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Hi Matt, Doesn't mention anything about qualifications. Here are some of mine, do you think these will qualify me? Bon Vivant, well versed in the English language as well as Pig Latin, able to walk and chew gum at the same time, highly experienced office worker qualified on most of the Xerox Multifunction / All-in-One Laser Printers, non smoker, non drinker before 12:00 noon, I am a professional amateur, always wading into areas that I hardly anything about and I can make sure nothing ever happens. ?

Congratulations on the Star Class. You will be ruined for life....but that's a good thing ! Officially, the Genie is only able to make arrangements for their Star Class passengers. Unofficially, they will certainly do things like make reservations for the entire group at a specialty restaurant. If dining reservations are made for non-SC pax, just realize that those not in SC will be required to pay for their meals and drinks. What the Genie may or may not do are things like hold seats at venues (theaters, etc.) for non-SC pax. Honestly, it has a lot to do with how many non-SC folks we are talking about. If we are talking about onesies and twosies, I have great confidence that the Genie will go out of their way to include everyone. If we are talking about multiple cabins and many people, it would be much more difficult for the Genie to do. We have traveled with non-SC friends many times and the Genie has always accommodated us....but we were also careful not to place the Genie into a situation where they weren't comfortable. For dining....absolutely, I'm certain it would not be a problem. I will offer one bit of insight that my last Genie shared. The Genies are VERY careful to NEVER put anything in writing that violates their "rules". So, if you correspond with your Genie and ask them to do something that is a violation of the rules, they will NOT correspond back to you with an answer that violates the rules. This also goes for conversations over the phone and texts. Once you are onboard and you can chat face-to-face with the Genie, I have never had a Genie that wasn't completely helpful with my non-SC pax....but again, this was never more than 2 people. My rule of thumb is to advise my Genie that there will be non-SC pax in my group, but never expect or ask for the Genie to acknowledge that or "discuss" in writing, that fact. Trust me....your Genie wants you happy...and they will do whatever they can to make that happen. But don't ask them to take a bunch of non-SC kids to the front of the bumper car line. Probably the best way to include non-SC pax in your party is to have the Genie arrange a gathering in your suite. There are no limitations placed on the Genie to prevent them from having as much food and [applicable] drinks brought to your suite as you could ever want. I say "applicable" b/c, as SC pax, you are entitled to virtually unlimited amounts of water, soda, beer and juice brought to your cabin. However, if you want wine or liquor, you have to pay for that and liquor is only available in individual drinks...no bottles of liquor are allowed. But food ? You can order as much as often as you want. If members of your non-SC group want to enjoy SC benefits, that's the best way and puts the Genie in the least uncomfortable position. Enjoy your SC cruise !

What gets me are the people who think Key West is some sleepy little town that without cruise ships will go back to being Hemingway-esque. You have an international airport, spring breakers up the wazoo, and enough tourists from the Southeast US to make it one of the top tourist destinations in the USA. Every city has its set of problems, cruise ships were not one of them for Key West.

UPDATE: My awesome TA, Kelley, with MEI is looking into it. She suspects they did an internal audit and found the taxes and port fees werent calculated correctly, and corrected it. We shall see!

Walking onto CocoCay on Saturday, March 14, 2020. The last cruise with passengers to visit the island. ?

I think this post has brought the most new members ever to this site!?

All, this isn’t a thread for actually signing up. Just a straw poll to see how many of us would be interested in being a volunteer if the situation presented itself.

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 ?

Or a Maine Coon. Though a Yukon Moose would be a good substitute (though a bit large).

Probably not a good idea to leave your personal info on a public forum here. As @Matt said, this is simply a hypothetical question to generate discussion. It IS NOT a thread for actually signing up.

I feel like this fact has been lost in the excitement.

I once took a Spanish course on a cruise ship And I got lost at si

So, my December cruise was canceled and I had no sailings that I could move it to (there were no itineraries for December of next year) so, the agent moved me to a Symphony of the Seas sailing on 12/11/21. It wasn't going to the same places but it was still out of Miami. Just to let yall know that it doesn't have to be the same itinerary or same ship. Length has to be the same as well as no holiday sailings are permitted.

That'll be addressed on the next ballot.

You can't: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2020/11/04/royal-caribbean-has-not-determined-yet-how-it-will-pick-volunteers-test-cruises

ROFLMAO at all those who keep creating accounts to "volunteer" even after repeated postings to remind everyone that it's a hypothetical question AND that this isn't where one will go to try to participate.

Wow, Matt! Have you ever had a single post gain so many new users/first time commenters? Impressive engagement! Also, YES, if I lived closer to Florida I would. I am booked on Navigator Jan 25th, if that's a lucky early sailing I will definitely be there!

Actually I was unfaithful. My last cruise was on the Sky Princess. The photo is from Rock Opera.

This is making me laugh today. To all my American friends here. ?

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. ?

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/

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.

The only reason I get off the ship at Key West is to get Conch Fritters. I guess I'll have to settle for the ones in Nassau.

I guess all I can say is I'd be careful what you wish for. You might just get it. With what's going on these days and the uncertain future, I can't see anybody turning away business. Although I would imagine that the business owners of Key West did not vote for this.

You're perfect, Robert !!!

Very cool - didn't know that was even an option. Many thanks!

Jan 2020 on Rhapsody of the Seas. Hit moderately rough weather and the pool in the Solarium had huge waves. My (adult) kids and I had great fun playing in the pool!

Yes we would like to volunteer why not

Ohh sure ! I m really interested and excited if I can get a chance to be a volunteer ... Really appreciate

Can I get a fluffy tabby-colored one? ?

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.

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.

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.

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.

My money's on you'll get to spend a day at Coco Cay now.

YEP!!! Life is too short. Can't live in fear. Just follow the protocols and you will be fine.

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.

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.

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.

Another option would be to Lift and Shift to February 2022. You can do that before November 30.

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....

Yep, I just think about my FCC as a savings account to be used at a later date for future fun times. ?

I think the cruise lines will still require a pre-arrival lab confirmation or a similar RT/PCR-type test in addition to the one administered on arrival? Why? Because of your assessment (which the cruise lines probably have also determined, and based on all evidence so far that I would agree with) that the CDC very much wants this to fail. If there is only the on-arrival screening, some portion of the guests detected by the RT/PCR test will be people who were infected many days ago, and who are pre-symptomatic but highly contagious. But if they combine on-arrival with a mandatory lab test taken 3-5 days before arrival, they will have a double-layer mitigation that catches people who are infected before they even leave their house, cutting down those infectious numbers at the port. Then, with the on-board test they'll pick up the remaining people who were infected but still too low of a titer before they flew / drove to the port; hopefully most of them are not yet contagious, and the mask wearing / constant sanitizing while transitioning through the screening will keep the other passengers safe. That leaves only whatever tiny number of people got exposed that day or a day or two before. (or more? How many days does a person have to be infected before they have sufficient viral titer for RT/PCR?) One would hope that, statistically, that number is now so low that only one ship in 10 or hopefully 20 or 100 gets that one passenger. As you said, absolutely nothing can get them to zero infections on board 100% of ships. But if they use the two-layer approach to screening they can get a lot closer to that 100% while cutting the risk of passenger exposure to as close to 0% as possible.

Price plays a big part in our bookings, so we gamble with our deposit. Other than our first cruise, we’ve booked at Next Cruise every time to get $100 per person non-refundable deposit (then transferred the booking to our agent). If my wife had the personal time to spare, we’d take a chance on an early 2021 short cruise. Prices seem good.

I second that.

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.

NY pizza is my favorite. After that any pizzeria that actually makes its own pizza in a real oven (not conveyor belt). BUT when you're at sea after a day of umbrella drinks, wave running, rock wall climbing, zip lining, chefs table, and finally a silent disco - it doesn't matter that it comes off a conveyer belt. And they do make it to order as requested so it can be fresh if you order a custom.

Good to know. I thought it was just me !

My 5/9/21 (hope) Oasis DBP dropped from $61 to $46 per day, which is the best I've seen in a long while. I cancelled and re-purchased and today it's back to $61. Strike while the iron's hot ?