twangster

This is who...

The CDC predicted the spike this winter in the fall. The revised NSO was set to expire in February. It could be there current willingness to communicate now was the plan all along when the CSO was announced. October 2020: "We'll shut up until February and by then the winter peak will be over". February 2021: "We're back!!!!"

Liberty, Freedom and Indy all in FL to pick from. Wowser.

No, but I have been playing with some Freedom bookings. I have booked Liberty from FL late in 2022.

Ship crew on cruise ships are treated like the crew on thousands of foreign flagged ships such as tanker, container and cargo ships. There are international maritime conventions that become involved for ship crew. I don't think Royal has suggested their US HQ employees will be required to vaccinate. Keep in mind most terminals used to embark guests in the US use 3rd party companies that hire their own employees or contract them as independent contractors. All those people we see when checking in and boarding a cruise are not Royal employees. They too are out of scope for any Royal ship crew vaccination requirement.

Let's all chip in and buy everyone at the CDC some of these shirts... https://shop.cruisehabit.com/products/its-not-a-boat-cruise-ship-style-mens-t-shirt?variant=16248888983654

Foreign cruise lines are not subject to US state or federal labor laws or regulations regarding their foreign crew.

There is a theme with the artwork that makes more sense when you consider this piece in context. However it does stand out even within that theme.

He is too busy bouncing all over Florida for his TV appearances to formulate a strategy against the feds to assume control over seaports nor do I think there is any political capital for him in such a move. There is more to this virus then the CDC knows or that any doctors/virologist/scientists know. They all got plenty wrong along the road to where we are but that's expected, they are still learning, we all are. I don't agree with everything DeSantis does but I don't disagree with everything he does either.

The short market has been up-gauged with all 3 Freedom class doing short cruises. We've already seen Mariner dipping her toes into longer cruises including the ABC and Bermuda then settling into a 4/5 cycle to Cozumel while her 3 big sisters are doing the FL short market over the winter of '22/'23. I'm guessing with the 3 big girls doing the FL short 3/4 market and Mariner covering the 4/5 Mexico market that's enough inventory dedicated there. Navigator into the Pacific basin? Hmmm.

Today that is correct but no one is saying cruising in the US should resume 9am tomorrow morning in the US. One day soon the US will also have low enough rates like Singapore does today to allow cruising. We can begin to prepare for that and that begins with the CDC issuing technical details for the cruise lines so they can begin to prepare, train and acquire any equipment required. Once the cruise lines know what they must do it will take months for them to get ready.

Too early to know with certainty and I'm surprised dining is available to book already. You could try to glean information from other transatlantic cruises on other ships but even that isn't guaranteed to be accurate. Cruise compasses can be found here: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/cruise-compass

I think there may be some confusion about the bills in the senate. Florida has two bills progressing in the senate related to immunity but neither are related to cruising, or the CDC, or seaports. SB-74 is meant to make nursing homes and healthcare providers immune from frivolous lawsuits related to COVID. https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2021/74/BillText/Filed/PDF SB-72 is aimed at civil actions against private companies related to COVID https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2021/72/BillText/Filed/PDF There is a bill related to seaports and preemption. However this is not trying to circumvent the CDC nor is it related to federal regulations at all. This is the bill that could block the Key West local government from implementing their cruise ship ban. SB-426 State Preemption of Seaport Regulations https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2021/426/BillText/Filed/PDF I don't think even Florida is crazy enough to think they can wrestle seaports away from federal control.

I think it is encouraging that the CDC did request details about its use in Singapore. First it demonstrates there is two way communication. That's huge. It also indicates that the CDC is aware that 35,000 passengers have sailed on a Royal ship using this technology without a single positive case. That is perhaps even more important - that the CDC is aware of and considering that other countries have restarted cruising without incident. However the CDC could also be interested in the technology purely out of interest so they might see if the technology has other applications beyond cruising.

Booked Air2Sea. Fully refundable until final payment due date to go along with my refundable cruise fare. Air2Sea is $50 less than AA direct. El Cheapo airline offered through A2S is a charter airline that has terrible reviews and only BBB 1 star complaints. As much as i despise AA I think I'll pass on El Cheapo.

Air2Sea isn't a terrible uplift from direct. I might even go with a cheapo airline through them on the premise I can avoid flying AA and if cheapo airline has issues it's on Air2Sea to deal with.

Do none of you remember this live blog: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/6297-adventure-5-nights-5518-repositioning-san-juan-to-bayonne/&do=findComment&comment=68183

Can you imagine the reaction on social media if a modern TV show did that? We've come a long way.

The good news is ... if they are in your cabin and you buy the drink package they are not required to also buy the drink package since they are not of ship drinking age. Normally everyone of drinking age in the same cabin must buy the drink package if anyone in the cabin does. That worked out well for me sailing with a 20 year old. Now that she is over 21 it's gotten more expensive every time we go to dinner at home.

Royal ship policy tends to be derived from where the ship departs and they use the age on day 1 of the cruise for the whole cruise even if someone turns drinking age mid-cruise. Any ship departing from the US will use 21 as the drinking age. A ship departing Southampton will use UK laws. I should have asked when I last sailed from Quebec or Vancouver in Canada but never thought to.

In my experience if the price of the Royal excursion includes alcohol while on the excursion they implement their standard ship policy. My guess is they don't want hyper overreacting parents outraged at them for getting their kid drunk and falling down. Meanwhile if the same kids walk into a bar on the same island and gets drunk that's okay. I know it seems a double standard but you can thank all the social justice warriors for attacking the cruise line. If you pull out your wallet and buy them drinks, or they purchase their own drinks that's another matter. Royal didn't participate in the transaction that put alcohol into them so that tends to be okay. It's not like the local tour guide is going to run into the frame and stop the bartender from accepting your money. Excursions on sailing catamarans sometimes include beer or wine. On these excursions I am confident the tour operators were told not to allow under ship age drinking but it's possible the local tour operators may not enforce that with the same zeal that Royal does on the ship. YMMV.

I was near the forward elevator bank on Adventure. Almost right across the hall from it. The view from my cabin door: Noise never bothered me. There is always the chance of a boisterous group talking loudly going down the hall but that occurs down the entire length of the hall where ever that group is at that moment. One time on a Carnival ship there were elevator doors directly across the opening (where you see stairs in the picture above) and in that case I did hear people as they stood waiting for an elevator. On every Royal ship I have sailed that is not how they design their elevator lobbies so it has never been an issue. I love being close to this entrance to the elevator lobby because it's easy in and out.

You should know better than to trust Michael Poole with matches.

Such as? The highest concentration of mass market cruise ships exist in the US market because that is where the highest number of cruise consumers are located aligning nicely with the Bahamas and the Caribbean as year round destinations. If other regions were capable of supporting dozens and dozens of large cruise ships there would already have been dozens and dozens of mass market cruise ships operating in the region before the pandemic. The US cruise market is the golden goose of the cruise industry not by chance or luck.

Singapore is not COVID free. They haven't eliminated COVID. There are new cases in Singapore everyday. Eleven new cases were announced today. There is no community spread from these cases because they are being caught as they enter the country and isolated. They are caught because of mandatory testing upon arriving. Despite the newly imported cases that have been occurring regularly since December in Singapore, there remains no cases on Quantum. Cruising in Singapore has occurred absent of a vaccine since vaccines just recently started entering the picture. Protocols plus a vaccine will make everything so much safer. As more vaccine is administered the overall risk of an outbreak decreases everyday. The number of vaccines administered today will be dwarfed by the numbers by May 1st. A positive case may still occur once cruising restarts just like Singapore is detecting new cases entering the country everyday. Here in the US if a positive person doesn't book a cruise and just goes about their routine they will be spreading the virus everywhere they go. On land there are no procedures to detect and isolate anyone who doesn't decide to go and get tested. They will continue to be a risk to the community unless they have a reason to get tested. Cruising will be that reason to get tested for anyone going on a cruise. If that same person books a cruise they will need to get tested. Ideally they test positive before going to the port but if they slip through the cracks and on board is where it's detected that they are positive that is actually helping society overall because they are isolated and contained. That would never happen if they were back on land going about their weekly routine. Every positive person who is detected because they are about to go on a cruise, or every person who is detected once on board lowers the risk for society in general. In this regard cruising will help reduce community spread because guests will be monitored and isolated if required just like community spread has been lowered in Singapore where positive cases are caught upon arriving. When you combine the vaccine with the protocols it is safe to resume cruising and it gets safer every day with more vaccines getting into more arms every day. It's coming folks. Cruises will be able to restart soon.