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Wishing everyone a fantastic new year. May those who suffered loss this past year due to the pandemic find peace. May those who have lost jobs because of it find new and better work. May those who have suffered from empty wallets and empty stomachs find both full again. May those who have dealt with more stress, fear, sadness, and anger than they’ve known in their lives find peace, joy, and relief. And please, may we all turn to cruising sooner than hoped for.

I would like to take a moment to wish everyone a very Happy and Healthy 2021! May this year bring us all back to the sea...enjoying what we love the most with...family, friends, each other...celebrating good times, and CRUISING!!! ? ?️

Memories, like the corners of my mind ...

It finally stopped raining this morning, and we wound up getting 3.5-4" of rain. The water that has accumulated is draining well on its own. The benches and ledge look to be intact so I think we're ok. We should be on track to start plumbing and put in rebar next week.

Our patience will continue to be required now that we are in 2021. There are a lot of variables that will influence the timeline forward. Cruising will restart when all the pieces fall into place.

Happy New Year!!!

Because they weren't vaccinated?

Perhaps the most intoxicated I’ve ever been was on sovereign. Way back in 1998. Stopped at key west. Hit up Sloppy Joe’s, Margaritaville then back to Sloppy Joe’s. Ended up with a Polaroid of me sitting with a boa constrictor around my shoulders, an iguana on my lap and a parrot on my head. Only $20 for the pic ?

As a Respiratory Therapist for the past 16+ years in Montreal I appreciate every nice word you said. 2020 has been the longest 5 years of my life! Lol

Actually, no. If nothing else, my hospital's cases of flu admissions are WAAAAY down -- I don't recall a single pediatric admission this season yet, and that is extremely unusual for this time of year. And that, I directly attribute to masking, social distancing, and remote schooling.

I am certain $$$$ come into play somehow, but aseptically filling vials is a very difficult thing to do at scale. The companies who do it have extremely expensive equipment plus a dedicated highly trained and skillful workforce (taking years, sometime decades, to develop). Wide "distribution" of the formula will not help produce more vials of vaccine available quickly. The good news is the number of available dosages is not the bottleneck. How "fast can we jab" is dictated by the logistics of getting the vaccines to where they are required (we seem to have this figured out), and then having enough trained people to administer them (this is definitely the bottleneck currently). More good news ... soon (within a month or two) we will have shifted those courageous health care professionals from saving us to injecting us ( I guess that saves us too ?). I am certain they will be extremely happy to make that change in their daily routine. To all the health care professionals out there, I do not say it nearly enough, you are very much appreciated. It is impossible for anyone to not notice your dedication and bravery. We are forever in your debt. Curt from Canada

Never has heart disease, aspirin overdose, falling down stairs, etc, put the kind of pressure on hospitals where patients had to be put into hospital gift stores due to lack of actual hospital rooms in which to put patients. You cannot compare an infectious disease to other most other medical problems. In all of my years doing 911 I don't remember ever running out of ambulances so often or having so many hospitals tell them to divert because they were full, and they can't find anywhere to divert to. That's the core of the problem.

Thanks for the kind words

If you have a FCC applied from a previous sailing, and then the new sailing is cancelled, you get the original FCC back in its original amount. You then get 125% FCC for the cash you paid on top of the FCC that was applied. So no, you cannot keep multiplying your FCC and growing it with subsequent cancellations.

The 125% from the first reschedule will stay the same, there will not be an additional 25% added for a cancellation of a reschedule. We have had 5 reschedules now from last year (wow it really is 2021) and only have received the first 25% additional monies. Wish it would keep adding up but realistically they are not going to give away the farm to keep you rescheduling. The latest blurb from the higher ups at RCCL indicates that they have had more interest and bookings now that the vaccine has come out than ever before, so I expect pricing to reflect that and go higher. Only additional extra money we have received in all this was some bonus onboard credit above and beyond the 125%. We were really, really nice to the agent at RCCL when we had to cancel the last cruise that was supposed to leave two days from now and he gave some additional OBC to use on the rescheduled cruise later in the year. Always say it pays to be nice to the people at the office and not complain and yell like so many are apt to do. My mom always said honey attracts bees better than vinegar. ?

Is this 2021 turning to 2020 and saying "Here, hold my beer"?

A lot of airports here in the US have COVID testing on site now. Hopefully that will help.

Could my cruise be added as well please? Anthem of the Seas February 11th, 2022

Hopefully in 2021, we will all be back on a cruise ship at some point. Happy New Year everyone!

Being able to catch / infect other people with a disease within a month of being vaccinated IS NOT NEW. It takes a while for your body to build up antibodies to a new disease, and why babies / children need booster shots of a lot of them. For babies, it's partly because their immune systems are immature, and therefore can't respond with as robust a response to a vaccine. The same happens with the elderly, or any immunocompromised patient. My older DD takes a medication for one of her conditions that has, as a side effect, immune lowering effects. She's one reason I was vaccinated as soon as I could be -- to protect her and the rest of my family -- and she will be getting vaccinated as soon as I can arrange it -- partial immunity is better than nothing. And, as another commenter mentioned, the more people vaccinated, the better - -it protects those people who can't get the vaccine, since spread is limited. Anti-vaxxers are one reason we've had measles outbreaks in the recent past. Not trying to tell anyone what to do, but did want to drop my opinion and some info into this discussion.

WE WILL PERSEVERE!!! My husband got his Monday (Moderna) and mine will be in a week and a half (Pfizer). Husband still has two eyes and all four limbs!!! Lol!!! If we notice any differences, I will let you all know! Both of us are in medical and cannot wait to be vaccinated. I am so curious what the new guidelines for cruising will be!!! We are very hopeful that we will be able to see safe cruising by EOY 2021!!! Sending you all happy thoughts and virtual hugs! Drew

No, just supports the awfulness of this virus and makes you wonder what may occur if the world did treat it as another flu.

Sure use 2020 as a timeline for your point but fact is currently COVID is the no 1 killer in America. 3880 in the last 24 hours and a quarter of a million cases. No amount of measures is going to allow cruising or normality in general to return without a succesful vaccine or herd immunity is reached.

If enough people were it might, but they're not, so it doesn't. ??

Heart disease is the result of personal choices made consistently by an individual over several decades. Covid-19 is highly contagious and will take you out within a month, through no fault of your own.

But even with these controls in place we are seeing days of over 3000 deaths from covid. Those numbers make it the number 1 killer in the USA. Not only this heart disease is a build up of many years of things and doesnt kill you in a week.

What I'm saying is that we've over reacted. People dying is never a laughing matter, but it also needs to be kept in perspective. We don't go in to a panic over the leading cause of death in the USA (heart disease) even though it is largely preventable. People just don't worry enough about it enough to take proper care of themselves. However, people will go in to a total panic, lockdown, financial ruin, depression, etc. out of fear for the pandemic, even though statistically there is much less risk that other problems. I think the reason is 2 fold: 1. People are very bad at weighing relative risks. This is especially true when the nightly news is set up to scare everyone to death. They overestimate their chances of succumbing to COVID and underestimate their chances of succumbing to more mundane issues. 2. People have been led to believe that science can fix anything. Therefore, if we just let science solve this, life will be good. The truth is we've never been able to beat a virus in such a short time. It is simply astounding how quickly the drug companies have developed the vaccine. However, the advice to lock down, mask up, etc. is beginning to look less like science and more like the dance of an ancient medicine man.

Are we trying to say here that because people die from taking Aspirin, heart attacks and falling down stairs that we will just let people get COVID-19 and die? I am not a hater of cruising and the cruise industry. Cruising has been my recreation of choice and I miss it terribly. In fact, I'm booked for the Odyssey in November 2021. But until I gain enough confidence that I will not be a carrier of this coronavirus, I will do my part and abide by the guidelines for mitigating its spread, however insufficient and controversial they may be. They're all we've got at the moment. I will wear a mask when needed, keep distance from people outside of my social bubble, and put my cruise activities on hold.

Same here! Also cruising on March 28 (Allure). Hope it doesn't mean it's a no go....

I understand your point, but... What would the death toll have been without any mitigation? I don't know. I'm not sure anyone does. NZ could say the same thing. Any entire country locked down, implemented restrictions, banned INTL travel, etc. Was that all a waste? A big scam? Not trying to argue, just curious if you think all the countries that have managed better are just faking their low numbers or if countries that have or claim to have elevated number are faking it?

I am going to try a positive spin on this (with some less than positive "bits of data"): 1). The Vaccines (and there will be many of them) are proving to be safe and extremely effective. No amount of distancing and masking will shut down COVID 19. These temporary measures (probably for longer than we would like) are to protect: Us from a runaway pandemic ... giving the scientists time to develop the vaccines. Our health care systems ... Italy's almost collapsed early on. And, with great importance, our health care workers ... each and everyone of us should be thanking them daily. I can't imagine how I would react in their situation. 2). Some jurisdictions have done an amazing job of minimizing transmission. So much so that they are already starting up cruises. Not the exact way we would want to cruise, but the "canary in the cave" is doing very well. Below is some encouraging and disappointing "bits of data": Singapore .............Total Deaths/100,000: 5 [They are sailing now] New Brunswick ... Total Deaths/100,000: 10 [if St. John were a home port we could be sailing around the Maritimes now] ? Ontario ..................Total Deaths/100,000: 303 [Not good enough ... should be closer to NB results] Canada ................. Total Deaths/100,000: 402 [Skewed higher by some terrible results in Quebec] USA ...................... Total Deaths/100,000: 1,021 [The main reason the cruising industry is shutdown ... 75% of worldwide cruises originate in the USA. Once Vaccines are available, and allowed to do their job, we will be cruising again] My soulmate and I have cruises booked in NOV 2021, APR 2022 and MAY 2022. Looking at Winter 2022 as well (we are open to influence) ? There is light at the end of the tunnel (and it is not an oncoming train). Safe Safe, Stay Apart, Stay Connected, Curt from Canada

Depends if your mother is a doctor or not.

I object to the use of the term "force". "Require" is a much better term. Since cruising is a voluntary activity, nobody's ever "forced" to do anything.

Will RC force passengers to take the vaccine in order to cruise? OMG I certainly hope so.

Ummm... Lawyers, explain please?!?

It seems to me that the CSO may not apply to foreign vessels as they intended. On page 28 of the CSO in the section Applying for a COVID-19 Conditional Sailing Certificate part (4) states: (4) A copy of the USCG Certificate of Inspection issued in accordance with 46 CFR § 2.01-5 that was in effect for the six months preceding the application. The problem is that 46 CFR § 2.01-5 applies to United States vessels where as 46 CFR § 2.01-6 applies to foreign vessels. I'm not sure a foreign vessel can even get a COI as they tend to sail under the COC in accordance with international conventions. It also seems the CDC really harps on and on about 18 U.S.C. § 1001. It's like a junior lawyer went crazy fresh out of law school. Ironically the vessels that can get a COI under 46 CFR § 2.01-5 are part of the fleet of smaller American cruise companies doing mostly river cruisers yet many ships in their fleet have less than 250 combined passenger capacity so the CSO does not apply to them. So that begs the question if only United States vessels can apply under the CSO? They may have out lawyered themselves with this one.

Kl however Having dealt in H&S for a number of years, being Nebosh Certified, having written Risk Assessments and safety procedures in line with various government regulations, carried out safety Audits and incident investigations i can honestly say the part you posted didnt say what you said it did. But hey what do i know ?

Few points on this: Cruise lines already have some boilerplate language in their cruise passenger contracts that states passengers are responsible for having all vaccinations required by destination ports before boarding (e.g., you need a "yellow card" in your passport when traveling to Ghana, showing you got the required Yellow Fever vaccination; not the best example when there are no cruises to Ghana that I'm aware of, but it's a real example my daughter ran into). So even if the cruise lines themselves don't make any explicit statements about this, and even allow you to board without any proof at all, you could find yourself stuck on board when you get to the destination port of your dreams because they require proof of vaccination and you never got the vaccine or brought whatever proof was needed. Be sure to do all due diligence about your destination ports before boarding, and if you want to be able to cancel with full refund then do it before final payment date. Be reassured that while the news about people having anaphylaxis reactions to the shot are making big headlines, the actual percentage of people this is happening to is quite small compared to the number of shots already given. High single-digit / barely double-digit numbers of allergic reactions, vs. hundreds of thousands of injections so far. The concern is mostly coming from the fact that some of the people who've had bad reactions never reacted to a vaccine shot before now. Scientists are already scrambling to put together a study and isolate the cause, so we'll likely have an initial answer in a few months. I realize that cruising out of the US is a big focus here because we're principally a US- and Canada-based forum; but keep in mind that even if the US takes an extra year to get our spit together, cruising out of other countries (IMO) has a much better chance of getting back in shape by next summer simply because those other countries have been getting their spit together and working their butts off to keep cases decently low. Now that the vaccine is going out, I think there'll be a better shot of being able to take a cruise overseas next year than we'll ever see out of the US; but you can bet your bippy that the government of whatever country you sail out of in '21 (and quite possibly '22) will be demanding proof of vaccination before letting you in, no matter what country you hail from.

While it is true as Twangster points out that the mRNA vaccines (the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines currently in circulation) won't "neutralize" SARS-CoV-2 no vaccine in history has been introduced with eradication as an absolute endpoint. Disease eradication is a result of limiting the pathogenicity of a virus until it is no longer capable of producing a disease, e.g., polio, TB. If you read about such things, there are still polio and TB outbreaks that are a result of populations in sufficient scale not receiving polio or TB vaccines. Malaria is another example. The disease or pathogen seems to disappear until it reappears. There is no vaccine but it is preventable with widely employed mitigation measures and pharmaceutical prophylaxis. HIV is another - no vaccine but transmission is preventable with condum use and medications to reduce viral load in infected persons making them less likely to spread the disease. The cruise industry has laid out exactly how it intends to prevent and contain C-19 on its cruise ships if allowed to re-start cruising. That's a start. Think back to the WHO goal of "flattening the curve" articulated in February and March. The point of that was to keep hospitals and medical staff that were treating COVID-19 patients from being overwhelmed. It's a good thing to keep that in mind. The same thing applies with the current goal for SARS-CoV-2 vaccines with a slightly more ambitious goal. Keeping people out of the hospital altogether so that the disease that SARS-CoV-2 produces, C-19, is benign enough to be much like the common cold. That goal is entirely achievable with a vaccine just like it is with the Influenza vaccines that targets the H1N1 pathogen. The disappearance of the SARS-CoV-2 pathogen may ensue, it may not. That all depends on it's survival trajectory which is only now being studied. Are we to expect the cruise lines to eradicate the virus on board it's ships for them to re-start cruising? Nope. he CDC asked the cruise lines to come up with protocols to reduce the risks that COVID would be introduced to shipboard life by passengers or crew and that if a case developed it could be adequately contained and the infected could be disembarked without causing undue burden on port facilities and local hospitals. They did that. This concept is important to understand as it relates to the question of whether cruise lines, upon resumption of revenue operations, will require vaccines to board a ship. I believe that they won't because they believe their layered approach is already pretty good. The cruise lines don't currently require immunizations for influenza or many other common pathogens still floating around out there. It is a passenger's responsibility to comply with local port of call immunizations should that passenger want to disembark in a local requiring specific immunizations to do so. There is, however, a larger question that bears upon restarting at all let alone the question of requiring or not requiring a vaccine. Will the CDC require the COVID pandemic to be at an end in the US before cruises can restart - vaccine or not? If so, when will the COVID pandemic be declared at an end? By definition, a pandemic ends when the virus responsible for it is no longer prevalent. Right now, although it varies by country, a community spread ends when prevalence is < 5%. Another way to look at that is the number of tests it takes to find 1 active COVID-19 case. Experts seem to think that if you're only finding 1 case in 150 to 200 tests administered, the virus is contained. The US has a long way to go before national prevalence rate is < 5% or we're only finding one C_19 case in every 150 or so tests. National prevalence is about 10% right now. Some states with very high prevalence rates skew the national average upward. New cases are running about one in every 50-90 tests nationally. In FL the state average is about 9% and in Broward County, home of Port Everglades, its between 6.5% and 8% most of the time. In Miami its close to the state average, in Orlando, closer to Broward Co. I point this out to illustrate how the restart of cruising shouldn't be pegged on national but rather local prevalence rates, vaccine requirements or not. The CDC may stand on a national prevalence rate, though, now that a vaccine is available. Local numbers would be better indicators for a restart. Local numbers < 5% are probably achievable but it's going to take a while. If we can get past the hysteria of the holiday surge, we're going to see numbers back under 5% in FL counties hosting cruise ports probably by mid-February, early March. Caribbean ports will be next and European ports will follow prevalence rates in US ports. I'd urge folks to watch these prevalence numbers by country, region, state and county then keep an eye on the mood of the CDC to find out when it's likely cruising will restart and when it does if there will be a vaccine mandate to board.

Most people in developed nations never encounter it when international travel is mainstream or between other developed nations. When a citizen of certain countries travel internationally or you visit specific regions vaccinations are a common requirement to travel. More importantly we don't know yet if current vaccines are neutralizing. Does a vaccine "kill" the virus or does the vaccine simply turn someone into a asymptomatic carrier still capable of spreading the virus? We know vaccines stop an individual from suffering from the worst symptoms and effects of the virus but we don't know if vaccines neutralize the virus on contact. The data isn't in yet, the science hasn't been studied. We don't know yet. Airlines face the same questions. They fear that if a vaccine isn't neutralizing then a vaccine requirement to travel doesn't prevent spread or protect the destination area if that destination hasn't vaccinated their population. If that's the case then travel still needs to be restricted.

Here are some mRNA vaccine facts but before we list them, some background on DNA and RNA. DNA encodes all genetic information, and is the blueprint from which all biological life is created. And that’s only in the short-term. In the long-term, DNA is a storage device, a biological flash drive that allows the blueprint of life to be passed between generations2. RNA functions as the reader that decodes this flash drive. This reading process is multi-step and there are specialized RNAs for each of these steps. https://www.technologynetworks.com/genomics/lists/what-are-the-key-differences-between-dna-and-rna-296719 To put this into the context of the question can an mRNA vaccine change your DNA? The answer is no. That is because mRNA has as no roll in altering DNA. It is possible to alter DNA by splicing in different base pairs made up of two nucleosides. RNA or mRNA vaccines can't do that carrying only multiples of single nucleoside - square peg in a round hole. Won't happen. The primary roll of RNA, specifically messenger or mRNA is building proteins essential for biologic functions of the human body. mRNA and traditional vaccines: mRNA vaccines represent a novel vaccine technology that does not rely on any type of traditional deactivated virus to provoke an immune response in humans. This approach to neutralizing a virus and limiting or eliminating viral epidemics/pandemics has never been treid before. As noted above, the mRNA injected into humans as a vaccine co-opts the regular cellular function of RNA (coding for the production of proteins) and produces the S or spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 that then circulates in the body. The body recognizes this as foreign and its presence provokes an adaptive immune system antibody response and an innate immune system T-Cell response. The human body is now primed for the real thing and when it arrives it is almost immediately neutrlaized. The AstraZenaca vaccine is a traditional one that contains a deactivated virus from monkeys (a vector) that has been infected with the common corona or cold virus. When injected into humans, the vector causes the cellular production of the S or spike protein that is common to SARS-CoV-2. The mechanism of action is the same as an mRNA vaccine. The body recognizes this as foreign and its presence provokes an adaptive immune system antibody response and an innate immune system T-Cell response. The human body is now primed for the real thing and when it arrives it is almost immediately neutralized. More important vaccine facts: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/different-vaccines/mrna.html

If it does I am hoping for the super hero "flying" ability.. That would be cool!

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/caribbean-volcanoes-st-vincent-grenadines-la-soufriere-martinique-mount-pelee-b1781214.html%3famp St vincent and Martinique got warning on volcanoes eruption. Let's hope everything will be Ok .

Another hurdle for Canadians considering international travel. Travelers will have to obtain a negative PCR test before arriving back to Canada. Will Royal offer PCR tests and their own lab onboard on their ships? https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/garneau-negative-test-airline-1.5858379

Makes me wonder if we would have already moved on had the virus been allowed to just run its natural course like a standard flu (which is also a coronavirus, BTW).

BTW, doesn't this support the point that the controls (i.e. masking, social distancing, lockdowns, etc.) are as ineffective as a medicine man doing a dance?