Vancity Cruiser

5 hours ago, Terkop said:

We are scheduled for a cruise on Symphony of the Seas over Christmas. Any rumors or facts or speculation as to whether or not it will happen? 

I really hope you get to because that means my cruise on her just after New Years will be sailing!

1 hour ago, dream said:

Hi KW and Matt, thank you both for your replies. They have been helpful!! Wish the app had been more user friendly though!

You can also book through Royals website as well (usually earlier than the app).

11 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:

SMH, it is truly a mess.  But I agree, cruising for Canadians does not look good for a while.  I will thank my lucky stars if I can get on Allure by December 2021.  That is honestly the soonest I see for us here in Canada, by the time you factor in full vaccinations, border issues, quarantine to relax. 

Same. While it’s exciting to see cruises restarting I believe my next cruise will be Jan 8. 2022 on Symphony. If we are able to go sooner I will try to book something earlier but right now that is my next booking (I have 4 booked for 2022!). That being said it is still exciting to see the cruise industry slowly coming back to life and knowing they’ll still be around for my 2022 bookings!

26 minutes ago, Matt said:

I could see them pointing to the "we need xx% of the population to be vaccinated for it to be safe".

Nevermind nursing homes are open/opening back up and they are the true petri dish incubators.

The CDC’s own guidance is that vaccinated people are allowed to gather indoors with no masks and no social distancing (or has that changed?). Common sense would then dictate that a fully vaccinated cruise should be acceptable.

On 3/13/2021 at 12:47 PM, Vancity Cruiser said:

Official statement would read....

Just because tens of thousands of people have successfully and safely cruised since last fall and through the “second wave” on multiple cruise lines does not mean it is safe to resume. If we allow this we at the CDC will no longer feel important and we cannot let this happen.

With all the announcements made since this post the statement will have to be amended to hundreds of thousands (potentially even millions by the time they realize that they are in fact the ones holding up the entire industry) have successfully and safely sailed.

Seriously though, how long can the CDC ignore the facts of successful sailings? Even “non vaccinated” cruises are operating safely with testing and other protocols in place.

1 hour ago, Thiggi22 said:

When are they gonna cancel June cruises? I ready to plan something else

There is no way a June cruise is going ahead from a US port. I’d move forward with planning something else if I were you

4 hours ago, deep1 said:

This points topic really stings ... C+A lost 14-15 years worth f my points. In 2018  I expected my emerald pin on a majesty  trip.  I had reached that plateau in June 2015 then didn't sail the next two years (Busy and was in  a friendly divorce) . Ok maybe they just missed it. 2019 on Indy it surely would be there. Nope. Got home and looked...  2003- 2018  disappeared  except that Majesty trip. I was knocked back to gold and like 28 points!!!!  (I should be 63 or 64!) I emailed and never heard a word. I called and didn't hear back. Called again  and nasty rep told me I needed receipts... I explained I don't save records that long. She was nasty again and hung up.  Very much not like the usual RCL people I deal with on the phone. I am bringing  what sea passes I do have, ship board photos, casino chips from the different trips and plan to sit down with a real person at the loyalty desk when I get back aboard Symphony ...  Despite all that I'm still loyal to royal... 

I had a similar situation but had proof of my sailings.......so they gave me 1 point per cruise. Not 1 point per night, 1 point per cruise.....so I got 3 points instead of 21. I’m not bothered by it though, while the points and perks are nice I don’t base my vacations around how many points I get.

5 hours ago, twangster said:

Buy that man a beer! 

I hope he’s on to something!

Tony from La Lido Loca has interesting take on this on his YouTube channel. The latest public health emergency order expires on April 21. If it is not renewed the CSO becomes null and void. Given Biden’s new goal of having 200 million vaccinations administered in 100 days there could be reason (both scientific and political) not to renew the public health emergency order.

This may be optimistic but has some merit and is an interesting consideration.

9 hours ago, mattymay said:

I can’t even see bookings yet for some reason. When I filter by departure port of LA the only thing that comes up are a couple Radiance repositionals

Royal Caribbean’s booking engine does allow one to book the Harmony in July august and September departing either Barcelona or Rome

1 hour ago, rjac said:

Have our Canadian friends heard anything new regarding the travel ban their government has imposed? Thanks.  

Are you referring to the cruise ban in particular or the overall travel ban? 

After a horrific slow start are vaccination program is finally picking up momentum but we are still way behind other countries. I seriously doubt the cruise ban will be rescinded but I think that’s a moot point because of the glacial movement of the CDC to allow ships to cruise from US ports. With regards to the border closures between US and Canada our PM has stated that it will remain closed till numbers on both sides of the border have reached acceptable levels so it’s kind of open ended

40 minutes ago, twangster said:

To that end someone being kicked off the ship for not following protocols is perhaps the best publicity that can demonstrate that Royal is a CDC team player and they are taking it seriously.

If Royal wants to put me on the ship for free just to kick me off after a couple days because ‘I’m not following protocol’ for publicity sake I’m willing to volunteer.

Tell me more tell me more

I would say this should put even more pressure on the CDC but apparently the director of the CDC doesn’t have a clue to what’s going on

My confusion is that it seems that in every other aspect (air travel and all inclusives etc) they’ve issued ‘advisories’  which don’t seem to be being enforced but they have full power over the cruise industry. I’m just wondering how the one side is simply advisories and the other side is full control.

1 hour ago, JeffB said:

 

That's $5850 for a 7n itinerary. Hi, IMO, at least for my tastes. I could find cheaper accommodations. Safer? Probably not. 

 

As someone who has to include airfare and precruise accommodations with every cruise that is about a standard price for me

Thread title was about disappointment about sailing not likely to happen in August and I’m not really surprised. There may be a couple ships sailing by then from US but it will be a fraction of the industry.

Thread topic seemed to be RC vs NCL. I’ve sailed both and have a preference for RC but NCL is has its good features as well. The biggest drawback that I have with NCL is lack of pool and hot tub space. It is severely lacking. However, the only reason we sail NCL is because we live in Vancouver and NCL offers pacific coastal cruises (reposition) in spring and fall. Because the weather is not always the greatest we always get the thermal spa package which includes a pool and hot tub as well so that makes up for the lack elsewhere.

Can someone explain to this non-American how the CDC has sole control over the entire cruise industry but not over any other form of transportation?

I live on the west coast and have long flights anytime I cruise the Caribbean so yes I would sail from Nassau or St Maarten. It makes no difference if I fly to Florida, SAN Juan or the Bahamas I’m spending a lot of time on a plane and a lot of money on airfare. Unfortunately it’s just part of the overall cost of cruising the Caribbean for me.

Lost in all the excitement of a Royal ship actually sailing in North America again is the fact they are planning to do overnight stays in Coco Cay!!

How awesome is that!!

11 hours ago, twangster said:

What I imagine will occur for re-crewing ships will be a matter of an HR exercise to match eligible crew with ship board positions for the next ship they want to sail.

There's lots of talk of "Royal should sail here next"  or "Royal should sail there next".  That's all well and good but Royal can only crew a ship as crew are able to reach the ship and crew can be or are vaccinated.  They can't fill every ship and every position overnight.

This problem of crewing the next ship or trying to plan which ship should be next and where is complicated by public health agencies that refuse to work with the industry. 

That's kind of like trying to buy a house when no mortgage lender will allow you to apply for a mortgage even though you are guaranteed to qualify.  You know your financial situation.  You believe you qualify.  You have a sizeable down payment.  You have a high paying stable job.  Your problem isn't the ability to qualify for a mortgage, your problem is the lenders aren't answering the phone, responding to emails and their websites are blank or unchanged.   You know the home you want to buy, you know when you need to move, but you are stuck in limbo waiting for a lender to take your phone call.  The lights are on but nobody's home.

That makes it very challenging to commit to the next ship and port where you are going to send resources.

Singapore and Israel are example of what occurs when governments work with industry.   Cruise lines can play the game when they know what sport they are playing and where the goal posts are. 

It's really hard to build a team when you don't know what sport is going to be allowed to be played on the field.  

In an ideal world cruise lines would have a clear path to restarting.  That doesn't exist today so it makes the job of bringing crew back incredibly difficult.

Excellent points. I wonder if efforts are already underway to staff a second ship homeporting in Nassau....

7 minutes ago, RBRSKI said:

I’m done with CDC.  Let’s have a Friday cheers for Royal and the Bahamian Government.   I don’t know how to add one of those pictures. Someone help me out please.  Lol

I think everyone is done with the CDC. Unfortunately, while this is GREAT news, it is only one ship and cruise lines are completely reliant on the US based cruise market for survival 

5 hours ago, Matt said:

I really cannot recall the last time, if ever, that I used a promo code.

Same! Use a travel consultant, you will get the best rate possible without needing promo code

I’m assuming the Nassau announcement was the one that was going to be shared on Wednesday but something wasn’t quite ready for it