Royal Caribbean Blog

Royal Caribbean has changed its policy and will now allow children under the vaccine eligibility age may now sail on back-to-back cruises.

When cruises first restarted in North America in June, Royal Caribbean added a provision preventing unvaccinated children to do back-to-back cruises.

That rule was in place until today when Royal Caribbean informed travel agents of the policy change.

Kids on a back-to-back cruise will be subject to all health protocols, plus a complimentary COVID-19 test administered onboard prior to the start of their second voyage. 

Royal Caribbean also added that guests are welcome to do as many back-to-back cruises as they wish.

In addition, Royal Caribbean said it would "continue to evaluate this policy as public health guidance evolves."

What is a back-to-back cruise?

Back-to-back cruises is a term referring to when a guest goes on consecutive cruises on the same ship, rather than just one and then disembarking.

The reason to do a back-to-back cruise is so that you can have more time to enjoy everything the ship you sail on has to offer, as well as perhaps a different itinerary. Some ships alternative itineraries depending on the week they sail.

Towards the end of the first sailing, a letter is delivered to a back-to-back cruiser's stateroom to let them know what to expect on turnaround day.

Typically on Royal Caribbean, all the consecutive cruisers report to a designated area of the ship to wait for all other guests to disembark.  Then, a complimentary covid test is administered (sometimes the test is done the day before), and after the results come back, guests are escorted through the process of de-activating their SeaPass card from the first sailing and issued a new SeaPass for the new sailing.

One of the most popular all-inclusive beach resorts in Cozumel for cruise ship passengers is Nachi Cocom Beach Club, but how does the resort hold up following the cruise industry shutdown?

For years, the resort was one of the best and highly recommended spots for cruisers who wanted to enjoy a beach day that included all the food and drink they could want, with the added bonus of having a limited capacity. Unlike other beach resorts in Cozumel, Nachi promised a hard cap of 130 guests per day.

I wanted to see if Nachi is still as good as I remember it, and if many months without cruise ship guests impacted the experience at all. 

I visited Nachi Cocom in September 2021 while sailing on Odyssey of the Seas to check it out for myself.

Overview

Nachi Cocom Beach Club is about a 15 minute taxi ride away from where Royal Caribbean docks its ships, and it has among the best reputations for an all-inclusive beach day. For a group of 5, it cost $23 each way via taxi.

Guests can choose between the beach, pool and hot tub, while enjoying unlimited food and beverages (alcoholic and non-alcoholic).

The facilities include:

• ocean view swimming pool with swim-up bar
• Large Jacuzzi
• Beach chairs with your own palapa
• Large restaurant area if you prefer to dine there
• Beach bar
• Restrooms
• Hammocks
• Fresh water showers
• Wifi internet

When you arrive at Nachi, you take a group photo that can be purchased later if you wish, and then you check-in. Reservations are highly recommended because the resort can easily sell out. You can make a deposit online and pay the remainder when you arrive.

At the time of review, the cost of admission was:

• Adult (16 years old and over): $59 per person
• Child 12-15 years old: $45 per person
• Child 04-11 years old: $19 per person
• Infant 3 and under: $0

After being checked-in, you will be escorted to a palapa of your choice along the beach. 

As is the custom with almost every all-inclusive resort in Cozumel I have been to, there is a waiter assigned to you that can handle all of your requests for food and drink.

The beach is pristine and has soft sand.  There is a large water front that is mostly free of any large rocks, so getting in and out of the water was easy. 

The water clarity and color was not as good as previous trips, but that has more to do with the weather and you can expect likely better conditions when you visit.

One thing Nachi does not have is any sort of inflatable water toys that other beach resorts in Cozumel offer.

Nachi does not offer activities, but they do partner with a third-party company that offers beach massages, water sport rentals, parasailing and more.  The representatives for this company can be found roaming the beach, if you so choose.

There is a large pool you can go to at any time as well. Seating outside the pool is limited, with a few tables that offer little shade.

There are two bars at Nachi: the beach bar and the pool bar.

Your waiter can bring you anything you want to your beach chair, but some people like to sit at the bar.

You will find a menu of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks to enjoy throughout the day, such as beers, cocktails, mixed drinks and more.

Comments

The only questions I had coming into my visit to Nachi Cocom was is it still as good as I recall from previous visits, and were there any noticeable changes following cruise ships returning again.

The answer is I did not see anything out of the ordinary, and I was pleasantly surprised how similar things are to before the shutdown.

Guests were instructed to keep their face masks on when they initially walked in and while being checked in.  After that, masks could be removed.

Nachi delivers on two basic promises: unlimited food and drink and a hard capacity on how many guests can be there. On the day I visited, there were quite a few people at the resort, although most seemed to be there from the Carnival Cruise Line ship that was in Cozumel that day as well.  After lunch, most guests had departed.

Anyone looking for a relaxing place to enjoy unlimited food and drink at the beach will find Nachi among the best choices. Their pool is larger than I remembered, but not nearly as large as Paradise Beach.

The food was great and had a mix of American and Mexican dishes. The Mexican food was freshly prepared, and while not the most authentic Mexican fare, it was certainly better than anything I run across back in the United States.

If you had to find fault with Nachi, it would be it lacks the inflatable toys many families look for in a beach day.  If that is important to you, Mr. Sanchos or Paradise Beach would be better options.

In short, Nachi Cocom is still a great choice for anyone that wants to enjoy a beach day with as much to eat and drink as they like. The price for adults remains a great value, especially if you will have a few drinks during your stay.

Royal Caribbean is giving guests an additional three months of cruises to choose from when using their future cruise credit.

The Cruise with Confidence program allows anyone booked on a Royal Caribbean cruise to cancel their sailing up to 48 hours before their sail date, and that credit can now be used for sailings departing by December 31, 2022.  It was previously held to September 30, 2022.

Essentially, anyone with a future cruise credit can apply it to more sailings than before.

When a guest cancels their cruise past the final payment date, they can get a future cruise credit worth 100% of the cruise fare paid as long as they cancel at least 48 hours before the sail date.

The credit is valid to book by April 30th, 2022 and sail by December 31, 2022, or one year from the original sailing date, whichever is later.

As of now, the Cruise with Confidence program is valid on any cruise booked before October 31, 2021.

Royal Caribbean has steadily extended the Cruise with Confidence program by pushing back the date at which sailings must be booked by.

It was originally introduced right before cruises began shutting down due to Covid-19 as a mechanism to give guests piece of mind they could change their plans after the final payment date.

Without the Cruise with Confidence program, there would be a penalty if you cancelled a cruise after the final payment date.

The additional three months of cruises to choose from follows up on guest feedback that many RoyalCaribbeanBlog readers shared last month when Royal Caribbean extended the program without also extending when you could sail.

Sean McVeigh wrote, "They need to extend the date for cruise rebooking. There are so many of us at this point that have cancelled 5+ cruises and they take so long to get us the cruise credits we end up with more credits than we can use in a year."

Alan DeHaan wanted the same thing, "I have a small amount of FCC I'd love to put on my next cruise but that's next October. Just extend Rebooking."

With the new change, guests now have more cruises to choose from when applying their credits.

Royal Caribbean has released its health protocols for cruises departing the United States for at least the first half of October.

Travel agents received an update from Royal Caribbean with the health rules to protect guests and crew members from Covid, which the cruise line calls "proven protocols".

These protocols apply to any Royal Caribbean cruise ship sailing from a U.S. homeport between October 1-15, 2021.

Here is the list of protocols for early October sailings:

Vaccinations

All guests 12 years and older must bring proof of vaccination, such as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) COVID-19 vaccination record card, with the final dose of the vaccine completed at least 14 days before sailing.

Testing

All Guests

Required Pre-Cruise Testing: Guests will need to meet the new requirements recently issued by the U.S. CDC.

Vaccinated guests 12 years and older are required to present a negative COVID-19 Test Result (antigen or PCR) for a test taken no more than 2 days prior to the sailing's departure date and before their arrival to the terminal.

Royal Caribbean recommends guests use the at-home test they recently approved for use and now sell directly to passengers via RoyalCaribbean.com/HomeTestKit

Unvaccinated guests 2 to 11 years old are required to present a negative PCR Test Result for COVID-19 (antigen test are not accepted for children) for a test taken no more than 3 days prior to your sailing's departure date and before your arrival to the terminal.

Proper documentation (printed negative test results or negative test results presented on your phone) from an accredited laboratory (no doctor’s notes) is required to sail. All costs for this test are the guest's responsibility and must be done on their own, not at the terminal.

Kids Age 2-11 Years: Additional Testing

In addition to the pre-cruise test, kids will take one or two more tests. 

At the Terminal:  Unvaccinated guests ages 2 to 11 years are required to take a PCR test for COVID-19 when checking in at the terminal. Registration details for this test will be sent via email in advance. This test is complimentary.

Prior to Disembarking: For sailings 5 nights or longer, unvaccinated guests ages 2 to 11 years are required to take an antigen test onboard within 24 hours before the cruise ends. Registration details will be provided during the cruise. This test is complimentary.

Guests under 2 years of age will not be tested.

Masks

Wearing of masks applies to all guests, except for guests under the age of 2 years old, who do not need to wear a mask.

Masks are NOT required to be worn:

• In open-air areas of the ship, unless you are in a crowded setting
• In the pool or any activity where they may become wet
• At venues designated for vaccinated guests only, such as select bars, lounges, restaurants and shows
• In your stateroom with your traveling party

Masks ARE required to be worn:

• While indoors in public areas of the ship, unless seated and actively eating or drinking
• While visiting public ports of call, where local regulations may require them

Dining

For Main Dining, Royal Caribbean will designate areas for everyone, including parents and unvaccinated children, and areas for vaccinated parties only.

My Time Dining will not be available to parties that include unvaccinated guests. Some specialty restaurants will be open to everyone, while others will be for vaccinated parties only. 

Other venues

The ship’s venues are set up to easily allow for physical distancing and there will be signage to guide passengers.

Theaters and activity venues will offer spaced seating with options for everyone and for vaccinated guests only. 

Cancellation

If booked guests do not wish to follow these protocols and are booked on a cruise sailing in early October, Royal Caribbean will offer a refund or move their sailing into the future when circumstances may have evolved. 

In an effort to make the check-in process easier, Royal Caribbean has added a new feature in its app to scan a copy of a passenger's Covid-19 vaccination card.

Ever since Royal Caribbean restarted cruises, vaccinated guests have had to get their vaccine cards photographed by the terminal staff. 

With this new feature in the app, guests could instead take a photo of their card just like they take a selfie photo to speed up the embarkation process.

RoyalCaribbeanBlog reader twangster spotted the feature for a Freedom of the Seas cruise on October 8, but it is not appearing for all sailings.

When enabled, guests can take a photo of the front and back of the vaccine card, as well as select which vaccine manufacturer they have.

Guests will still need to bring their vaccine card with them, but taking the photo at home will allow the embarkation process to move just a little bit faster since the terminal staff will not have to take time to take photos of everyone's card.

Royal Caribbean has worked steadily to speed up the check-in process in its app by allowing guests to do as much as they can at home to save time at the terminal.

With new features and capabilities coming to Royal Caribbean's app as a result of ensuring health and safety are the top priority. This includes a variety of new changes:

• Enforced check-in times at the cruise terminal
• Muster 2.0 enhanced safety drill
• Digital Key and stateroom controls
• Wellness check and health questionnaires 

Royal Caribbean's app is available on the iTunes App Store and Google Play Store.

At long last, an Oasis Class cruise ship calls the New York area home.

Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas made her official debut when she began sailing from Bayonne, New Jersey on September 5, and is now offering 7-night cruises to The Bahamas.

Royal Caribbean had originally planned to put Oasis of the Seas in Cape Liberty in 2020, but the cruise industry shutdown due to the global health crisis put those plans on hold. Nonetheless, Oasis of the Seas is now cruising from the Northeast for the first time.

Oasis of the Seas will sail from Bayonne through October, and are available immediately to book.

In order to sail on Oasis of the Seas, guests age 12 or older must be fully vaccinated. 

Vaccinated guests must present a negative PCR or antigen test result taken no more than 2 days prior to sailing in order to board. Unvaccinated children ages 2 to 11 must present a negative PCR test result taken no more than 3 days prior to sailing in order to board.

All unvaccinated guests ages 2 to 11 must undergo 2 more Covid-19 tests at the cruise terminal and prior to disembarking.

Read more: Everything you wanted to know about Oasis of the Seas

What makes Oasis of the Seas special?

Oasis of the Seas underwent a massive $165 million renovation in late 2019 that took an already impressive cruise ship and upgraded her with all sorts of new features.

In addition to the features onboard that made Oasis of the Seas a gamechanger when she debuted in 2009, here are some of the major additions:

• Caribbean-style pool deck makeover, complete with Lime & Coconut signature bar. New day beds, casitas and variety of seating were added.
• Ultimate Abyss slide (dry slide)
• The Perfect Storm water slides
• Splashaway Bay aqua park
• Portside BBQ specialty restaurant
• El Loco Fresh complimentary Mexican restaurant
• Playmakers Sports Bar & Arcade
• Sugar Beach candy shop
• Spotlight Karaoke venue
• Music Hall venue
• Bionic Bar
• Revamped Adventure Ocean
• Mission Control: Apollo 18 escape room

Read more: Top 25 free things you can do on Royal Caribbean's Oasis Class cruise ships

In short, the 2019 upgrades to Oasis enhanced the ship to bring it in line with any new cruise ship available to sail on today.

Thank you for joining us for this a look at all the Royal Caribbean news from this week. We had plenty to share, so let us jump right in!

As promised, Royal Caribbean began selling at-home Covid-19 tests this week.

You can purchase a two-pack or three-pack of the tests so that getting the pre-cruise Covid test is easier than trying to get an appointment elsewhere.

Offering the at-home tests coincides with a new change in policy where vaccinated guests must provide a negative Covid-19 test result no more than two days before the cruise departs.

Royal Caribbean recommends purchasing two tests per person just in case you lose or contaminate a part of the test, or have an error during the testing process.

Royal Caribbean News

• Royal Caribbean held a 9/11 tribute on its ships
• Matt was on Odyssey of the Seas this week and live blogged everything he did on this brand new ship
• 10 must have Royal Caribbean tips & tricks for cruising with friends
• Top things I ate on Mariner of the Seas
• Top 10 Odyssey of the Seas hidden secrets

Video: Mariner of the Seas 2021 Cruise Ship Tour

Have you subscribed to the Royal Caribbean Blog YouTube Channel? We share some great videos there regularly, all about taking a Royal Caribbean cruise! This week, we are sharing our latest video: Mariner of the Seas 2021 Cruise Ship Tour

What I wish I did differently on my first cruise

Jenna is back from her first Royal Caribbean cruise and shared some things she would have done differently.

No matter how much you plan for any cruise, there are always going to be a things in retrospect during the course of a cruise that you wish you could change.

Jenna found a few things she later thought she wished she had done instead, so here is what she would have done differently on her first Royal Caribbean cruise.

The most important advice I give my family after they book a cruise

If you are the big cruise fan in your family, no doubt loved ones turn to you for what they should do after booking a cruise.

Every so often, I get a message from a cousin, uncle, or in-law that wants to know what advice I would give them for their sailing.

Here are the important tips and pieces of advice I give my family after they book a cruise.

All across the United States, memorials are being held to remember the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, which includes touching tributes on Royal Caribbean ships.

Saturday marks 20 years since the terrorist attacks, and on Royal Caribbean's Serenade of the Seas, a special event was held for all the passengers to commemorate those who lost their lives on that fateful day.

The terrorist attacks on 9/11 killed nearly 3,000 people in New York City, Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and Arlington, Virginia.

On Serenade of the Seas, a flag ceremony was held in the ship's Centrum and was videotaped by RoyalCaribbeanBlog reader Ron Hiller.

A flag procession was held, along with a single guitar player who performed while passengers around the ship stood and remembered those lost during the attacks.

Similar moments of commemoration were held on other ships in Royal Caribbean's fleet, as well as around the world.

President Joe Biden visited the sites of each of the sites where hijacked planes crashed in 2001 to honor the the victims of the devastating assault.

All across the United States, cities and towns held their own tributes. Cruise ship passengers who may have been on vacation took time from the fun to join in their own way of remembering those lost.

The last day of our Odyssey of the Seas cruise concludes with a sea day, and I had a few big things to try.

Any good day starts off with a nice meal, and I went to Solarium Bistro for breakfast.

Solarium Bistro is an underrated spot for any meal on Odyssey of the Seas because I think a lot of people are unaware or forgetful it exists.

They serve a traditional American breakfast, along with pastries, cheeses, eggs and more.

Next up I had to take time to find the man that has sailed the most with Royal Caribbean, Super Mario.

Mario has cruised the most on Royal Caribbean, and has well over 8,000 Crown and Anchor Society points!

He and I sat down for a interview on our YouTube channel, which you can watch here.

At 10am, I had an appointment for a virtual reality experience at Zone Zero.

Zone Zero is a new offering for Royal Caribbean, and currently only available on Odyssey of the Seas. It is a fully immersive virtual reality event. It is complimentary, although beginning next week Royal Caribbean will begin charging $18 per person.

Groups of four guests put on a head-to-toe VR suit and then hop into a virtual reality world.  Royal Caribbean designed a space where you can literally walk around this virtual world, and see your teammates and interact together while engaged in a fight against pirate monkeys and a big bad boss at the end.

Simply put, this was incredible and unlike anything I have done before.  I've played VR games, but this an untethered experience and the closest thing I have seen yet to a Star Trek holodeck. 

Our team had a lot of fun and I would gladly pay $18 per person to do this again.  

Lunch today was back in Playmakers for one more round of bar food. Great as always, and ever since cruises restarted, I have become more of a Playmakers fan.

In the afternoon, we did a few trivia sessions in the Music Hall.  Didn't win, but good fun.

Towards the end of the afternoon, we packed up our belongings so the suitcases could be put into the hallway to be delivered to the cruise terminal the next day.

Dinner was in Wonderland, which is somewhere I have dined a few times, but was new to a few friends onboard.

The premise of Wonderland remains unchanged, where your waiter escorts you down the experience with various foods and drink that look unconventional. Some taste great, others are perhaps just a passing sensation.

Wonderland may never be my favorite specialty restaurant, but it's a fun time and I think a restaurant everyone should try once because it is just so different.

Overall, I really liked Odyssey of the Seas a lot.  More so than the other Quantum Class ships I have been on, because Odyssey has just enough tweaks, enhancements, and add-ons that make it stand out from her sisters.

Odyssey reminds me a lot of when I went on Harmony of the Seas following my Oasis and Allure sailings, where a newer ship stands out from her predecessors because Royal Caribbean takes the opportunity to add so much more the older ships did not have.

I think the SeaPlex overhaul, pool deck makeover, and Izumi split (separate sushi and hibachi locations) make Odyssey easily my favorite Quantum Class ship in the fleet (full disclosure, I have not been on Ovation or Spectrum) that I have been on.

We had a fabulous time on Odyssey, and I hope I get to sail on her again soon.

Thank you for following along this live blog.  Our next live blog will begin in October when Jenna sails to Alaska on Ovation of the Seas!

Going on a Royal Caribbean cruise with friends is a great way to travel with your besties without feeling you have to be attached at the hip the entire time.  Because there is so much to do on a ship, it allows different personalities to do what they enjoy, while still being together.

Taking friends on a cruise comes with its own challenges to ensure you all have a great time onboard. The good news with a little bit of planning, you can ensure your friends enjoy the cruise without any hiccups.

Before you book a sailing or get onboard with your matching shirts, be sure to heed this advice for a great start.

Book with the same travel agent

Whether you have two or ten cabins, book everyone under the same travel agent for simplicity.

Not only could you potentially get group benefits from Royal Caribbean if you book enough cabins, but being booked under the same travel agent really makes coordinating onboard plans a lot simpler.

Travel agents make it so much easier to remind your pals it's time to make final payment, or answer any sort of billing questions with the cruise line. You love your friends, but dealing with friends and their financial situation is no fun.

In addition, a travel agent can easily link everyone's reservations together so that dining together is simple.

If there was a need to cancel or change sail dates, having the same agent makes the process much easier.

Talk about priorities

Unlike family, sometimes expressing what you really want to do with friends can be tough since you don't want to offend anyone or come off as appearing to be needy. However, you should have a good idea of what everyone wants from the sailing before you book.

There is a fine line between planning ahead and becoming burdensome with a schedule. Everyone comes in with different ideas about how much they want to to do together, or not.

Before the cruise, have a conversation about what they are looking forward to doing, especially together.  It is a good idea to figure out is this a trip where you will all hang out all day, or just meet up for drinks.

Have a communication plan

Onboard a cruise ship, there is no cellular phone service, so you should have a plan on how everyone will chat.

Group chats in apps like Facebook or WhatsApp are very common, but you will all need to get an internet package.

You could use walkie talkies or rely on voicemails in your cabins, but these tend to be more cumbersome.

The key is to ensure you all agree on something before you get onboard so no one is left in the dark.

Dinners together

One of the best pieces of advice for friends on a cruise is at the very least have dinner together every night.

Everyone finds their own activities to do onboard, but it is a good idea to plan to meet up for dinner each night to have a common time to meet.

Whether the main dining room, Windjammer, or specialty restaurants, have a plan for everyone to enjoy dinner together each evening for a time to reconnect and make plans for the following day.

Matching t-shirts are popular

A recent trend among groups is to get matching shirts for everyone in the group.

This not only makes for great group photos, but you can easily identify everyone.  This is helpful with large groups.

There are many places online you can customized shirts, or just pick a design and buy one for everyone.

Avoid overplanning

It can be tempting to try to plan every minute of the cruise, but too much of a good thing applies to a cruise too.

If you try to plan too much, things can get quickly overwhelming for some friends in your group, as well as create rifts among friends.

Leave time for everyone to do their own thing, keeping in mind you could still do things together on the fly.

Get separate billing

Sharing a cabin with a friend? Set up different billing methods for each person.

You can assign credit cards to specific people in the room at Guest Services, which makes settling the bill later significantly easier.

In addition, it is a good idea to make clear lines of who is picking up what tab. Shore excursions, dinners, and drink orders are all common ways you could pay for someone else, but be certain before the end of the cruise the bills all look good.

If you need to re-arrange any extra costs, a trip to Guest Services could fix that.  Alternatively, you could simply send money electronically to friends after the sailing.

Plan a time to meet on embarkation day

The bigger the group, the more likely everyone will arrive at different times to the cruise terminal on embarkation day, so pick a time to meet.

It is a good idea to pick a time in late afternoon for the meet.  Sailaway is a good time that everyone will be onboard and ready for some fun.

Fun things to pack

Here are some good ideas of things to pack to bring on a cruise with friends:

• Door decorations (with magnets, not tape to put it up)
• Drink koozies
• Towel clips

Read more: The 25 BEST Royal Caribbean tips, tricks & hidden secrets!

Pre-book for bigger groups

The bigger your group, the more important pre-booking is for certain events and offerings.

Specialty restaurants, shore excursions, the escape room, and pretty much anything with limited capacity is a good idea to pre-book whenever possible.

It is not always possible to pre-book everything, but look for the options in the Cruise Planner.