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Trip to Norway I took a cruise to Norway and brought along my SUV to explore the country for a few weeks. While unloading my vehicle from the ship, the cable broke, dumping the car into the water. Now I have a Fjord Explorer.

Last thing you want is any brits turning up down under right now! We couldnt organise a p!ss up in a brewery never mind how to tackle a virus outbreak!

BAZINGA!!

Please let me apologize for taking so long to reply! With COVID 19 hitting us so hard at work overtime has been absolutely crazy! That being said, we were on Oasis when we had Giovannis and on Anthem when we had Jamie’s. Here are a few photos of our meal! Hope they help!

I’m not very picky with ships. I book cruises on them more for bucket list reasons like class namesakes, inaugural and farewell sailings.

So now you can literally sing...

To be clear, there's been no hint or talk by anyone in RC of a vaccine being needed, so it's purely speculation right now if it would become a policy later.

Qantas (due to the Australian Government, per comment from @mattymay) is already going to be requiring proof of Covid-19 vaccination before allowing passengers to board. If the Australian government is going to be requiring proof of vaccination for international travel, you can bet the CDC will try to put a similar policy in place. In this case, I wouldn't actually classify that kind of action as an overreach -- they are the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (wish they'd change their acronym to CDCP so people don't forget that last part), so requiring proof of vaccination for Covid-19 would be no different than if they required proof of vaccination for Polio or Measles (not sure if that's a thing today). Just for context, even before Covid-19 was a thing, governments had vaccination requirements for tourists and others looking to enter their countries; when my daughter traveled to Ghana in 2019 for a summer study program, she had to show proof of Yellow Fever vaccination as part of her visa application under Ghanaian law.

I wouldn't be surprised if it becomes a thing similar to a "golden ticket" to ease one's way as we move about. I plan on getting a vaccination when it becomes available just to reduce the risk of getting COVID (I'm 59 in a few weeks). I also get a regular flu shot every year (going on three decades) and I rarely deal with getting sick for more than a day or two a year from anything other than a normal cold and/or allergy symptoms.

I’ve always thought Navigator and Mariner would be first. Navigator for test cruises in January. If all goes well, Navi and Mariner for February. Come March, if the vaccine(s) are being distributed on a pretty wide scale and numbers are down, I see 2 more ships being added. By June, my guess is 6+ ships. Fingers crossed. A lot hinges on these vaccines.

My guess would be Navigator/Mariner ... seems like Canaveral and Miami were the two ports that the cruise lines were trying to prioritize and those two ships are the ones that have been doing the 3/4 nt private island runs out of those ports for a while. Probably easiest to build off of them first and then go from there.

In writing, it always says non-transferable and only one FCC can be applied per person, per sailing. However, I honestly think that the more time that goes on, the more flexibility and grey areas there are to using the FCCs. A lot of it is going to come down to YMMV, who you speak with, what day you call, and even what time of the day you call. Best bet is to try and get them to transfer it, and if that doesn’t work try again another time with another agent. You never know.

You can get some ideas but going through my trip blogs. Only one Alaska cruise was on Ovation but the shore excursions are the same regardless of the ship. https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/5211-alaska-recap-celebrity-millennium-june-2017/ https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/6634-explorer-alaska-62218-7-nights-rclblog-group-cruise/ https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/12630-ovation-goes-north-way-north-to-alaska-11-nights-may-13-2019/ https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/9160-radiance-of-the-seas-alaska-southbound-83118/ As you plan your cruise take a look at your arrival and departure times. Most ports will likely have long days so you can do something in the morning and something different in the afternoon. Most ports are the US so renting a car can be a great way to explore if you research the area and make a plan, otherwise there are plenty of excursions to book independently or through the ship. Search the internet for a particular stop and you should quickly find independent excursions with ratings. I'll often do an organized excursion in the morning then self explore for the second half of the day. Some ports like Skagway are very close to Canada and some excursions require a passport to cross the border. Plan accordingly. If you can, plan a healthy excursion budget. Alaska is beautiful but you need to leave the port area to experience Alaska best and an excursion or rental car will let you really experience Alaska.

Indeed Pinnacle guests are treated well. Leading up to Pinnacle I spent ~$4k on Voom purchases. That perk alone saves me a bunch. It's also nice always having 40% off the drink package just in case I feel like it - no longer have to watch for cruise planner sales. If I feel like it I can just buy it on board but with at least 3 bottles of wine, happy hour drinks and a couple of Pinnacle events it rarely makes sense to buy the DX. On the Allure TA in March they used Dazzles for us. Had CK breakfast in Chops and the CK lunch in 150CP (too many Pins on board). Seems like all we did was sleep, eat and drink. On top of that Sabor and Samba Grill farewell meals (both were supposed to be lost in the Amplification right after that cruise). I can generally find balcony cabins below OV rates and a smidge above interior now. So yeah, Pinnacle is a great level. However Celebrity's Elite and Elite Plus now have very few real perks. Zenith will hopefully get lounge access back once the pandemic passes, hopefully. With losing so much money it will be curious to see how Pins are handled going forward. For my 2021 cruises I'm expecting we'll lose CK access but hoping we retain Suite Lounge access. Time will tell.

I'm certain I would have made a backhanded under breath but loud enough for her to hear comment. I am constantly scolding my wife for double dipping in sauce we are sharing... Heck, even if it's her own personal helping! Dip once, and only once.

Already today there are countries that ask you to get vaccine before you can enter. For example , if you traveled to Brazil and you want to enter India after (and not just India) they can ask you to show proof that you got yellow fever vaccine otherwise they can ask you to be quarantine.

Considering that over 40% refuse to take the vaccine, that’s a big chunk of the population the cruise lines can’t really afford to disenfranchise. It’ll be interesting for sure to see what happens. For me personally, my immune system has already “attacked” me twice. First was Graves Disease in which my immune system destroyed my thyroid. 4 years ago I had a grade 4 severe reaction to a cancer immunotherapy that almost killed me. My immune system went out of control and attacked all my muscles resulting in severe muscle wasting. I don’t want to inject ANYTHING that might stimulate my immune system. My days of cruising may be over if it’s mandated. I’m not willing to risk any more immune related adverse events.

Thats great news!! Thank you so much!!

Man!!!! I am really hoping for the Navigator!!! We are booked for March 8,2021 .. cutting it cloooose for the moment.

Surprised the British Empire aren't sending their COVID patients here. I hear there are a few unused ships around at the moment.

COVID edition. So you don't have to come back until the weekend is over.

If they require the flu shot, then I'm out of cruising for the foreseeable future. Never had one in my life and I don't believe that it's even for free on the NHS for people of my age group. They've never required it before, why now?

How times have changed! Used to be the only thing you needed to get into Oz was a criminal Record ?

No one can argue with doctors and Nurses being given the vaccine before others! they hope to have everyone vaccinated by easter so its not that far away ? With regards how they are rolling out vaccine, you cannot expect them to get that right when they have made a complete mess of everything else

This is correct. All the trials to date were on adults 18 and over, and children haven't yet had their own trial. There's a similar gap for pregnant women, who obviously weren't allowed in the initial trials because of potential risks to the unborn child. What I heard in an interview with Dr. Fauci a week or two back is that they expect to have a rather fast study on children starting around March. It will be faster than the adult trials, because they already have the baseline on effective adult dosage and work backward from there for age-appropriate doses to give children in various age groups.

Just did a lift and shift to Odyssey on Jan 23 2022

Hi Cyrus, i'm sailing star class in 5 days time. My genie has confirmed that ifly and north star are still part of the star class experience.

I see the RCL stock price is down about 2% on news of your cancellations... ?

I still see both. It can vary depending on what ship you are on. If your ship doesn't have a PADI dive shop on board Scuba might not be offered. They participate in the prep work to validate your pass and often do the dive itself. Snorkeling is available to everyone. I bring my own mask, fins, snorkel so when I snorkel I just wade in and go (no charge). I have a set of snorkel fins that are easier to pack for when I don't scuba. If you don't want to bring your gear it is $39 for all day snorkel in November. Scuba pricing is way up for November 2021. Nearly $70 now. It was ~$40 two years ago. I use it to keep my pass active. In the past when it was $40 it was a no brainer way to have a yearly dive in the log book. Now at $70 it's getting too expensive - I'd rather do a proper dive on a different itinerary.

Chris Wong said in his latest YouTube video that he's heard Mariner and Navigator as well. Quantum is the real first test. I'm sure the CDC is watching what will happen on those sailings.

SOO agree with this

The Shiplife YT channel is speculating Navigator and Mariner

that is the perfect answer, No one knows. I think we will find out when we find out. I would assume Matt will be on it as he has all the other news he picks up. Thanx again Matt, and who ever he gets his info from.

No one knows. We can all post our own assertions and our own version of facts to support our own assertions and it's possible someone will post the right guess. We'll know in February who was right and who was wrong. Until then it's all guesses.