Jill

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. 

Just heard on the news that CDC now says if you’re vaccinated no more masks indoors. 
 

Good grief. Good news but just enforces how they change stuff like people change their underwear 

i wonder what tomorrow will bring? Heck, something else may change next hour! 

2 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

A little more info on today's hearing.

CDC still saying they've done all they need to do and it's up to the cruise lines to meet the CSO terms now.

 

https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/regional/florida/florida-cruise-lawsuit-federal-hearing/67-3afb2c9f-7abc-4f8d-8b3e-3400a5fdbb52?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

They are so flippin arrogant. 

2 hours ago, UNCFanatik said:

I live in SC and when buffets opened back up here...specifically BBQ buffets, a few had staff serve you down the line but the majority i have been to require you put on gloves to server yourself

 But gloves won’t stop people from licking the spoon

28 minutes ago, twangster said:

I've long thought someone at the CDC had a bad cruise.  Maybe their lover hooked up with another guest or maybe they are one of those people who write bad reviews because they made bad assumptions.  

Come to think of it, making bad assumptions fits.  

Maybe they got norovirus or maybe they were on a less than stellar cruise line. 

At this point the CDC has so much egg on its face. They are even receiving criticism from main stream media- who have been towing their ridiculous agenda for a year. The latest was letting the teacher’s unions tell the CDC not to open schools. Their messaging is all over the place. Congress is grilling them as we speak. 

10 minutes ago, danv3 said:

Usually you can predict the outcome from comments the judge makes during the hearing.  Did any reporters attend (live or virtual)?  

We should’ve gotten Tampa peeps to watch their noon news. 

Another local report from this morning 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wfla.com/community/health/coronavirus/floridas-lawsuit-over-cdc-cruise-orders-goes-before-judge-wednesday/amp/

Hopefully Bay News will report soon a follow up to this morning’s report: 

https://www.baynews9.com/fl/tampa/news/2021/05/12/ag-ashley-moody-s-lawsuit-over-cdc-cruise-restrictions-to-go-before-judge#

12 hours ago, JeffB said:

His press secretary? Hmmmm. The Sun Sentinal is really a pretty good local pape but they have been known to assign statements to various sources without vetting them. My point remains. Desantis is not going to tell cruise lines they can't sail from FL ports if they require passengers and crew to be vaccinated.  

Agree. I live in Florida and no way DeSantis will let a $7 billion dollar industry sail away. No way. 

I’m supposed to be on her in October, 4th time trying! 
 

Maybe she’s getting her Covid upgrades? Ventilation etc. 

“Up coming bookings are wow! and ehhh... Not practical to back out of the "ehhh" onepretty well "stuck" with it.”

No such thing as an “ehhh” cruise!

All these videos are so great. Bummed my October 1 out of Rome was cancelled but excited to wait until October 2022 as we upgraded to a 12 night Holy Land/Best of Greece. 

This just came up in my newsfeed on Facebook. They have an App too. Has anyone used it? Seems like a great tool to book an excursion outside from the ship. 
 

https://www.getyourguide.com/