VACruiser

Totally agree with this!
I'm all for restrictions being lifted everywhere and just getting on with life but it's not that easy for companies such as RC etc.
They have to follow lots of differing regulations for numerous countries.
 They also know that the first serious outbreak onboard will result in a lot of negative press and a lot of potential lawsuits! 
Thats why it's baby steps first, yes it will upset some who have to pay extra for tests etc but as a company RC have to think about themselves first especially when they know the sharks will be circling. 

I'd almost rather have all the cruise lines go to 100% testing for everyone regardless of Vaccine status and here is why. Some of these vaccines shots taking by individuals can be very old by now, over a year old and efficacy rate could be close 0%, Then you have the 4 and 5 shot crowd and their efficacy rate is varying depending on a whole set of factors that I'm not going to get into. If the goal is to keep Covid off the ship, with the highest chance of success, the only way to do that is test 2-3 days prior to have as best of a baseline as you can have. We all know that this is not 100% guaranteed but it seems the easiest way to make it work. We are just going to have to learn to live with this virus always knowing it is present.
I type this as I sit here with Covid coming back from a vacation at the South Carolina beaches. I had my shots, and boosted, but the little beast got me anyways. It didn't matter how many shots I have had because there is no meter on my body that tells me my day-to-day efficacy rate of the shots in my body...today you are at 05% left on your shot status - oh no better get another one. It becomes an exercise in chasing your own tail.
I can say having a summer sickness is the worst way to end a vacation and it has truly over stayed its welcome. I had to take another 40 hours off from work, which I didn't want to do, and I have to wear a mask at work 😷 when I do go back because I'm typhoid Mary. Can't say I blame my co-workers this coughing doesn't sound good - ugh!

I totally agree with your assessment and would love to see that happen; BUT, in this environment I think the cruise lines will take a very conservative approach like we are starting to see now. Cruise lines get the microscope on them as a vacation industry more than any of the other vacation venues. And, those headlines kill the industry so that is the reason they will be very conservative.
As you can tell in this blog site alone there are many strong feelings on the way forward. If you bring up an idea, even what I would consider benign, lots of people get offended by the mere mention of an idea that may not be mainstream.

I'd almost rather have all the cruise lines go to 100% testing for everyone regardless of Vaccine status and here is why. Some of these vaccines shots taking by individuals can be very old by now, over a year old and efficacy rate could be close 0%, Then you have the 4 and 5 shot crowd and their efficacy rate is varying depending on a whole set of factors that I'm not going to get into. If the goal is to keep Covid off the ship, with the highest chance of success, the only way to do that is test 2-3 days prior to have as best of a baseline as you can have. We all know that this is not 100% guaranteed but it seems the easiest way to make it work. We are just going to have to learn to live with this virus always knowing it is present.
I type this as I sit here with Covid coming back from a vacation at the South Carolina beaches. I had my shots, and boosted, but the little beast got me anyways. It didn't matter how many shots I have had because there is no meter on my body that tells me my day-to-day efficacy rate of the shots in my body...today you are at 05% left on your shot status - oh no better get another one. It becomes an exercise in chasing your own tail.
I can say having a summer sickness is the worst way to end a vacation and it has truly over stayed its welcome. I had to take another 40 hours off from work, which I didn't want to do, and I have to wear a mask at work 😷 when I do go back because I'm typhoid Mary. Can't say I blame my co-workers this coughing doesn't sound good - ugh!

That you know of!

Don't do anything.  I get those emails and I've never had children.

I find that I am much more disappointed when it comes to smaller ships. But I am beginning to wonder how much the restart plays into the negative problems we are currently facing. Not just the supply and staffing issues but all things as a whole. Before the restart RCG could pack the ships at 120% and people would be satisfied. During the restart you had the same amount of crew with 20-50% of the guest and the crew had less to do and more time to do it. Now you are back in the swing of things, but you might be short a person or two or, God forbid, new and can't handle everything. We all know people have become more entitled and less understanding. So that "entitled" person makes it hard for someone like OP to get what they need and do what they want. My expectation for a cruise is to relax, gamble and enjoy my food. If the food is bad and I can't get in the casino, you best believe they will hear about it. I am glad the OP was honest; I can't say any of my cruises since the restart have been without fault, but I did make the most of it. Sometimes when you think about the money spent versus the product, that silver lining becomes a grey cloud. 

@NeesaI enjoyed your blog. Sometimes it's about the writing style and you tell it like it is - warts and all. I like when people write about the good and the not so good so it gives a good overall perspective on how some things on ship really are. And, maybe others can read it and take mitigating actions to improve their cruise. Glad non of that made you down and you were able to stay positive throughout your journey.

@NeesaI enjoyed your blog. Sometimes it's about the writing style and you tell it like it is - warts and all. I like when people write about the good and the not so good so it gives a good overall perspective on how some things on ship really are. And, maybe others can read it and take mitigating actions to improve their cruise. Glad non of that made you down and you were able to stay positive throughout your journey.

@NeesaI enjoyed your blog. Sometimes it's about the writing style and you tell it like it is - warts and all. I like when people write about the good and the not so good so it gives a good overall perspective on how some things on ship really are. And, maybe others can read it and take mitigating actions to improve their cruise. Glad non of that made you down and you were able to stay positive throughout your journey.

I got that, and that is true, but the only reason that is true is because RCL is so hard to deal with and has such poor IT that things like this occur. It's kind of sad for a multi-Billion dollar company.

Might as well get used to Covid-19 as it is here to stay like all viruses that frequent the human host.

Might as well get used to Covid-19 as it is here to stay like all viruses that frequent the human host.

Might as well get used to Covid-19 as it is here to stay like all viruses that frequent the human host.

Might as well get used to Covid-19 as it is here to stay like all viruses that frequent the human host.

I'll never understand why we should accept less for the money spent. Any other product to price point we'd hold the producer of the product to a high standard for money spent, aka Return on Investment (ROI), and we'd demand standards are kept but cruising seems to be the one place were I read they are trying, they have X problems and it'll get better. If I go on a trip and pay thousands of dollars, sometimes 10's of thousands, I better get a good ROI or I'm not doing it again.

^^^ I agree with all the points above. The Return on Investment is not there for a once in a year vacation for my family so I will hold off until much later. At the moment I'm renting houses at the beach for my vacations with the family. I can better control the outcome.

To get close to the break-even point you would have to drink 7.5 drinks a day per person - 98 x 2 = $196 per day for a seven day cruise = $1372 and just say the drinks are $13 = 105 drinks for the cruise broken down to 2 people  = 52 drinks for the cruise and 7.5 drinks per day. That's quite a bit of drinking - doable but there are days you are in port or on excursions so you have to do some drinking when you get back on ship.
There is a point where the juice is not worth the squeeze...literally  😆
I think I'd rather pay as I go. I'm not a big drinker so I'd be fine with that option as I watch my daily expenses. I have caught several times where drinks were put on my tab and I haven't drank them so off I go to customer service - it happens.

I'll never understand why we should accept less for the money spent. Any other product to price point we'd hold the producer of the product to a high standard for money spent, aka Return on Investment (ROI), and we'd demand standards are kept but cruising seems to be the one place were I read they are trying, they have X problems and it'll get better. If I go on a trip and pay thousands of dollars, sometimes 10's of thousands, I better get a good ROI or I'm not doing it again.

To get close to the break-even point you would have to drink 7.5 drinks a day per person - 98 x 2 = $196 per day for a seven day cruise = $1372 and just say the drinks are $13 = 105 drinks for the cruise broken down to 2 people  = 52 drinks for the cruise and 7.5 drinks per day. That's quite a bit of drinking - doable but there are days you are in port or on excursions so you have to do some drinking when you get back on ship.
There is a point where the juice is not worth the squeeze...literally  😆
I think I'd rather pay as I go. I'm not a big drinker so I'd be fine with that option as I watch my daily expenses. I have caught several times where drinks were put on my tab and I haven't drank them so off I go to customer service - it happens.

One of these days people are going to start to realize that when you are vaccinated and boosted it is from a variant we already know of. When new variants come around it's all bets are off and you are not protected no matter how many shots you've had.
At some point we have got to treat the Coronavirus like just another virus that humans get from time-to-time. The good thing is that with every new variant it is getting weaker and we are buiding better immunity against it. 
One day it will change but not any time soon with our current attitudes treating this as if it is the plague.

To get close to the break-even point you would have to drink 7.5 drinks a day per person - 98 x 2 = $196 per day for a seven day cruise = $1372 and just say the drinks are $13 = 105 drinks for the cruise broken down to 2 people  = 52 drinks for the cruise and 7.5 drinks per day. That's quite a bit of drinking - doable but there are days you are in port or on excursions so you have to do some drinking when you get back on ship.
There is a point where the juice is not worth the squeeze...literally  😆
I think I'd rather pay as I go. I'm not a big drinker so I'd be fine with that option as I watch my daily expenses. I have caught several times where drinks were put on my tab and I haven't drank them so off I go to customer service - it happens.

I'll never understand why we should accept less for the money spent. Any other product to price point we'd hold the producer of the product to a high standard for money spent, aka Return on Investment (ROI), and we'd demand standards are kept but cruising seems to be the one place were I read they are trying, they have X problems and it'll get better. If I go on a trip and pay thousands of dollars, sometimes 10's of thousands, I better get a good ROI or I'm not doing it again.

One of these days people are going to start to realize that when you are vaccinated and boosted it is from a variant we already know of. When new variants come around it's all bets are off and you are not protected no matter how many shots you've had.
At some point we have got to treat the Coronavirus like just another virus that humans get from time-to-time. The good thing is that with every new variant it is getting weaker and we are buiding better immunity against it. 
One day it will change but not any time soon with our current attitudes treating this as if it is the plague.

As they say, go first class now or your kids will go first class later.