karl_nj

Yeah, the rooftop bar is nice in that hotel. Especially when it's nice enough to sit outside. The company I work for had an after work event there once, and I also went there for drinks after work a couple of times (pre-pandemic). There is a W hotel in Hoboken that also is a good option for a pre-cruise stay. Close to the PATH train, and ferry terminals to get to NYC, plus lots of great local restaurants to walk to.

Same here. I have a huge fleet of ships on the fridge and on the Christmas tree, and my family can all dress in cruise ship t-shirts for days...

A dog with pink dyed hair that looked like a giant poodle. Neither the dog nor it's owner appeared to be thrilled to be onboard.

I think it's going to depend on what the intent of the 7 day rule is. Is it to make sure that no passengers are onboard the ship > 7 days? Then I would agree with you. Is it to make sure that the ship is always within 3 days of getting back to port? If that is the intent of the rule, I don't feel the the CDC would care if "Super Mario" starts living onboard again.

For the Pfizer vaccine, the FDA has said: In documents published ahead of an advisory meeting Thursday to review Pfizer’s vaccine, FDA staff also said data submitted appeared to show the vaccine was at least 52% effective before the second dose ... Pfizer’s vaccine recommends two doses about three weeks apart. The agency added that two doses of the vaccine were “highly effective” in preventing confirmed cases of Covid-19 at least seven days following the second dose. In such instances, the vaccine was 94.8% effective after seven days of the inoculation. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/08/fda-says-pfizer-covid-vaccine-data-did-not-raise-safety-concerns.html

Looks like the OP is talking about one of Matt's website posts: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2020/10/27/here-are-your-options-if-you-want-cancel-or-defer-your-booked-cruise

I think it's likely that all international travel will require proof of vaccination, once the vaccine is widely available. I don't think this will be anything specific to cruise travel, other than the fact that, in most cases, cruise travel involves foreign ports. Those who have legitimate medical reasons for not being vaccinated will likely be able to get an exception. Everyone else will likely need to stick to domestic travel, at least in the near term.

Generally a FCC has a specific passenger name associated with it, and they historically they haven't been transferrable. They may be making some limited exceptions now, but I don't think any would apply in this scenario.

So your other option is to spend more time on land ahead of time. If my "lift-and-shift" to August 2021 actually happens, i'll be spending 5 nights in Rome before my 7 night cruise. If i'm sailing out of Florida, I like to get down there 1 day in advance. If i'm sailing out of Europe, I like to get there a few days in advance. If there is an issue with the airplane, there are fewer flights to Europe then there are from NY/NJ to Florida. I also like to have a few days to get adjusted to the time change. If your wife has limited vacation time, and you book a 14 day cruise, are you going to be able to arrive in Europe a few days before your cruise?

Just keep in mind this isn't necessarily true. My wife went on several cruises with her parents after she graduated college. The last one they did was an Alaska cruise in when she was 28 years old. Her older sister was 32. I went on a family trip to with my parents to London when was 24. My sister was 18. When you are in your 20's and have no money, spending a week on vacation somewhere with your parents sounds wonderful, especially if they are paying. When you have rent and a car payment to deal with, and you are just starting out, you don't have a lot of money available for a vacation. And then once your kids have kids, your kids will want to invite you on trips to have some extra hands to watch your grandchildren. I have done several cruises with my wife and kids, and various combinations of my mother, my in-laws, my sister, my wife's sister's family, etc. Once you get to this point, you'll only need to pay for your own fare ? I certainly agree that it's more complicated to arrange these things as times goes on, but I really doubt this trip you are planning will be the last one you take with your daughters.

I had a big issues with getting a refund for an excursion that was auto-cancelled after a lift-and-shift. I just figure that my best bet going forward is to manually cancel items in cruise planner proactively once I know a cruise is going to be cancelled (or shifted).

The "if" may be to cover "Simply Sail" bookings: Q. #27: What is Simply Sail? When is it available? A: Simply Sail will offer a cruise-only rate for select sailings within 90 days of departure. Simply Sail will replace Exciting Deals with a new creative look and feel but maintain the same offering parameters. This may be similar to something that NCL seems to offer for last minute bookings. At least for NCL, you can get a discount for declining booking a cruise with an "included" drink package, because gratuity isn't included in the "free drink package". With Celebrity, now you don't even have that option. NCL including the drink package in their promotions is one of the reasons i've been sailing on Royal more often for the last few years. My kids are old enough where it makes more sense for me to book 2 connecting cabins. Royal and NCL are the two major cruise lines that sail out of NY/NJ year round. If I want to book a cruise for spring break and sail out of NY/NJ, those are my two choices. Occasionally I price out NCL to see if it makes sense to check out their newer ships, but usually Royal is the same price, or cheaper. Since I prefer traditional dining (especially when on a cruise with my kids), if the price is similar i'll tend to pick Royal. I do miss "cruises to nowhere" though -- for many years i'd check out the latest NCL ships via 1 or 2 night getaways out of NYC with my wife (we left the kids at home with my mom).

Bummer. I had always wanted to visit Key West, but never got around to it. I figured visiting via cruise ship would have been my best bet; i don't really envision myself flying to Florida, renting a car, and driving all the way down to Key West. Oh well, plenty of other places to visit and spend money.

Is this really any different then airlines asking their passengers to wear masks? There have been a few news reports of people being banned from flying due to not wearing masks, but it seems like most people are following the guidelines.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/from-other-countries.html Kinda crazy that China is still on the "no entry list", since they are one of the few countries that have managed to control the virus. Reminds me of when NY/NJ was still on the quarantine list for Florida, even though the north-east had better COVID-19 numbers (at the time).

My understanding is that Canadians can fly to the US for any reason, including tourism, but American's are only permitted to fly to Canada for "Essential Travel", and not tourism: Essential refers to travel for reasons that are non-discretionary and non-optional. The emergency orders under the Quarantine Act do not allow people to travel to Canada for optional or discretionary reasons, such as for tourism, recreation or entertainment. https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/coronavirus-covid19/travel-restrictions-exemptions.html

I've cut and pasted the top of the page I linked to. Note the bit in red: COVID-19 Notification FOR POLICIES PURCHASED ON OR AFTER MARCH 11 Travel Insurance, at least in the United States, usually covers 2 things. Trip Cancellation/Interruption and Emergency Medical coverage (though some annual policies only cover medical.) Trip Cancellation/Interruption almost never covers a "known event" For example, once a storm becomes a named hurricane, it's too late to buy coverage that will cover that specific hurricane. You can still buy travel insurance, and you would be covered for everything else that the policy covers, but you wouldn't get any coverage for losses due to the hurricane. This travel insurance company, and many others, are saying that even though this is a "known event", your medical expenses will still be covered if you come down with COVID-19. Not only that, but they will even cover trip cancellation/interruption if you come down with COVID-19. Even though everyone knows that there is a worldwide COIVD-19 Pandemic going on. So if you go on a trip and come down with COVID-19, you will still have medical coverage. The post I was replying to said that in the UK you can't get travel medical coverage in this case. I'm just pointing out that in the US, there are polices that would cover you. Of course, the devil is in the details. They don't say they will cover losses due to testing positive on a COVID-19 test. I'm not aware of any travel insurance policy that does. If your travel plans require a negative COVID-19 test, then you are out of luck. Potentially this is a very large risk to be undertaking, depending on the refund policies from the travel providers. And that other link you mentioned also points out that they won't cover any losses due to having to be in quarantine after your trip, since the pandemic is now a known event. So yes, I agree that buying travel insurance at this point would have less coverage for COVID-19 related losses. But my point is that some losses would still be covered, even if you buy the policy today.

In the US it likely depends on the insurance company. Here is an example of a vendor that would still cover you if you caught COVID-19: https://www.travelguard.com/o/covid19notification On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Coronavirus (COVID-19) a pandemic... However, this does not affect any Medical Benefits available under the insurance policy.

Yes, another vote for the Kimpton Epic. We stayed there August 2019, before our cruise on Symphony. The room had a small balcony with a fun view of the Miami River; I enjoyed watching all the traffic on the river. Whenever a drawbridge opened, it causes chaos on the roads. We got upgraded to a junior suite, so we had a nice sitting area to relax. If you have an Amex Platinum card, they do participate in the FHR program, so we also got breakfast included and a $100 F&B credit.

I think you bring up some great points, but Holland America already does this, so it’s not completely unheard of. 10 years ago most cruise line loyalty programs were based on cruises sailed (or sometimes either or cruises or nights.) Moving towards nights only is fairly recent, and still limited to the major brands. I wouldn’t be surprised if a move to onboard spend being a factor was more widespread in the future.

Thanks for the heads up on this. Due to the pandemic, my commute to work now just involves walking to my basement, so I'm a bit behind on my podcast queue. But when I saw the alert on this one being released, I knew to make sure to check it out immediately. I really enjoyed the episode! I totally agree that the staff on Anthem really go our of their way to make sure any issues are rectified. Before one of my Anthem cruises I was a little annoyed because the pub beer menu looked like it changed for the worse. Out of all the mass market lines RCL tends to have the worst selection of "interesting" beers, but Anthem was a bit of an exception when it was branded as Michaels Genuine. Still not the best choices at sea, but better then the rest of the RCL ships. Right before my cruise, they rebranded it to be more like the non "celebrity chef" pubs on the other ships, and early reports made it seem like the beer choices were pretty limited. So I sent an email to corporate with some suggestions, got a reply thanking me for my comments and I figured that was it. But no, one day onboard I get back to my room and I see they left me a bucket of several of the more interesting beers available onboard, which was a very nice surprise. I really enjoyed them on my balcony, I thought it was a very nice gesture. But, much like you found, that was not it. Eventually my wife, daughter, and I decided to try the food at the pub and buy a couple of beers. Once our card was scanned for our first round, it must have triggered an alert to the assistant food and beverage manager that ran the pub, since he appeared out of nowhere to come and chat for a bit. We had a nice chat and I recommended some other beers and beer styles that might be good to stock onboard (I don't think anything ever came of that, but it was nice that he asked), and then he left. But when we asked for our check for our food, it turns out that he comped our meal. Sometimes enough little things go wrong in a row, and it can put a bit of a damper on ones enthusiasm. It's nice that the staff on some ships try to do their best to turn those situations around. It certainly helps to have the "right" attitude, but giving staff the power to also try to fix things can also go a long way.

@ryman1980 It can't hurt to call and ask. But keep in mind, it can't be combined with the C&A balcony discount. Also, you have to pay both the deposit and the final payment with an american express card. If you already paid the deposit with a different card, you are probably out of luck.

No, it's only for the Amex Platinum Charge Card, with the $550 annual fee, not their credit cards.

The CityMD urgent care center in Teterboro offers the antibody test. My wife and I got tested last week.

You can't sail Oasis class out of NJ in the middle of winter. You would kill all the plants in Central Park.