Jill

Chris, I saw this in a Facebook group. Would this be helpful for Royal crew? 
 

From another cruise page: 

Spread the word!!!
We are on the MG now. If you are getting on a ship in the next couple of weeks here is a suggestion. The crew can’t get off. If you get your room Stewart and waiters something. Get them toiletries. Toothpaste, deodorant and such. They apparently have them on ship for crew but they are expensive. If possible pass onto your cruise Facebook pages.

Just read this in a Facebook group. Something different to help them out. Not sure how much of this applies to Royal: 

From another cruise page: 

Spread the word!!!
We are on the MG now. If you are getting on a ship in the next couple of weeks here is a suggestion. The crew can’t get off. If you get your room Stewart and waiters something. Get them toiletries. Toothpaste, deodorant and such. They apparently have them on ship for crew but they are expensive. If possible pass onto your cruise Facebook pages.

So the only test cruises left on the schedule are Mariner and Oasis. 1,125 winners. I won’t be fully vaccinated by Mariner and I’m not paying to fly from Fla to NY/NJ for oasis…so I guess I won’t bother. 
 

p.s. I was trying to time my vaccination so I’d get a full year coverage from October to October (4 cruises) but damn Delta got me to go sooner but not soon enough to get on a Florida test cruise. Not meant to be. Good luck y’all! 

5 hours ago, twangster said:

I was just about to post this. Looks like I’m a bot in training

1 hour ago, smokeybandit said:

Beverage Package is $47 for my June cruise on Seranade. I've never seen it that low.

Oh wait……my may radiance to Alaska is $47. Lol It is tempting but that’s a port heavy cruise and we get 4 drinks for Diamond. But it IS tempting…….

I’d snag that deal! (For you that is!) 

8 minutes ago, CJS2766 said:

Thanks for the heads up! I was thinking about purchasing the UDP at $196PP, but add another $36 PP in gratuity and no thank you! That would be close to $470 for the 2 of us. Not worth it. I really hate this part of cruising where you are charged for every little thing possible! I'd almost rather pay a higher price for my cruise at the beginning if it included more. Don't like this new way of trying to generate money 

You have to check it all the way to check out. If it’s $196 in the old cruise planner it probably includes gratuity. The new cruise planner format is a lower price but gratuity is added at the end. 

So I was charged $196 for my unlimited on Symphony. Gratuity included 

My Harmony unlimited is $166. Add in gratuity and I’m paying the same as symphony 

So there’s really no difference. Symphony includes gratuity at $196. Harmony adds gratuity at checkout and it’s the same as symphony. The Harmony says taxes/gratuity added in cart. 
 

My symphony is the old cruise planner format and Harmony is the new format. 

I don’t have an answer to your question but wanted to extend my sympathies. Cancer sucks. 

11 minutes ago, steverk said:

The last time they showed caution it was to cancel a major ship design and build in 2008. (I think it was called project pinnacle). Resulted in royal owning the giant cruise ship market for more than a decade.

Since then they've thrown caution to the wind. The result has been a lot of the covid debacle plus Carnival triumph, Costa Concordia and a few more.

I sometimes wonder how they are received at industry meetings. 

Likely why Royal and NCL joined up for Healthy Sail. I have a feeling Carnival isn’t well liked. 

Royal has had masks inside for several weeks now. 
 

Honestly I’m surprised (well not really) that Carnival went full steam right out of the gate. So help me if there’s some major outbreak because of them, I’ll be really . It was their transferring of crew from infected west coast cruises to east coast ships that was reckless last year. I can’t really fault them for the whole Princess thing as no one knew what they were dealing with initially.

You’d think though with all the crap that happened to that line, they’d be super cautious with their re-start. Obviously not. 

1 hour ago, Ampurp85 said:

@MattI agree, I take everything with a grain of salt when it comes to the media. I watched The Last Cruise doc and how much blame is placed is ridiculous. Not to mention that there are a zillion of the same story posted about guest and/or crew members testing positive during the restart. Plus WDW has brought back the mask mandate so I doubt it will even be an issue.

@Jill I don't think it was you. But Rome is a beast, we went in 2017 Oct and the Vatican was probably the most crowded attraction I have ever been in. We were in a private tour but still shoulder to shoulder. I am not at all a fan of crowds but for the beauty it was worth it. I can also see your point of a long international flight with possible connections, then visiting tourist attractions to finally boarding what would be considered a bucket list cruise. I wouldn't want to take the risk either. I do however believe that things will be a bit better come Oct 2022.....

 

I sure hope so because our October odyssey out of Rome for this year was cancelled and it was to celebrate 5 year Remission from stage 4b cancer. Now I’ll celebrate that on my October Symphony and next October I’ll celebrate 6 years Remission on Odyssey out of Rome.

I would think for the near future, reservations may not be necessary while sailing at reduced capacity. 

3 hours ago, Ampurp85 said:

I don't know if the cancel the pre-Disney plans is directed at me or not. But...not an option. I will not and have no plans to alter my vacation. I had Covid in April 2020, I am vaccinated and won't stop living my life for something that is here to stay. If I was to test positive, I get my money back so I would be whole; at least I will have had some wonderful vacation memories. What good would it be to deny myself and then still possibly test positive???? Plenty of people have been attending the theme parks for months and are just fine.

My response to that post mostly has to do with flying to Europe, touring crowded Rome for 3 days then testing positive for my odyssey cruise. We’re simply trying to eliminate risk as much as we can as it’s a high dollar trip and the cruise itself IS the real destination. That’s why we put the land tour at the end. Hopefully by October 2022, this all will be a distant nightmare 

21 minutes ago, alamode123 said:

Both 8 night cruises. I'm chalking it up to "why look for logic where there clearly isn't any".

Well that is a mystery! I’m conditioned to Mariner being a 3-4 night ship

9 minutes ago, alamode123 said:

I took the plunge at $57.99 for the drink package for Odyssey in January.

Strangely, its $61.99 on my Mariner cruise in May. You would think newer ships would be pricier.

Short cruises always have higher drink packages 

8 hours ago, Jverge said:

Cancel the Disney pre-cruise vacation plans and just focus on the cruise.  

This is our plan for our Odyssey sailing next October (2022) out of Rome. We decided to do 3 days in Rome AFTER the cruise to limit exposure before the cruise. 
 

We were supposed to go this October but was cancelled and that was the plan originally due to Covid. 

14 minutes ago, Pooch said:

Same old same old for me.  DBP goes from $67 to $58 yet again

Yep my prices didn’t budge. 

1 hour ago, Ampurp85 said:

@Jill I have been reading think pieces, they pop -up, from some Fl residents who want him to back down because the hospitals are filling up. But you know better than me as you live there. But things like that happens in every state. In Chicago our mayor is not well-liked, lol. Many residents were upset that she allowed Lalapolooza to happen, 100,000+ people who presented a negative Covid test or vax card. But I hear from travelers a totally different story because of what they read from particular residents. Chicago public schools will have mask-enforced class when school starts, regardless of vax status. I know of two families who are moving to Texas because of this. I am sure there are people who will be leaving Chi for FL.

I think Desantis hasn't said or done anything to the cruise lines because that is jobs and revenue. I don't think he has any intention either because of that same reason.

Our hospitals filling up have nothing to do with the current law. You have to remember we are the #1 tourist destination worldwide. We were doing absolutely fine with positivity rates less than 3% up until 3 weeks ago. We have THOUSANDS flying into this state everyday for leisure. Of course we’re going to see increases before anyone else. 
 

This virus isn’t going away. The death rate is not corresponding with hospitalizations. The vaccines are generally working in that it’s keeping people out of the hospital and from dying. 
 

Vaccine passports wouldn’t have stopped this IMO. All vaccine passports are good for is increasing the divide in this country. 
 

The blame lies in the messaging. It’s been poor from the get go. Do this, don’t do this. Shame rarely works. Distrust is huge right now. I don’t know the answer but locking us down again isn’t the answer. 

2 hours ago, Ampurp85 said:

I don't see this as being a thing where DeSantis will have a leg to stand on. The ports can do what they want, just like a private business with international ties can. His plan has backfired enough as even some of his constituents no longer back him in this crusade. I hate it.....but for some normalization, vaccine passports are going to have to be a thing. The ports that RCG and other line visit don't have the infrastructure to handle a bad outbreak. Requiring visitors to be vaxxed works in their favor. That is what being vaxxed is mostly about, looking out for others.

When it comes to overseas, the Florida law may just look the other way. As far as constituents no longer backing the law, I’ve seen nothing to that effect here in Florida. As a matter of fact, the state is ready for another influx of residents from states requiring vaccine passports and kids wearing masks in schools. Our real estate here is absolutely booming from all the transfers. My county alone has over 7,000 new students since last year. People want the ability to make their own decisions and not live in a nanny state. 
 

Did he get it wrong with the cruise lines? Yes. Have they now looked the other way? It appears so as Carnival and Celebrity haven’t been fined for sailing vaccinated cruises. 

20 minutes ago, CruisingOz said:

Hello Community,

I woke up this morning to an email from Royal cancelling my B2B cruise on the Radiance for the 13th Feb,22 5N Key West & Labadee and 18th Feb,22 9N Southern Caribbean out of Miami.

I am so upset as I would have thought all the cancellations out of Miami were a thing of the past. For us it is a bit of a big deal as we are coming in from Australia and have accomodations and flights booked. I know, first for issue but I would have thought 2022 would be as planned. 

Such is life. Now which cruise should I book to replace it?   

Ok so you have 14 nights to fill. I’m sure many here will help you find a good substitute! Have you done an oasis class yet? 

That’s my guess too. She’ll sail home empty. Anthem’s TA was cancelled too

19 minutes ago, TXcruzer said:

I don't think they will stop going to St Thomas for the simple fact that more and more islands are instituting these rules.  It is becoming a "vaccinated only" world, and those that haven't gotten onboard will be left behind.

We are even beginning to see in this country, cities and municipalities starting to require proof of vaccine for restaurants, bars, museums, broadway plays...............

 

And this is exactly what DeSantis is trying to do with his law. His point is you shouldn’t need a vaccine to participate in everyday life. Grocery, Home Depot, football game etc. He should have exempted cruise lines though as a cruise is not required to live everyday life and given its unique atmosphere, an exemption would have avoided a lot of headaches. 

1 hour ago, JLMoran said:

Don't let my wife hear this. She'll only ever want to go to Coco Cay and nowhere else. Well, except Bermuda of course...

there will be one at Grand Lucayan too in Freeport. At least that’s what the drawing shows. 
 

I read somewhere in this forum (I think) that they will shuttle you to another terminal for testing before embarking. They just did this for Odyssey’s first cruise this past weekend 

Just got my email about my October 23 Symphony. Everyone 12 and older has to be vaccinated due to St Thomas.