MicDay

Star Class cruise? I think I can hear the faint sound of sobbing coming from the direction of Ontario.....
This sounds like a great trip!

Yippee !!  A SC live blog.  So happy for you.  It’s been waaaytooo long since we had a live blog.

Oh sure.  Star Class on the first cruise.   Genie mode engaged.
On my first cruise Jeanie was this annoying lady at our table in the MDR.  On second thought maybe that was my ex-wife.

Next time it starts to snow fill up the bathtubs!  

Nah, that size hail is normal with spring storms around here. 

I absolutely agree with you.  I think I get just as much pleasure out of planning....and then the cruise comes and it goes by SOOOO fast.

I'm optimistic, have tons of PTO saved up, but now I'm struggling with having fun on cruises vs. putting money away for the retirement house.  WHY CAN'T I JUST DO IT ALL????? #reallife #beagrownup

Royal did a survey among crew at home 2 weeks ago and found ~4,000 already have been vaccinated.  Voyager class normally has ~1,200 crew so depending on the breakdown of who is vaccinated they could in theory go a long way towards staffing two Voyager class ships.  That 4k number has probably already grown a bit and will continue to grow week by week.  Is every role on board covered?  Probably not.  But then again they aren't sailing tomorrow so it's not hard to envision them putting a plan together. 
Maybe they ask some management or senior lead positions to fulfil the role of a bartender temporarily for example, a job maybe they had 8 years ago.  Michael Byley was a purser once.  They probably won't put him back onboard but there are others like him that could dust off their old crew uniforms and get back on a ship in the name of returning to service until they can vaccinate every role on board.
Royal has a long history of their employees going beyond the call of duty, volunteering on land after disasters, helping the community in times of need, etc.  It's not hard to imagine long time employees eager to do whatever is needed to get a ship sailing if they are vaccinated. 
At some point a company from Liberia may be able to buy the vaccine on the open market.  They may already have their order submitted waiting for fulfillment.  Absent of the US invoking the defence production act on US based vaccine facilities I imagine there are private companies that can acquire vaccine as that is a transaction between private parties.  Royal getting their hands on a thousand doses within a month isn't a stretch to conceive.  They aren't crewing the entire fleet in 30 days.  They may only need a few hundred doses to fill the roles that aren't already possible with crew already vaccinated to get two ships sailing.

Johnson and johnson vaccine was just authorized for use just about an hour ago. We are headed in the right direction. Astrazenca is next I hope. We could be flooded with vaccines soon. 

Just emailed my TA too, I really like this itinerary too.  You guys are bad for my wallet.
I've been looking at another cruise, one for just my husband and I, these would be new ports for us.
This would be the first vacation without our daughter (she's 22), it's time.
 

Hopefully the CDC will provide the technical details soon as they have suggested.  Only then can the cruise lines look at how long it will take to prepare and establish a timeline for test cruises.

Sorry our NC weather is not acting the best!!
It's awesome guys are having a great time!!
I love snow tubing but was always too chicken to snow ski.
Hope tomorrow is even better!!

Jane, welcome back!
If it helps any we went to Disney November 28-December 7th
Disney is doing an excellent job with making you feel safe.
They are very strict on wearing your mask.
They are cleaning everything all the time, you see CM cleaning.
They stop the rides to clean them on a schedule.
They have sanitizer all over the place and hand washing stations too.
You do mobile ordering for counter service, loved it.  Was so organized and way less hectic! 
We stayed onsite and used Disney buses, very organized and safe.
When we got back a week later I got COVID.  Only me, not husband/daughter/daughter's boyfriend.
After they did contact tracing, it was concluded I got it from work, go figure.
 
 
 

To me its a good thing.
It gives people options.
My wonderful TA, Kelley, got me a refundable deposit for our May 2022 Alaska cruise cheaper than what I could do online with a NRD.
I did not even know refundable deposits existed until I did research on this website! Thank you!
Everyone has a preference on their comfort level and how much they can/will spend on a vacation.
Kinda like an interior vs a suite.
 

Jane, welcome back!
If it helps any we went to Disney November 28-December 7th
Disney is doing an excellent job with making you feel safe.
They are very strict on wearing your mask.
They are cleaning everything all the time, you see CM cleaning.
They stop the rides to clean them on a schedule.
They have sanitizer all over the place and hand washing stations too.
You do mobile ordering for counter service, loved it.  Was so organized and way less hectic! 
We stayed onsite and used Disney buses, very organized and safe.
When we got back a week later I got COVID.  Only me, not husband/daughter/daughter's boyfriend.
After they did contact tracing, it was concluded I got it from work, go figure.
 
 
 

We went to WDW this past November/December and wore a mask 24/7. 
After the first day it just became the norm and we had a great vacation. 
I don't like wearing a mask but if it lets me go on vacation I'd do it.
 
 

We went to WDW this past November/December and wore a mask 24/7. 
After the first day it just became the norm and we had a great vacation. 
I don't like wearing a mask but if it lets me go on vacation I'd do it.
 
 

As I said before, Hubby works in healthcare so it’s a mask always, and the rest of us mask up every time we leave our house. If that gets me on a cruise, awesome! Ready to go.

We went to WDW this past November/December and wore a mask 24/7. 
After the first day it just became the norm and we had a great vacation. 
I don't like wearing a mask but if it lets me go on vacation I'd do it.
 
 

We went to WDW this past November/December and wore a mask 24/7. 
After the first day it just became the norm and we had a great vacation. 
I don't like wearing a mask but if it lets me go on vacation I'd do it.
 
 

We went to WDW this past November/December and wore a mask 24/7. 
After the first day it just became the norm and we had a great vacation. 
I don't like wearing a mask but if it lets me go on vacation I'd do it.
 
 

We went to WDW this past November/December and wore a mask 24/7. 
After the first day it just became the norm and we had a great vacation. 
I don't like wearing a mask but if it lets me go on vacation I'd do it.
 
 

I'm willing to do it for short cruises.  Longer cruises?  Not at the moment.
However, like my buddy James says, Never Say Never...

Stop packing so much crap we never used. 
I seriously need to be like some of you, have a cruise bag of the things we actually use.

Stop packing so much crap we never used. 
I seriously need to be like some of you, have a cruise bag of the things we actually use.