Jill

Marc Walker “Bing Bong”

Sorry that’s the CD. I apparently can’t read

I just got a quote from them for an annual and it was almost $1500. I’m calling back to speak to someone else because that seems super high. Travel Guard quoted me $518. 
 

We have 3 cruises in a calendar year. 7 night Caribbean, 7 night Alaska with 3 night land and 12 night Holy Land/Greece with extra land days. Flights, hotels etc. 

Obviously a gag order is in place. Good reason to choose employees as test cruisers. Hopefully all is going well and CDC representative(s) is blown away at the execution of the protocols.

@Bemintz Royal has been planning for reduced capacity for at least a year. With a year and a half of cancelled cruises/lift and shift/refunds etc, they’ve had a plan in place. 
 

Even now if you do some mock bookings, you’ll see outside view as “sold out.” I’ve noticed very few interior cabins available with the exception of connecting rooms. 
 

I’m not concerned about future capacity and being bumped for my October Symphony. 
 

Right now the biggest issue to me would be a resurgence of new cases that would impact sailing but with so many vaccinated, that’s not really probable, even with variants out there. 
 

Adventure was a great example as to how things will be. According to @Matt, the cruise was more “normal” than not. Even with some unvaccinated on board, I’m not expecting anything that would impede my having a great time. 

I don’t think much will change as far as protocols go. Masks will likely be dropped for vax’d. 
 

The cruise lines DON’T want outbreaks. They can’t afford it. I think the healthy sail protocols will be the norm. 
 

No test cruises= fleet able to get going

2 hours ago, ChrisK2793 said:

Doubtful ….. why would vaccinated parents want to book and pay for a cruise where the ENTIRE family will be segregated to a LESSER cruise experience because their kids aren’t vaccinated???  I seriously doubt anybody who wanted to take their kids on a FUN Disney cruise will sign up for a SEGRATED “family” cruise on RCL, they might as well just take their kids to Disney Word or on a beach vacation where they can actually have a good time for their money.

 

I’m talking about those eligible for a vaccine (adult) and choose not to take it. That’s who Royal is trying to discourage. 
 

Adventure is sailing right now with unvaccinated children. They aren’t separated from their parents. 
 

6 hours ago, UNCFanatik said:

Is amazing to me to see the same people so anxious to get cruising back up and running now wanting to deny boarding to families with children. Not to mention the current vaccine concern for those 12-16. As an aside, the ever incompetent CDC pushed back “emergency hearing” on this issue until next week. CDC is a joke. They paused the J&J vaccine for less than this. 
 

from a business perspective, Royal doesn’t want to turn away families and there is no guarantee that they ever could have met the 95% vaccinated passengers in the Caribbean this summer.
 

There won’t be 100% vaccinated sailings this summer in Caribbean. The adventure didn’t have 95% vaccinated rate among passengers. 
 

what would you have Royal do? Ban all children this summer? Refund more people? There is zero way from stopping Covid on cruise ships. ZERO. and if you are vaccinated believe in science! Trust the vaccine. It will be ok if you sit with unvaccinated people! I would sit with them and I am vaccinated! I just flew on a plane with 200 of my closest friends for a 3 hour flight. Stop the fear. 
 

 

These new protocols really are to discourage those who are not vaccinated to not sail for now. You’ll get the die hards but your average cruiser probably will wait. 
 

Also.....From a business standpoint: Royal has an opportunity here to snag those Disney cruisers. Disney is shutdown. There’s no way they can start anytime soon. The unvaccinated kids would outnumber vaccinated adults. This is Royal’s chance to wow them over. 
 

These protocols are cumbersome for the unvaccinated and that is the point. 

48 minutes ago, sk8erguy1978 said:

 

Yes! I really enjoyed the innovation and changes in both Oasis & Quantum class ships but still keeping the feel of a Royal Caribbean signature ship. I have faith Icon will not disappoint continuing that trend. I've already warned the wife, I need a new ship (& class) smell, so Q3/Q4 2023 we are cruising LOL.

Yep us too! I’m assuming she’ll be out of Canaveral unless Miami gets it’s LNG by then. 
 

PC would be awesome as I’m 2 hours from there. We’ve got 3 booked through October 2022. Not sure I can wait a year after that for Icon, so may have to jump on a 4 night Bahamas to hold me over. 

1 hour ago, CGTLH said:

Can see this being a future quote, "Due to plenty of positive feedback and to enhance your experience. We've decided to make these changes permanent going forward. Enjoy using your vouchers for beverages upto $13 anytime anywhere including the Diamond Club during Happy Hour."

I hope they stick with the vouchers being able to be used anywhere/anytime. That’s way better than getting drinks in the lounge And only having happy hours to redeem your other drinks. 

36 minutes ago, DuaneG said:

I am sailing on Freedom of the sees. From the videos I have watched it is almost night and day vs the Carnival ships I have been on. 

You’ll like Freedom. She’s a good size ship. Personally I love oasis class but Freedom is a great way to be introduced to Royal. 

10 hours ago, StayFrosty said:

What do you think it’s lineage will be:

1. Evolution of the Oasis Class
2. Evolution of the Quantum Class
3. Clean sheet design
4. Or something else?

 

My realistic vote is an evolution of the Quantum Class.  My wish is for a clean sheet design!

I’d like a clean sheet design too.  I do hope she has a Central Park kind of thing though. That’s just spectacular and I miss it on every non oasis class I go on. 

10 minutes ago, jticarruthers said:

Carnival vs Royal vs NCL for me is much more about ship vs ship than it is line vs line.

Compare Carnival Paradise to Oasis of the Seas and there is a clear winner in every category except fitting under the Sunshine Skyway ...

Compare Carnival Vista to Majesty of the Seas and the story is about the same but largely flipped the other way ...

 

Generally for me, Royal has a newer/better maintained fleet with more of a focus on family and shows vs adults and comedy, depends on what your looking for.

 

Carnival's older/smaller boats were pretty much crappy drunkfests, the newer boats compare very closely to the newer Royal/NCL ships for me.

We had one of those crappy, drunk fest ships that sailed out of Jacksonville. A few friends have done that one and it was pretty gross. 

I’m curious what they’re going to do with all the people who will now be Diamond after this promo. That lounge is going to get very crowded. 
 

It’s a great promo though! We’ll end up with 66 points and just shy of Diamond +. Our Alaska cruise is in a JS and we added the 3 night land tour so 40 points on that one. 

What Royal ship are you going on? 

She just needs that champagne smashed across her bow and exorcise these demons! 

Seriously will she ever sail? 

My October out of Rome was cancelled months ago. I moved us to October 2022 Holy Land. This ship needs some divine intervention! 

@AshleyDillo and @Baked Alaska now you have me excited about icy straight! Ashley do you remember what whale tour you did? There will be 5 of us. 

I’d go research icy straight. It’s a toss up 50/50 it seems. Not much to do there. 
 

We’re on the Southbound Radiance in May of ‘22 and icy  straight is a port. We’ll find something to do or take a needed nap! We added a 3 day Denali land tour pre-cruise so if there’s a port with not much going on, I’m down for a nap! 

On 6/4/2021 at 8:51 AM, MikeK said:

I can see myself bouncing off that pole in the middle of the night on a potty break.  Maybe it's for pole dancing.

Apparently #1388 on Adventure is known as the pole dancing cabin *I copied this from Facebook. I do not know these people! 

https://www.facebook.com/dawn.sylke/videos/10224859868554320/

How many in your family? We got a Central Park balcony back in 2011 when our girls were young. It gave us an extra sitting area because even when sailing, it’s not that windy. OV can be windy when underway. 
 

With that said, we prefer ocean view balcony. I cruise to see the sea. 
 

4 hours ago, steverk said:

I'm taking a moment to share my (ongoing) experience with Flights by Celebrity,  which is really the same service.

On my flight home from Celebrity millennium, the flight from Miami was cancelled. American airlines hasn't been real helpful. They insisted the best we can hope for is a flight on Monday. They offered hotels,  but said there are none available. 

I  booked the flight through Flights by Celebrity. So, I called there emergency service at 1am last night.

Lisa picked up the phone and tried her best. She got us a hotel at Celebrity's expense. She also got us on the standby list for 8:30 today. Fingers crossed that we will make it

This is why we’ll be using Air2Sea for our Alaska and Holy Land/Greece cruises in 2022

We used Southwest out of Orlando to San Juan 2 years ago and it was great but Alaska and Italy are big ticket/bucket list trips and I’m not risking it

You will have to use a voucher(s) in the lounge. However you can use them anywhere and anytime of day up to $13, which is somewhat an upgrade over standard DL drink menu. There’s another thread somewhere. Maybe in News and Rumors 

We had a Central Park balcony and enjoyed it. We had our 2 girls with us so it gave us another sitting area. Only downside is you feel kind of close to your neighbors across the way. Didn’t enjoy the guy in his tighty whities each morning drinking his coffee lol

Be sure to close your curtains when you’re changing 

FOX Business did a very positive story. They’re calling it a success story and calling out the media who are freaking out. 
 

Dr Siegel calling this a great advertisement that the vaccines are working and we are getting on with our lives. He said he was ready to cruise. 

Looks like she’s headed for Miami

If you’re at all concerned, this App is awesome for blocking out noise. We use it every time we travel. You’ll sleep like a baby!