙂

[CaroleC]

3 minutes ago, jjsparkles said:

Thank you again 🙂

You’re more than welcome. If you have any questions just let me know, I’m often on CC unless work gets in the way! 😁

[little britain]

13 hours ago, glentally said:

Thanks for the info little britain, OMG If my cruise leaving Barbados on April 10th is anything like you describe I'm out !!

If you have seen the recent Barbados immigration/quarantine requirements then it is a stress getting into the island in the first place!

[glentally]

2 hours ago, little britain said:

If you have seen the recent Barbados immigration/quarantine requirements then it is a stress getting into the island in the first place!

No I didn't!  Thanks for the info and disappointment LOL. 

[CaroleC]

Should have also mentioned that anyone going on a ship’s excursion in Italy will be required to complete an Italian PLF by 20:00hrs on the Monday of the cruise in addition to having a (free) Covid test done on board on the Wednesday. The PLF can be completed in advance, however, prior to leaving the UK.

 

 

Edited September 25, 2021 by CaroleC

[wendyam76]

3 hours ago, jjsparkles said:

 

Hi, thanks so much for your replies. 

 

That was the main reason I wanted to check if I'd missed something, because the price for the ocean view balcony was so much cheaper. I'm hoping capacity won't be massive so we may end up lucky, I'll be happy with any ocean view I think 🙂

 

I've been researching the forms etc and all looks to be easy enough. The only slight complication is that we are in Scotland, cannot get a flight direct to Barcelona, so will need to drive to Manchester, hence the hotel stays - it's the only way we can do it with flight schedule/times.

 

I'm fine doing all of that, but when it comes to booking the day 2 test for the return and completing the passenger locator form - well let's just say the guidance is as clear as mud...We will be landing in England and following the gov website advice it says that if we are then going on to Scotland we should follow the test procedure in place here. We can obviously do that, but when I try to order a test, it asks me to put in my flight info, which will be England, so I may end up with a different test - I know there is talk of possibly changing the tests required PCR/Lateral flow, so will need to wait a week or so to see what they finally decide.

 

Other than that I am beyond excited to be able to experience Royal for the first time and really love the look of this ship 🚢

 

Thank you again 🙂

Not sure if you have seen the latest news but the Scottish Government are now following Boris’s decision - I’m holding off booking the day 2 test (on my July cruise I booked that whilst onboard!) till we get the latest news. 
Wendy

[jjsparkles]

2 hours ago, wendyam76 said:

Not sure if you have seen the latest news but the Scottish Government are now following Boris’s decision - I’m holding off booking the day 2 test (on my July cruise I booked that whilst onboard!) till we get the latest news. 
Wendy

Thanks, yes I've seen some bits about this. I'm hoping that they'll make a decision soon, I think they'll want to do it in time for the English schools half term, so hopefully when we return it'll fall into that. We won't fly back until the 25th.

 

Oh, and we took the plunge and booked everything this afternoon 🙂 I'm so happy. I'm a planner by nature but I've never booked this late in the day - even if we end up on the ship the whole time I'll be delighted, really looking forward to experiencing what looks like a fabulous ship 😃

[Eragon666]

We just got back from Harmony, it was a great trip and really special because of the low capacity (1100 guests/1700 crew). We had a booked ocean balcony and really enjoyed it, with the current pricing of the guaranteed balcony I would go for that option. The hundreds of dollars you save can be used for the speciality dining and drinking package 🙂 

 

I had the non-alcohol package (in a sale for around 15 p/day) and it was really easy to buy drinks for 15 euro's a day. With one or two speciality coffee in the morning (5 each) and a smoothie (or two 😉) from the vitality cafe (5 - 8 euro), or a fresh orange juice with breakfast,  you already got the full value before the day even started. 

[wendyam76]

42 minutes ago, jjsparkles said:

Thanks, yes I've seen some bits about this. I'm hoping that they'll make a decision soon, I think they'll want to do it in time for the English schools half term, so hopefully when we return it'll fall into that. We won't fly back until the 25th.

 

Oh, and we took the plunge and booked everything this afternoon 🙂 I'm so happy. I'm a planner by nature but I've never booked this late in the day - even if we end up on the ship the whole time I'll be delighted, really looking forward to experiencing what looks like a fabulous ship 😃

This was instead of the Allure in Florida we had booked. Like you I’m a planner but this last year I’ve learnt to relax a bit. We fly back on the 24th - back to school on the 25th so what’s the bet the change is on the 25th - we missed the 10 days self isolation in the summer by two days - at least we had time to do all the laundry! 
We too have the refreshment package booked - and as we are Diamond get 4 drinks voucher each too. 
on the Allure we had a junior suite but at the moment have an Oceanview balcony guarantee - fingers crossed for an assignment soon. Also have several Royal Up bids in too. 
Wendy

[wendyam76]

12 minutes ago, Eragon666 said:

We just got back from Harmony, it was a great trip and really special because of the low capacity (1100 guests/1700 crew). We had a booked ocean balcony and really enjoyed it, with the current pricing of the guaranteed balcony I would go for that option. The hundreds of dollars you save can be used for the speciality dining and drinking package 🙂 

 

I had the non-alcohol package (in a sale for around 15 p/day) and it was really easy to buy drinks for 15 euro's a day. With one or two speciality coffee in the morning (5 each) and a smoothie (or two 😉) from the vitality cafe (5 - 8 euro), or a fresh orange juice with breakfast,  you already got the full value before the day even started. 

PS The vitality cafe is a hidden gem - hoping to be in a room near there and the Park Cafe! And the unlimited dining package is the first thing I rebooked - love the speciality restaurants! 

Edited September 25, 2021 by wendyam76

[jjsparkles]

16 minutes ago, Eragon666 said:

We just got back from Harmony, it was a great trip and really special because of the low capacity (1100 guests/1700 crew). We had a booked ocean balcony and really enjoyed it, with the current pricing of the guaranteed balcony I would go for that option. The hundreds of dollars you save can be used for the speciality dining and drinking package 🙂 

 

I had the non-alcohol package (in a sale for around 15 p/day) and it was really easy to buy drinks for 15 euro's a day. With one or two speciality coffee in the morning (5 each) and a smoothie (or two 😉) from the vitality cafe (5 - 8 euro), or a fresh orange juice with breakfast,  you already got the full value before the day even started. 

That was a great price you got for the drinks package, I'll wait and see what it is for us but I think it might be the best option. It sounds like you had a lovely time 🙂

 

 

6 minutes ago, wendyam76 said:

This was instead of the Allure in Florida we had booked. Like you I’m a planner but this last year I’ve learnt to relax a bit. We fly back on the 24th - back to school on the 25th so what’s the bet the change is on the 25th - we missed the 10 days self isolation in the summer by two days - at least we had time to do all the laundry! 
We too have the refreshment package booked - and as we are Diamond get 4 drinks voucher each too. 
on the Allure we had a junior suite but at the moment have an Oceanview balcony guarantee - fingers crossed for an assignment soon. Also have several Royal Up bids in too. 
Wendy

 

Aw that's a shame you missed the change in date. I really hope they announce in the next week or so, i'd like to be organised. Luckily no schools for us to worry about for this trip. 

 

I'm getting to grips with the cruise planner page and trying to see all the options. Where do you put in bids for Royal Up? And when do you find out if you've been successful?

 

 

4 minutes ago, wendyam76 said:

PS The vitality cafe is a hidden gem - hoping to be in a room near there and the Park Cafe! And the unlimited dining package is the first thing I rebooked - love the speciality restaurants! 

 

I'll take a look at those too - thanks 🙂