twangster

Since this morning they've added Onboard Protocols

Freedom venues updated to include August

Serenade Venues updated to include August

Ovation Venues

Mariner Venues

Symphony Venues

Allure venues

Odyssey Venues

And... it's been updated again. https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2021/07/09/royal-caribbeans-rules-cruise-ships-sailing-florida-august Ugh. Masks and no casino for unvaccinated.

Noticed this is now on the August FL page:

It has to be applied to a cruise by April '22. The cruise can sail through September '22. However you make good point. As time has marched forward many will find themselves approaching a closing window to use their FCC within. At least you can stack FCC now - apply more than one FCC to a single booking.

I went through a phase where I shopped for "low bid". Prior to the pandemic I learned a lesson about these types of agencies when the cruise line cancelled a sailing on me. While most people received the full FCC the cruise line offered I didn't because of how that travel agency was operating. I can only imagine the world of hurt I would have been in during the pandemic if I had stuck with them. Shopping by price alone is very tempting. If you choose that path don't be one of those that complain about travel agencies and poor service. You made that choice and you got what you wanted - low price (and poor service).

There is a misconception that if a port on an itinerary is skipped at the last minute they refund the associated port fees. On more than one occasion they have not refunded me anything when a port was skipped due to adverse weather. When I inquired I was told they incorrectly estimated and therefore charged lower port fees for that sailing compared to actual so they were unable to refund any port fees. Other times some port fees have been refunded upon missing a port at the last minute. The port fees we pay are estimates. Sometimes the estimates are right, sometimes the estimates are wrong. In the past, over time and across the fleet it averaged out. In the past there was vast historical data trends to guide them. Now not so much.

Probably anticipated changes to booking levels and capacity changes. Port fees that passengers are charged have often varied week to week. I see this on the same 3 and 4 nights cruises out of Florida for example. Some of that I believe is due to historical knowledge of load levels. A cruise during slower periods off peak will have fewer passengers compared to the same cruise during summer peak season for example. Many port fees are fixed to the cruise line so they need to spread those charges over fewer numbers of guests resulting in variable port fees on passenger invoices one week to the next for the same itinerary. Fees such as pilots, berthing fees, and longshoremen and so on are the same regardless how many passengers book the ship. Let's make up some numbers using nice round numbers that are way off but illustrate the math. If port fees are $100,000 for everything lumped into "port fees" and there are 3,000 guests that's $33.33 per guest. If port fees are $100,000 for everything lumped into "port fees" and there are 1,000 guests that's $100.00 per guest. When a cruise line first opens a new sailing they don't know exactly how many guests will end up booking that sail date so they estimate based on historical knowledge. If that sailing is in the summer historically the data will show they are more likely to have 100% capacity. If the sailing is off peak like September historical data might show they can expect 80% of capacity. Based on that historical knowledge they set port fees for every sail date in the future. The pandemic and the restart have made a mess of past data trends. Past trends are thrown out the window and they are left blindly trying to estimate loads in 3 months, 6 months and beyond. As this evolves they revisit previous estimates for every sail date and revise them. The result is what we see. Increasing port fees probably indicates they are expecting fewer bookings and that sail date will go out below full capacity.

Cartagena, Columbia. When I see this on an itinerary round trip from Florida I immediately stop and do a double take. As an added bonus these cruises usually include stops in other nearby ports that aren't just more of the same Caribbean port offering the same as many other Caribbean ports. Costa Rica for example often compliments Cartagena on these round trip Florida based cruises. I booked one just this week that includes overnight in Aruba. Ummm, excuse me sir... may I have some more?

My view about the case and how it has progressed goes beyond cruising. Cruise ships fell through a crack and the CDC got away with exceeding their powers. Emboldened by that they ramped it up and it got worse. Unchallenged after that they extended it and took it up a notch. No one stopped them. How giddy they must have been. I've long said that if the CDC could have, they would have locked us all in our homes very early on. The progression of this case has impact beyond cruising because in next public health emergency we would have seen the CDC attempting those types of locks down in so many other aspects of our lives except now they have had their magic undue powers put back in the bottle. They would have looked at how they got away with killing this industry and adapted to take on another. No airlines left after the next PHE. It's a major wakeup call for everyone - there was no check or balance to what the CDC did with the cruise industry. Look to the future and where the CDC would have gone... Without this ruling if the CDC didn't like the way a flu season was progressing they would lock down the cruise industry. Without this ruling if the CDC didn't like some other virus with negligible impact to society the CDC would lock down the cruise industry. Without this ruling we all might find ourselves locked in our home in 20 years time if the government is fearful something might happen. "Could be a virus next year, better lock up America 'cuz the CDC says so." That's not freedom and that's not American.

In Royal's case the judge is allowing them to follow their Healthy Sail Panel - made up of scientists and experts in the fields. Royal also knows guests want safe cruises. Royal is not going to throw away all protocols just because it might be able to soon. No cruise line can afford a major outbreak. I realize the CDC is convinced that cruise lines are poised to drop all protocols and cruise likes its 2019 tomorrow but I don't see that happening. Once again, the CDC is wrong.

I don't recall saying SB2006 is a bigger screw up than the CSO is/was. If that is how my post read I apologize. The cruise lines have navigated the CSO and SB2006 and they have been able to cruise. That outcome doesn't justify either the CSO or SB2006. Both the CSO and SB2006 are example of government overreach. SB2006 greatly complicates the cruise lines having insight into guest booking trends and how they need to or can adapt protocols to reflect the makeup of cruise manifests next week, next month, 3 months and 6 months from now. Government laws and regulations are fixed and not agile or flexible. They don't adapt as this situation changes. Right now the situation is changing rapidly yet with one arm held behind their back by the CSO and one arm tied with a rope by SB2006 cruise lines are facing substantially more effort to make cruises work. It doesn't have to be this way. Government could do what it does best, get out of the way. That applies equally to the federal and state governments.

An important moment but it's still not clear how this changes very much for Florida cruises. The pandemic in general is not over and it's not clear what the impacts of future variants will be. The Florida law that prevents a cruise line from cruising safely with vaccinations as a tool in their toolbox is not immediately impacted by this case with the CDC. For Royal Caribbean International at every step they've taken a path that allows unvaccinated children so it's clear they are trying to accommodate families even in states where this legal case has no immediate impact. They've also quietly allowed some exemptions beyond children. Clearly Royal is not trying to deny service based on vaccination status even in Nassau where it could have, that's bad for business and Royal knows it. Some are trying to make this look like a binary situation, all vax or no vax but it's not for Royal and never has been. That's why the Florida law is a law that isn't required. It's a law to make it look like government is doing something when in fact it's just more government overreach while everyone is celebrating this judge who just slapped down a government for overreaching its power. In an ideal world a cruise line would be able to determine safe protocols based on the ratio of vaccinated and unvaccinated and they could adjust protocols as new variants emerge and other's go away. Is that 85% today? 80% a month from now? 50% six months from now? That's for the proper experts to decide, not a doomsday federal agency, not an authoritarian state government and not the general public. The pandemic isn't over. Delta won't be the last variant. Vaccines are the path to safe cruising without a 100% vax requirement. Cruise lines like Royal are not trying to establish an absolute vaccine requirement. That's doesn't change with this latest step in the case against the CDC.

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2021/07/06/royal-caribbean-cancels-australia-cruises-due-uncertainty-travel-restrictions The way I read it is the 2021/2022 season is cancelled (through April 2022 on Royal). The 2022/2023 season starts in the fall of 2022 so it stands for now.

This was discussed in another thread since Canada was also using Astra at one time but I'm not sure there is a firm resolution: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/23771-international-vaccination-proof/ The Royal FAQ says they recognize what WHO recognizes but it may vary by departure country or port. https://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Royal/Deployment/2021_2022/RTS_FAQs.pdf I feel like this is an evolving topic because we are in the infancy of the restart. That's not very definitive but it is what it is. Cruise planning right now requires a great deal of patience, understanding, flexibility and whiskey.

A number of times I've purposely booked a hotel with a complimentary airport shuttle. I fly in the day before and take the shuttle to the hotel. In the morning I take the shuttle back to the airport. Zero cost beyond hotel stay so far. Then I use the Royal transfer like I flew in that day. Sometimes they want flight info so I find a random flight from some city to that airport that arrives the morning of the cruise and give them that. Your other option is a rental car. In this past this was a pretty clean and obvious choice. This fall I'm seeing crazy car rental issues. Some offices closed, outrageous pricing so I'll hesitate offering that as an idea but keep it in the back of your mind.

Curios what they plan to do with Ovation and Serenade after the Alaska season. That's right before Navigator cranks up in LA. Two extra ships hanging the west coast. Hmmm.

Even if I have to push my return to 2024 or 2025 I'll be back. Amazing country, wonderful people.

I love crew. I really do. They are good people and as a solo cruiser I often spend a lot of time talking to them getting to know them. However this serves as a reminder that crew rumors hold no more weight than any other rumor.