Joe01

1 hour ago, SpeedNoodles said:

Please explain to this stupid American what "taking the michael" means.

It's a commonwealth idiom - basically means that they are making a fool out of something. In the context of what I'd said in the earlier post, I feel that they are making a fool out of actual rules to prevent COVID by mandating outdoor mask usage.

3 hours ago, bretts173 said:

Maybe if they did wear masks it would have made a difference. I thought the target was to reduce numbers not keep them the same.

I don't know if you understand my post - people not wearing masks outside has had no difference on case rates. In fact, cases continued to go down after many of these outdoor protests. And people do wear masks in shops/trains because it's enforced. Again, made no difference and actually I think have made people less hygienic.

The things that have reduced case numbers are measures in hospitals & care homes plus not allowing visits to other homes. 

Mandating masks in places like Spain have done no good. They're useless and I think they're being promoted for political reasons only.

I admit to really disliking masks as it is and actually feel that they are of negligible benefit at best in day to day life, especially if people are rummaging through their pockets to get one for going into a shop or onto a train etc. 

I am fortunate not to live in a country where it is required to wear face coverings outside. I could understand wearing one indoors such as at the buffet or in the promenade but all outdoor areas is taking the michael in my opinion especially if physical distancing is involved. I don't understand why and it would be a detriment to my cruise enjoyment if I'm being honest. We've had a lot of outdoor gatherings in the UK such as protests and gatherings on beaches and they've made basically no difference to case numbers so it just seems dictatorial to make people wear them outside.

1 hour ago, RCVoyager said:

When you consider that cruises won't be starting until the 2nd quarter of next year in all likelihood, the vaccine should be widely available.  If the cruise lines want to keep Covid out of the ships, or if the CDC wants to keep it out of the ships, this makes sense.  As someone mentioned above, maybe the flu shot too.

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?

I don't feel that this would be fair because some age groups and professions are being prioritised. Being in the 18-34 age demographic and not having underlying conditions, I wouldn't be front of the queue for the vaccine and don't expect to be for quite some time so the idea that I shouldn't be allowed to access services for not being vaccinated is purely age discrimination IMO.

Only Anthem in the UK again? 3rd time in a row so can safely say no more Indy and I guess we're never getting anything good again. I'd be fine with AN being there if we had a 2nd ship but we don't so yet another year of no Southampton.

Thankfully some other good itineraries over here - Voyager, Allure & Odyssey all look tempting. Always wanted to go back to Northern Europe and some great itineraries on VY, a ship I've never been on before. AL from BCN is always a good option. And of course, maybe we can finally return to the States in 2022.

Hmmm... Short cruise, UK, Easter holiday, brand new ship, straight after almost a year of cruising suspension and general world misery in a pandemic. 

VERY tempted to go for this 3 nighter (or even the 5 nighter).

2 hours ago, princevaliantus said:

Liberty is remaining in Galveston doing 7 nites. I don't see any changes for her being announced.

Isn't Liberty heading to the short cruises once they can get Galveston ready for an Oasis Class? I can't see her staying in Texas after that though they may have changed their plans to put her in Miami and she'll go somewhere with cruises of more than 4 nights.

So all 3 of the Freedom Class ships are being stuck on 3 and 4 nighters from Florida?

I was hoping to sail one of them again in the not too distant future, nearly 9 years since I was last on Indy. 

FABULOUS news!!  

Miss Rona can't defeat us after all, back to cruising we go.

Any cheap flights from Scotland-Singapore?

Purely from a Europe perspective, it seems like they are ditching the 12 nighters so I'm going to guess that this is COVID related and ties in with the idea that they'll do short cruises first.

Sucks for me - I wanted to go and see Jewel when she ported in Greenock for the day, it's been 11 years since I sailed her and she was my first ship.

5 hours ago, Ray said:

Greenock ???? The only good thing about Greenock is the road heading out of it  

 

I have a soft spot for the Inverclyde and Ayrshire part of the country plus it's near Glasgow which works for me. I haven't spent much time in Greenock but it has 8 rail stations so there are plenty of ways out even if you don't drive! 

24 minutes ago, Ray said:

While a ship sailing out of Leith would be nice  

Leith or Greenock would suit me!

I hope that Europe gets better ships in 2022 - the 2021 selection is dire and as I'm not 100% sure if going to the States next year will be allowed, it might mean another no-cruise year. Don't like Quantum Class (and we now have two of them in this side of the world) and I've done Harmony enough times for now (as much as I love her, I'd rather try some other ships for now).

Please bring over either Symphony and/or an amped Oasis/Freedom/Voyager for Summer 2022. 

5 minutes ago, MelKaps said:

Odyssey will be most likely continue to sail out of Rome to Greece as advertised for 2021.

Seems likely although I was surprised that they selected Rome and Eastern Med for Odyssey as they've never really put a new ship in that region before and the route has only been served by Jewel for the past few years which is half the size of Odyssey. If it's profitable then I see her continuing to spend summers out there.

8 minutes ago, RCIfan1912 said:

I hope Oasis or at least an Oasis class ship stays up with us in NJ. 

Same! I love the idea of doing Oasis from NJ (it's what I would have done this year). Great ship especially post revamp and we much prefer sailing from NJ than Florida coming from Scotland. Shame about this year as I reckon she would have been a definite 'hit' with the NJ market.

We're now in September and they should eventually be announcing deployment in the next few months.

I don't feel confident predicting anything given recent events but I imagine that the worst will be long gone by then and cruising will probably be resumed as normal.

Where do we think they will send the ships?

I wonder if Allure will do summer in Europe before coming to Galveston in Nov 2022, I believe that the terminal is supposed to finish in Sept so it would work. They need to have 1 Oasis class doing summer in Barcelona and she seems like the most likely. Harmony & Symphony seem to have appeared on St. Maarten bookings so they'll probably stay in Canaveral & Miami respectively whilst Oasis may return to NJ again. Seems like UK has Anthem again.

On 8/27/2020 at 11:47 AM, vanelli56 said:

Good morning Joe. Regarding about being safer in Europe vs. US... Not sure I completely agree... but I can only speak from what I see and read/hear in the US. I would say honestly its all optics motivated by the hyper elevated political environment we all live in, advanced by a media that will do all it can to get clicks, views, and likes.... along with an upcoming election here in the states. Basically.... the news will hype anything to get attention. I say all this, along with the anecdotal stuff I have heard... Personally, yes I have heard of people dying in my neighborhood from covid, but each one was already in poor health. I've also heard of people that got hit head on in a car crash... and they were added to the covid death numbers. Also talked to people at my place of business that have tested positive along with their kids, and they said they literally never felt a single symptom at all. So, while I am sure each persons view and experience is different... I just think with all the conflicting information (right or wrong, true or misleading) makes it extremely difficult for everyone to make good decisions. 

It's the exact same in the UK - our media is crazy, full of scaremongering headlines and our government also fudged the death figures - those who had tested positive for COVID at any point and had died of other things (including as a result of being run over by a car) were listed as COVID death figures. The US isn't alone in that regard, however fact remains that deaths are much lower over here - I live in Scotland where we've had 2 deaths in the last 6 weeks.

25 minutes ago, Zambia-Zaire said:

I would think, given the CDC strongly suggesting their willingness to allow ships with balconies to possibly sail, uf Royal is set on keeping the Vision Class ships & Majesty in the fleet...Royal would move them to foreign ports more friendly to balcony-less ships, like the Middle East, some parts of Asia & the Med.

How about basing one up in Glasgow, Scotland, since the Azamara ships are now parked there?  

Imagine boarding right next to IKEA. What a way to start a vacation!

9 minutes ago, Matt said:

I wouldnt be surprised if Grandeur stays in Baltimore and Enchantment gets moved elsewhere

Enchantment is actually one of the few ships in the fleet that has never done Europe (except for Radiance & Majesty), I wonder if that could change...

Maybe an extra ship for the UK - doing Northern Europe cruises from either Harwich or Southampton while Anthem does Med & Canaries? Or could take over a former Pullmantur route from Spain.

Just saw this on the first page:

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2020/08/26/royal-caribbean-will-keep-grandeur-of-the-seas-the-fleet

Yay! Hopefully they can keep her and her sisters around for a bit longer. Now begs the question - where will she go? Enchantment seems committed to Baltimore now and I doubt that they would want to lose the extra capacity by putting Grandeur back there. Maybe she'll head to Europe?

I don't even see why cruise lines are being so unfairly targeted when several flights are taking off and landing every day. I also use trains very frequently, also quite risky , especially since they are getting busier now.

If anything, cruise ships were definitely very ahead of their time with the handwashing stations. That was never a common thing on land, and indeed, probably should have been. There was a study carried out finding out that many McDonalds touchscreens were absolutely filthy. Definitely a huge risk to the public. Not the case on a ship.

I imagine that the hand washing stations will become commonplace in the future post COVID but it's by no means a new idea.

I really think it's foolish to cancel sailings which are 5+ months away. You never know what could happen. I thought back in May/June that it would be several months until I got my life back since things were moving so slowly in Scotland but by the end of July and into August, I've pretty much got my full life back.

I also think that the situation in the USA shouldn't dictate what happens in the rest of the world - could Royal not try cruises in Europe, Asia or even Australia? Some income and ships going is better than none. Definitely way safer to cruise from any European port than it is to cruise from the US at the moment but most companies seem to interpret CDC rules as worldwide when they only apply to sailings from the USA.

Hi all. As I’m Glasgow based, I’ve decided to go and get some pics of the 3 ships up here in Glasgow. On the bus there as we speak.

Back soon!

4 minutes ago, princevaliantus said:

I've been there. Beautiful country and friendly people. You just have to abide and observe their rules and customs while you're there. 

In other words, I need to pretend to be straight to avoid a prison sentence or even the death penalty just to satisfy their medieval beliefs.

No thanks - plenty of much friendlier places to visit. Glad you enjoyed it though.