PG Cruiser

This is exciting news for me because I always cruise solo. But I've read somewhere that the 2X points promo doesn't apply to Diamond members and below. I need clarification for this before I do the happy dance.

Why no love for Solo Cruisers???

From the time the lawyer showed up, a day after the incident, it ceased to be about the grief. It became all about the money the lawyer thinks he could get from Royal.

WHAAATTTT??? My Inaugural Odyssey sailing is canceled???

This is what I've been posting on all news websites and pages reporting the family's account of the incident. I think I have even posted on this thread something like "What is the cruise line to do, fence off the balconies?"

I already live by myself and work from home. Going on a cruise to eat alone in my room doesn't seem very appealing.

The more I read on topics like this, the more I am discouraged from cruising in the near future. I'm imagining the tension, maybe even fights, over sanitation and hygiene measures. That would be a very stressful vacation for me.

I'm thinking... couldn't the cruise lines ask whichever authority implements the Jones Act to suspend/waive it while in the midst of the pandemic. What is the act for anyway? (I looked it up last year but I did not fully understand it. I was planning to join the Ovation cruise in Ketchikan or Juneau but I was told that I had to disembark in Victoria. What's all the foreign port/local port regulation all about?)

Could it be because air travel is a necessity for most people whereas cruising is a luxury?

Gardening kept me busy in the Spring when the lockdowns were just starting, not to mention the tons of stuff we needed to do in my church to adapt. But the Florida heat has brought me back inside. Canceling the Odyssey Inaugural sailing was the exclamation point to this "no cruising for a while" reality.

Cruising has been my go-to vacation activity for years now. These days, I have to face the sad reality that I won’t be confident enough to go on a cruise until a reliable vaccine is made available. I have asthma and I’m in my mid-50s. What other recreational activities can be done at a time like this?

Just a quick update, I got my refunds for my cancelled cruise planner orders. They showed up on my account just this week but the transaction date was July 8th. So that's six days from Royal's end and eight to nine days on the card provider's end. Not bad.

That’s @YOLO talking right there! But they wouldn’t even go “YOLO” at this time

I’m not sure of the timeline, but was the September 15th date set before or after the current surges?

I got what you meant. I just wanted to latch onto the phrase “taking chances”. Some people like taking a lot of chances, as in Russian roulette style chances. I’ve even heard of college kids holding parties and betting on who gets covid first.

That’s the word right there, “chances”. Some people have taken chances and nothing happened. But unfortunately for some, they got the covid. In my circle, we’ve got one who suffered a stroke while being treated for COVID in the ICU, one on rehab for impaired brain function, one who had to go on dialysis, and sadly, one who died. That makes it really dangerous for us.

The situation is very volatile at the moment and hoping I’m wrong, it could remain this way for quite a while. The problem with cruising is that everyone on the sailing will be affected by any covid related incident. Someone testing positive, foreign ports closing, US restrictions tightening, etc can all turn what would have been a nice vacation into a nightmare. Some have compared cruise ships to theme parks, but nobody stays inside a theme park for 4 to 5 days or more. Plus, people can go home if a covid case presents itself. But we’ve all seen what happened on cruise ships with covid cases when this was just starting. Even if Royal resumes operations in September, there are many ports that can’t operate at that time. I have Florida ports in mind.

Cancelling the Cruise Planner orders online did not work for me. They were still there one day after I tried cancelling them. I called Royal and asked an agent to do the cancellation. I got an email confirming they were cancelled. I haven’t checked my online Cruise Planner yet. FYI, the refund for the cruise reservation itself showed up on my credit card account within a day. Thank God I did not have to wait 30-45 days. Let’s see what happens with my Cruise Planner refunds.

That was my experience too when I cancelled Cruise Planner orders before. I was able to instantly cancel the order with the higher prices and reordered them with the lower prices. That's why I was wondering why the ones I cancelled for the Odyssey did not instantly disappear from my history. I'll check again tomorrow.

This morning I cancelled all my orders in the Cruise Planner for the Odyssey Inaugural (I had my new MEI TA cancel the B2B booking). I'm still seeing the Cruise Planner items in my Order History. Is that a problem?

How'd you do it? I read from somewhere that the earliest sailings for Odyssey showing up are for September 2021. Haven't had time to verify it.

I once saw a woman pick up a piece of bread by hand, smell it, and put it back. I’m pretty sure it touched her nose. Yikes!

Is there a representative of MEI in this blog who could address questions regarding the transitions and changes due to the departures? If it’s okay with @Matt, I wish there was a thread with someone from MEI responding to such questions.

Same here. I called the number and I got a generic recording. I hope to get in touch with Beth Dickerson soon just to establish our communication line.

While you're at it, develop a TSA-esque wand scanner that screeners can use to determine who are infected or not.