Jill

4 hours ago, Jackie Royka said:

Good Morning! We are scheduled on Symphony is September. So much needed! Has anyone ever heard of the port being changed that you sail from? We go out of Miami and want to make sure they won't move us to another state for departure.

The only US ports that can handle an oasis class (to my knowledge) are PC, PE, Miami and Bayonne. Galveston is under construction to be the new home port of Allure

They are crewing her now. She’s in Cadiz in dry dock. 
 

In one of my Facebook groups 2 parents have posted their kids have been called back for the shows. (Hiro, hairspray and flight)

Just read in a Facebook group that entertainers are signing contracts to join the ship in July. Yay! 2 parents posted that their kids have been called back.  Hiro, Hairspray and Flight. 

9 hours ago, SPS said:

 

 

First thing I thought of too! 

My first visit was way back in 1987! It was known as Little Stirrup Cay and I was there aboard Admiral Cruises “Emerald Seas.” She was an old military supply ship turned cruise ship. 
 

The island was a beach with heavy mangrove trees. Of course the “sunken plane” was the highlight of the island. 
 

Present day CocoCay bears little resemblance to her original self. 
 

Any other old timers visit her way back when? I’m really not THAT old! College spring break. $137 for 3 nights. 
 

I just remember the actual old people upset with us rowdy college kids. 

1 hour ago, dswallow said:

Florida has filed their reply to the government's memorandum of opposition to Florida's Motion for Preliminary Injunction.

56_047123018706_FloridasReplyInSupportOfMotion.pdf (2150.com)

Florida v. HHS, CDC (2150.com)

Seems like nothing more than a giant game of chess. 

2 hours ago, PG Cruiser said:

I live in Florida too.  How I wish hurricanes would be in quarantine and lockdown as well. 

But it’s Florida! We’ve been open since the beginning

1 hour ago, twangster said:

I just mailed my passport renewal off.  So much for test cruises...

We did that right after our October 2020 was cancelled. Took roughly 3 months. Hope yours is a faster turnaround 

3 hours ago, twangster said:

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2021/05/19/royal-caribbean-finalized-port-agreement-port-canaveral-so-it-can-start-test-cruises

Test cruises coming to Port Canaveral!  (hopefully) 

Well that would be mighty convenient for us. As in 2 hour drive convenient

3 hours ago, PG Cruiser said:

Cruising from Florida restarts in July ... cue the tropics for the hurricanes!

Hush your mouth! I live in Florida. I don’t want no stinkin hurricanes

Where are you sailing from? What/where are you staying the other 2 weeks? 
 

For an alternative, I’d look at Airbnb or VRBO and find one that allows a close in cancellation. Put down your deposit and wait for RC to release the protocols for your sailing. 

8 minutes ago, UNCFanatik said:

wouldnt that mean that test sailings would be required? I thought it was either 98% crew and 95% passenger vaccination requirement OR test cruises. they are 44 days out from July 3rd. Wouldnt they have test cruises in place by now if that was the case?

Even more.....Carnival is a BIG reason why Covid went rampant on their ships (Princess). They transferred crew from the pacific Cruises (Mexico then Hawaii, outbreak, couldn’t port etc) to Fort Lauderdale. Crew from the Mexico run were transferred to Florida. Plus aren’t they still in a heap of trouble from dumping into the ocean? 
 

9 minutes ago, wolfganghowell said:

Carnival just announced yesterday that they are sailing out of Galveston July 3rd.  Hoping they stick to it - Royal won't be far behind I bet.

And they’re not requiring vaccines 

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/25027-carnival-may-not-require-covid-19-vaccine.html

4 hours ago, JeffB said:

Well, I've been watching the court docket. Nothing new. It's Sunday. Was hoping for a ruling this weekend. Nope.  I think litigants and the Judge are taking the day off.

Back into action tomorrow. Turns out whoever posted that the ruling might take "weeks" to which I posted "I think it's imminent" well, I was WRONG! It's been 5d if you count the day of the hearing and today. No further predictions  

However, some good news: FL has posted rapidly declining hospitalizations for a month. Deaths, already having dropped sharply as vaccine rolled out,  are stable if not trending down further over the last 30d. Hospitalizations and ED visits for ILI, CLI also way down. This is reflective of the demographic data that tells us serious illness in FL from SARS2 infection is becoming rare; the COVID positive cohort is almost 95% under 30.  

Since May 1st, % positivity has been below 5% state wide - the magic number at which most epidemiologist (not in the CDC) consider the virus to be controlled and circulating at low enough levels to resume normal activities. Both Broward and Miami Dade Counties, homes to PEV and Port of Miami, have posted % positivity rates below 5% for 10d. FL is at 44% vaccination levels (at least 1 shot = 10%, fully vaccinated = 34%)

Governor Desantis has deferred some activity re-openings to the counties and in both cases of Dade and Broward they've been slow to reflect the drop in risk of infection as measured by the metrics I list above. A lot of park and park activities including public pools still remain closed. I wonder if there are problems for counties hiring staff to open these activities.  Some private condo pools are still closed??? ..... and residents are up in arms over it.  Gyms have no mask requirements any longer but I was in our favorite local restaurant for brunch today and masks and table spacing still present??? Technically this is no longer needed given the metrics above. It's going to take a long time for a lot of people, including business owners who worry about liability, to get past a 15 month long COVID mitigation hangover and the fear factor of COVID itself

So, who knows but FL has been "open" (depends by county what that means) since late September 2020 and it is waaaaay safer in S. FL now than it was then. if you end up traveling to FL in July to start a cruise from PEV or Miami, the numbers don't lie. You'll be safe here by acting reasonably and making fact based, rational decisions about places and activities you want to undertake. 

Come on down ...... no, on second thought stay home. It's getting hot and the traffic is terrible.

49 minutes ago, twangster said:

I imagine they'll try to collect any crew that has a current US visa along the way.  Civitavecchia seems a bit out of the way but it must make sense in the bigger picture.  

And Symphony is at Cadiz too (or heading there, haven’t checked recently)

12 minutes ago, Floski said:

Thank you, Jeff for your service.  I've met a lot of super impressive Marines in my job.

Thank you for all of the great posts and clarifications.

Ditto and I see a job for Jeff at RCG! Kind of a head of counter intelligence but intelligence isn’t the word......head of counter stupidity? Help me out here. 

31 minutes ago, twangster said:

I was booked on the original November 2020 inaugural and as it happened I was booked on the new Rome inaugural when November 2020 didn't happen.  Both cancelled.

I thought it was me and not being able to book the Haifa inaugural I felt for sure it would sail.  The Haifa inaugural cancellation is not my fault! 

However November 2021 US inugarial is a booking I have and now it looks like it won't be the US inaugural anymore.  

So maybe it is me. 

It’s not you, promise. 3rd times a charm right? (I said that about symphony and October will be my 4th try). 
 

Hope your November 2021 inaugural is a refundable deposit. Just move it to the new inaugural. 

Well the hubs just said he’d hop on her this summer. Oh @Sharla prepare to be on standby! Lol

I’d love to get on her before our Holy Land next year. Hopefully the Holy Land will be calmer by then. 

Was so disappointed our October odyssey this year was cancelled out of Rome but looks like we may get a shot at getting on her anyways before Holy Land 2022. WOOT! 

There’s a pretty long thread a few posts down about this. Nothing official from Royal yet. 

2 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

A recent study showed viable antibodies 9 months after infection, though the caveat was that this was in severe case patients.

I know a husband and wife who after a full year still have antibodies. Both had mild cases

1 hour ago, SpeedNoodles said:

According to the article, the cancelation was announced to crew over the PA system, and is due to the conflict, although I guess at this point it's still considered hearsay.

 

http://crew-center.com/odyssey-seas-israel-season-cancelled?fbclid=IwAR1VjruU1f-hU0BoaNeQj__z9hFWJ-LTt5S8uqs4wLNZdH5yjsIRoBpwao4

Well if this is true and she’s coming to PC, I may have to hop down 95 to see her. Sad though for all those people who are booked but I’ve been cancelled 5 times so far. I’m getting used to being disappointed 

Well at least we have something to speculate about while we wait for Judge Merryday

@LogicallyLazy how has the vaccine rollout gone in Singapore? Do you know approximately how many have been vaccinated? 
 

Hope it calms down soon

22 minutes ago, Baked Alaska said:

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2021/05/13/bill-allow-cruise-ships-sail-alaska-without-stopping-canada-passes-us-senate

Should this bill pass in the house AND then extended into the summer 2022 cruise season, I wonder how this would impact Radiance sailings, namely the open-jaw nature of her sailing involving Vancouver.

One, I believe this is only until the ban is lifted in February 2022. Second, if the ban remains, I would imagine the cruise would terminate/begin in Seattle instead. 
 

I’m on Radiance next May. 

I’d book the flights and book a back up Florida vacation if the cruise cancels. Book an Airbnb in the Keys that lets you cancel a few days out.