Vancity Cruiser

Another overhyped announcement

The quote I heard from a RC representative is that “it’s jaw dropping news totally out of left field”

The announcement is coming tomorrow.

Is this another overhype? Remember ‘the news we’ve all been waiting for’?

Or Atlantis cruises....

It’s the same situation in the US is it not? CDC recommends avoiding cruise ship travel but is allowing ships to sail nonetheless?

Oasis of the seas. My wife and I sailed on her for our honeymoon. It was our first cruise together and both of our first time cruising an Oasis class ship. We were blown away by the beauty of the ship, Central Park, and the incredible entertainment. Oasis class continues to be our favourite class of ship although we do enjoy the other classes as well.

So true unfortunately

The CDC considers stepping out your front door a level 4 risk

It is administered on what the cruise calls day 7 (last full day of a 7 day cruise), the day before disembarkation. Royal provided a PCR test with results in less than 12 hours. We were tested at 9:15AM and results were delivered to our stateroom at around 6:30PM

Technically Canada is open to cruise ships next month. Reality is they aren’t expecting ships till next summer but rolled ban back to November to try to seem like they are being reasonable. Wouldn’t it be funny for Royal to call their bluff and say yes, we will sail Pacific coastal starting November with a stop in Victoria lol

Talking to crew members on our recent Ovation cruise all of them were very concerned about what would happen with Ovation after the last Alaska sailing. Most had just returned to work after a long layoff and were concerned about losing their jobs again

How about staying home ported in Seattle and doing California coastal with a stop in Ensenada or Cabo for a foreign port?! It’s always been a dream that a ship would stay in Vancouver or Seattle year round doing southbound sailings outside of the Alaska sailings.

We went on Ovation to Alaska on Sept 24 sailing so it was quite late in season and quite cold (this coming from a Canadian) but Ovation has 2 solarium pools to enjoy no matter what the weather. The flow rider was also in operation most days with plenty of participants despite the temperature.

My wife had looked into this while we were verifying our insurance coverage. What she found was that while you are unable to board a flight to Canada if you test positive, Canadian border officials cannot turn away a Canadian at the land border. If you are able to make your way to the border, and have a quarantine plan, you can get back into Canada. Very cumbersome but it is possible to get back if you did not want to quarantine in the US.

It is apparently open for dinner on the current sailing of Ovation as well.

I do not not know as I did not look into it farther once I had assurance from my insurer that I would be covered (including repatriation).

I have travel insurance from Desjardins through my work which covers emergency medical care, hospital and hotel stays, and repatriation. I called them to inquire wether the coverage would be void because of the travel advisory and was told that the coverage was still in effect because it was simply a travel ‘advisory’ not an ‘order’. I had been prepared to look for additional insurance coverage but the Desjardins agent I spoke with was willing to send me an email with the verbiage that the coverage was still valid! Thankfully our cruise went fantastic and there was no need to test the coverage!

When I hear someone ask ‘how strict is mask wearing?’ my first thought is you probably shouldn’t cruise right now. Cruise ships are able to cruise right now because of their strict policies and if you are someone who prefers to flaunt the restrictions it’s best to wait for the restrictions to be removed. I dislike wearing masks as well and feel it’s a bit of theatre however I do wear them wear required, especially when it means I am allowed to cruise.

Hyatt downtown is very close to the pier. Couple blocks away. For the ultimate Vancouver cruise experience I always recommend staying at the Pan Pacific which is literally above the cruise ship terminal. If you get a harbour view room you can look down onto the lido deck of your ship in the morning when you get up. The hotel is pricey though.

@Matt loved the Coco Cay full tour video on YouTube. Would love to see more of these vlog style videos on the channel of ship tours and/or excursions.

I am from Vancouver area and just got off Ovation last Friday in Seattle. Royal gave us a PCR test at 9:15AM on Thursday. We had the results delivered to our stateroom by 6PM. It was complimentary and very efficient. I commented on it on the post cruise survey and gave them props and requested kindly that they continue to provide the service complimentary for as long as it is needed.

Had a 12:00 boarding time for Ovation last Friday. We showed up at 11:40 (it was either that or 1PM due to hotel shuttle schedule) and there was about 50 people already in line. They opened boarding a few minutes later and we were on-board by 12! Yesterday while watching port activity from my balcony I noticed a couple show up and take their place in line at 8AM . 4 hours before the first boarding time! By the time we exited the terminal at around 10 there was already a lineup of around 20 people ready to board.

Just got off Ovation this morning. NorthStar was indeed in operation and I was able to get on. Really cool feature for a cruise ship!

From a video of his I saw when he was on-board Ovation a few weeks ago it was not in operation yet.