nate91

I agree. As much as we'd love to see the testing schedule and know every little detail, those may not be released. All we're likely to see is which cruises they plan to sail, at least in early December. They seem to be trying to cancel cruises about a month out, so I'm guessing the next week will let us know which ships they are likely to start with. I do however, think that they *could* be ready for paying customers on December 1st (staying optimistic). They have a lot of these requirements laid out already with the Healthy Sail Panel, and I assume that they are ready to go at implementing these. Due to having multiple ships, they could do something like: First week of November: Gather crew, prepare plans, do testing and quarantining that hasn't already been completed as well as training. Second week of November: Run "test cruises" that don't leave the port with crew members as staff and as guests. This could be a 3/4 night in Miami and a 7 night in FLL. Third week of November: Have same two ships do another test cruise, but leave the dock, visit Cococay and follow all requirements. Fourth week of November: Repeat of third week, ensure all protocols are working, tweak plans if necessary, cancel more cruises or add more cruises depending on demand and CDC. First week of December: Cruises start. Obviously just an idea. But I could see it working.

To follow up to this, Explorer did not get her recent renovation, as Matt said. However, I sailed on her February 2020 (barely before COVID), and LOVED the panoramic ocean view staterooms. These are at the front on deck 12 and were added in 2016, so they still feel much newer than the rest of the ship (light wood vs dark wood, etc.) We also enjoyed the hot tub in the gym, which was to be removed during the renovation. Even without the waterslides and new (planned) additions, Explorer is a great ship!

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/readout-vice-presidents-call-u-s-cruise-industry/ Pretty unclear.

Has he even heard the "Wash your Hands" song? Does he know that it was actually around pre-COVID? He'll be humming that little diddy all the way back to DC! Don't get me excited for no reason now haha! It's not official until @Matt posts it haha! ?

Apparently CDC Director Robert Redfield and Richard Fain are in the conference. Oh to be a fly on the wall (or Pence's head) in that meeting as they go head to head. From what I've heard Redfield is very against cruises starting back up in the foreseeable future.

I'm also hoping that it changes. The regulations now really only apply to Singapore cruises, since they're all that is approved so far (fingers crossed for others). I know mask wearing is more normal (before 2020) in most Asian areas than it is in the US. Thinking that may have something to do with the sweeping mask mandates.

Sure hope this gets thrown out of court. That's the stock market for crying out loud! If you can't afford the risk find a less risky investment or diversify.

Looks like it starts in about ten minutes. Finally something to give us hope!

Sounds like there's not much to do at the port, you'll really have to take an excursion. Looks like normally a Carnival port, but I'm sure COVID has changed many things around. Found some good info here: https://www.caribeez.com/dominican-republic/article/la-romana-cruise-port Not decided yet if this is a "stay on the ship" port or not. I have decided that I'm very sad about St. Lucia.

I love your confidence! I really hope that you're right, as I would love to see cruises get started again. Most of all, I think we all seek some definitive answers, as in are November/December cruises happening or not?

Agreed. Plan B for me was booking Majesty of the Seas...for a sailing in May 2020. "Cruising will definitely be back by May," I said!

Got it. I'm not going to argue over whether Vegas should or shouldn't have opened. It did, it is, and I used it as an anecdote to my point, not as the main point. Thanks for your input though!

And they remained open, and are now having their lowest deaths since June. My point is that the CDC is essentially playing favorites while saying they are protecting us, but it's pretty hard to believe them right now.

Trying to leave politics out of it, but simply by comparison, restricting cruises now, and especially until February, makes no sense. I think Vegas is the closest land based approximation of a cruise. - Trying to keep people in a small bubble (the Strip) - Casinos, fine dining, hotel rooms - Visiting different destinations during the day but returning to home base at night - Live shows (currently closed in Vegas due to COVID, but scheduled to return in November.) Vegas is open (with restrictions like social distancing and masks). I see no reason that is not politically motivated for either A. It's not dangerous. Cruises can reopen like Vegas, Walt Disney World, etc. B. It's too dangerous. Cruises should stay closed, and Vegas, Disney World, theme parks, need to close down as well. Having said that, my trust that the CDC is doing this out of goodwill for our safety is very low.

I choose to look at the bright side of this: If some people's cruises are cancelled, or they use cruise with confidence 48 hours before, will the rest of us, or some of us get free cabin upgrades?

I don't think they have much choice. I assume if the CDC is to extend the no sail order, cruises will be cancelled, and if not cruises will be attempted to start November 1st. It would be nice if the CDC were to signal their intention, eg "The No Sail Order will be allowed to expire on October 1st." They have showed no intention of doing this, so cruise lines are at their mercy.

I will say that I finally got moved, and had something funny happen to me: I went on Liberty of the Seas in 2018, Independence's sister. Well of all the luck, I was assigned the EXACT same cabin that I had on Liberty on Independence! Now I'm wondering if it was indeed random or if someone went back to see what cabin I had on Liberty. If it was random that seems like a very low percentage chance with the hundreds of balcony cabins on the ship. Not like I had a GS or anything, haha!

Strange. I'm also on the 8th of May 2021 (Great itinerary, not as great now but still good), and it's still showing Brilliance for me.

I had the May 8th 8 day on Brilliance, Southern Caribbean, now Southern Caribbean 8 day on Independence. Only port that's the same is CocoCay.

A few randomly organized thoughts on all this: First of all, this all sounds very similar to the other cruise lines, which was expected. I also think that the urgency to get this out there FIRST THING in the morning on the day after the CDC's comment period ended seems like a good sign that at least RCG and NCL are interested in a slow start on November 1st, if things go their way. Tests: Testing before getting to the port seems far wiser than testing at the port. However, a couple things on this; say one gets tested five days before and doesn't have test results by sail date? Some places seems to give quick test results, but I have also heard of it taking a week or more. What does one do then? What about if one tests five delays before and gets a positive result 47 hours before sailing (for example). Will they still have the option for a refund, or a retest if not? I also saw a mention of false negatives, but no mention of false positives. Would a retest be possible, or should those who really want to sail get two tests *just in case*? If they do institute quick testing at the port, say 30 minute results, and one does get a positive, is there the option to retest in case of a false positive? Lots of questions there that should be addressed by Royal before sailing. Masks: I expected about what this says about masks. Regardless of personal views on masks, which vary greatly, I have always felt bad for retail employees forced to play mask police. I hope this is not the role that all cruise staff are subjected to. I'm wondering how enforcement will be handled, especially with people coming in from all different states/political views. Theaters: Will shows resume? I saw some mention of theater seating being spaced out, which makes me hopeful there will be shows, even if socially distanced! I miss live entertainment! Temperature checks: Seeing as everyone on the ship might do something entirely different every day, how would temperature checks daily be enforced? Would they go stateroom to stateroom? More likely, on entry to MDR before dinner? It should be interesting to see how this all plays out. I'm hopeful for cruises resuming soon!

I probably should have clarified further. I'm not frustrated at the cruise lines for not sailing (I'm frustrated at the CDC for that). They obviously want to start sailing and bringing in money ASAP. I'm frustrated at them for not cancelling cruises that we all know aren't going to happen (the rest of 2020). I think they know enough to know that won't happen. I get not wanting to release even more refunds, but it's beginning to tarnish my view of RCL a bit, especially as many other operators have already cancelled all of 2020.

I really hope cruising comes back soon! However, at this point, I'm beginning to get frustrated with the cruise lines, especially after RC delayed the results of the healthy sail panel. Myself and my fiancee are dealing with PTO expiring, and her boss has a two month maternity leave as well during which we can't take any vacation. We have cruises booked in both November and December with both Carnival and RC, and the not knowing is getting incredibly stressful. We'd love to do a land-based vacation, but our cruises aren't cancelled, and we have amassed so much FCC from earlier in the year that we can't afford to take the FCC (and Carnival offers nothing like it). I'm just frustrated that the cruise lines have no plan whatsoever, and especially with my admittedly unique situation, I'm essentially left twiddling my thumbs and waiting to see if I'll be able to use my vacation time in ANY way, much less a cruise (the preferred method).

I won't lie, I have booked far more cruises during the shutdown than I likely would have if the shutdown had never happened. I think there will be a huge amount of demand for vacations when cruises do restart. I'm at the point where I would go on any cruise just to be on a ship.

So I have Brilliance of the Seas booked May 8, 2021. 8 night cruise, Southern Caribbean and Perfect Day. Got a balcony, perfect cruise. Was looking at 2022 cruises (because cruising is all that keeps us sane in these crazy times, and realized that Odyssey of the Seas has an 8 night Southern Caribbean cruise on April 9, 2022 (which is far more expensive). Would it be possible to lift and shift this Brilliance cruise to Odyssey, or is that not okay, or would it not work since it's 'Southern Caribbean and Perfect Day' vs just 'Southern Caribbean?' Would we then be able to rebook Brilliance on May 8, 2021? (Obviously we'd have to use prevailing rates if we did.) Not sure if this is okay, but figured someone here would let us know. Thanks!

Oh, I'm very thankful for Matt's accurate reporting on everything. I'm sure it is correct, as it always has been in the past, however when I get on the phone with my travel agent and they call Royal and no one knows about it, my challenge is that Royal Caribbean Blog isn't actually affiliated with RC, so they often won't honor things without an official confirmation from Royal. This results in escalation to supervisors, so on and so forth. I just wish there were a faster way to get to the point, so to speak. ?