Traveler

56 minutes ago, Jill said:

There are passengers in the Facebook group that are saying 50 cases and that masking increased to current protocols 2 days ago. I know the guy is a jerk but I’m reading passenger accounts too. 

I just disembark from  Symphony today , the exact number is not 50 it more like less than 35 as around 0.7 % got infected. Only two employees (they were moved to Nassau) I guess some people did the wrong math.  

Beside asking to have our masks in the theater we did not experience any protocol change.

Just got an email that on the previous cruise they found one passenger (which had the symptoms but decided not to report on board) with the Omricon variant. On this cruise (Symphony , 0.7 tested positive for C19) 

This is the email we got today: (Omericon came to visit)

ABOUT YOUR UPCOMING TRAVELS   Dear Guest, Earlier this evening, we were informed by the CDC that a guest who sailed on the December 4th, 2021 Symphony of the Seas sailing tested positive for COVID-19 after they returned home. This guest did not report symptoms to our onboard medical teams as outlined in our health protocols. Their post cruise test results were subsequently confirmed as the Omicron variant. Additionally, as the Captain announced, we have a small number of asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic COVID-19 cases on our December 11th cruise – fewer than 0.7 % of the total population onboard. While these cases are unrelated to the Omicron case from the guest who sailed on December 4th, our goal is always to keep you safe, healthy, and well-informed. Per CDC guidance, here’s what to do next: Within 3 – 5 days after you depart the ship, please be sure to visit an accredited laboratory to take a test for COVID-19. The health and safety of our guests and crew remain our highest priorities. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation. Sincerely, Royal Caribbean International

36 minutes ago, MLH said:

Do you know how many passengers were on board?

I think around 4500-5000

Funny , huge line in guest services , every second guess carry tons of used towels. It became a huge revenue for RCL

Currently they ask people to use the mask in the theater ...

One not welcome change is the self  luggage disembarkation protocol change . Now you need to use luggage tags and show them once disembark so no flexible time anymore.

5 minutes ago, D Alt said:

Are we in THIS crossword?

 

I can always blame the auto correct

We are in a very important crossroad. The Omricon looks like more easily spreading including in the vaccinated population. Still we need to wait to sea the severity of cases , so far very light symptoms but we need more few weeks to see the trends (the Delta started also with minor symptoms). Let's all hope it's will be soon consider no more than a light cold and this will start to be the end of it. Meanwhile let's hope it will not impact the cruise industry.

C19 update .

The Captain just let us know C19 cases were detected on board of the Symphony. From another reliable source it more than 15 , only two are crew. That's mean tomorrow Symphony boarding process will start very late , maybe after 3 PM since CDC will need to visit . Let's hope everything will goes well and everyone will feel better soon.

Update , some people were sent to Nassau ( I guess the cruise  crew ) the other will disembark in Miami . 

We arrived Coco Cay around 11 am and cleared around 12 PM. So I guess we had 1 hour delay due to the medical emergency. The good news is that we will leave at 5:30 pm whiche one extra hours. Still for whoever booked the over the sea cabena it is around 350 $ per hour . We had the Jet ski excursion bit when we arrived to the island excursion desk they said it's all cancelled due to water conditions. The sea looks flat to me so maybe it's a matter of under water streams . I know such things can happen I just wished they would let us know while we still on the ship so we would plan differently. Oh well there are many more things to enjoy on the Island. By the way Jewel of the seas is also here 

1 hour ago, Missangie said:

can you please upload in cruise compass a new symphony of the seas compass. thank you in advance

Sure I will try to load them

First time I hear about such thing , the annual cruise was from April 1 to March 31 , including booking , it might be they have changed it. But in Royal universe the rule is - if you got an answer you are not happy with from one representative , call, call again most of the times you will get different answer ... 

I think the main reason for cutting the suite is not really the extra space for suite deck as it's not explaining all the suite that gone for all the other floors. The main reason I guess the fact that that ship was designed for the Asian market,mainly cruising from China. The market there is different I guess less demands for suites more for other facilities for example , the solarium is busier from outdoors pools and will be with a cooling system. I am sure on the six Oasis ship you will see more suite although it still might have the suite deck. In Spectrum you can find things like golden balconies which gives you suite services on a regular balcony rooms. If things with the C19 will continue Royal might do some changes. I guess that there might be soon things like Sky JS cabins and other. The C19 changed it all , let's just be happy that the Wonder is serving now US and Europe.

Interesting , we visited the diamond club at the morning , it seems it went back to self service , at least for the coffee machine. The suite club is still full service.

Good morning on the way to Coco Cay

36 minutes ago, Reigert2008 said:

Hijacking this, since I just thought of it.  Do you know if VPNs are allowed on Voom? I’ve been thinking of taking a solo cruise and trying to work remotely, but sometimes (rarely) even the hotel network will block a vpn connection.  
 

thanks!

F5 and Cisco works for me almost most of the times . Never tried public one.

5 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

Wow.  2 medical emergencies yesterday.  The other one was on Oasis.  Sorry to hear it.

Now we got another alpha alpha alpha , this time on the central park , hope it's just something minor.

Another strange thing , first time on the last day we still have not got the numbers for the luggage (and not only us) 

 PCR test update.

We went at 4 PM to do our return home PCR testing. There were almost no lines (only tow Canadian before us) . They verified the passport information and  the test took 30 seconds for me and was quite easy. My spouse complained that her test was rough as they really tried to find something hidden there , I guess it's depends who is your tester. I had to take her to drink Kraken Lava flow to recover :-).

The email with the results came back after 15 minutes  (both negative) gso we are clear to go and we can relax and enjoy the rest of the cruise. 

Yesterday we had Alpha alpha alpha at evening. The ship had to change route to get near Puerto Rico and around 10 pm an helicopter from US cost guards evacuate him to the Island. The route change will bring us one hour late to Coco Cay but we might stay there extra hour. I wish whoever evacuate to feel well soon , One hour less in Coco Cay is not compatible to saving lives.

Day 5 St Thomas.

We planned to have a another Catamaran tour with some snorkeling and island tour but unfortunately it was cancelled. We done a mistake and replaced it with a tour in Villa Botanica  and mountain too , the combination of rain and too much time planned for the vila tour was not working well for us. Oh well lesson learned for next time. 

Chef's table came back to Symphony , still not advertised but we were encounter by someone that offer it for us with 20% discount. Since it was my spouse birthday we jumped on the offer as we both love it. The meeting was in Vintage and after that we were escorted to a table in the solarium. I think the location is much better than the previous one in CK. The table is limited to six people. We two other nice couple and allot of chats and good laugh. As always I think the most important thing in Chef's table is the company.

Food:

We got the 150 bread , scallop carrpacio which was not that good .

Tomato smoked soup , lobster salad , a fish plate and filet mignon which were all good.

One not so welcome changed was the fact they gave us 5 white wine and only 1 red, but still it was allot of fun.

Day 4 part 2.

For St Maarten we booked a two hours sunset catamarans sail. The sail started at 3:30 pm and was supposed to end at 17:3o which was also the all aboard time. No way I would book such a excursion. Not from RCL and be on a YouTube video as 10 most funniest pier runners 2021. The boat ride was awesome. We went to a ride around the Island while heaving open bar and some local Caribbean snacks (like Hummus and cheese ).

Going back the ride was bumpy  , we stood in front of the ship in a " I am the king of world" position and enjoyed every jump like the pirate ship ride in a theme park. We got back to the ship exactly at 5:30 PM to sea Symphony after dark.

Day 4 St Maarten.

Today was our first port day.  The day before we got a message in the room about balcony maintenance , guess who forgot about it , guess who in is underwater suddenly notice people working there. Sorry you had to witness that guys , but I am not going to pay for any required psychological  therapy, professional risks , .

Since as part of the process they also removed the binder it was a good time to check the other cabin balconies.

The family suite

View from the balcony

31 minutes ago, Ampurp85 said:

We had several performers on the Allure ice show fall as well. Thankfully nobody was hurt in any serious way, but it makes me wonder if the ice isn't quite right.

The ice ring is very small so I am sure it takes some time to adjust to it . I noticed not like other show they do not change all the team at once but replace few team members every time not sure why. Anyway I think it's quite challenging to participate in this show , this is why it's even more impressive

Day number three the second sea day.

Not going to get  you bored again with what we eat in the morning or what we did every minute but few observations from this day.

Dining room service is excellent just to give you one example,  comparing to all the other places when we drink our coffee they already remember the kind of sweet and low that we are using  (and the sugar I use ) and bring it already to the table without asking and that's only after one day, those small things that do the change. 

CK lunch contains many of the evening menu from other days but services much more rapid and in general better than the evening service at least this is what we feel. 

Everybody show - so by mistake I reserve the ice show time that was for everyone. Even for the everyone show they still separated the crowd and on one section only adults on the other sections adults with children. Although it was already the same crew from the last 3 months there were many many incidence during the ice cream almost every session somebody felt, one time it was so bad that I told that we are going to hear alpha alpha alpha , gladly no one being hurt and all the performer continue as nothing happened. I admire their ability to continue without any fear since such incidents  might impact dramatically the  self-confidence any veteran performance. Maybe there were some issue with the ice  surface. Anyway the show was fun as always. 

Weather was strange yesterday, mostly sunny but every 30 minutes or so there was one minute of heavy rain. It was fun to watch people behavior once it happened. Some just didn't mind, some just started to run for cover, most funny where people that running from the pool , you already in the pool do you think you are going to get more wet due to the rain ?  

Due to the high winds the 16 deck was closed during all the day, let's created some chair availability on Deck 15 but still do some free chairs just not on hotspot.

Water and juice are now back to sled service in most of the places , this is a blessing change.

Tomorrow out first port - St Maarten.

I love the new monster drill and I hope that they will keep the system even after the pandemic will be behind us. I also love the fact that the ship was empty at least during the summer. It felt as if we got special service everywhere. I didn't like the fact that the WJ was close during the evening time but that's already behind us.