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Definitely very good news. But we do need to keep a few caveats in mind. This one is probably the biggest: That initial 50 million will be earmarked first for healthcare workers -- doctors, nurses, EMTs, hospital employees like X-Ray / CT scan / other imaging techs, other hospital employees like the sanitation crews who might come into contact with exposed individuals, etc. -- and other front-line workers like police (who are often the ones who initially respond to 911 calls for medical help). After that first critical group is immunized, then the second group in line gets protected -- essential workers like grocery store employees and other must-be-open jobs, elderly in nursing homes, and other ultra-high-risk individuals. Third group is those who are not in the above, but still have medical conditions that put them at higher risk (asthma, heart conditions, clotting disorders, etc.) I forget the criteria for fourth vs fifth groups, but suffice to say that it's going to take a long time to get everyone on planet Earth vaccinated. If they can only make "up to" 1.3 billion doses in 2021, that's only a bit over 1/6 of the total population. Granted, that 1/6 will also likely overlap a lot with the most populous countries on earth, but China alone had 1.4 billion people as of 2019. We'll have to see what the production capacity of Moderna's vaccine is expected to be to get a real sense of how fast we can get the bulk of the world's population immunized, but even if it's exactly the same, we're talking about 3 years to get everyone protected, assuming these remain the two best vaccine options and none of the others currently in trials show similar effectiveness. And in the meantime, we have to keep an eye out for mutations in the virus and continue working to avoid flare-ups in regions that haven't yet reached herd immunity levels. But in further good news: Initial research of immune response in recovered patients (yet to be peer-reviewed) is starting to indicate that the immune system does indeed produce the expected long-lived response. Once acquired, immunity may well last for years like with any other disease. Initial reports of short-lived immunity were based on the lack of antibodies after a few months, even though antibodies are naturally short-lived. Now they're tracking the presence of B-Cells (which make fresh antibodies) and T-Cells (which find and kill infected cells) and measure how long those are lasting. And it's looking like our immune systems are indeed working normally, as long as you get through the hell of fighting off the disease.

I really want them to experience the Crown Loft, we are considering getting them just an interior on deck 14 just to sleep, then they can come up and hang with us. At least we have a place we can tell them to go ! lol

We were on the Harmony for our 20th so It may be fitting to be on her for our 25th. Funny part about this cruise, we are parents that are very active with our children even on vacation, spending time together as much as possible. They are horrified that we are considering not bringing them. Even though they are gonna be 21 and 17, we will never complain they still want to spend time with us! Hope that never ENDS!

Well that's no fun. Everyone is booking Villas and I want to get in on the fun! ? But I need March 2023 to open up. lol

This is very exciting news !! I think you're making the right decision. My advice is.....don't wait any longer than you have to. The price of our new build has already gone up $5K since we signed in Sept. They simply cannot build them fast enough down here. It's a balmy 75 degrees here today. My daughter (western MD) sent a video of a steady snow. NO THANKS !!! SOOOO glad to be down here where it's warm.

New update. Decided that JAX was too close so we drove another hour and ended up in Palm Coast. A very cute community close to Flagler Beach and north of Daytona. This will leave just a short 2.5 hour drive in to PSL for tomorrow. Our FL realtor will give us the key to the rental and then bright and early on Thursday we will unload the truck and return it to the local U Haul. Things seem to be going frightfully well. I'm sure there is some surprise waiting for us somewhere.... For now though, all is well. Last leg tomorrow !!!

Our last cruise was Feb 7 when we took my MIL on her first cruise for her birthday. She had a couple hard years (FIL passed away, couldn't get her house sold, moving), and we really wanted this trip to be special for her. The crew really went above and beyond to make her birthday special, but my favorite memory is of her and the kids playing in the pool at Paradise Beach in Cozumel On second thought, it may be when the kids and I went to the bird aviary in Costa Maya, and came back to DH and my MIL waiting for us at Cantina Latina.

There a quite a few of us here on that same sailing. I am not going to jump to any conclusions yet. It's locked but not cancelled. A lot can still happen between now and then.

Your previous posts introduced me to the possibility of booking a villa! And taught me to book as soon as the sailing opened up. It worked. ?

This site is run by fans of Royal, not the company. There is no way for the admins to know how many sailings you have actually been on. They set it up so that at a certain number of posts, you grow in level which are named after the C&A statuses.

2.5 hour drive to get a Pumpkin Spice Latte?!?!? Now that's dedication!! ? Seriously, though, glad you were able to make extra time yesterday so that today is a nice leisurely trip. May all the remaining steps along the way be equally smooth!

Pfizer just announced on the final results of the stage 3 trails and the numbers are even better 95% (94% for the age of 65 +) . Best on the results they are going to ask for emergency FDA approval. I will not be surprised if now Moderna will come with final results of 95.5 ? Anyway good news. https://edition.cnn.com/2020/11/18/health/pfizer-coronavirus-vaccine-safety/index.html

My last cruise memory was my birthday cruise on the Empress a year ago. I should have been on the Vision right now for my 2020 birthday, which is one item on my bucket list because I want to sail on all the ships for which the classes are named.

Update: Had the closing on our VA house this morning and headed south with a VERY full 26' U Haul truck ! I can't believe everything fit in there, but it did. I was even able to fit a number of my favorite Hibiscus (or high biscuits, as I call them) in there. YIIPPEE !!! Florence, SC is about 1/3 of the way so that's where we are spending the night, tonite. JAX will be the next stop tomorrow night and then on to Port St. Lucie on Thursday. We were able to secure an adequate rental home for the next year. As long as it's reasonably clean (and I am assured that it will be) I really don't care much about it. It's just an interim place to sleep. It's in one of the newer gated communities (The Cascades) so I'm sure we'll be very comfortable there until our house is ready (Sept/Oct 2021). I have accepted the PT job for my old contract as an Independent Contractor. I will not be doing any work on that contract until probably early Dec. as I have to get to the new house and get settled. Looking forward to it, truly. It will be nice to be back with the old team. Anyway, on with the new adventure ! How exciting. RELEASE THE KRAKKEN !!

Me, too....with some onboard credit to compensate...

Most online forum rankings are based on number of posts

I've come pretty close to the brig. It looks like this:

I am not going to jump to any conclusions for my 8 night August sailing. A lot can happen between now and then.

The current travel restrictions are bilateral. The difference between the two countries is a matter of enforcement. With very low volumes US CBP isn't turning away Canadians trying to enter the US at the moment. If large volumes of Canadian travelers show up at the border I suspect CBP would begin to enforce the travel restrictions like Canada is now. CBP is basically taking the approach "If you are crazy enough to want to come here right now, come on in". Bottom line is that ships are not sailing anytime soon. The current administration did a feel good baby step with the conditional sail order but it is anything but a green light to cruises resuming. The next administration also won't green light cruises during a public health crisis. Until death rates fall and the situation stabilizes there will be no cruises regardless which administration is in power. More importantly what crazy Canuck would want to go to the US while the US has no control of the pandemic? The upcoming vaccines will change the game. Only once they start to trend the public health crisis downward will the conditional sail order really come into play. Only then will ships sail.

If I detailed the quantity, I would come across as one who needs an intervention. Therefore, my response is that we get our money's worth out of the DBP. ?

haha, I remember my parents finally cutting me out of their vacations after I turned 21 (we did a big 21st to Maui) and I was always so jealous!! Also, don't worry, if they like hanging with you at 21 and 17, they always will. Said as a 34 yr old who still has a ton of fun just hanging on the couch with my parents.

Please add Allure on May 3rd, 2021, Mariner on May 21st, 2021, & Mariner on December 13th, 2021

I would agree with this. Every other Oasis class ship is in the Caribbean for 2022, so Allure is the only one left. My bet is it will be home-ported in Barcelona and/or Rome (Civitavecchia) for 7-night Med sailings. She'll take the spot that Harmony currently has for 2021. One would certainly hope they'd do that of thing while she's there. Only question is how they'll time it. My guess -- they'll give her the AMP treatment before the Mediterranean season begins, so they can show off the new hotness on board.

Transcript of a radio conversation between a US naval ship and Canadian authorities off the coast of Newfoundland Canadians: Please divert your course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision. Over. Americans: Recommend you divert YOUR course 15 degrees to the North to avoid a collision. Over. Canadians: Negative. You will have to divert your course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision. Over. Americans: This is the Captain of a US Navy ship. I say again, divert YOUR course. Over. Canadians: No, I say again, you divert YOUR course. Over. Americans: THIS IS THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER USS LINCOLN, THE SECOND LARGEST SHIP IN THE UNITED STATES' ATLANTIC FLEET. WE ARE ACCOMPANIED BY THREE DESTROYERS, THREE CRUISERS AND NUMEROUS SUPPORT VESSELS. I DEMAND THAT YOU CHANGE YOUR COURSE 15 DEGREES NORTH, I SAY AGAIN, THAT'S ONE FIVE DEGREES NORTH, OR COUNTERMEASURES WILL BE UNDERTAKEN TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF THIS SHIP. OVER. Canadians: This is a lighthouse. Your call. Over.

Book now, ask for permission and forgiveness later.?

There are typically several different versions. Some ride back on a bus, sled dogs or riding a bicycle down for example. Here is a snippet from 2018.

I have been waiting and watching for May 22 like a hawk! Seriously- checking non stop. Just booked the Villa on the Symphony and can’t believe I got that room! And for an amazing deal. I actually booked on line to make sure I didn’t lose the room and will call my TA later this morning. We were supposed to be on harmony in a 2 bedroom ATS this past May - would have been first time star class. As long as the wait will be, we will have more space and can have more of our family join us! Love all of the insights I’ve gotten from this forum. ️️️

March 6th on Navigator of the Seas, I took command of the ship and everything went south from there.

What kind of grades does a pirate in school hope for? Low seas!

I wonder if their pier wasn't big enough to support an Oasis sized ship. I know they were doing some work to add another berth to the existing one. Probably got slowed down by COVID. Also there was a private beach club that Royal was going to be building there for their cruise stops. I assume that's on hold as well.

Yeah - I was going to reference the generic ones you see on some other sites, but I couldn't remember any of the names past Newbie. Guess I spend all my time here now! And Happy Birthday BTW!!

I'm not one to panic. I'm just getting tired of revising my vacation plans and never actually going anywhere. The April 2021 trans Atlantic was originally planned for April 2020. I wonder if the FCC's due to expire at the end of 2021 will be extended to 2022. It now seems like cancellations will continue well into 2021

Thanks for the birthday greeting Sailing on every Royal ship is the end goal but the classes’ namesakes are the priority.

Regarding the numbers you are right and that is what I am showing in the diagram above considering half of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines will go to the US. Regarding 3 years to get everyone protect , that is true but we should take into consideration that there are other vaccine already out there , the Chinese one which decided to give it to many people in their army and the Russian one which already producing it so not sure if Chania will ask for Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, I quite sure they will not and might be the same for the Russian. By the way Monderna contracted a swiss company to produce their vaccine in Europe. I do think that incase it will be proven only the mRna vaccine will be proven to be good it will be also given with some licenses to be produce in other places and other companies which will expedite the process. By the way I do think it will be better that not all the population will take the same kind of vaccine incase the slight chance there will be long term issues with one of them

IMHO 2/1 is a pipe dream especially with the incoming administrations game plan involving further lockdown & restrictions on just about everything.

We always take one without them each year. That is our deal. ?

Word on the street is that Allure will be in Europe summer 2022. As for the loft, they are practically identical. I would make my decision based on which ship you would prefer to sail instead. Consider the shows, dining that each one has and see if the $800 difference is worth it to you.

I noticed that the unlimited packages stopped being offered a few months ago - the ones I purchased were still in my cruise planner, but those sailingshave all been canceled now. The highest I have seen on new sailings is only 100 now.

No idea- it just says "soon". Part of me wonders if it will just be a while because they are trying to figure out redeployments and stuff, but I just don't know.

Anthem of the Seas 02 OCT 2021

You can move your deposit to a different room on the same sailing for sure but why you would want to give up star class benefits is beyond me. ? If you move your deposit to a different sailing, you will be penalized a change fee of $100pp, under regular, non-covid rules.

Please add Mariner of the Seas June 13, 2022 Thanks so much!

3/13/20-Sitting at Boleros on Liberty drinking Kraken and Sprite after hearing the "suspension of cruising" announcement. ?

FWIW Biden has never called for a nationwide lockdown. Dr. Fauci has gone on the record this week that he does not support a national shutdown. A mask mandate is very different from a lockdown. Not all political leaders who identify with one party or the other are hard core extreme zealots. In Colorado our democratic governor has gone on the record time and again that he does not want a lockdown, that he's trying to find ways to keep commerce going within the limits of a public health crisis. It's a fine line and all governors are well aware of the ongoing COVID fatigue that is occurring. If you remove the noise that people with agendas introduce you will find most governors are simply trying to do the best for their residents regardless of color labels applied by those with political agendas. That's as political as I care to go but I went there because it does relate to cruising. The simple fact is the virus is not under control in America. America does need to gain better control of the situation. Cruising isn't possible right now not because of politicians but because there is actually a public health emergency or crisis right now in America. Only when that has subsided will cruising resume. The current administration did not give the green light cruising. The conditional sail order is a very small step towards cruises resuming but it's a baby step at best The next administration won't give the green light on day one just like the current administration has not. It's only political to those that are trying to make it that way. I do agree that cruising is several months away in America for all the right reasons.

hang tight I called in on this as well and they are saying system error and for people not to panic yet...

It appeared here in Portugal around the same time as in NA although it was spotty at first, going back and forwards between the old screen and the new one for a couple of weeks. One little trick that I only discovered by chance is that if you click on the Royal logo on the blue bar at the top it gives you a shortcut straight back to the homepage or the search results without having to click "back" umpteen times.

You seem to have taken the position that everyone in America thinks cruises will start tomorrow. That is an incorrect assumption. We all know the restart will be a process that will take time. That process couldn't start until the CDC made their announcement yesterday. The process has begun. Royal is crewing ships today as a means to fulfil the CDC requirement for sample or test cruises. Once that is accepted by the CDC they'll move onto the next requirement. Everyone here knows this will take time and there will be milestones to complete but we all see that process is now underway.