Zambia-Zaire

To answer your question....Politics & Extortion. Reporting as a whole(cases, death rates, severity) has all been hugely manipulated, "mostly" for political reasoning from both sides. Numbers been reported are highly suspect, because of the method of the reporting...as @PattiHere has shared, which is a mere microcosm of what's happening in every region or state across the country. There has been a number of reports questioning the validity of the method, of information being release to the public, in order to highlight, highly inflated numbers...to what gain. The numbers has never justified wrecking an already tenuous economy. As far as the CDC apparent bias against the cruise industry....well, I suspect a case of extortion. At some point, if these cruise lines wish to operates in the United States, its largest customer by far, they are going to have to flag some ships, pay into the system, & hire American workers(which is so ironic given "Guess Worker Program")...something the industry has refuse to do, for a long time...are now being "pressured" to decide what direction to take. Drip drip drip them to death.

Drip drip drip...

Royal finding a permanent home on the Pacific Coast between Vancouver & San Diego, a flagged ship in Hawaii, & some overnight stay at key ports like San Fran, Coco Cay, Lahaina, Antigua, areas in the Mediterranean, to name a few.

Kinda conflicting reports on Pullmantur...one report states restructuring the business...another seem to suggest dismantling of the business. If I was a betting man...i bet Pullmantur is done, their ships are scrapped, RC cut ties & and save capital, and expect some ship under the Royal banner to be moved/sold and/or scrapped....and I would not be surprised Empress, Majesty, and all of the Vision Class be eventually moved/sold and/or scrapped. Not just because of the age of those ships; but, it appear the capacity is going to cut initial & for some duration of time, which make these ships even more less efficient/green tech, and with limited balcony cabins(which seem to be a huge concern for the CDC), as well as HEPA Filtration systems, those ships provide little reason, in Royal quest to satisfy the CDC & return to cruising. It is what it is under today's climate.

Yeah, I get it...no one is blaming the customer service rep for the essential "lift & shift" afar from bad customer service. I don't know Royal's system algorithms; so, I'm oblivious if it actually automatically defaults to closest category or not, other than hearsay. I suppose a case can be made that the brass ultimately is responsible; they oversee their component of the company….yeah sure. Just don't think anyone can unequivocally say one way or the other. Royal customer service reps has unequivocally have a history of being ill informed in a number of areas of their job, at times. I suspect that more of the case than Royal pulling a hawkish move at this time, when public opinion is very precious if they want to entice the public back, anywhere near 70% of what they where pre-virus...given the number of blocks stacked against the industry & pure reputation. I must say...the airline analogy is not the same, imo. I've been flying 1st class every chance we get(if 1st class not sold out), for a few decades now, since my wife & I was bumped up to 1st class at no added cost, back in 98....a lucky draw. When you book 1st class and there's a change in flight to a different model aircraft...we are still moved to 1st class on the new aircraft(which admittedly only happened a very few times to us). However, in conversation with other flyers, that experienced such a change, in every case, they where offered frequent flyers miles and/or credited discounts on next flight, if they flew coach because they couldn't take a later flight, with available 1st class. Flights are immediate & only last mere hours unless you flying cross country like we frequently have to do...one is not living on an aircraft. Booking a cabin for duration of a number of days is completely different...you living their for that period of time & paying for a specific set of comfort & perks. I readily compare it to hotel resort room personally than an airline.

I don't think anyone can make the statement underline, unequivocally. I have seen a number of times on this blog, people explain how Royal's system algorithms "automatically default" to the closest category, which may very well be the case here. The customer service rep, I suspect, was basing things off what's they see on their monitor & trying to make sense of it, as they deal with the customer...in this case twangster's agent. The Rep can only assist as far as what they can do themselves, base on what they see & have to refer issues to the next level of customer services when needed...they are just following the info in front of them...and couple that with how verse they are outside of that, is where some mishaps occur that need to be address. Again, not defending any shrewdness on Royal behalf...just stating other factors that could very easily be at play.

??? This unclear & make very little sense as related to my post & appear to contradict itself.... Anyway...i found that in many cases, after reading many explanation and/or occurence here, Royal customer service does not appear, at times, to be well informed of the policy, and make numerous mistakes, that are essentially brought to their attention, proven to be unclear on the policy, causing an unfortunate mishap, again, that is brought to their attention. That's not to defend Royal or convey they don't exercise shrewd business practices...it seem like many of these circumstances, the customers services rep are not well versed in the policy until someone clearly bring it to their attention & things are eventually & exhaustedly resolved. This unfortunate for twangster & others that may have faced the same situation; but, many times on this blog, twangster patiently explain to other here, the befuddlement of some of these reps. Now is a good time for Royal & frankly, all cruiselines to start refresher & updated classes on their policy & customer services.

This what gets me...they have been offering reasonable options when they have cancelled dates...what's the difference when they cancel a ship itinerary.....then autonomously "lift & shit" a booking. Thinking there may have been some confusion or misunderstanding by their customer service rep. Not defending Royal, just surprise they would act so autonomously w/o the customer say & disappointed, if intentionally, before any public out cry....especially in this moment of time. Surely Royal is not that short-sighted. Will be interesting to see how thing ultimately turn out.

<smh> very disappointing they would be so disingenuous & one sided.

Looking like August may actually be the time frame cruiselines return to the open seas.

Possible proof that the virus & wrecking of the economy was overly exaggerated...from WHO's own findings. Remember...older citizens over 70 & those with already underlining health issues(whether they're 15, 30 or 45 yrs old)are the ones suffering severe to critical infections. "Around 8 in 10 coronavirus infections are mild or asymptomatic ― meaning the person had no symptoms ― according to the World Health Organization. Meanwhile 15% of infections are severe, and 5% are critical." The whole article is an interesting read & their reported figures. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/how-common-is-asymptomatic-coronavirus_l_5ed103adc5b6392ca7780ee0

From what I gathered, cruiseline will be forced to sail a some percentage of capacity. Let's just say half capacity for the sake of argument. That alone, should help alleviate hotel capacity, in a given city. Not sure they can legally force a overnight stay & imagine they(cruiselines) will follow some of the airlines screening protocols to boarding. A bigger concern i have, behind a potential force 14-day quarantine upon return...is the sailing capacity of the ship, one is to cruise. There has been numerous of claims that bookings have been up from Sept through early 2022. If a cruise is booked...i dunno, let's say Oasis otS, near 80% capacity & the mandate is to sail at half capacity...how will the line determine who sails on that particular date. Reservation are made. I imagine there will be just as much difficulty and trying to move selected passengers to other dates, given many dates booked are just as likely to be over the mandated capacity...if booking has truly been up significantly, for the time period previously mentioned.

I totally agree; yet, with the amount of capital being lost, everything is off the table, at this point. Cruising as we once known it, is done. It won't be as liberating as it once was as it become more controlled to some degree.

A number of people with influence are waking to the thought that the numbers really does not justify continuing these lockdown policies; yet alone, the shutdown of the Global Economy. More & more are speaking against lockdown measures & no doubt, a growing number of regular everyday citizens have as well.

Sound like the Windjammer will morph into a cafeteria.