Morganno

On 12/10/2020 at 9:22 PM, bhageerah said:

At this point I really do not want to wear one while on a cruise, but if it meant that I would be able to relax on a cruise ship again, I would wear one.  I will say that the requirement would make having a balcony room far more important than before! Being able to grab some food and go back to the room (or have room service deliver it) and just sit out there and relax would be good enough for me.  I would spend some time around the ship and would wear a mask but I would also truly appreciate the time away from the public and on the balcony.  

I agree I would definitely cruise with a mask requirement but I would also definitely avail more of room service for my meals. For us we have spoiled ourselves with a Balcony so would not cruise unless we can afford one. 

I think a lot of studies have shown that the chance of infection in the open air is very limited and people would have to be inches away from you with no wind,  therefore I think that once seated outside the mask requirement should be dropped. 

Also can we keep covid posts specifically in relation to cruising if possible, otherwise it quickly descends into political arguments. 

Happy sailing everyone, when it comes. 

On 12/5/2020 at 3:40 PM, Jim S said:

I’ve just booked that same cruise from Barcelona. Hope it does not get cancelled.

Nice one Jim. Hope to see you on board... 

On 12/1/2020 at 12:51 PM, J_Keeble said:

bloody better be! im getting married on her voyage in september 2021. 

 

i see allure is still in south England but dont want to go on her! i want an AMPED ship damn it ! aha!

Congrats on your future wedding... 

HoTS 9 May 2021 

Hope so I've booked to go on her in May 09' 2021  

Really looking forward to have something booked going from Barcelona on Harmony, the ship I was on from Florida last August.

Don't have to make the final payment until 13th March so we can see how it's progressing by then.

However I did opt for the drinks package already as it was only £38 per night. Never seen it that low before. 

Anyone else feeling more upbeat since the vaccine announcements. 

Did they say US sailings only? I must have missed this part.

I'm hoping European sailings begin also in March 2021.

Good morning all from a sunny Belgium it's been 515 days since I disembarked from Explorer of the Seas in Southampton.

I like RC blog for it's reliable no nonsense information but I am finding it quite US centric.

Where can I find reliable information on possible start dates for European sailings.

Are RC only starting in Europe when the US government says its ok?

From what I can read they are starting worldwide on 1st December. 

Any reason to think this won't happen?

Thanks

J

16 hours ago, twangster said:

The French charters are complicated in that there are French nationals departing from Italy and visiting Italy and Greece.  They are 14 day charters.  They may have tried to return to normal too quickly rather than sticking to Italians cruising to Italian ports.  

With the situation in France appearing to spike it's possible additional travel restrictions may be put in place within the EU.  Much like Americans aren't welcome right now, possibly neither should the French.  At some point the border between Italy and France may close again.  If the ship has 600 French nationals on board but they could be in a position where they can't return home to France that places Costa in a very awkward position.  The safe thing to do is get those French nationals back to France ASAP and cancel additional French charters.

Seven of six hundred guests tested positive and were isolated all being asymptomatic.  I am curious what the false positive rate is for the types of tests being used.  No test is 100% accurate.    It doesn't say if additional testing was performed for the seven guests that tested positive on board.  No crew tested positive. 

It appears like the protocols worked but they tried to go big, visiting multiple countries on longer cruises.  That or the 1.1% positive test rate contains some false positives.

I fully agree however as a committed European I think we need to stop closing borders.

There is frankly no evidence to suggest that me travelling from one location to another helps spread the virus.

The virus is everywhere and people travelling will not make any significant difference.

On 2/26/2020 at 6:43 PM, PG Cruiser said:

  They'll argue that the open window on the 11th deck of the Freedom made the accident possible.

Better not tell them about the balconies on the 12th deck then 

Good they are testing to avoid having to stop sailing.

ok anyone have any idea when they will post the new sailings online?

If I were in charge I would make no announcements until the sailings were posted. 

I'm not searching every day it's ridiculous. Was about to book but will now wait and see. 

ok has their website been updated I was looking at harmony from Barcelona in May it still shows the same cruises? 

Adventure of the seas is showing no cruises from Barcelona at the moment.

On 9/2/2020 at 4:09 PM, JLMoran said:

Assuming it's ultimately the 5-minute rapid test that was announced recently, I imagine that the cost of the test will be bundled into the cruise fare of every passenger. I'm also hopeful that the cost of that test will be in line with that of a home pregnancy test or other OTC rapid-result test.

I wasn't talking about the test.

If I pay $4000 for a weeks cruise from Barcelona and turn up at port to be denied boarding and have to arrange a quick flight home or 2 week's hotel quarantine my insurance won't cover it.

If they start testing before boarding this is  a red flag for me as I cannot be stuck in a foreign country.

On 8/26/2020 at 4:22 PM, Mike.s said:

It's the way forward, test all the passengers before they board the ship, Costa are doing the same when they recommence sailing

No insurance will cover this.

On 8/10/2020 at 8:52 PM, Tanner said:

With respect to everyone having differing opinions on when and how cruising should resume, does anyone think the cruise industry generally figures they get one and only one shot at a return or do you think the industries believes they can make adjustments on the fly?  

It also seems hard to get a consensus on what people would consider "successful" in terms of the result of the first few cruises.  Is the industry being held hostage to unobtainable results?  

Would love to hear your feedback.  

TUI flights Zante (Greece) to Cardiff (Wales) had 7 with corona virus positive cases, mask wearing wasn't complied with and the staff were not enforcing their rules.

Massive media coverage all over the UK and in Europe about this. 

TUI are still operating flights nothing has changed.

If cruise lines get a few cases I shouldn't see why this would change a future cruise the next week. 

Like other (rare) norovirus cases I don't see that anything should change even with a few cases onboard (in isolation) 

@Jason12  Do you have to include the flights with the initial booking or can you phone them up to add flights later? 

Sorry for the questions and thanks for taking the time to answer. 

PS I love the photo with homer.  

5 minutes ago, Jason12 said:

We’ve used RC air to the Spain, Italy and the US many times mainly with jet2, Virgin and BA and live in the UK and others from other euro countries have done the same, no upfront payment etc All done over the phone since the online option was removed  

Thanks Jason that's great news did you phone the UK number or a US agent? 

Just look and RC's air travel is only for US and CA residents.

For my flight next year Brussels to Barcelona none of the airlines flying the route offer any cancellation refunds or vouchers unless you take business class or fully flexible.

Could book though and take a credit on my deposit if i couldn't find the flights?

Doesn't matter it's not for European customers.

What is the air2sea department?

There website doesn't offer included flights does it or is it only shown when you have booked the cruise?

I'm in the same position I want to book a good priced cruise for next year but I don't want to take expensive non-refundable flights in case the cruise doesn't sail. 

It's the first time I've heard of RC booking flights.

thanks,

John

check out this guy.

If you watch on PC you can choose for it to auto translate CC into English, which it does fairly well, abeit with some really funny mistakes but you can get the most of it.

Thanks to @Neaxan for posting it a few weeks ago. Seems like he's also doing river cruises. 

I follow several vloggers doing theme parks as well and not one of them has caught the disease despite being in Florida AND visiting themeparks daily. What does that mean for me?

Well it means when you have situations which are controlled and protocols in place the mitigation of this virus is possible. Cruise ships are the ultimate controlled environment.

Me too but I have a very risk averse family.

Good news. 

I wonder how many actually quarantine when visiting places. There have been several reports of people visiting Ireland and still doing tourist things despite supposedly being in quarantine sadly.

The general non cruising public still think of cruises as petri dishes.

Sure even before this pandemic most of my non-cruising friends have cited health issues when deciding not to cruise despite me explaining the fact that outbreaks affect less that 0.01% of annual cruises.

"I don't want to be stuck on a boat with everyone sick around me" is the usual quote.

When I mention cruising resuming the first answer is Diamond Princess where they cite 70% infection rate.

(While failing to even acknowledge that only 10 people had the virus when it docked. Or that it took 6 weeks to spread to the whole ship and that the crew weren't being quarantined properly.) 

I'd love to go on MSC next week but balcony cabins are 1700€ per person  and I can't get flights to Venice

I wasn't on either of these ships but to see them beach because of this virus is heartbreaking.

Just thinking there must be so much kit on them that can be recycled.