FionaMG

Very wise decision. ?

@em.down.the.rabbit.hole Link to MSC's UK offer for health sector workers https://www.msccruises.co.uk/cruise-deals/health-workers Looks to me like you would be eligible for that too: "- Healthcare Volunteers (Ambulance, Social services) who offered their support during the Covid-19 emergency"

Definitely worth registering for it then. Good luck! MSC have been doing something similar on their cruises here in Europe, offering 2nd passenger free for healthcare people, so that's something else to watch out for, in case they do the same with their UK sailings.

Currently only one booked, Harmony out of Barcelona at the end of September, which is looking more and more like it's toast. Watching closely for a potential Panama Canal on Navigator. That's a bucket list cruise and to get to do it on a ship like Navigator would be the icing on the cake.

4th June to 29th August. https://www.royalcaribbean.com/gbr/en/cruise-ships/itinerary-updates They are also apparently offering 999 free staterooms on these sailings for workers in the emergency services, NHS, social care sector and armed forces.

Some posters over on CC with bookings on Anthem are reporting they have received cancellation emails as Royal has decided to "re-debut Anthem of the Seas in Southampton exclusively for UK residents, offering Ocean Getaways and British Isles itineraries".

I'm getting an ever-stronger feeling that my September cruise on Harmony is toast. ?

MSC have confirmed they're putting their brand new Virtuosa into the UK fray as well and the cruises will be open to passengers who have NOT been vaccinated subject to test results: https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/24653-msc-to-deploy-virtuosa-for-uk-summer-2021-cruises.html

It was on Monday of this week (22nd). By the next day it was gone.

A poster over on CC who is in Ireland and is booked on Harmony out of Barcelona in July contacted RC (don't know which office) to ask about the vaccine requirement and was told this: "It looks like its going to be Harmony cruising from the UK and not Anthem. We were due to sail on Harmony from Barcelona 11th July. I called RC to ask what was happening and was it going ahead. The lady said that it was cancelled as they are going to move the ship to the UK, but hasn't been announced yet and that expect an announcement in May. She said not to do anything yet until they announce it, but 99% at the moment the Harmony is not going from Barcelona in July." Of course, there's no way to know how accurate the information given by the RC rep is but the timeline does tie in with what Marc Walker said on his FB post before it was removed.

She's going to Cadiz for her mandatory 5-year dry dock. Where she will go after that remains to be seen. There has been speculation she may be redeployed to the UK but all we can do is wait and see. ?

Good point. I guess it would be the Spanish government since the cruise is supposed to depart from Barcelona so it would be interesting to see how that would work out with the EU's consumer protection rules.

I think it's safe to say someone at Royal needs to practise their copy/paste and proofreading skills! ? I'd be thrilled to have even just the 4 anytime drinks that D on Quantum have been getting. Fresh orange juice at breakfast and maybe a concoction from the vitality cafe in the spa. Hmm, nice.

I'm in a similar situation and have been watching like a hawk for an answer but as @twangster says nothing has yet been announced. My personal belief is that you will be entitled to a full refund if you are denied boarding on the grounds of a requirement that did not exist at the time of booking, especially if you booked under EU rules with their extensive consumer protection. However, since there has not yet been an occasion for this scenario to actually happen, we will just have to wait and see. Keep watching the boards as information is very often posted here within seconds of official announcements being made. For what it's worth, I also think you're right to assume your scheduled cruise is unlikely to go ahead. Not even convinced mine will and it's not till the end of September. ?

It actually just occurred to me that we have red post boxes here in Portugal... https://pt.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ficheiro:Marco_ctt.jpg

I filtered by ship. I can still see them but these are definitely just the test load as there are only two dates showing, a 4-night in June and a 3-night in July. They will probably disappear soon, as has been the pattern with the test loads.

Initially the vaccination requirement may do a bit of weeding out since people who don't want to get vaccinated or are unable to do so in time will have to cancel. The other way I can see is that cancelling a whole programme, such as we have just seen done with Adventure and Jewel allows the new itineraries to be capacity controlled.

For those who didn't get to see it, this is the circumstantial evidence. I saw the original but this photo was posted by a poster over on CC.

Two test cruises are currently showing, one for June and one for July, as posted by @mattymayon the good news west coast thread.

I can't help thinking moving it to 2022 might be a very wise decision. ?

Exciting news. Hopefully we should know quite soon what they're planning for Harmony. I really hope you're not going to need a Plan B for your wedding @J_Keeble... fingers, legs and eyes crossed!

She's on her way to Cadiz for her 5-year dry dock.

In the same post Marc had a photo of a model of Harmony and a red UK-style pillar box, and he commented that he hoped he would be getting the chance to see a lot of his mum, who apparently lives in Bournemouth in the UK. He said he couldn't say anything about the itinerary in case it got changed but that he was due to join Harmony mid-May. The photo led to speculation that Harmony might be re-routed to do cruises out of the UK. The post was gone by the next day. I suppose it's possible he was told to remove it. There is a thread about it over on CC.

Odyssey cancellations qualified for special L&S conditions to make up for the disappointment of it being her inaugural season. I can't see Royal being so generous with any other cancellations. ?

So jealous. Hope you all have an amazing time. Why has nobody started a live blog yet?????? ?