Dimension

I think that the real test will be when schools are back in session. With the President putting a big push on for kids to be physically at schools that will be the real test. If COVID for teachers and parents of the students attending in person classes begin to spike upwards you can easily kiss the 2020 cruise season goodbye. Here in Georgia it appears that most schools are leaning toward a hybrid school year with doing remote the first semester then doing in person classes. I work for a major university and they are planning on having the majority of the classes be in person still. The fall semester starts here in about 4 weeks.

This is the perfect trip in my opinion and if my wife could take that many days off from her business I would love to have do an itinerary like this.

I am in the same boat more or less as you for in the morning most of our drinks come from coffee. We do pick up bottled water on island days but we do not normally drink that much water while on the ship. We mainly drink alcoholic drinks while on the ship with the exception of breakfast and lunch at which time we normally drink ice tea. We try to pick sailings that not port intensive as well so that get time to explore and enjoy the ship because for us the ship is part of the destination as well.

My April sailing is 10-15 so that could still be considered Spring Break. I have sailed during this time before and granted the prices were somewhat higher but not like they are for this sailing.

My wife and I are scheduled to sail for 5 nights on Independence of the Seas in April 2021. I have been keeping an eye on the cruise planer drink prices since they opened it up and cannot believe the asking price. RCL is wanting $71 for the deluxe and $81 for deluxe with Voom. To me this is highway robbery. Mind you the price I just quoted is down from $77 and $93. It would appear that if these prices do not come down some more for me that I will not be doing any drinking on this sailing. On another note I am also set to sail Rhapsody of the Seas in December 2021 on another 5 night sailing and initially RCL wanted $89 and $103 for the packages. When I saw that I fell out of my chair. There is no way that my wife and I could come even close to getting our money's worth at that price. At best we might be able to get half our money back but there is no way that we would be able to function and enjoy ourselves. The price for that sailing is now sitting at $61 and $71 which is more reasonable but still a little high for my personal preference. Anyone else notice that the drink packages on their up coming cruises are going up through the roof?

It is but they will also update their guidance as well for the up coming quarter. I expect CCL and RCL to both cut their dividend rates out all together or for them to cut them down to almost nothing. Most likely since they do not qualify for any of the bailout money they will get rid of dividends to help pay the bills.

I am personally waiting on Carnival to report their earnings later this week before I decide if I want to jump in or not. CCL's ER will definitely tell us more on what is taking place.

My wife and I are in our mid 40s but my wife is missing her spleen due to an accident. We are considering cancelling but if we go that route we will most likely be out around $250 to start with and from your posting another $100 from RC for a cancellation fee. That $250 is hotel, parking, and 3rd party excursion. I thought that RC's current cancellation policy was a 100% refund but from what you stated it is minus $100 bring my total now up to around $350. That is almost half the cost of the cruise itself since we booked it early 2019.

Really enjoying following along and thanks for all of the pictures. I do have a question as to what you are seeing on board to help protect you from COVID-19? I have a sailing in about 2 weeks and want to know what out of the ordinary has been noticed on board to help protect the people?

That is interesting that the government has not yet stopped personnel from traveling to the Caribbean considering that in the news briefing the other day they stated that citizens should hold off on cruising.

I thought about starting a new thread for my question but I guess this one will work since it is related to COVD-19. My wife and I are currently scheduled to leave March 26 on a 4 night sailing to Cozumel on Brilliance of the Seas. With all of the recent issues in the news about cruising we were wondering how often Royal is currently testing their crew members for the virus since most of them are not US residents. Does anyone know? Also for those of you that have sailed in the past couple of weeks or are currently sailing what have you seen that helped set your mind at ease about going through with your cruise? I hope that @CHRIS WONG will chime in to let us know what he is seeing on Oasis.

I personally am trying to avoid having to go to another line for I really enjoy RCL ships but if the prices continue to go up I might have to start looking elsewhere or as I mentioned before only cruise once a year.

Bump

I have been looking for a 2021 sailing for the fall/winter months but unfortunately RCL has raised the price so much that I am no longer able to afford two sailings a year. With one already booked for April 2021 and prices going through the roof I will have to wait for 2022 to come around now. It is a shame that I want to give my money to RCL but they see that more people are willing to pay the higher books so that just leaves me SOL.

Made into the terminal just waiting to board now. Dropping the bags off and parking was quick and easy. Check in was smooth and only took a couple of minutes since there was no line. Unfortunately since we are good members we have to wait for just about everyone to board before we can. -Eric