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Yes, the crew as many as 60 have tested positive and only 3 passengers. So, I hate the media reporting on this yes, there are positives but how many people are really on this ship? How many people are healthy because like them or not their actions/protocols seem to be working. If cruising soon just know and accept its going to be different. If you are stressed about missing things like shows and ports then pass. But if you can roll with just sitting on your balcony in the sunshine and warm breezes, listening to the ocean by all means, do it!

Finally home, unpacked, had dinner with the girls and wanted to get this post in before the Christmas festivities begin tomorrow. I mentioned earlier that I was anxious about crossing the land border back into Canada. With Omicron, Canada has been all over the place with ever changing travel rules and then only randomly implementing them. Because we did technically travel outside the US (to the Bahamas), I was not sure if that would cause quarantine if we were randomly selected to complete an arrival PCR test. As the language on CBSA stands right now, anyone who has been outside of the US may be selected for arrival testing and then would be required to quarantine while waiting for test results. With Christmas Eve being tomorrow and lots of plans with the family, I was worried that a quarantine while I await test results would mess things up for everyone. Anyway, happy to report that while the land border crossing was super long (almost an hour wait to cross), when we got to the booth, they simply looked at our PCR results, checked our passports, asked how long we were gone for, and the value of goods purchased. Then they thanked us for completing our ArriveCAN app properly and sent us on our way. No arrival test required! So thankful that everything has gone so smoothly from start to finish on this one. This “new normal” of travelling is a bit stressful lol.

@ChrisK2793 I second this. Based in Florida and living our lives. My daughter has attended high school in person and (gasp) no masks. Totally a choice for families, while we are not arrogant about the situation and do our best to respect others while going about living. We are on this ship right now (Odyssey) and our days are pretty packed. We wait in long lines but participated in the bumper cars multiple sessions, I fly, the jumpy thing and the shows that aren't canceled. Morning walks on running track. No isolation, no sir, no way.

I third this…. If that’s a thing. I know our state makes big headlines but our family went maskless everywhere as soon as it was allowed and no issues. I cancelled our Harmony NYE cruise today because even though I wasnt thrilled about the masking, I cannot justify spending over $10k for missed ports and lack of onboard entertainment. Did not pitch a fit over the no refund policy this close to sailing and simplify rolled it to the odyssey next NYE. Nothing Royal or anyone of us can do about the current situation, it’s just bad timing for the industry. My daughter is crushed but at least our Alaska cruise in August went off without a hitch. Going to go celebrate NYE at a little jazz club in Melbourne maskless and happy this year. Here’s hoping for the spring break cruise in March to be better. I hope everyone enjoys their holiday week, no matter what their decisions!!

UPDATE: Good morning - I want to thank everyone who let me "vent" about my recent situation with Royal Caribbean. Since my former friend was able to access and cancel my 40th anniversary cruise (since she had been provided the reservation number to link to our reservation) I have been doing everything in my power to have someone from RCCL just hear me out and take the time to investigate my claim. This finally happened. I reached out to an advocacy group - the Elliott Advocacy Group - for help. Michelle Friedman took the time to review every document that I had provided RCCL in hopes of at least getting my $200 deposit back. I am happy to report that the Chairperson of the Resolutions Department at RCCL reached out to me with a formal apology and stated that she and other staff members actually took the time to review and listened to the cancelation voice recordings. Although they were not able to provide me with a copy of the actual recording they were now convinced that it was not me that phoned in the cancelation. RCCL also offered to reinstate my original reservation - they were not able to offer the cabin on the back of the ship since it had already been sold - at the cost that we paid back in 2020. Since we had already rebooked a cruise for the same week on a different ship they applied an additional $200 to the balance we owed and even provided us with a $100 on board credit. I am so glad that this is finally over. They too were surprised that someone would stoop that low and be that hateful. So this restores my faith in RCCL and the groups that advocate for others. Not sure that without the help of the Elliott Advocacy Group I would have ever received a response from RCCL - but I did and I am happy with their response and the outcome -so time to close this case and move on - looking forward to sailing in 2022. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all! - rita

@Neesa- Thank you for keeping us updated on all of this, and maintaining such a fantastic attitude!

^^^THIS RIGHT HERE!^^^ Sums it all up IMO.

Totally not the case on Odyssey right now, corporate must have made a call. I have never witnessed so much security posted within the ship. All crew seems to be addressing masks, and most are compliant. We were at Sorrentos sitting at a table having some tea, masks off of course. Mr. Cabash stands up without mask on and while reaching into his back pocket to get it to put on a staff member was on him, made me chuckle. Very serious right now and they are being worn correctly, you don't see a nose! I haven't used lipstick thus entire sailing:) They let us know all movies are complementary too if you want to stay in your cabin. I'm typing this from my balcony. I must say I feel the ship is handling this well. While disappointing I feel safe and still enjoying. Going to a Tap show they added to the schedule at 1500. Yes. Added. Nice.

As the title states .... another ship begins revenue sailings today, and another US Port gets back into operation. Although, in the case of Baltimore, Carnival has been back for about a month, today is the first revenue sailing for a Royal Caribbean Ship.

Hello. We won our Royal Up to Star Class. I didn't come close to making the maximum bid, so feeling pretty good. We had already been in contact with Ricardo and Edwin, our concierges for Sky Class. Now that we are Star Class, will we be receiving any info from our Genie, or will that take place once we board?

Just got off the Anthem and received an email on the way home that my bid for next week has been successful. I had bid on every category available and hoped something worked. So now I’m solo in a two bedroom grand suite that has capacity for eight. Oh, well…I’ll give my luggage it’s own bedroom and bathroom. I went from a JS to the 2bd GS. I received the notification that my bid was accepted exactly one week from the sail date.

Today, 69 crew members and 3 new guest cases. Our FCC just arrived! Booking another sailing!!

Friday morning update, pool decks still packed, even the chairs in the pools solarium included have clothes and towels reserving them, I get it it is gorgeous outside getting your vitamin D. I am back on my huge balcony as I wasn't enjoying the pool deck that way, not my personal choice. So they added a show, Tap Factory so we reserved it at 1530 which is cool because so many shows have been canceled. I ordered the Evian water and was given cans of royal spring water and 15.00 obc credit. It doesn't taste "canny" I was pleasantly surprised. The tree is beautiful; dining at Chops tonight as it is Mr. Cabash birthday today. This morning upon returning to room we were gifted 2 pretty royal water bottles as well as notification of carols & mass. They have mentioned our friends in the Jewish faith holiday and there is a beautiful large menorah.

I just wanted to follow up on this as you know from my previous posts on this thread, this was something I was legitimately concerned about. We got off Allure yesterday 12/23/2021: We flew round trip from DTW-FLL, and we used the Ambassador Bridge to cross back and forth. On the way there, the only question asked was, “What was the last date of your second vaccinations?” No documents needed other than passports. On the way home yesterday, when we got to the booth, we had our ArriveCAN app filled out prior. Yes, it does ask you what countries you visited, and yes, we listed the US and the Bahamas. We also had in hand our PCR results (from Allure the day before), and our passports. They asked for our passports. First question was , “Where do you live?” Second question was, “How long were you away for?” Third question was, “What is the value of goods you are bringing in?” Fourth question was, “What is the value of the most expensive good?” Fifth question was, “Can I see your PCR results?” We gave him the paper copy. After taking about 30 seconds or so to look at our results, he gave them back, handed back our passports, thanked us for completing our ArriveCAN app properly, and informed us that we had not been selected for random testing and we were on our way.

First Grievance….they seem to be out of buffalo trace….and there is only two…days….left! but I still got more problems so stay tuned!!

May your stockings be full and your tests be negative

I figured it out. Somehow it went to the secondary guests last name. Got my bid in!

We did 4 tests on Wednesday. Each person = new call. The most I waited was 5 minutes

Thank you ! Same right back to you, @Cruisin and Boozin! Merry Christmas to everyone !

I can understand that! I’ve made it a point to NOT accept any FCC’s due to RCCl inability to issue correct amounts, tracking and distribution of credit amounts (They (RC) spread out on previous FCC into 3 separate cruise, which the original amount could have been used on 1 sailing. Needless to say TA wasn’t happy with that process, which I couldn’t blame him.

Have a wonderful Christmas To those sailing, stay safe, have patience and make the best of it

Update; Just got off the Anthem and parking in Port Liberty garage is still $25 a day.

Happy Christmas Eve Day everyone. It’s Day 6 already and it’s a sea day for us. I think Bingo may finally be offered today. Shane mentioned that it was only being offered on the final 2 sea days. We hope to do mini golf and maybe the flow rider. We are scheduled to eat at 150 Central Park for the first time and are really looking forward to Frozen on Ice. I am off to the relaxation room shortly and will report back.

I think this would not be something they would do. Each person must have their own account and the proctor carefully watches each person, after scanning QR codes, etc - then they "put you on hold" during the waiting time and when it's over another proctor will come back and interpret your results. Having more than one person on the same call would make this very confusing. That being said, people can log on at the same time on different devices and do them with individual proctors on their own accounts and get them all done at the same time.

Rising Tide Bar With the cancelled Aqua Showtime we decided to experience the Rising Tide Bar for the first time. It goes from deck 5-8 with stops on deck 5&8. I wasn’t sure if Reyd could join but Shane contacted his beverage manager and made it happen. Shane met us there; he is so good at always popping up.

@NeesaSounds like you caught some bad luck on this one. I'm glad you are making the best of it. There are worse things than being caught on a cruise ship in a 2 br GS but I'm sure you wish you could have made your port stops.

Sorry we missed Maho today…just decide to get some rest and enjoy the ship, looked amazing!

Aqua Showtime (Encore) Postponed due to technical difficulties which Shane said was due to movement of the ship and water. It’s been rescheduled to Saturday night. Hoping the scheduling will work as their is OTS Christmas Showtime that night as well. It’s instances like this where having a genie is do helpful. I just know Shane will make things work.

Family Comedy - Paul Agato ️️️️️ You guys are probably wondering why I am giving everything 5 ️ Ratings but honestly everything has been outstanding. There really has not been a dining or entertainment experience (other than Cats) that hasn’t been worthy of this rating. This show didn’t disappoint. Holy smokes he was funny. It felt good to laugh for 45 minutes without a mask on and see other people do the same. **Once again masking on deck 4 in Royal Theatre is optional regardless of whether consuming a beverage. Masking is mandatory on deck 5 (unvaccinated) and parties are asked to socially distance.

For the ultimate star class experience, The Flying Fox can be chartered for a cool $3,500,000 a week

This is kind of a funny story that mothers may relate to. Reyd and Lindsay were on the beach watching to video the planes. I was at the loungers watching our stuff. I swear it was mothers intuition but I look up as a large plane takes off and see this young person holding onto their hat and glasses running to stay upright as the jet blast pushed him into right the ocean. It took me a few seconds to realize it was my Reyd! He says the sand burn and heat blast is real. His legs are well exfoliated and burnt. Lindsay got caught up in it to a lesser extent but he went into protection mode and thankfully kept my iPhone 13 safe. At least they got their moneys worth. These will make for great stories when we return home.

Maho Beach Plane Spotting ️️️️️ We booked this excursions through the cruise planner. Shane met us in our suite and accompanied us to the meeting spot. It is about a 35 minute drive but that is dependent on traffic. Our return trip was closer to an hour. The amenities are very basic but we didn’t book the excursion for cabanas, attendants or any type of upscale experience. The objective was to experience lots of planes and boy did we ever! I stopped counting at 20 arrivals. Flights ranged from smaller private jets to larger flights from Delta, United and a 787 from Air France. When we arrived we booked 3 loungers with umbrellas for a coat of $10 per person. It was a good decision as it provided much needed shade. This was a great excursion but once is enough; we would try something new next time. You are instructed to wear masks as you board the bus but there is no enforcement. Several removed or lowered their masks. We had to put our stateroom # on a seating chart provided at the beginning. Likely for close contact purposes. They organize transportation for vaccinated and unvaccinated. We were on a vaccinated bus. On our return trip the guest sitting behind Reyd and I was sick to her stomach. I moved seats and hope it was just a case of too much sun or motion sickness. If there is a trick to uploading videos let me know; so far I have not had any luck. I have a couple good ones. Edited to add You Tube videos https://youtu.be/ewiSWOsB7ug https://youtu.be/a9DyvsW9_QE https://youtu.be/YNYvNtbZm4Q

As someone who rarely gets off the ship in the Caribbean, this change wouldn't bother me at all. Except that no one can get off the ship, and I need you all to leave the ship in the Caribbean so I can have the hot tubs to myself!!!

Merry Christmas to all and a Happy Healty Pofitable New Year!!!

To each one of you and your family have a very merry Christmas!!

@Ampurp85 yes the OBC was because they sold me Evian but gave me something else, nice gesture. There are 3 of us in the cabin and they gave 2 bottles, so I believe it may be 2 per cabin.. I'm not a "crowds" person anyway, I am enjoying my huge balcony in this 2 bedroom grand suite.

BINGO Today was the first day Bingo was offered and the line ups were huge. Shane took care of getting us cards and dobbers and we were able to bypass that huge line and head right to the first row of the theatre. Our friend Robert was in that huge line but Shane quickly pulled him out of it. Shane truly is one of a kind. Once Bingo began it only took 30 minutes to get through the 3 games. We had lunch plans at Hibachi for noon but given the long ticket sales line Bingo was delayed until noon. Shane worked behind the scenes to reschedule us for 12:30 and spoke to the Bingo host about speeding the games along. #teamShane #genielife **Bingo was an unvaccinated activity held in the Royal Theatre so the Bingo host gently reminded everyone to wear their masks.

Merry Christmas Eve, fellow cruisers - we will be boarding the Harmony on Dec 26th and will do our best to keep the ship in good shape for everyone. We took our eMeds home tests this morning and we are good to go. The results came back almost before we signed off after taking the test. See you on Jan 2nd. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

BREAKING NEWS ALERT! We have a Christmas Miracle here too (well other than actually getting out of dry dock). Woke up this morning to do our usual post cruise weigh in... Hubby +5 Me -1 Say what?! Not sure how that is possible but I will take it! lol

Son just signed up for his proctored at home test. His wait time is given at 50 minutes. Bottom line, don't wait until later in the day. Hope everyone on these boards gets their negative tests and is sailing soon. Merry Christmas!

Yeah, I just went back to my menu pictures from Odyssey in November and it was still on there. Maybe they just didn’t want Sabrina to have all of her fun on one short cruise.

Still to come: Airing of grievances and feats of strength.

Chops ️️️️️ Our selections looked much like they did the first time so I won’t repost a bunch of pictures. Always a great choice and one of our favorite specialty dining venues. We are eating their Christmas Day and weather permitting Shane is going to seat us outside. Honestly everything we have consumed throughout our cruise has been excellent.

A solid deal by RCI, especially considering they, as a business is not responsible for the decisions of those countries.

The rooftop garden was cool, but it gets really windy up there so you don’t hang out for long.

I'm sure it does lead to more requests. On the flip side I'm sure it has increased guest satisfaction due to being able to send these requests. Somewhat reminds me of being able to order room service from the TV versus having to call.

This is one thing Hubby and I discussed. Way easier to text them rather than call for a request. But then from the Genie perspective, we wondered if this leads to a lot more requests for that very reason. Because people feel bad calling for small things but texting makes is so easy. For example, one night Hubby just wanted a milkshake and if we had to call her, we wouldn’t have done it. But it was so easy to send a text and say, “Smitha can you please have JR send up a chocolate shake.”

I don't think Royal will cancel anything unless the CDC makes them. And if they do you will know because I'll just be at my desk crying forever. I can't deal with FCCs anymore

Wishing for the 'good ole days' when all we worried about was Norovirus, those were the days.

I can see being disappointed. I can NOT see being upset. This isn't 2019, and things have changed dramatically even in the past 10 days.