Balsam

Bingo. 
My partner and I play regularly at home, but Royal's version we found to be a waste of time, and very expensive.
Four games in an hour, so your chances of actually winning a prize are minimal. Granted, the prizes are decent, but we're used to a game taking about 3 minutes, not 15, so were expecting about 15 games in the hour.

Bingo. 
My partner and I play regularly at home, but Royal's version we found to be a waste of time, and very expensive.
Four games in an hour, so your chances of actually winning a prize are minimal. Granted, the prizes are decent, but we're used to a game taking about 3 minutes, not 15, so were expecting about 15 games in the hour.

Getting crew cleared initially is the easy bit. Put them in land based quarantine for 14 days before boarding a ship, and then it is generally a week or so to sail to Australia, so you have 21 days or longer.
 
The issue is what happens if there are any cases brought on board by passengers. You would then need to quarantine all passengers AND the crew for 14 days. I don't know where that would be able to happen... if cruises are allowed from Australia, that would also mean our state borders are open, and everyone that has been crying out to go interstate to visit family/do business/have a holiday etc would have filled up all the hotels. I'm pretty sure the government wouldn't permit everyone to just stay on the ship for 14 days either.
 
The only possibility I see is that the testing when boarding the ship is both fast enough and accurate enough to ensure Covid never gets on the ship in the first place. The added benefit of this would be that if we are sure there's no covid on board, there's no need for masks/social distancing/reduced capacity etc.

I've always assumed they unplugged a database server somewhere to plug in a toaster.  Once their toast is done, the server comes back online.  

This is a common issue.  Some say it can be remedied by signing in from an incognito browser, or clearing your cache.  I usually just make sure I'm not logged in on any other device and then wait an hour.  

Thanks folks.
We've actually decided to go for a refund now. Too much doubt over a March 2021 sailing, and we have another cruise booked for October 2021 with a different cruise line, so will use the refund toward that one.
Cheers

Sadly we've not much else to do ?

Maybe they just put it on every sailing, so that you get so used to seeing it that you simply click to get rid of it without actually reading. Then when they do actually slip a change of port or something important in there, nobody takes any notice and just carries on with their booking.

Sort of a reverse psychology version of the boy who cried wolf?

Maybe they just put it on every sailing, so that you get so used to seeing it that you simply click to get rid of it without actually reading. Then when they do actually slip a change of port or something important in there, nobody takes any notice and just carries on with their booking.

Sort of a reverse psychology version of the boy who cried wolf?

Where did you get the vented COVID patients die stat from?

Coming from Perth the biggest hurdle to going for a last minute deal would be getting last minute flights at a reasonable price. The planets would need to align in once-in-a-century-fashion.

The other things that bothers me in this NRD conversation is why should that be a factor when Royal is cancelling the cruise?
They cancelled the cruise.  I didn't. 
I still want to sail Allure even if it isn't AMPED on that date.  I'd even fly to Florida to do it.  Change home ports, just let me sail.  Nope. Royal won't let me.
So given this is all on Royal, why should I have to book refundable?  
It seems the motivation and reasoning to book refundable is to protect yourself when Royal is being completely unreasonable when they decide to move me to another ship and downgrade me to a vastly inferior cabin compared to what I booked.  Hmmm.
I respectfully disagree that the "solution" to this issue would have been booking refundable.  A reasonable company wouldn't have put me in the place they did in this scenario.  
A guest should be able to book a non-refundable fare and maintain an expectation of being treated fairly when the company chooses to make a drastic and unprecedented change to the booking.
Allure is going somewhere on my date.  They aren't scuttling the ship.  Someone will sail in my cabin on that date.  Why can't it be me?  

The point that is conveniently missed by this article is that the crew members are on the ships by choice.
They choose to take these jobs because the pay and conditions are significantly better that what they could get at home, plus they get to travel and see parts of the world they would otherwise never see.
Many of the crew have been there for years. If they were being exploited as badly as the article makes out, they would not return after their first contract.
I have worked on cruise ships, and generally, the crew are very happy. It's certainly not a job that suits everyone, and you definitely work long hours, but I'm very glad I did it.
The story originates from Australian worker's unions. Their interest is purely to look after their own members. If they can keep cruise ships away for a bit longer, Australians are more likely to travel within Australia, thus creating and securing jobs for Australian workers. They don't actually care about anyone else except themselves and their members. Anything they say about cruise ships is simply to try and keep them out of Australia a bit longer, or to discourage Australians from cruising.

The point that is conveniently missed by this article is that the crew members are on the ships by choice.
They choose to take these jobs because the pay and conditions are significantly better that what they could get at home, plus they get to travel and see parts of the world they would otherwise never see.
Many of the crew have been there for years. If they were being exploited as badly as the article makes out, they would not return after their first contract.
I have worked on cruise ships, and generally, the crew are very happy. It's certainly not a job that suits everyone, and you definitely work long hours, but I'm very glad I did it.
The story originates from Australian worker's unions. Their interest is purely to look after their own members. If they can keep cruise ships away for a bit longer, Australians are more likely to travel within Australia, thus creating and securing jobs for Australian workers. They don't actually care about anyone else except themselves and their members. Anything they say about cruise ships is simply to try and keep them out of Australia a bit longer, or to discourage Australians from cruising.

The point that is conveniently missed by this article is that the crew members are on the ships by choice.
They choose to take these jobs because the pay and conditions are significantly better that what they could get at home, plus they get to travel and see parts of the world they would otherwise never see.
Many of the crew have been there for years. If they were being exploited as badly as the article makes out, they would not return after their first contract.
I have worked on cruise ships, and generally, the crew are very happy. It's certainly not a job that suits everyone, and you definitely work long hours, but I'm very glad I did it.
The story originates from Australian worker's unions. Their interest is purely to look after their own members. If they can keep cruise ships away for a bit longer, Australians are more likely to travel within Australia, thus creating and securing jobs for Australian workers. They don't actually care about anyone else except themselves and their members. Anything they say about cruise ships is simply to try and keep them out of Australia a bit longer, or to discourage Australians from cruising.

The point that is conveniently missed by this article is that the crew members are on the ships by choice.
They choose to take these jobs because the pay and conditions are significantly better that what they could get at home, plus they get to travel and see parts of the world they would otherwise never see.
Many of the crew have been there for years. If they were being exploited as badly as the article makes out, they would not return after their first contract.
I have worked on cruise ships, and generally, the crew are very happy. It's certainly not a job that suits everyone, and you definitely work long hours, but I'm very glad I did it.
The story originates from Australian worker's unions. Their interest is purely to look after their own members. If they can keep cruise ships away for a bit longer, Australians are more likely to travel within Australia, thus creating and securing jobs for Australian workers. They don't actually care about anyone else except themselves and their members. Anything they say about cruise ships is simply to try and keep them out of Australia a bit longer, or to discourage Australians from cruising.

Shorter lines to things like water slides, more seating available in shows, fewer people lining up for drinks at bars = more fun for me.  
When I have sailed during hurricanes altered sailings with fewer guests on board it was quite nice.  Even the Allure TA to Spain was down about 1,500 guests and that is distinctly noticeable on Oasis class.  

Thanks for those menus. Very handy as we have Ovation booked over Xmas and New Year (fingers crossed).
You mention the app, however I don't seem to be able to do anything with it. Our last two cruises were on Voyager before it was added to the app, and the Radiance which was also not on the app (and was cancelled).

Our Ovation cruise shows up , but all I get is a message "We're working on the fun", and "Check back later". I thought we could make cruise planner purchases, MTD reservations etc using the app? Am I incorrect, or does that functionality show up closer to sailing?
Cheers

Maybe I didn't word that particularly well....
There is obviously plenty of information here for Non-US people, otherwise I wouldn't be here in the first place.
There is definitely a US bias here, but this just comes from having the majority of the people from the US. This becomes evident when you look at things like menus. Not one menu from Ovation, Radiance or Voyager. I don't believe that not a single person would post a menu from one of those ships.
Apologies if I offended anyone.

Maybe I didn't word that particularly well....
There is obviously plenty of information here for Non-US people, otherwise I wouldn't be here in the first place.
There is definitely a US bias here, but this just comes from having the majority of the people from the US. This becomes evident when you look at things like menus. Not one menu from Ovation, Radiance or Voyager. I don't believe that not a single person would post a menu from one of those ships.
Apologies if I offended anyone.

You must remember... this is a US biased forum, and anything non US is frowned upon as inferior....

I wouldn't go as far as to say the workers are all liars.

Most of the call centre staff probably know as much about what is happening as we do. They are given some "information" from management and told to pass that on to customers.

They look at their computer and say "your refund has been processed" because that's what they see. What is actually happening behind the scenes is hidden from them because if they really knew, there is a chance they would actually tell customers what is happening. That's the last thing Royal Caribbean want at this point.

Are Royal Caribbean as a company telling lies? Undoubtedly, but I don't put that on the employees.

I wouldn't go as far as to say the workers are all liars.

Most of the call centre staff probably know as much about what is happening as we do. They are given some "information" from management and told to pass that on to customers.

They look at their computer and say "your refund has been processed" because that's what they see. What is actually happening behind the scenes is hidden from them because if they really knew, there is a chance they would actually tell customers what is happening. That's the last thing Royal Caribbean want at this point.

Are Royal Caribbean as a company telling lies? Undoubtedly, but I don't put that on the employees.

There are no restrictions that would prevent a cruise out of Auckland around NZ but generally if a cruise does depart Auckland it will either go to Australia or up to the a South Pacific. P&O, Princess and Celebrity occasionally depart Auckland and I have seen Royal once or twice but not recently.
The main reasons I think it is not offered are
cruises over 7 nights would be primarily limited to the North Island and the tip of the South Island due to time constraints Most Royal cruisers are Australian and with Auckland’s population being Just over 1 million it would not be economic to have regular cruises from here. P&O originally did have a ship home ported in Auckland but it moved to Australia so that suggests a better return on investment. it is cheap to fly around NZ so most kiwis would just fly or drive to see NZ. Also generally if we do travel we prefer to go overseas. a large part of our tourism is based on Australians coming here for their holidays. These are just my thoughts but I wouldn’t expect any Auckland departures in the near future.

I think the $18 DX intern is back... and looking for retribution.