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.

@RBRSKI, would you be willing to amend the date on this? I have an Oasis cruise on 12/6 that I would really like to sail! ? 

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.

@RBRSKI, would you be willing to amend the date on this? I have an Oasis cruise on 12/6 that I would really like to sail! ? 

Absolutely,  I just went into "settings" updated the start date to 12/6 and saved!!! 
I hope to see you during disembarkation on 12/13 as this is when we are boarding!!!

Where do I sign up to be a test cruiser?  I can be at Port Everglades in 20 minutes

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.

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.

Would it be possible for you to post the locations of the blogs that you write? I am very interested in getting unbiased information about COVID.

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!

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!

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!

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!

Casino has its own program that comes with its own perks and offers for more free cruises.  Heads would spin trying to layer that into additional earning of C&A points.  At some point they have to account for every dollar.  What is the cost of a free point based on casino spend when that guest got a free cruise and is already earning C&A points for being on board?
What if I have $400 in OBC and use that on board?  Tracking refundable OBC versus other OBC versus OBC from travel agents versus cash relative to items purchased and tracking costs down to the dollar is not an insignificant effort.  Cruise Planner purchases versus truly on board purchases and keeping track where the money came from sounds easy but it isn't.  
$400 of t-shirts & watches or $400 of artwork or $400 of booze all have different margins and some won't cover the cost of the additional C&A points bundled in.  Royal can hardly handle it now, trying to write a program to track all of that relative to spend to calculate C&A points earned by spend would be a huge undertaking.  
Then guests would get upset.  I used OBC to buy six specialty dinners, why doesn't that qualify?  It's my OBC, it's just like cash.  
Revenue managers on board are accountable to reach revenue targets but now after the cruise is over they have to subtract the cost of C&A points awarded and find themselves short in some areas.  Sounds like a nightmare.
It's slippery slope.  Once you start to deviate from "nights with your head on a pillow" it becomes very confusing for everyone involved.   

Except for their attorney.

I like objective data not claims of a "fact" related to the COVID pandemic without data to back it up.  For example, the WHO claims lots of things to include the virus spreads via aerosols. Subsequently and within days, they backed away from that claim and say "we only know it's airborne." The reason behind the fall-back by the WHO was a lack of data to back up their claim. Claims of fact are one thing. Without data they are empty claims.
Matt posted the announcement by RCG results of a study conducted by the University of Nebraska's Medical Center onboard the Oasis of the Seas confirming that cross-contamination of air between adjacent public spaces is extremely low, and undetectable in most test cases. The study marked particles < 1 micron in size (considered to be aerosols) and then injected them into a space aboard ship. Next it followed these particles with equipment designed to detect if they passed through the ship. They didn't. IOW, even if the virus gets introduced in this congregate setting, it's not going to spread in aerosol form (the only way they can do that) via the ship's air handling systems. This was one of the claims, one of the facts, advanced by CDC that isn't supported by objective data.
Just want to be perfectly clear about the value of data backed assertions compared to well, it could be or it might be sort of facts. Here's another example. The CDC alleges it's risky to fly and the longer the flight the higher the risk of becoming infected with COVID from an otherwise asymptomatic COVID positive passenger.  Don't get on airplanes or cruise ships if you are otherwise at higher risk for becoming infected. Given this very public claim, given that it is frequently augmented by the media, you'd be afraid to jump on an airplane to get to a cruise port, right?
Don't be.  
Results from the Boeing 777-200 and 767-300 airframes showed a minimum reduction of 99.7% of 1 µm simulated virus aerosol from the index source to passengers seated directly next to the source. An average 99.99% reduction was measured for the 40+ breathing zones tested in each section of both airframes. Rapid dilution, mixing and purging of aerosol from the index source was observed due to both airframes’ high air exchange rates, downward ventilation design, and HEPA-filtered recirculation. Contamination of surfaces from aerosol sources was minimal, and DNA-tagged 3 µm tracers agreed well with real-time fluorescent results. Transmission model calculations using the measured aerosol breathing zone penetration data indicates an extremely unlikely aerosol exposure risk for a 12 hour flight when using a 4,000 virion/hour shedding rate and 1,000 virion infectious dose.
https://www.ustranscom.mil/cmd/docs/TRANSCOM Report Final.pdf
We should not be fearful of flying on commercial aircraft to get from point A to point B even when the flight is even 12 hours long. The data does not support CDC's recommendations not to fly for leisure. It appears this is another example of unsupported advice coming from the CDC, crushing a sector of the travel and leisure industry, in it's role of prevention. There should be no surprise that people don't trust them anymore with it's trustworthiness ratings among Americans plummeting.

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. 

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. 

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! ? 

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! ? 

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. 

My takeaway is Pence takes healthy sail recommendations to its COVID task force and present findings to Trump.
Assuming no outbreaks in Europe, or significant rise of cases in Florida, the order may very well be lifted at end of October. But it sounds like they are waiting until the end of the month to make that decision.

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.

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.