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Showing content with the highest reputation on 11/04/2020 in all areas

  1. My girls dictate the schedule in my family. First stop is always the Boardwalk doghouse, second stop is the arcade and then it’s time to chill out on the balcony! So many great memories made on these ships!
    9 points
  2. My chocolate martini at the English Pub on Symphony of the Seas last February. This bartender was very good at making me drinks I never thought I'd like and having me fall in love with them (like a Blueberry Gin Fizz - I thought I hated Gin). Man, I miss him.
    9 points
  3. Disembarkation morning breakfast on the back of Ovation in Sydney Harbour.
    8 points
  4. January 5th of this year had a great time on Oasis , my wife doing the zip line over the ocean . It was our first cruise with Royal and won't be our last ..hooked now
    7 points
  5. Our first cruise with Royal, Christmas 2019 on Anthem was full of so many great memories! So many pictures I could have picked but this was our first view of Anthem as we arrived at the terminal.
    7 points
  6. The first sunset on the first night of our first cruise July 2019..A lot of firsts. ?
    6 points
  7. Hanging by the beach in Labadee. Can’t wait to get back and enjoy it again soon!
    6 points
  8. Last cruise memory was being back in the Western and seeing how much Cozumel had expanded since our first visit. It was also the first cruise where we opted to stay on board while in a port and I really enjoyed the day of chill relaxation. Got to get in the main pool and sun bathe and eat without elbowing people for space. But...my favorite memory and the thing that makes me miss cruising so much is still from the first cruise we ever took back in 2015. I still get chills thinking about every part of it. My favorite story to tell about it is on boarding. We went through Security and all that jazz, which is, obviously, in a brick and mortar building. As we followed the arrows marked boarding, I saw out the window of the pathway this large, mostly glass building and I thought to myself, "wow what a pretty hotel. We must have to pass through it to get to the ship on the other side." ( i thought it was maybe a staff hotel or a Royal Caribbean owned hotel that people could book before their trip) Lo and behold...that WAS the ship. It took me quite a few minutes - even after being on board - to realize that and I was floored with how HUGE it was. And mind you, I had spent the months leading up to it watching several full walk-throughs and still it was not enough to prepare me for the size of a Freedom Class. (I think i might have literally had my jaw hit the floor if we did our first trip on Oasis...O.O ) Now, every time we board, I get real close to the glass to see the logo or ship name, just to confirm to myself that this beautiful building is indeed our ship.
    5 points
  9. July 27, 2019 leaving the beautiful Port of Miami on Symphony. I never would have imagined that sail away would be my last one for almost a year and a half now. The saddest part is that I don’t know even know when the dry dock ends. ? However, with all the losses 2020 has brought, it has brought us many hidden blessings as well. It is important to fix our eyes on the little things in life.
    5 points
  10. Really a bummer, but at the same time that island can be really packed (like Saint Thomas, Nassau, others). It's certainly a debatable, subjective opinion and everyone has different preferences.... I agree with the unfortunate sentiment that the real winners are the lawyers (as with a lot of things). I would add that there's another sea faring option and that is to take the Key west Express, a couple hundred passenger catamaran ferry that goes from southwest florida. I am not an employee or anything, I'm not getting paid haha but I can say that I have taken it several times and will again. It's a fun two or three hour trip and you can go down and back in a day or across multiple days. The Catamaran itself is newer, clean and has a great three deck setup with food court, bar, different seating layouts....it's a great option if you're like me and the many other midwesterners who are in Fort Myers/Sarasota/Naples FL often. If you look at a map, the way the keys curl back to the southwest, it's actually a pretty straight shot as the bird flies. https://www.keywestexpress.net/
    4 points
  11. YEP!!! Life is too short. Can't live in fear. Just follow the protocols and you will be fine.
    4 points
  12. So many favorable cruise memories....hard to pick out a favorite. I would have to say my favorite cruise memory was when we first boarded the Navigator of The Seas in 2006 (our first cruise) and were greeted by very friendly staff dancing and welcoming us on board. I can remember the ambiance and fragrance of subsequent cruises, miss it all so much. ?
    4 points
  13. Our last family breakfast prior to disembarking - before we all went our separate ways.
    4 points
  14. My best memory from our last cruise (Navigator, Feb 2020) was springing one surprise after another on Sheryl for her birthday.
    4 points
  15. Visiting Blue Lagoon
    4 points
  16. Our favorite cruise to date was our Alaska cruise on the Radiance. Hubby had just had a heart attack and stint 27 days prior to our cruise. Thankfully, we did good and the doctor said that a cruise would be restful and gave us this blessing. He said no fly for 4 weeks and we missed that by 1 day so the doctor said he could fly. To make this cruise even more memorable, we were schedule to go with two other couples (one from Grand Rapids and the other from Houston). Long story short, the husband of the Grand Rapids had a heart attack two weeks after my hubby and he had to have open heart surgery so they had to cancel. The other couple from Houston, the wife blow her Achilles tendon and had surgery. But she came with a scooter and did great. We did a humpback whale excursion but instead of humpbacks, we saw lots of Orcas.
    3 points
  17. Lovetocruise2002

    Sorry Canadians

    This is making me laugh today. To all my American friends here. ?
    3 points
  18. This site is a private fan site not managed by Royal Caribbean and they do not participate on this site. No one here can answer your question. No one here can perform a comparative analysis between your favorite brands and what Royal Caribbean uses on board. We have tried to illustrate what might be provided on board and it appears that you are looking for a different answer. Suggest you contact Royal Caribbean on social media and ask them your question.
    3 points
  19. I was on the Serenade repo from BOS-FLL exactly one year ago. Returned to have torn retina surgery that same month, a minor stroke this past March and cataract surgery in June. No pity party, though! Losing weight, exercising and ready to meet more new friends in February on the Empress and Allure ?
    2 points
  20. Last cruise was Dec 2019 with DH on Adventure. First time in a JS. First time with the drink package. Amazing cruise...relaxed and could get a drink when we wanted, etc. Just enjoyed the ocean and atmosphere. Also, the shows at night were tons of fun. Met another couple at Boleros and met up another night which was really nice too. But...I also love our cruises as a family. Navigator was Aug of 2019 and Symphony Mar of 2019 (my favorite ship!). Sadly it was on Symphony when we told our kids of all our planned cruises on our last night in the MDR (as we always kept them a secret until closer to the date)....but now, we've lost 3 of those.
    2 points
  21. In the end, I don't really care. I am happy to be able to get on a cruise to nowhere at this point. Destination does not matter to me. ?
    2 points
  22. My money's on you'll get to spend a day at Coco Cay now.
    2 points
  23. Bummer. I had always wanted to visit Key West, but never got around to it. I figured visiting via cruise ship would have been my best bet; i don't really envision myself flying to Florida, renting a car, and driving all the way down to Key West. Oh well, plenty of other places to visit and spend money.
    2 points
  24. The 1,300 capacity appears to be guests and crew combined. Luxury lines who tend to operate smaller ships have a higher crew to passenger ratio. Many SilverSea ships for example have ~400 crew for between ~500 to 600 passengers. SilverSea appears to qualify. Like SilverSea, Azamara will qualify with their small ships squeaking under the combined 1,300 person capacity limits with something closer to a 2:1 guest to crew ratio. Royal Caribbean's smallest ship, Empress of the Seas has a combined capacity of ~2,400 crew and passengers. All Royal Caribbean ships will be banned. Likewise the Carnival (WhaleTail) fleet is banned as is the NCL fleet. HAL, Princess, P&O, MSC, AIDA all banned. No mass market cruise line can go there now. Consequently the ban isn't limited to large ships. Only the smallest ships are allowed but most of those sail exotic destination like the Antarctic, Galapagos, river cruises in Europe or along the Mississippi river. Only luxury line sized ships are now permitted but luxury lines tend to call on a different type of cruise port of call. Who would spend $15k or $25k on a cruise to visit Key West? It's conceivable to state they have effectively banned most cruise ships if not all cruise ships that would tend to call on Key West. Seeing a cruise ship in Mallory Square will certainly be an oddity now.
    2 points
  25. 1 year, 11 days, and 5 hours ago at time of posting, I was lounging on Horseshoe Bay beach. Just enjoying the sun, relatively mild Bermuda weather, and the Dark and Stormy my wife was nice enough to get for me since I was nursing a foot injury. We boarded the ship to return home just a couple of hours later. Had no idea that would be our last cruise until 2022, still missing the Iceland & Greenland sailing that I was supposed to have taken this past August.
    2 points
  26. A year ago today we were in Nassau, it was a gorgeous day spent touring the rum cake factory, Atlantis, the Queens Staircase and straw market on to John Waitlings Distillery, (free tastes) We wound up at Senors Frog (Grouper strips, fish tacos) Then back on board. We were supposed to be leaving on the 29th on a repeat trip. Oh well, memories of cruises past and planning for our first B2B 10/30/21.
    1 point
  27. Same for us. Been there a few times and really like the town, but I understand their desire to keep it a quiet place.
    1 point
  28. Actually I was unfaithful. My last cruise was on the Sky Princess. The photo is from Rock Opera.
    1 point
  29. JLMoran

    Sorry Canadians

    Can I get a fluffy tabby-colored one? ?
    1 point
  30. This is my opinion too. I can take it or leave it. We have been there a few times and I'm very ok with never seeing it again.
    1 point
  31. The 4-hour drive from Miami is not too bad if you plan on arriving a couple days pre/post cruise. Depending on which direction the "tide" goes, maybe possibly Cuba will be opened up again? Majesty/Empress will have purpose again.
    1 point
  32. It's actually an interesting drive on the Overseas Highway (if you watch the doco's on how they built it and then the hurricane that destroyed it). Key West is a spot you probably only need to visit once in my opinion. It was good, but I don't feel like I need to return.
    1 point
  33. Separating the logistics of getting to the port from the actual test cruise, I’d go. It would be neat and probably kinda humbling to be a part of helping the cruise industry get back on its feet
    1 point
  34. I live in SWFL....how do I sign up for this? And do we get a DBP with it? Balconies? Oh and do we get C&A points?
    1 point
  35. You can take me off the Jan 24, 2021 Jewel sailing. Replacement cruises: October 31, 2021 on Liberty and February 13, 2022 Liberty. Hopefully an AK 2022 will be added to that next week. ?
    1 point
  36. I've looked at this before. Paris, France was a cheaper ticket. I have driven an RV along the Keys several times and stayed on a few of them. I've also rented a convertible and driven the Keys after a cruise (because flying from KW was price prohibitive). Key West is not a focus destination. Few people will make a vacation dedicated to KW if they haven't be so inclined before. That all but eliminates the air option for most. Air travel is not going to increase with this change, those that flew before will continue to do so such as timeshare owners. Some tourism businesses will take a bit hit. Hotels will see no change from this change. The people have spoken. They want it to be a sleepy mostly locals only island. Some tourism business will close, others will see a decline in business, others will see no change. Bottom line this is what the voters want.
    1 point
  37. I live in Maine, so travel logistics aside, I would. I'm in a lucky position that I'm still relatively young enough and healthy enough that even if a worse-case scenario played out for me, I feel confident that it wouldn't be life or death for me. Provided I was able to get the appropriate care after and quarantine before traveling home so there were no further repercussions, I'd be willing to take the chance. I'd like to think I could somehow be a part of a solution and a path forward, and I'd rather take that chance than sit around and wait. I know that glosses over a whole lot of what-ifs, but long story, short, I would.
    1 point
  38. The other curious ballot item gives preference and docking priority to cruise lines that have the best health and environmental records. How will this be implemented? Who will create the scorecard for all passenger ships worldwide? CDC's VSP doesn't rate ships on a comparative basis. They simply provide results. Many ships spend time overseas. They are only subject to VSP exams once they come to America. They will naturally have fewer violations because they have fewer VSP exams. Few countries around the world have a dashboard for environmental violations. Will the City of KW now have to hire and build a team to create a dashboard to rate environmental and health metrics for cruise ships? That sounds like a pretty significant effort. The real winners here will be the lawyers who litigate this.
    1 point
  39. I remember staying in Little Torch Key for a few nights in mid November, 2018 and visiting Key West on a Friday. There were 2 ships in port that day (couldn't tell you which ones they were off hand). I remember Duval Street and the surrounding streets being very crowded during the time passengers were allowed off. Most restaurants were very crowded and hectic too. But as 5:00PM and all aboard came around there was a day and night difference in the crowds and Mallory Square at sunset was beautiful with not allot of people around. I do also remember as sunset was approaching the ship nearest to Mallory Square was leaving and there were people beginning to get upset because as the ship was pulling away it was blocking the view of the sunset, but it turned out OK, the ship got out of the way with time to spare.
    1 point
  40. I was surprised..didn't think this would actually pass....it says they get 7% of their tourism dollars from cruise passengers.....wonder if after a few years they will regret this especially with the hit that tourism is taking worldwide currently....
    1 point
  41. Count me in as a fan of Sorrento's for a good late night snack. Anthem seemed to have the best that we've tried so far. I'm not a pizza snob and enjoy the chains and the local mom and pop places too. Even found a good pizza place in Philly!
    1 point
  42. All of this emphasizes that the cruising public will run into a cluster in the opening months. I don't care about my own exposure to a disease with a flat death rate, but all of this complexity and friction isn't worth it until the perception of overkill kicks in. Cruising will suck for a long while.
    1 point
  43. Last memory... May 26, 2019... a sad goodbye to Allure after an amazing cruise as we waited to board our Southwest flight home from FLL... ?
    1 point
  44. More details emerge as they relate to conditions/restrictions. Here is an expanded list including sectors that are excluded from participating in the pilot. Link to full press release attached. https://www.alberta.ca/international-border-pilot-project.aspx#toc-3 Restrictions for specific settings Participants are prohibited from certain settings during the course of the pilot School and child care Child care programs (for example daycare, out of school care), K to 12 schools and post secondary institutions - attendees, students in schools and staff who work in these settings cannot go back to these settings until they have their second test and have received a negative result. Continuing care, health care and other clinical settings where health care services are provided Pilot participants cannot attend any settings where there are vulnerable people at risk for severe disease for 14 days – this includes all outpatient clinics, acute care, continuing care, long term care, and seniors lodges. This applies to both work and visitation. Workplaces Individuals may only return to work with the permission of the employer and if the employer has implemented COVID-19 measures in accordance with Alberta’s guidelines or direction from provincial or local public health; and provided the worker adheres to the workplace’s COVID-19 public health measures. Individuals cannot return to work for 14 days where vulnerable populations are present as identified above (continuing care, health care, and other clinical settings). Individuals cannot return to high-risk work places for 14 days. These include: correctional facilities homeless shelters or temporary housing facilities food processing facilities (for example, meat packing plants) warehouses, distribution facilities (including distribution facilities supporting grocery stores), and assembly line manufacturing facilities (but does not include other industrial production sites where COVID-19 prevention measures are implemented and adhered to, for example, petrochemical production facilities) Work camps (but does not include associated work sites such as petrochemical facilities). Gatherings Pilot participants cannot attend events where there are more than 10 people (including the participant) for 14 days. This includes: planned or unplanned events where individuals mix and mingle and socialize any location or activity where physical distancing is not able to be maintained at all times, (for example, sports, fitness classes, theatre, dance, music, other cohorted activities) structured indoor or outdoor-seated events (for example, concerts, sporting events, and worship services) Group Living Pilot participants cannot attend or live in group living settings such as homeless shelters, work camps, group homes, student dormitories for 14 days.
    1 point
  45. PaulRC

    MyVEGAS OBC

    OK So I just got an OBC from MyVegas. How do I redeem it? I do not see how to do it? I am sure it is just me but help please. Nevermind I found it.. Thanks
    1 point
  46. Jill

    Your last cruise memory

    We had just gotten off Mariner this time last year. Last minute cruise to scratch that itch. Never imagined it’d be our last by awhile. Scored an aft balcony too.
    1 point
  47. Actually you raise a really really interesting question. Let's say the 'ok to sail' order is given today. How long would a cruise line need to set sail? Tasks you'd need to find solutions for: recruit/rehire staff from around world get staff to the ship (no small task with airlines not flying, visa restrictions etc etc train/retrain staff (Probably some mandatory safety training at the vary least and refamiliarization) gain port access both in the ships 'home port' and any ports they want to visit (and again have all the approvals and process in place etc) logistics on food and supplies (Probably rather easy to spin up but would need some planning) make any ship alterations that are needed for virus protection (Probably doing now) you'd probably want to quarantine any staff on land for 14 days before you allow them to board (Organize hotels, you can book out, medical staff etc etc) and the million and one tasks I can't think of that i am sure is keeping someone awake at night. Staffing is going to be a nightmare. Normally only a few new staff are ever boarding a ship at a time (or coming from other ships in the fleet for new ships). The logistics of recruiting the staff, getting back staff you've let go (Many who may have found other jobs, etc etc) and then trying to negotiate with all the governments around the world to get them to the ships (transit issues, travel restrictions, visas, flight issues (though you'd probably hire planes) etc etc. I imagine you'd look at getting enough staff/resources together for a ship or 2 at a time and ramp up over a period of time (Which could be months). There would easily be a months work there I would say if not 2. So many things have to go right and so many things that you have little control over. I imagine there are a lot of people who's sole job at the moment is to plan for this eventuality. I certainly don't envy them their task. It would certainly make an amazing documentary/case study in the future.
    1 point
  48. I know! Us too as hubby is excluded and Reyd has to remain quarantined until 2nd covid test at day 6 or 7 before he can return to school (so he could potentially cut the 14 day quarantine down by a couple days) Plus the inclusion of “permission of employer” could potentially exclude other employees.
    0 points
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