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We made it home ! Uneventful flight. The Captain of that plane was the biggest airplane pilot I have ever seen in my life ! He had to duck to get out the flight deck door. I was stunned. Can't help but wonder how he manages to get all those legs folded up to get into that tiny cockpit !! ...and he wasn't just tall. He was a linebacker-sized bruiser. Good pilot though...smoothest landing I've experienced in a while ! Very little has changed regarding travel protocols since we made our trip down to FL in Sept....but there has been one notable change. When we flew to FL in Sept. AA was serving NO food or beverage on the flight, even in First Class. They gave us each a plastic bag with a small bottle of water and some crackers (or something....can't remember). On this trip, however, both coming and going, they did serve drinks and a meager meal in First Class. It wasn't much but it was something. Drinks were pretty much the usual....coffee, water, sodas, juice, alcohol (if you wanted it) so that is pretty much back to normal. As far as I am aware, nothing was served in Coach, but I cannot guarantee that. Everyone still got the baggie, but FC got the extra food and drinks. Nothing had changed at the hotel as far as service. The Residence Inn in Port St. Lucie (same place we stayed in Sept.) still did not service the room unless you requested well in advance and you had to be out of the room when they came. You could pick up fresh towels, toilet paper and other necessities at the front desk. There was no meal service at all; normally they offer a breakfast buffet (meager, but something, at least). No food now. They had baggies with a stale muffin, an orange and a bottle of water. Thanks but no thanks. Personally, I am beginning to think COVID is just an excuse for cutting out the services while charging the same rate as pre-COVID. I think they're taking advantage, personally. I will say that I never saw anyone without a mask. This is consistent from our first trip. People are taking the mask requirements seriously. Once you go into a restaurant and sit down, then the masks can come off, but not when you are up, moving around. Those who say that people (I can only speak for FL and VA) aren't taking the mask requirements seriously are wrong. From what I am seeing, they absolutely are. The same goes for disinfecting, although I will say that I don't think that is as prevalent as it once was. Social distancing is still problematic in some situations. Obviously, no way to social distance on an airplane, but people are generally considerate about not crowding unnecessarily. When standing in line for anything, people are standing back. It's nice. I've never been one who enjoyed having my private space invaded anyway, so this standing off a bit is great news to me. Overall, I was quite impressed with peoples' attempts to comply and to be considerate to others. It is my assessment that people are NOT slacking off with the requirements to mask, maintain social distancing and sanitize. It's just my opinion.

As you all know, Dan and I are in FL doing some house biz. We have finished all of that for now and are flying home tomorrow morning. We are staying at the Miami Airport Marriott tonite for a very early morning flight. While walking over to the bar at the Courtyard (so weird that everything at the Marriott is closed but the restaurant and bar at the adjacent Courtyard are open !) we happened upon a “registration” table for Royal Caribbean. Being the naturally curious (not to mention, nosy) person that I am, I stopped and chatted with the guy manning the table. He said that he was registering new staff that were signing on with NAV. He said they are just part of rotating maintenance crew and said he has no insight regarding cruise re-start, but it was still exciting to learn that new staff is allowed to come in and most notably, they are flying in. I tried not to stare at the paperwork but I could see that the list of names looked to be fairly lengthy. Can’t say that there is any smoking gun or intel that provides any real information but at least I did find out that they were headed to NAV. On the way back, the table was unmanned so I snapped a quick pic of the table and sign. Maybe ? Maybe ?

Q: What swims at the bottom of the sea and scares the other fish ? A: Jack the Kipper

Every city I pass through to get to a cruise is beautiful. ?

You can still tell them you’re doing it for them.

Why not book a refundable then? That's what we did to squeeze another one in.

I second that.

Maybe. Upon further reflection it was probably easier to get the North Americans to one location, quarantine them, then fly everyone at once to Singapore on the same flights. In this manner you minimize the chance of outside contact. (Before they quarantine again)

Came across this just now...

I resemble that remark ! I hardly consider myself random.... ?

Keep in mind stuff like this is happening in other places without any awareness or discovery by random cruiseaholic house hunters there to catch it. Just because we don't see it posted to social media doesn't mean they aren't getting stuff done in the effort to restart.

Have you seen the live blogs section here on the boards? There are some great ones on there with lots of info and photos. Obviously none are recent now but they are definitely worth reading anyway. I have been dipping in and out of them over the past months just to help ease the sense of longing.

Its the thought that counts.

This is what I have been looking for, this is a real tangible positive step. This is actively rounding up crew members. If not a full crew at least they will be getting the ship ready to re man them. They seem to have moved the process along. I think it´s great news.

If 2021 is a wash and cruises are pushed to 2022, I don't think there will be much of a cruise industry left. So the points will be worthless.

Re: Alaska - We'll be on that trip as well. Scored a heck of a deal on a Sky Loft! First time in one of these rooms. Reference to the bubble, any idea if I'll be able to rent a Jeep in Juneau? (I did score the $43 deal on the drink package too.)

Great news hoping to be on Quantum in April 2021 for the Explore Japan Cruise.

The one piece of specific information that I did manage to get from him was that these crew were headed for NAV

On a happier note, my wife promised me we could book a crown loft suite for our 25th wedding Anniversary in May 2022, so I hope to book once it becomes available the week of 11/16

? this is too funny! But we love you @WAAAYTOOO!

These are the same prices they had 2 or maybe 3 weeks ago. I need them to do better... lol

@WAAAYTOOO does have time now, but I doubt they will give her a suite.?

So I was frustrated that you could not read the sign so I snuck back over there to take a couple more pix.

It's only a 3 nighter but I can only take 2 days off work so it is what it is lol.

Birthday short sailing round 2! lol 11/19/2021, are you booking? ?

I don't think so- I've never seen it. Remember it's sometime that week, not necessarily on the date it has on the flyer- typically it's on the Wednesday of that week, but it could be any time.

Funny you mentioned that. It just happened to us too. As I mentioned, we squeezed in one more short Navigator sailing after they announced the Loyalty 2x promo. For some reason, it would not let me access the refundable rate for a category VP. I followed the steps and entered all my info, then also did the same for Hubby. When I tried to click "next", it would not let me to the next screen to choose refundable. I tried several times throughout the day, same dead end. In the end, I just messaged my TA and she was able to access it. For this particular sailing, refundable was just over $200 more. I figured that breaks even because if I booked non-refundable and cancelled, I would lose $200 for the two of us. As I get closer to it (not until next November), I might move it to non-refundable. Most suites are automatically non-refundable, but when there is a category VP, I sometimes will play this game. I don't always use this strategy and I get what you are saying. Almost double is not worth it, IMO.

Riley Tench is a Royal Caribbean crew member who has a Youtube channel. Before and throughout this pandemic he has been vlogging on his channel with various updates. His latest update has him heading back to Quantum from his home in Alaska for the December Singapore start.

Ahh, I misinterpreted. I must need a vacation because the thought of reading about someone else's vacations sounded like fun!

Question Will C&A members have access before 11/16?

I really want to book another cruise and get the double points which would get us to Diamond status!!....Just need to have some confidence that cruising is going to start back up and that the 14 day quarantine rule will be reduced or removed in the near future! Its a great offer with the points.....wonder what would happen if 2021 is a wash for cruising and these cruises get pushed into 2022...would double points follow and apply with a Lift & Shift type thing.....hmmm

I was referring to the other thread that I am writing re: my plans to relocate to FL from VA. It's not that interesting....LOL...but you are welcome to read.

We walked into Izumi on Serenade many times just to order a drink and they never had a problem with it. We did have the drink package, and my husband had done the sushi class early in the sailing; they remembered him and me (I came at the end to watch him eat and ordered a drink while observing) so that could be part of it as well.

I keep checking my 2021 and 2022 cruises and there have been no changes. One dropped ~$10. I don't book during peak times like spring break or summer holidays so maybe that's one difference.

My husband and I both played too (we were supposed to use it end of September/beginning of October) and we were both able to redeem our own rewards. We emailed them each from our personal emails and they applied a total of $150 OBC. We never had issues before (we did this for our honeymoon at the beginning of this year). Good luck!

Just in time for Halloween Q: What do you get if you divide the circumference of a jack-o-lantern by its diameter? A: Pumpkin pi

Submarine racing

The Port of Galveston has been preparing its cruise terminals for COVID-safe cruising with touchless bathroom fixtures, plexiglass dividers, sanitation contracts, etc. It's primarily up to the CDC and how Royal Caribbean wants to manage its restart in terms of which ships/ports will be released to sail first.

Because of this deal, the mom and I booked an 8-night in Sept '21 in a GS. Thanks to the double (double) points, we'll literally double our current amount and be 1 Suite 7-night away from Diamond. ^_^ and here we thought it would take us FOREVER to get there!

New discounts are part of the new Cruise Planner sale that begins today: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2020/10/27/save-45-pre-cruise-purchases-royal-caribbeans-new-sale

Thanks for sharing! Maybe you could go back and sign up as crew?? ??

Lol. You must be very bored. ?? Will do. I have some stuff to pass re: the trip, mask-wearing, airline policies, etc but just haven’t had time to sit down and do it.

RANT ON: This is just another example of entrenched bureaucrats that have lost touch with reality. They know nothing beyond the little bubble they live in. Here is another news flash for them. Pedestrians who cross streets are more likely to be struck by cars, than pedestrians that never cross the street. Live is a series of calculated risks, let individuals weigh the risks and let them make their own decision. Its easy for these government employees to advocate for businesses to shut down, they still are getting paid. RANT OFF

If you followed the thread, you would have noticed your answer lies here ----> https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2020/10/19/royal-caribbean-offering-double-loyalty-program-points-2021-cruises

We have 100 night booked in 2021, all in suites. Not sure how the “C&A discount” clause is going to affect them. We rarely use the C&A discount anyway. Some random promo discount usually pushes the C&A Discount out. Many of these bookings are casino comps so no C&A discount was applied. SO...if all of them Sail and are awarded an extra point, we would accumulate 300 points in 2021. We currently need 190 points to make Pinnacle. It’s looking good !

We loved the sushi making class on our Alaska sailing. We roll our own, now. ?

thank you. I did read this earlier but this is a beach cabana or over the water cabana. I’m having a hard time finding anything about waterfront cabana’s ?