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I would not feel guilty if I went on a cruise feeling perfectly healthy.

Only took us ten cruises between Aug 2018 to July 2022.....with a pandemic in the middle! Sailing in suites got us double points and then the double double because of the pandemic really got us there quick. Not sure we can keep up the pace so Pin level (LOL) will probably take us quite a while.....but we do have one more sailing in 3 weeks....going to Alaska....and it may still fall into the double double (fingers crossed). The plan was to sail while we were still 'young' with our kids and have a lot of fun and then when we are older be able to take advantage of free offers as much as possible and use the status level for max benefit. We took our first truly 'free' cruise (port feed and taxes only, no upgrades) last week to put us over the line in free Jr Suite....honestly though; I hated it. I'll sound like a snob and I don't mean to, but there is a big difference between how the staff made us feel sailing in a Jr, versus a Royal or Star class level (not talking Genie or Conceirge....just general staff interaction...waiters, dealers, etc...the only one who gave us that 'special' feeling we were used to was the MDR head waiter.....but he recognized us from another sailing). Maybe it was a microcosm and just a bad ship/sailing (Enchantment to Bermuda) but the whole sailing we got a completely different vibe than sailing on Grandeur, Vision, Adventure as direct comparison. Didn't have a bad time...no saying that. Just had a 'different' time. It was also our shortest sailing at 5 days; so that may have contributed to the vibe change.

Sunday we woke to head off to Windsor Castle. We walked over to Paddington Station from the hotel which was very easy and went to purchase our train tickets. Everything we read said the journey is about 45 minutes, so when the option for First Class tickets showed up for 35£ round trip for all of us we said why not. If you do this journey, don’t bother with the first class. You do have to change trains in Slough, which we knew, but the ride to Slough was only about 18 minutes, so it’s not really worth the extra expense, not that it was much, only about 7£. The seats were nice though…. Once you arrive in Windsor. As you step out of the station, you are already facing the castle walls, and it’s a short walk up the hill to the visitors entrance. Here we are walking up the hill. You exit the castle there on the left, the visitor entrance is further up. You do go through airport style security, which is understandable, and then you are clear to enter. All the tickets come with a multimedia audio guide which is very informative, and helps you navigate the castle and grounds. Shortly after getting you multimedia guide, they have this layout of the castle. As you can see, it’s huge! Only a very small part is actually open to the public. it’s hard to see here, but the Queens standard was raised on the flagpole, which means she was in residence. Grounds keepers have been replaced with robots. St George’s Chapel Interior courtyard. We were not allowed to photograph anything inside the castle, but needless to say it was amazing! You get to see state apartments and ceremonial rooms, where the current Queen hosts dignitaries, historic rooms of Charles II and so much more. There was no changing of the guard ceremony that day though.

Parts of Europe are ahead of the US. A number of lines are dropping testing in Europe. Hopefully the US will see changes soon.

After lunch, we wandered a bit more, then headed back to London for some more exploring. We booked anytime train tickets which gave us great flexibility. Once back in London, we headed back to Borough Market for some grazing, only to find it closed. Many of the other things to do were also closed as well. We ended up wandering along the Thames. we boarded The Golden Hinge, a full scale replica of the first English ship to sail around the world. Its quite tight below decks….No Star Class accommodations here! We saw Shakespeare’s Globe Theater We crossed the most hated bridge in London, the Millennium Bridge. We also came across the ruins of Winchester Palace. At this point in the day, everyone was running out of fun, so back to the hotel we went.

After our trip through the castle, we headed into the town of Windsor for some lunch and ended up on a tiny street and chose Clarence Brasserie and Tea Room for an afternoon tea. While it’s no afternoon tea at The Savoy, this did hit the spot and was very tasty. For the airplane nerds out there, I believe this was one of the many A380’s that flew overhead.

I’d sail if the ship was a Covid ward hospital ship. Now if the unlimited booze package went away, it’s a different story

I'm legitimately confused/amazed that nearly 30% of people claim that they would voluntarily test themselves for an infection, at cost to themselves and risking their entire vacation, when not required to do so and not experiencing symptoms.

My current Royal Up bids have also changed from "Pending" to "Submitted". I'm wondering if they've changed the terminology to avoid issues with guests thinking their bids are being accepted when they have not. The word "Pending" may tend to imply that your bid is accepted and you're waiting for a cabin assignment while "Submitted" would only imply that you have bid on an upgrade.

At this point we were all very hot, sweaty and tired so we headed back to the hotel to rest and recharge. There might have been a bit of time traveling too.. That evening when we were ready for dinner, we wanted to try one of the Indian Restaurants so we found one that was highly rated on TripAdvisor. It’s called The Rajdoot on Paddington St. Nearly 2000 ratings and it’s 4.5 stars, so how bad could it be? We hopped on the tube and headed off. We had a nice table outside, and we were not disappointed by the food. Like idiots of course we ordered WAAYTOO much food! It was delicious though and if anyone heads across the pond you should check it out. We had meat samosas and chicken pakoras as a starter. Mains included Chicken Biryani, Chicken Tikka Masala, and their Rajdoot special of course there was Naan, that didn’t make the photos. with full bellies we ambled back to the hotel and called it a night.

After our tour ended we headed off in search of food. Our thoughts were, let’s find one of the REALLY old pubs in the city and eat there. A quick Google search later brought us to here. This pub is called The Lamb and Flag. It’s been a pub since the days of Charles II. Known as the “Bucket of Blood” for its prize fights in earlier days. The inn has been host to such historic figures as Samuel Butler the poet Dryden (who was attacked by rogues outside the pub) and Charles Dickens, who worked nearby. The view outside the pub Our meals Fish and Chips Lamb Sausages Meat Pie With our bellies full, we headed off on more adventures!

I wouldn't be any more concerned than I would have been pre COVID. Illness is a risk of life, travel, etc.

Congratulations!

Thanks to the 84 people who responded so far! It's interesting to see the distribution of the answers and how split the opinions are on these topics. I'd imagine RCCL would utilize a survey like this to help guide decision making Let's reserve the comment section for constructive discussion. Utilize the poll to voice your opinion.

To question #1, yes, just as I "roll the dice" every day when I go to work, Target, etc. To #2, no, if I was not feeling sick, boarded the cruise, and then later found out that I was infectious, I would not feel guilty.

I too applaud you calm relating of your issue but, except for the boarding fiasco which may or may not have been Royal’s fault, I don’t see actionable problems. We were celebrating my daughter’s birthday on our last cruise AND informed the suites concierge. Dinner came and went with no acknowledgement. A cupcake with a candle would have been nice but there is no guarantee that anything will be done. As for your view, there are many sites through which you can research cabins. A good TA can also assist. It’s not Royal’s fault your view was not up to your expectations. If view was very important, as I’m sure it was, you needed to be more proactive in choosing your cabin. Sorry JMHO

Looks like P&O have gone with testing on the honor system. Starting 24th July they will not require certificates, just a negative test result which is part of the boarding questionnaire. https://www.pocruises.com/cruise-with-confidence/preparing-to-sail#before-you-board

Sabor hit the spot. It’s too bad there plans to get rid of it as the Oasis ships do upgrades, it actually pairs very nicely on a hot day in the Boardwalk. Our server who promised the spicy margarita took care of it and it was spicy and tasted good - exactly what I was in the mood for. We had chips with guacamole, pico, and habanero spicy green thing he brought which was really good and spiced up the guac and salsa nicely. For starters, the snapper ceviche was cold and citrusy with lots of lime, and the queso Fundido had a bacon flavor. We had two tacos and one tampiqueno steak and all were good. The tortillas were soft and warm, but the sauce type sides for the tacos weren’t as appealing as the good fresh pico on the table, so I used that instead. It was all build your own tacos . One more order of churros and we took some time to walk around. My kids wanted to take a weird video of me alone riding on the carousel bench , but it was kind of busy so we have to shelf that until later - maybe when more little kids have turned in for the night. Bionic bar had no line for the first time, so we checked it out. I wasn’t in the mood for a cocktail after the margarita, so we had it make a coke over ice and added “shaking” at the request of the kids who were hoping for a big fizzy disaster . I don’t know if the bionic bar trend is sticking around, but it was a fun novelty / I wouldn’t go back for something simple, but if you have a certain way you like a mixed cocktail - it’s probably easier to program the robot to make it exactly that way, rather than trying to explain to a live bartender at a busy loud bar. More later - we are going to get some pool deck time, it’s actually not as busy as I would have thought, although it is 2 pm.

Not sure if this is a formal response, but Royal did update their site yesterday to this: CDC Guidance for Cruises Departing the U.S. On July 18, the U.S. CDC announced that the COVID-19 Program for Cruise Ships is no longer in effect. Going forward, the CDC will continue to publish guidance for the cruise industry. We are waiting for these revised recommendations, which we expect in the coming days. Upon review, we will adjust our current protocols and provide guidance to our guests. For now, our current protocols remain in effect for cruises departing U.S. homeports. See current protocols.

We had a bug here as well a couple of weeks ago. I think as long as you’re feeling good then you’re good. Have fun!

I wouldn't at all be concerned about the cruise since you've done your due diligence to rule out covid

So you would roll the dice and maybe infect other people just so you could go on vacation? You wouldn’t feel horribly guilty if you found out later that you may have been the vector?

After lunch we were off for some more exploring. We headed back to Regent St and made it to Hamleys. Along the way we passed The Palladium Theater, where Beauty and The Beast is. This is a favorite of The Boss. Other sights…. We ended up at Hamleys! spot the baby hippo that’s coming home with us!

I think it was very generous to get an offer of 20% credit based on the items your brought up. I'm not sure you would get much more, if anything, but I've not read of your type of experience. before. While I think 20% is generous I would be more inclined to want to know from them "how will you fix the embarkation problem?" or "was the embarkation issue specific to that sailing?". I don't think there is anything they could have done for the cabin view you were unhappy with. They sell a cabin, not a view. As for the anniversary, I've seen a lot of people mention sailing for special occasions. If you have a fixed dining time in the main dining room it is in your best interest to ask your waiter for a "special dessert for our anniversary". We do it for birthdays all the time. It's always been one of their Royal Chocolate cakes with a candle and perhaps the words Happy Birthday written on the plate in a dessert topping. That's about as special as it gets. I think you had some grandiose ideas for your anniversary and they just don't do that type of thing on this line (that I know of).

Sorry, this will be a long one!!! We woke Saturday ready for a long day. We are all Harry Potter fans so we had a Harry Potter walking tour scheduled. While not as impressive as the tour to the studios that @Lovetocruise2002 and her family did, this was still a lot of fun. It was also a good way to see more of London. The idea of the tour was to see some of the sites that inspired J.K. Rowling when she was writing the books as well as areas that the movie was filmed in. @Lovetocruise2002 check with D13 and see if can recognize some of these places. We met our guide along the Thames River in Minerva Square. Fans should get the reference there. We all got together in front of this statue…..look familiar? Our guide was fun. He asked everyone if they were fans, and what house we were in. Of course we all knew our houses. Johnny and I are Gryffindors while The Boss and Lydia are Hufflepuffs. Our guide sorted us all into houses because during the tour there would be questions and challenges and points would be awarded. Thankfully we had a Harry Potter ringer during trivia on the cruise because we had lots of banked knowledge. Once sorted we were off. First stop was Borough Market. This area was used in the movie, and was also really great to walk through. We had made plans to try to get back here for some food grazing, but unfortunately it never panned out. Here are some Of the amazing stalls. In this area, was the filming location for The Leaky Cauldon. In book three when Harry rode the Knight Bus and it stopped outside The Leaky Cauldron, this is the location that was used. Obviously the Taco Restaurant was removed digitally This building on the third floor was used for all of the filming of the interior scenes. As we continued our walk, we got to take a boat ride on the Thames, which was fun, to get to some other locations. Some fun trivia. J.K. Rowling had requirements for the studio before they could buy the rights to make the movie. The first one was that all of the actors had to be British, and all of the filming had to be in the UK. That brings us to this location. Does this remind them of anything? How about here? For those who aren’t up on their trivia like a certain D13. This is where the scenes where Harry, Hermione and Ron had to break into the ministry of magic, as well as where Harry used the phone booth to enter in movie 3. They digitally moved that overpass to try to “confuse” and disguise the filming locations, but people are smart and easily figured these out. Just like Borough Market, and a few more. Interesting thing to note. In the books, the first time Harry goes to the Ministry of Magic (Government building/politicians work here etc for the world of magic) Harry gets to use the visitor entrance which is via the iconic red phone box. When he has to break in at a later time disguised as a ministry worker, he has to use the “employee entrance” which if you read the books/saw the movie was by “flushing himself” down a toilet. This gives you some insight to how J.K. Rowling viewed the world…visitors get a phone booth, politicians flush themselves down the toilet…… The next location was across from Trafalgar Square. This should scream Gringotts Bank to you! Interesting story. Remember back when J.K. Rowling demanded that everything be filmed in the UK? Well the original scenes in Gringotts were actually filmed just down the street, in a building that houses the Australian Embassy. The producers had to get special permission, not only from the Embassy, but from J.K Rowling to film there. They were only able to film there for the first movie because the Embassy did not give them permission for later films. The producers ended up taking thousands of photographs and rebuilt Gringotts on the studio lot. Our next location was this little street. J.K.Rowling worked in a building here and walked this alley daily. This became the inspiration for Knockturn Alley. They attempted to film here, but it was too narrow, so again thousands of photographs were taken, and this area was built on the studio lot for the movies. Next up, this street was the inspiration for Diagon Alley This street is lined with small local shops and bookstores. Local rules will prevent any changes to this, so you won’t see a national chain type store on this street. Some more trivia for those not in the know. J.K. Rowling had sent the first book to many publishers and was turned down by all of them. When the publisher who actually did publish the book received the manuscript, the publisher didn’t actually want to read it, so he gave it to his daughter. 3 hours later she came back to him clamoring that she loved it and wanted to know where the second book was! The first thing that the publisher did was tell her that nobody will buy the book if she uses her full name and see that it was written by a woman. Sexist, I know, but that was the reality when the books came out. They were thinking along the lines of J.R.Tolkien and T.S.Lewis. J.K. didn’t actually have a middle name, so she used the initial for her Mothers name. Unfortunately her mother dies before the first book could come out. The publisher only did 1000 copies for the first edition, and we all know what happened next. As a “lesson” keep an eye out in local book stores for new first edition fantasy books from unknown authors. You may end up rich! A first edition Harry Potter book recently sold for over $300,000!!! Our tour ended here We have not seen the show yet……but we will. This show takes place 19 years after the events in the last book, and is in two parts totaling about 6 hours! Sadly, we didn’t not make it to Kings Cross Station…..the crowds there get really busy, and it was getting hot, and we were hungry and the kids were getting restless. Thanks for reading this long one…..more to come!!

Covid schmovid, it’s monkeypox we gotta watch out for now

Have some perspective, covid today isn't covid of 2020. I have 4,500 employees, in 2020, a few died and about every 20th one to get covid was hospitalized, Many were in the ICU, it was no joke. In 2022, I've had over a thousand catch it this year not a single hospitalization. These last few weeks at any one time 100 have it, 10 a day come back, 10 go out, I give them all free 2 weeks of paid leave if they test positive and it does not come out of their regular leave balances so as to not encourage people working sick so it is not under reported and I get daily reports. In January this year me and my three Moderna shots, wore a mask, still caught it. Wife got it in June, same shots. So why would I give a a darn about covid, masks, or tests, we caught it six months apart, had our shots at the same time, still shared a bed while we were sick, still kissed goodnight and didn't even give it to each other either time. Just stop the testing, I'll walk into a covid ward and kiss everyone there, nothing can stop it and I am not afraid of it. Even the head of county USC hospital in Los Angeles (the furthest from right wing conspiracy theorists you can find), in a county reimposing masks said that almost nobody in the hospital with covid is in the hospital because of covid. It's over! P.S., my employees are about 65-70% vaccinated, in 2022 there is no discernible difference in their odds of catching it or how serious it is based vaccine status or mask wearing or prior infection, not in catching it or catching it twice. What was true on 2020 and 2021 is not applicable to 2022 My study, because of workman's comp is in depth and is as big or bigger than other studies you read online and from my data, nothing stops it and its no big deal if you get it. If you are on death's doorstep or scared to death, stay home. It's endemic and it is the common cold now, let's move on, nobody was wrong and nobody was right, stop blaming but do accept that it is over.

I have found out that my bids have been accepted by checking my credit card regularly. A day or two later they showed up on our cruise planner.

We got to D+ last week. Still awaiting the change on my profile though.

This is exactly why drinks from the Bionic Bars aren't all that great!

The week prior to our cruise the week of 6/25, both my wife and I came down with flu like symptoms. We tested ad nauseum right up to the official proctored test. Every test was negative. We both cleared up the day the ship was leaving port. Nothing but an official positive Covid result was going to keep us off that cruise.

Well that would count, but I was thinking more on actual "here's what we're going to do as a result"

I do the remote work onboard all the time with secure laptop and secondary code authentication. The TOTP Authentication app we use can work without the internet and generates the codes on its own. Was not sure until I tried it but it works disconnected from the network. Not sure about DUO. The only issue I have is slow internet speeds but I am accessing my workstation at the office and my laptop is only serving as a remote terminal so it is not too bad but hopefully will be better when StarLink is installed on all the ships.

I did a little "WFH" trial on Harmony at Thanksgiving so the internet might be "newer/better" than some ships. I logged my laptop into the ship Wi-Fi and connected, then hotspotted my laptop so that my phone could get Wi-Fi through the laptop. That allowed the code to come through to the phone to do the VPN. I generally found it ok, video on Teams was unreliable but audio was fine and email/data was ok if slow.

I went the second day around 9ish on the cruise because I didn’t realize you could pick first day you are on the ship. For the Oasis, it was on the 16th floor (there is a sign) I saw the person with a clipboard and told him I had the 4th day. He said you could pick now and showed me by numbers, what was still available. We walked to some of them. I chose the one that was next to Lime & Coconut fir the bar and was not too close to the slides for less noise. There are 4 bottles of water on ice, and a button that can reach attendant by their Watch. They will write your names on a chalkboard in case someone else try’s to use it when you are not there. (It happens, as many did not know it’s by reservation) The attendant brought us fruit about a few hours in, which was a nice touch. We ended up using it all day. For us, it was worth having a nice area to lay without searching for chairs like the other days. Many had already picked first day so recommend doing that. When we went, 4 people in front of us.

We finished up the afternoon in Nassau on the suite sun deck. The chair cushions are thick and towels were nice, but who chose BLACK CUSHIONS hot as can be for the cushion cover color? There was no server making the rounds to refresh cocktails ( and plenty on decks 15 and 16 because we could see them circling with trays) if you wanted a drink you had to go to the bar and wait. Not necessarily a suite deal breaker, but for sure an inconvenience considering that there were enough suite guests to warrant a server. I am guessing the staffing is more for a sea day, than a port day. Dinner night 2- 150 CENTRAL PARK Definitely a specialty restaurant worth paying for on Harmony. We had a Really wonderful dining experience. The “not advertised as garlic bread” generic dinner bread service was more garlicky and more flavorful than the Jamie’s garbage bread . The scallop appetizer was good, and had kind of a southwestern flavor, the bisque left something to be desired - it was kind of thin and flavorless. We had the beef for two and a halibut, it was on the menu as tenderloin for 2, but the server told us it was chateaubriand and could be prepared for 1 or 2. It comes with bearnaise and bordelaise sauce. The bearnaise was awful, tasted like it didn’t have any tarragon or flavor and was thin like flour mixed with water - milky pasty and tasteless , ( see bisque notes above), but the bordelaise was ok. The meat was so tender it didn’t need any sauce anyway! The halibut was also delicious. We had an extra serving of their lobster to share in the middle and it was really good and well seasoned, although I couldn’t help thinking about those YouTube videos of Leon the Lobster when my fork reached into the first bite . Desserts were fried cheesecake and chocolate peanut butter cake, both super yummy. I’ll keep 150 as a definite additional dessert place for sure if needed. After dinner we explored some more of the ship and rode the Ultimate Abyss slide which had no line. There was also no line for the flow riders, but the kids decided to wait until another time and not hassle with the process of changing into swimsuits again and then showering again. Neither has checked out the teen club yet, and seem more content to hang out as a family spreading out in our quiet spacious room vs. interacting with 17 yr olds. I’m curious how the ship will absorb and handle 6000+ ppl on the sea day, we will find out !

First, I'm sorry you had issues with your cruise. It does sound like you are fairly new to cruising and may have learned a few lessons so you won't repeat the errors on future cruises. I am a veteran of over 60 cruises now...on ten different cruise lines. I can tell you many of the "issues" you experience are widespread and found on many cruise lines. We've learned, over the years, from trial and error. Our first cruise, we picked a terrible cabin location...not the room itself or the view...But we had a 3 year old and a 5 year old with us...and we learned too late that our cabin was on the other end of the ship from the kids' club...carried the sleepy kids the length of the ship every night. And we booked a redeye from the West Coast to Florida. Learned from that as well...never again. Learned lots of lessons on our early cruises. A few notes on yours: 1) The terminal appearing to be "bedlam"? More common than you think. Those porters are really busy. They're unloading several thousand people off the prior cruise and taking in the luggage from several thousand on yours. Excuse them if they seem distracted. When they tell you to just leave your luggage...do just that...trust me, they will get them to your cabin. Inside, yes, there may be lines...especially now when, with Covid test results and all, there are added steps to check-in. Be patient...oh, and learn to get there early. 2) Those arrival windows? They WISH they could get everone to arrive on schedule in an orderly fashion...but it just doesn't work that way. People get there when they get there and they do their best to get them on. Better than trying to allow a worse mess in the terminal. 3) Your cabin? One thing we learned early on was the importance of cabin selection. We ALWAYS book early if we can...and carefully select our cabin. They can't ALL be equal, they can't ALL be good. Some views are better than others. Some decks have lifeboats below them, some have overhangs, some have visable equipment. Some cabins are below the pool deck and the crew moves chairs around early in the morning, some are below a disco dance floor. For us, location on the ship is important. We prefer midship and proximity to the elevators, some folks prefer the aft for the views. Many cabins have larger balconies. Learn to Google cabin photos or videos. Even some "obstructed views" are way better than others. Some on some ships and some lines really aren't obstructed at all. Oh, some people actually like balconies with more shade...and privacy...and less effect from wind...others like more open and more sun. The cruise line did not choose to give you a cabin you wouldn't like. They gave you the one you booked. 4) Anniversaries, Birthdays, etc.? Yes EVERY cruise line will deliver you a small cake to your dinner table...and, yes, it is unneccessary and redundant. But that is what they do for FREE. You can always buy extras. Buy your wife a night in a specialty restaurant, buy her a massage in the spa, buy a bottle of champagne. You can get anything you want. But, for free, they will send you an extraneous cake. Trust me, over sixty cruises, we have had FAR WORSE happen on cruises. Just before the pandemic, we had major construction, starting at 6 am right below our cabin. Worth complaining about. Completely the responsibility of the cruise line as they knew in advance it would be an issue...after all, they scheduled it. And yes, after THREE days, they finally found an open cabin to move us to...so, at least we got the final 9 nights of the 12 night cruise in peace--but with a smaller balcony than the one we booked and not as convenient a location. And they gave us a $700 credit toward a future cruise (a fraction of what we paid for that one)...and we appreciated it. Remember, the ships most often sail FULL. Not easy to just move you to a better cabin when they are all taken. And, of course, the difference with that cruise and yours, is that we actually booked a very good cabin..and the issue was reasonably unforeseen by us...and should have been apparent to the cruise line. With your cabin issue, the cruise line really didn't do anything wrong. BTW, if your balcony cabin was that bad, it was likely a lesser category that you got at a discounted price. Buy a higher category cabin and likely have fewer issues. AND, again, check it out before booking....or, at least, while there are still other available cabins to be moved to. 5) The offered discount on a future cruise? Actually very generous on Royal Caribbean's part. If you take them up on it and book another, RESEARCH your cabin choice.

I’m sorry you had such a difficult time on Ovation. We sail Ovation in August and have big hopes and positive vibes for our sailing. Just like the others, I agree the 20% was generous. To put it in perspective, we sailed Star Class in November. Our bags, which based on previous Star sailings, should always stay with us, they were lost…for 8 hrs. Turns out RC sends them to be sanitized now due to covid. Now we know. Then, our Star suite had brown /red spots everywhere in the bathroom. We asked the stateroom attendant and he said it was construction glue. It wiped with a wet tissue. We were on the next sailing after a “special” cruise and didnt want to take chances. Both our toilets also broke that day too. We voiced our concern. At our first port, the Housekeeping Manager, our attendant and another officer scrubbed the walls clean. We still asked to see the manager. He of course came and we let him have it. Not about our issues but that due to short staff, our poor attendant was left by himself trying to take care of these rooms by himself. SC usually has 2 attendants per room. My poor man had 6 rooms by himself. We assured the manager that our attendant was top notch, overworked and still did everything with a smile and a hello every time we saw him. Our concern was management wasn’t pitching in to help and that is why our stateroom wasn’t SC clean. We thanked the manager for his help cleaning the bathroom and left it at that. The Mgr saw to it we were given a voucher for 15% off the next cruise. Obviously we were disappointed in our Star Class experience but we didn’t use that voucher because nothing ruined our great vacation. All was handled without one word to the genie. We tipped our attendant more than the genie on that one. We haven’t stopped booking Star either. Royal, IMHO always tries to set things right and we always appreciate the gesture and which is why, even with our complaints, we don’t want to sample the grass someplace else. Loyal to Royal until too old. Then Celebrity, lol. BTW, we were married in Cozumel quite a few years ago on an Allure sailing. This dumb new husband left our marriage license on a pile of shirts in a shop at the port. Found out after we departed. I’ve only seen my wife truly angry once and this was that time. After giving me a joking hard time, Allure crew immediately contacted the shore crew. Our license was found and was waiting for us via Fedex when we got home. Wheew! You can’t put a price on that. We love Royal.

100% packing stretchy flowy clothes

First question was a little confusing. I almost voted for Absolutely!, then realized that Absolutely meant that I refused to sail with the unvaccinated.

Hallelujah ! Some honest reflection. Thank you...and thank you for the way you are handling your staff. This is the most generous policy for COVID that I have ever read about. Good for you.

Congrats to all on the new milestones. I hit Diamond this past Jan and will hit D+ Jan 2023, sailing solo and the double points helped. I have my first transatlantic on Anthem (first time on her) next year Oct and won't have to buy a drink package for the 14nights. Those 5 drinks will be a godsend, imagine having to pay for a 14-night drink package

A PCR test can pick up virus remnants from 3 months prior though.

5 Drinks a Day per person and so much more!!! Congrats!!!

Working from a ship is better if you don't have specific timelines and scheduled events. Murphy's law of the seas will apply - when you need the internet the most it will be slow or unavailable at that exact moment. If your work is the kind that can be done anytime of day as long as it gets done in a reasonable timeframe then working from a ship is possible.

Yeah, that was not really the response from Royal I was hoping for either. And who knows how long it will take for the CDC to provide guidance.

I would think we'll see formal responses in some form (even if there are no immediate changes) by the cruise lines today.

I would self-test prior to embarkation. Though I may not be altruistic in doing it to protect others. I would want to know if I am infected…and think about if my infection may cause me to subsequently suffer complications which may require medical intervention. I would definitely prefer being on land, at home, should this occur. Rather than having to rely on the medical facilities and staff onboard. And the possibility of being quarantined…or worse. Being disembarked in another port and having to seek medical attention in another country…and having to abide by their quarantine procedures. Then trying to get back home.

Great questions to really think on. Thank you for posting this.