kadmgs

3/13/20-Sitting at Boleros on Liberty drinking Kraken and Sprite after hearing the "suspension of cruising" announcement. 

52 minutes ago, twangster said:

Most people who will attain Diamond from this promo would have attained it in 2021 or very soon into 2022 without the pandemic.  Net effect is no change. 

 

That would be me... lost 2 cruises in July & had to lift and shift a December cruise to December 2021. Changed the ship and sailing day for this coming summer from a 14-night Med on Anthem to a 7-night E. Carib on Symphony. After all of that, this promotion literally puts me at what my point total would have been had COVID not happened... 91 points.  

4 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

^^^This.  For the past hour, I have been looking at sailings September-November 2021.  I fully anticipate that my March sailing will be cancelled so I can put some of the money towards the latter half of the year.  Only problem is that it would have to be a shorter sailing but oh well, quad points!

Same here... maybe a 4-night out of Galveston during Thanksgiving might be in the future even though I already have a Christmas cruise booked. Dang school calendar doesn't allow for fall sailings.  

3 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

Thanks @twangster!  No mention of applied C&A discount not being combinable....

That's how I'm interpreting that as well. I also just read the combinability statement below your quoted area and there's nothing there either. It doesn't state it cannot be done, but it also doesn't state it can be done. Ugh. 

20 minutes ago, HeWhoWaits said:

It seems fishy that the double points won't accrue if you received a C&A discount. They automatically apply the discount (no matter how large or small) when you book if you provide a C&A number for one or more passengers. The only way to avoid a discount would be to book without the number attached and then add it later - extra work.

I agree. The discount is minimal for my sailings (2). The extra points I would get do not equal what I would have earned with my 2 sailings that were cancelled in July and the Dec. cruise I L' & S'd. It's frustrating as I would have been diamond after this coming summer's sailing. Now... who knows. 

Not applicable with a C&A discount... seriously! $50 off on one 7-night sailing negates my extra point??? That's  . 

Please, oh please let it be true & quad for suites! We have 2 in suites booked. 

Direct flights from Houston! 

4 minutes ago, SpeedNoodles said:

Yeah, I'd have to bring a letter because my pulse ox is consistently low.   My temp tends to run around 96-97 range, so if it's over 100 I feel like I'm dying.  It's very rare for me. 

 

Yep, that's me as well. I had a letter (I'm asthmatic) with me for my March cruise. I was on the last ship out of Galveston before shut down. They were doing temp checks. Didn't even have to show my letter because my temp check was fine. 

20 minutes ago, SpeedNoodles said:

Do they? (honest question, not being snarky).  The ONLY time I have a fever, I'm sick, and I know I'm sick, and I shouldn't be going to work or on a cruise.  Sniffles yes, but do people pick up a fever with allergies and common colds?

Great point! As an adult, no. I do not run fever with allergies nor did I as a child. However, my younger brother was a whole different story. He would run a fever for no apparent reason sometimes or it would be due to an ear infection. You would have never known the kid was running fever, but he was. 

6 minutes ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

 The nice thing about our new community - no yard work !!  It's all included in the HOA.

That is awesome! 

When we built, one of the upgrades was a sprinkler system and it was a must have for DW. It was $2,000 to add it and it has been well worth it. Our yard is much healthier than most of our neighbors. The guy across the street and the guy next door both have said they regretted not adding it. Their grass and flowerbeds look terrible compared to ours. 

Thanks! There's a reason this Gulf Coast girl stays inside most of the time from April to October. 

Congrats on retirement and the new house! Y'all's plan is our plan when I retire in 9 years.  The only difference is the heat and bugs are the same in Houston, so not a big adjustment for us. 

Ulitmately, it comes down to priorities. For us, it is a priority because we love cruising. For many of us, it is a way of life. I work so I can cruise... literally. My adjunct position money goes into a savings account to pay for vacations. However, the large majority of Americans are not like us. They may have been on a cruise, but they aren't a part of our culture. It's not a big deal for them or they may have actually had a miserable time. My brother refuses to get on a ship because he watches too many episodes of Dateline and thinks he will die. I work with people who are the same way. As a result, this issue is not on the radar of most politicians. What does it matter to Sen. Gardner from Colorado if the cruise industry gets to cruise soon. It doesn't... he's in a fight for his seat, so that's not a priority for him right now. (He's really on the committee.) If you want traction on this bill, start contacting committee members. commerce.senate.gov/members You don't have to be from their state. You don't have to be from the US. If you want them to move this bill to the floor for a vote, let them know. 

As for the CDC, @twangster is right! They are under attack on the daily. The suspension of cruising has allowed them to move resources and people to larger issues. I would guess that if it was up to them, cruising would be suspended until a vaccine was available. It's not good optics for an agency who is under the gun to allow the industry to return and then have to shut it down again when there's an outbreak.

7 minutes ago, twangster said:

Europe river cruising is very interesting to me.  Family have done many and love it.  I think it's a great way to experience Europe to a much greater extent than you can on a Med. cruise.  

I agree! The only caveat is that the rivers have to have enough water to move the ship. This has been an issue the past few years. A friend's travel group has tried to book one, but have found that depending on the amount of water in the Rhine/Danube/etc., the company had to move guests to busses to continue the "cruise" in certain areas. 

Thank you @Matt & @twangster! You both made some great points about not only how the legislative process works, but why this bill is needed. This adjunct Poli Sci professor thanks you! 

Matt's point about the process is true. So many pieces of legislation do not even make it out of committee for a vote on the floor, much less make to the other chamber for the vote. It would have more traction if there was a "sister" bill in the House moving through their process at the same time. As far as I can tell, there's not. Therefore, this looks like a "let's support our local economy/constituents, but we doubt it will make it out of committee" piece of legislation. It gets both Rubio and Scott some local media coverage, but as of now its just been referred to committee. If you want to watch what happens with it, here's the link to it. https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/4592

I agree with @twangster that the bill has merit, especially with how the CDC controls the industry. Not trying to place blame on one particular group or party, but this is a trend of the 20th century continuing into the 21st century... Congress grants power to regulatory agencies and allows them to set their own regulations without a check from the people or another branch. In other words, if we don't like our House rep., we can vote them out. If we don't like a regulatory agencies/administration's regulation, sucks to be us. The only solution is to have Congress address it with legislation like we see here or the president can address it with an Executive Order, but would require some major pressure on the president from the cruise industry. 

Thanks for coming to my "How a Bill becomes a Law" and "How the Bureaucracy is considered the 4th Branch" TED talk. 

L&S'd Dec 2020 on Allure to Dec 19,2021 on Oasis.

Changed June 2021 on Anthem to June 26, 2021 on Symphony. 

36 minutes ago, Chadster said:

Are you sure the phone flipped the image and that you haven't just had several Krakens and this is your view? 

I can either confirm nor deny this.

Sitting at Boleros on Liberty while we cruise back into Galveston before we return to the chaos. Thanks, @Matt for influencing me to make Kraken my drink of choice. No clue why it’s flipped the image. 

On Liberty right now. Captain just made the announcement. There’s a guest who is on this ship for 5 months. We are wondering what he will do. 

On Liberty now. Cozumel let us dock. Grand Cayman let us dock. Headed to Falmouth now & nothing has been said about not docking. There were 7 ships in port in Cozumel (2 RCL, 3 Carnival, & 2 NCL).  6 in Grand Cayman (all a different line). In fact, we were next to the MSC ship that was denied entry last week. No issues for any of us getting off. 

120 Days #stillgoing

P.S. On Liberty right now.

Boarded Liberty today. 400 empty cabins due to cancellations this week. However, the ship doesn’t feel less empty. There’s enough hand sanitizer everywhere that you could bath it in. People must have packed their entire house (present company included, but I always over pack.) in anticipation of a quarantine because luggage delivery is delayed. I’m not worried... my HR director is on the ship, so I’m covered. Saw her as we boarded. DW jokes about how I see people no matter where we are from school/that I taught. Well, this time it may come in handy as long as I don’t partake in too much Kraken.

On 3/6/2020 at 1:40 PM, SpeedNoodles said:

They'll only need it, according to them, if you have a fever upon initial screening and require secondary screening.  Hopefully most people would pass the initial screening.

No issues at all. They scanned us very quickly as we approached security. I had my letter just in case.