Traveler

Good news , got my tax/gratuities back to the CC and bank account , The cruise was canceled at mid March and it was for 8-April , so I guess I Got it 6 weeks after the original cruise date.

Yes , I need to change it as it was not just 8 , there were much more people they tested the vaccine , they just split it to groups and each group got different portion. Anyway they start now phase 2 with several hundreds and then phase 3 On Jul. I hope it will work . I have read about Sorrento , its very interesting , they are working on antibodies as I understood and for sure it might serve as a cure. There are hundreds of companies which are in different phase of develop/test both vaccines and medicines to the treat the C19 , one of them for sure will be successful.

I do have the link but unfortunately its not in English ...

Some more good news , The results of a research to check the risk to be infected from surfaces with C-19 was done in two different hospitals . They have collected samples from surfaces which are located inside the C-19 units in the hospital , they took the samples and tried to grow the virus (using host cells) . The results were very clear , the virus trace from the surfaces can not infect (they could not grow it while direct samples could easily grow) . The research is being done now also in an hotel that was converted to quarantine location for people that found positive to the C-19 but were only lightly impacted by it.

Today Moderna announced they finish a successful first test with their vaccine (8 people got it and show good results with ). The time line is to start massive phase 3 testing on July and have it approve by the end of the year. The interesting thing was raised during an interview with Moderna lead doctor , he said they are already started in massive production , which means it will be available to market at leas tin the US once it will be approved. Lets hope.

Thanks , lets keep our fingers cross , well still have one week to decide . and the best , I will feel OK not to blog ? ,

They just increased the UDP from 175 to 200 $ and the water park/Beach club are doubled I do hope its a good sign as they will need to reduce the number of tickets / seats due to the new social distancing , maybe there is some hope. Please do not finish all the stakes at CK day 1 , we will be the one that waiting near the CK door hope that someone will open it and that we will have a table ?

Apparently EWR worked during the peak of the outbreak including United flights . I must say the crew are very brave. but I must agree with you , EWR in regular days is not the nicer airport to go through , endless security lines (even with TSA pre) , but I think there are worse airport even in the US . Well I hope everything will be OK with all the cruises/airport as soon as possible.

Its OK its only one of the things ? I should add work related issues , the heat wave, the cat that think it should get food at 4 am and jumping on us just to make sure we are awake . By the way since NJ and NY got the most infected people there is a good chance they will be also the first place that will show better results , but time will tell , as you said there is allot of risk there

Here is the issue and also why I do not sleep that well lately : We have a cruise at 23-August from NJ on Oasis of the seas . I believe there is something like 30% of chance that the cruise will go but since I need to fly international flight to get to the port it might be more complicate (for sure if there will still be 14 days quarantine for anyone who comes to the US and 14 days quarantine when I will come back home). I have booked the cruise around February and it was under cruise with confidence (I had some confidence that August is far enough , I guess I was very wrong) so it can be canceled 48 hours before. The flights was also booked with United so I can change them if needed (they have some arrangement of changing the flights without a cost), There is also a good chance the flight will not be canceled as until today they still flying almost daily between my location and EWR. We both have an FCC from our canceled 8-April cruise , but as you know as long as I did not use the FCC I can still ask for refund until the end of this year. Final payment of the cruise is coming in the next few days , if I will pay it will be with the FCC but that mean I will not be able to take refund and if something happens to RCL its bye bye money , I must tell you the fact I did not got back yet my tax/port fees for the cancels cruise is not adding to my confident. I would use the Lift and shift but the cruise was booked with some Casino discounts (not that big but still) which pee Matt article are not entitle for L&S offer. Oh , if I just had a cruise crystal ball ? What would you do ?

The WJ for us is a way to eat fast when we do not want to spend two hours for dinner or 1 hour for lunch. I do not like the breakfast in the WJ I think they are missing allot of items which I would like to see in breakfast but that's me . Also we like the fact we can take a sample from something and if we like it we will go and get some more of it. So if they will have a way for a fast eating with ability to choose from a verity without the risk of people touching the food (and yes I saw many times people using their hands , people return food after they touch it and many other bad habits) I will be OK with it. Maybe as people offered , food court style , Maybe like the Solarium bistro serve the food in separate individual dishes , or maybe pre order trays (you will order your food via the application and a tray with the food you asked for will be ready for you when you enter the WJ . Fast option is a much I think.

More and more companies are announcing on new ways to deal with the C19. Here is another company that starts soon test using antibodies cocktail , They are talking about using it not just as a treatment but also as a prevention. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/08/sorrento-therapeutics-mount-sinai-develop-covid-19-antibody-shield.html

Not sure about the blind test but testing will continue and some of them for sure will be blind tests. The good thing is that not like medicine it dose not need to be tested for safety and long term influence. The issue now that there very few new cases to test it on so they might need to shift some of the test to Europe or US.

Some good news which might be a game changer here. An Israeli University researcher developed a C19 - breathalyzer (this is a different analyzer than the other company is developing) it is based on some electronic chip that dedicates the difference in the electricity filed once someone with the virus exhaling into it. And here are the really good news : 1. The device was tested on 150 people (50% with Corona virus 50% without) and it was showing 93% success in dedicating the virus (which is more than the serologic test and equal to the accuracy of the PCR test ) .they are in a process to make it even more accurate. 2, The results including the test itself takes up to 1 minute so it can be used in airports and cruise ports. 3. Since I guess they did not developed the chip from scratch its already manufacture . The cost is estimate to be around 50 $ per test (the PCR test is around 150$) . Next steps is sensitivity test and a test to see how its reacts to other virus (not to get falls alarms from cold virus for example). Since this is not the only place that are working on such test I believe soon we will see such test as standards in many places which will allow flights and more important cruise .

Just called RCL to check about my Tax/port fee refunds , they told me it should take 45 days from the sailing date (in my case its April 8 ) so I guess I will wait 10 more days and call again (or have a nice surprises)

1. You need to put deposit for each one of the cruise even if it is B2B. 2. You can use the FCC on one of the cruises if you will have left over RCL will give you a new FCC for the differences. 3. Finding the right B2B cruise can be done or by yourself using the online tool checking for all the cruises or better connect with a TA and he will do the work for you and offer you some dates.

Well if we compare the numbers in the US to other countries we should see them going down until the end of this month. That why I think NYC area will be safer than other. For sure there is also the summer effect. There is so much we do not know about this virus but we know more and more as time passing. Lets hope that the summer will really be a factor here.

There are few options : 1. Every evening (and mainly on Official evening) you have many photographers building a temporary set around the ship , they will be located near the dining room , and near the main stair cases. they will start the preparation few hours before so you can check were they are going to be. 2. Purchases studio photos session - that is an expensive package which gives you and hour or two with a professional photographers. 3. wait for them in the dining room /special restaurants.

When countries are going to open for tourist it dose not mean they will open for all , they might put some restrictions to open it for tourist that are coming from countries that has low mew C19 cases comparing to the population.

Not sure if its any indication but some European countries published when they are planning to start and allow tourists to visit : Cyprus - June Italy , yes Italy , Bulgaria , Greece - July. Spain Turkish - August France - currently only 2021

Good news, The FDA just approved the first "home" C19 test , its based on saliva check. Such tests can help to expedite resume cruising as first step , currently the kit is just to collect the sample while the analyze being done in the library . https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/coronavirus-covid-19-update-fda-authorizes-first-diagnostic-test-using-home-collection-saliva

I do not understand RCL. Refund is a key in confidence building , its should be first priority , company that gives prompt refund is sending a firm message that they are here to stay and not playing any games. I consider myself as loyal to royal (well I only cruise with Royal and hope to continue to cruise with them soon) but if a month ago I thought I am going to take advantage on the FCC because its a good deal and because yes I thought leaving the money with RCI is my small contribute , now , with all the refund delays I start thinking to take the money back to be on the safe side (even if I will need to wait for it).

Per what we see now I think the best chance for cruise will be between October (Maybe September) to January, Why ? because we can see how the C19 goes in other places , mainly Europe that start to see the C19 goes down (some country faster than other) so there is a good chance that it will happen also in the US. Were the cruise will go from ? beside Miami it might be that NJ will be reopen as the C19 started early there and therefore will pass earlier than other places in the US. Why October- to Jan , this is the window between the first wave to what we hope that will never happen - the second wave. Regarding all the talks about that cruise will change in a way that it will not make sense to take them ? I think the changes will be temporary but I still remember that people were saying after 9/11 they will not fly again because its not safe or the extra security at airports ... Same about the car seat belts , many people said they will never use it and it will ruin there driving experience.

My cruise was canceled on the March 15 , I got the cruise planner refund a week after, FCC letter sent on 12-April . Still waiting for taxes, port fees and prepaid gratuities ...

I would check flying also from Milan as Venice to Milan train will take less time then the Venice to Rome train ... Anyway take into consideration that to get from the port to Vince train station with suitcase is not that easy , you will need to take people move train and than walk over a bridge to the train station. another option will be to take a taxi to Mestre train station and take the train from there.