Zacharius

I can't wait to get my vaccine, and a vaccine mandate would go a long way in making me get back in to the petri dish world of mass market cruising. Masking? No. I wear a mask religiously, and I still travel for essential work (domestic and international) where I need to wear a mask for 20 to 30+ hours straight while flying around the world (including stops), so masks don't bother me. But, no way do I want to spend my vacation wearing one. I'd rather just wait until the need is gone and spend my vacation time/money on more low key things like lake cabins and national parks.

This one is tough, because just be shear numbers, it's safe to assume just about any moderately sized cruise is going to have at least some American citizens on it. And, interestingly enough, after the huge spike in US cases right at the start of 2021, the number of new cases between the US and EU really aren't all that different now - https://ig.ft.com/coronavirus-chart/?areas=eur&areas=usa&areas=gbr&areas=prt&areas=irl&areasRegional=usny&areasRegional=usnj&areasRegional=usaz&areasRegional=usca&areasRegional=usnd&areasRegional=ussd&cumulative=0&logScale=0&per100K=1&startDate=2020-09-01&values=deaths

Life became immeasurably more enjoyable when I stopped paying attention to CNN/Fox/MSNBC. It's all political gossip posing as "news". So many better ways to get true, accurate, expert news - it takes a little more work, but it's worth it. Now I occasionally see a headline or screenshot from the mass news channels and just laugh at how ridiculously asinine they are, and shake my head that so many people still get sucked in.

I have met my local, state, and federal representatives and senators several times. They're all usually very nice to my face. Some even, I believe, care...especially on the local or state level. I have a very good relationship with my local US Rep and feel like she is truly fighting for me as a person. But, sadly, my senators are udder trash and, despite being nice to my face every time I meet them, I know they only care about themselves and nothing I say as an individual matters, no matter how good of a case I make. Should you voice your concerns? Absofreakinglutely, I will always advocate for that. Will it change anything? Sadly, not a damn chance unless you're a big fat donor (and I mean big, and I mean fat).

Hey, to each their own with provolone. I get why people are in to it, I just want no part of it. The first time I went on a cruise about 10 years ago, I was active in my Cruise Critic roll call before hand, and had a plan to get together for a party on the first day. Time came and I realized I had no desire to actually meet people and I just went to the pool for a pina colada and my book instead ? I travel for a living and am always around people when I travel for work, so when it comes to vacation, it's time for my wife and I to be alone...even if there are thousands of other people around us.

The idea creeps the hell out of me. But I don't even really like meeting new people on cruises, let alone having them in my room.

I actually wore a space suite once (an older decommissioned one, of course) and I think I would prefer it over a damn face shield...looks cooler, at least! Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. As someone who still has to travel fairly frequently for my job, I would hate to be stuck next to that dumb ass.

I'll rent you my Namibian passport if that helps ?

Unless someone has the most obscure, bottom-of-the-barrel provider/plan, there's no difference in calling from Puerto Rico or St. Thomas as opposed to Kentucky, Utah, or Florida. Even then, with the absolutely lowest of the low Bob's Mobile plan, I would be shocked. I have a friend who goes back and forth between Chicago and San Juan for work (usually 2-3 months in one, 2-3 months in the other, back and forth) and has a standard AT&T plan with a 630 (Chicagoland) area code...no problemo, no need to notify AT&T or have any special plan.

Have stayed at Decanter Hotel in Old San Juan, very reasonably priced and great location I think you have a good intro to the city. Just walking around is a good option too, you'll see other cool stuff Uber/Lyft As far as being a tourist goes, everything is like being in a state, including cell phones - for P.R. and USVI

Yeah some airlines do this, usually for UNICEF, and are very vocal about the "any currency, any amount" line. I think it was British Airways where the guy next to me donated Moldovan Leu... I would love to see all of the cool currencies they get in any given year.

I spend a good chunk of my year outside the US, and I almost never bring any local currency with me unless I have it from a previous trip. Just no point. I stop at an ATM once I arrive and pull out local cash if I need it. I also usually carry a little bit of USD to exchange in a pinch (such as once, on my fourth trip to Brazil in a year, for unknown reasons, my cards were all getting declined at the same ATMs (but not shops/restaurants) I had used on previous trips, so I was able to swap some USD out for local currency in a pinch). To me, it's a huge waste of money in most cases to swap out currency abroad.

No problem, you can have our room - sounds miserable to me! ?

You couldn't pay me enough to cruise during a major holiday or even a summer school break. My wife and I purposely travel during the times there are likely to be as few kids/families as possible.

I definitely don't mind wearing a mask. I still fly regularly and am used to having them on for many hours at a time. But I wouldn't want to wear one on vacation, so I would choose not to take a cruise with a mask mandate/recommendation and would instead stick to what I have been doing this year - more outdoorsy, socially distanced vacations.

Wow, I can't really think of too many. Sometimes I forget to pack until the last minute, if that's a tradition. I listen to reggae all year round, so there's no music that gets me psyched (and I can't stand Jimmy Buffet). No movies. I guess I am just boring. Perhaps dropping my dog off at my mother-in-laws house the night before? Oh, and if we're cruising out of Ft. Lauderdale, we always hit up The Field Irish pub right off the plane for onion rings and Guinness, followed by a walk out the jetty next to Halmos College to watch any ships leaving if there are. That's about it.

Are you basing it off of the seating chart? If so, note that this is NOT an accurate representation of how many tickets are actually purchased. That being said, July is ages out at this time. Wouldn't surprise me if barely anyone is booked. My wife and I are very, very avid vacationers and I wouldn't touch July with a ten foot pole at this point (granted, our trips are usually fairly last minute anyways, but even when they're not...too many unknowns for a lot of people). I wouldn't say anyone knows more or less than you, just that they're being more cautious than you.

More on Thanksgiving because it's actually good food ?

Hitting this thread late, but I'm gonna hit it hard...like a cruise. Food and beverage are huge parts of my vacation, so I generally won't cruise without a drink package since we try to get cruises that are a good mix of ports and sea days. I like to wake up in the morning, grab a coffee, and go up top to enjoy the fresh air. That's port days or sea days. Port days - depending on what we're doing, may or may not have drinks during the day. Sea days - usually wait until after lunch and then start hitting it. Nothing crazy - maybe a few drinks before dinner if I am sitting by the pool. Drink or two with dinner. Couple of drinks after dinner, either at a bar or (ideally) back on my balcony. Or up top watching a movie on the big screen. My drinks are usually either wine or something like a martini/G&T. I'll do a sweet drink here or there like a pina colada or tropical old fashioned, but not too often because it just gets too sweet. Never really do beer because the choices are always horrible, and it gets too filling - only time I have used my drink package on a beer is when I sprained my thumb getting in to the pool and used a Coors Light metal bottle as an ice pack (and, well, might as well drink your ice pack!) I almost always get a bottle of water with each drink, because hydration is key...glass of water for every drink = no hangover, and if nothing else, we stock some bottles for port excursions.

Cruise crazy people are only part of the crowd. A bigger part are occasional or newbie cruisers, and I still say a lot of those Americans, which would be the major target audience of any Caribbean cruises, won't have a passport. Additionally, getting a passport now is slower and still an expense many Americans probably won't do just to cruise. Just my opinion, no facts behind it, but I'm pretty confident in my opinion ?

A big strike against having somewhere like The Bahamas being an origin point of cruises geared towards the US market is that cruises appeal to so many Americans without a passport. If you start asking Americans to fly to other countries to start their cruise, then you start asking Americans to get a passport to cruise...which many Americans won't do.

I just walk around, grab some conch, get off the beaten track a bit, have some beers at the brewery near port, and then go back onboard to enjoy a quieter ship. I don't use Nassau as a tropical beach day.

Still hoping to do one for my 40th birthday in 2023/2024! Of course, my birthday is in the northern winter, so I can't decide if I go when I am 39 1/2 in 2023, or 40 1/2 in 2024.

Somebody stop me!

At risk of getting off topic but I really don't care - as someone who attended multiple protests and spoke to many people in major cities who witnessed first-hand Biden celebrations, I can assure you the vast majority of people at these were masked.