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LMAO on this comment in total agreement. Our 1st cruise (10 night Med) was the exact opposite. We were 27/28 yrs old. It was the size of Enchantment. They sold 50% of it to AARP. It was the strangest feeling ever. It actually felt like you were on your own personal yacht. 9 pm and the bars/dance venues were just a handful of passengers. However, since this was back in the 90s, at 11:30 they all came back out again for the midnight buffet to take pics. 12:15 and the ship was silent again. I would never do it again even though it felt like my own yacht. It just had the wrong vibe. OBTW I am now eligible for AARP.

Exactly, the entire ship. Forgive me but I just can't stop picturing looking up at the transparent elevators, and then if they are packed in, I am laughing just thinking about the types of prints left "behind"

Take care of the bartenders and they take care of you. Often a new drink magically appears before the last one is half gone.

My advice, with C&A....if the count is in your favor, say nothing.

In our community newsletter someone (don't know them personally) is selling their cabin on a chartered Oasis sailing next November 2021 the week before Thanksgiving. We were considering a B2B in that time frame to use up our existing FCC. Price was okay, so started doing my due diligence, they were even going to pay whatever change fees. Wow, right? Well investigation was successful because it was a full ship charter, mind you we have a teenage daughter we sail with. Oh my word, ready? Clothing optional ahem pineapple cruise, complete with playrooms and theme nights, well now I'm not even sure how I am feeling about sailing the following week that is booked already, forget about COVID, ugh...always something! No judgement to each their own I say in earnest but I might feel funny about this one, not sure how much social distancing takes place on this type of charter, I hope everyone has fun but hard no for our little family for that sailing. Otherwise, we are good to go!

The public is so bad at looking at the media's reporting critically...that is as damaging as the response and the virus itself. Why isn't mortality being reported with the spiking cases. I saw one social media comment from someone who says they are a doctor that the with the current numbers right now (I haven't seen it elsewhere yet for more credibility), this wouldn't even be listed as an epidemic in a normal situation much less a pandemic. This whole thing has just eroded more of my personal trust in media and government bureaucracies which were low to begin with. No, not low....I will say non-existent.

This virus doesn't make you just "drop dead". It isn't the black death. If you have an underlying condition then by all means, please wait until you feel safe. For the relatively healthy person you have a small chance of dying from the virus. There are multiple statistics on it. That being said, do what you think is necessary to stay healthy.

Here's a friendly story: https://www.foxnews.com/travel/health-expert-cruise-ship-safer-travel-coronavirus

I am for it. I have a JS balcony, thus I have no problem lounging on my balcony. Only exception would be that long walk to a car to get my drink. To me the issue I am seeing is the "chair hogs" It is bad enough already with chairs slammed up right next to each other to the point you have to shimmy in to the lounger. Imagine now if they reduce those chairs by even 25%. What time in the a.m. will you have to be there to get a lounger at the pool? 4;30 in the a.m.? The upshot of this maybe RCL pool attendants might become more pro-active removing towels. Before they didn't want to upset passengers that "hogged" the chair. I would think now if they reduce the chairs, the non-hoggers will be pointing out to attendants at a higher rate and demanding the attendants remove the towels.

I'd do whatever I needed to do to cruise, I've stated that before. I don't like people in my personal space unless they're invited...so I'd be thrilled. Elevators with too many people have always freaked me out. I will wait or use the stairs...just not sure how this would happen. Personally, if it's a packed space like an elevator or a venue I don't know how I'd feel on a cruise ship.

OK, I'll bite. Here is the very short story. My family & friends found ourselves on the 2012 Freedom charter by the High Seas Rally group - essentially a bunch of bikers. They accounted for over 2200 passengers on that sailing. I would have never booked that cruise had I known and now always check (as best as possible) to make sure I am not booking a partial chartered cruise. The majority of the cruisers were smokers (muster was horrible), formal night attire was mostly leather (picture backgrounds catered to them), fireworks on the ship (thought this was against ship rules), pirate banners on balconies (thought this was against ship rules), and even sex in public! You get the idea. Anyway on the way down to dinner in an elevator with my family, a drunk Rally member jumped into our elevator with his wife. She was in a wheelchair, so he was carrying both of their glasses of red wine. At every floor we stopped at he proceeded to invite waiting people into our elevator - even though we were pretty full. He was drunk and having his own fun. Anyway, a guy on the elevator (not us) tried to get him to stop, but he was not having it. When we reached the floor above where we were having dinner, he got out with his wife AND as the door was almost closed he threw both glasses of red wine at us! My older sister is very proper and very well dressed. Unfortunately, she got most of the red wine on her dress. I was pissed so chased him down, got into a fight, and the captain had us both dropped off at the next stop in Jamaica. My mistake, I should have summoned security. Please learn from my mistake. So far, I have...

^^^^This! is exactly why I love cruising so much. It's about the only vacation that I can truly unwind and step back. Saddens me even more that there is no start date in sight. I tried to explain to my family the other night that for me, it's not just a lost vacation. Cruising represents something far greater for me.

I live in Chicago and have been to London, crime is quite arbitrary. You could easily end up on a ship with someone who goes crazy and stabs people when they see a man in a speedo. Just like you can walk down any "crime ridden" neighborhood and see children playing. Cruising can be safe with honest protocols. I have no reason to believe the ban will be extended, if the CDC intended to do so they would have already done it.

@crisgold52 I was mostly meaning that I can't get a refund if they cancel again, instead of FCC. I almost wish I would have opted for the money and just did something else with it. However, I'm trying to have something to look forward to. This all HAS to end EVENTUALLY! We can all sit and be pessimistic about how things will go and it is easy to. But, there is that small ray of hope that since there are previous CDC and government officials on the panel that it will help/speed up the time frame of getting back into the water. They know the ropes of the CDC and can keep that in mind while working on the new policies. If we can't get going by Sept. 16, then maybe Oct. 1st. We cannot stop looking towards the brighter spots of hope.

For me it was a close call, so if I did only what I needed to do to protect myself as you say, I am confident I would have not have been debarked. Now I know for next time and yes, there are camera everywhere even if you can't find security. There was however, no camera in the elevator! Another bad experience as part of this was that I was interrogated by the police in Jamaica as I was released by the ship to them. That was not at all fun either. Please learn from me, just don't take that chance and call security! On the good side (sort of) was that my sister and my wife's sister (who were sharing a room), chose on their own to leave the ship too and go to Disney with us. In the end, we did get to enjoy our vacation...

Hmmmmm social distancing. If that means less people in the Schooner Bar during music trivia, then hell yea. Less people means better odds for me to win those coveted Royal Caribbean key chains & highlighters ?

I'm hoping my wife would've grabbed me as well, or that I would do something less violent, like grab the wheel chair and run off with his wife and drop her off on the other side of the ship

I agree. I dare say that most people need some time to relax. A "staycation" at home doesn't work for Moms, just saying. I need SOMEONE ELSE doing the cooking and dishes. I will gladly have a shirt made that says to keep your distance or wear a flipping pool noodle on my head showing the proper distance to stay back if it will mean that we can all get back to enjoying the open ocean. @Cruisin4ABruisin I don't know if you have children, but it's not easy to even keep "normal" children "under control" all the time. All I'm saying is that people need to be forgiving and understanding that kids are kids. I can only beat mine so much before people call the cops.

Lots of good input from everyone, thank you! It has now been over a week and still no response from my TA on what was a very basic quick answer question. I'm done! Well actually, I decided I was done on Saturday. I took a look at MEI, and ended up sending a message to one of the agents I've seen suggested here. I immediately received a response from a different agent - but hey, it was July 4th and frankly I was shocked to get any response at all! Her response included pricing for what I was looking for with different room categories, and then a list of information I would need to provide if I wanted her to move forward with booking the cruise. She explained the FCC to me for the cruise that was just cancelled and what I should expect and then said she could do a courtesy hold on a cruise, etc. I was floored! I have more information now than I did in the year and a half I was working with the previous TA, about my cruise. I booked it and am feeling very comfortable that she'll be there to help me and answer any questions or concerns I have. Just to be clear - the issues I've been experiencing with my former TA were not related to Covid-19. This has been the situation from the beginning and I just didn't know any better - didn't realize that it shouldn't be that way. Now I do!

@TempoGL @Ray I saw a documentary about all of the crime in Britain, not just London. I wasn't just talking about violent crime. Basically, if you want to be robbed then London is the place to go. Even with the 2 million+ cameras they have, there isn't much the police actually do. That's a lot of money to spend to go somewhere just to be pick-pocketed. However, I'm not planning a trip to any major US cities either, especially right now with a lot of people acting crazy. I'm not naïve. Right now, going to grocery store without my kids is as close to a vacation as I can get.

I'll echo some of the responses already posted here....the short answer is... typically no time limit, and getting a bottle of H2O is usually no issue. The long response and recommendation is to get to know your bartenders. Find a couple of your favorite spots and hang out with them there. They will take care of you, give great service, and look out for you. Case in point.... last year on Harmony for a guys cruise, we would frequent the Schooner Bar. After a couple days our lovely bar tender would see us coming, and have bottles of water ready and basically have the vodka bottle handy and ready to pour. But more importantly... there was 'one night'... where our group was having fun... but one person in particular was having a LOT of fun. And the sweet bar tender basically let us know to slow him down, and made him drink at least 2 bottles of water before she would serve him again. And she did it in such a great way as to not embarrass anyone... and still kept everyone having a great time. She let us know that if he got officially 'Cut-off'... he would be cut off for 24 hours and she didn't want him to ruin his next day. We made sure to thank her for that... and in fact did have a great time the rest of the week. We made sure to tip her out at the end of the week with a nice envelope of cash. Point being... have fun and enjoy your drink package. Don't go crazy... and if you have a night that you plan on getting plastered... do it at a bar where you have gotten to know your bartender well. Cheers. ~KCCO~ Keep Calm and Cruise on

@PG Cruiser The CLIA voluntarily extended the no sail in the midst of rising cases. With so many countries and ports already closed, I cannot see the CDC extending the ban. Cruising is going to be very limited and controlled. Unlike restaurants and bars that don't do temp checks or anything in regards to safety. Cruises can test beforehand and eliminate exposure.

You are correct with what you say, the article does state that a cruise may in fact be safer than going on a vacation to a city such as London....HOWEVER it says in a Covid environment at no point does it mention crime rate. My question would be have you ever been to London or are you just going by reports in newspapers. London is no different to any other major city in the world! It has its good and bad areas, good and bad citizens, US cities will have far worse crime rates, shootings, killings and thats just the police!

Nailed it +1 Not to worry, if there is something I'm told I am not allowed to participate in my curiosity is peeked! I don't like missing out, so yes make it special, I will be on my voom searching like crazy. For me being of a certain age, a great deal of the concert venue shows are cover bands as the real one's are not performing anymore. The years march on... I recently saw Dennis Deyoung with his entourage as well as Don Henley, Joe Jackson and Deacon Fry, oh my word I felt like a teenager again. But if your group was say a great Eagles cover I would be researched and in search of the promotions person on the ship, most likely booking before I left the one I was on. Just speaking for me for the love of music, the exposure would pay off big time, Signed, I miss my music!

That the panel has ex CDC people and a former governor of Utah and HHS secretary is going to account for a lot in regards to getting a response from the CDC.

Yeah I agree. I just wanted to cling on to any positive news I can find. The best part about cruising for me is no phone or news. We are being bombarded with so much negative news.

We are taking our granddaughters to Great Wolf Lodge this weekend and when I talked to them the other day they told me that they have workers that their only job is policing the social distancing in the water park as well as the hotel and etc. They also have an app now and we can use the app to order and pay for food there. I did rent a indoor cabana for our 2 days there just to have our own space. They did say that the Hot Tubs are CLOSED due to not being able to maintain the distancing. I feel like RCI will have to close the Hot Tub also as they are so small in comparison of the pools.

I remember those days well and actually do miss them. I was on Carnival once where they held a special crepe event with all of the fixings at 2:00 in the morning !!! I just happened to wake right before then and said "hey I am hungry again". I woke up Ceil and we went. It was fun. What we found is that most of the people there were from the ship. Entertainers, singers & dancers, staff, etc. Still it was a blast. I had crepes with cherries and chocolate! Yum...

I agree with @WAAAYTOOO . CAS "stole" a point from us not too long ago (no explanation, they just changed the total), so I am glad someone is getting our point or two!

Maybe it's because I tip with each drink, but after day 1, they've made me rounds back to back with 0 issue, and that doesn't even involve walking away with the first one. I have bars I prefer, so I like to get multiple if I'm headed to a certain area for an extended period of time.

Is the last part allowed as you dont say its against ship Rules? ?

I'd be perfectly fine with and possibly even prefer a social distancing enforced cruise. I cruise solo for the most part and it's the atmosphere of fun, cheer, and lack of responsibility that keeps me coming back, the people I meet and the activities are just a happy bonus. A good portion of my days are spent sitting in a quieter area either reading, working planning for an idea (or brainstorming a new one), or working so I can afford to keep cruising. Long as I can continue to spend my evenings enjoying a beverage with some decent conversation and the occasional antics, I'm pretty good. To be honest the next cruise I have booked that's still going is in December, I'm more concerned with my flights to/from Orlando than I am of the actual cruises themselves. Depending on if it's canceled or not and the state of things I may cancel it myself for that reason. There's a good chance that for the foreseeable future I'll be booking only ones leaving from the northeast that I can drive to.

I'm all for it, and anyone who gets caught ignoring new health standards should get a warning, and then if there is another violation should be confined to their room or dropped off at the next port.

Ugh. Horrible situation. If it were me, I would tell the current TA that unless he/she handles the L&S correctly within the next 3 days, I intend to contact Royal and ask for help with having the booking transferred out of the current agency. Now, I realize that this is a bit of a bluff as it’s next to impossible to move a booking that the Agency isn’t willing to give up, but I’d sure make the current Agent believe that a YOU believe it can be done !

@Neesa Holy Moly! See what you can learn by doing just a bit of research!!! Yep, that would be a hard NO for us. What truly amazes me is that they chartered the entire Oasis ship. That is a whole lot of clothing optional people...

Over the years I have learned to stay chill. I run the mouth first and find the right people. However, if I found myself surrounded by those kinds of people we would have done our best to steer clear of them. I may have even made a complaint about not knowing such people were chartered with my small kids.

That’s @YOLO talking right there! But they wouldn’t even go “YOLO” at this time

That’s the word right there, “chances”. Some people have taken chances and nothing happened. But unfortunately for some, they got the covid. In my circle, we’ve got one who suffered a stroke while being treated for COVID in the ICU, one on rehab for impaired brain function, one who had to go on dialysis, and sadly, one who died. That makes it really dangerous for us.

My February Odyssey sailing was cancelled (but I didn't have it on the master list anyway), so we moved it to Oasis of the Seas sailing Feb 21. First time on Oasis, so not too disappointed, and I got an extra night out of it!

@YOLO That is crazy! I understand the policy of protecting certain charter groups. Unfortunately we all know that some people are hateful. However, the things that were going on is unacceptable. I'm a bit of a Momma bear so I would have had my husband stopping me instead of the other way around. I'm glad you have learned from it and now I know we all need to behave ourselves.

We are fine with most of the changes. We will also forgo the theater if needed. The two items that stops us from cruising any time soon is the possibility that an active covid case will send us all into quarantine and the port may deny us returning on time. The 2nd item is the 2 week quarantine that my wife's work will impose. Once the 2nd item is lifted and we get confirmation on how active cases are handled, we will look to cruise again.

It's possible to avoid the news. Mr SpeedNoodles hasn't seen the news since March.

I didn't sail Indy until well after her amplification and I didn't do a trip report on that occasion. I did sail Navigator on her first cruise coming out of amplification and have sailed her again since. I went overboard with Navigator photos in this trip report: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/11143-navigator-mar-1-2019-9-nights-southern-caribbean/ This isn't entirely fair to Indy since she is in great shape with her amplification but having said that the amplification of Navigation was more complete touching more areas including cabins. My only beef with Navigator is the 3/4 night Bahamas itinerary they stuck her on. I was lucky enough above to sail her 9 nights to the ABCs.

At least you were able to "save" the vacation and make the best of it, my wife would still be pissed. It's a good lesson and goes to show the no tolerance on a cruise ship. Although, it does make me wonder, what if he did confront you where you needed to protect yourself... hopefully that situation would have been different... Tough situation, while only a dress was ruined, what he did could have resulted in serious injury.

I was going to try to point to a link to that old thread, but after 10 minutes of searching I had to give up. Yes, it was out there before. Embarrassing for me and I learned my lesson. As you can imagine, I was not able to get any sort of refund for the unused portion of the cruise. So what did we do you ask? We went to Disney World !!! True story after spending one night at the Montego Bay Riu Resort...

Sex in public is wrong. I had to suffer through it twice on a plane and on every river cruise I have been on. On the plane it was in first and business class...those trying to get in the mile high club. During a cruise on the Danube this couple kept trying to invite people back to their room, I guess no one bit so they went at it in the Jacuzzi as soon as the sun set. During my UK, Nile and Mediterranean river cruises it was on the balconies. Why people, why?

Yep, we've got a B2B on Symphony that starts 9/19...already preparing for the worst, but then again, SOMEBODY has to get lucky SOMETIME! ?

Sounds like story time to me

If social distancing involves my Wife on one ship and me on another, then yeah no problem ? Fact is social distancing is for the foreseeable future part of the new normal be it in shops, bars or cruiseships, we just got to get used to it

So with RC and NCL collaborating (that’s new news to me) I guess that means they don’t get along with Big Brother Carnival. I would have expected an united front with all 3. Hmmm So health protocols due by end of August. Seems a little close to September 16. I’ll believe it when I see it. I’ve got Symphony October 17. I’m giving it a 10-15% chance of sailing. I think pigs will fly first but I’ll keep that sliver of hope.